Trying out new dishes at Dish!

The delectable Foie Gras with Chocolate Ice-Cream and Dried Fruit Sauce.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 The Foie Gras with Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Ice-cream and Dried Fruit Sauce combined both hot and cold, sweet and savoury. Would it work? It did, delightfully. We were at Dish, Dua Annexe in Kuala Lumpur, and trying out some dishes from its new menu.

Grilled Scampi with Lemon Butter Sauce was luscious.
I was a little sceptical at first looking at this first course but the foie gras appeared luscious, and with a little crust from the searing, and encircled by the dark cherry sauce. It was almost a dessert, but not quite.

You get a light saltiness and crispness at the bite, into the rich bursts of foie gras, which you would touch with the sauce of the cherries that had been soaked in brandy. Then you taste the ice-cream and go hmmm.

Executive chef Ibrahim Zakir's new menu is a must-try.
Executive chef Ibrahim Zakir heads the kitchen at Dish and has tinkered with the menu to include some of his definitive dishes. He comes with solid credentials, from a five-star hotel, and was one of the few Asian chefs to have been invited to be guest chef in 2004 at the James Beard Foundation in New York, at a by invitation dinner for the citys whos who. The foundation recognizes young talented chefs from all over the world (Frankie Woo, chef/owner of Gu Yue Tien was one of them).

Grilled Scampi with Lemon Butter Sauce was generously sprinkled with chopped garlic, fresh herbs and a little chopped chilli. The scampi is from New Zealand, and is like a miniature lobster, with sweet, firm flesh that is perfectly complemented with a buttery s! auce bal anced with lemon juice.

The chefs version of Baccala Mantecato in Red Pepper Reduction has a fillet of cod panfried and presented on potato mash sitting on a red pepper reduction and with an onion relish on top.

Creamy cod, touched with a smoky red pepper sauce that has a tinge of heat, tastes good, and I especially liked the sweet onion relish on top of it.

Dish as we know, is about steaks from the US Kobe Short Loin Marble 7 to Australian Grain-fed Prime Rib to Australian Black Angus Grass-fed and Australian Ribeye Marble 8, among others.

Medium rare would be the way to have such a good side of beef. And savouring the meat as it is, medium rare, with perhaps some Cajun roasted baby potatoes or even truffle mashed potato and charred brussel sprouts with chilli and anchovies to go with it.

Dish at Dua Annexe also has a champagne brunch on Sundays.

Ours was a striploin, of Australian Wagyu Marble 8, served with a beef jus reduction and barnaise sauce. It was meat with enough marbling to render it juicy, and just lovely. The steaks are cut to a thickness of 1.5 to 2 inches for maximum enjoyment of the beef.

Of course there is also lamb and veal, including the Australian veal rack, milk-fed.

Dessert was a Molten Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice-cream whose centre was sufficiently runny to get our seal of approval.

I always look for a special dessert to wrap up a meal, and other choices could include a Sticky Toffee Pudding drenched in butterscotch, a deconstructed Banana Split, or even an old-fashioned Bombe Alaska with homemade pistachio icecream on a bed of caramelized almonds doused in cognac.

What Dish is all about... steaks!
The Champagne Brunch on Sunday is really worth your while! if you love champagne its free flow Verve Cliquot with lobster, oysters, salad and imported Grade A beef, and chocolate fondant, all for RM288++. Without champagne, its RM168++ and RM49++ for children. Its from 11am to 3pm.

Other mains on the a la carte daily menu include Braised Lamb Shank w Barley Veggie Cous2 Accompanied by Gremolata (RM69), Oven Baked Crusted Barramundi and Ratatouille with Orange Balsamic (RM58), Roasted Spring Chicken w Grilled Prawn, Sautee Potato, Fine Beans & Garlic Thyme Sauce (RM68).

The Foie Gras is RM56, cod is RM69. Im happy to see two appetizers I like still on the menu -- Lobster Omelets served with Lobster Bisque infused by Cognac (RM48), Roasted Juicy Bone Marrow w Pearl Onion Salsa & Toasted Baguette (RM52).

The steaks range from RM23 to RM133 per 100g, depending on what you choose.

Dish is located at Dua Annexe in Jalan Tun Razak, Tel: 03-2166 2066.

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GariBar

Garibaldi's ground-floor lounge & bar is a pleasant hangout, though things can get exceptionally loud & boisterous after 10pm, if the live music kicks in.

