Food Explorer & Home Chef
Fireworks in the day time? Sure, why not? After all, it’s not every year that you get to celebrate your 150th birthday! We were not flown to the actual site for the live event (how I wish!), but we did get to attend the viewing …
This year, 2020, has been a bit of a downer as you can’t do all the things we took for grated – travel, hang out with friends, cafe-hopping – not in the way we used to anyway. Here’s what Apple Fox has done to make …
I don’t know why I never ate at Habanna Charbroil Steakhouse before. It’s so nearby, the food is super reasonable and best of all, it celebrates all things porky! Well, better late than never, right?
We tried 3 different dishes and were too stuffed to eat more, so made a note to myself that I should bring the piranhas here again.
First up, in trying to be the conscientious diner who hopes to keep up her fibre intake, we ordered Pancetta Salad (RM18.90). This came with oodles of pork belly meat akin to bacon, COVERING the vegetables. Did I mention how much meat there was? Not stingy bacon bits but actual pancetta slices, sharing its lubricious drippings with the veggie beneath. OK, I’m sold already!
Debating over the pork or beef burger, the server honestly said to try the pork (RM18.90). He could have easily said the latter which was more expensive, and for that I am grateful that he favoured taste instead. It came with a generous portion of fries as well as some more salad, so none can accuse us of being carnivores! The patty was “homemade” (as in made in Habanna-lah), moist and tasty, with enough texture for a good hearty bite without being hard or too dense, and a decent size.
My dinner mates chose Iberico pork belly (RM33.90), which was slightly on the dry side, but still pretty delish, with still enough natural juices contained within to flavour the meat, and the apple sauce at the side made up for it.
They’ve also got chicken choices such as American Charbroiled Chicken and Grilled Spicy Chicken if you’re not into pork, tempting starters like Pork Corn, Pancetta in Love (pig in a blanket) and Grill Bacon Slice, and lamb options like Honey Wine Lamb and Minty Lamb Loin.
Round 2: We popped by again, this time with my other half and No. 3. We had Iberico pork belly again, and this time it was a-mayyy-zing as it was so juicy ‘coz the pieces were fattier so meat had more flavour to it. We had Cajun Belly Salad this time, and it was also good, though I prefer the salty fragrance of the pancetta… I mean, come on, it’s bacon la… how to not lurve, right? No. 3 had the Beef Burger as the Pork Burger had run out and it was a happy second choice as the beef patty revealed layers of flavour and texture, and was worth the calories, not that he was counting … I was!
A glass of house pouring wine is RM15, so it’s even better to order by the bottle. What I like about this place is that it’s a simple, cosy neighbourhood family restaurant without any unpretentious draping and prices are more than reasonable.
Add: No.23, Jalan 20/13, Paramount Garden, Petaling Jaya. Hp: 018-227 7369
Setting: Sabayon at Sky51 where the stunning city skyline greets the eager diner, slowly melting into the night sky revealing a sea of blinking bright lights. Once the popular Equatorial Kuala Lumpur, the hotel has been rebranded as the trendy, chic EQ to reflect the …
In their quest for that perfect shot of single malt, Glenmorangie’s 23 year-old Grand Vintage Malt 1996 showcases the oldest whisky matured in their bespoke casks. Distilled in Scotland’s tallest stills, it is uniquely delicate and ripe for experimentation. Believing that wood could unlock new …
Penfolds has announced a new wine blended from four vintages of Grange, aptly named Penfolds g4.
The blend entwines Grange DNA from the exceptional 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2016 vintages to create a unique Penfolds expression.
The first style of this inimitable wine, Penfolds g3, a 2008, 2012 and 2014 blend, was released in 2017. Stylistically and philosophically equal, Penfolds g4 is an evolution of the original concept, delivering an exceptional wine. The final release, Penfolds g5, will be available in 2021.
“These four Grange vintages are amongst our favourites of the last two decades. All so different – in every sense, not just climatically, the synergistic blending of these vintages works perfectly from a quality, structural and style perspective,” said Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago.
Blending across vintages is part of Penfolds’ winemaking philosophy. A natural progression was to apply this venerated technique to create a new Penfolds red style, first with Penfolds g3 and now with Penfolds g4.
