More diminutive than definitive, but we hope we’ve covered just enough to whet your appetite.

The not-so-good: Bangkok isn’t great for the hydro homies. Free-flow filtered water? You’d be lucky to find more than a few spots. Expect to tote around a lot of water bottles. And…expect (very) dark roast coffee practically everywhere.

The good: the food. Especially, to our surprise, those less street-food-y types. Read through and you’ll see why.

The Bangkok guide is divided into 4 categories, ordered alphabetically within each list, and will continuously be updated – photos and individual posts coming next.

The great:

• Charmgang Curry Shop: Spectacular. From the cowa leaves curry (fantastic, with the smokiest, most luscious pork jowl) to the grilled koji-aged picanha skewer (paired with a stunning fermented fish chili and tomato relish) to sublime duck. Only downside is the desserts pale in comparison – both the Thai caramel rice bar and custard apple in coconut syrup were a step below the cooked dishes. Also, they can be a bit heavy handed on the salt, even for a saline boi like me – e.g. the smoked swordfish curry was delectable, with gorgeously cooked and smoky fish, but crept up in saltiness towards the end. The casual setup of the place is great though, absolutely buzzing with a lovely open kitchen, beautifully decorated walls, perfect light levels etc. A must-visit, like every other spot in the “Great” category.
• Cote by Mauro Colagreco: Close to faultless. Impeccable service, great great food.
• G.O.D.: photos / videos don’t capture how impressive this place looks. Drinks fantastic too. Conceptual, yes, but the taste backs that up as well. Should be in my top 5 bars list for Bangkok, with Ku Bar, Rabbit Hole etc.
• Homeburg: Purely taste-wise, this had to be one of the greatest meals of my life. Definitely one of the most technically impressive too. This single location featured one of the best chawanmushi I’ve ever had, the best jerk chicken, the best ginger ale, the best steak, the best french fries etc…unreal. Luckily the desserts were just-okay, or this would have completely redefined what it means to be great.
• Ku Bar: Absolute gem of a space, has to be one of our favourite bars in Bangkok. Insanely cool setup and layout, with fantastically layered and complex cocktails. For instance: Bael-infused whisky with tobacco syrup, xuixian tea and rose water. Or a warm saffron latte longan. Or a super strong Szechuan peppercorn drink that slowly oozes more banana as you sip. S’all good, man.
• Larder: Oh wow, the best breakfast. Perfect thick-cut bacon slices, surprisingly yummy sourdough (surprising cos they slice it real thin), delish blood sausage
• Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu: Why are noodle portions so tiny in Bangkok? This place served some of the best pad thai (and siew yoke) that we’ve had though.
• Rabbit Hole: Great cocktails! Delicious, rich, complex, and just really well thought out. Take, for instance, the London Jesus (longan, saffron, coffee, salted Tonka cream) or the salted lemon butter layers of the Cowboy Pie. Thrilling stuff.
• Saawaan: Refined Southern Thai tasting menu. Loved a lot of it, especially the “toned-down” subtlety of flavours, the highlighting of specific techniques, and the petit fours actually being the strongest flavour punch of the meal.
• Samlor: Silly good. Delicious dishes. Attentive service. A must-visit.
• Some Time Blue: From what we could tell, they only have drip coffee. Both cups were great. Finally a cafe without crazy dark roasts. And they have free-flow water too. My kind of aesthetic, could easily double as a jazz / listening bar. Love the furniture.
• Tax: Love the interiors, the walls, the spacious layout split up into a lot of nooks, without being overly loud and echo-y, and the concept – vinegars from liquors etc. Tried two great cocktails, including a killer oolong with a sudden aftertaste of roasty toasty cashews. Definitely feels more of my place than Asia Today, but both would easily place in my top bars list in KL. And I’d be a regular at Tax.
• Zao Ekkamai: Insanely good Isaan food, one of the highlights of our Bangkok trip. Challenging, excitingly different flavours, all bursting out of some exceptional, layered, and well-priced dishes. Word of caution though: some of the dishes are crazy crazy spicy. Great service, lovely buzz in the dining room(s).

The good:

• 168 Thai Restaurant, inside Chatuchak market. Surprisingly delicious. Only tried 2 dishes, but still. Red curry thing is killer. Spicy sour soup very tasty. Coconut pudding delicious too.
• A Keen House: Iced long black fares much better than the hot, oddly enough. Good music, gorgeous design.
• Aksorn: A 1-star that doesn’t push boundaries too much, but bundles in a tasty meal within a lovely experience. The setting is cozy and inviting, the music top-notch, service pretty good, and the crockery and interiors mesh into a unique statement. Highlights of the food itself was the shrimp paste relish, a red curry with grilled salted beef, and the smoky sugar snap peas. Oh, and the nice walk down to the nice washroom.
• Asia Today: Backdoor Bodega vibes, but really tasty cocktails based around honey. Need to try more to potentially move it further up. The Eastern Honey (with the bee wax mug) was tasty, and the Bitter Have My Moni was even more so, with that punchy, vinegary cherry pickled liquor. Delightful.
• Bar 10010: nice ice cream – with loads of interesting flavours!
• Bask Project: good coffee, lovely space. Lots of cool stuff to look at and buy
• Bun Meat and Cheese: From the mad genius brain of Mr. Homeburg. Doesn’t quite reach those heights, but it’s still very good. Not as earth-shattering as the first time trying Homeburg, but it certainly beats out pretty much all burger joints in Malaysia, even Barbacoa.
• Nai Soon Charoen Nakhon: Delicious duck noodles…less depth than Heng Dee’s broth in Malaysia perhaps, but still hella tasty. Very competitively priced too.
• Okonomi: Japanese breakfast! Lovely little place.
• Rot Rue Dee: like the setup a lot. Well-priced too IMO. Well-cooked fare like the massaman curry with killer smokiness from the chicken. Decent mango sticky rice too.
• Rung Reung (Tung) noodle: yum pork noods, even the dry one.
• Save Our Souls: They say the burgers are good here, but I didn’t try them. The basil rice is solid though, surprisingly enough. Nice selection of craft beers to go alongside.
• Sugarray Apartment: Lovely bar setup (seats 10 at most along the bar counter, a small nook for 3 at the corner). Good drinks that would place it quite high up the KL Bar list, but not quite at the level of those in the Great category.

The decent:

• A Coffee Roaster by Li-bra-ry: Espresso was…almost kinda decent? Flat white tasty. Could potentially be the best out of the cafes in this category.
• Flaneur
• Gatta Cafe inside Siam Square: Slightly better than some other cafes we tried, but not by much.
• Mother Roaster: interesting space, decent coffee
• Nana Coffee Roasters Ari: Lush garden, great rendition of a dirty (though it ran a tad sweet, was still the best we had in BKK), but the default long black was a really dark roast, as per usual in BKK. Stick to milk-based stuff and you’d probably have a better time here.
• OFTR: Like the setup. The drinks are more mediocre – wouldn’t be out of place in KL.
• Prego: We only tried a risotto but it was fantastic. Potential to shoot up this list if all other dishes are as good.
• Shelter coffee
• Tai Soon Bar: A relatively nice space, with 18 beers on tap, opposite the overhyped Jay Fai. Not exactly the setup / feel / clientele / selection of beers that appealed to us though.

