My traveling buddy while at Macao is someone whose diet consists of a heavy dosage of avocado, so after a great many days of subjecting herself to the local diet which has none of this “butter fruit” (as locals call it), we embarked in a mission to find one.
Which is how I ended up at Cafe TOFF.
TOFF, Macao
TOFF is situated just a stone’s throw away from Lou Lim Ioc Garden, a public garden with a beautiful lotus lake that’s worthy of visit. If you’re there and have visited enough churches, why not?
The restaurant, like many other in Macau, is pretty diminutive in size, capable of serving perhaps two dozen customers snugly at any one time. Lucky for us, it was quite empty at 1pm or so on a Monday.
cozy interior inside TOFF
The menu though, is rather comprehensive (see below). They have a decent selection of espresso based coffee from latte, long black, to mocha, and even Marnier mocha, which comes with alcohol. Each cup costs between 28 to 50 MOP.
There’s also a selection of tea if that’s what you fancy.
breakfasts with coffee
As for food, there’s a dozen different types of salad and sandwiches, some with interesting ingredients like parma ham, squid and shrimp, Okinawa pork slices, or even shrimps and avocado. They’re priced between 50 to 68 MOP.
For our brunch, we went with the Big Breakfast (118 MOP) and Toff Veggie Breakfast (108 MOP), each comes with a black coffee or latte, and a selection of different ingredients to choose from.
TOFF Veggie Breakfast & TOFF All Day Breakfast
Overall the food were pretty competent, and coffee did tastes like any good coffee would. It is a Western breakfast that would make it pretty much anywhere, except when it’s in Macau, you do pay Macau prices. Cute place though, certainly would not mind visiting again
A couple weeks ago I was invited to Mr. Wolf at Taman SEA to sample what they have to offer. Now first things first, Taman SEA is not SEAPARK. The former is right between Taman Megah and Damasara Jaya, while the latter is closer to Taman Paramount in PJ.
Slight difference, but getting from one side of LDP to the other can be quite an exercise in patience during rush hour, you don’t want that.
Getting to Mr. Wolf can be slightly tricky, as where you can see the restaurant isn’t where you can navigate to it. Follow the GPS and throw your logic aside, you will get there.
Update 30/6/2017: This place is closed
Mr Wolf at Taman SEA (not SEAPARK!)
To understand the type of cuisine served at Mr. Wolf is to understand the main man behind this restaurant – Chef Bryan Tan.
Chef Bryan served at the kitchen of Cilantro, crafted the menu at The Point KL, and had quite an extensive experience cooking in Australia prior embarking on his own restaurant at Mr. Wolf. The background certainly shows up in his cuisine, a play of modern cooking without the constraint of the taboo in using ingredients as well as cooking methods from both East & West. The dirty word for this is “fusion”, but Chef Bryan calls it modern cuisine.
I think the word fusion has an unfair and unfortunate reputation, without those who push the boundary of what is acceptable, culinary art will always look at the past and not the future. I applaud the courage of those who brave the new frontier.
While those chefs may not get everything 100% right, when they do, you stand a chance to taste something like never before.
jamon serrano benedict, big breakfast, streaky bacon benedict
Mr. Wolf has a cozy bar upstairs and a restaurant on the ground level, today we’re going to talk about the restaurant, which started serving brunch on Friday thru Sunday, so let’s start with a few brunch dishes.
There’s a few egg benedict dishes, and boy do they make it right. We tried two – Jamon serrano benedict (RM 28), came with cured Spanish ham (white pig), English muffins, poached eggs and mentaiko hollandaise, while the streaky bacon benedict (RM 22) basically has the same ingredients but substituting ham with bacon. The poached eggs were done right, and the mentaiko hollandaise sauce definitely works, either would make excellent breakfast with some coffee.
