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

Hakka Republic. Redux. Menara Hap Seng, KL. A Restauranteur, A Chef and A Blogger Doing The Hungarian Dance.

(no pork served)

Sue Lim is one of the co-owners of Hakka Republic. An amazing, energetic woman, she packs one megaton of energy in her petite figure. She used to be a wine supplier fo a long, long time and along the way she has developed her own idea of what a good wine should taste like (mainly old world wines) and she hopes that she would be able to cater to the slightly more niche market of discerning wine lovers who are tired of all the new worlds and their clones at the supermarkets.

I was invited by Sue to have lunch at their establishment recently and was surprised to discover that the birth of Hakka Republic was a mixture of chance, opportunity and luck. Apparently Sue had toyed with the idea of opening a small wine bistro in Central KL for quite some time. And you can't have good wine without good food and vice versa. Before long, one thing led to another and a chance discovery of a chef waiting to come back home to Malaysia after spending a lot of time in Tokyo lad to the birth of the now larger setup at it's present location. I could hardly believe that what she had in mind originally was a 1000+ square feet set up.

The concept of Hakka Republic is to provide an extensive range of good wines personally vetted by Sue herself to be served with simple, good food in a friendly and casual environment. Believe me, the wine list is extensive. From Aszus to Zinfandels and everything in between, varietal or blended, New World boutique wines to Stately Chateau Wines. All budgets and all tastes. The Italians are particularly prominent here, reflecting Sue's personal preference. Most of the wines here are imported by Sue herself, and there is an allocation per vintage which makes some of her wines rarer still. Fortunately the prices of the wines here are pretty reasonable and the enomatic machines makes it easy for you to taste all the wines without burning a hole in your pocket.

During lunch, Chef Adi dropped by for a chat. With over 10 years experience cooking in Tokyo which is renowned for it's high density of Michelin Star restaurants and the fussiness of it's residents about food, it's a high pressure job being a chef in Tokyo. Married to a Japanese, his reason for coming back to KL is to familiarize his son to the Malay Language and Culture. Hailing from Johor Baru, this Cherubic and friendly Chef is the creator of the wonderful menu that graces the Haaka Republic.


Sue's concept was deviously simple. Match good wine with good simple food. One thing that's noticeably missing here is a dress code. This is because Sue wants to make this place fuss free. Anybody who is dressed decently although casually are allowed into the dining area. What's more important is that the customers come with an open mind in order to fully appreciate good wine and good food.

Although the emphasis is not on Fine Dining, but rather good, simple food that will go well with the wine, Chef Adi has done an admirable job. But both Adi and Sue would be surprised to know that Angus Beef Burger (which is offered in the Hakka Republi Menu) is actually offered at RH at Andaz (old Hollywood Hyatt) LA too. With Michelin Chef Archambault heading the kitchen, they had introduced Angus Burger as part of it's fine dining menu. And RH opened almost simultaneously with Hakka.

Although back home for only 8 months, Chef Adi has already shown flashes of brilliance, with the steamed Wagyu Beef with Ponzu Sauce gaining an almost legendary status among the foodie circle in KL who were and are still waxing lyrical about it. Undeniably, there are traces of Japanese influence in his cooking, due to his long working experience in Tokyo. And his approach to the menu is creating tasty, fuss free food with emphasis on natural tastes and then let food copulate with the wine and work it's magic. I am sure in time to come, he too will mature to be a potent chef to be reckoned with in KL.


If this post seems like an advertorial, rest assured that I paid for my lunch there. It is so rare to meet somebody so unwavering in her quest and the concept of enjoying fine wine together with dining is so under-exploited in Malaysia that makes me so impressed with Hakka Republic. Even though this establishment is only 8 months old and Sue has no previous experience running a restaurant or bistro, she actually takes the trouble to seek out comments from her customers and the menu is always being improved and revised. And of course Chef Adi and his talent in the kitchen is complimentary to the wine bistro concept and together, they make a formidable and welcome team to the dining scene in KL.


Amuse boouche is a fairly new introducion at Hakka. An oyster shooter together with a tomato and avocado salad topped with caviar in petit sizes to whet up my appetite for lunch. Light and lovely.


The Shrimp Bisque Shooter was marvelously creamy and was very balanced and aromatic. It was rich enough to leave a cloying after taste, but not too rich to the point of being overpowering. The mirepoix blend was smooth and the resulting soup was suave and concentrated.


The foie gras with miso was also an unsual twist. Pan fried and lightly drizzled with Miso sauce, the sauce did not overwhelm the taste of the liver, but lent it a slightly more savoury taste which made the liver taste sublime.


Comfort food for the tired soul. Beef Wellington with Yorkshire pudding. Simple and classical, but extremely well presented. Taste this dish with the Chianti that was paired with it, and you immediately understand what Sue was talking about when she mentioned simple but great tasting food matching the wines and bring out the best of both. Like a good marriage. (More about the wines below).


Slow-Baked Meringue with Crème Anglaise And Bittersweet Chocolate was the dessert i had for lunch. Light and fluffy Meringue with a filling of bitter chocolates and slightly sourish strawberries was a lovely way to end a wonderful meal.