The not so good:

• Baan Pueng Chom: Highly recommended, highly disappointing. The star was the stir fried glass noodles with petai – every other dish was poor.
• Brave Roasters: Both long black and the filter served with too much water IMO, ratio feels off.
• Buay Pochana Thonglor: Decent egg noods, decent soup, nice duck leg, meh duck wonton. Overall serviceable but not a must-visit by any measure.
• Chimchim: Terrible coffee, breathtaking interiors. Might actually be worth visiting just for that.
• Conkey’s: The setting is gorgeous. Tranquil back garden. And the spread of bakes sets the heart a-flutter alright. But the pastries themselves are surprisingly not-great. E.g. the donut – love the orange custard filling in the bombolini but the donut itself could be better. Salty fig tart not bad, not great. Sourdough croissant very dense. Fairly mediocre even if it were in KL. Breads do look decent though.
• Holey Artisan: Challah meh. Berliner meh but the butterscotch glaze was quite alright. Disappointing beef baguette – everything cold and so-so, with the baguette being incredibly tough.
• Jasmine Siam Kitchen: Pineapple fried rice with tofu was expensive, and the rice was mushy. Red curry was tasty, despite the tough beef. Factoring in the prices vs setting etc, hard to justify moving this out of this category though.
• Paga: Boy do they love their dark roasts here. We had one alright filter, one standard-order dark-roast nearly-undrinkable long black.
• Red Diamond @ Thonglor: THB 120 for espresso. Fairly meh, all things considered. Strong dark roast like most places here.
• Supanniga: Disappointing. Expensive. At least the service is good. And the kai-yok song does have some tasty, plump crab meat.
• Tropic City: Hmmm.

Naturally, we’ve barely scratched the surface with Bangkok. Some other places we want to check out next time:

• 23 Bar & Gallery (bar in an art space)
• 80/20 (1 star)
• Alonetogether (collab between Sugar Ray and Ku Bar owners) (jazz performances Wed-Sun night. B400 cocktails, happy hour B300 from 6-8pm daily)
• Bamboo Bar (Mandarin Oriental)
• Bar Marco (listening bar)
• Beer Belly (20 taps)
• BKK Social Club (bar)
• Black King Pizzeria
• Bloom Pretzel & Coffee (pretzels and coffee)
• Blue by Alain Ducasse (1 star)
• Brioche from Heaven (cinnamon brioche and caramel, yuzu meringue)
• Cadence by Dan Bark (1 star)
• Canvas (1 star)
• Casa Blue (8 craft beers on tap, good German food)
• Craft Silom (20 taps)
• Doc Club & Pub (indie cinema)
• Dukedon (specializes in grilled, dry-aged Thai catfish. Duke don (B219), pla mor (perch fish) don (B249)) (Fri 12-7pm, Sat 10-7pm, Sun 10-5pm)
• Eight Days a Week Home Bar (only Thai craft beer – prices around B180-300) (5pm-12am daily)
• Gaa (1 of the best restaurants in Thailand) (B 4400++)
• Grow Tea Studio (Uji tea from South Kyoto)
• GTG Cafe (CBD infused drinks and cookies)
• Hair of the Dog (great craft beer spot) (11am-12am daily)
• Homeburg (6 courses, including the burger. B2500++)
• Huus of Bread (Jap-Scandi bakery. Shokupan-donut (shonut)) (10am-4.30pm, closed Mon)
• IGNIV Bangkok (1 star, “global” fine dining, 3 course lunch B 2000, 4 course dinner B 4000)
• Ink & Lion (great coffee) (9am-4pm daily)
• Keaton Tailor
• Kimi sushi bar (semi-outdoors omakase sushi,10 rotating natty wines, 6 seats per seating, B 2100 for 15 courses)
• Koji-delic (Nordic-style cuisine, all based around koji and fermentation. 10 courses B 3,500)
• Koryoriya-te (low-key shochu and sake bar) (6-11pm, closed Sun and Thurs)
• Laab Udon (good Isaan food, off Surasak BTS station) (4pm-3am daily)
• Labyrinth Cafe (great coffee in a basement bunker) (10am-6pm, closed Mon)
• Lahnyai (modern Thai. 14 courses B3,590++)
• Le Du (1 star, elevated Thai) (4 course tasting B 3000, 6 course tasting B 3600)
• Le Normandie (2 stars, Alain Roux (from 3 starred Waterside Inn) arrived in Jan 22. 3 course lunch menu B 3400)
• Liberty Area One @ Ekkamai (great clothing spot)
• Methavalai Sorndaeng (1 star)
• Mash (16 rotating beers, nice setting) (5-11pm, closed Sun)
• Mazzluna (2 stars)
• Mezzaluna (French Japanese fine dining, 7 courses B 6500)
• Middle Bar (good cocktails, B400)
• Mihara Tofuten (Gaggan partnering with someone from Fukuoka. Fine dining dedicated to tofu from Kyushu. 12 courses B 4900)
• Ministry of Crab (branch of Sri Lanka’s best restaurant. B 1,800 for 800g medium sized crab)
• Mod Kaew Wine Bar (ex-somm of Gaggan. No wine list. B690 for a 3 wine flight. Or get a bottle)
• Nahim Cafe x Handcraft 
• Nahm (1 star)
• Nine Pastry (challah, Jerusalem bagel etc) (8am-5pm, closed Wed)
• Paste (1 star)(modern progressive Thai, 1 star) (B 4300 for tasting menu, can get ala carte for around B1,000 per dish) (12-2pm, 6-11pm daily)
• Pijiu (Chinese beer bar)
• Pizza Massilia (great pizza)
• Potong (Thai-Chinese fine dining, 20 courses B 4,500)
• R u u classic cocktails (B300-400 cocktails, chill spot)
• R-Haan (2 stars)
• Rue De Mansri (good croissant, decent coffee, nice place)
• Saep Sudjai (good Isaan dishes, especially the pork liver with toasted rice)
• Samrub Samrub Thai (private dining, some of the best food in Thailand. B 4,500 for tasting menu) 
• Saneh Jaan (1 star, old school Thai dishes)
• Savelberg (1 star, French cuisine with touch of Dutch influence) (B 4750)
• Shuu Shuu (umeshu bar)
• Siwilai Sound Club (cocktail and jazz bar) (6pm-1am, closed Mon)
• Smalls (jazz bar)
• Soei (10.30am-9.30pm, closed Sat) (fried mackerel cheeks – may need to reserve, Thai shrimp ceviche, pla goong, soft shell crab in curry powder) (can end up queueing for 1-2 hours)
• Som Tam Sida (family run Isaan restaurant)
• Somtum Der (Isaan food)
• Sorn (2 stars)
• Soufflé and me (souffle) (11am-10pm daily)
• Sra Bua (1 star)
• Sunray (bright, pastely and airy cocktail bar. Drinks B300) (6pm-12am daily)
• Table 38 (great food, need to book way in advance next time) (5-9.30pm, closed Mon)
• Tapas Music Bar (modern tapas)
• Teens of Thailand (cocktail bar, gin-focused)
• Thaipioka (cocktails influenced by Thai flavours, B350) (7pm-2am daily)
• The Jam Factory (crafts, stores)
• The Rose Natural Wine Bar (small space, about 14 bottles usually. B350++ per glass, B1,600 upwards per bottle)
• The White House (great food and cocktails)
• Timo & Tintin (good coffee, gallery space)
• To More (jazz bar, nice cocktails)
• Varen (good coffee)
• Vesper (bar)
• Walden Home Cafe (good coffee, Parisian interiors)
• Wattanapanich (beef and goat soup noodles) (9am-7pm daily)

The post Bangkok, Thailand appeared first on Foodgazer.

It’s the system that’s causing my problems!

> Beast Monster Thing (Love Isn’t Love Enough) by Car Seat Headrest

Welcome back to Foodgazer, the sometime-blog, as we wind down for the year and race into the final month of what has been a crazy, chaotic, and very, very strange year. Well, for me at least. Oh, and of course, this is also a review of Ishin, the Japanese joint that has become a mainstay of Old Klang Road, long before Littlepeople and all the other new boys. In fact, they’re not far away from the 10 year mark now which is really remarkable for eateries in KL. It’s a transient town, at least for food.

But I suppose the golden question is: is Ishin still good? Well, that’s what we were dispatched to find out.

First off: it’s a gorgeous place. Tucked away along good old congested Old Klang Road, the bar section is a particularly great spot to chuckle at the poor saps stuck in the jam. But pretty much everywhere in the restaurant is very pretty. Also, the service is great AND you get a portable Mi tablet which isn’t affixed to the table. Brownie points everywhere and the meal hasn’t even begun! And yet…we’re not going to post any photos of the interiors because it really deserves to be seen in person.

