Food Explorer & Home Chef
There’s Japanese food, and then, there’s Japanese cuisine that’s so good, it’ll knock your socks off. Buri by Two Chefs in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, seems like any other ordinary Japanese restaurant, but food is well-above expectations, short of an omakase experience. Helmed by chefs …
Pt 2: Here’s a look at another few vendors selling at Cookhouse TTDI. Chef Dave PB Kitchen Took a while to register that this version of Nasi Kerabu which we were having was vegan. The blue rice came with assorted ulam, kerisik (grated coconut), grilled …
You’ve heard of saving your data on the cloud … now there are cloud kitchens which are community-based co-sharing cooking spaces, specially designed to boost small-home food businesses which want to go bigger but don’t have the capital to have their own place just yet. Four locations offer this ingenious concept – Cookhouses @ Glo Damansara TTDI, Seventeen PJ, GMBB Bukit Bintang and Growers Market on Jalan Ipoh.
According to Cookhouse founder Heun Su San, the idea behind these cloud kitchens is to lift the investment burden of brick and mortar imposed on F&B operators, while offering larger spaces and dining capacity with the addition of studios and event spaces for a fraction of the cost. These hybrid kitchens give entrepreneurs a feasible platform to run their online food businesses, receiving and delivering orders as well as run dine-in options with just a small outfit preparing and serving customers.
All the Cookhouses have more than adequate facilities for a wide range of F&B businesses such as baking, cooking utilities for Asian and Western cuisine, and even space for artisan workshops. Cookhouse also takes care of the all-in-one web app for deliveries which takes the load off the busy cooks.
I had a chance to experience the food @Cookhouse TTDI which features halal food merchants.
Warung Wok
Features an assortment of rice dishes – this was one of my top two favourites among the list of many entrepreneurs here, though all of them were very good. The Nasi Kerabu, coloured blue by butterfly pea flower, came decked with ingredients with as curry/rempah/fried chicken, fried fish/gulai and salted egg, starts from an unbelievably low price tag of RM7.50! Tastewise, this was da bomb as the curries were aromatic, laden with various spices and multi-facet on the flavour spectrum. You can choose from a variety of Nasi Kak Wok which comes with deep fried chicken; Nasi Berlauk which comes with Gulai Ikan or coated Ikan Tongkol; Nasi Kerabu with either chicken or fish, cooked in different styles; and Nasi Kukus wih fish or chicken.
Lobster Mobster
This is not something to be had every day as lobster doesn’t come cheap. Oh, but the heavenly combination of lobster on freshly made brioche … totally to die for! The brioche was soft and cottony on the inside with a light crisp outer crust, the perfect foil to fresh lobster. We tried the Classic which has lobster lightly tossed with homemade mayo and celery/scallion on a hot toasted brioche bun, The Original – lobster meat in drawn butter with toasted brioche bun and Sambal – lobster meat lightly tossed with ML sighnature sambal sauce on brioche. This was the show-stealer, with scintillating piquant spice, salty with a touch of sweet, melding into the soft bread. Prices start from RM91. I also thoroughly enjoyed the ML Bisque (RM25) which definitely trumps some of the ones I’ve tried at five-star establishments. If you have money to splash, I highly recommend Mobster Lobster. There’s also a stupendous Truffle Lobster roll if you’re feeling generous.
ML by Madchef Fhaizal who is also the head chef at The Red Beanbag, started in 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
Bap’s The Name
Korean is all-the-rage, especially if you’ve been binge-watching K-dramas! At first glance, the Bulgogi Beef Bowl (RM24) looked pretty ordinary, but I must say it passed the taste test with top marks. The secret to a good bulgogi bowl lies in the bibim sauce and Bap’s has nailed it. The kimchi pancake (RM10) and Soy Garlic chicken (RM16) were commendable too. For home-cooked Korean flavours at prices that don’t burn a hole in your pocket, Bap’s is a good bet.
To order, look for the Cookhouse’s website and under TTDI location, for the full menu. Stay tuned for the next instalment on the next 3 vendors at Cookhouse TTDI.
It was tough to get a fresh Guinness Draught as the outlets were closed for months. Now that patrons are finally allowed to dine-in, Guinness lovers can enjoy their glass of Guinness on tap once again. To take things up a notch, Guinness is bringing …
True Aussie beef and lamb can be enjoyed in different meat cuts and in a variety of cooking styles. Here’s my take on the home-style sweet and salty dishnusually made with long beans and preserved radish, taken up a notch with Aussie beef. Ingredients 200g …
One of the things I really missed during the recent MCO (Movement Control Order)/Lockdown was a good Korean barbeque. If you’re a fan, then you would know that it’s not just about grilling the meat, but the fun in socialising in typical Korean communal dining fashion, and enjoying the many types of banchan (side dishes) and of course, a swig of soju while you’re at it.
