latest recipe @ le meridien

i suddenly had a craving for a decent breakfast and all i could think of is a breakfast spread from a hotel. i was sure that i'd get both continental and asian dishes in one go. so i posted my craving via facebook and voila...friends obliged to this random foodtrip.

le meridien's buffet would always come up in my searches so i chose the place. the breakfast buffet is RM68 but with tax and service charge it's RM80 net or roughly PHP1K. so here's what i got.

a wake me upper is a fruit shooter. we were approached by one of the waitresses and asked us which one we would like either raspberry or mango chilli.




the berry lover in me chose raspberry and the tartness of the shooter would really give you that kick. as for the mango chilli my friend said it's like mango salsa which was also pleasing to the palate.


for my first plate, i got some dimsum. i loved it - soft, moist, you know that they were freshly made. usually the dimsum places here would chill their dimsum and reheat them when customers would order. but these ones are fresh! but the sad thing, is the chilli. if you'll notice they have a different condiment for their dimsum which is like a fresh chilli sauce with an asado/siopao like sauce. all dimsum places here serve the same condiments. i miss chilli garlic oil.




got myself a cup of congee as well. very bland i should say. it's like they boiled chicken and rice together and that was it. no hints of ginger and very less salt practically nil. i topped it with century egg that was bland as well and some fried onions.



still on my asian theme, i wanted to try their nasi lemak but it was cold so i just opted for the ones in the hot plates =) . got some indonesian fried rice - nothing special or extraordinary. kari kambing or curry mutton cooked rendang style which is my favorite type of curry...loved it. there's some ikan bilis which is basically our dilis cooked in chilli paste and spices.




i also got loh see fun, this was my favorite stir fried noodles for breakfast when i was staying in a hotel. the noodles are round, a bit thick but not like lomi more like rice noodles but not translucent. and of course tofu, these ones i think are the eggy types very silky and yellowish in color.



ok time to make that crossover or not, mixed my plate with some indian vegetarian items like a chickpea fritter of some sort which was dry and the green ball which i thought was spinach was made up of sweet green peas...eiwww. i had to spit it out. bad choice i should say. the sausages and ham were fine of course.



no more asian stuff, off to the continental ones. i whipped myself a salad made of mesclun, peppers and cucumber, topped with feta cheese and drizzled with oil from the sundried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. i perfectly dressed the salad so i was happy with it.




i also got the poached egg on a brioche topped with smoked salmon and creme fraiche. the salmon was really good, no fishy after taste whatsoever. loved it!



and for desserts, i got myself a "souffle" topped with berries. it was no souffle, it was so dry and grainy that it reminded me of wheat germ. and then the best one, bread pudding topped with vanilla sauce with a nice surprise at the bottom. it has flan...leche flan at the bottom!!! though the bread pudding itself was not as moist and mushy as i want it to be...the flan sealed the deal.




a variety of drinks are available from tea, coffee, fresh fruit juices, there's even bottled water and the unique drink was lassi. thicker than the usual which i deem should be good because i know it is packed with fruits and yogurt. overall, it was a pleasing dining experience. i just think i could have eaten more hehehe...having two cups of tea might have made me full a bit faster. next time i'll indulge myself with more dimsum =).



latest recipe
5th level le meridien
2 jalan stesen sentral

kl: xin wah

was thinking on where to have lunch post the sunday mass and we decided to go the the nearby queen's park where there is a steamboat resto. unfortunately, the resto was closed and we had to choose between the two restos on each side of the steamboat place.

i was partial to the one with more customers so we headed to xin wah. when we sat down, an auntie (common term for older chinese women) asked us immediately, bak kut teh? oh they have bak kut teh and we immediately said yes. actually, bkt is in my must try list. for a foodie like me, who hasn't tried it out yet even after months of being in kl would seem to be such a loser. bkt is pork in tea, something like that. basically, pork cooked in a broth of tea and spices.