But alright, alright. On to the food.

Where to start really? Take us back to the start, maybe, with the simmered iso tsubugai (RM 8/piece). Slimy in a kinda-okra way, but warm and comforting, and comes with a satisfying bite to it too. We finished it before remembering we were supposed to take photos. On to the next dish then:

The taragai cheese yaki. Sure, it’s RM78 for a half piece, but it’s very tasty. The bite is even more satisfying here. It’s chewier, more resistant to the hungry foodguzzlers’ teeth, but each chew sends a fresh wave of flavours out. Love that texture. And the cheese is quite nice too.

There was also the Chef’s special sashimi platter – generally nice stuff, and the uni was quite good too. Nothing particularly amazing about this but if you’ve a deep craving for sashimi, this will fix you up well enough.

Next, I wrote down ‘fish thang‘ in my notebook which I suppose refers to the Kasago Nitsuke (RM 88). What a treat this was. Super silky, lustrous tofu almost stole the show from the fish. I could eat blocks of that tofu, honestly. But the fish thang isn’t one to shy away from a challenge: it brought to the ring tender but firm flesh, a balanced hand on the sauce, and an overall plate that oozed with delicate precision. Loved this dish.

And then our favourite arrived. The glorious, majestic – nay, magisterial – HOKKAIDO WAGYU KATSU SAMMICH (RM 138). Boy oh boy. You know we love our beef sando. And this one featured some unapologetically, super fatty, super juicy wagyu – it honestly wouldn’t be out of place in Tokyo, and you know that’s incredibly high praise coming from us. It’s really very good.

And so the denouement began.

It was around this point that we started mulling over the impossibility of reviewing food. This wagyu sandwich was excellent. But it was excellent at that point in time. Would it be the same if we came back a month later when the batch of beef was different? What if we were in a different mood then? Or we were just not as hungry? Or had different, more unpleasant, company at the table? Or if the kitchen crew were having an off day? Would we feel the same way? Would YOU feel the same way if you get the sando at Ishin? Maybe. We hope so. But we can only hope – and that’s the inherently tricky nature of even writing about food.

Which is all to say that perhaps the glowing reviews and scathing words of disgust that we write don’t matter all that much. It doesn’t say all there is to be said about the dishes, because we each experience them in our own different ways. If there is any value to be had in them, perhaps it’s in the way it paints a picture of the overall place: it’s a promise that even if you have a bad experience at place A, we had a good one at it before and maybe one of us had the deviation from the norm but if in general we feel that it’s going in the right direction, we’ll point it out. Maybe there is some value, after all, in reviews written about places we visited months ago. I’d hope there is, because 2019 is going to see this site relaunched.

Anyway, back to Ishin. Because we weren’t done yet.

There was, for instance, the Teppanyaki duck liver with caviar (RM 118). Nice. The foie wasn’t exceptional but the ikan bilis cracker was nice and crunchy. Loved the texture on that cracker, and the caviar was nice and briny too. And then the meal wrapped up with, we were happy to find, some dipping noodles. Cold konnyaku soba (RM 30), done well, which is a rare thing to find in KL. Such a comforting, (seemingly) simple dish.

And so that’s Ishin. Good food, great service, and an even greater setting and atmosphere that actually manages to elevate the experience by quite a fair bit. They’re a mainstay for a reason – here’s to another decade!

Ishin is open daily from 12 to 3pm, and then from 6pm to 1am. They’re at 4 off, Persiaran Klang, Batu 3 3, 202, Jalan Kelang Lama (just Waze it) and can be reached at +603-7980 8228.

The post Ishin (and the end of all things) @ Old Klang Road appeared first on Foodgazer.

No bread to start proceedings, unfortunately. From what the Gazer gathered, that either comes with the chicken pate or under the ‘Extra Bread‘ option. Oh well. Foie gras au Torchon (RM 42) instead, then.

Good? Good. Very good. The foie gras itself, at least. Rich – almost opulent – and luscious. Loved it. Just wish there was more, but that’s besides the point. Brioche itself was aite (nothing great). Buttery and crispy, it was a decent enough base. The poached berry (compote?) was nice and tart without being overly sweet. Added just the right amount of tangy saccharine to lift the liver. And the pepper arugula ties everything together. The baby/pearl onion though? Bit pointless.

Look at this obscene bastard. It’s on the specials board. Didn’t work out as well as the foie gras, unfortunately. Half of the white asparagus (RM I forgot) was cold and bland. The tip of the other half was warm and well-seasoned. Problem with the seasoning perhaps. The entire dish could have done with a bit more seasoning throughout. Pesto was very nice though, probably the best element on the plate. Apart from the plate itself, which was very pretty. We asked where it was from but our question was repeatedly misunderstood so we gave up, resumed eating quietly and occasionally smelled in the wafts from the kitchen and/or the wine on the next table that smelled very peculiarly like fresh fecal matter.

Pan-seared duck breast (RM 56) was our first main of choice. The breast itself was…sadly a bit too cold. Sous vide throughout methinks, looking at the gradiation of the doneness. Good skin. Crispy. Salted and peppered (?) well. Nice fat content. Generally rather tender.

The vegetable, though, added nothing.

I just wish the breast was warmer when it was served.

The half of a king mushroom was slimy, rubbery and quite meh. Could be replaced with quite a lot of other shrooms. The pickled beetroot was really good though. Complemented the duck surprisingly well.

Oh, and the sauce was nice. Pumpkin with…curry? Turmeric? Nice rounded aftertaste. Pumpkin’s always been a good base for spices.

Now for the not-so-nice. We liked the portion size for the chicken roulade (RM 38) but not much else. The mash…pretty sure it’s some instant package thang? Tasted grainy towards the end. Very strangely grainy and powdery.

The risotto was quite pleasant. Never been a fan of barley but this was good.

But to the roulade itself: hmm. Very, very salty by itself. Like French-level salty. Like Kenji from Food Lab would be pleased salty. It was borderline overpowering and overwhelming. Shame, really. Everything else was done quite well (could do with a bit more butter perhaps?).

So! Overall impressions: generally good technique and good produce, couple of dishes miss the mark, would/could/might return. Value for money? Kinda. We paid RM90 per pax which is the starting price of a tasting menu at Sitka sooooooooooooooooooooooo

The post Topshelf @ TTDI appeared first on Foodgazer.

For the unaware, Kim was a semi-finalist in San Pellegrino Young Chef 2017 (and Malaysia’s sole representative), has worked his way up to become head chef at Sitka, and leads a young, ambitious and enviably talented team. And he’s an all-around swell guy. Sitka Studio is the tasting-menu version of Sitka’s more casual affairs and they open roughly 2-3 times a month (see their website for upcoming dates). They’re also available for private parties daily, outside of the scheduled dates.

Kim’s Sitka Takeover saw the Sitka team present a special one-day only tasting menu for the ridiculously low price of RM120++ per pax. And really, that price tag is an absolute steal given the sheer quantity of the food we got in return – let alone the quality! Don’t believe ah? Read on lor.

First out the gate and into the hatch: beef tongue katsu taco. It sounds jarring on paper, sure. But we’ve grown to trust in Sitka and they rarely disappoint. No difference here then. The tongue itself is delicious. Tender but not meltingly so, there’s still a very substantial bite to it. It’s not ashamed about being tongue-y. Perfectly salted too! The coating is light without much of a crunch – airy or otherwise – and I honestly didn’t see the point of it. Just a tad superfluous.

Katsu-ness aside, the tongue paired fantastically when layered with the rilette. Such a wonderful contrast of textures. And the taco shell was…a proper taco shell. Not wilty or soggy or overly crisp. It had a pleasing, robust elasticity to it that interplayed perfectly with the textures and tastes of the filling.

