Food Explorer & Home Chef
Casual but stellar wine tasting sesh at Meat Feds by Chef Yenni Law who knows her meats like a true pro, featured Veramonte Savignon Blanc, Neyen and Primus. Choni Kim gave the low down on the Chilean wines. Yenni cooked up a storm starting with …
Maison Martell, the oldest of the great cognac houses, is embarking on a year-long campaign to celebrate its 130-year history in Malaysia, kicking off with an interactive, multi-sensory, AI-enabled pop-up experience from Dec 1, 2023 to Jan 1, 2024, 10am-10pm daily, at the concourse of …
EQ gives the Yuletide and year-end celebrations a head start by rolling out out feasts, festive treats and heartwarming interactions to make everyone’s Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day merry and bright.
The Festive Bake Shop offers Christmas cookies, chocolates and baked goods, as well as festive hampers. Customisation service is available to help guests select and prepare individualised Christmas gift hampers from the lovely selection of gifts.
EQ will also have roast Cajun turkey which can be ordered at the Bake Shop, along with a host of other pre-prepared items such as Beef Tenderloin Wellington and oven baked lamb leg.
All restaurants in EQ will be offering festive menus, with guests being spoilt for choice. Looking for a beautiful but non-traditional celebratory meal? The award-winning Kampachi will be offering an array of festive Japanese cuisine in the Zen-calm restaurant, along with a variety of specially imported cold and warm sake to toast the season.
For an especially luxe Christmas, Sabayon, EQ’s celebrated fine dining restaurant will offer a luxurious seven-course Christmas Eve dinner priced at RM888+ per person for the limited, in-demand window seats looking out to the glittering skyline. Regular seats are priced at RM788+ per person. Both are inclusive of a bottle of 375ml champagne per person. A dining tradition is relived on Christmas day with the ‘Chalet’ Christmas Day buffet lunch priced at RM308+ per person, and RM154+ per child under 12. With a RM288+ per person add-on, diners can enjoy a free flow of sparkling, white and red wines, the creative gin trolley, juices, soft drinks and mocktails.
For a stylish New Year’s Eve, Sabayon will offer an eight-course Countdown degustation priced at RM2,688+ per couple for window seats and RM2,388+ for regular seats. A bottle of 375ml champagne per person comes with each table. The lunch is priced at RM308+ per person, and RM154+ per child under 12, with the free flow drinks add-on for RM288+.
Everyone’s favourite bistro, Etoile, is set to grill up a great selection of food for the festivities, with a range of delectable meats like the Wagyu tomahawk. Special Christmas platters consisting of a choice of seafood and meat such as rib eye, roast turkey, lamb rack, and Boston lobster are also available for dine-in.
Bottega Lounge will offer a festive holiday Afternoon Tea, with delectable sweet and savoury bites crafted for the season. Beginning from December 1, the festive Afternoon Tea is available daily and is priced at RM99+ per person or RM198+ for two. The sets come with a choice of premium JING tea or coffee. Bottega’s range of wines will also make a perfect addition to the afternoon, and are available by glass or bottle.
The feasting begins on Christmas Eve with Nipah’s Christmas Eve buffet dinner, priced at RM238+ per person and RM119+ per child inclusive of unlimited chilled juices and soft drinks. From an authentic antipasti selection to appetisers such as cold decorated roasted chicken, chicken liver spread, fish terrine in smoked capsicum, seafood cocktail with berry compote, and capellini crayfish with spicy tomato basil pesto, tastebuds will continue to be delighted by festive foods like roasted Cajun whole turkey, slow-baked herb-crusted New Zealand lamb leg and baked dill-salt crusted barramundi.
Buffets will remain the order of Christmas day with lunch buffet at Nipah priced at RM218+ per person designed to impart a full helping of Yule cheer with a seafood selection on ice featuring oysters, mussels and prawns, festive cheese platters and a Christmas Roast selection which includes whole roasted Cajun turkey, leg of lamb, roast gravy, mushroom sauce, cranberry sauce, mint sauce, roasted Russet potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and roasted mixed highland vegetables.
The Christmas lunch will have pasta and EQ’s famed chicken rice counters, alongside a grill with stingray, prawns, squid, chicken, scallops and an entire series of authentic, piquantsambals and tamarind dipping sauce. There’s a lavish dessert spread of mini cakes, Christmas cookies and cut-out cookies, as well as warm stolen and mince pies.
Items from the buffet can be replicated at a guest’s behest when they book a private functionin one of EQ’s well-appointed function rooms. These personalised festive banquet events catering to a minimum of 40 guests, will enable a host to curate their perfect celebration, working in tandem with EQ’s knowledgeable banquet events team. Prices for the festive event package begin at RM388+ per person.
New Year’s Eve will see the hotel in full swing, with two parties to choose from. SKY51 will host its Party In The Sky priced at RM168+ per person inclusive of one drink with DJs, live music and grazing platters, as well as the option to book a privileged personal party pod for their group. The famed city view from SKY51 will, of course, be a draw for the last and first photos of the year.