been reading about bkt since i wanted to find a decent place in kl which serves this and when the auntie said yau char kwai? i said yes. it's basically chinese crullers that are dunked into the broth of the bkt.



and of course, the much anticipated bak kut teh.



it's made of different cuts of pork - belly, ribs and intestines. oh i loved the intestines hehe i miss isaw badly. topped with wansuy and a bean curd sheet. the broth has a hint of bitter taste but it was not overpowering at all. the dip is similar to shabu shabu/steamboat in manila, lots of chopped chilli and garlic with soy sauce according to your preference.

bkt, is a must try. the only place i know in manila that serves this is ockt and as far as i can remember the price is a bit steep. i am not exactly sure on how much the bkt was but probably it was Rm15 or around 200 PHP and it was really a huge serving good for two starving people hehe.



xin wah
queen's park
jalan shelly, kuala lumpur

i love mochi!!!

ever since i've learned about dezato mochi balls, i wanted to try them even though i am not a chocolate lover. last year i went to the baker's dozen in rockwell just to get these, but failed to find their booth.

eventually, they opened a cafe in new manila but still failed to try it. having an hour window to get dessert before my next appointment, i dragged b from tomas morato to hemady st. which is pretty close by. from tomas morato turn right to e. rodriguez, and then turn right at dona hemady where the first stoplight is. then you will see dezato cafe on the right side. but park on the left side since there's a one side parking rule. you'll get overwhelmed since the road is pretty wide.

got a sampler first of bite size pieces which is actually good for two or more bites to check which are the good ones. i actually liked them all =) there's milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut, green tea and white chocolate with walnut. all are my favorites well except for the white chocolate which is was not too fond of considering i love white chocolate.


all are dusted with cocoa except for green tea and the white chocolate which is covered with walnut. they are freshly made so you need to wait for a while for your orders to get ready but i think it's worth the wait. i asked them if we could refrigerate it and they said it will harden but you can soften it by bringing it out of the ref before eating them. so i was thinking that chilling would totally ruin the texture and consistency of the sticky rice. but no! after having it overnight in the ref, the mochi balls are still of the same consistency, the only thing that hardened was the filling. but still, the filling was good creamy and rich even though they've become solid in state. the green tea however tops my list because it's like white chocolate with hints of green tea... if you've eaten those mozart chocolate balls it's similar to the filling inside. really it's unbelievably good....you guys ought to try them i only remember the bite size price which is 65PHP for 4 pieces.




http://dezato.multiply.com

katre mediterranean cuisine

my short trip back home was packed with mostly errands. i didn't get to try out new places but since i had errands in the tomas morato area i thought of katre. b and i have been having misses on our food trips and i was hoping that this one will be different.


for starters we had, fried oysters (PHP 180). lightly breaded oysters deep fried to perfection. a bit oily but still good. served with beets-wasabi puree, honey mustard and chermoulah and harrisa garnished with fried onions. chermoulah is the pesto like dressing and harrisa is made of chilli peppers. liked this one. a good start for this meal.



we then ordered roast chicken with creamy pesto pasta (PHP 285). a well executed dish, flavorful and moist chicken. creamy but not too rich pasta...perfectly done if you ask me. i liked the crisp snowpeas which gave a contrast of textures.



we also got navarin of lamb with couscous (PHP 395). lamb stewed with morrocan spices and of course my favorite couscous. nice to eat a perfectly cooked couscous since i have been overcooking my couscous back in kl...stopped following the box directions hehe. anyway, back to the dish - tender and flavorful chunks of lamb with no gamey aftertaste.loved it!



and as if the perfect dishes were not enough, the house green tea with aloe was also good. it has hints of pandan and strips of aloe similar to gulaman. it was a great meal and we were happy with it. and to top it all, the total cost was a little over a thousand only. i highly recommend this place =). do take note that they have broken time so either come in during lunch or dinner time.




katre
dr. lazcano cor. tomas morato
quezon city

kl: dragon-i

dragon-i is famous for its xiao long bao and this is my first time to eat xiao long bao so i was pretty excited to try this famous shanghai specialty.

