Food Explorer & Home Chef
Step into the wilderness with Ferria, a luxe rainforest-themed restaurant located at The Westin Kuala Lumpur, offering sumptuous grilled fare. The lush green and rattan seating, together with the hanging vines, dining chairs in tropical prints create an inviting chill and relax kinda ambience, while …
Pssst … I found really awesome Negeri food at Kampung Lah. Where? @kampunglah.my – that’s the name of the resto, new in town since last October. A hidden gem, decor is simple, cozy, as if you’ve stepped into someone’s home in the kampung. There’s even …
Looks like Isaan Thai food is trending now as yet another resto jumps on the bandwagon. Formerly serving a fusion of South-East-Asian cuisine, Mera in Damansara Kim, P.Jaya now has an Isaan chef helming the kitchen, serving up more robust flavours and delivering taste notes that hover between extremes of spicy and sour.
Kicking off our review was a selection of Thai salads, with Crispy Catfish with mango and cashew (Yam Pa Dok Ko – RM48) holding court. Crispy, flakey, wispy, the battered fish dunked in the sour, spicy and sweet sauce was magic in the mouth. Young papaya salad (som tum/RM38), a typical Thai appetiser, dialed it up a notch with Isaan accents that made it extra spicy and sour. Made us cry but still, we wanted more!
A more protein-skewed option, Larb Moo, was spicy and salty, seasoned with fish sauce, chili flakes, lime juice and herbs. The minced pork salad, however, didn’t stand out as much as the chef probably thought to give our taste buds a break. Grilled Pork Salad (Moo Yang Nam Tok) picked up the pace – spicy and sour – with shallots, cilantro, lemongrass, mint, basil and crushed roasted rice nicely coming together in the mixture. Definitely appetite inducing!
Hot and sour Tom Sap (pork soup) was aromatic with sawtooth coriander, cilantro, lemongrass, dried chillies, onion and tomatoes. While it’s nowhere near the spice quotient of tom yum, I found this subtle version, refreshing, mellow and comforting.
Was so happy that Mera had Grilled Isaan sausages (Sa Kork Isaan/RM48), one of my fav street food snacks. The stuffing consists of fermented pork mince, glutinous rice, garlic and glass noodles. Unusual as far as sausages go, the slightly sour edge to the savoury sausage makes this quite special, though I felt this version a bit on the dry side.
Isaan-style grilled chicken, marinated with lemongrass and fish sauce, was tender and fragrant, and the accompanying sauce of lime juice, fish sauce, chilli flakes, palm sugar, chopped coriander and toasted rice elevated this dish further. Everyone’s fav Kor Moo Yang (barbecued pork neck) came in slim, elegant slices, nicely layered with fat, paired with a lovely sweet chilli and toasted rice dip. Kao Ka Moo (RM48), braised pork trotter with hardboiled egg, is what you need to come home to, after a long day at work or stressed out by unreasonable clients! Fatty, meaty, yet so comforting, the chunks of pork were balanced out with blanched greens, pickles and a house-made chilli dip. While the luscious steamed squid lightly dressed in lime, chilli and garlic, proved that simplicity allows a good dish to shine brightest.
My no carb rule was broken the minute the scrumptious lard fried rice made its entrance as the fluffy, egg-coated rice with hidden crackling bits cannot be ignored. For dessert, there was glutinous rice balls in sweetened coconut milk coloured by pandan juice and pumpkin purée (Bua Loy).
Currently, an a la carte menu is available at Mera. Diners have an option to get the chef’s table which features a curated menu priced from RM150++/pax.
Add: 6, Jalan SS20/10, Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. tel: 018-268 2333.
It’s not easy to find a good Malay restaurant that is suitable for entertaining foreign guests which reflects the many facets of Malay cuisine and presents an adventure for the palate. Adu Sugar in Bangsar, KL is one such restaurant – the food is breath-taking …
For Ramadan this year, EQ’s famed Malay Chef Muhammad Hajral Lisarni has prepared a gastronomic splendour at Nipah. A lavish spread of evergreen flavours that are true to the traditional methods of Malay food preparation, Citarasa Nipah’s buffet features both traditional and innovative takes on …
Omakase restaurants have been growing in popularity and mushrooming all over the Klang Valley. Sushi Mew, having established itself in Hong Kong and Singapore as a purveyor of Japanese cuisine, has opened its doors at The Westin Kuala Lumpur. Just about three months old, it offers world class omakase experience and excellent service to the discerning diner within an aesthetic setting that could well pass for an evening in Tokyo.
Strategically placed wooden panel frames and soft grey wall furnishings reflect a modernistic Japanese aesthetic while gilded gold bracketed ceilings and floor chiller exude a touch of class and elegance. Soft downcast lights envelop the dining area in a warm golden glow, creating a cozy ambience. Omakase, usually a private affair in an intimate setting, can also be had in four separate rooms for six to eight people in private functions.
