Sometimes last month I got an invitation for a food review EEST, Westin. As it turned out, the PR lady, Yoke May, had invited Suan to the same session. Which made logistics a simpler matter to sort out since it was to be on a weekday evening.

The decoration of the restaurant was nice and inviting, an open kitchen, a bar seating area, a section of raised floor, comfortable chairs, big round tables, and a beautiful view.

the slightly eccentric but very friendly Chef Kuan

Our mission of the day was to try their Hurry Slowly Signature Lunch Box. The eccentric (not in a bad way) and very friendly Chef Kuan explained to us that they have 5 different cuisines – Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnam, and Thai. Each type comes with its own type of soup, main dishes packed in a lunch box, and dessert.

We were to sample the three most popular lunch boxes, Malaysian, Chinese, and Japanese. Since there were basically only two of us in the review session.

refreshing mint drinks, char siu pau, har kao, siu mai (dimsum)

To start, I was served with this refreshing mint drink to open up the appetite. I can’t remember what was the ingredients, but there were definitely mint (like duh!), and some mixture of juice that tasted not exactly unlike umbra (kedondong.)

We also sampled their char siu pau (chicken), siu mai (also with chicken meat), and har kao (prawn dumpling). I gotta say that they actually tasted quite good despite the lack of pork as this is a Muslim friendly restaurant like most other hotels.

Eest lunch box – Malaysian cuisine (with wagyu beef cheek rendang!)

Our next serving was the Malaysian cuisine lunch box that comes with soup soto, spring roll, rojak (pasembur in Penang), fried bean sprout with salted fish, and nasi pulut with rendang.

The beef rendang was actually made from wagyu cheek and was officially the best tasting rendang I’ve ever had. In one box you get a taste of typical Malaysian Chinese, Indian, and Malay dishes at the same time, and with good quality ingredients too.

Japanese cuisine – tempura, miso, salmon, tofu, garlic fried rice

The Japanese lunch box came with a bowl of miso soup with straw mushroom, three huge prawn and a few other types of tempura, garlic fried rice, grilled salmon, and tofu with spinach.

I particularly like the spinach tofu, silky smooth and the spinach really added a different dimension to its taste. A dash of ebiko gave it a bit of texture and the Japanese touch too. Grilled salmon was excellent as well.

Chinese lunch box, love the black chicken herbal soup

Then there’s the Chinese lunch box, with soup, dim sum, three cup chicken, brocolli, and pickled cucumber and jelly fish. The three cup chicken was very tender and packed a kick with it’s dried chili, I liked it. I think it’ll go well with just a bit of rice.

The dim sum was of good quality too, about as best and you can have it without any lard/pork in it. However, my favorite item from the Chinese lunch box has got to be the soup. The double boiled black chicken herbal soup was very sweet and fragrant, reminded me of the way mom used to cook them.

the three different desserts and chef’s special smoked salmon

Just about when we were filled to the brim, came the three types of desserts for the lunch boxes.

Ice kacang for Malaysian cuisine, longan tong sui for Chinese, and the Japanese box came with mochi black sesame ice cream. They were all quite tasty, but I think the sesame ice cream a bit more special.

Chef Kuan was in a very joyous mood and specially created a dish not found on the menu for us – smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, salmon roe, flying fish roe, truffle and beetroot oil. The salmon, with the combination of other ingredients was so savory and tasty I was literally in heaven! Thanks chef!

KY and Suan at EEST, Westin Hotel

The lunch box is priced at RM 42++, quite a decent value considering the ambiance you get and the quality of food provided. The restaurant is only opened from Wednesday to Friday, 12pm – 2.30pm. The ingredients of the lunch boxes may vary from week to week (probably according to Chef Kuan’s mood), but I trust that they will be equally good.

Address:
Eest, Westin Hotel
199 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.147758, 101.714591
Tel: 03-2731 8333

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Tags:  chinese,  hotel,  Japanese,  malaysian-food,  salmon,  suanie,  xpax

Posted by KY | 22 Comments »

A couple of weeks ago I posted Mr. Porky pork crackles, one of the best and most sinful snacks ever. Well, my stance on that claim is still true, but today, I want to introduce a healthier alternative that is almost as tasty, and actually halal too! Enter fried salmon skin!

RM 3.90 a pack, whole afternoon’s worth of almost-healthy snacking

You can get this at Isetan KLCC’s sushi counter for RM 3.90 a pack, it is not available all the time nor even everyday, but if you see them, grab one! Sushi Tei at Tropicana City Mall is another place that offers fried salmon skin on their conveyor belt.

