Dancing with Enoki

Having a superb dinner, then get to sit down and chit chat with the master chef who had prepared the food for you is really awesome. It is a real dream come true for us, something you don’t get to do often. This opportunity we had when we visited and dine at Opulent Court, Pearl International Hotel recently. Our food was prepared by Master Chef Low who have been working around the globe such as Amsterdam and London on chinese cuisine and fine dining for nearly 15years and had been a 4years resident chef at Opulent Court.

We kicked off with a few light starters, firstly we got to nibble the salmon thin rolls (hosomakli-zushi) topped with awesomely flying fish roe (yew chi sal mun yue kuen). The taste of rolls were so refine, Sunny just can’t have enough off them. I would say the sushi rice was cooked and seasoned to perfection.

Oh my goodness, next came this black peppered jellyfish top with sliced abalone (hak chew pau see hoi jik). I got to be frank with you that I am a real die hard fan for not the abalone but surprisingly the jellyfish. You may ask me, why? Well, I love to bite into them especially for it’s crunchiness texture. This was done so perfectly, but there were not enough to satisfy myself and my desire but I noticed the abalone had disappeared so fast, must be my other dinner guests.

Next we dished into this lovely deep fried prawn paste wrapped with shredded filo pastry (long see shin har kuen). I have yet to taste such crispy wrapped before and this was done accurately. The prawn paste was very well seasoned indeed but being myself, a greedy idiot, I prefer it with the XXL prawns instead, lol!.

I got to recommend this dish, it was so beautiful done and cooked to such a perfection, lovely and a dish I will not forget! It was enoki mushroom, carrot and celery wrapper with smoke bacon coated with delicious brown sauce (yin yok sow choi huen).

Deep Fried Softcrab with salad cream (sa lut thai sek yuen hai) was delicious and crispy. The softcrab was well seasoned and fried to perfection. I can just eat the whole softcrab by itself! So amazing!

What we had for our main? Well, let me tell you this . . . , we had two huge thick slices of cod fish. As far as I can remember, I always had cod fish for dinner and that was when I was staying in Scotland and cod fish was plentiful, I was so lucky to have them as back here, I would considered them expensive and a luxury. Chef Low had our cod fish baked and with honey sauce coating (mut jup ko sut yue). The fish was baked to perfection as I love the crunchiness of the outer layer and with the honey sauce, it was totally perfect.

We had a simple vegetable dish, kai lan topped with deep fried shredded fish fillet (long see kai lan choy). Simple and yet delicious enough to satisfied my hunger.

We also dished into some fried rice top with small anchovies which was good and tasty.

At the end of the meal, Chef Low came to our table to meet us and we had a great chat about food, experience, recipes and something that I will definitely not share with you!

It was a great night out and this is a place I would highly recommend and I am sure you might see me there too!

Promotion:

ALL YOU CAN EAT DIM SUM
Total of 80 types of Dim Sum to feast from.
Adult : RM 27.80++
Senior Citizen : RM 23.80++
Children : RM 16.80++
(minimum 2 persons)

BUFFET DINNER
Starting from 1st April 2008, you can order any of the 38dishes listed from the menu.
Adult : RM 33.80++
Senior Citizen : RM 26.80++
Children : RM 21.80++
(minimum 2 persons)

OPULENT COURT
Pearl International Hotel
1-1-2, Batu 5
Jalan Klang Lama
58000 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: (603) 7980 9888
Fax: (603) 7980 6888

Stylish Fusion With Bursting Flavours

When we arrived at the entrance of this café, we were welcome by this beautifully wood crafted panel with the word D’Fortune, so lovely. The day was lovely, so we decided to have our lunch outside and ordered a few cup of the lite warm lemon tea which was really really good and tasty.

Here came the lamb shank, it was tasty, crispy on the outside and meat is so tender and delicious. It came with homemade mashed potato which was smashingly delicious and not from those dried potato flakes which taste horrified. There were also cherry tomatoes, green beans and cauliflower.

Oh next came the heavenly tortilla filled with chicken sliced and melted mozzarella cheese. Guess what, there was salsa sauce to go with it too. The tortilla was awesome and soft and the mozzarella really melted my heart.

Oh next seafood pasta dish is something to shout about. I am not so sure what goes into this fried spaghetti but it was so fragrant and yummy delicious. It was the tastiest pasta dish that I ever had, prawn and squid were very fresh and not forgetting the mussels too.

Strangely came a huge plate fill with a variety of pan fried sausages. There were chicken and turkey filled with garlic, herbs and black pepper. It was tasty but I prefer to have thicker ones.

I thought we were going to have deep fried spring chicken but this devil looks rather smaller, oh! It was the “Sar Thin Kai” brought from Perak. It was nice, the meat was tender and the skin was crispy.

Oh! The finale, we had pan fried dory fish with baked melted cheese and accompany with olio-olio spaghetti. The fish was cooked to perfection and no fishy smell at all. We loved it!

Look we had a great feast!