Look at that beauty. It’s kung pao lamb inside a tight, taut little yam puff package, with a dollop of cashew cream and dashes of smoked paprika. Surprisingly, the lamb itself was…just alright. And that’s from someone who generally adores lamb the gamier it gets. The smoked paprika round the outside really lifts it up though, emphasizing the more muted aspects of the meat. And that yam puff was satisfyingly crispy! The cashew cream really brings it all together though. Subtly nutty, unabashedly rich, we swept it off the plate in record time and longed for more, long after.

Yet another delicious dish? Par for the course. Burnt cabbage – and oh god, that crispy burntness is so primally delicious – with some clams and moss beurre blanc. What a sauce! Briny, savoury, faintly sweet. It brings to mind the miso umami of the Wild Beer Billionaire. This one deserves a spot on the regular menu. Let the people eat cabbage!

10 plates of food with so many standouts…like this one right here! The wagyu brisket char siew has a ridiculously good charred crust that’s been burnt in the most beautiful way. Biting into this beauty feels like crunching down into the essence of smokiness without any acrid bitterness or over-burnt charcoal. It feels like how I imagine our primordial originators felt when cooking their captured prey.

And that charred skin isn’t overly sweet and sticky either! Bite in further and you begin to sink slowly into the warm, tender, fat-rich flesh that gives way with minimal pushback. It just…feels right to fit inside.

Oh and there’s also pickled fungus and cucumber.

This plate really drove home the importance of ingredients: the steamed market prawns were not as springy and succulent as we would have liked. There was a redeeming feature though. That chili crab pomodoro was very tasty.

Fish and chicken are hard to get right when eating out, so we approached the roast mackerel in banana leaf with some trepidation. Unfounded worries, thankfully. The flesh was springy and firm. The coconut kerabu was lustworthy – tangy and spicy, with the coconut flesh so bouncy and substantial that we almost mistook it for cuttlefish. Okay, yeah, we did mistake it for cuttlefish.

AND the sambal puree was amazing too, god damn. Tangy and spicy, like a condensed, concentrated version of sambal. Only gripe? More pureed sambal please. And put this on the regular menu!

It’s just rice, right?

Well, (1) it’s conpoy and scallop rice, and (2) it’s almost groan-inducingly good.

First off, the rice isn’t soft and clumpy. It’s not overly hard and dry either. It’s in that sweet spot in between that we love for non-specialized rice (stickier fare is fine for sushi and Menya Hanabi, for instance). And it’s not even seasoned with salt! It’s the conpoy that gives it the briny saltiness, we’re told. So lovely. Perhaps even better than the delicious foie gras fried rice from Torii next door.

Passion e Sentimento: sweet, faintly mineral, jammy mouthfeel with a blackcurrant-like finish, other words to describe it that we are unable to furnish as Foodgazer is an uncivilized child who does not partake in liberal consumption of wine.

Stupid custard bun, how are you so tasty?

And it really is nothing short of delicious. Look at that ample, liberally, generously grated foie gras on top. Right on top of the best damn custard buns I’ve ever have.

The crust? Perfect. The filling? Oozing, hot custard. And all the seemingly straightforward components come together for an eruption of pleasure that spits and snarls inside the mouth. What a treat. What a delicious, delicate treat.

Plus it was a perfect opportunity for Kim to show off his remarkable care for cuisine and emphasis on hospitality. One of our dinner party had a misfiring custard bun that dribbled instead of oozed. Kim swept in like a guardian bun-angel and brought us fresh replacements. Thank you, sir. Bless your kind soul. Can I get more please, sir.

Second in our round of 3 desserts was the lemongrass jelly, aloe vera and calamansi – a pleasing palate cleanser that was deliciously cool and chilled, with a sparkling burst of citrus. Perfect transition from the custard bun. And the perfect way to end the night, really.

Except there was one more:

In with the last plate: roti cannelloni, burnt cream, mango. Interesting idea but execution-wise, it felt almost like a less rich version of the custard bun. And we had some gripes about the sequence of the plates. This would be a good starter dessert. Following this with the stellar custard bun, and finishing with the palate cleanser would have been a very nice dessert note to end on.

But it’s hard to complain too much. We got away with bargain of the year for that entry price (RM120++) and sampled lots and lots of tasty creations from Sitka’s kitchen (always a good thing).

And the post on Sitka’s menu proper is on its way soon, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, see you on Instagram where we IG-story religiously and are always up for a chat.

Sitka is located at 8-5, Jalan Batai, Plaza Batai, Bukit Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur. It’s open everyday from 11am to 11pm though we recommend going at night in a group to share plates. Call ahead (03-2011 1117) for reservations, particularly on Fridays and weekends.

The post Sitka @ Plaza Batai (Kim’s Sitka Takeover) appeared first on Foodgazer.

Let’s get it out of the way first: Palillos deserves to be in the conversation for top 3 yakitori joints in KL alongside Torii and Sumika. Sure, we’re only basing that off of two visits – one on the house (many thanks to the gracious hosts and the inexhaustible supply of skewers) and one on our overextended credit card – but we’ve never been shy of making bold, often premature, claims. And to qualify the proclamation, there are a number of other yakitori spots on our To-Eat list (Kushiyaki Kuni, Toritama, Toridoki etc). For now though, it’s on to Palillos!

And you’ll find Palillos at the top of a stairwell, wedged between Family Mart and Pinchos (owned by the same people behind Palillos). It’s in that nefarious realm of Changkat, just down the hill from Bijan, Nerovivo and Bottega (bless their cold cuts and cheeses and dried pastas).

No night is complete without a drink, as we often slur to ourselves, and so we pre-emptively began the journey to completion with a few of them. There’s the highball (RM23), which is seeing a bit more airtime around the Klang Valley. Palillos’ version is alright. The whisky is fairly muted. There’s a mild, almost meek, lemon-ess enveloping the drink, a good contrast to the overly citrusy renditions of some spots. Highballs always make us long for an old fashioned though, which makes us long for a whisky on the rocks, which…anyway, moving on to the yuzu fizz (RM29).

And if you think the highball is getting its time in the limelight, what about yuzu? Good heavens. It’s everywhere! Dessert Bar by Stanley Choong has a number of yuzu pieces, there’s the yuzu ice cream at Oribe (our pal Jonathan reviews it on Youtube here), and you’re more likely to find yuzu than a rice bowl nowadays. Potent reminder of that here: the yuzu kicks through immediately. It’s nicer than the highball. I was still drinking when the food started arriving and the food kept coming in batches, wave after endless wave, until I staggered off in submission, texted the girl I was seeing up until that point, and stumbled back for more food.

Boquerones are, Google informs us, fresh anchovies that are typically marinated in vinegar and olive oil. We had them with roasted capsicum, some ginger and, uh, sushi-ish rice. Initial misgivings quickly dissipated, echoing the dish itself. The initial ginger note, see, is very strong. It sizzles and bites the tongue. But after that sharp initial whip, it quickly dissipates, giving way to the quiet richness of the anchovies on the bed of rice.

Then came another off-menu item: fuet, a Catalan cured meat. Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy. It’s a thick sausage dotted with pockets of pork fat that make for a very nice textural bite indeed. It’s more savoury and not as sweet as its Chinese counterpart lap cheong, and that’s a good thing in our books. Oh, and the fuet goes on top of some nice crusty bread with tomato rubbed on it. Excellent.

The Mizuna salad (RM24) is a bit of a misstep though. See those red bits on top? That’s serrano ham, toasted until crispy. Sounds good on blog-paper but we found them to be overly toasted in person, to the point where it’s hard to taste the actual flavour of the ham. All that’s left is the texture. And it sits on a bed of kaiwara sprouts, shocked in ice water, for a very crisp finish that echoes the texture of the ham rather than complements it. We quite like the sprouts and the ponzu dressing, but the serrano ham feels like a waste.

The ceviche (RM27) fares better. The yuzu returns as a marinade this time. The prawns are robust. The octopus has a nice bite to it but there’s not much flavour to it (although, keep an eye out for the reappearance of the octopus later in this post). It’s all about the fish here – lovely texture, lovely taste. And the ceviche as a whole was surprisingly satisfying, given that some places can go overboard with the acidity and sourness.