Mr. Wolf’s Pibig breakfast (RM 32) – with tonkatsu pull pork on toast, poached eggs, pork sausage, streaky bacon, roasted potatoes, grilled tomato and salad, hollandaise sauce is quite a meal and perfect for those with a bigger appetite. Here again, a touch of Japanese influence is found on the tonkatsu style pull pork, which gives it that bit of extra sophistication.
deep fried baby crabs & school prawns, tiger beer battered soft shell crab buns
Having a bar upstairs obviously means they have bar food that goes really well with cold beer.
The deep fried baby crabs, school prawns with chili lime dressing (RM 15) was something I wish comes in a bag like you’d get chips. The batter is light (ala tempura style), and the seafood crunchy and delicious. Sorta reminds me of those Thai baby crab snacks, but better.
Tiger Beer battered soft shell crab buns with kimchi mayo and caramelized onion (RM 12 per bun) was something of a surprise. The dish didn’t look particularly exciting, but it was like a mini burger that’s unlike any other. It’s basically just some really soft buns with really crispy and perfectly seasoned soft shell crab, I can’t come up with fancy descriptions, everyone loved it.
crispy skin salmon somen with mentaiko sauce, pan fried Hokkaido scallops
For seafood dishes, we tried the crispy skin salmon, edamame, somen and mentaiko sauce, seaweed and salmon roe (RM 34). Another dish taken from the inspiration across the continents and one laden with one of my favorite ingredients – mentaiko. It is rather rich and would suit those who loves strong tasting dishes.
Pan fried Hokkaido scallops (RM 42) came with cauliflower pureer, avruga puree, aojiso truffle dressing, French bean and quinoa. A combination that would satisfy any scallop lovers, and the truffle dressing does give it an additional edge.
sous vide pork loin, slow roasted chicken
Going slightly more conservatively, there’s the slow roasted chicken (RM 34), with tomato jam, black fungi and beanshoot salad, fried quinoa, grilled baby corn, curry leaf infused buttermilk sauce. The chicken (I suspect sous vide) was tender, and overall it felt like a really healthy dish. Other dish for your gym rat friends.
The sous vide pork loin (RM 32) with sautee mushroom, kimchi vegetable, soft boiled eggs, corriander jus, on the other hand, is almost but not entirely like a dry version of tau eu bak. I was looking for those fat layers, but I suppose it too is more fitting for those who likes to be a bit on the “healthier” side.
braised char siew pork belly, donuts
Our final main dish was the braised char siew pork belly (RM 34), with crispy pork hock, nahm prik, pickled papaya and cucumber salad. This was something that I found myself enjoying quite a bit, it tasted abit like a cross between dry bak kut teh & char siu, with a nice layer of glistering fat to boot. I found msyelf wanting to have some rice with these actually, it was good!
We concluded the night by having the nutella & salted caramel donut. I don’t see this in the menu but do ask about it from the good chef.
Over all Mr. Wolf easily beat my expectations on what they came up with. You don’t need to go to the likes of Bangsar, KL, or Mont Kiara for fancy modern food, Mr. Wolf has them right here in PJ, and for very reasonable prices as well.
On the first morning at London, I was brought to one of the more charming little restaurants in town at Bill’s on Clink Street for some good old fashion English breakfast.
Bill’s at Clink Street, inconspicuous exterior, beautiful ambiance within
The restaurant looks pretty inconspicuous on the outside, but the interior was quite something else. It was beautifully decorated with plenty of old school charm, like something out of a classy old movie. You’d easily be mistaken Bill’s as a quaint family run operation instead of one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in UK.
had a glass of latte to start the day
I started out with a cup of latte, and ordered a glass of tomato juice to accompany my breakfast. The coffee was as good as any, and the bottled tomato juice served here was one of the spiciest I’ve tried, it was quite interesting, now I want to put pepper in those v8 tomato juice I have at home.
vegetarian breakfast, and Bill’s big breakfast
The breakfast menu consists of your usual English selections – bread basket, big breakfast, pancakes, scrambled eggs, egg benedict/royale/florentine and so forth. Micaela, my host for the day, ordered the vegetarian breakfast (£7.95) while I went with Bill’s breakfast (£7.95).
