A Lazy Post, with Apologies. Elegant Inn, Dim Sum, Menara Hap Seng KL. Da On Korean Food, Pavilion, KL. Sage Menu this week.

(non halal at Elegant Inn, no pork served at Da On and Sage)

Sorry for another very hasty and lazy post. Been very busy, running around in circles and finally, I have got my Identity Card, 10 years down the road. Since having the Hairy Crabs at Elegant inn, I wanted to get back there to sample their Dim Sum.

Elegant Inn
2.01, 2nd Floor, Podium Block,
Menara Hap Seng,
Jalan P.Ramlee,
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +6.03.20.70.93.99


Their Fried Yam Rolls were wonderfully crispy, crunchy and light. The ones I have had at other places were usually badly fried and very heavy and soggy. I really have to compliment the Chef at Elegant Inn for his frying technique.


The Bean Curd Rolls were filled with fish patty. Nothing outstanding. The obligatory Har Gao and Siew Mai in any Dim Sum was palatable, although the shrimp in the Har Gao was a little bit too cooked, resulting in a very tough consistency.


The Lotus Leaf wrapped rice here is a bit special. They used duck meat and shredded dried oysters and is beautiful carbo laden dish.


For dessert, I had glutinous balls with black sesame in ginger syrup. Another beautiful chinese dessert and the ginger takes away the satiety of the brunch.

Da On Fine Korean Cuisine
Lot 6.40, Level 6,
Pavilion KL
Tel: +6.03.21.41.21.00

On the same day, I had to go to Parkson at Pavilion to get finish up some shopping vouchers and by chance, landed at Da On, which is a swanky looking Korean Resturant with a cavernous interior that has somehow eluded me in the past. I had wanted to get some Thai at Celadon, but they were closed for renovation.

Photos were taken with my Mobile Phone Camera (I did not expect to be posting anything later that day).


As you have noticed, I was at nearly at the end of my meal when I hastily took some photos of the food. The Chicken BBQ was excellent and they were of course served with the little Korean Side Dishes including Kimchi, Stir Fried Vegetables, Mushroom and some pickles. The Kimchi soup (bottom left) deserves and honourable mention beacuse it was so piquant and served with slivers of beef. Dessert was some beautiful Black Sesame Ice Cream. I wmust come back and do a full meal here again.

Sage
Gardens Hotel and Residences
Tel: +6.03.22.68.13.28

This week's menu at Sage is a little bit less decadent.


The Fricasse of Foie Gras with Sweet Bread and Mushrooms. Sweet Bread is the Thymus Gland of Veal/Lamb and here, it was breaded and deep fried. It lies behind the piece of Foie. The mushroom fricasse was slightly heavy with cheese.


The mains is a rustic French/Creole Meunière of Pomfret Fillet with Crab Brisque served with Vegetables in Cocotte. The Pomfret fillet was lightly dusted with flour before being fried and them served on Prawn Bisque instead of the traditional brown butter sauce.


The vegetables were served in a separate pot and consisted of French Beans, Endamame Beans, some local sprouts and choy sum.


Dessert was a spectacular Gratinated halved Strawberries with Cointreau Sabayon and Kiwi Sorbet. Masterful.

Elegant Inn Hong Kong Cuisine, Menara Hap Seng, KL. Hairy Berry Crabs.

(non halal)

Hairy Crabs. A Chinese delicacy that is seasonal and is highly prized for it's roe. That makes the Female species highly prized and the Male erm.... sort of unprized. I guess that makes sense because it would be more difficult to find a hirsute Female than a Male. It is considered a pest in Europe as it is invading their ponds and streams and just shows that one man's meat is another man's poison. After all, flip through Elle and Vouge and see that all their female models are clean shaven and Brazilian waxed. It's probably a case of fearing the crabs being a bad influence on European ladies, I think.

It's Autumn again and all those unshaven, never used veet/nair before female crabs are being offered at Elegant Inn again. A prized Shanghai delicacy, it is served steamed here with vinegar and ginger dip.


I have to admit, the crabs did look like a mean MF, with hair sticking out all over the place. With 4 pairs of legs, one can hardly blame the crab for not being clean shaven.


The waitress proceeded to dismember the crab and placed all the body parts neatly on my plate. There were some wierd looking utensils which I reckoned were to dissect the crab surgically. Just like in an episode of Gray's Anatomy. Pass me the scalpel, suction, etc... Eat the roe first, the waitress said. The roe, the roe...


What can I say about the roe? Artery clogging stuff. But hey, all the delicious food kills you one way or another. The roe was as promised. Every morsel a delight of creamy, rich, sweet, sinful, intoxicating indulgence. Better than ayam kampung yolks. The meat was succulent and sweet. The vinegar they serve at Elegant Inn is top grade, slightly sweet dark vinegar that was very very balanced. I took about half an hour to finish the crab. And as I was eating, I got some tweets from the luminaries of Malaysian Food Bloggers, and they were actually having Hairy Crabs elsewhere too. Well, I'll just have to live my life at the bottom of the food blogger chain and get used to it, I suppose. The crabs tasted better with the salty and lonely crocodile android tears anyway. A pot of sweetened ginger tea was served at the end of the crab meal to neutralize the cooling effect of the crab.


Next was the Deep Fried King Pork Ribs. I am sure no king reared this pork, which probably had some sexy love handles before being slaughtered and sacrificed to appease this android. Crunchy and fragrant and perfectly fried. No complaints.


The famous RM 22 Elegant Inn special fried rice was ok. Be forewarned that Elegant Inn's menu is not very Single Diner friendly. The portions are probably meant for 3 to 4 people. And I was completely stuffed at the end of the eye opening meal. It was after all, my first attempt at dissecting the Hair Crab surgically, and I do have to declare that the operation was a success. All of the meat went down in my tummy and is well on it's way to cool my body, if you believe in that sort of thing.

Alert, Alert! Update!

Was told by FBB that I was mistaken. Actually Male Crabs has better roe, and the roe consists of sperm! I was too polite to ask the waitress if she served me a male or a female crab and risk being regarded as a Male Sexist Pig. Neither do I have the zoological knowledge to locate the sexual organs of the Hairy Crab, not that I would know how a crab's penis would look like anyway. Now, I can only hope and pray that I did not just eat, savour and swallow some crab cum for lunch today! Aiayaiyayai!


Elegant Inn Hong Kong Cuisine
2.01 2ndFloor Podium Block,
Menara Hap Seng,
Jalan P. Ramlee,
Kuala Lumpur

Telephone: +6.03.20.70.93.99