Bison & Reindeer @ Bistro a Table

"Siberia: Mystery Meats" was this month's degustation dinner theme at Bistro a Table, which was transformed into an enchanting showcase of ice sculptures of penguins, dolphins and rabbits while the air-conditioning was set to full blast.

Customers parking outside witnessed young, placard-waving protesters hollering "Save a cow, eat a vegan!" Turns out that Chef Isadora hired them to furnish a dramatic flourish. Thankfully, police failed to rush here to tear-gas them.

Two starters to break the ice before the "Mystery Meats" portion of the meal. Massive enough to be a main course for light eaters, here's house-smoked salmon topped with avruga caviar and scallop "bombe," a plump sphere of yolk-oozing mollusk.

More scallops, this time as a ceviche with duck foie gras and soy mirin vinaigrette. The warm, coarsely seared liver played very interestingly off the cool, smooth slices of scallop.
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Finally, Mystery Meats! For a contest with bottles of wine for the victors, we were instructed to guess what each meat was, with the answers revealed at the end of the night. Our table thought this first one might be quail or partridge, but it was guinea fowl, marinated in 50-year-old cognac for a remarkable richness.

Our guess: guinea fowl (so close!) or emu. The reality: pheasant, prepared torchon-style, with fennel and peaches and a "potato flower." Tasted like a cross between roast pork and duck, with lovably crisp skin and lusciously fleshy-fatty meat.

Our guess: mouse-deer or kangaroo. The reality: horse meat, imported from Italy, served as a tangy, blood-soaked tartare.

Our guess: camel or mountain goat. The reality: bison from Alaska, coffee-glazed and served with purple Japanese corn. Succulent, while still offering an enjoyably solid chew, with a dark, deep flavor that sets it! apart f rom beef.

Our guess: squirrel or possum. The reality: reindeer from Canada, with chocolate juice and creamy savoy cabbage as a coleslaw. Turns out, Rudolph kinda tastes like a cross between lamb and liver, with musky undertones.

Raspberry and sheep yogurt ripple, for a creamy finish to a memorable meal.

Russian Beluga Gold Line vodka, to kick off the evening.

Courses were paired with wines from around the world, including Switzerland, Japan and India. But in the end, no participant of these reindeer games managed to win any wine.

The Holy Rabbit incarnated in icy flesh!

Bistro a Table,
Section 17, Petaling Jaya.

Nasi Luk-Luk, Jl. Raya Kapal, Mengwi, Bali

After confined in the hotel for 1 whole day without allowed to come out, we were let loose the next day. My tour guide came to the hotel and pick us up and I tell him, no hotel food, no restaurant food (unless famous) and I want to taste what he normally had for lunch. The first one we had is the Nasi Luk Luk located at Mengwi, Jalan Raya Kapal.

You wont miss this place if you are heading to Taman Ayun or Tanah Lot. The restaurant is located facing the main road and the traffic here are busy all the time.

The restaurant has been open for quite sometime base on the shop condition. The shop serve only 2 choice of foods. Either you order the Nasi Luk Luk Pork Or Beef. Nothing else.

On the food preparation table all the ingredients like dendeng babi, lawar (Jack fruit salad), babi kecap manis, crispy fried pig skin, fried pig liver and a few more.

First rice are cooled slightly and then while it is still warm, everything is mixed under the same plate.

This is how it looks like after mixing everything together. The taste were pretty nice with everything mixed under a plate. Careful with the sambal though. It is fiery hot! Smoking . I love it!

Most of the dishes were given in a bite size portion and this is how the locals eat. Unlike our local style here lots of wastage when you see people eat mixed rice.

The lawar jackfruit salad

Bak Kua like babi kecap manis and on top of it is the dendeng pig liver.

The dendeng pig liver.

Crispy fried pork strips. Taste like bacon but balinese style.

Pork soup. This soup may look clear and simple. I tell you, it is one of the best pork soup I had cook by a non Chinese. It taste like bakso soup but some how is more subtle in taste and very easy to drink even for us first timers. No wonder they are so famous.

Wash down with Sosro Tea .. The drink that pawns Coca Cola in Indonesia.

