Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Canton-i, Gardens MidValley. The week that was.

OK, I admit. I am running low on steam and am finding it hard to get new ideas on what to blog about. Feeling a bit tired too, and am having backaches and headaches. Probably due the change in Medication recently. Moreover, the list of unread books have grown to more than 10. Now, that gets to my nerve more than anything else! Hence, just a brief run down on the week that was.

Firstly, lunch at Gardens. Wanted a change from my usual haunt at Sage, and henceforth twittered for some ideas. Joe (lotsofcravings) suggested Ri Yaki-Tori, but they are only open from 5pm onwards. The Android Craved for some dim sum and landed at Canton-i.

Clockwise from top: 1. Duck Floss in fried spring rolls 2. Steamed Fish Maw with fishpaste and 3. Conch with American Ginseng Soup.

The restaurant claims to offer authentic Cantonese cuisine as they have employed two chefs from Hong Kong and that piqued my interest as I am a big fan of Dim Sum. The Duck Spring Rolls were perfectly fried, with just a light trace of oil, but the savoury filling was a tad too salty and very dry. Steamed fish maw with minced pork and fish paste was an interesting twist to the normal dim sum offeerd elsewhere. Not spectacular, but adequate.

Clockwise from top left 1. Seven Belle Tea (The Jasmine Pops up!), 2. Double Boiled Milk 3. Pea Sprout and Scallop Dim Sum 4. Har Gao

The har gao or prawn dumplings were RM 10 per plate, which is a bit on the pricier side. The skin was perfect, not too sticky and soft nor was it tough. The most interesting of the lot was probably the pea sprout, spinach and sliced scallop dim sum which was filled with crunchy pea sprouts that offered a textural contrast to the otherwise uninspiring array of Dim Sum offered.

The Conch and American Soup was salty, but palatable. The double boiled fresh milk dessert with gnger sauce was beautiful and the most memorable of the dishes. I would have to mention that a lot of the items in the menu ar not available. No roast goose,I had to change my dessert 3 times before they found something that was available, and of the 6 varieties of soup offered, only one was available. Kind of disappointing. Do ask first before ordering to avoid disappointment.

Canton-i
Mid Valley City LG 202, 203 A
Lower Ground Floor
Lingkaran Syed Putra
Kuala Lumpur
+6.03.22.84.68.88


The rest of the week was unremarkable except for a few boring dinners with my Boss. Lunch this week at Sage was excellent.


The Cold Cappelini pasta with Salmon Confit and Baby Herbs brought tears of joy to my eyes. The stark simplicity of the taste and the freshness of the Salmon was astounding. The Aiguilette of Duck and Green Pepper Sauce with Foie Gras has probably been done to death elsewhere, but at Sage, the Duck breast (Aiguilette means sliced lean pieces) was done to perfection and topped with beautiful foie. Dessert was Baked Chestnut which retained a slight bitter edge from the skin, tempered down with almond flakes and vanilla ice cream.

Since Lots of Cravings Joe has been moaning about Pad Thai, I am posting the picture below, taken from Somtam Seafood at Jalan Alor. The best Pad Thai in KL.


Notice the chopped peanuts and Raw Bean Sprouts in the background? Squeeze the lime, give the al dente, full of wok hei noodles a toss. Close your eyes and munch. You are now in Bangkok. As good as the stall below my apartment in Sukhumvit. :D

That was my week, and hope you guys have a great one ahead too!

10 comments:

UnkaLeong said...

Hmmm...Most authentic Pad Thai huh? Must saunter there soon to give it a try. If you happen to know where you can find authentic khanoomjeen, please let me know :)

Paranoid Android said...

Yar la, your office just nearby. Let's grab some grub there next time. Khanomjeen Nam Ya? That one very susah. Cannot find at all.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

im going to jalan alor, if i have to for this!!

minchow said...

You run out of ideas? I find that hard to stomach. But how beautiful is the pad thai at Som Tum.... dare I brave Fri evening traffic tomorrow for this? I have yet to try so many other things on the menu!

Babe_KL said...

the pad thai really looked good, must put down in my list. thanks

UnkaLeong said...

Nam Ya or Gaeng Kheaw Wan. My mom cooks a decent Nam Ya version ;) So can get my fix when she cooks.

in the sea said...

Is Canton-i related to that noodle shop Dragon-i?

Re the spring roll, I can tell the final step of deep frying is quite well finished. Deep fried spring roll should be first put at a medium low heat to make sure the food inside is not dried out. Then after a minute something, turn to super high heat. This way the spring roll will be squeezed out the oil inside. I believe there may be 2 points which this spring roll got dried. First, there may not be some bamboo shoot, soaked and cooked black fungus slices or at least some cabbage slices. Together with the duck meat, there should be some semi-pork fat in it. This way it would balance out the dried texture of the duck meat if it's quite well done. Another point is that the Chef put the spring roll at a medium high temperature frying oil. So that would dry out the ingredients inside.

The Conch/American Ginseng soup is good for health and what we call "balancing the cold and nourishing the hot" in a body character. If you often sleep late or sleep less, this soup would help improve your body's overall health.

Paranoid Android said...

@Joe: Make sure for pad thai only ar. Not for other extra curricular activities.

@550: Yupz. Brave it baby. The grub awaits you

babe_kl: You are most welcome!

Unka: They serve Nam ya only lor.

@Sea: Thanks. You are always a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to Chinese food. I have to learn from you. A lot!

in the sea said...

Thank you, but I am now starting to miss what I was told in my childhood from my grand mother and aunts about the food character. They often told me food can heal you and prevent you from getting sick if you eat properly and in balance. As a kid, I only paid attention to going out with classmates. Cantonese people often put "eating" as the top priority.

Paranoid Android said...

@ITS: Yes. My grandma and mom used to go on and on about balance. The former because she is Cantonese (from HK) and my mom just loved watching TVB on Wah Lai Toi.

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