Gnocchi with basil pesto sauce. Simple, well-prepared pastas are the order of the day here. For more elaborate recipes, head upstairs to Garibaldi's main restaurant.

Squid ink spaghetti, to stain our teeth tar-black. But it's all good.

Prosecco & Valpolicella Corte Giaro (Veneto).

Frangelico on the rocks & Irish Nut (kahlua, frangelico, amarulla cream).

The most potent cocktails we could find on the menu: Boston Beach Iced Tea (vodka, gin, rum, tequila, grand marnier, triple sec, sweet & sour, coca-cola) & Sade Limonade (scotch whiskey, midori, ginger beer, apple).

GariBar,
Bangsar Village, Kuala Lumpur.

Get Your Jelly On! Day 7 - Flower Power (Roselle Ice and Jelly)

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Thank god it is Friday!


One week to this Jellyriffic challenge and I am exhausted.


Frankly, I'm looking forward to the weekend when I'll have time to rethink and work out the jellies.


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For today's post, I decided to work on a floral theme since I was using roselle or hibiscus. It's way much better than rose syrup since it is Vitamin C and gives you almost the same reddish colour.


The recipes ain't rocket science since I've not had time to experiment much in this past day but they're old favourites.


With the hot weather, I often keep a few tubes of what I call Ais Krim Malaysia - icy cold lollies made from favourite drinks. Usual ones in the freezer will be ribena lychee or roselle that are great to eat when you're enjoying a favourite movie. The Royal Selangor Nick Munro pewter jelly mould is perfect to create an icy cone that you can slowly savour.


I've also made a jelly one from agar agar powder. Hidden within it (not evident since it is so dark) are edible roselles. I've used a pretty good roselle juice concentrate that has no additional sugars so its quite pure. You can also boil your own roselle to create the juice. They also make great jams and pickles.


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Roselle Ice or Jelly (For 2 moulds)


50ml roselle juice concentrate
350ml water
2 1/2 teaspoons agar agar powder


Combine the ingredients. Pour into a mould lined with cling wrap. Unmould and serve straight away. If making jelly, just add agar agar powder to the mixture. Bring to boil mixture and pour into mould. Cool before refrigerating


Reminder:Support the cause by buying a Royal Selangor Nick Munro pewter mould as all proceeds go to breast cancer welfare association. Also, do remember to submit your suggestions to booliciouskl@gmail.com or leave a comment for the mould to win the Olympus camera VG-110. For more pictures, seethe Flickr setfor all the whole Royal Selangor Jellyriffic challenge. To view, all the jellies, see this link tothe Royal Selangor website.

Durian Ile Flottante

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Light dollop of fluffy meringue floating on a rich durian 'creme anglaise'.

I never had the classic French dessert ile flottante (floating islands) until a visit to Luxembourg last year when I was invited to dinner by FrenchChef William Mahi. William's ile flottante was so good that I unbashedly had a second helping and would've had a third if I didn't control myself. I've been wanting to make this dessert ever since but was intimidated by its"Frenchness". Now that I've done it, I must tell you: it's darn easy to make! For such a simple, elegant and delicious dessert, the Creme Anglaise must be light, to go with the delicate frothy 'islands'. It has to be smooth too and the ingredients must be the best and at their freshest. That means only the best vanilla beans will work for this dessert.

Durians have just come into season here in KK, about 2 months late this year. Prices are ridiculous, ranging from RM15/USD5 to RM30/USD10 per kg. Since most of the durian's weight is in the shells and seeds, each seed of durian can work out to RM7/USD2.30 to RM10/3.30! But durian lovers are willing to pay for this most loved and hated fruit, even if it means going hungry until the next paycheck. We were at the durian stalls yesterday and as usual, groups of people were milling around the durian trucks choosing and bargaining for the King Of Fruits. While durians are best eaten with family and friends, we saw a lady seated alone, eyes half-closed, dur! ian seed and fingers to her mouth. That's when I realized that the pleasure ofeating durians is almost sensual. No other fruit has that effect.

I've adapted the ile flottante recipe from here,reduced the sugar, omitted the salt and replaced the vanilla withdurian. Iincreased quite a bit of the milk because I like the creme to be thinner--the creme is eaten with a spoon like a soup. I tried scalding the meringue puffs in hot milkand then baking them in a cool oven for 15 minutesas per the recipe but found that they tended to break off in the hot milk so what I did was just baked the puffs straightaway. It worked fine. The meringue puffs should not be browned or crisp as in pavlova meringues. They should be raw, soft and tender, easy to cut with a spoon and absolutely melting in the mouth.

