Prime, Le Meridien

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“Welcome back,” he said.

It was a Saturday evening, and I was chuckling to myself when his words interrupted my reverie.

“Whatever for?” I asked.

“You’re back.” He smiled. “So we’re going to Prime to celebrate.”

“Back? I never went anywhere.” I looked hard for the bump on his head where he would have knocked his head on the cangkul.

“I thought I had lost you this past week.  You were turning into a grumpy little thing and your language had become quite colourful,” he said.

elections2008

He was right.  I had turned into a grouch. A grumpy cynical grouch. It almost felt like it was my cross to bear. And that’s the thing. It was my cross to bear. Every vote counted in the end.

And so, to let him know that I had indeed returned, I agreed to let him buy me dinner at Prime.

breads butter

Two types of bread were placed before us. A slightly spicy focaccia bread, soft and herby, and several slices of nutty mexican bread.  Three different types of butter accompanied the bread – salted, barbecued and herbed.  All were excellent, and as much as I told myself that I wouldn’t pig out on bread, I did.  If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s good butter.  And now that I have to wait almost 16 months for the incomparable truffle butter at Cilantro, I have to look for substitutes before I start milking cows and churning cream to make my own butter.  Which can be quite a feat considering that I have little space in my humble abode for cows.  I can hardly see them grazing on my 10 x 10 ft lawn.

portobello mushroom salad

The portobello mushroom salad, costing RM45 for 2 pieces, came covered with rocket, cheese and truffle. I loved how the mushrooms came perfectly grilled, and had absorbed a hint of the accompanying flavours.  (Sorry, in my haste to photograph this salad, I forgot to lift up the skirt to reveal the temptations beneath.)

T-Bone Steak

He ordered a mother of a steak. All of 16oz of it. It was an Australian T-bone steak (aged 60 days, I think), grilled medium rare and served with a creamy mash sprinkled with bits of fragrant truffle, asparagus, peppercorn sauce and a glorious bearnaise sauce.  He pronounced it a good piece of meat, juicy and succulent and grilled to perfection.

kobe beef

Prime was having a special promo (for March) on the king of steaks – the magnificent Kobe. As much as the other options (and there were many) tempted and tantalised me, I was steadfast in my choice. The master kobe chuck flap tail tataki with cannellinni beans stewed with smoked beef bacon, rocket leaves and a winter truffle sauce was lightly seared on the outside, thus retaining the juiciness inside. And the flesh? It was pink and tender and yielded easily as I sliced it with my knife.

dessert

My dessert was a warm chocolate cake accompanied by a scoop of macadamia nuts ice-cream and fresh fruits.

chocolate cake

The chocolate cake was delicious served with some chocolate sauce poured over it.

wine

Yup, I was back.

Prime
Le Meridien
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral
Kuala Lumpur Sentral
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 2263 7888

The good people of AD may view the pictures HERE.

Latest Recipe, Le Meridien

marshmallows

When I first saw The HSS’ pictures of Latest Recipe, I cursed.  No, no, it wasn’t an imaginary curse.  I sent him an SMS with some colourful language.  Firstly, I was jealous of his pictures, and secondly, I wasn’t there.  (Commercial break:  This talented dude takes FABULOUS pictures.  I have a shrine for him in my garden where my pet frog, Tom, lives.  Tom worships him too.  End of commercial.)  So when I received an invitation to dine at Latest Recipe, I didn’t give two hoots whether The HSS was invited.  I was going, baby, and I was going to taste some of that gorgeous psychedelic teppanyaki ice cream which I had salivated over at his Flickr site.  Boolicious, Paprika and Cheryl Lum (the Director of Communications at Le Meridien KL) made up the ravenous group.

Indian Counter

Indian counter

Tandooris and naans.  Chapatis and dhal.  Raita and Mutton.  Green pea curry and kebabs.  Beautiful colours, lovely aromas and fiery flavours.  I was happy to just stand at this counter and bask in the atmosphere.  Until somebody asked me for a slab of the Mutton Skewer.

