Casbah, Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur

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Yoghurt sorbet and stewed apricots

I love storytelling.  I remember being 7 years old, standing up in front of a fidgety audience of 7 to 9 year olds in school and giving them my best reading of Red Riding Hood.  I was clueless as to why I was doing it; all that mattered was that I enjoyed being caught up in this world of make-believe.  I’d write stories in brand new exercise books, fill them with my own illustrations, and hide them in my drawer far away from my parents’ prying eyes.

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Samboussek – Shanklish cheese filled pastries

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Spanakopita – layered phyllo pastry and spinach with feta cheese

I love storytelling.  I get my best ideas for my blog when I’m doing my daily commute from home to office, soothed into a reverie by inspiring music stored in my iPhone.  I discovered recently, among Bald Eagle’s stash, the soundtrack for Avenue Q, and I have been playing it twice daily, 7 days a week for several weeks now.  The music’s uplifting, but unfortunately provides very little inspiration for my blog.  With songs like I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today, Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist and The Internet Is For Porn, it’s hard to translate that to child-friendly posts on this child-friendly blog.  And so I am hopelessly useless today, short of telling everyone that the internet is for porn…the internet is for porn…grab your dick and double click for porn, porn, porn…

On the other hand, there’s this thing called food porn….

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Queso – Manchego, idiazabal and valdeon cheese with quince jelly

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Gazpacho – white with almonds, red with tomatoes and yellow with bell peppers

Casbah.  To be honest, I loathed the idea of MO’s replacement of Pacifica with a restaurant that served mezze and tapas from the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and Spain.  Pacifica was in a league of its own with its fresh seafood, luxuriant decor and sheer curtains offering privacy for the romantic and delectable seafood to the ravenous.  It wasn’t so much my dislike for any particular cuisine, but more a case of my affinity to Pacifica for sentimental reasons.

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Dukkah Spiced Baramundi – White beans, artichokes and clams

But I visited Casbah anyway upon the persuasion of a foodie friend and mostly because I had the MO Elite Club card with its 50% discount trappings.  (However, as fate would have it, our friend, Cheryl, Director of Communications at MO, happened to be there and footed the entire bill.  Thanks, Cheryl!)

Casbah cocktails

I was told that the cocktails at Casbah were to die for, and ordered one called Magic Mo Kool Berry Bliss.  Kool?  Really?  As it turned out, it was a theatrical masterpiece, a cocktail made of childhood memories and adult realities.  The irony is strong here as the fluffy cotton candy floss dissolved right before my eyes in a harsh pool of vodka, cranberry and lemon.  It was a good cocktail.

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Tagine with Lamb Merges – Cous cous, almonds and dried apricot

The food is segregated into five broad categories: small plates (vegetarian) with prices ranging from RM12 to RM25, small plates (meat) – RM15 to RM39, small plates (fish and seafood) – RM25 to RM35, large plates – RM45 to RM248, and sweet treats – RM12 to RM18.  Dining is meant to be communal and tables are small enough to offer intimacy.

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Stirato Bread and Tomato – Grilled rosemary bread rubbed with fresh tomato, garlic and olive oil

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Chicken Mougrabia – Stewed wtih Lebanese couscous

My moderate expectations of Casbah were quashed from the beginning when I tried the grilled stirato (literally meaning “to stretch”) bread, flavoured with rosemary and topped with tomato, garlic and olive oil.  Somewhat like a pizza after being stretched, it was crisp and tasty, its flavour enhanced by nothing more than the simplest of ingredients.

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Queso Fonduta – Melted manchego cheese fondue with home made chorizo

The Queso Fonduta (Cheese Fondue), at RM25, and an outright favourite with me, is worth ordering.  The fondue is made with melted Manchego cheese.  Pieces of bread and homemade chorizo are provided for dipping into the melted cheese.  The chorizo is unfortunately not pork, but its absence will only be mildly felt.

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Patata Harra

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Chef Mustapha Benhadou

The freshly made baklava also stands out here.  In fact, I could hardly fault any of the dishes that I tried that night.  Even the most ordinary of the dishes, patata harra (fried potatoes with garlic, summac and labneh) was finger lickin’ good.  Perhaps MO has found its groove after all.