we got some stewed peanuts first. complimentary? not...i wonder why they do not ask you first and then you'll eventually find out you were charged for a small plate of peanuts. but they were good though.



got the famous xiao long bao for RM9. four pieces of dumplings stuffed in a thicker wrapper with soup inside. the relatively thick wrapper did not bother me, it was very soft not sure if the texture will remain the same if it got cold though. adding the black vinegar made the soup sweeter. i was really amazed since i was thinking about the vinegar dip from dong bei. with dong bei dumplings, the vinegar just complemented the meat filling, but with dragon-i's xiao long bao, it totally enhanced the flavor..really can't put it into words =).




of course got the usual yang chow. nothing fancy, we got better fried rice in manila and this one is really a small portion could feed two not starving individuals at RM16 a pop.





got breaded tofu (RM8). similar to solihiya, actually they are practically the same. so nothing unique or special about this but of course being tofu lovers we enjoyed this one.



got another best seller which is braised pork belly with beancurd leaves (RM23). a block of pork belly cooked until tender giving you that melt in your mouth texture. kept warm with a special serving dish that has a tealight in the bottom. this one is good and served with freshly made mantau. i'm actually not a pork lover but whenever i dine out i now make it a point to eat pork. i guess i'm just trying to deviate from my everyday fare of chicken dishes hehe.






and for drinks, i simply had to show this. i ordered sugarcane with chestnuts, sugarcane is common here but look at my glass. got all sorts of things like carrots, chopped sugarcane and something that looks like ginseng.




dragon-i is considered as one of the finer chinese restos in kl, it serves good food, provides efficient service and a great ambiance.


dragon-i
pavilion mall
bukit bintang, kuala lumpur

visit their website for other branches
dragon-i

j.co donuts

always wondered how great j.co donuts are because i always see a long queue. when kk arrived i thought it will smash j.co into pieces. but other than the hype created by krispy kreme's opening, j.co seems to hold its ground. so finally, i decided to try the donuts.



oreology, glazz, snow white, copa banana, why nut and cheese me up (not in the pic...devoured it before realizing i should take a photo).


cheese me up was good...maybe because i love cheese so much and the idea of a savory donut is just too hard to resist. think bagel but with a more soft pillowy bread. all of them tasted great well except for the copa banana which i eventually found the banana flavored custard weird. j.co donuts have a light dough and is not sweet at all. maybe the reason why anyone could finish half a dozen in one sitting. not that i did, which also made me realize that they are best eaten when fresh. i only ate one donut a day which made the latter ones more dry or should i say stale already. but the ones i ate earlier were really good.

so when in kl or indonesia (where the chain originated) grab some j.co donuts, you will not regret queing up for a long time.



j.co donuts
pavilion mall
bukit bintang, kuala lumpur

kl: rakuzen

japanese restos are ubiquitous in malaysia. and they all seem to serve good food. what i like about malaysia is the fact that food prices are not expensive even though they are a more progressive country than ours. so the other day i got another unagi and soft shell crab craving and decided to eat at rakuzen in chulan square. this is in the bukit bintang area just across the pavilion mall.

so here's what we got.




deep fried softshell crab. yummy! it's RM22 or around PHP260.




sushi tempura zen - is a bento set with sushi, tempura, chawan mushi and watermelon and dragon fruit slices (RM38).




unagi zen - this my bento set. huge unagi soft and delicate. loved it! the chawan mushi was also good with surprises underneath the bowl like mushrooms and chicken pieces. i think this one is a steal for RM30 or PHP390.


the dishes were executed well. good quality and great service , we even found a pinoy waiter there. the iced lemon tea could be skipped it's RM8, pretty steep for me but indeed it was made with fresh lemon more like a lemonade than an iced tea. if you end up shopping in the bukit bintang area and suddenly craves for japanese try this place out.


rakuzen japanese restaurant
block b lot 2a chulan square
jalan rajah chulan, kuala lumpur