How timely treat it was to be invited to try the Korean barbeque at Seoulnami in The Gardens Mall. Note that this outlet is halal so our Muslim friends can also enjoy this Korean meal that specialises in serving prime cut meats. But yeah, it means no soju swig!
There’s a choice of chicken, beef and lamb to choose from. The Famous Chunchoen Chicken comes in 4 flavours: Spicy Hot Pepper, Savoury Ganjang, Salty Saled and Sweet Honey Butter Chicken (RM59/each flavour). My personal favourite was the Spicy Hot Pepper Chicken while the Sweet Honey Butter was a close second. The other flavours were not so prominent.
Normally, when the uncooked meat arrives, it’s red and raw, swimming in marinate, and you have to toss it on the grill before it looks more palatable. I must say though, here at Seoulnami, the raw Beef Platter Board (RM119) consisting of the trio of Bugolgi, Beef Rib Fingers and Beef Belly was the prettiest raw selection I’ve seen. The red colour really pops and the meat looks so fresh and inviting that you’d imagine it can almost be eaten as it is (of course not, lah … but it really looks so beautiful!). The Bone-in Short Rib (RM139) and Yang Galbi (RM59) were also beautiful cuts of meat. If you’re feeling generous, there’s also Wagyu Beef available.
So, let’s get down to the grilling and eating. The trick to the perfect texture is not to overdo it but just to lightly grill each side of the meat for a quick 2 minutes or so. We had kimchi, pickled radish, steamed egg and grilled octopus to nibble on while waiting for the meat to cook. You can request for help from the servers with the grilling if you’re not good at this. The rest of the meal is about wrapping your lettuce around your choice of meat, enjoying the natural flavours, and if you can, stuffing the lot in one mouthful at one go!
Some diners cannot do without their carbo boost. Here, you can have the Fist Rice (RM29) which comes with the classic Korean rice mix with seaweed and minced chicken. Like a Korean fried rice of sorts, you can either mix all the ingredients together in the pan and eat it like that, or put on the gloves and mould the rice into small balls. Easier said than done, as there is a bit of skill involved in getting the rice balls nice and round, without falling apart. My fellow diner, Fay, did a fantastic job of fist-balling the rice for all of us! There’s also a Spicy Fist Rice, a Malaysianised version which comes with chilli oil and chilli padi! I liked this more as I found it so flavourful, but not everyone is onboard with chili like me, I know.
The beauty of having a meal like this, is if you have the luxury of time to enjoy the conversation and take time to wrap the morsels of meat.
Seoulnami has been around for close to 3 years now and is open during mall hours.
Add: Level 1, F-215, The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603-2202 3336
In Malaysia, halal meat is easily found and a very important aspect in the market. Surprisingly,Australia is an impeccable source of halal meat and meat products as well, being a long trustedsupplier of halal beef and lamb to over 100 countries, including the Middle East, …
Tiger Crystal is all about inspiring fans to uncage their inner fire. The #FireStarter platform is ignited with that notion, to encourage fans to explore and discover new skills and passions with confidence. Featuring local mentors – surfskate pro Aaron Chan, Don Michael of Happyfingers …
Given half a choice, I would choose to eat a plate of pesto spaghetti over an aglio olio. But basil leaves are not always easy to find, and pine nuts don’t come cheap.
Since I have a tree in my garden, I usually make curry leaf pesto instead. Here’s the caveat – it’s not for everyone as curry leaves can taste quite pungent and the scent quite strong. But we love this and whenever a fresh crop of leaves sprout, I chop it all off to make pesto. Make sure to choose the young ones if possible as the mature leaves can be a bit harsh and sharper in taste. Curry leaves are said to have a host of benefits – they are good for your heart, blood sugar and apparently packed with vitamins too so it’s a win-win for all.
Usually I have almonds stocked up so I just use that. Yeah, it’s somewhat strange to have the combination of curry leaves and almonds, but it gives a nice interesting nutty flavour to the paste. This time round, I happened to have some cashew nuts at hand, and I must say this was even nicer as cashew has a natural sweetness.
Ingredients
200g spaghetti or linguine or angel hair pasta
Approx 2 cups of curry leaves (substitute 1 cup with spinach for a mellower taste)
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup or a handful of cashew nuts, toasted
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup Extra Virgin olive oil
Method
After cooking the spaghetti, drain and set aside.
Pat dry the curry leaves as much as you can after washing. Put this into the processor together with the cashew, garlic, salt and pepper, and drizzle the olive oil as you pulse the leaves. Add more oil if it still looks dry after blending as you want a paste with a consistency that’s not too thick.
Toss with the spaghetti, sprinkle some cheese and serve.
Besides spaghetti, you can spread this on bread or over baked potatoes.
Keep the extra by storing in an airtight container
I usually cook a batch of Miso Pasta for Christmas. Not exactly your idea of typical Christmas food, I know, but my good friend’s daughter, Kay, loves this and the family usually spends Christmas Eve with us so I cook what makes us happy. It’s …