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Turrons – Spanish nougat

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Yiaourtopita – Lemon pound cake with Greek yoghurt

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Baklava

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Churros Con Chocolate – Traditional fried dough stick with hot spiced chocolate

Casbah at Mandarin Oriental
Kuala Lumpur City Centre, KL

Tel: 03-2380 8888

Fatboybakes’ Salty Caramel Chocolate Cake

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How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you

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I needed to be pampered with chocolate cake and there you were
I needed you to understand my butt and pounds and there you were
A big cake, bold and bitter
Sweet and salty, what a treasure
I want to stop and taste you baby
I just wish that you were boozy…

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How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you

Fatboybakes

Song adapted from Marvin Gaye’s How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You
How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you
I needed the shelter of someone’s arms and there you were
I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were and there you were
With sweet love and devotion
deeply touching my emotion
I want to stop and thank you baby
I just want to stop and thank you baby
How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you

A moist chocolate cake with layers of salty caramel and chocolate ganache resulting in a complex combination of sweet, salty and bitter.

Cake can be ordered from Fatboybakes HERE.

(Thank you, bff Alilfatmonkey, for allowing the use of the final picture above and several pictures in the collage below.)

Tea-pusam collage

Cake lovingly baked by Fatboybakes for a session of board games on an idyllic Thaipusam holiday.

Hanare, The Intermark KL

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Shijimi Clam shells

I was miserable.  I had been working through Chinese New Year and the weekend after that, and all I wanted to do was spend some time with the husband over a nice meal.  We had several choices at Doubletree and the Intermark, but in the end, as we made our decision, it didn’t feel like much of a gamble to visit Hanare, a reincarnation of the popular and highly rated (and now defunct) Tykoh Inagiku.  Quality and freshness is a priority at Hanare where seafood is brought in from the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo three times a week.  Shipment had just arrived the day we visited.  Joy.

As we pored over the menu, my initial reaction was that of shock.  The prices were probably some of the highest I’d seen, but as we talked through it, we told ourselves that we would not be cost-conscious and deprive ourselves of a potentially good experience.  As we rattled off our order to the Manager, I casually asked if they served an omakase menu, to which he replied in the affirmative.  An omakase is a great way to acquaint one’s self with the Chef’s specialties, and at RM250 per head, it seemed very reasonably priced.  Like most omakase experiences, a menu wasn’t provided and we left our fate in the Chef’s hands, merely giving him a couple of our special requests.

Perhaps it was the wine, perhaps it was the sake, perhaps it was the food, perhaps it was the company, perhaps it was the release of tension and stress, but it was one of my most pleasurable meals in Kuala Lumpur in a very long time.  The cacophony of laughter from the table beside us merely added to the enjoyment, and not surprisingly, as the night went on, I found myself smiling more and more as I submitted myself to the flair and mastery of Chef Sudo San.

Hanare
Ground Floor, The Intermark
182 Jalan Tun Razak, KL

Tel: 03-2164 2133/2164 2633

Note: In addition to the ala carte and omakase menu, Hanare also offers a champagne brunch every Sunday priced at RM298+ with champagne and RM150+ for food alone.

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Yuba Tofu and Yuba To Okura – two starters using tofu skin as its base, one resembling the typical beancurd sheets we are familiar with, and the other a denser, mushier texture with a more intense flavour.

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Shirako – cod milt – sacs containing seminal fluid that taste like pig’s brains. A rare and pleasurable treat. Nothing to get repulsed about.

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Sashimi – Toro, Buri, Hirame, Akagai – delightfully fresh.  Served with freshly grated wasabi.

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One cannot deny the pleasures of sake….

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Wakasagi Saikyo And Aka Miso – Ice fish with two types of miso – eat it whole.

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Mozuku (Seaweed) Chawan Mushi with a hidden surprise – cod milt again! The egg custard had a smooth consistency.

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The tomato was firm with a very thin skin and smelled like it had just been plucked. Juicy and incredibly sweet with a dense texture.

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Amberjack fish and seaweed in mini steamboat – swish for a bit in the boiling hot soup to sufficiently cook it. The soup, once infused with all the flavours, can be subsequently drunk.

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Tomorokoshi, Imo & Soramame (corn, sweet potato and Japanese broad bean). The Japanese take pride in every ingredient and item that is served at the dinner table. Even the humble vegetable is given pride of place on the omakase menu.

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Sushi – Toro, Hotate, Ikura and Uni.

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Shijimi Clam Soup – aromatic and flavourful.

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Homemade green tea ice cream.

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I love the decor at Hanare. The custom made tables of granite and wood (some made of a single piece of wood, proudly displaying its uniqueness and imperfections) are simply beautiful.

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Remember this name.

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Valentine's Day
Bald Eagle was featured in a Valentine’s Day article in the NST where he gave his two cents worth on what Valentine’s Day means to him. I agree wholeheartedly with him that it is more fun to surprise each other throughout the year, and that one should be spontaneous and unpredictable.  Which is why we’re celebrating Valentine’s Day apart this year – he in Sydney, while I remain in KL – and we’re none the lonelier.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all. May your lives be filled with love and happiness.