The Doubletree Cookie

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A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…

The medicine go down…

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The medicine go down…

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Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…

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In a most delightful way!

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The Doubletree Cookie certainly helps the medicine go down, and every task you undertake becomes a piece of cake!   The cookie is presented freshly baked upon check-in at the newly opened Doubletree by Hilton and is also on sale at The Food Store at Doubletree at RM36 for a tin of six (I think).   Every mouthful contains a generous amount of chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.  The texture is pliable but not soft, and is absolutely delicious when eaten warm.

Doubletree by Hilton
182 Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 60-3-21727272

High Tide, Menara Taipan

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We last met up in May for an enjoyable lunch at Frangipani, and Aja decided to initiate another get-together for this unlikely trio of friends – a restaurateur, a femme fatale and a dumpy accountant.  Thankfully, there is no prerequisite for friendships formed for the love of good food other than, yes, a love of good food, so even if we appeared to be a motley group of people assembling that day at High Tide, it made complete sense for us to get together.  I arrived first and was greeted by the manager, Carole Pinel, with a combination of friendliness and restrained enthusiasm.  As it turned out, we were the only guests there that Saturday afternoon, and it felt like it was our private space to act silly and make faces at the fish.  The restaurant is wonderful in the day with lots of sunlight filtering in through the lush green plants fringing the sides.  I know those living in colder climates have a love affair with the sun, and I really have no reason to have that much affection for it when all I do is sweat in the tropical heat, but the best feeling in the world is to sit in an airconditioned environment with wide glass windows that allow the sun to warm the body and the spirit.  It feels even better when there is a glass of prosecco within reach.

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An eight metre tropical fish tank sits in the centre of the restaurant, separating the smoking from the non-smoking section.   Walls are painted in nude and neutral shades with murals inspired by the French Riviera.

I had heard so much about High Tide from my friends.  It’s expensive, one had exclaimed.  It isn’t as good as when it first started operations, another had said.  Armed with a heavy purse and mixed feelings, as I stepped into High Tide, I made the wise decision of ridding my mind of all the comments because at the end of the day, no one can, or should, tell you whether or not your experience ought to be a good one.

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Butternut squash amuse bouche

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Marinated, grilled Canadian scallops with cauliflower puree and zucchini flower

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Dutch smoked eel with anchovy cream, tomato and olive tapenade

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Summer salad with smoked halibut and wasabi mayonnaise

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Alaskan king crab cocktail with avocado and tomato

Our bill came up to RM6 short of a thousand Ringgit, but I can tell you this – High Tide is like a breath of fresh air on our Malaysian dining scene and is worth every cent paid.  Service is professional and wait staff are knowledgeable; noticing its exquisite sweetness, we asked what kind of tomatoes the chef had used in the salad, and the waiter was quick to let us know that the Chef had used buffalo tomatoes.  Chef Evert Onderbeke used unusual ingredients like sea aster and salsify (stuff that a more seasoned world traveller will have come across), and his biggest boast is that only fresh, seasonal and sustainable produce is used.  It was our first time eating fresh Dutch smoked eel, its flavour unmasked by any powerful sauces.  It had a lovely silky texture, and was served with anchovy cream to bring out its flavour.  The Canadian scallops were perfectly grilled and still wobbly; the cauliflower puree a surprising burst of intense flavour despite its rather plain appearance.  And if only all summer salads could taste like the one at High Tide!  It was a striking tower of mixed vegetables paired with generous cuts of smoked halibut and tossed in wasabi mayonnaise.  The Alaskan king crab starter sported a generous amount of crab and yes, it was prepared with buffalo tomatoes.

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Main courses

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Grilled turbot with pan fried asparagus, sea aster and salsify puree

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Oven baked sea bream under vegetable crust with leek confit, lemon beurre blanc and butternut squash puree

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Pan fried fillet of lemon sole with mixed vegetables and mustard mousseline

Keeping to our theme of ordering only seafood (despite protests from a certain individual), we ordered the Turbot, Sea Bream and Lemon Sole.  The turbot was the most expensive of the lot at RM118, but I loved it the most for its firm and sweet flesh.  The sea aster leaves lent the dish a natural saltiness, and I particularly liked it because it didn’t have any bitterness to it.  The sea bream was more tender than the turbot but highly succulent, and the chef seemed to have capitalised on its texture and flavour by baking it under a crisp vegetable crust.  The lemon sole was my least favourite of the lot as I thought its preparation with mixed vegetables and mustard mousseline was on the safe side compared to the other dishes which I had tried.

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Mango “soup”

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Blackberry cannelloni

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Pear almond tart

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Petit fours

Since I had gladly taken on the role of DBKL for the mains, I grazed my way slowly through desserts.  I can barely remember them now, I’m afraid; the starters and the mains were overwhelming enough.  I do remember the petit fours, though, one of which was a chocolate lollipop which, when bitten into, exploded into a river of warm caramel.

My day is done, and I am like a boat drawn on the beach, listening to the dance-music of the tide in the evening. *

High Tide
Ground Floor, Menara Taipan
Jalan Punchak (Off Jalan P. Ramlee), KL.

Tel: 03-2072 4452

Also check out:
Eat Drink KL
Careless Little Hamster
Masak-Masak
Fried Chillies


* from Rabindranath Tagore’s Stray Birds

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Penne with Anchovies, Wagyu and CHOCOLATE

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I looked at the block of chocolate which Paprika gave me as a souvenir from London, uncertain how to react.  “This is so generous of you, but I don’t bake, Paps,” I said meekly and pushed it back to her.  “You take it and bake me something with it lah!”   For something so precious, I couldn’t bear to accept it and leave it in my refrigerator, untouched for the next 20 years.

“You can cook savoury dishes with it oso what,” she said.

That’s an idea, I thought.   So I accepted her kind gift, and then left it in my refrigerator, untouched for the next 3 months.   My fridge is like a black hole.  Nothing survives.  Nothing escapes.  Nothing comes out.

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I forgot all about the chocolate until a few days back when I turned on the TV and I saw David Rocco’s Dolce Vita where he echoed what Paps said.   “You can cook savoury dishes with chocolate oso what.”   It was like a voice from the heavens, and I was slayed by the spirit of Paps/David Rocco.  I ran to my kitchen, pulled out the block of Willie’s 100% Supreme Cacao which boasted a single bean origin with notes of redcurrant and spice.   I ripped off the label, chopped up a third of the 180g block and looked heavenwards and asked, “What now?”

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Thankfully, I had taken mental notes after watching the programme on TV, and pulled out a couple of garlic cloves, chopped them up and threw them into a hot pan which was already heating up a drizzle of olive oil.  In the meantime, I chucked some penne into a pot of boiling water.   While the garlic spluttered in the frying pan, I twisted open a jar of anchovies and dumped the entire content into the pan, breaking the anchovies into tiny bits with my silicone spatula in fuchsia until they dissolved in the sizzling hot oil and garlic mixture.

The chocolate went into the pan next, and as it melted, the sauce turned a beautiful deep colour.   A handful of blitzed breadcrumbs went in next to thicken the sauce before I added the pot of drained penne into the saucepan.

Bald Eagle yelled from upstairs, “Is dinner ready yet? I’m starving!”  Images of his sprawled semi-naked body on the floor flashed before my eyes and I knew that a repeat performance was going to take place if I delayed any longer.   I should be so lucky.

As I stirred the pasta in the frying pan, it occurred to me that I had a plastic container full of Wagyu Prime Rib, a ta-pau of leftovers from a totally wagyu-ed out birthday dinner at Prime Le Meridien a couple of days earlier.  Waste not want not, deny the black hole the pleasure of wagyu.   I reheated the 250g portion, sliced it and threw it into the pasta.  Beautiful.

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As a final touch, as a tribute to my friend Paprika of ravenousrabbit.blogspot.com, I sprinkled a dash of smoked paprika into the pasta and stirred it in for that lovely spicy smokey flavour.  For presentation, some chopped Italian parsley did the trick.

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Our verdict: Amazing!   (Ya, really wan)  Other than the fact that my pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, the bitter and nutty flavour of the chocolate worked wonderfully with the salty anchovies, and the sauce adhered well to the pasta.   There is nothing sweet about a 100% chocolate block, so I am glad that I decided to toss in the leftover wagyu as it provided a natural sweetness to the dish.   I am so in love with this recipe! (and David Rocco…I love youuuu!)

Happy weekend, everyone, and be brave…try this recipe!  (For exact measurements of the original recipe, check out David Rocco’s website HERE.)