Now, the wines. Old world wines seem to have more life compared to the new world fruit bombs. The taste changes with every sip and to me, that is almost like an organic life form itself. It can even sense your moods!


The Kelleske Clarry's Semillon Chenin Blanc 2007 (top left) was paired with the Prawn Bisque. Kelleske is a small and organically farmed grapes Barrosa Valley winery and this version is a blended wine. Light and medium bodied, it was crisp and acidic with notes of summer melons. Very easy to drink but slightly overwhelmed by the rich Bisque. I would have preferred a Pouilly Fumé instead which is slightly musky and smokey.

The wine on the top right corner was the Disznókő Late Harvest Tokaji 2003. Tokaji Aszu is Hungarian sweet wine which had been left to desiccate with Botrytis or noble rot to enhance the sweetness of the grapes. Left to abandon during the communist control of Hungary which meant that impeccable fermentation could not take place as it should, it enjoyed a revival recently due to investments from the big French houses. The one i had that that was the least concentrated Tokaji, which is the Late Harvest. With Tokajis puttony numbers indicate the strngth, the sugar and sugar free residue in the wine. The higher, the more concentrated (and more expensive). The late harvest was already lovely, with a nose of honey and apricots and exhibiting a lovely golden hue. Although it is a sweet wine, there is a balanced acidity which meant that the after taste is slightly sourish. This wine has a happy mood. I suddenly felt the sunshine and wind and the beautiful summer and Liszt's Ungarische Rhapsodien was playing in my brain. I wanted to do the jig on the table! This was a wonderful match for the foie, it was a match made in heaven.

Bottom left was the 2006 Zind Humbrecht Gerwutz which had been tasted here.

And the Red at the bottom right was a Chianti. I have to admit I am not very exposed to Chiantis. I love the Bordeauxs and Paulliacs and the Rhones. But the one Sue paired was so different from the Chiantis I've had before and I was floored. This palish Sangiovese based Isole e Olena Chianti Classico 2005 was just opening up by the time i took a first sip and with another swirl, evolved again. On it's own, the nose is smokey with plums and in the mouth it was full bodied and chewy with some leathers. Very parchy and tannic at first, but when paired with the Beef Wellington, it was amazingly fresh. I guess this was what Sue was getting at. Good food, good wines and a wonderful experience.

Lovely pairings and an eye opening experience. Thanks for the lesson on the Italian reds and lovely company, Sue and I wish you every success.

N.B. FBB, LL and Frat... This was what you guys missed. :p

Hakka Republic is having lunch with wine pairings every Friday and the cost is RM 120++, which is a pretty good deal by any standards

Hakka Republic
Lot 2.05, Level 2
Menara Hap Seng
Jalan P.Ramlee
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +6.03.20.78.99.08

Hakka Republic. Menara Hap Seng, KL. An Evening With The Pinot Noirs.

(no pork served)

My previous visit to Hakka Republic gave me such a good impression of the place that I have planned a re-visit many weeks ago, but never got around doing it until last Sunday.


This time around, I was there at about 10pm, just 30 minutes before the kitchen closes. The place looks really different than when I was there in the late evening. The sun was shining directly into the main dining area, making it very bright and excellent for photography. At night, the dining area was so dimly lit and was very, very romantic. Unfortunately it made photography a nightmare and I had to use long shutter speeds and many shots were killed due to shaky hands.


Dining there at night, means I would have the opportunity to try out their brilliant wine pairings again! For starters, I had the smoked duck salad that came in a dressing that was specially prepared by the chef.


The Salad was paired with Stonier Reserve Pinot Noir 2004. Firstly, the wine. Ruby Red, as opposed to the normal Garnet/Orange hue of Pinot Noirs, this delightfully balanced wine gives has a bouquet that is slightly reminiscent of a Cabernet. Rich blackcurrant/ cassis with strawberries. Very interesting. Dry, slightly sweetish at the end, medium bodied, it paired excellently with the smokey duck breasts that were slightly rare.


Look at the colour o the wine in the picture above! Lovely pairing.

For mains I had Angel Hair Pasta Alia Oglio, served with Pan Fried Salmon with Seafood.


This was paired with the Duval Leroy Rose De Saignee which is a Rose Champagne. This is also pressed from Pinot Noir grapes using the saignee method. This involves separating the grape juice from the skin after a short period of time and just gives a blush of red to the extracted juice. This method is thought to be superior from the blending of whites and reds to produce the pinkish hue.


This little beauty was magnificent. The colour was not really pink, but a pale yellowish pink. Bouquet was strawberries and the taste slightly jammy reds and creamy, again slightly sweetish yet acidic. Marvelous. The pasta was al dente, salmon perfectly pan fried and the seafood composed of mussels, prawns and scallops was bathed in oglio and some dried chillies. Lovely. On it's own, the pasta would have been quite rich and boring. But paired with the wine, it was wonderful.

I skipped dessert. Hakka should really look into their rather limited and boring dessert menu which is mainly pastries and warm pastries with ice cream.

Invariably, I will be asked about the difference between Sage and Hakka Republic. I have yet to dine at Sage for dinner, due to their early closing times. And this blog is probably not the right place to compare them. Anyway, my previous posts should be able to guide you to draw your own conclusions.

My previous post on Hakka Republic is here, together with their contact information.