The vegetarian option comes with free range eggs, tomato, hummus, mushroom, guacamole, sweet chilli sauce, basil and toast, while my big breakfast had cumberland sausage, fried free range eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, smoked streaky bacon, and toast as well. Both dishes were beautifully plated and did not disappoint in the taste department. The bacon was crispy and savory, and while I don’t care much about eggs being free range or not, my taste buds were happy with them. It was definitely a good way to start the day.
Borough market at Clink Street
We then had a brisk walk by the famous Borough market nearby before heading to the meeting point for the East London Food Tour (next post on that), a thriving old fashion outdoor market with plenty fresh produce and street food on offer. You can find dozens of different cheese, olives, fresh vegetables, flowers, fresh seafood, and more, all for the taking. I almost wished we had a kitchen so I could buy some stuff to cook at night!
Note: This UK – Malaysia Influencer Exchange programme was organised by Malaysia Airlines. However, opinions are of my own. Malaysia Airlines flies between London and Kuala Lumpur twice a day on the A380. There are 8 seats in the First Class, 66 in Business Class and 420 in Economy. Make your flight reservations today on www.malaysiaairlines.com.
On our first night to London, after checking into Dorsett at Sheperd’s Bush, we walked to the nearby Westfield London in search for dinner, and was greeted by Five Guys Burgers & Fries right at the entrance that we took.
I’ve heard about this burger chain on some forums before, so naturally we thought we’d gave it a try, after all, it is one of the most crowded restaurants in the mall (which turned out to be the largest mall in London).
£22.5 for 2 burgers, a milkshake, a soft drink, and 1 serving of fries
Five Guys currently operates only in North America and in UK (since 2013), and is focus on burger, fries, milkshakes, and everything with bacon.
Ordering is a pretty straight forward affair – line up, order, pay, pick up your food, and get your drinks. Not very different from most fast food restaurants. They also have an open kitchen and prepare everything right in front of your eyes, it was super hectic, and I think most of us won’t last half an hour in there.
ermm.. cheeseburger, and bacon infused milk shake
The menu is actually pretty simple. There’s burger, cheeseburger, bacon burger, bacon cheeseburger, and the “little” size of those variations. You then choose from over a dozen toppings & sauces to add to your burger
Additionally, there’s also sandwiches and hotdogs, but we’re not interested in those anyway.
We ended up ordering a little cheeseburger, a little bacon burger, a milk shake with bacon bits, a medium fries, and a soft drinks. All of which adds up to £22.50, London is certainly not a cheap place for food, even if it was fast food.
Haze & KY at Five Guys, Westfield London
The burger was certainly juicy & wholesome, even though we opted for the “little” version, they still fill up the stomach pretty easily. The milk shake with bacon bits though, was excellent, and I wished it came with those “bubble tea” type of straws instead, sucking the bits via those tiny straw was a bit of a struggle.
It was overall a pretty satisfying meal. I think Five Guys sits somewhere in between the usual fast food chains and gourmet burger outlets, but those milkshakes though, that’s something else. Would not hesitate to try again.
Address: Five Guys Westfield London, London W12 7SL, United Kingdom GPS: 51.506733, -0.222849 Tel: +44 20 8740 7290
Note: This UK – Malaysia Influencer Exchange programme was organised by Malaysia Airlines. However, opinions are of my own. Malaysia Airlines flies between London and Kuala Lumpur twice a day on the A380. There are 8 seats in the First Class, 66 in Business Class and 420 in Economy. Make your flight reservations today on www.malaysiaairlines.com.
A dinner food review during this month of crazy traffic is certainly not something I particularly welcome, but when Mediteca asked for us to sample their new pork friendly menu, I couldn’t say no.
As it turned out, that was a wise decision. Also, traffic after 7:30 was so great we got to Mediteca at Fraser Place, Jalan Perak from PJ in only about 25 minutes.
