Casbah, Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Lyrical Lemongrass

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.

Samboussek – Shanklish cheese filled pastries

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

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.

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!)

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Patata Harra

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.

Turrons – Spanish nougat

Yiaourtopita – Lemon pound cake with Greek yoghurt

Baklava

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

Casbah at Mandarin Oriental
Kuala Lumpur City Centre, KL

Tel: 03-2380 8888

Hadhramawt Restaurant, Chulan Square

Posted on February 3, 2008 by Lyrical Lemongrass

We all have certain food preferences, but sometimes, it is necessary to get out of our comfort zone and look beyond our malay-chinese-indian mindset to see what’s available out there. And I’m not talking about Japanese which is practically Malaysian.

Let me tell you my story. A long time ago, a certain blogger (let’s call him the Verbose Stud) dropped me a proposition. An escapade, no less. Before you taint your mind with mental illusions and delusions, let me qualify this by saying that it was to be a culinary escapade. To cut a long story short (because this is, after all, a food blog) we ended up on the shores of Hadhramawt. Well not Hadhramawt (or Hadhramaut), the region in the southern tip of the Arabian peninsular (part of Yemen), but the latest restaurant at Chulan Square. A Yemeni restaurant, to be specific, because the Verbose Stud was an expert on all things Yemeni. Or was it Hadhrami? Anyhow, he was the man-lah, and I was the eager student, drinking in all his…for a lack of a better term….verbosity (“karut” in Malay).

We must order Yemeni today, he proclaimed. Not just any middle eastern food, mind you. Yemeni. I was game, because I was a middle eastern virgin, whichever way you looked at it.

The first dish that came to our table blew me away. I wanted to say *khala’a hudoomik haalan, a’takoon sharmutati fowree in appreciation of this wonderful dish of Mendy Lamb (RM20) served on a bed of fluffy rice (much like briyani rice). The beauty about this simple dish is that one can eat this without any curries or sauces as both the rice and the meat scream out a thousand flavours of orgasm. It was that good.

*wow, that’s a very nice shirt. I especially love the fig motif in the centre.

Most of you will know that I resist eating greens simply because Mum says its good for me. BUT let me tell you about a wonderful dish called taboulah (RM8) – made of finely chopped parsley, tomato, mint, herbs, lemon juice and olive oil. This is such a refreshing salad and can be eaten on its own, with the rice, or as a dip. The light dressing makes this a winner in the salad department. Move over Caesar, Taboulah is here.

The fish fillet (RM25) was good, but a little salty, so I ate it with lots of rice to downplay the seasoning. I thought it was strange to serve french fries on the side, but I gamely ate it dipped in taboulah.

When I requested for desserts, the waitress kept reminding me that the desserts were very, very sweet. I must have looked that ignorant to her. Anyhow, because we wanted to show you everything on the blog, we requested for one of each dessert. The baklava (RM2), a rich sweet pastry filled with chopped walnuts and further sweetened with syrup had a nice rich texture. The key is to nibble on it. One nibble, and one gulp of tea. Another nibble, another gulp of tea. There you go.

I liked the tamriah (RM2), a dessert made with date paste. Very sweet, but with the above procedure, you’ll survive. The basboosa (RM3), was a yummy tiny bit of semolina cake with syrup. You guessed it. It was sweet too. But that’s what makes the desserts so good. What’s the point of enjoying a dessert if it isn’t sweet or cloying? Everything in moderation, I say.

To finish the wonderful meal, we had Shaahi, an arabic tea. I liked this refreshing tea brewed with mint leaves and cardamoms.

I came away learning one important lesson. How to correctly pronounce Hadhramawt. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is something you’ll just have to ask the Verbose Stud. Coz it’ll cost you more than a piece of Mendy Lamb to bribe me to say that word.

Hadhramawt Restaurant
Lot 7 & 7A, Block B, Chulan Square
92 Jalan Raja Chulan
50200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel 03-2142 2744

The good and forgiving people of Abu Dhabi whom I adore with all my heart and soul may view the pictures HERE.

