Tuesday, December 29, 2009

All the Fats-tivities

It's been awhile since the last post. Not that I've stopped eating or lost interest in this activity...DEFINITELY NOT! In fact, been BUSY eating too much and collecting those food pictures that I so dread sorting through them. But, told myself that good things must be shared and finally managed to drag that growing-fat-ass of mine for an update.

The festive season is such a love-hate thing. LOVE because of the company and the FOOD, HATE because you start getting lazy, missing gym sessions, eating more and giving excuses that you'll start dieting (hate hate HATE).

On the bright side, you can be a total ignorant, barbaric b***h and stuff your face silly with good food and
drink like a tanker (my BFF-wong sing yee) and no one will judge you. SUPER AWESOME....


ehehe..couldn't resist doing that...


Christmas eve dinner menu: Roast turkey from Victoria Station,
Devils Eggs, Mash, Rosemary & Garlic Bread to dip in Oil & Vinegar,

Pasta salad, Stuffed Ground Beef Bell Peppers & Greens on the side.


The turkey was humongou-loid! With 6 of us, we only managed to chomp down a little less than half of it. Taste? Mmm...actually, of all the times I've had turkey, there was never once when I've gone, "WOW! Fabulous turkey!". The meat has always been a little on the tough & dry side and it doesn't easily absorb as much flavor as compared to chicken meat. Any recommendations for awesome-pawsome turkey? Would love to try! EMAIL ME!!


Turkey rear view...

The stuffing was quite good. Think it was stuffed with lots of sweet potatoes. I was totally amazed by the size of the turkey wing! Think it was almost 6 inches long!! Does the turkey fly well?? Ooopss...do they fly
at all?


Drie's very very yummy brownies

So, my friend Drie made these brownies from Jamie Oliver's FIFTEEN CHOCOLATE BROWNIE recipe. A lil' improvising here and there, and it was the most delicious brownies I've ever tasted! Beats Delicious hands down! *ahem*


This is Drie......who couldn't stop promoting her brownies..

The great food & good company wouldn't be as much fun without some good ol' christmas carols.....that came in ONE SKANKY COVER!


Must be Santa's new marketing gimmick...

Christmas day dinner was spent at Sango Japanese Restaurant at Crystal Crown Hotel. The food was.....ok. Pictures were bad cos' of overwhelming Glutton Spirit taking over.


California hand-rolls


Sashimi


Unagi & Sashimi Set


Mini Sukiyaki Hotpot- a tad bit too sweet


Cherry Blossom Ice-cream

Very interesting-sounding ice-cream. And they actually used real cherry blossoms (sakura) to make this light pink delight. Mmm...expected the taste to be something totally unexpected but it tasted just like vanilla ice-cream...

Boxing day was another pig out session. Meat galore for lunch at Tom, Dick & Harry's and wine and dine at Vintry for dinner.


Meat meat meat & MORE MEAT!

Ehhhh...don't judge from the picture. The food tastes much better than it looks here. Couldn't take a proper picture cos' the people I was with, I tell you, seemed like they haven't eaten days. So, no good picture for this one.


Vintry's Cheese Platter: Goat's cheese, Manchego, Another
cheese which I can't remember what it's called, Dried Apricots,
Walnuts, Raisins, Grapes & Toast.


Deep-fried Calamari with Thai Mayo

So, that pretty much sums up my 24th, 25th & 26th. Lots of eating, crazy laughters & wonderful presents! How much eating did you do?

I so need to go on a detox program now.






Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Food on the Boat

So, I had to do this restaurant review assignment for work the other day and I was thinking, 'Heck! I might as well kill two birds with one stone!" Since all the food were being displayed so nicely (extra nicely-cos it'll come in print right) and we get to try the food after that, PERFECT timing.



Walking in to Boathouse Restaurant really gives one an aura of under-the-sea cozy comfort. A big bar with an
aquarium counter-top to boast right at the front of the entrance and red-and-white checked table cloths sprawled across wooden tables, Boathouse is definitely sticking closely to its name.