The grilled whole eggplant costs RM15 and is worth every single 5-sen. There’s pine nuts, olive oil, soy sauce, bonito flakes, all coming together for a deft offering that immediately brings to mind Sumika’s version. It’s soft inside with a nice rich umami depth, but it never dissolves into that sticky-mulchy territory that poorly cooked eggplants fall into.

Chicken liver pate (RM 19) is another standout item (and we haven’t even reached the skewers section yet). The smell is intoxicating. It’s rich without being as funky as other spots (cough cough Hello by Kitchen Mafia), and it blooms even more as it slowly warms. Such a lovely buttery richness throughout too. Could there perhaps be some fat inside? And good lord, that texture! It’s almost like a jelly in its smoothness, but it lacks the slimy gloopiness of actual jelly. Instead, it’s thick, savoury, and immensely satisfying. Smear it over the slices of toast and revel.

Alright, folks, it’s skewer time! Eryngii mushroom is up first and lord does this set the tone. So juicy inside! And no trace of that slimy gunk you sometimes get with fungi. Fresh with a touch of funk, like RHCP right after Frusciante returned.

Then there’s the good old staple, chicken skin (RM6). It’s a sort of litmus test for the amount of work that the kitchen is willing to put in, and Palillos easily passes. It’s crisp, fatty, almost like an essence of chicken concentrated into a crackling package.

Oh, and the sauce here is fantastic. Spicy, savoury, salty, perfect. Dip (and double dip) liberally. Get refills.

Also…I’ve never particularly liked rice balls to be honest but if you do, this one is pretty good I guess. There’s a crisp exterior with butter melting on top. It’s oozy inside. It’s RM9.

But what I do love is garlic. I really, really love garlic. And to this day my favourite way to cook them has to be slow-roasted in an oven, until it crisps and blackens on the outside and purees on the inside. Grilled garlic (RM4) is a close second though. Think of it as a milder version of the intense oven-roasted bulbs. It awakens the nose. It opens up the palate. It gets you ready for the next wave of skewers.

And on to the soft bones (RM6). There’s less of a char on these than at Sumika but yeah the flavour is there. Sumika is more focused on the crunchy texture but that’s not to say these are shrinking violets in the crunch department. Give them a shot, especially if you love soft bones like we do.

And we take a brief sojourn away from the skewers for this taco-thing: wasabi on grilled pork (lovely with the perfect ratio of rich, melting fat to succulent meat) on rice on leaf on seaweed. Bundle, pop in, knock back some sake, ruminate (should I get that suit on sale at COS? Or should I sell my wardrobe to fund a Dries Van Noten blazer?), mock Rupi Kaur on Facebook, look up to see more skewers. Skewers like the grilled scamorza:

Smoked cheese, says the menu. Smoked cheese with truffle oil for RM11. That’s one way of putting it. We’d probably go for something like “TRY THIS NOW” because this is a semi-soft smoked curd cheese (Scamorza!) with a fantastic springy bite, and a meaty, almost savoury finish. It’s decadent. It’s lovely. It’s finished way too quickly and we stare longingly at the bare skewers after we’ve slid their skewed-content into our eager mouths.

The chicken hearts (RM 4) arrive. We pop them in, write “lovely” on our Foodgazer notebook, and continue pining for the Scamorza.

And often we
consume
those we love
– not Rupi Kaur

Baby potatoes on skewers next, with bravas sauce (RM4). Fantastically crisp skin without being overly fried or burnt. Crispy like the best baked potatoes. Inside, to our surprise, it’s not starchy or thick and fluffy. Instead, it’s soft, tender, clean. The bravas sauce is nice too (not quite Marta’s Kitchen but it does the job).

And another detour off menu – pork front hock, mirin, vinegar, salt and pepper. Fatty. Dripping with fat. The fat bursts in the mouth. Lovely taste but it verges on being too peppery as they went a bit overboard to compensate for the fattiness. Could legitimately see this going on the menu after a bit of fine-tuning though: would be a great way to end the week eh?

I can see this being the main draw for some. It’s the iberico pork belly with wasabi (RM10). The meat is sublime when eaten right off the grill. It’s lustrous, luxurious, almost dangerously sensuous in the mouth. There’s a smokiness that lingers in the nose as you bite through the crisp browned exterior, down into the luscious, thick, coating fattiness. I mean that fat content is just insane. It’s borderline perverse. I let out an involuntary guttural groan then quickly peek around the table to see if anyone caught me in the throes of foodgasm. Safe this time. Everyone’s eyes are closed, heads thrown back. I go in for another bite. You see that wasabi on top, yes? It’s smeared and smattered and it cuts gently through the fat in throbbing layers.

And yes, I know that sounds bizarre and overblown but that’s the best way to describe the experience. It pulses in the mouth. You taste smoke, then fat, then the nasal heat of wasabi, then fat, then it repeats in gentle pulses.

But we’re not done yet.

In come the jamon-wrapped prawns (RM9), and what a delight they are. Plump, relatively huge, and juicy as anything. The smokiness and the ham give the body a perfect roundness, rather like how the sweetness of mantis prawns are juxtaposed by the charcoal smokiness of a CKT.

The pork neck (RM5) is next. It’s more chewy than the belly. It’s less fatty. There’s more meat to it. The onion adds a bit of light sweetness. It’s good, not great. It’s there for variation and choice.

Ah, onions (RM10). Bit of salt. Some sesame oil. And that grill brings it together into a delectable parcel – it’s soft and sweet while retaining a crunch you wouldn’t get with its caramelized counterpart. Pretty crazy how sweet this gets though.

Nothing says Yakitori quite like chicken wings, which is a bit surprising when you consider how difficult it is to pull them off. The ones here (RM14) were perfect on the first visit. Soft, almost creamy inside, with gloriously crisped skin. On the second visit though, they were overseasoned. And come to think of it, we’ve had up and down experiences with the chicken wings at Torii (underseasoned during the latest visit and could be crispier), at Maruhi Sakaba (touch underseasoned) and even at Sumika (seasoning on point but the flesh isn’t as luxurious as Palillos’).

You can get the skewer version of the Spanish octopus (RM19) or you can go all out with a whole leg/tentacle for RM75. Look at it. Just look at it.

It’s creamy, it’s rich, it’s soft on the inside. And on the outside there’s a fantastic, deep smokiness from the grill and from the pimenton paprika. It pairs amazingly well with the house red we had.

Now bear in mind that it has a bit more bite to it than the rendition at Marta’s Kitchen, which I wouldn’t say is a negative attribute in any way. If anything, it makes it fit better within the conceit of Spanish Yakitori.

Dates, bacon, blue cheese. It assaults the nostrils as soon as it plops down on the table, with a thick, unyielding pungency. Inside: oozing hot, melty, gooey cheese bursting against ripe sweet dates.

You’d think at this point there’s not much Palillos can pull out to further impress us. And that’s precisely when they whipped this beauty out: grilled iberico short loin (RM53) served with shishito. Salt is cracked on top. Thick, thick, thick fattiness reminiscent of an Old Engine Oil beer in terms of mouthfeel – it coats the mouth and rolls around the more you bite in and swallow. It’s incredibly juicy and oily and we don’t know where one ends and the other begins. Then there’s the peppers – the bitterness still tingles the tip of the tongue but the heat is very mild. It acts as a sort of astringent juxaposition that undercuts the fattiness of the pork.

The chorizo and deep-fried bread was – surprise – also great. Interestingly enough, the chorizo itself is alright. It’s, well, chorizo. Pardon the sacrilege but I’ve never had particularly noteworthy chorizo. The bread though…what is this sorcery? They tell us it’s just their usual bread drizzled with olive oil then grilled together with the chorizo. And so I repeat: what is this sorcery? The texture is amazing. It’s almost like a cookie dough in its chewiness and resistance, but the elasticity and bite remind us, for a brief moment, of the cheese curds in a poutine.

Oh and we had some Baines Pacharan (not pictured) Spanish liquer. Lots of berry sweetness on the notes, with some stinging anise notes at the end once the body dissipates. Very sweet. Pairs well with the fattier skewers.