9 hours where???

Posted on October 30, 2007 by Lyrical Lemongrass

‘Nine hours,’ I mused.What would you do if you had nine hours to spare?
(A) Play Grand Theft Auto until your eyes turn red from the bulging veins;
(B) Read Larousse Gastronomique (all of 1,360 pages) cover to cover;
(C) Sleep; or
(D) Have dinner at Abu Dhabi.

It was a tough decision. Really.

With minutes to spare before the plane landed at the Abu Dhabi airport where nine long transit hours awaited, we were still undecided.

As we stepped into the crowded airport and noticed the number of people sleeping on the floor in the cramped surroundings, the only obvious answer stared us in our faces. We headed for the first exit straight into the blustering heat of Abu Dhabi and hailed a cab.

Nothing prepared us for the heat. It didn’t slowly creep up on us, like how it is here in Malaysia. This was more of a guerilla attack – quick and sudden. In less than five seconds, my clothes were drenched.

Nevertheless, our spontaneous attempt at adventure prevented me from dwelling too much on my wet T-shirt look as I drank in the stark scenery en-route to the city.

The breaking of fast had taken place just a few minutes earlier as we exited the airport. It was a heartwarming sight to see groups of people clad in loose robes gathering around huge plates of food. Quiet conversation. An overall atmosphere of thanksgiving as dusk fell on earth.

The handsome Tom Cruise lookalike air steward and transplanted blogger, Kat, had both recommended the Lebanese Flower Restaurant to us, so with only nine hours to spare and no Lonely Planet guide, we took their advice. I threw caution to the wind on Arabian etiquette and walked straight in to the restaurant, hoping that I wasn’t breaking any laws (that is, in itself, an indication of what an ignoramus I am).

My ignorance was further amplified when I looked at the menu, having eaten middle eastern food only once before in Al-Nafourah in Le Meridien. Thankfully, there were pictures and an amazingly patient waiter who struggled to explain the various dishes to us.

We were given a plate of raw and pickled vegetables which we presumed was the equivalent of getting peanuts at a chinese restaurant prior to the meal. With a squeeze of lemon juice, it was a refreshing start to the meal.

The hummus came complimentary too with a side helping of pita bread. Essentially made of ground chickpeas, the hummus came with olive oil poured in the centre of the “well”. I enjoyed swishing pieces of pita bread in the hummus – such a simple dish but oh so satisfying.

Little did I know that the next dish would also be made primarily with chickpeas. The falafel is approximately the size of a ping pong ball and is fried until it turns golden brown. The closest Malaysian dish which I think resembles a falafel is the paruppu vadai although that is made with lentils. The texture, however, is somewhat the same. The falafel was served with a tahina sauce – a smooth creamy textured sauce made of sesame seeds.

By this point, I had chickpeas coming out through my nose. So it was a relief to see our main course, a mixed grill dish, arrive. The charred smell of the meat tantalised my nose and cleared it of all the excess chickpeas. There must have been something in the marinade that made the different types of meat taste so wonderful. The good thing is that the meats didn’t come masked in sauces, thus enabling us to enjoy the dish for what it was.

The final dish was a mistake for two reasons. Firstly, we had over ordered, so there was no way we could finish eating this. Secondly, the escalope cordon bleu came with a sauce that screamed commercial tomato ketchup and the thick cut fries served on the side didn’t help alleviate my negative reaction.

Despite the final dish, we left the restaurant stuffed and contented. With another six hours to go before catching the connecting flight, we whiled away our time seated in the lobby of the luxurious and opulent Emirates Palace. It certainly beats being cooped up in the airport together with 1,000 other passengers. 🙂

To the glorious people of Abu Dhabi, click here to view pics. 🙂

A Whiff of Lemongrass

NOT a food blog

Category Archives: Food Type: Middle Eastern

Casbah, Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur

Hadhramawt Restaurant, Chulan Square

*wow, that’s a very nice shirt. I especially love the fig motif in the centre.

9 hours where???