Literally translated to “I’ll leave it to you”, Omakase is about respectfully entrusting the chef to perfectly curate a meal based on their professional expertise with a personal touch using only the finest ingredients available.Sushi Mew’s philosophy is based on creating a symphony of tastes that explores the limitless possibilities of different elements, flavours and ingredients, fusing both classic and modern Japanese haute cuisine.
Staying true to the high quality of its art form, Sushi Mew offers a choice of two lunch sets: the KA menu at RM188 and the Shu menu at RM268. Ala Carte orders are available for both lunch and dinner menus.
The dinner menu consists of three different sets with Kun at RM388, the Yu at RM488 and the Mew set from RM800 onwards (seven days pre order in advance is required). This is the chef’s special menu where all ingredients are exclusively handpicked and specially ordered upon request.
We were invited to review the Yu menu on a stormy night, so sitting down to a posh omakase was a welcome respite. While every dish was a delight to the senses, personal favourites were the signature engawa sushi consisting of buttery, lubricious flounder meat muscle and otoro (tuna belly) sushi, which had natural toro (tuna) oil dripped onto the sushi.
Even the inari udon was a joy – a specially imported thinner noodle was used instead of the commercial thick ones which most of us are accustomed to – served in dashi, soy sauce, paired with truffle and amadai (white snapper). Another standout item was the soft and chewy hirame (white fish) on Japanese rice cooked in Hokkaido water, mixed with soy sauce, black vinegar and uni (sea urchin)..
Initially we thought we were getting a cheesecake dessert, but it turned out to be an elaborate baked tomago (Japanese omelette) with Japanese shrimp and fish, how exquisite!
Sushi Mew has truly woven a medley of flavours into every dish, making each piece of sushi into edible art.
Add: The Westin Kuala Lumpur, 199, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur,
Opening Hours:
Lunch12pm – 3pm
Dinner : 2 seating options – 6pm & 8.30pm
Kalamata Cafe may be housed in an ordinary upstairs shoplot in Desa Sri Hartamas, but once inside, one is transported to the Mediterranean, with warm terracotta contrasted against turquoise hues, abstract designed Egyptian carpets on the walls and exotic hanging lamps, providing the ideal ambience. …
Continuing his French love affair, Chef Andy Choy has opened Doux Doux, his latest foray into desserts. Located inconspicuously above a Chinese medicine shop, who knew a lovely French-inspired pattiserie serving excellent canelé existed? Like most cafes these days, Doux Doux by Chateau Dionne employs …
Guinness Malaysia is back with a month-long celebration to celebrate the good times this St Patrick’s Day. Guinness Malaysia’s 2023 St. Patrick’s celebration, “Our Day to Remember”, is all about bringing fans together to celebrate their loved ones – their true lucky charms – as they commemorate the good times with Guinness. With a series of activations happening at participating bars and pubs from now until the end of March, the brand has lined up an array of activities, games, and giveaways for fans to celebrate.
This year, the brand wants to elevate fans’ St Patrick’s Day experience with the first-ever, Guinness St Patrick’s anthem. With this, fans can immortalise their memories in the form of a reel or video and post it on their social media platforms using the soundtrack. All they have to do is select up to eight photos of them and their lucky charms creating memories, then to compile them into a reel or video with the exclusive Guinness St Patrick’s Anthem accompanying it. More information on www.guinnessstpatricks.com.
To take the festive celebration up a notch, Guinness is rewarding fans who take a trip down memory lane and use the Guinness St Patrick’s anthem with exclusive merchandise. The more fans use the anthem, the more prizes will be unlocked. For every 30 uses of the anthem, Guinness will give away three prizes, meanwhile for every 300 uses, 30 prizes will be unlocked, and if 3,000 fans use the anthem, 300 users will stand to walk away with the prizes. Up for grabs are the exclusive Guinness mugs, as well as the Guinness festive St Patrick’s hats.
“St Patrick’s Day is an important one for Guinness since the aspect of communion is so deeply engrained in our brand DNA. We wanted to introduce a novel and magical experience for fans to commemorate the good times with our Guinness St Patrick’s Anthem. Besides celebrating their loved ones – their true lucky charms – we will be further amplifying the Guinness St Patrick’s celebration with an array of activities and games for Guinness lovers all month long,” said Shaun Lim, Marketing Manager of Guinness Malaysia.
Fans who would like to celebrate the good times with Guinness this St Patrick’s Day can do so with their lucky charms at their favourite pubs and bars. Check out www.guinnessstpatricks.com for the full list of participating outlets. As for those who want to create a day to remember with the Guinness St Patrick’s Anthem, they can do so by checking out the microsite too or when they scan the QR code available at participating pubs and bars.
Visit www.guinnessstpatricks.com, as well as Guinness Malaysia’s social media pages at www.facebook.com/guinnessmalaysia and www.instagram.com/guinnessmy.
Opened since January 2021, Jade Pavilion managed by Banyan Tree serves pork-free Cantonese cuisine and has become a popular dining destination for both tourists and locals alike. Helmed by Chef Kenny Lee and Chef Dino Lee, the resto honours the classic traditions of dim sum …