Fukuya, One Bangsar

fukuya

1.

Turning on my computer at home is like being in a new relationship.  “Will I get lucky tonight?” sums it all up.  And right now, it looks like my hymen is going to stay intact for a while longer.

The recent elections has taught us one thing – more power to the people.   With flexed muscles, bulging biceps and a boost of foolhardy egocentric power, I now propose a vote against my broadband service provider

I apologize for the lack of updates.  Blame it on them.  I’ll be glad to give you their number.  I hope you like elevator music.

2. 

When I travel, I rarely buy souvenirs for myself.  But wherever I go, I can’t resist one thing – hats.  I am not talking about the kind of hats those high society women wear to Ascot.  No, no, absolutely not.  My hats are far more eyecatching, I assure you and I’ve learnt to wear them with more finesse than an elephant can muster (which isn’t saying a lot, but I never did claim to be graceful).

Naturally, my green hat which I bought at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin came in useful on St. Patrick’s Day.  I need to find more “green” events to parade this hat, but for that day, we maximised the 10 Euros worth by rotating it among ourselves.

Anyway, there were a lot of Irish folk at Mont Kiara last Saturday as Malaysians renounced their nationality for the sake of a free beer.   The St. Patrick’s Day celebration, hosted by Guinness, saw lots of food, drinks and leprechauns with chinese accents.

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For more stories, check out Boolicious’ take on the event.

3.

Just hours before the partying, we were having a more subdued affair at the newly opened Fukuya at One Bangsar.  I must say that I went there with some apprehension.  When it comes to Japanese food, my first criteria is always freshness, and a close second is creativity, like in the pairing of foods and their presentation.  How can I not have high expectations of Japanese food, especially taking into account the extravagant prices we pay?  My first time at Fukuya (at Jalan Delima KL) was when we celebrated Paprika’s 23rd birthday.  A sweep of the billowing black curtains at the main entrance revealed a restaurant akin to a rich man’s home complete with  courtyards and secret rooms. But the food was so ordinary that we felt a little shortchanged. 

However, I do believe that everyone deserves a second chance.  Boo had tried the lunch kaiseki and had given it a glowing review.  Affected by her enthusiasm, I agreed to have lunch with her and Splashie Boy at the Bangsar outlet.  I ordered the Mini Kaiseki which seemed quite a steal at a little over RM50.  The appetiser came beautifully presented.  A delicately flavoured sea-urchin tofu that literally melted in the mouth, a grilled clam, a couple of rather chewy pieces of squid and plum-simmered ice fish made up the first course.  The soup was a very clear, subtly flavoured clam soup with a hint of flavour derived from the thinly sliced leeks.  My sashimi platter was a generous serving of thickly cut pieces of fish, and I thought the most outstanding one was what appeared to be white tuna which had a nice creamy taste.  The next serving was a beautifully paired combination of grilled salmon with pickled young papaya which resulted in a combination of sweet and savoury with a bit of crunch.  I loved the simmered dish – beef that literally melted in my mouth as I took every bite.  The tempura was crunchy and a delight to eat.  And the shokuji dish of noodles made for a simple ending to a meal that got me gasping with delight at every bite.  The dessert that day was fresh fruits and a lime sorbet that was very refreshing.

Fukuya is now a firm favourite for me as far as kaiseki lunches go.

Fukuya
One Bangsar, 63B Jalan Ara,
Bangsar Baru 59100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 603 2282 1111
Fax : 603 2282 5959

Operation Hours
[ Lunch ] Noon – 2.30pm
[ Dinner ] 6.30pm – 10.30pm

Also see SC’s review here.

appetiser

No. 1 – Appetiser

  plum simmered ice fish

Plum simmered ice fish – woooooo look at the eyes

soup

No. 2 – Soup

sashimi

No. 3 – Sashimi

grilled dish

No. 4 – Grilled dish

simmered dish

No. 5 – Simmered dish

fried dish

No. 6 – fried dish

noodles

No. 7 – Noodles

dessert

No. 8 – Dessert

Zing, Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur

Zing

The ads for the Heart of KL were appearing in the newspapers on a very frequent basis, and frankly, they were more exciting that the skewed local news I had begun to flip over by the pile.  My husband, being the more diligent and patient reader (I read headlines in my quest to finish reading the newspapers within 59 minutes), spotted the ad for Zing and its visiting celebrity chef, Chan Kwok, from Singapore’s Hua Tin restaurant.  Chef Chan Kwok is described as “the winner of numerous awards including Best Asian Ethnic Chef at the 2005 World Gourmet Summit. He is also author of the recently released book ‘Chan Kwok – A Culinary Genius’ which features some of his best-loved recipes.” We had heard great things about this restaurant from friends who had been there, so when I received an invitation to dine at Zing, the decision to go was a no-brainer, like a frog being asked if he’d like flies, or a dog, bones, or a cow, chocolate milk.

