Elegant Inn, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P Ramlee

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

It was fantastic to meet someone so passionate about food. Jeanette Han, one of the owners of The Elegant Inn asked Kris of weddingsmalaysia.com to invite some wedding planners to review their new private rooms. Ann Lee, ever efficient AND insisting that we do a better job than her charming people, dragged us along. I think that's her ruse for company really. ;-) We get to Elegant Inn and it's obvious the waiters' have been briefed. We are ushered into a pleasant room, furnished quietly but well, and we meet Jeanette, who immediately takes charge of the afternoon, informing us, very breezily, of the changes that have taken place and the food that we are about to eat as well as the nuances of their philosophy on food. In short, she definitely leans toward slow food but as realistically as it can be applied in Malaysia. Provenance of food is obviously important and contrasts and balance of flavour, as well as texture, and presentation are all meticulously taken into account. We started out with some awesome starters and if I go into detail about every course, we'll be writing a thesis. So instead, I will let the photos do the talking and I will elaborate on dishes I particularly enjoyed. I should say that I enjoyed all the dishes but in the interests of brevity, I will go ahead and highlight the exceptional ones.I was thoroughly impressed as to the delicacy of the presentation. Very contemporary and flavours were very well balanced and textures made it very interesting on the palate. I absolutely adored the soup. Sweet corn on the cob, pork ribs, figs, and all sorts of good stuff crammed this bowl to the extent that the soup was sweet, savoury, meaty, and everything a good cantonese broth should be. There are a few types of soups in the Chinese pantheon of cuisine. Your clear soups (which are simmered for hours and hours) and the thickened "kang" which uses this broth and thickens it with arrowroot starch. I'm a good Eurasian/Cantonese boy. And I LOVEADORE a good soup. And this was one heckuva doozy! Next came the Kobe Beef which was like...repeat after me...BUDDAH!. Omigod. "Melt on your tongue" has this picture of it next to the definition in the dictionary. Just amazing. Desserts, a particular favourite of mine, also featured largely in this spread. Some interesting, others yummy, but always with that particular emphasis on taste, texture, provenance, and presentation. All in all HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but expect to pay a premium. Having said that, all their prosaic dishes are very affordable and you should be able to get away with a generous weekday meal here at around RM50 to RM60 per person.

Shark's Fin House, Jalan Imbi

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

One fine Monday evening, we stepped out with Mo Lin with the wind in our, well, eyebrows, and roared down to The Marc Residence in Jalan Pinang.

We attended the "I♡KL" event held in Delicious at the Marc. And it was the biggest agglomeration of people in white that I've seen in a long time.

The event was organised by Randomalphabets.com for no other reason than to have Malaysians from every walk of life gather and have a good time. Basically, a way to promote civil society. The idea, I believe, is that if people know each other, they won't spend time fighting with each other. AND, it also benefitted some charities, one of which was the SPCA.

Since it was rather packed and the opportunity arose to have dinner at Shark's Fin House, we decided to skip the buffet (after some lovely Passion Fruit Marshmallows at the Buffet in Delicious) and headed on out to Jalan Imbi where the aforesaid restaurant is located.

The restaurant was taken over recently by The Oriental Group and redone. Kudos to the group for knowing how to target their restaurants. They live by the axiom "Locationlocationlocation" and they tweak every one of their restaurants according to that idea. This one is no different in that respect.

The minute you walk in under the canopy, you know the type of restaurant that you're walking into. Clean, contemporary, but catering to a chinese market. The type that grew up in traditionally chinese households who follow cantopop, ginza fashion, and speak mandarin and chinese on a daily basis. The type that values sharks fin for weddings and considers it a luxury item to be enjoyed periodically. Not something I agree with which is why we didn't have any shark's fin that night.
We started with two choices of a starter. What Allan's aunty calls "teeteetahptahp." Sorta the sounds you make crunching and smacking your lips to whet your appetite. Except in this instance, it was a free choice with the menu that we chose.

One appetizer we chose was 3 types of mushrooms sauteed with their special sauce. Tasted of oyster sauce as the base. And the other a Thai cuttlefish with a green chilli and lime sauce. Yum!