Out come the desserts. This one is from Pinchos though, not Palillos – it’s a chocolate mousse (lovely texture and mouthfeel, almost gelato-like) on top of crispy biscuits. And of course, sea salt is always a great complement for good chocolate. Avid IG followers will know we aren’t the biggest dessert fans but we’ll make an exception for this beauty.

And we ended the night on another sweet note: RM6 grilled marshmallows with strawberries for the table. Yeah, I know, it looks too sweet. I expected an overwhelming cloying sweetness, but shame on me for doubting Palillos, I guess. It’s just the perfect level for a satisfying end to a satisfying night. It made us think of better things and better times, of fairytale endings from childhoods past, of school outings and holidays before we fell into the cycle of capitalistic wage-slavery. We melted marshmallows over open fires then, at Templar’s Park and camp sites, and waited to grow old. And maybe these little grilled pillows remind us of those fluffier times. Maybe.

And that’s all for now, folks. Go and try Palillos.

Palillos is open from 5.30pm to 1am on Mondays to Thursdays and 5.30pm to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. They’re closed on Sundays. Give them a call at +603-2110 5051 to make a reservation. 

Search for their location on Waze/Google Maps or head over to the small stairwell in between Pinchos and Family Mart.

The post Palillos (Spanish Yakitori: best yakitori?) appeared first on Foodgazer.

Come here for the cheesecake and stay for the cheesecake. Also, it’s quite a pretty little place to dine at. And some of the dishes may well be worth the visit.

Take the escalators up through Isetan Lot 10 where the top floor beckons with the instantly recognizable sheets of red, draping luxuriously from the ceiling. It’s a dramatic dining room. Interior impressions aside though, the first thing you’ll likely notice when reaching is the snake-like queue at The Tokyo Restaurant, home to the overwhelmingly popular 6th Avenue Cheesecake. We’ve had it before. Several times. Okay, fine, we’ve had it a lot of times both because we genuinely love it and because we are shameless gluttons. What we haven’t had before was the rest of the food at The Tokyo Restaurant, and we sought to rectify that with our latest visit and to, as one Foodgazer put it, broaden our experiences beyond that of fromagey cake.

Special thanks to TTR and particularly Deborah for hosting us!

As is tradition in Japan, we started off with a salad (editor’s note: it IS tradition there, right? Can we get this fact-checked?). And not your usual ubiquitous soggy caesar salad that’s served as limp as Caesar’s body at the end of War for the Planet of Apes. No, friends, this here is the tofu wakame seaweed salad: a refreshing mix of Japanese tofu, seaweed, katsuoboshi (bonito flakes) and salmon skin. Drizzled with roasted sesame dressing, it was a pleasantly refreshing potpourri of clean flavours to wash away the dredges of alcohol from last night. And these bonito flakes genuinely taste better than the usual fare, which is surprising since they usually aren’t particularly noteworthy in most dishes.

The main thing that stood out, though, was the controlled balance of flavours. In particular, let us consider the dressing. It really was drizzled. And after hundreds of salads (and burgers!) in Malaysia that come with a shocking flood of sauce, this was a very welcome change of pace. Being able to appropriately dress a salad is typically the sign of a measured, controlled hand. And here is a photo of one of the owners of said controlled hands, preparing our next dish. Round of applause, if you please.

Next up was a sushi roll platter (RM 38), featuring a couple of mini roll pieces of, uh, sushi. There was, for instance, the unagi with cream cheese inside. Sure, the unagi isn’t Makoto-level, but it’s a good deal tastier than the average ones around. And the combination with cream cheese is brilliant. The umami meatiness and texture of the unagi is accentuated and complemented with a rich creaminess for a lovely little treat.

The California roll was a California roll (shoutout to Canada). The ikura roll was quite tasty though! I mean, look at that ikura, all plump and ready to explode. We obliged with eager bites that popped the delicate membranes and released the oozes of briny egg-matter or whatever it is these lovely orbs hold within.

Good old lamb. Growing up, I had minimal interaction with other human beings and it was only after the birth and maturing of Foodgazer that I realized there’s an incredibly big group of people out there who just do not like lamb at all. It smells, they say. It’s gamey. It’s gristly. The fat coagulates quickly and becomes a disgusting lip balm when cold. Strongly-flavoured meat is better suited for the peasants. And the list of complaints inevitably goes on and on as they attempt to rationalize the non-consumption of lamb. All well and good, but we fortunately do not have such discriminatory tastebuds. And as such, we gobbled down the “grilled lamb chop saikyo miso style” (RM 50) and tongue-wiped the plate clean afterwards.

As you may be able to make out from the shoddy photo above, there was some lovely caramelization on the lamb. The meat within was cooked medium-well, the fat was well rendered and there was a caramelized glaze glistening on the outside. Then we dipped into the green sauce and were pleasantly surprised by the burst of spice that handily cut through the fat and sent the tastebuds tingling ever so slightly. We were even more surprised to find that the sauce wasn’t supposed to be served with the lamb (as we were informed by the indomitable Deborah who somehow managed to provide us with very attentive service, whilst simultaneously handling a very-packed restaurant) and that it later popped up again with the beef omurice. It was a pleasant surprise though. That sauce works with the lamb, fam.

Oh boy. Look at that pretty pile of dried paprika on top. And you can’t quite see it from these shots but there are some perfectly crisp vegetables right underneath that made us very happy indeed. The chicken karaage itself was pleasant enough without being noteworthy. It did, however, provide a nice, light change of pace between the grilled lambo and…

…the BEEF OMURICE. Omelet. Beef curry. Rice. And the return of that spicy-but-not-too-spicy green chili sauce which rounded everything out with a depth and pleasing undercurrent of warmth. The curry was alright. The default plate is just the curry rice without the omelet but trust us when we say you absolutely have to add the egg on. Mandatory upsell, this (RM 22 + RM 8). It was wondrously fluffy, soft, and swirled; it existed in that uncertain-state of cooked well and not-quite cooked, and we enjoyed it tremendously.

In fact, this Foodgazer returned on a separate day with REDACTED to order the eggu a la carte but to our surprise it wasn’t quite the same. Almost like it needed to be paired with the curry rice and wasn’t made to exist separately.

For dessert, we had the fruits kakigori. Marinated fruit bits, some ginger, mint and mochi were topped with a sorbet. Shoutout to the strawberries which were delicate and delicious. And the mochi was lovely. I mean mochi generally is (how can you not love that bouncy chewy pillowy texture?) but this was especially pleasurable. Decent dessert overall. But it’s not the cheesecake, of course.

And, yeah, we had the cheesecake again.

And again.

Yes, it’s good. That’s not that much that needs to be said about it, really. Give it a shot yourself. Share it with someone. Gripe about work, talk about your travel plans, say the new Bojack season is just out and you’ve already marathoned it, say you don’t understand what you did wrong and why you weren’t good enough and why you couldn’t piece the words together to make her stay just a little longer, and debate the existential necessity of that dollop of cream at the tip of the cake (pictured above). I think it’s essential, frankly. It’s a light, airy fresh cream that doesn’t burst with artificial sweetness. BUT I do think it needs to be placed on the other end. On the thick butt of the cake, you’d get the firmer part of the cheesecake (with the slight bite and dryness as it approaches the burnt end) juxtaposed against the delicate softness of the cream. That’s probably the best way to pair them.

But it does look better this way. So maybe it matters more how it looks from the outside, eh?

Till we meet again, RM 18 cheesecake slice. Keep on haunting our dreams.

The Tokyo Restaurant can be found inside Isetan Lot 10, Bukit Bintang. Head up to the top floor (make a pit stop along the way to touch those incredibly fluffy towels on the 2nd floor). They’re open from 11am to 11pm every day. You can make reservations online or call them at +603-2119 2622.

The post The Tokyo Restaurant @ Isetan Lot 10 appeared first on Foodgazer.