Twitt

Parmesan Cheese Spread

Woah - what a week. I'm sitting in the lobby of a hotel in New York, and quite a lot has unfolded since I last checked in. The short version is: I flew to New York for the James Beard Awards, and then (holy s**t) I won one. I'm making my way back home now, and my fingers are crossed that some of my photos from the past few days turn out. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this. It's a Parmesan spread I make now and then, one I like for a number of reasons. You grate good Parmesan whisper-thin into a pot. Then combine that with a splash of white wine and a big glug of olive oil. That's really it. It's one of those stupid-simple, homemade, tastes-really-good things you can make in no time. If it gets lost in your refrigerator for a week, no worries, it's that much better when you rediscover it. Once you've made this base, it can hang out in your fridge for a week, or two, - or even three. Ready to use whenever (and, on whatever) you like.

Parmesan Spread RecipeParmesan Spread RecipeParmesan Spread Recipe

It's also completely customizable on a whim. You can stir in any number or herbs, spices, dried or fresh fruits (before serving) to take the spread in whatever direction you like. I noted some suggestions in the recipe below. It's good on crostini, sandwiches, and tartines. It's good spread in the bottom of a tart crust. It's good drizzled with a bit of honey or as part of a cheese / antipasti platter.

Thanks again to everyone for the nice notes. Every one of them feels good to read. xo -h!

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Survey shows Paris sells most expensive club sandwich in the world

The priciest city in the world to buy a club sandwich? Paris, says a new survey by Hotels.com. Picture courtesy of shutterstock.com
PARIS, May 10 Paris may be known as the most romantic city in the world, but its also the most expensive place to buy a club sandwich making it the priciest travel destination on the globe.

Thats the conclusion of online accommodation booking site Hotels.com which surveyed 750 hotels in three to five star categories across 26 countries and price-checked a standard club sandwich a staple on nearly every hotel menu against one another.

Dubbed the Club Sandwich Index or CSI, a triple-decker sandwich in Paris averages US$33.10 (RM99.30), followed by Geneva and Oslo, where ordering the all-American chicken, bacon, lettuce and mayonnaise club will set you back on average US$32.56 and US$30.50 respectively. Like The Economists Big Mac Index which uses the worldwide prices of McDonalds iconic sandwich to gauge the purchasing power parity between two currencies, Hotels.com says it created the CSI to help serve as a barometer of travel costs for globetrotters.

New Delhi sells the cheapest club sandwich at US$9.57, while Berlin and Brasilia landed in the middle at US$17.77.

Meanwhile, a club sandwich at a Tokyo hotel will set you back US$27.65; in Hong Kong it will cost US$18.35; in London US$18.71 and Toronto US$16.05.

Said Hotels.com spokesperson Alison Couper in a statement: Paris may well be the gastronomic capital of the world but at an average US$33.10, per club, travellers may be better off sticking to a Croque-Monsieur. AFP-Relaxnews


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Pop-up version of Noma in London sells out in 2.5 hours

Tickets for the pop-up version of Noma in London sold out in 2.5 hours. AFP pic
LONDON, May 9 Tickets for Danish chef Ren Redzepis pop-up restaurant Noma in London this summer sold out in 2.5 hours, dashing the epicurean hopes of more than 6,600 gourmands who were willing to pony up 195 (RM959.40) for a meal.

According to restaurant trade publication Hardens in the UK, about 10,000 people had pre-registered for the chance to take part in A Taste of Noma at Claridge,s a two-week event in which Redzepi will create a five-course menu that reflects the signature flavours and dishes from Noma using local, seasonal British ingredients.

The event is also taking place this summer to help mark the London Olympic games.

Recently, Noma was named the worlds best restaurant for the third consecutive year by more than 800 gastronomy experts in London.

About 3,400 tickets were snatched up May 8. The pop-up version of Noma runs between July 28 to August 6. A five-course menu is priced at 195 (240).

Its not the first time a master chef has been recruited by an iconic London establishment to open a temporary outpost of their Michelin-standard restaurant.

Last fall, Thomas Keller recreated his Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry at Harrods for 10 days, flying in fixtures, fittings and his signature dinnerware to replicate the original experience in exacting detail.

www.claridges.co.uk/atasteofnoma. AFP-Relaxnews


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