Next up was this deep fried codfish with a pomelo sauce, and a Braised Pei Pa Egg Taufu with Crabmeat. Yum. What's not to like with deep fried battered fish with a sweet tangy sauce filled with little bursts of pomelo sacs.

Dinner & Ramadhan Menus at Bangsar Seafood (HALAL)

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

"What la you! I've been here for 30 minutes waiting for you on my own already! I'm heartbroken!" So sings the oft repeated refrain from A2, otherwise known as toyboy(not mine, he's taken). I've warned him about crying wolf too often but to no avail. And he does it so charmingly, so I play along.

Fatboybakes had arranged a food review with Bangsar Seafood Centre on request from their Public Relations Consultant and had put together a flogroll of about 20 odd people to say something about the food. As is usual with this crowd, honesty is the best policy. So we were asked to write about what we had and what we liked.

In addition to that, these occasions are also great opportunities to meet new floggers/bloggers and for old friends to reconnect. So there we were having a rip-roaring time, especially thanks to Paranoid Android and Frat Mustard ( the one who brings his ceramic avatar everywhere) because of their generous contribution of a few bottles of the most amazing amber nectar, uisge beatha or 'water of life.'

As with all dinners like this, the menu is varied and at Bangsar Seafood, presentation is always given importance. I particularly like the vegetable carvings and the "go-for-height" aesthetics that the chefs practice. The omelette was particularly interesting in this regard with a stalk of spring onion speared right through the 10 pieces.

I absolutely adored the Butter crab (butter is the secret of the Universe) and the salted egg crab (and salt is the other) as well as the Stewed Cabbage with Dried Scallops. The Curried Prawns were also amazing and the sauce was creamy & curried, redolent of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf. It was just heaven to sop it up with a little of the "mantou" at the end. I got them to save the sauce in a bowl for our table.

The rest of the dishes were home cooked fare, well presented. Bangsar Seafood Centre also has a Ramadhan promotion for buka puasa. For some of the menus, there is a free gift of 1kg of crabs.

Yes, Ramadhan Menus. That's the beauty of Bangsar Seafood. It's certified halal. Not just pork free. More and more there is a market for good, chinese food catering to our muslim brethren and for those who might find that important, its comfort on a very personal level.

Service has always been decent and customers are given good value. Come here with the family. :-)

Dine in style, this Ramadan:
Enjoy 9 signature dishes. Devour 1 KG of crabs for free.
Fom RM 498+

RM 498+: Appetizer, Shark’s Fin Soup, Chicken with Ginger, Spicy Fried
Fish, Lychee Prawns, Signature Beancurd, ‘Kampung’ fried rice, Custard
Buns, Dessert

RM 598+: Appetizer, Sharks Fin Soup, Chicken with Plum Sauce, Pomfret with
Bean Sauce, Prawns with Sweet Corn Sauce, Steamed “Sang Gan”, Tom Yam> Noodles, Banana with “Gula Melaka”, Dessert

RM 698+: Appetizer, Double boiled soup, Roast chicken, Red snapper, Otak
Otak Fried Prawns, Braised Sea Cucumber, Oyster Fried Rice, Chinese
Pastries, Dessert

RM 898+: Homemade appetizers, Sharks Fin Soup with Pumpkin, Boneless Duck,
Curried Garoupa, Braised Seafood, Mango Prawns, Garlic Fried Rice, Banana
& ‘Gula Melaka’, Dessert

Bangsar Seafood Centre
63, One Bangsar
Jalan Ara
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2282 2555

The Ming Room (non-halal)

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

In any case, since we were free one Sunday, Ms Chan Mo Lin, one of the owners of The Oriental group of Restaurants invited Allan and myself out to lunch to catch up. Along the way, we dragooned "Amelia" to come along. Mo Lin very kindly consented to have me blog about the experience when I asked her permission as I think that everyone should have the pleasure of dining at such a well conceptualised, and executed experience.