“Each vintage component was carefully selected to bring something different to the final g4 blend, adding layers of intrigue and complexity. The cooler-vintage 2002 Grange is highly defined and sleek while the 2004 Grange is relatively opulent in comparison.
“The 2008 Grange, awarded a perfect 100 points by both Wine Spectator and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, is big and bold. The final component from the yet-to-be-released 2016 Grange serves not only to ‘freshen up the blend’, but also offers its own textural and flavour imprint,” added Gago.
The 2016 Grange will be released this month. Only 2,500 bottles of Penfolds g4 will be available around the world.
In 2019, Penfolds Grange was named ‘Australia’s Most Collected Wine’ by Wine Ark. Grange, a multi-vineyard and multi-district blend, retains its proven stylistic template to this day. The same is now true of Penfolds g4, a compelling expression ofGrange across four vintages.
Press release
I am continuously amazed at what my hood has to offer. Just the other day, I told a friend about a hip coffee joint here and he was gobsmacked that this ‘middle-of-nowhere’ residential area had an inviting coffee joint out in the boondocks. Well, it’s …
Brave soul to open a new Japanese joint just after the Covid lockdown. But with everyone in recovery mode, people are hungry to try new places and eat out again so it might well be the perfect marketing strategy. New Japanese restaurant Shin Haru Tei …
I don’t know about you guys, but my friends ask me all the time – where to eat, what to cook with this leftover ingredient or how to make that dish. I may not be the most fantastic cook, but I am the Queen of Innovation when it comes to making the best out of stuff found in the fridge, so I am always happy to comply!
Just the other day, Ruby asked what to do with her opened box of cooking cream before it went bad. What do you know, I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago and back then, I didn’t have a solution.
Well, now I do! Besides a boring cabonara pasta, why not whip up a crustless quiche? So easy to make that even cooking noobs (that’s what my friend called herself, hahhaha!) can conjure up, this egg dish is fulfilling, comforting and healthy. Frankly, this dish works even without the cream (or milk), but the added richness gives it more flavour and body.
A quiche without a pie crust is essentially a frittata, and when it’s in a muffin tray, it becomes …. Baked Frittata Muffin! Ta da!!! It sounds so boojie that I’m totally stoked!
The proposed ingredients are changeable and you can’t go wrong even if you use more ham or less spinach or whatever. Go with your gut feeling and experiment!
Ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 cup ham, cut into small bits
2 cups spinach
One big onion, diced
100ml cooking cream (or milk, if you don’t have cream)
1/2 cup grated cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Before starting, heat up the oven to about 170 degrees C.
Using just about a tablespoon of oil or butter, give the ham a quick saute. Then remove from pan and put aside.
On the same pan, put a tablespoon of oil and sweat the diced onion before adding the spinach and some salt to draw the water from the vegetables. Saute the veggies by stirring constantly and once they have softened, remove from fire.
You can add just about anything you want – tomatoes, capsicum, spring onions, mushrooms – it’s really all up to what you like in your egg. Just ensure you’ve sweated the veggies so that your frittata don’t end up soggy.
Next the eggs – crack all four into a jug or a container with a pouring tip. Whisk the eggs, then add salt and pepper (and some herbs too if you like), then add in the cream and mix well.
The next part is the fun part. Firstly, grease the muffin tray, and then pour in a bit of the egg mixture to just about cover the bottom. After this, layer the frittata with some spinach, some ham and sprinkle some cheese on top for good measure. Lastly, cover all this with more egg mixture, up to 3/4 of the muffin hole as the egg will puff up. If you fill it to the top, it will spill over when cooking in the oven.
Bake for about 15 minutes, then take it out and let it cook before removing from the tray.
Ruby didn’t have a muffin tray so she used a baking dish instead, which works just as well. Some recipes recommend that you put this directly over the stove on low fire for 5 or 10 minutes for more even cooking if in a dish. But it’s fine even if you bake it directly in the oven – just that it’ll take longer, up to 25 minutes or more, depending on your heat and container, for the centre to cook properly. When done, cut into pieces and serve like a cake!
Just 2 days after we dropped by at Say Cheese Cafe in Bukit Jalil, BAM! MCO (Movement Control Order) was declared and there would not be any dining in for a while. It seemed rude to post a food review when we were supposed to …