Much like pork scratchings, fried salmon skin is crispy with an underlying bits of fat still intact. The best part of salmon skin comes from the belly area. They’re just so yummy, and since it is fish, it shouldn’t be quite as bad for your body. (disclaimer: I am not a doctor I’m just talking out of my ass)

Tips: even though this is a Japanese snack, using it to go with porridge would be quite excellent!

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got Blackberry, no life!

Before Cheesie got her Blackberry from Xpax, she was always “why do you always play with your BB?”. Apparently that was because it is sort of a habit that whenever I sit down, the first thing I do is to whip out the BB and check on my twitter feeds, emails, etc. I guess it’s not a very good thing to do when you are among people who aren’t addicted to their phones.

But look who’s talking now. This girl can’t even leave her phone while walking! One of these days she’s going to walk into some smelly dudes with wet armpits, just wait.

Tags:  cheesie,  Japanese,  salmon,  snacks

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

Don Don Japanese Take Away is a little restaurant located at the heart of Melbourne City that serves the cheapest and fastest Japanese food. This place is also a favorite for Mell’s housemate Jun Wei.

The restaurant is the size of a small apartment living room with less than half a dozen tables and at least half a dozen staffs crammed into the kitchen area. Efficiency is what they are best at.

Mellissa at yours truly at Don Don

As I sat down the table at the corner with Kerol while Mell went to order our food, a waitress came by and said to me “You’re KY right? I read your blog, and you’re Kerol.”

That was quite a surprised to me and Kerol, and I should have taken a picture with the waitress but she went missing into the kitchen instead. So if you’re reading this, HELLO and NICE TO MEET YOU.

Sashi Don (salmon) and Don Don box (beef sukiyaki & chicken teriyaki)

The menu at Don Don is anything but extensive, there are only about half a dozen choices to pick from. We got the Sashi Don and Don Don box for about $8.30 each set. The other selections on the menu include chicken teriyaki, beef sukiyaki, and curry don.

The most amazing thing about Don Don is speed, there is practically zero waiting time. Order the food, pay, and collect. You actually get the whole bento within 2 minutes, faster than most fast food restaurants.

The $8.30 salmon set had quite a large portion of salmon sashimi on top of sushi rice, and some other condiments, the fish were actually rather fresh and it tasted pretty good. The Don Don box came with a portion of beef sukiyaki (minus the soup), chicken teriyaki, rice, salad, and a slice of watermelon. A very good value.

While the food at Don Don is not to be compared with the higher end Japanese restaurants, they are cheap, very fast, and offers excellent value. If you’re looking for a quick fulfilling meal at downtown Melbourne, you wouldn’t need to spend more than 25 minutes in total at Don Don.

Address:
Don Don Japanese Take Out
321 Swanston St, Melbourne,
VIC 3000, Australia‎
GPS: -37.810375,144.964004
Tel: 03 9662 3377‎

Tags:  bento,  dondon,  Japanese,  melbourne,  mellissa,  salmon

Posted by KY | 33 Comments »

I had been anticipating my second Friday Wine Lunch ever since the first installment at Carat Club last month, so when Lenny from Millennium Associates invited me to Chinoz a couple weeks ago, I was overjoyed.

Nigel Dolan, chief wine maker, Wyndham Estate

The Friday Wine Lunch at Chinoz was hosted by Wyndham Estate, and organized by Millennium Associates with Pernod Ricard Malaysia. We were lucky enough to have Nigel Dolan, the chief wine maker from WE to join us for the session.

Lionel Lau and Chris Low who blogs at the cork brothers played excellent hosts, while Eiling, Gareth, Kim, and I were joined a few dozen Friday Wine Lunch regulars in this session.

foie gras bon bon, wild mushroom consomme oxtail ravilioli

We started off with soup, the Wild Mushroom Consomme with Oxtail Ravioli paired with chilled Wyndham Estate Bin555 Sparkling Chiraz. I actually liked the soup quite a lot, it kinda carry stronger mushroom and a weak marmite taste to it. The texture of oxtail ravioli and it’s rather raw meaty taste gives the soup a very strong contrast. The sparkling wine washes the soup down just nice.

Next up was foie gras bon bon with caramelized apple. I love foie gras, and while this dish tasted pretty good, the portion left me with somewhat unsatisfied cravings. We had Wyndham Estate Show Reserve Cabernet Merlot to go with it. Cabernet Merlot is one of the earliest wines I’ve tasted back when I was in the states working in a restaurant, memory of yesteryear rushed back as I sipped the wine, not unlike the effect you get from listening to an old song on radio.