And that's what a restaurant is. An experience. Whether its on a budget and you compete on price or you compete on artistic imagination, which tends to be on the other end of the monetary scale.

The restaurant should be on "message." The minute you walk in, it should "look" like the food it serves and tell you a little bit about it's purpose and the price that comes with it. And The Ming Room does that in spades. There's an inherent understanding of that down to the red table cloth. As a matter of fact, some friends and I used to call this one Chinese restaurant in Bangsar, "Red Table Cloth." I might have an objection to the colour but there's no denying the message it sends; "good value chinese food."

Which brings us to the core of what every restaurant should be about.

The bubbled skin and layered translucence of "siew yoke" appears on the table. Slightly warm. Salt crystals crunch with the glass like brittleness of the skin and Then my favourite...Char Siew. Chinese Roast Pork. Sweet, tender, creamy, caramelised dark surfaces, glistening in the light. Tender, fall apart meat. Perfect.

A dizzying array of dimsum, noodles, and and food finds its way onto our table. If I wrote how much I loved everything, we'd be here till tomorrow. Some dishes which merit special mention;the poached cod in a ginger paste on top of soup meehoon (vermicelli), "Char Choi"(preserved turnips) tripe soup, and the scallop dumplings.

The cod was perfectly poached. I've a suspicion that what we call cod is actually a Chilean Sea Bass. A high fat fish. Hence that meltingly tender flaky texture. And the sweetness that comes with flavourful, "good-for-you" Omega 3 oils. The counterpoint of the ginger paste is stunningly simple but effective. This part is no surprise as its been done well by many Chinese restaurants and is quite standard. But added on top of a hot flavourful broth, sopped up by delicate vermicelli was an added dimension of texture and taste. It was almost like a lovely picture had been transformed into a masterpiece by the addition of a beautiful frame.

The tripe and "Char Choi" was another favourite. More delicate than the street food it's obviously inspired by, it worked well. Peppery, tender tripe, with the sour salt contrast of the preserved turnips, not to mention the crunchy, vegetal texture was an eye-opener.

Then we were served dessert. Oh YUM! Almond milk steamed IN a papaya. The Almond milk was creamy, yummy, and basically almonds crushed into water, boiled and then pressed for the milk with a touch of almond flavouring. Not too strong mind you. And sweet, warm, soft papaya. Great flavour. Great texture. And great colour!

AND Durian Pudding! Very attractive presentation with dry ice bubbling away and a drift of smoke and vapour lend to an experience of cool pudding redolent with the taste of fresh durian. That's important. Many cooked durian desserts taste like durian dodol. Not good. This however, was a revelation.

The service was proficient and of the standard that you would expect of a good Chinese restaurant. Before you say that we had better service because we were sitting with some of the owners, I should say that I was watching some of the other tables and they were all served within moments of seating with food appearing very soon after ordering.



The ambiance was comfortable, contemporary, and speaks of what The Ming Room purports to be; an upper medium scale Chinese restaurant. You would never mistake it for anything else.

I thoroughly recommend this place.

The Ming Room
3rd Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Bukit Bandaraya, 59000 KL
Tel: 03- 2284 8822 | Fax: 03- 2284 3822 | orirest@po.jaring.my
www.orientalrestaurants.com.my

Oriental Spoon in Sooka Sentral

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

"You brought a bottle of wine? YAY!"

We all know what's important to me. FBB had graciously brought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to go with our dinner at a new place called Oriental Spoon in Sooka Sentral.



Where's that you might ask. We did too. After a few false turns it turned out that Sooka Sentral is right behind Suasana Sentral, next to the Hilton Kuala Lumpur. And Oriental Spoon is in that shopping centre. Parking was easy as well. Right up front.



Ming Lee of Bangsar Seafood, which owns Oriental Spoon, had ordered a parade of dishes and by the time we were halfway through, we were ready to have our lugnuts tightened and our alignment and balancing done.

There were some definite highlights to the evening. Generally, flavour and presentation were above average with some scintillating items on our menu.




The restaurant itself is very contemporary. The design is open with the kitchen all glassed up so you can see the "action" behind the glass.