Update Jan 2020: This place is now Skillet At 163, not entirely too different, I think.
Mediteca at Fraser Place, KL
Mediteca resides within Fraser Place Luxury Apartment, directly opposite Life Centre across Jalan Perak, just a stone’s throw away from Thai Club/Beach Club. Underground parking is available at reasonable rate.
The restaurant exudes a classy and warm ambiance, interior deco reminds me of movies settings in Europe. The restaurant is separated from the apartment’s common area with half see-thru partition, giving it a deceptively spacious interior. There’s also alfresco dining area for those who smokes, and a loft that I presume makes perfect venue for a private event.
bread with some shaved cheese to start the night
Explained by the passionate Chef owner Riccardo Ferrarotti, Mediteca set out of excite diners with a flair for true Southern European gastronomy. The menu includes tapas, starters, and mains using pork as ingredients. Music to my ears.
As with most European meals, we started out with some bread, accompanied by shaved cheese, which is always a good prelude to what is coming next.
stewed Spanish sausage with herbs;
fried & baked egg with spinach, pancetta and besciamelle sauce
We started out with Chorizo – Stewed Spanish Sausage with Herbs and Garlic (RM16), one of the many tapas with pork as the main ingredient on the new menu. The tomato based gravy thick and flavorful, and the chorizo definitely carry a strong porky taste that should please any pork lover.
Fried & Baked Egg with Spinach, Pancetta and Besciamelle Sauce (RM22) is something I haven’t ever tried before. A concoction that seems almost like a mixed between Chinese style spinach soup with a texture similar to steamed & fried egg. It was rather interesting though I find myself having to get used to it a little bit.
Jamon and Salami – serrano ham, salami, bread & cheese
Jamon and Salami (RM 88) was one of my favorite dishes. Prepared by the main man himself, Chef Riccardo slices the salami and smoked meat from the chiller, then hand picked cheese, fig marmalade, tomato chutney, balsamic baby onions and pickles to go with the meat. It was glorious combination and one that I miss most. I can have this everyday!
marinated veal carpaccio, stewed rice with pork, beef & lamb sauce
stewed rice with pork, beef, and lamb sauce
While less sophisticated than the salami dish, Veal Carpaccio (RM38) was another dish that I really liked as well. The thinly sliced veal isn’t too different from high grade tuna or beef in texture, but has a very notificable difference in taste due the type of meat itself and the marinate (chamomile and juniper). Coupled with grilled artichokes and cheese, it was a very enjoyable dish.
Stewed rice with Pork, Beef and Lamb Sauce (RM30) was not entirely different from risotto. This Croatian dish packs quite a punch thanks to the three different meat presence.
Potato and Mushroom Gateau with poached egg, onion jam and bacon
For those who loves bacon, the Potato and Mushroom Gateau with poached egg, onion jam and bacon (RM28) is a must order. The bacon was crispy, the egg poached perfectly, and the bed of potato and mushroom gateau perfect as a compliment to the two contrasting main ingredients. Bacon oil and flowing egg yolk is a match made in gastronomy heaven.
pork ribs with “salsa verde” & potatoes
For those who are tired of those overly strong tasting pork ribs, here’s a version that might fit your bill. The Iberico Pork Ribs with Salsa Verde & Potatoes (RM78) is quite a bit lighter and carries a hint of citrus influenced flavor. I find myself somewhat partial to this dish, but those who like it light would probably enjoy this more than me.
dinner is never complete with desserts
We tried two different desserts to end the meal, Creme Caramel that was tastefully served in a sardin can, and the Chocolate Gateau, a mixed of 70% chocolate with 30% cream. Choose the former if you want something refreshing, and the gateau if you like it rich and chocolatey. Both would not disappoint.
Address: Mediteca Lot 163, Fraser Place Jalan Perak 50450 Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.15427, 101.70891 Tel: 03-2181 2426 Web: http://www.meditecawinetapas.com/ Hours: Mondays-Saturdays, 11.30am till late night, closed on Sundays