Lovin' the aquarium counter-top. Check it out!

With FISHES swimming inside...How cool is that!

When I was there 'working' (won't actually call that working cos I really enjoyed myself?), chef & co-owner, Law Yen-Ni and Adelyn Lim brought me on a very enjoyable journey through their menu. Going through it, I realized that Boathouse is not just your average everyday neighborhood bar which serves the standard popcorn chicken, BLT's and fries. I was surprised that their menu actually features some really exquisite ingredients in very interesting-sounding dishes.

Maybe it was their casual ambiance that fooled me but this place really knows how to whip up a good-looking menu! So, while my fellow photographer colleague was busy taking pictures for work, I too work my way snip-snip-snapping!

First up,


1/2 dozen Oysters served with Lumpfish Caviar
Fresh oysters with a luscious amount of lumpfish caviar
incorporated
with scallion & caperbud served with lemon wedge on the rocks

Mmm....great starter to have. You know how sometimes fresh oysters give you this
metallic tang taste in your mouth? I must say, pairing the oysters with lumpfish caviar (salty), capers (sour & slightly sweet) and a few drops of lemon juice (sour with a tinge of citrus) is a truly wonderful combination. You have all the elements of taste in that gulp of oyster.

Better still, it'll get you eating
more. Just cos it's an Aphrodisiac...

So damn sexy.....

Next up, a dish which made quite a dramatic entrance. What with the BIG flames and all.


BIG BIG FIRE!

The meat is lightly grilled with some good ol' butter. Then, a dash of brandy is poured and WHOOOOSHHH the big flames magically appear, engulfing the meat in even more flammable goodness.

The result...


Steak Au Poivre a la Gueridon
300gm prime fillet steak with blackpepper grilled to doneness,
flamed with brandy at your table & served with a wicked Hennessy

sauce up close & flammable


Love the color. A subtle graduation from dark brown to pink and then red. Expect a very slight crisp at the seared outer layer and a juicy texture in the middle. The meat is so flavorful just by itself...but of course, I wouldn't complain 'bout the Hennessy sauce that came with it.
That was really good too.

The last recommended dish was a dessert. When it was slowly making its way to the table and I could only see glimpses of it, I already knew it was gonna be a sight to behold. True enough, it was.


Black Forest Single Malt Chocolate Mousse
A fiesta of dark cherries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries,
banana & pear poached in red wine in a 1707 cup of single
malt
chocolate mousse topped with vanilla cream

A good play of texture here. The various berries, fruits, bits of chocolate cake, ice-cream and berry jam all lend a helping hand in giving its own distinctive taste to what makes this dessert so good.



Sourness from the berries, sweetness from the bananas, chocolate-y taste by the cake bits, a lil' crunch by tiny cubes of granny smiths, vanilla ice-cream for that touch of 'cold' effect, a tinge of malt whiskey for that caramel taste and lastly, berry jam to stick it all together for the sweetest closing-your-eyes-while-savoring moment. Mm Mmmm!!

Boathouse really took me by surprise. A good surprise nonetheless. Didn't expect it to serve such fine food cos' all this while most people thought it was just another drinking pub along that row of shophouses (sid's pub and deutches gasthaus is just a few doors away).

I thought their food was totally well fitted-in with their motto: Serving simple, honest, unpretentious food. Fine food without all that fuss of eating fine food (different cutlery, wine bla bla bla).

OOoohhh! Some exciting news! Boathouse is gonna launch their new upstairs lounge on Dec 11, 2009. Called Upperdeck, the new area is gonna be a chill-out lounge where people can just mingle around, sit in nice big comfy sofas and sip their dainty martinis. There will also be a different menu for Upperdeck, serving mostly snacks and finger-food. So do check it out once it's launched!