Most classic pairings we see nowadays are rooted in the proximity of local ingredients to each other. Looking to Europe as an example, lamb has long been the staple meat of many of the major wine regions (see: Bordeaux, Greece, Rioja etc). This concept of terroir, the belief that the land itself imparts its characteristics onto the produce, means these classic pairings were more of what landed on the table from the day’s harvest or trip to the market. The rationale here being what grows together would probably taste good together.

So the Foodgazers found themselves in Persiaran Ampang on a Thursday night once again, this time for a wine tasting. Sapore is a relative newcomer among the established eateries on the street, specialising in Mediterranean fare with a focus on the Italian. This comes as no surprise as both Federico (who helms the kitchen) and Fabio (front of house) hail from Europe’s big boot. We were lucky enough to attend their inaugural wine night (2nd Thursday of every month), on which the focus was on the long term relationship between Italy’s cheese and wine.

First up, a thick slice of Parmigiano Reggiano (also known as Parmesan) arrives on the table. Hailing from the region of Reggio Emilia, the cheese has oft been called the King of Cheeses. A hard, dry cheese which is aged for a minimum of two years, we were served a slice from the 32 month old specimen on top of a pear slice. As one of the cheeses containing the highest concentration of glutamates (natural MSG), the crumbly texture gives way to a huge umami bomb. Instructed to crumble the cheese with our hands, we were taken aback by the sheer nutty savouriness as it melted slowly in the mouth. The pear slice delicately balanced the palate, cutting through the fat with its gentle acidity and fruitiness.

Paired with a glass of Villa Sandi Prosecco, a sparkling wine from Venice, the fresh fruity dryness of the wine was a great pairing for the cheese. Very floral on the nose with bites of crisp pear and notes of lemon on the finish which cut through the fatty richness of the Parmigiano. Even more interesting was the interplay between the cheese crystals and the wine on the tongue as they popped and fizzled with a bubbly effervescence, leaving the palate clean. Lovely stuff.

And so we move onto softer things with this washed-rind cheese from Val Tallegio. The aroma from this one was intoxicating, with a pungent barnyard earthiness arresting the senses. The unctuous (what a word), gooey texture of the cheese belied a creamy sweetness with just a hint of truffle towards the end. Accompanied by an apple marmalade whose sweetness further lifted the earthy notes. One of the favourites of the night.

The accompaniment this time a summery Tuscan white wine, straw-coloured with a heady floral bouquet. On the palate, bites of lemony apple finishing with a very curious almond twist. A very interesting flavour profile, especially that whiff of almonds at the end which matched the lingering aftertaste of the taleggio like a firm handshake between old friends. Spot on.

Pecorino refers to cheeses made from sheep’s milk, a famed example being  Pecorino Romano, the key ingredient in Roman pastas like carbonara or cacio e pepe. For our 3rd course of the night we were served its Tuscan cousin, a firm-textured ewe’s milk cheese. Milder than its more illustrious Roman counterpart, it still has that herbaceous, grassy aroma associated with sheep cheeses with a soft nutty flavour. The grapes here provided a good shot of acid to the proceedings and that rich walnut pesto could easily be eaten with a hearty bowl of pasta. Possibly the most interesting pairing of food ingredients that night.

Ah, Chianti. Made infamous by one Hannibal Lecter regarding its good pairing with liver and fava beans in Silence of the Lambs (excellent film and acting masterclass). A medium-bodied, high acid red wine that opens up with a nose full of red fruit. What follows is a dry flavour profile dominated by plum and dark fruit that lingers on the tongue. A great burst of grape that balances out the rich grassy flavours of the cheese. Easy drinking.

Blue cheeses are like the durian of the cheese world. To most Asians, the almost rotten pungency of the cheese is an acquired taste, dividing opinions like the King of Fruits. Fortunately, unlike durian, I love my blue cheese. This Italian gorgonzola doesn’t quite assault the senses with the same aggression as Roquefort or Stilton, but is still full of that deep, dark funk that consumes the senses. The richness is offset by the tart dried plums and the honey a soothing balm for a now well-exercised tongue. Chief Foodgazer found the honey here overly sweet but I mopped up the whole piece gladly.

A heavyweight cheese calls for a heavyweight wine and thus the final pairing was this strong Sicilian red. Full-bodied, a bit spicy on the nose with very dark fruit and vanilla tones. The palate opens up to more dark fruit, plums, hints of tobacco and vanilla spice. Smooth finish with a slight bitter aftertaste that helps cut through the sweet honey glaze. A good book-end to the pairings.

Complimentary house-made foccacia was served throughout. Light and airy with sundried tomatoes.

A bowl of aglio olio capped off the night, once again on the house. The spaghetti was perfectly al-dente and the aroma of garlic and olive oil was a great send-off. Perhaps a touch light on the salt to balance out all the cheesiness we endured.

All in all, a thoroughly entertaining affair with some quality Italian produce on display. Service was warm, attentive and given an intimate touch with the personal anecdotes from both Chef Federico and Fabio who explained each pairing in detail. Priced at RM108, great value to be had. For those interested in any forthcoming wine events at Sapore, they will be having a Spanish themed event which you can follow here as well as a night of Puglian cuisine. Till next time, the Foodgazers bid you arrivederci.

Sapore
18 Persiaran Ampang,
Off Jalan Ampang,
Kuala Lumpur
Daily, 2pm-1130pm
Tel: 03-4266-6362

The post When the cheese is divine and so is the wine – that’s Sapore appeared first on Foodgazer.

Looks dingy but don’t be fooled – prepare yourself for some culinary delights here. Sebastian’s brings South America to Malaysia in a delicious manner, and it’s one of our favourite little finds.

Sebastian’s sits unassumingly down the row from the more famous occupants of Persiaran Ampang. The facade is a glass and wood affair, inviting patrons to look beyond the rather modest surface. Having arrived a little before 7 in the evening on a Thursday, the shutters were half-closed. A quick query to the waitress inside informed us that Sebastian’s operates a rather interesting set of opening hours from 7pm to 3am. After a short wait, we finally step inside.

The first impressions of the decor might strike one as dingy, what with the narrow layout. All that soon fades as a vague comfort replaces our initial misgivings. A wood-paneled bar is the centrepiece and base of operations, regulars sitting up familiarly against it. For most part, the decor stays relatively in line with the facade, lending the bar a rustic air. Hints of Latin America dot the otherwise old-timey landscape. A Venezuelan flag hangs in the corner above from a piano in a show of patriotism. The left wall is a display of contemporary art, all bold brush patterns and vivid colours. Eccentric pieces of art catch the eye as it pours over the landscape. The contrast somehow meshes together old and new, giving a quirky personality to the place. Jazzy tunes from South America play over the speaker, with the occasional diversion into more rock-n-roll territory.

Sebastian’s is the brainchild of 3 Venezuelan brothers: the eponymous head honcho and founder, Sebastian; Memo, bartender and front-of-house; and Vladimir, the man in the kitchen. Memo approaches our table with the menu. Thursday, he tells us, is Empanada Night. For those who have not had the pleasure of eating these delicious things, Empanadas are pretty much the Latin cousin of the curry puff with crusts made from either wheat, plantain, cassava or corn. Every Thursday, Venezuelan celebrity chef Tamara Rodriguez plans a gastronomic trek across South America through regional varieties of stuffed pastry. The journey, may I say, is quite exhilarating.

These are not your auntie’s curry puffs. A basket of 5 empanadas lands on our table, each an ambassador of a South American locale. Tamara rotates the selection week to week, so one can always find a different diplomat to schmooze with. Their entourage comes in the form of a trio of dipping sauces: a creamy avacado mayonnaise, a peanut sauce with a great textural crunch (our personal fave) and a chili oil like sauce, intense in flavour.

