FRESH FACETS

Asian Angus Beef Tartar Crostini

InterContinental Kuala Lumpur heralded the arrival of its new Executive Chef Darrell J. ONeill with a preview cocktail themed An Evening Under The Stars; giving a group of specially invited guests (yours truly included!) a taste of what's to come under his stewardship.

Chicken Satay Slider with Mango and Coriander Chutney

Held at the hotel's lushly landscaped poolside, we were plied with an interesting platter of four appetisers - two of which were shown in the pixs here. Trust me, these images don't do the food ample justice! :/

Having honed his skills under Nobu Matsuhisa and an avid fan of Japanese cuisine, O'Neill showed his artful balancing of delicate flavours and textures in the Edamame and Mint Gazpacho with Hand Dived Scallops, and Cauliflower Espuma with Citrus Lobster and Caviar.

The first was superbly memorable; sweet, tender scallops (hand dived means they're sustainably harvested) perked up by a cool, slightly nutty-beany gazpacho...I will never underestimate my snacking staple of those green soya beans ever again! The latter was simply to-die-for with the frothy cauliflower foam lending an effervescent touch to the sweet lobster meat (spiked with hints of yuzu) and briny caviar globules.

Wagyu Beef Carpaccio with Shimeiji Mushrooms, Micro Greens and Citrus Dressing

If you're averse to raw beef, perhaps the chef's ingenious wagyu carpaccio will make a convert out of you yet. Served with a scattering of tiny shimeiji, tendrils of purple seaweed, asparagus spears and micro greens, and drizzled with a sublime citrusy dressing, I certainly had no beef with the speciality and licked the plate clean!

Black Cod with Sweet Potato and Ginger Mousseline, Baby Beets,
Broccolini and Bonito FoamTaking a leaf out of his previous 'sifu's' (master's) book, O'Neill went all out to fish for compliments with a second main course that had a slab of black cod fillet laid out on an impossibly light sweet potato and ginger mousseline. The fish's inherent sweetness was enhanced further by the baby beets while crunchy stalks of broccolini lent textural contrast. Definitely a dish that we fell for hook, line and sinker.

Modern Coconut Tartufo with Kahlua

Bringing the curtains down on a high, the chef whipped up a potent three liqueur Sabayon (teetotalers don't know what they missed!) for his Modern Coconut Tartufo (a typical Italian ice cream dessert). Believe me, coconut ice cream and diced mango haven't tasted sooo good before! A ! wafer-th in disc of chocolate flecked with gold accents just made it a luxurious treat to round off the amazing chef's debut!

Bravo! Encore!

Waku Waku Contemporary Japanese Dining @ MidValley Megamall, KL

Waku Waku()Contemporary Japanese Dining restaurant offers innovative fusion food such as Japanese style nasi lemak, spicy sushi roll with sambal, lam mee Jepun, koay teow Jepun and Ishiyaki bibimbap. I was attracted to the Japanese nasi lemak, hence we found ourselves here for lunch one afternoon.

Japanese-style nasi lemak

Waku Waku means "excitement or thrill" in Japanese and is located on Level 3 in MidValley. Most of the restaurant is covered in wood, and part of the dining spaces are made to look like houses. You can also see all the way into the kitchen since they operate an open kitchen concept here.

Japanese Roasted Rice Tea - Genmai Cha (RM2.90)

Cookies & Vanilla! (RM7.90 ) - cookies, milk and vanilla ice cream blended together

You can view their menu here, but basically they have hambagu, kushiyaki (skewers), tempura, agemono, sushi, sashimi, soup, salad, noodles, rice and dessert. I ordered the Nasi Lemak Jepun without any hesitation (well, maybe a little cos I was tempted by the hambagu). The rice is served in a sizzling stone pot, similar to the ones used to serve Korean dolsot bibimbap. The rice is very fragrant, thanks to the coconut milk but it was slightly on the wet side. It was topped with finely chopped iceberg lettuce and a poached egg. Unfortunately I got an egg which had a semi-solid centre, but thankfully after mixing it all together, it was still ok. I especially liked the crispy bits from the bottom of the stone pot, same as when I eat bibimbap.

The condiments that came with the nasi lemak Jepun was pretty good. I like the sambal, since it is the sweet-spicy type that I usually favour. I poured all the sambal into the stone pot rice and mixed it well! Yum. There was at least 4-5 king prawns in the separate prawn sambal - pretty generous. I don't usually like chicken drumstick, cos I find it too fatty but the drumstick here was smooth and quite lean. It has been braised in soy sauce, so it's very flavorful too. Overall, I find this an interesting take on the Malaysian nasi lemak, which tastes quite healthy too.

Nasi Lemak Jepun (RM14.90)

Hubby had the Salmon Butter Rice (RM13.90), which was also served in a stone pot. The rice was topped with butter grilled salmon steak, minced chicken, cucumber puree thing, and spicy chilli flakes. Hubby commented that it was satisfying enough.

