Food Explorer & Home Chef
What’s your Christmas plans like? Kuala Lumpur’s latest go-to hot spot, Annabell KL – dining lounge and live music house – has whipped up The Enchanted Season Menu just for the year-end celebrations. Located on the 11th floor of TS Law Tower, KL, the gorgeous …
EQ celebrates the festive season with amazing dining experiences, thoughtful gifts and cherished traditions. This well-established leading luxury city hotel has designed a calendar of events designed to capture the warmth and joy of this time of year, featuring lavish feasts and sumptuous banquets. The …
Good Peranakan food is not easy to come by. Happy to report that I found a perut ikan (fish stomach) dish that checked all the boxes. Sour enough to make you squint, pieces of fish that you can still make out (instead of mushy indistinguishable bits) and a well-balanced taste. I can finish a whole plate of rice with this alone.
This was what we had at Tau Ke in Taman SEA, Petaling Jaya, along with a good hearty sour and spicy bowl of Nyonya Asam Pedas with grouper fillet. The belacan kangkung packed enough of a punch as well, together with quite a few prawns.
We opted for pork rendang, which we couldn’t resist, especially since this version was pork. The refreshing blanched octopus/jellyfish in kerabu style was a wonderful starter to get our appetites going.
The restaurant’s decor was ethnic Chinese, with farming references on the walls. One wouldn’t have guessed that this place excelled in nyonya food. The menu has quite a few Cantonese dishes as well as such low mei (braised pork, egg, tofu, etc), sweet potato porridge and roast duck, and single dish meals such as pork chop rice, nasi lemak, Asam laksa and nyonya nasi ulam. The cendol had its own spin as did the sago gula melaka. I would have preferred an old fashioned sago version – so simple, yet few get it right perfectly. But probably the younger set like new fangled desserts.
Prices range from RM18 (kangkung) to RM35 (Asam pedas. Tau Ke goes on my list of go-to nyonya restaurants.
When I saw others posting about bonito hummus meshed with kotsubu natto, I knew I had to try this unlikely combo for myself. French-trained chef Joel Kirk (formerly from Coley) has teamed up with Leen’s and SAJ’s Syrian chef Ameer Azalek, with input from chef …
Double Zero Pizza arrives in the heart of Ampang with a different kind of promise: simplicity on the surface, depth at its core. A new kind of neighbourhood pizza parlour, it fuses Scandinavian minimalism with sourdough, creating a flavourful dining experience. The name, Double Zero, …
Hidden behind an orange lit small door, the stairs lead to P & V in Bangsar, KL, a secret diner helmed by Dutch chef Joeri Timmermans.
Beginning his career at 14 in the Netherlands, Joeri worked at several Michelin starred restaurants, before moving to Australia in 2013. He then moved to Singapore, and later, the Maldives before going to Antwerp, back in Europe. Now in Malaysia, a diner closed to his heart and named after his two little girls, Pixie & Vesper’s warm, orange ambient draws you in like a moth to a flame.
The 7-course dinner – made with premium ingredients, some cooked on Japanese konro grill and comes with eclectic drink pairing (sparking sake, organic wines and umeshu) – is served on a super long handmade Malaysian oak table where you begin as strangers and end up as friends.
We had:
*Japanese Oyster paired with sparkling sake – fresh, raw save for a squeeze of lime and shiso, disappeared so fast as I slurped this down. My only complaint – I need more!!!
*Chu Toro – 1,000 layered potato, tuna belly, caviar. Another spectacular dish.
*Stracciatella – smooth creamy cheese, rice puffs for texture, on hokkaido milk toast. Loved the textural play.
*Grilled red snapper, amped up by the delicious kombu garlic butter/seaweed.
*Caviarnara – angel hair pasta with uni/kinome. Found this a little on the dry side, mild in taste.
*A5 Nakanishi Miyazaki Wagyu – melt in your mouth tender, beautifully seared, my fav dish (besides the oyster) of the night.
*Yogurt Sorbet – delightfully light, not too sweet, blending nicely with the accompanying stronger flavoured umeshu.
An adventurous journey for the palate, offering an articulate fusion of modern Australian with Japanese nuance, P&V is a reservations-only restaurant, so call ahead to book your seat. It’s also kid-friendly, casual and perfect for small private gatherings or event launches. There’s a private room for up to 8 guests and a 3m oak bar for those seeking lighter bites paired with cocktails.
Priced at RM498 nett (including wine/sake pairing) for a bespoke 7-course menu, you’ll not find a more eclectic yet trendy space – there’s even a Throne Room – a heritage-inspired corner showcasing a private collection of over 100 vintage champagne bottles!
