Chile is the longest north-south country in the world, stretching over 4,630 kilometres “top” to “bottom”, but only as wide as 430 kilometers at the thickest region east-west. Situated on the west side of Andes and right next to Pacific ocean as well as the presence of Atacama dessert allows Chile to have a remarkably wide range of climates and thus, a huge selection of agricultural resources as well.
According to my colleague who is from Peru, a neighboring country to Chile, it is also a prosperous and stable country, something that can’t be said for many South American nations. If not for the usually prohibitive airfare, I am sure it would be a fantastic place to visit, perhaps some day…
Kiwi fruit isn’t just from Australia and New Zealand
In the mean time, we got to attend the “Flavor of Chile” event held by the Embassy of Chile in Malaysia. It was a treat of gastronomical adventure at Westin Hotel, KL. This was actually a two day event that gives Malaysian businessmen a chance to discover Chile’s wide variety of high quality products, according to ProChile director Felix De Vicente.
South American food is something of a mystery to me, prior to this dinner, if you ask me anything food related from the region, I’d probably just say Argentinian steak (from Gaucho Grill), Chilean wine, and Chilean sea bass.
with some of my favorite people – fatboybakes, cumidanciki, haze
During the course of the event, I got to know more than I bargained.
There were video presentation in between every dish, with quality of production that makes most travel programmes look amateur. The clips introduces different places in Chile and what it has to offer, as well as plenty of airtime with Chef Carlo von Mühlenbrock – a guy who looked more like a rockstar than a chef – explaining how the ingredient is grown/catch and his method of preparation.
And then the very dish is served. Brilliant.
Quinoa Timbale with avocado and Chilean King Crab
The first starter was Quinao Timbale with avocado and Chilean King Crab, paired with Sauvignon Blanc. This was the first time I had quinoa, a grain that is high in protein balance set of amino acids, and it was delicious. It has a crunchy texture, a bit sourish, and undoubtedly perfect with a couple slices of king crab and the wine.
Pablo Neruda’s Conger Eel Chowder
Next was Pablo Neruda’s Conger Eel Chowder. Eel? Chowder? This was not something that was expected, but perhaps it had something to do with our familiarity with unagi – a very narrow view of eel.
This eel was more like a cross between scallop & sea bass, subtle yet delicious, with the broth and other seafood in the bowl, it was a wholesome chowder for sure. We had Chilean Chardonnay to wash it down, which was of course, lovely.
Smoked Salmon and Mussels with Coriander Spiced Barley
The main dish was Smoked Salmon and Mussels with Coriander Spiced Barley. A generous slab of smoked salmon sitting on bed of barley, accompanied by a couple mussels.
This was another good dish, but the texture of barley that doesn’t come in a dessert or drink was a little too foreign for me. The dish was served with Vina Cono Sur Pinot Noir.
Southern Chile berries sorbet with fresh fruits, and the wine
The dessert was Southern Chile berries sorbet with fresh fruits. A sweet ending to the wonderful dinner. Due to my allergy to kiwi, this was the only dish I did not completely finish. The sorbet, made from pureed Chilean berries, were excellent.
The dessert wine Late Harvest, however, were a tad too sweet for my liking. It would probably be great if served at almost freezing temperature at a smaller dosage, but alas, this was an event with hundreds of peopld, one can’t be asking too much.
Chilean Chef Carlo von Mühlenbrock & Haze
It was a lovely night punctuated by a visit of the famous chef to our table and did a autograph on Haze’s drawing of his dishes. The drawing later appeared on a Chilean newspaper too. 
So now, when will I be able to go there.
Ever since we got the kitchen renovated, it’s been more and more cooking adventures, and as such, this blog will start to share some recipes I gather/invent/randomly made up.
The Salmon Steak is a very simple and healthy *gasp* dish that I learnt during my stay in the States many eons ago.
ingredients for salmon steak dinner
First, the ingredients, assuming for two person:
steamed vegetable, sauteed mushroom, and pan fried salmon steak
Steps:
salmon steak with carrots, mushroom, and french beans
So there you go, salmon steak with mushroom, carrot, and french beans. If you want to be healthier, consider baking the salmon instead, but I’d probably advice to add a small slice of butter on top if you do that.
Everything here costs about RM 30 for two, not exactly very cheap, but boy it is good!
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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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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.
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