Waku-Waku

Verdict: Food here is tasty and reasonably priced, will come back for the hambagu. Need to try the hambagu so that I can perfect my own hambagu recipe at home. :D

Pork-free.

Price: Approx. RM46 for lunch.

Location: Waku Waku, Lot T-015B, Level 3, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (next to Pet's Wonderland)

Tel: 03-2284 1172

Website: http://www.mywakuwaku.com

Macanese Minchi

Macanese minchi.

So a few nights ago we were watching Anthony Bourdain eat his way through Macau and everything seemed so exotic to me, from the streets to the food to the Portuguese Eurasians. HasMacauchanged so much in the five years since I visited or did I not see the real Macau? I bet if you've been to Macau (one hour from Hong Kong that was leased to Portugal about 500 years ago as a trading port for and returned to China in 1999), you'd have eaten those delicious Portuguese egg tarts and pork chop buns. But did you eat minchi? Do you even know that minchi is Macau's national dish? I didn't. I thought Minchi was a girl I knew back in university; never met her again after we graduated. Hey Mingchee of Sarawak, please FB me if you ever read this!

Yeah, so I thought I knew Macau but realized when watching the show that I have to visit the place again soon because Bourdain made it so different from the Macau I visited. The guy just looks like he has so much fun everywhere he goes, doesn't he? He's the coolest food traveller. Really, wouldn't you rather be him than Zimmerman or Chinn or Smith or Axian? It's not just the leather jacket. Bourdain makes food tasting travelling so...hippy chic.

Macanese cuisine is influenced by Chinese, European (especially Portuguese), Indian and South East Asian cuisines so other than stir-frying, Macanese food is also grilled and roasted. Seasonings include soy sauce, oyster sauce, spices, Worchestershire sauce, tomato sauce, coconut milk (see my recipe for Portuguese chicken) and eve! n a ferm ented shrimp paste similar to the Malaysian belachan, called balichao.

Bourdain ate a version of minchi with Chinese black fungus. Black fungus are commonly used in Chinese cooking, especially in vegetarian dishes. The more popular version of minchi has potatoes instead of black fungusbut of course Bourdain wouldn't choose potatoes over fungus. Since I love both black fungus and potatoes, and I had no idea what's more authentic, I decided to include both in my minchi. There aren't that many minchi recipes on the Net but from what I've googled, minchi is a home dish and every mom cooks her own version which can be a mixture of beef or pork mince or one of those, potatoes or black fungus (which is either 'cloud ears' or 'wood ears'), and may or may not have cumin or cinnamon or oyster sauce or tomato paste but the basic seasonings are light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper and sugar. Oil can be veg oil or olive oil.


Cloud ears are softer and thiner than wood ears. Both are edible fungus said to improve blood circulation and lower cholesterol but I eat them because I've always eaten them. Black fungus has a nice light crunch, yeah, like ears.


1. Cut about 3 potatoes into 2 cm cubes (these were cut too small) and deep fry them until golden brown and crispy (mine were underfried).


2. Chop a large brown onion and 3 cloves garlic and fry them in veg or olive oil until soft.


3. Add 500 gm each of pork and beef mince (I prefer to buy the beef and pork and hand-chop them) and a bay leaf to the onions and garlic and stir fry, breaking up the meat.


4. Fry in medium-high heat until meat has turned white.


5. Add about 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, stirring well to mix.


6. Add 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce, stirring well to mix.


7. Add about 2 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce (less if you don't like the tart taste), mixing well with the meat. Worchestershire sauce reminds me of Mrs Epps, a Eur! asian-Ce ylonese neighbor who taught me English when I was in Primary 3. I wanted to be like her--cook well, keep a nice house and dress well all the time. And oh, always have music in the house.


8. Some white or black pepper. Cumin and tomato paste too if like. Season with a bit of sugar.


9. Add the chopped cloud ears and 3 tablespoons or more of water. Stir well.


10. Lower the heat, cover for a couple of minutes, checking now and then to make sure the mixture doesn't burn.


11. Taste and season if necessary. Add the potatoes and dish up. Eat immediately or reheat before serving.


Serve minchi hot with rice and a fried egg.

Minchi is traditionally eaten with rice and a fried egg and it tastes yummy when just! cooked but remember that this is simple, ordinary comfort food. The next time I cook this, I'll omit the black fungus because the dish tastes better with potatoes, and I'd add more potatoes too.

Susy Atkins Top Wine Tips Video

Susy Atkins Top Wine Tips Video

Last weekend Susy Atkins was at the Foodies Festival in Oxford, hosting a wine masterclass to a packed house in the marquee set up on site.

A unique little video has been produced for Spittoon where Susy gives some top wine tips such as where to look for the best wines and what types of wines come out of these regions. She also provided advice for wine newcomers on how they can dip their toes into the world of wine.