A New Year’s Eve balloon drop will take place for all EQ guests on Dec 31, 2023, in front of Bottega Lounge. This free-entrance pocket event will allow EQ hotel guests to utilise the party packs which have been placed in their rooms during this period.
Add: EQ, Equatorial Plaza, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. call: 03-27897777
Jeanette has always emphasised on the importance of the quality of her ingredients, and refined taste that’s offered at Elegant Inn Hong Kong Cuisine, KL and how it should stay consistent. She remains true to her word and at the recent review, EI showcased why …
An old bungalow has been given an updated elegant demeanour as Flour’s new abode after its former Hartamas abode. We had the Parivartan Evolution part 2 menu, a culinary passage thru India, guided by Chef Yogi who hails from Rajasthan. He offered a world-view of …
Cili Kampung brings traditional Malay family recipes from Langkawi to KL and the spice level is not for the faint-hearted. Despite being in a busy mall in KLCC, the restaurant managed to inject some kampung vines through its bubu ikan (fish net) lights and cozy interior decor.
We had rice with the following dishes:
*The spiciness of the Sambal Cili Api Chicken hit instantly, and the rempah mix was complex and tasty. Found the fried chicken breast pieces were a bit dry … and although this was meant to go with rice, still found it saltier than average.
*Not a big fan of nangka curry, but the Gulai Nangka with Pucuk Manis was impressive. The jackfruit cooked in coconut milk mingling with pucuk manis had a nice balanced flavour, mellow with a touch of sweetness.
*Rich and creamy, the Beef Masak Lomak was braised in a blend of chillies, turmeric, coconut milk, lemongrass and turmeric leaves, and went well with rice. There’s also a choice of fish, chicken, squid, prawns or hornshell (siput balitong) if you don’t eat beef.
*House speciality Sambal Petai Prawns had sizeable prawns with strong robust flavour of spicy sambal, but it was kinda oily. More and larger pieces of petai would have been good too.
*Spicy and mildly sour, the Asam Pedas Tenggiri had generous pieces of fresh tenggiri (Spanish mackerel) with ladies fingers sitting in aromatic gravy, fragrant red curry enhanced with locals herbs like daun kesum, kaffir lime leaves, bunga kantan and lemongrass. Enjoyed this, though it was on the salty side. I would have liked it more sour, but that’s a personal preference.
If you’re there for tea time, Cili Kampung features snacks such as cucur, roti jala and Mee Kari Oxtail, among others. The dry-style curry was attractive and came with lots of condiments, but tastewise didn’t quite cut it.
There’s a good selection of desserts ranging from Mama Cendol – deconstructed, Onde Onde Puding Bakar – a bread pudding of sorts – and Bukit Kelapa which was coconut ice cream.
Top marks for the house drinks such as Lychee Lime and Rose, Bunga Telang Selasih, Sirap and Rambutan Lengkong.
Overall, I enjoyed the spice and flavours of the authentic Malay dishes, but found them too salty for my palate. Perhaps if I had more rice to absorb the gravies. Definitely hard to keep to your diet here if you want to try all the nice and spicy curries!
Prices range from RM40 to RM65 for main dishes and below RM20 for vegetables and side dishes.
Add: Lot 432 – 433 & OS401, KLCC, Kuala Lumpur. tel: 017-8462403
East Asian restobar Shhhbuuuhleee on the top floor of REXKL, is all about small sharing plates, done by the same guys who started Chocha in Petaling Street, KL. After hearing so much about Chef Mui Kai Quan’s prowess in the kitchen, I finally managed to …
The Irish Duck Company (IDC) has entered the Malaysian Market, supplying premium Irish Hampshire Pork to restaurants and consumers. To celebrate the company’s launch in Malaysia, a luncheon was hosted at Grand Imperial Restaurant Pavilion, showcasing the high-quality Irish products through a series of carefully …
Forging new friendships, celebrating October birthdays and an excuse to enjoy Chef Simon Philips wonderful food!
The Chef’s Table featured at d ‘Alti Gusti (which means elevated taste in Italian) showcased a menu par excellence, a culinary journey exploring the Italian palate. Dishes weren’t just pretty platters but a party of flavours and textures in the mouth.
We also enjoyed a Kulfi cake from @fatboybakes created specially for the occasion (now on his order menu).
This is about the closest you’ll get to fine dining without busting your budget to enjoy a cosy, intimate affair, boojie Italian cuisine and nobody asks you to leave by 10pm!
The Dante Degustation menu is available at RM390/pax for Nov. Make early reservations (011-10200380) for a Christmas to remember. Thank you chef Simon for an incomparable evening!
Casual approach to fine dining is quite accessible at Joon Dining which offers Set Lunch at RM48/pax for 3 courses or RM60/pax for 4 courses. (Bread is counted as the first course – which is weird, coz nobody counts bread, but there you go.) Dessert …