D'Fortune Western Cuisine & Cafe
No 2A & 3A, Jalan USJ 10/1J,
47620 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel No: 03 8025 9509
Fax No: 03 8025 9250

Totally Japanese at Miyako

Having to dine at one of Malaysia’s best restaurants is truly awesome and that is what I did last week, I was at Miyako, Sheraton Subang. Miyako is a Japanese restaurant with a classic modern Japanese interior which is simple and very inspiring. I was amazed that this restaurant was located behind the main building and felt like it was located inside a secret garden.

This time I invited my friend Carol Rode from Perth to dine with us and we were so excited about the food and also did some catching up over a few cups of warm Japanese green tea. Dobin Mushi was brought to the dining table and was wondering why the waitress brought us another pot of green tea. Why…..? Well simply that the dish was served in a beautiful Japanese tea pot and a petite ceramic cup. In fact Dobin Mushi is a small tea pot soup infused with assorted seafood and mushrooms plus a chunk of lemon. All I had to do was to squeeze the lemon juice into the warm pot of soup. The taste was amazing, the aroma of mushrooms just burst inside my mouth going through my nasal and ended with sweetness and tangyness of the soup. It is a soup of perfection.

Dining in a Japanese restaurant without sashimi is just not complete at all. To perfect the night, came Hamachi Sashimi and Miyako special and it was incredible. The plate was huge and the portion big too. The sashimi consists of yellow tail, salmon, tuna belly, white tuna (abura) and also tiger prawn. I just love my tuna belly also salmon... also all of them really, just amazed the cuts were very thick, fresh and delicious. Really captured my heart and so was the miyako rolls, filled with unagi, tempura prawn, soft shell crab, acavado, crab meat stick, mayonaise and coated with prawn eggs (ebiko).

This maybe be a simple dish but it is incredible delicious for my standards. I am truely in love with this slightly sweet hinted soup that came with a bean curd skin bag filled with mince meat, chopped ginko, shitake and sealed with lily bulb.

It was so funny when this mixed tempura dish was placed on the table. Carol just can stop herself wanting to know what was the secret that makes the tempura stayed crispy as she can’t get hers done the same way at home. Well, guess we have to wait for the chef! The tempura was excellent and it came with tiger prawns, sweet potatoes, brinjal, lady fingers and seabass fish.

Tori namban yaki is the Japanese version of BBQ chicken. The boneless chicken meat was marinated in a special sauce for a day before being barbeque. When I had a bite into a piece, it was really good, so succulent and so well marinated.

Then came this lovely adorable and petite dish, pan fried cod fish served with green tea noodle and lemon grass sauce. I like the simple presentation and also the tangy soup( I suspect it must the magic tamarind). The cod fish was pan fried to perfection.

Gosh, the dessert was excellent, Matcha ice cream with azuki bean. The Azuki bean was cooked and sweeten exactly where I love them to be and the green tea ice cream was excellent as the bursting flavouring was so intense.

Before we end the night, we meet the chef who had prepared our delicious dinner, Chef Ronnie Wang. He was originated from Penang, mastered Japanese cuisine for nearly 22years and had been working under a well known Japanese Chef, the late Chef Tadashi Hajasi. Got to say at the end of the night, Carol got her question answered!

Miyako Japanese Restaurant
Sheraton Subang Hotel & Towers
Jalan SS12/1,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor.

Rempah Ratus Nasi Lemak Restaurant & Cafe, Puchong

We had wanted to explore the food in the Puchong area for ages and we were lucky enough to be invited to dine at this restaurant Rempah Ratus Nasi Lemak Restaurant And Cafe. This restaurant is just located opposite of the IOI mall. The setting reminded me of a kampug style simple dining and you can smell fragrant spices as you walk in.

The restaurant serves a variety of malay dishes "hidangan" style. We were welcome by Chef Raizal, the resident chef of this restaurant who had prepared some awesome dishes. We were served with starter, Thai Fish Cakes (RM5.80 per serving) with Thai sweet chilli sauce. We love this little fish paste as they were tasty, delicious and went very well with the sweet Thai chilli sauce.

The main dishes came once we finished the starter, the first dish was the Chicken Green Curry in Claypot (RM8 per serving). It was cooked perfectly and the sauce was gorgeous and went well with the white rice. We were informed that Chef Raizal made his own green curry paste from green chillies, coriander, cummin, lemongrass and shrimp paste. We just adored the sauce, lovely!

Next was the siakap fish cooked in 3 tastes, hot, sour and sweet (RM18 per serving). The hotness came from the chillies, sourness came from the lime juice and sweetness came from the palm sugar. The siakap fish was deep fried and then coated with the sauce.

Lastly we had the stir fried kangkung with sambal (RM8 per serving). This dish had the shrimp paste taste and with a bit of chilli but not too hot.

Overall, I like this restaurant as it gave me a very homely feeling and reminded me of my growing up. I will definitely be back for their Green Thai Curry. Rempah Ratus Nasi Lemak Restaurant & Café also do catering services for any occasions and also into ready-to-eat packed food for retail, wholesale and outdoor events.

Rempah Ratus Nasi Lemak Restaurant & Café
No 33, Jalan Kenari 17C
Bandar Puchong Jaya
47100 Puchong
Selangor Dahrul Ehsan
Tel/Fax: 03-80765371