By bapester, on February 9th, 2011%  Levain, entrez. The privilege of being able to go for brunch with your friends while everyone else is back at work is a luxury afforded to the select few only (read: people with a lot of free time, e.g civil servants like *ahem*). Not to let the chance go to waste, we decided that brunch in the city was in order. So to Levain Boulangerie and Patisserie we went. Yes, the place that is on every yuppie’s conversations; from the food blogger to the average foodie, from the ‘keeping-up-with-the-joneses’ to the ‘hang-out-wherevers’, from the nearby white collar workers to the plain curious. Wonder which category I belong in, hmm….
» Continue reading Brunch at Levain Boulangerie and Patisserie
By bapester, on December 29th, 2010% In Japanese, the word ‘Hajime’ actually means to begin, or the first time (始め,初め), which hence explains the title. It could also describe how patrons would experience Hajime for the first time, but hopefully not the last.
edit:
After posting this up, a friend told me that Hajime might have to move out by next month as businesses are not allowed to operate in that residential area anymore. Quite a shame because its location was a main draw, a place in the city but away from the congestion. Read here.
Tonight I had my 初め(’hajime’, i.e first) time at this Japanese restaurant tucked in the quiet enclave of Jalan Damai behind the ever busy intersection of Jalan Ampang and Jln Tun Razak. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no congestion on the road leading to the restaurant, this week being the last week of the year. It was a good start to a great night at the restaurant.
My colleagues and I were just looking for a Japanese place to celebrate Christmas, and when my friend recommended Hajime, I thought why not. Especially since it was shortlisted for this year’s Time Out KL Food Awards for Best Japanese Restaurant. Anyway, upon reaching the place, I was glad we made bookings because this modestly-sized place was already almost full. I was also relieved by the restaurant’s tasteful but not excessive interiors, a good sign that my bill would go more towards paying for the food and instead of their renovations.
Looking at the menu, I realise that it wasn’t exactly extensive. But I was not fazed, as the size of the menu was not necessarily an indicator of the quality of the food. What was great though, was how they had a seasonal menu on the left. Seasonal menu was very interesting, while the regular menu offered a great selection of sashimi and sushi. Game for trying new things, me and a very epicurious colleague decided that we didn’t want the same old same old fare of unagi and tempura and ordered all new things to try.
 Black Spider Maki » Continue reading Hajime for the first time.
By bapester, on September 22nd, 2010%  Shining, shimmering, splendid. New World Park Char Koay Teow One belief I hang on to when it comes to food is that there really is no such thing as the best place to eat a certain food, it all boils down to personal taste. Take the humble plate of char koay teow for example. Most of the locals and gastronomically-inclined non-locals would tell you that THE place to go to for the best char koay teow in Penang would be Lorong Selamat’s Kafe Heng Huat. (Although a recent boycott sparked by news of the cafe staff’s rude behaviour might take its toll on its popularity. Read about it here)
» Continue reading Penang Foodnotes: New World Park Char Koay Teow
By bapester, on September 6th, 2010%  Apom at New Cathay, Jln Burmah. Fluffy! I love apong/apam/apom. This fluffy dessert is made of the simplest of ingredients: sugar, egg and flour. Yes, it’s the simple things in life that can make a person feel most contented. Pouring batter into mini woks to form thin and crispy sides encircling a thick and puffy center- no wonder my Penang-ite friend tells me that apong/apam/apom is a slang word for the female genitalia.
» Continue reading Foodnotes Penang: Apong/Apam/Apom
By bapester, on August 16th, 2010% 
So I finally got to visit the restaurant that has apparently already been “blogged to death” after earning a reputation as the go-to place for their much-raved pork burgers. (Although my favourites for the night turned out to be something else, read on to find out) Cristang is tucked away behind PJ’s Wisma Thrifty in the relatively quiet commercial centre that is 8 Avenue. We were pleasantly surprised to arrive at the cosy restaurant buzzing with customers in a square that was mostly quiet (save for a handful of restaurants and bars open), ringing true the old adage that “when the food is good, the customers shall arrive”. That being said, I also attribute the good business of this place to the increasing trend of non-Muslim diners out to hunt for a good serving of pork. Probably a backlash to years of being served with pork-free fare by the not-so-daring restauranteurs. All bodes well for the diners though, but I digress.
» Continue reading Carne de Porco at Cristang
By bapester, on August 12th, 2010%  Tiramisu, methinks.. After the thoroughly satisfying late lunch in Ta Chi House we were looking for a place to sweeten our palates. At that hour, we figured that it might have been a little too late for cendol at Jonker 88 so our next option was to head to Nadeje Cafe, which was a good alternative since I have yet to try their much talked about mille crepe. For the uninitiated, the mille crepe is essentially a French dessert whereby the cake consists of many layers of crepe (mille=thousand, crepe)
» Continue reading Malacca Revisited: Nadeje’s Mille Crepe, Satay Celup and Kerang Bakar
By bapester, on August 7th, 2010% 
It’s been so long
a) since I last updated this blog, my apologies for that
b) since I last visited Malacca for a makan trip, which was about a year or so ago.
» Continue reading Malacca food trail: Ta Chi House
By bapester, on July 22nd, 2010% 
Pardon the rather unimaginative title, I realise myself that its cheesiness borders on the lousy puns commonly found in local English newspapers (not mentioning which newspaper, though). However, the only other title I could think of was “Pork It”, which I felt fares worse in terms of punch and impact than the current title.
» Continue reading A Walk in the Pork at Betty’s Midwest Kitchen
By bapester, on June 7th, 2010% 
So how was it?
Generous with their strips of pork. Seldom do I come across hokkien mee that is served with so much meat. Lean meat, for that matter, that is neither hard nor dry, but tender. Weight watchers may rejoice 
» Continue reading Hokkien Mee at Mun Wah (Dewan Bahasa)
By bapester, on May 11th, 2010% The f-word was the only apt word to describe the whole weekend (F as in “Food”- think Gordon Ramsey, not Jeremy Piven). While food hunting was not the main agenda of my weekend, I somehow ended up trying out a bunch of new places throughout the weekend.
As for tonight, my family and I had dinner at a cosy place called Otak-otak Place in IOI Boulevard. Puchong has become our latest destination for food as it is the most central for all our family members. To anyone who hasn’t heard of IOI Boulevard, it is a relatively new business centre in Puchong located opposite IOI Mall, intended to be an upmarket retail and F&B location for Puchong. While its shops are still largely unoccupied, there are quite a significant number of restaurants and cafes at its ground floor, and business appears healthy.
» Continue reading Otak-otak Place in IOI Boulevard and the rest of my food laden weekend.
|
|
Click click to support my site
|
Popular posts