Boathouse Restaurant

16, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14
Taman Tun Dr
Ismail
60000
Kuala Lumpur.
03-77274426

Opening Hours: Mon-Sat: 11am-3pm, 5pm - 2am (Closed on Sundays).




Thursday, December 3, 2009

BAH-NA-NAH Leaf Rice.

Everytime when there are plans to eat banana leaf rice, my stomach starts to rumble and I can actually feel myself growing hungrier and hungrier.

And when I reach there and the smell of fried chicken, fried
sotong (calamari), ikan goreng (fried fish) and all the different kinds of curry you can think of hits my nostrils, OHMYGUT, I tell you, the Glutton Spirit in me just seems so ready to put both hands together and start worshiping.

In this case, my hands are used to eat and worshiping means chomping down on the food
like a composting machine.Don't know why, but the smell of curry seems to make a hungry person feel hungrier. Do you guys get that too or is it just me?


So, this trip was to the famous Kanna Curry House.




As soon as you sit down, a dozen waiters will be swarming all over you, dispensing the
essential 'items' such as the banana leaf, white rice, the three different kinds of vegetables (curried long beans, stir-fry cabbage & raw cucumber in yoghurt milk), a selection of curries to choose from (chicken, mutton, beef, crab, fish etc.) and of course, the very important papadom- the cracker-like thing in the picture which is made of flour and spices deep-fried to a crunch!

One can't help but feel so overly pampered by all the fuss going on just so you can eat your lunch.

Going to Kanna Curry House with this bunch of regulars means ordering an awful lot on the table. Our usual extra dishes (besides the essentials) would be the fried
sotong, mutton curry, sambal prawns, fried chicken and fried fish.





Yes. We tend to be very greedy when we're there. How can you help it when you're greeted by a BIG frying
kuali (similar to a Chinese wok) smack in the front of the restaurant and knowing that everything is fried-on-the-spot upon ordering? Totally overwhelming.




Fried sotong


Besides our all-time favorite fried
sotong, another dish simply tops it all. Though not many can come to terms with its grainy texture, it more than makes up for its amazing taste.

This is it.


Fried Fish Roe
*Picture not taken well cos Glutton Spirit was too overwhelming


The fried fish roe has a sort of a thin tight skin (like a sac) holding in all the little tiny granules. It's a granular explosion as soon as you take the first bite. It'll be in-between your teeth, stuck somewhere under your gums and basically, in every nook and cranny it can find its way through. Awesome experience.

Kanna Curry House is a really popular place. I even heard that tour buses will arrive with a throng of camera-holding, fisherman-cap-wearing tourists. The place must be really good or just another over-popularized destination.


But for now, I must say it's definitely worth a visit.


*p/s- If you plan to eat with your hands, do cut your nails first cos' it's totally unhygienic and the curry smell will stay on your fingers for at least 2 days!





Kanna Curry House Restaurant
No 29, Jalan 17/45, Section 17,
46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Malaysia.
03-7958 4814
Opening Hours- 7am to 11pm daily

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The Reason.

Seriously, what do you write for the first post? Totally clueless.

Perhaps I should begin by introducing what this blog is all about?


Well...this blog is dedicated to all (and I really mean all) my food escapades be it for breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner, supper or anything in between. It doesn't have to be a fancy meal in a restaurant gourmet-styled, but just anything and everything edible that have been put in the mouth and ingested by a single GULP.


Why I'm doing this?
Basically, I just want to join
the so-called blogsphere cos' it's like, so IN right now! Everyone has a blog and I should have one too, no?


Well, no. Not really. I don't give a s**t bout' these things. HAH! This blog is for those (like me!) who thoroughly take pleasure in the hardcore, complex, challenging and demanding activity of E.A.T.I.N.G.

Another reason?
To make you guys drool and squirm at the same time depending on which sex, ooops I mean side you prefer cos' there may be some entries which feature a rather uncommon affair on the otherwise standard daily menu.

So, sit tight and let me do this difficult job of eating for you!