Firstly, we start with the Argentinean empanada. Filled with ground beef, boiled egg and olive, the earthy beefiness and umami is tempered well by the heat of the chilli oil. Colombia follows in the form of a cassava-based crust, starchy with a hint of sweet, in which a molten centre of cheese hides. Chef Tamara tells us that traditionally they would use a Colombian queso instead of the standard cheeses. Nonetheless, it is excellent. Next up, Venezuela is all chicken and avacado mayo, a creamy savoury delight. Not to be outdone, Peru gives us a stunner of aji di gallina and tiger’s milk, a blend of traditional Peruvian chicken stew and the milky citrus marinade used in ceviche. Rounding things off, we return to Argentina, where the cheekily named Maradonna greets us in a cheesy pool of corn and brisket. Wonderful, heart-warming wholesome food.

A beverage related aside: The house pouring for the night is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. Excellent value at RM21 for a generous glass, full bodied with a slight hint of acidity. Easy on the palate with a surprising complexity, we could have had a bottle. By we, I mean me and my potential descent into full-on alcoholism. But I digress.

The regular menu is concise, with an offering of bar snacks and appetisers followed by about a half-dozen mains. The pork loin with raspberry sauce catches our eye. As does the stingray lasagna, which is no combination we’ve ever heard of, making it a must order. Alas, as the kitchen are in the midst of rolling out a new menu, both were out of stock.

Instead, this traditional Venezuelan dish filled the void. A ubiquitous rice and beans dish some consider the national dish of Venezuela, this was served with pulled beef and a side of fried plantains (tajadas). The rice itself is excellent, each grain separate with a good al-dente bite. Butter coats each grain, rendering it a sinful, pillowy comfort. Black beans come well-cooked, not too mushy, with an earthiness to bring you back down from the buttery ecstasy. But, the star of the dish is clearly the fried plantains. There’s just something in the frying process that extracts such an intense savoury sweetness from the fruit, an utterly beguiling and addictive snack. Shame they aren’t offered as a bar snack. Unfortunately, the beef while well-seasoned was dry, almost crying out for an extra sauce element.

And onto the next one! A lightly battered white fish was excellently cooked, the flesh still moist and flaky. Accompanied again by that pillowy heaven of rice (take that, mediocre briyani everywhere) this time with a fresh salad providing counterpoint. The fresh, bright juiciness of the tomatoes lifted the salad even higher. But, let’s get to the point: this dish is all about that sauce. Ah, the sauce. Look at how it glistens. Pieces of shrimp and mussels lay atop the fish, almost like a garnish, no doubt used to infuse the sauce with its deep, briny oceanic flavour. The silken, velvety texture is enough to make one enact a musical rendition of the Little Mermaid. Leftover rice from the Pabellon provided a perfect vehicle for mopping up the last dregs of this intense liquid. Delicious.

We skipped dessert, mostly due to us feeling like we were in our third trimester.

All in all, Persiaran Ampang may have the heavyweights like La Risata, Las Carretas and the more recent addition of Flint but overlook Sebastian’s at your own risk. A cozy little bar where you can walk in for a quiet drink or five with a friend accompanied by some of the brave flavours of South America. Yes, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the regular old Italian favourites or Mexican standards. But to skip out on a relative rarity in Malaysian’s restaurant scene? It’s your loss, mi pana.

Sebastian’s Gastro Bar
32, Persiaran Ampang Hilir,
Taman U Thant 55000
Kuala Lumpur

Opening hours: 7pm to 3am daily

P.S. Want to see our latest on-the-go updates and preview of places before our full blog posts go up? Follow us on Instagram at @foodgazerrr or on our Facebook page! 

The post Sebastian’s Gastro Bar – Venezuelan Persuasion appeared first on Foodgazer.

As at 22 Oct 2017, Chocha Foodstore is a mixed bag of a cafe. Some dishes were good the last time we tried them (especially the cincalok fried chicken and the cold brewed tea) but others lacked seasoning and spark…and the eye-watering prices added insult to the injury. There’s a neat little bar on top though (Botak Liquor Bar in its current iteration) and it’s one of the prettiest cafes in KL.

Chocha is a new resto-cafe-bar a couple of doors down from PS 150 and Merchant’s Lane that has quickly become one of my favourite places in KL (interior-wise). Here’s why.

I’m not a huge fan of tea. I get my caffeine fix from coffee. But a good tea brew still excites me in ways coffee just can’t – teas tend to span a much more diverse (and less subtle!) range of flavours. At Chocha, they serve everything from lapsang souchong (deliciously smoky with a deep, mellow body) to dong ding jin xuan (a fresh, fruity oolong) to a cold brew version of dong ding oolong. And they’re all fantastic. The tea is reason enough to visit this beautiful eatery that sits in a restored, reclaimed former brothel. There are herbs and plants everywhere, high ceilings, bare brick walls, the whole works. It’s a gorgeous, contemplative place well matched by the equally slow pace of tea-drinking. Relative to coffee, that is.

The food itself is a bit of a toss-up at the moment. While they’re tweaking the menu and getting the kitchen in gear (for August, they’ll be closing at 6pm instead of 9pm), some of the dishes don’t quite hit the mark. Case in point, the “Chinese pesto flat noodle” below:

It sounds delicious on the menu. Housemade noodle, ulam pesto (with ulam partially picked from the garden), charred capsicum, semi-dried tomato, peanut, sesame seed. Shades of Sitka, eh?

Taste-wise though, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. It’s hard to make out the pesto at all, the capsicums are soggy and wilted instead of crisp and charred, and the peanuts and sesame seed compound a very, very dry dish. Without the tea and water at the table, it would’ve been pretty hard to get this entire plate down.

The base of the dish, the housemade noodles themselves, are good. They’re promising. And Chocha‘s kitchen clearly knows that, since they’ve spun it out into 3 of the 5 main dishes on the menu. It’s pan mee with a satisfying bite, a rough tumbled sheen to an already rough hawker food that has polished itself down through the years to the point where the typical hawker store dishes out factory-rolled noodles while the new Chocha labours away in the methods of old. But that’s part of the shtick, isn’t it? This is locavorism and Pollan homecooking and the narrative of conscious consumerism, hand-pulled and instafiltered through 20-something influencers to 20-something upper middle class Malaysians.

Side-rant aside, it’s a pity that Chocha have yet to do something more interesting with what they have. The ulam pesto tasted pretty great too…the little of it that I managed to taste at all. It’s ultimately a plate that left me wishing they spent a bit more time on fine-tuning it, especially given the price (RM20).

The aglio olio with roast duck breast fared slightly better, with a rather tasty spiced duck confit pared with garlic confit, thai basil and lemongrass. Unfortunately, the last 3 ingredients were again almost entirely missing from the taste profile. Although it did remind me to oven-roast some garlic for my pasta next time.

Oh, and the duck was alright. But do you know Ah Bong’s Italian in Singapore? Yeah, yeah, I’ll write about it next time – all you need to know for now is they serve stunning food for cheap and their duck confit is sublime.

Back to Chocha though, it’s not all doom and gloom. Their Cincalok fried chicken with summer salsa is as advertised. The salsa is alright. The house tomato chutney is incredible. And the chicken itself is even better.

Druggists Beer Bar in Singapore serves a delectable Har Cheong Gai (prawn paste chicken) to go with their top-tier beer. Chocha‘s Cincalok fried chicken comes across as Malaysia’s formidable equivalent. It’s a dish of pure, concentrated bliss. The chicken is juicy, succulent and has the subtle salty briny taste of cincalok deeply infused, the skin is satisfyingly crunchy and crispy without being overly battered, and that homemade tomato chutney brings it to another level. We can only hope that the upcoming bar dishes out some top notch craft beers to go with this beauty (though we hear it may be a wine bar).

In short, go for the fried chicken and the tea. They’re some of the best in town. And hey, maybe the rest of the dishes will get better as they tweak the recipes. We’re certainly going to keep trying until they do. Also, who’s we? I’m alone as fuck ayyy lmaooo

KL isn’t exactly the prettiest of cities nowadays. Chocha and their ilk are doing their best to slowly change that. Give them a helping hand.

Chocha Foodstore

The post Chocha @ Chinatown – Bar, food, tea, (former) brothel appeared first on Foodgazer.