The durian can make the creme overly rich so I think the coconut milk can be replaced by ordinary milk since the durian overpowers it. This is a simple but delicious dessert to serve after a heavy meal, especially for people who are watching their intake of wheat and other starch-based carbs.

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Traditionally, ile flottante is served in a deep dish or soup bowl but...

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...the Nick Munro jelly mould from Royal Selangor Pewter (RSP) is just the perfect size for one serving and it looks great too!


For the whole month of October, I will be using the Nick Munro moulds forRSP's Jellyrific! challengeto raise funds for the Breast Cancer Welfare Association Of Malaysia. Do make comments on my posts as I'm giving away an Oympus VG-110 camera. If you purchase one of the moulds (RM290/USD90) or spend RM500/USD160 on RSP products, you can even buy a vote(think charity)for your favorite blog plus stand a chance to win the Olympus Pen Lite E-PL3 camera!

Durian Ile Flottante (makes 4 large or 6 small puffs)

2 egg whites (medium sized eggs)
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
25 gm durian flesh (replaced with 1/2 pure vanilla extract if not using durian)
1 cup coconut or regular milk + 1/2 cup extra
2 tbsp (or more if like) caster sugar
Garnish: sprig of mint, sugar syrup and chopped toasted nuts

The Custard:


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Freshly grated old coconut is mixed with some water to make coconut milk.

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The coconut milk is strained.

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Passing the durian flesh through a fine sieve.

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Fine durian mash.


1.Press the durian flesh through a sieve to get a fine mash.
2. Heat the coconut milk until just about to boil (bubbles at the side of the pot). Cover and keep warm.
3. Put the egg yolks, 2 tbsp sugar and vanilla/durian flesh into a bowl:

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4. Whisk until light (this was not yet light):

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5.Add the cornstarch, whisk, and then add the warm milk, mixing well:

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4. Put the custard mixture into a small saucepot and cook under low heat, stirring all the time, until sauce is thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and will not run when a finger is swiped through. Let cool and then chill. When chilled, if the custard tastes too rich and thick, add the extra regular milk to thin it out until it is the consistency of a soup that you'll like.


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The Meringue Puffs:
1. Oven at 100 C/200 F. Line an oven tray or Swiss roll tray with aluminium foil.
2. Whisk the egg whites wi! th the c ream of tarter for 1 minute, then add the sugar and whisk until stiff peaks stage.
3. Using a large spoon, place dollops of the meringue on the prepared tray. Bake 15 minutes for a dinner spoon-sized meringue, longer for bigger meringues. Switch oven off and leave the meringues in the oven while you prepare the serving bowls.

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You can also scald the meringue puffs in hot milk before baking them but this is a tricky step.

To serve, pour the creme into a soup plate/Munro jelly mould. Carefully place a meringue on top and garnish with the mint leaves, chopped nuts and sugar syrup:

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Malaysia Cocoa & Chocolate Day 2011 @ MidValley Exhibition Centre, Kuala Lumpur

Who loves chocolate? We do!

We only found out about the Malaysia Cocoa & Chocolate Day 2011(MCCD) when we arrived at the MidValley Exhibition Centre, since we were visiting the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival in the adjacent hall.



Malaysia is the No.5 cocoa producer in the world.

The Cocoa Fair is organised by the Malaysia Cocoa Board in conjunction with World Cocoa Day to educate the public about the history of cocoa and the importance of cocoa.

Cocoa pods in various colours and sizes


There were lots of interesting chocolate sculptures on display. If I'm not mistaken, there is also a lucky draw for purchases made during the fair.

This one is called "1 Malaysia".

Chef de Cocoa






This one won 1st prize.. not sure in what competition...
The Legend


And of course, there were lots of chocolate samplings available for the public! ... :) W e saw some Angry Bird chocolates here too!




Our darling Coco on stage.. It's Cocoa Time!

The Malaysia Cocoa & Chocolate Day is on from 7th-9th October 2011 from 10.00am to 8.00pm daily.

Location: Hall 1, MidValley Exhibition Centre, MidValley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur.

For the full set of photos, please view here.