Add: Bangsar, KL. (full address revealed upon reservation). Reservations can be made through Instagram @pixieandvespers_kl
Meraki started off by crafting in-house sauces, snacks and corporate gifting in 2020, then ventured into private dining. It has since curated exclusive menus for private and corporate events, including weddings. Now it has a physical restaurant in Section 17, PJ. The neighbourhood restaurant serves …
The Australian Food and Wine Collaboration Group came together to showcase “Taste the Wonders of Australia” in Kuala Lumpur recently. The Group, comprising Hort Innovation Australia, Dairy Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia, Seafood Industry Australia and Wine Australia, initiated a strategic, concerted effort to advance …
Professional butchery is not just about cutting meat, it is also about the butcher’s skill in deboning, portioning, creation and display of creative and practical applications, reducing wastes and increasing yields.
The Ultimate Butchers Challenge was held by the Aussie Meat Academy recently at UCSI, Kuala Lumpur, showcasing butchers’ skills.
Designed to advance the butchery profession by enhancing participants’ expertise in meat knowledge, cutting techniques and essential cooking skills, the challenge was supported by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and Investment New South Wales. There were 16 teams of two each, with at least one member being a professional butcher, who had to work with chilled Australian beef and Australian lamb.
Competitors hailed from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. The Grand Champion Butcher EZ Meat (Taiwan) received RM2,000, a trophy and awards certificate while first runner-up Central Food Wholesale Ltd (Thailand) got RM1,000, and second runner-up Butcher Box Pte Ltd (Singapore) got RM800. Both runners-up also received a trophy and award certificates. There were also prizes of RM200 each for Best Meat Display Ideas, Best Value Added Meat Ideas, Best Ultimate Tasting Dish and Best Presented Dish.
A strong butcher’s resume should include tasks like cutting and de-boning meat, preparing displays, weighing and labelling products, reducing waste, and increasing yields. However, to be a competent butcher, he should be familiar with all beef and lamb cuts for various cooking methods and share this knowledge with customers, while precision cutting helps maximise yield, minimise waste, and improve eating quality for shoppers.
The Aussie Meat Academy ‘Ultimate Butchers Challenge’ encourages butchers to learn, innovate, and share new ideas and trends within the industry.
The competition aimed to set a new platform to promote the butchery profession, professionalism and support the food service and retail industry.
The competing teams for the Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 were judged by a panel of 5 led by Khairul Anuar Muhamad as Head Judge, himself being Lambassador & Senior Lecturer II at Taylor’s Culinary Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management; Adrian Chong, Aussie Beef Mate & Executive Chef Hyatt Regency Kinabalu; Ridzwan Rasit, Lambassador & Executive Sous Chef, Hilton Kuala Lumpur; Eric Siew, Lambassador & owner / Executive Chef of ABANICO Your Deli Restaurant; Richard Tay, Aussie Beef Mate & Head Chef at CALIA, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.
Winners list:
(L to r) 1st Runner-up Central Food Wholesale Ltd (Thailand), Grand Champion EZ Meat (Taiwan)
2nd Runner-up Butcher Box Pte Ltd (Singapore)
flanked by (from left) Valeska Regional Manager – South East Asia, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Head Judge Khairul Anuar Muhamad,
(from right) MLA Malaysia Country Rep & Singapore Trade Development Manager Rose Yong, MLA Senior Technical Specialist Calvin Gung, Trade and Investment Director (Malaysia) for Investment NSW Alia Jaafar.
Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 – Grand Champion EZ Meat (Taiwan)
(third from left) Hung Wei Cheng (left) and Chang Wei Yu (middle)
Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 – 1st Runner-up: Central Food Wholesale Ltd (THAILAND), (third from left) Nitiwat Phuengcharoen and Putipong Injai
Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 – 2nd Runner-up: Butcher Box Pte Ltd (SINGAPORE)
(third from left) Lai Chung Leang and Mendiola Aaron Gil Adarve (middle)
Other winners were:
Best Knives Skills : Village Grocer Malaysia
Best Meat Utilization and Yield : AEON RETAIL Malaysia
Best Meat Preparation : PT. RESWARA MASYA MANA, Malaysia
Best Ultimate Dish : EQ Hotel Kuala Lumpur
Most Innovative Meat Display & Presentation : EZ Meat Taiwan
One of those days, I was craving bbq meat so we paid Uncle Botak BBQ a visit. A popular station for smoky barbecued meat, it comes with a host of homemade sauces too. The Muslim-owned resto claims to be THE place for wood-fired chicken, beef …