All tables were decorated with a single anthurium and the ones with lazy susan's had the vase embedded in the centre with the lazy susan turning around it. I thought it was quite clever.



As dish after dish came there were one or two real winners. The Stir Fried Salted Egg crab was divine. Thick, unctuous sauce coating everything there was to coat on the crab. Even the shells had their fill of sauce.



Allan scored big when he picked up his crab claw and the shell literally shucked off leaving him with a huge chunk of claw meat waiting to be savoured.



The presentation of the Two Combination Prawns was innovative and added to the enjoyment of the dishes themselves. The prawns were done to a turn. If there's one thing I can't stand it's overcooked prawns and these were absolutely spot on. Firm, juicy, sweet, with the slightest bit of crunch.



For orientals, the presentation of the Deep Fried Garoupa with Flavoured Meat Sauce would be par for the course. It mimicked a garoupa almost leaping out of the water (and onto my waiting plate). For our caucasian friends (some of you who might be reading this) it might be somewhat horrific to see that gaping maw facing you while you're about to dig some flesh out of it's side. Amazing how aesthetics can influence your appetite isn't it? ;-)



This was my favourite of the evening. Tender, short, buttery, pastry wrapped around Lotus Root and mince chicken meat. I loved the way they tied and twisted it to look like Lotus Root.



The Chee Cheong Fun is one of the de rigeur items on a dimsum list and this one was no exception. It is easily one of the easiest dishes to ruin as well with overcooked seafood or underflavoured meat. But Oriental Spoon did this simple dish proud.



This particular dimsum item was definitely unexpected. In keeping with the Halal Food in this restaurant, we had a Steamed Black Pepper Lamb Short ribs. Practically melting off the bone on a bed of succulent white radish which had sucked up all the flavours of the lamb, this was definitely a must for those who enjoy the gaminess of lamb. Slightly spicy, rich, and sweet, it melted in my mouth.


The carrot cakes fried with bonito flakes was a new twist to what is arguably also a dimsum staple. All these dish items had the decorated, hand carved animals of the zodiac on them.



The "Woo Kok" deserves special mention. The crust was flaky and crisp and you bit into a lovely smooth mash of yam and flavourful chicken mince.

Another innovative plate on their Ala Carte menu was the Oriental Three Combination but served and plated for individuals. The "chook tarn" or Bamboo fungus wrapped roll presented in a chinese soup spoon then "glued" onto the plate with arrowroot starch was particularly fetching. And oh yes, it also tasted good.

The Venison in Birds Nest was also scrumptious. Good sauce flavouring and the birds nest itself should be eaten. Light, crunchy, and without a hint of the oil used to deep fry it.



I included these Black Sesame Steamed buns only because they were the cutest things around. I believe they're hedgehogs. This would be a treat for kids to keep them occupied.

Oriental Spoon closes at 8pm right now but from what I've heard, if you make reservations to come at 730pm they will stay open for you. There are plans to open later when traffic increases.

Dimsum is served only in the afternoons(from 1130am to 5pm) but they have an extensive Ala Carte Menu for those who would like to come for dinner. Prices are reasonable. From RM5 to RM12 for dimsum (and halal dimsum at that) and anything from RM10 to RM48 for the Ala Carte Items.



For dessert, FBB brought his luscious famous, Pear and Ginger Upside Down Cake with thick cream (45% fat which really means we should just break out the butter and slather it on) and Lyrical Lemongrass brought her favourite Durian Puffs. FBB's cake was everything an upside down cake should be. Lovely and puddingy with the warmth of ginger, the sweet slight bitter bite of treacle and luscious sweet poached pears tempered with the cool, flavour transporting, gorgeous, thick cream.

All in all, our little group who attended last night's dinner had a fun filled, snap happy evening. Always the case with our friendly food blogging community. Thanks must go out to Jade, Ming Lee and "Boss," as FBB calls her, for organising this.

Oriental Spoon
First Floor,
Sooka Sentral,
Jalan Stesen Sentral 5,
50470, Kuala Lumpur.

03-2261 3222

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