Salad Bar

Salad Counter

It certainly got my attention!  The rows of test tubes contained a variety of salad dressings, pre-mixed and ready to pour.  Boo and I felt like Form 5 students in the lab as we picked up each tube,  peered at it closely through thick rimmed glasses, made an analysis of it, and poured a different mix into each of the 6 little piles of salad.   Mrs Easau, my Chemistry teacher, would have been so proud of me.  And the salad!  Crisp mesclun, romaine lettuce, cucumber, carrots, corn, radish and sun-dried tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, croutons, capers, pickled vegetables and a whole lot more tantalized us as we struggled to make up our minds.  And to top it all off, there was balsamic vinegar in fascinating fruity flavours – raspberry to apricot to orange, and truffle oil for a splash of luxury.  Salad never looked so good.

Japanese Counter

Japanese counter

I confess.  I reached for the sashimi first.  You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.  I’ve had years of conditioning at buffet lines, and the one-two have always been sashimi and oysters.  You there.  Yes you.  I heard you say “how typical”.  Now do 20 pushups before I tell your mama.

The sashimi was nice with a selection of salmon, maguro, butterfish and octopus.  The teppanyaki brought about mixed reactions.  We had no complaints about the taste, a beautiful buttery blend with seafood mayo topping, but the scallops were a little undercooked.  Of course, that would have been easily rectifiable had we taken it back and asked the chef to cook it further, but our butts felt a little too heavy at this point.  Anyhow,  a soft mushy scallop ain’t so bad after the third piece.  The beef was soft and pliable,  just like my grandmother’s gums.

Chilean Oysters

oysters

I was in polite company, so I didn’t take more than four. You there. Did you say something again? Give me another 20 pushups.

There was also a range of other seafood on ice – Green lipped mussels, pacific prawns, slipper lobster and blue yabbies.

Malay Counter

Malay counter

I headed straight for the seafood barbeque.  Marinated in a simple sauce of light soy, onions and pepper, we had a choice of stingray, prawns, squid and bamboo clam.  I loved the asam jawa sauce which I liberally poured over the seafood, but I thought the bamboo clams were a bit sandy.  Who needs fibre, eh?

Chinese and Western Counter

Miscellaneous

We weren’t impressed with the dim sum which we found a bit too hard and the skin too thick.  The shanghai noodles in hot and sour sauce was absolutely delicious.  Imagine one bowl shared among four people (we wanted to make space for other food).  We were practically fighting to slurp up the last bit of starchy soup.

The pasta was the chef’s special.  The squid ink fettucine with garlic, mushroom, chili and shrimp in olive oil was very good, although the flavours were rather subtle.  All pastas are made on the spot, so you’re assured of freshness.

Chocolate Fountain

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There are normally three chocolate fountains at Latest Recipe:  dark, milk and white.  But the white had thrown a bit of a tantrum when we were there and was taken away for a rotan session, so we settled for the remaining two.  There was a lovely selection of marshmallows (filled with assorted flavours), chocolate cake and strawberries – sweet, juicy strawberries that turned into sinful glossy temptations after being rained on with melted chocolate.

Tapas and Other Desserts

tapas and sweet temptations 

It was easy enough to mistake some of the savoury tapas as desserts.  The shredded duck rillette looked more like nougat, while the cauliflower panna cotta didn’t look like it had cauliflower in it.  (Now that’s an idea to get the kids to eat their vegetables!) The sweet desserts didn’t quite excite me.  The pretty presentation was just that.  Pretty.

The freshly prepared waffles came with an assortment of condiments: raspberry jam, peanut butter, mango, chocolate and raspberry sauce.  Very nice, although it was a bit too thick.

pretty red trays

Lovely lacquered trays with moulded compartments for individual items were provided for ease of carrying.  It is thoughtful details like these that draw me to a place.  Likewise, the Japanese counter also had a similar type of tray with different sized compartments to lay out the sushi, sashimi and teppanyaki items.  The trays fit in perfectly with the lively coloured panels along the counters.  Similarly, the presentation of the food in cast iron pans, woks and chinaware made it look much more appealing as compared to your run-o’-the-mill buffets.