Confit of Salmon with poached oyster

We were given a choice of two main dishes and I went with the salmon. The color of the fillet captured my attention as soon as I set eyes on it, still bright orange and just very, very lightly cooked with minimal salt or any other spices to preserve its natural sweetness. It was so good I savored every single bite of it. The poached oyster adds character to the dish as well.

Fish is often paired with white wine, and it was not surprising that Wyndham Estate Show Reserve Chardonnay is chosen for this dish.

Oven roasted Beef Fillet and Green Tea and White Chocolate Mousse

Wyndham Estate Show Reserve Shiraz, the last of the 4 types of wine for the session, is paired with the other main dish – the oven roasted beef fillet, which was a little too tough and too cooked for my liking. However, I did enjoy the Show Reserve Shiraz and took liberty in having a couple glasses before the session is over.

The green tea and white chocolate moose concluded the meal in a sweet note. The two types of moose served in (surprisingly delicious) chocolate cups. I had another Shiraz with this.

Eiling and I, group photo with Nigel, Chris, and the gang

It was a very good lunch session and I would like to thank Lenny for the invitation. Friday wine lunch usually falls on the last Friday of the month, you can check with Millennium Associates for more information.

Address:
G47 Suria KLCC
Petronas Twin Towers
50200 Kuala Lumpur City Centre
GPS: 3.157581, 101.712102
Tel: 03-2166 8277

Tags:  beef,  eiling,  foie-gras,  friday wine lunch,  gareth,  kimberly,  klcc,  oyster,  salmon,  wine

Posted by KY | 19 Comments »

Last Friday I was invited to my very first Friday Wine Lunch, a monthly event arranged by the Millennium Associates and Pernod Ricard Malaysia. The venue was Carat Club, a place at Pavilion I mistakenly thought in a bunny friendly way until very recently.

As it is a wine lunch, importance is placed not only on food and wine, but the combination as well. We were introduced to Montana, wines from vineyard in Marlborough, New Zealand, to go with some very fine foods from C. Club.

Montana Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir

The event was very classy and it was almost out of place for me, but I was seated close to the brand manager of Pernod Ricard and the chief sub-editor of a major English daily who were both very friendly people. The host Mr Lionel Lau made the event a learning experience for me with his knowledge in wine and the ways he could explain which wine goes with what type of food, and the “why”. Very interesting, and I shall learn more.

grilled tiger prawn and chilled rocket vichyssoise

The first two dishes were Chilled Rocket Vichyssoise and Grilled Tiger Prawn to go with Montana Sauvignon Blanc. The vichyssoise, a type of creamy soup with almond and diced potato; while the grilled tiger prawn came with apple and cider sauerkraut, with some lemon butter beurre blanc.

The soup was an interesting experience as it was served cold, not bad, but just different. The tiger prawn though, was fantastic with the creamy lemon butter base and mixed well with the apple cider sauerkraut. But most importantly, the white wine goes very well with the two creamier food, cutting through the texture left on your tongue.

Citrus Tea Duck Breast, Salmon Rossini, and Chocolate Fortress

There were two choices for main dish, I chose the Citrus Tea Duck Breast and bypassed the Salmon Rossini. Little did I know the salmon was actually served with foie gras, one of my favorite sin foods, but then again, the duck did not disappoint, so all was was not lost.

The Citrus Tea Duck Breast is served with carrot and celeriac braised savoy cabbage, earl grey orange glace and topped with shiso. It carried a tangy taste to the tender duck breast. Instead of white wine, we had Pinot Noir served at about 16-17 C to go with the main dish. It was a good combination with the wine being not too sweet nor too acidic, just nice to neutralize the slightly fatty food.

Friday Wine Lunch at Carat Club

Dessert was C. Club’s Chocolate Fortress, a concoction of chocolate mousse on moist chocolate cake with raspberry. I always love the contrasting taste of the rich chocolates with the sourness of raspberry, and the wine made a good compliment to the entire package too.

map to pavilion KL

The lunch package is priced at RM 95 nett with free flow wine, very good deal I think. It only happens once every month though and space are getting limited as they are getting more popular. Check with Millennium Associates for the next one if you’re interested. I hope they invite me again.

more pictures here

Address:
Carat Club
Lot 5.11 & 6.11,
Level 5 & 6, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-2141 5302

Tags:  duck,  event,  fine dining,  friday wine lunch,  pinot noir,  salmon,  sauvignon blanc,  wine

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »