Sage, The Gardens

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Lyrical Lemongrass

In all my life, I’ve never met a louder bunch of people. Just one foot into the entrance of Sage, a very dignified establishment if I may add, and I was greeted by a deafening “Surprise!!” by a rambunctious crowd from the other end of the room. Warms the cockles of my heart, I tell you.

The best thing about foodies, and such a generous lot these guys are too, is that they always know the best places to eat. Sage is a favourite simply because the quality is consistently top notch. The lunch menu is a pretty good deal. For RM100, one gets a starter, main and dessert, a soft drink and a coffee or tea. The menu changes weekly.

I like the foie gras at Sage. Some restaurants screw up the preparation by overcooking it, but at Sage, the foie gras is seared such that the centre is still a little raw while the surface is crisp and clean. The quality of the foie gras is definitely superior. If you’re lucky, you’ll find braised wagyu cheeks – that gelatinous piece of heaven – in the menu. The lunch menu doesn’t offer as many options as the dinner menu. Only two choices of each (starter, main, dessert) are offered, but if you think you’ll be getting any less quality as compared to the dinner menu, you’re wrong. The preparation and presentation of each dish is as immaculate as ever, and the pairings of flavours and ingredients, like the vichyssoise of hokkaido scallop with summer truffles which includes puréed Jerusalem artichokes, is wonderful.

Seared foie gras with quail and mesclun salad

Vichyssoise of Hokkaido scallop with grated summer truffle

Braised wagyu cheek with dauphinoise potato and fine beans

Roasted seabass with king prawn and sautéed mushrooms

Earl grey bavarois with chocolate sorbet and ginger confiture

French farm cheese

Cupcakes and pressies!

Thanks, Chian Tyng, Ciki, Fatboybakes, DelectableSU, Toycouple, Just Heavenly boys, Alilfatmonkey and Fuich for the amazing lunch and pressies! Very much appreciated!

Sage
The Gardens Residences (same side as Isetan)
6th Floor, The Gardens
Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur.

For reservations, call: 03-2268 1188

Rice Cafe, Bangsar

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Lyrical Lemongrass

I’ve mentioned before that I am a seasonal creature with seasonal tastes, but if there is one dish that I’ve loved since 12, it’s Assam Laksa. When my mum makes it, she boils a huge pot of broth, almost 10 litres for a family of 6, because we enjoy drinking the soup on its own. In fact, it isn’t uncommon for us to drink several bowls in one day, minus the noodles, as her soup is always thick and flavourful thanks to the abundance of mackerel chunks in it.

I don’t live with my parents anymore, and I can’t always ask for Assam Laksa on my fortnightly visits home, so I’m pretty pleased that I can get great Assam Laksa right here in KL. The newly opened Rice Cafe on the other side of Jalan Maarof serves an assortment of local meals from Nasi Dagang to Singapore Fried Bee Hoon. Despite being new to the restaurant industry, the owners have shown that a lot of hard work and interest in the food that they serve goes a long way. A wise man once mentioned to me that another eatery that he frequents serves the same kind of dishes, but they don’t taste the same despite having the correct ingredients. He then concluded that the dishes missed one element. Love. Now, you may choose to laugh at him or spit on him, but I do believe that having an interest in 1. food, 2. your restaurant, and 3. the people whom you serve, goes a long way and that love is reflected in the end product.

The Assam Laksa at Rice Cafe has a thick broth and is overflowing with aromatic ingredients – mint leaf, bunga kantan, daun kesum – and has the right amount of tanginess from tamarind and sweetness from har ko (prawn paste). If you’re not one for Assam Laksa, try the Nasi Lemak which comes with extremely crispy and tasty fried chicken. The extra special version which Nigel and Frat Mustard ordered came with chicken that was marinated with lemongrass and galangal and served with crispy bits of the same concoction…to die for. Lisa also seemed pretty pleased with her Singapore Bee Hoon.

The restaurant currently serves local favourites, but will soon venture into chinese dishes as well.

Rice Cafe
Lorong Maarof (If you’re coming from Jalan Bangsar into Jalan Maarof, at the traffic light near McD’s turn right, then make another right turn and you’re there)
Bangsar, KL.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Also check out Fatboybakes and Cumidanciki.

(Note: Thanks, Fatboybakes + Ciki, Nigel + Lisa + Frat for the birthday treat here on two separate occasions…so sweet of you.)

Chef Choi, Jalan Ampang

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Lyrical Lemongrass

I could wax lyrical about Chef Choi all day and night.

Chef Choi serves Cantonese cuisine, although some of the dishes may come across as fusion. My enthusiasm stems largely from the quality of the food; you can’t go wrong with top notch ingredients. For instance, one can get matsusaka beef here. Matsusaka beef is a form of wagyu from the Matsusaka region of Japan, and interestingly enough, the meat comes from heifers. Similar to Kobe beef, the cows receive the usual pampering – massages, soothing music and a rich diet. A cow’s life, indeed. And so, our dining experience began – with a serving of matsusaka beef, vietnamese spring roll and a foie gras on bread. An excellent beginning – the beef was well marbled and tender and the foie gras was good enough to be eaten alone. Chinese cuisine, you say?

Think of the aromatic duck as a value-for-money-meal. Even the bones are edible. You get your protein AND your calcium. Honestly, I was amazed at how brittle the bones were. A dog’s life isn’t so bad, either. The duck skin was crisp and tasty. I’d even go to the extent of calling it the perfect duck. Da duck didn’t die in vain. An alliterating tongue twister. Wait, not quite. Da duck didn’t die in dain. (Definition of dain: Colloquial Scots, particularly North East Scotland meaning “doing” . A typical example may be “Fit i Ye Dain?'” = “What are you Doing?” Can also be “Dein”.)

If you think that’s indulgence, let me tell you that I had a most amazing suckling pig as well. Fatboybakes described it well: “Crisp skin, not too fatty, cos the slicing of the skin was expertly done, so the fat was on the meat, not on the skin.”

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was not a fan of fried fish. We were served a fried soon hock (marbled goby), which left us aghast – I mean, the very thought of frying a soon hock (expensive) and slathering a sweet and spicy sauce couldn’t possibly be good – what were they thinking? But you know what? It was good. The fish was fresh, the flesh was firm, and we had absolutely no complaints. Be open to possibilities and new experiences.

I liked the prawns in superior soy sauce, sticky and sweet, although the one served in Oversea in Imbi wins my vote for this kind of preparation. The steamed chicken served with young ginger paste is one dish I’d order again. Don’t skip the ginger sauce. In appearance, it looks just like any other ginger paste, like what is served with chicken rice, but one mouthful is enough to convince you that this is a far superior sauce to any other, primarily because young ginger is used, and it is freshly ground.

The noodles deserved a pedestal of their own. Yee mee with lobster. How luxurious is that? Fan pei noodles (made of soy bean) was something I was trying for the first time – translucent in appearance with a bite to it. My absolute favourite was the sang mee with prawn roe – a simple dish that was bursting in flavour. Sometimes, limiting the number of ingredients in a dish to three or four is enough. The tomato noodles was zingy thanks to the vinegar in the sauce, but the flavours mellowed after being kept overnight (yes, I did the test).

For desserts, the almond milk with papaya was brilliantly presented in an environmental-friendly receptacle. They don’t have just typical Chinese desserts here; in fact, one of their popular desserts is the molten chocolate cake.

Until the end of August 2009, Chef Choi is offering a 25% discount for dine-ins.

Thanks very much, Marian Eu, for arranging this amazing dinner, and Cheng Sim, for hosting it. I dedicate my additional 2kg near my belly to you.

Chef Choi
159 Jalan Ampang
50450 KL

Tel: 03-2163 5866

Website HERE.

Also check out Fatboybakes, Cumidanciki, Masak-Masak.

Matsusaka beef, vietnamese spring roll and foie gras on bread