Teppanyaki Ice-Cream

teppanyaki ice cream

Being part Japanese, I chose the green tea ice cream over the less exciting chocolate, strawberry and coconut.  With a wide array of sprinkles, from dried fruits, nuts and jellies, I picked the ever-popular Koko Krunch (perhaps I had heard it mentioned once too often this past week) to be mixed together with the ice-cream on the ice-cold table top.  The resultant product was a chunky blended ice cream.  Whilst I liked the texture, I thought the flavour of the green tea was a bit too strong.

IMG_4606

Paprika scorned at my selection and declared that she was going to get something resembling the rainbow.  The rainbow in her part of the world must be very different from mine.

Overall, I felt that the buffet was worth the price as quite a bit of the food was freshly prepared.  Service wasn’t so great , though, as they kept clearing but not replacing my utensils.  Don’t skip the Indian counter – it was definitely one of the best, while the teppanyaki at the Japanese counter came a close second.  Desserts are always a novelty, so the next time I visit, I shall spend more time trying the cooked food instead of reserving space for desserts.  The ice-cream can be improved.  The noodles and pasta were a surprise – I loved them both.  And finally, a big thank you to Cheryl for the invitation.

Also check out:

 

Latest Recipe
Level 5, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur.

For reservations, call: 03-2263 7434

Operating hours: 12.00pm to 2.30pm (lunch), 6.30pm to 11.00pm (dinner)

Buffet lunch: RM68++
Buffet dinner: RM78++
(Surcharge of RM10++ on weekends)

Buffet desserts: RM38++

tapas

My Omakase Initiation at Iketeru

edamame
In 1991, I learnt my first Japanese phrase: Itadakimasu (let’s eat). I had not tried a morsel of Japanese food then, but I was quick to learn the useful phrases. My friends didn’t understand why I would wish Itadakimasu upon eating my roti canai at the mamak stall. But somehow, that phrase stayed with me and I felt that it was a good start to a meal, somewhat like saying a prayer.

I learnt a few more Japanese phrases since then, at least enough to get by when the Bald Eagle and I went to Japan in 2005 to watch Liverpool play in the FIFA Club World Championship where, being the groupies that we were, we stalked the Liverpool FC players at their hotel, with SLR cameras in tow like paparazzi. Sao Paulo won that year, and instead of sulking like little children who were deprived of their favourite candy, we gyrated to the samba beat with the Brazilian supporters on the streets of Tokyo.

I soon became obsessed with all things Japanese, from cutesy objects to delectable Japanese cuisine. Unfortunately, as much as I enjoy Japanese food, I was never inquisitive enough about delving deeper into what I was eating and why I was eating it. So my visits to Japanese restaurants were usually about the same predictable food that I had always been eating for so many years. Not that it’s a bad thing. After all, why get scientific? If I like tuna belly sashimi, why should I try anything else? Again, I was demonstrating my same predictable boring nature of not having a curiosity for something new.

sashimi
My interest was piqued when I hooked up with another blogger and we agreed to dine at Iketeru. Iketeru has a special Omakase menu that changes every month. Omakase literally means “entrusting”. At some restaurants, when one orders an Omakase, one basically leaves it to the chef to determine the entire menu. In Iketeru, however, a couple of sets are predetermined by the chef, but what one is assured of is the use of the freshest seasonal ingredients available.