Ok, before you challenge me about the chocolate milk, tell me, have you ever seen a cow reject chocolate milk?

Zing

I must say that I was surprised when I walked into Zing.  I expected minimalism! I expected lots of black! I expected Jay Chou! The name did nothing to conjure images of old world charm or opium or ambient lighting, which was everything that the actual Zing represented.  Well, except for the opium bit.  Dark wooden lattice screens partitioned the different sections and thus provided privacy but it was sparse enough to prevent claustrophobia.  Everybody say together now – sooooo romantic…… *big sigh*

duck and prawn

The specially created set menu consisted of some of Chef Chan’s best recipes. The single prawn deep fried in a pastry resembling phyllo dough was lightly crisp, the shell crumbling easily as I bit into it and exposed the fresh and crunchy prawn.  I initially thought that the bed on which the prawn rested was meat floss, but upon tasting it, I quickly realised that there was no hint of meat in what I later found out was a vietnamese rice nest.  The slices of roast duck were delicious, really tender and slightly salty.  A wonderful juxtaposition of flavours in one plate.

shark's fin soup

The double-boiled superior soup with baby shark’s fin is one of the Chef’s specialties. Shark bones are boiled for 8 hours until the soup turns a milky hue. The resultant flavour is one that is very intense, an undeniable fishy flavour with the cartilaginous texture of the fins.

emerald bean curd

The emerald bean curd (in a crab meat sauce) is created by mixing finely minced watercress with tofu and I find this simply brilliant. It is such a wonderful way for me to eat my greens. If green had a scent, this had to be it.

stewed ox tail

Unlike the usual oxtail preparations which I was used to, this one was stewed in a homemade brown sauce made with chinese herbs and had the pungent flavour of garlic. The oxtail was soft and tender from the hours of stewing.

stirfried crispy rice with seafood

This dish brought back memories of my childhood and eating Rice Krispies – you know the famous snap, crackle and pop? And there was also this confection made with Rice Krispies and butter and honey and cut into squares? I couldn’t help but smile when I looked at this dish, a playful combination of crispy rice with vegetables and chopped prawns. I am now inspired to replicate this recipe at home. My husband’s in for a treat. That’s assuming I don’t burn it first. Or turn it into rice mush.

chilled mango puree with sago and pomelo

The final item on the menu – chilled mango puree with sago and pomelo. I found this very sweet, but he thought it was just nice. The texture was a find blend of thick mango, while the bits of pomelo was a good contrast, providing a slight hint of sourness and bitterness to the lovely dessert.

By now, we felt like we were best friends with Rahayu and Sulo, the two lovely ladies from PR. After all, only best friends will tell each other about their uncle’s durian plantation and where they voted in Gombak. So as a special treat, we had…..

durian pancake

Durian pancakes!……

durian tart

….and durian tarts! And ‘coz I feel like I am such good friends with you, my dear readers, I am compelled to share with you the following images….

durian pancake

Durian pancake again! Thick and oozing with fragrant durian flesh and cream!…..

durian tart

…and the durian tart again! The warm crumbly pastry enveloped the sweet durian filling which was custardy and delicious!  Bald Eagle felt like he had died and gone to a durian plantation.

Do note, however, that the durian treats are not part of Chef Chan Kwok’s menu. Prices are as follows:

Set menu: RM168++ per person (minimum 2 persons)
Durian pancake: RM12++ for 2 pieces
Durian tart: RM9++ for 3 pieces

There is also an ala carte menu consisting of the above items and a few more. Do note that Chef Chan Kwok will be at Zing only until 19 March, and if you wish to sample his cuisine at the Orchard Hotel in Singapore, there is a long waiting list and you are advised to book early. I can assure you that it’ll be much easier to reserve a table here at Zing to enjoy a meal created by this great chef.

A big thank you to my new best friends, Rahayu and Sulo. 🙂

 

Zing
Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur (formerly The Regent)
160 Jalan Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2117 4888

OPENING HOURS:
Monday – Saturday
Lunch – 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Dinner – 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm

Sundays and Public Holidays
Lunch – 10.30 am – 2.30 pm
Dinner – 6.30 pm – 10.30 pm

The girl from Abu Dhabi may view the pictures HERE.     

Prime, Le Meridien

BE

“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.