Spring in Japan is associated with the prolific blooming of cherry blossoms (sakura). And so, with the advent of Spring, our menu was tailored towards the sakura and other seasonal produce available in Spring. My Suzu order, at RM290++, was a 9-course meal.

appetiser
My appetiser consisted of 3 items. The boiled rape blossom (a popular springtime ingredient) with mustard sauce did not have the sharp flavour that I expected to taste but it was a good start to the meal as it was fresh and crunchy. I liked the chilled egg custard which looked very much like tofu, but had a slight taste of sesame in it. The smoothness was very much like tofu although it wasn’t as light in texture. What was undoubtedly my favourite for the night was the marinated firefly squid. The firefly squid is the smallest of all squids and has thousands of light-producing organs. The light emitted from the squid is said to either protect itself from predators or attract its prey. These seasonal creatures, when captured by fishermen, are immediately thrown into a concoction of sake, mirin and soy sauce and pickled. I think it’s the ultimate way to go – dying from being drunk in a pool of alcohol! The squid had a nice bite to it and upon puncturing it with my molars, I felt a squirt of salty juices fill my mouth. It was absolutely lovely.

A clear soup of bamboo shoots and seaweed was served next. It tasted delicious in its simplicity.

sashimi
I had barely started on my soup when my next course arrived. The sashimi platter prettily displayed four types of sashimi: tuna belly, king clam, firefly squid and raw sea bream wrapped with sea urchin. The tuna belly was firm enough in texture and sufficiently fatty.

the one that got away

The firefly squid in this instance was not the marinated kind as described earlier, hence the freshness of its flavour was accentuated by the aftertaste of the sea rather than the sake/mirin/soy sauce combo. The raw sea bream wrapped with sea urchin was interesting; the filling was creamy and mushy while the “wrapping” had a nice bite to it. The filling literally oozed out into my mouth as I bit into this unusual sashimi.

simmered bamboo shoot, sea bream roe and japanese yam in bonito sauce
Next up was the simmered dish of bamboo shoot, sea bream roe and japanese yam in bonito sauce. The seasonal vegetables were a little too soft for my liking. I certainly didn’t expect the sea bream roe to look like a hard piece of sponge, and unfortunately, the taste was forgettable too.

grilled trout with teriyaki sauce, baby octopus and assorted vegetables
The grilled dish was more exciting. Beautifully presented on a long plate, the baby octopus was nice and chewy while the grilled trout with teriyaki sauce was firm to the touch and tasted wonderful in its sweet marinade. There were a couple of skewered balls, one fish and the other, crabmeat that were quite unlike the fishball which we are all familiar with. Instead, the texture of these balls were less springy while the ingredients seemed to indicate that more fish/crabmeat was used as compared to the conventional chinese fishball. I enjoyed the diced mixed vegetables with what tasted like cubed squid in a creamy green sauce that was both sweet and refreshing.

By this time, I was already feeling rather full and welcomed the distraction provided by a kindly Australian gentleman next to our table who thought Henry and I were both food writers (we immediately corrected him, of course, by letting him know that we were bloggers). I suppose the cameras and the boisterous food talk gave us away!

tempura
I am not a big fan of tempura, but I ate it anyway because mum always said vegetables were good for me. The next dishes of claypot rice cooked with bamboo shoot and miso soup were downed without much thought as I was already feeling my food coming up my throat and out of my nostrils at that point. Thankfully, Henry was kind enough to help me out.

japanese pastry
I regained my appetite when dessert was served. Sliced fresh fruit accompanied a single piece of pastry filled with red bean paste. A sakura leaf, soaked and dried, wrapped the confection. The taste was exquisite as I bit into the soft pastry.

Chef Ricky
Towards the later part of the night, as the crowd thinned, Chef Ricky was able to pry himself away from the kitchen to share some of his knowledge with us. I left that evening with a sprig of sakura from Chef Ricky, my head crammed with information, and my belly filled with the best japanese meal I had ever tasted. Will I go back to old favourites again? Possibly. But I shall open up my mind to the unknown as I dream of firefly squids, lit up in all their glory and dancing in the darkness of the night to the sounds of Brahm and Vivaldi.

sakura
Other reviews:
The Other Blog

Iketeru
KL Hilton
Sentral, KL.
Tel: 03-2264 2264/Fax: 03-2264 2266