For the Susy Atkins Top Wine Tips Video Susy was working with Discover the Origin, a European Union campaign designed to raise awareness around five Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products:

• Bourgogne Wines
• Parma Ham
• Douro Wines
• Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese
• Port

The Oxford Foodies Festival offers a wonderful opportunity to interact with consumers who are keen to discover our products and learn more about the notion of provenance. This year we are excited to have the biggest names in food and wine to talk about the Discover the Origin products, provide tips on best ways to fully enjoy them and highlight what makes them so special.

Spittoon.biz - A UK Wine Blog - We Spit... So You Can Swallow

Gat Luang Diaries V: Crispy Crullers and Deep-Fried Dragons

A well-made cruller is a thing of beauty. Which is why, should you find yourself in Chiang Mai, you should make your way to a lane alongside Don Lam Yai market called Soi Udompon, in the city's old Gat Luang neighborhood, where Ko Ning and his wife Daeng have been frying up some of the city's best for more than a decade. On busy days daughter Kwan helps out behind the fryer.

Everyday from 6am the pair, sometimes with the help of their daughter Kwan, roll and cut dough for bpa tong ko -- crispy and lightly salty double-sided "chromosome" crullers (so-called for their shape, by our English-speaking Chiang Mai friends) -- and sarapao tawt, slightly sweet puffs studded with black sesame seeds. Both make for a brilliant breakfast, taken alongside a glass of cold soy milk (warm soy milk is served in a small bowl), or a bowl of song kryang, warm soy milk with strips of fresh bean curd skin, barley and red beans. For sweet tooths, there's sankayaa, a lurid green pandan-and-coconut milk and egg spread that Malaysians know as kaya.

It's a busy spot, this stretch of pavement fronting weathered timber-doored shop houses next to Chiang Mai's oldest market.

In recent years it's become even busier, as word has spread -- by mouth, newspaper, and local TV -- of Ko Ning's cruller variation: the deep-fried dragon.

The dragon and Ko Ning's other animal shapes are actually themselves variations on his first deep-fried animal.

"Eight years ago I took my son to the zoo. He liked the crocodile so much that when we went home I made one from clay for him," he told us. "Then I wondered if I could do that with dough. My first try wasn't good. It wasn't a crocodile. It was more like a gecko."

Ko Ning's deep-fried crocodiles, dragons and dinosaurs are, predictably, popular with kids. Even big kids.

And they're big sellers. Ko Ning holds a Master's degree in managment and teaches at a vocational college in Nong Khai. That job is "for respect," he says, patting the rectangle of dough on his work table. "This is the real income!"

Like any born innovator Ko Ning isn't resting on his laurels. When we were last in Chiang Mai he was experimenting with deep-fried dough-swaddled hot dogs.

Early reception for the dough weenies was looking positive, and Ko Ning was posed to add his newest creation to the menu. All he needed a catchy name. Our suggestion: Twisty Dogs.

The man looked doubtful. "I'll have to think about it," he said.

For more images -- some food, some not -- of Don Lamyai Market and the rest of Gat Luang, visit Dave's recently uploaded gallery, here.

Find what is surely one of Chiang Mai's tastiest, least greasy cruller -- and deep-fried animals -- every morning from 6am to about 10am, on the alley alongside Don Lam Yai market.

Chin Chin @ Flinders Lane, Melbourne CBD

I remember vaguely writing this piece up, only to have the window shut down on me and my draft disappear to thin air. Abandoning the thought of re-writing the same thing again at that moment, I thought I revisit this piece again instead of loading more pictures from iPhone.

Yes, the iPhone. Gone are the days I pack my camera bag along with me to every meal I eat; DSLR, a second lens and a flash to boot. Even after I downgraded to a smaller sized camera, I am still finding myself resorting to the iPhone. The biggest downfall though is the horrible pictures it takes in dim lighting and the pictures below is just that (the taste is another thing altogether).

Back to food, shall we.

Completing the trilogy of Modern Thai cuisine (although I have just been informed Gingerboy does a similar thing too, lengthening this to a quadrilogy), we have Chin Chin for now. I think this place has been blogged to death so there's little people won't know about this place.

Well just in case, you don't know, Chin Chin is one of those places with the no booking policy. Gosh it sounds like a broken record to my ears. Unless you don't need to work on a weekday or eat at the weirder times on a weekend, it is highly likely that you will be greeted with a waiting time instead of "this way please". Luck must have been on our side that night as we scored the last available table. The downside is dinner that night started at 5pm.

The good and bad thing about this place, the menu. Full of mouth watering items which is a bummer when there's only two of us and the s! tomach i sn't exactly grumbling at 5pm. It's reasonably priced as well, most dishes are in the teens or mid twenties, so there's liberty to order a few to share without giving your wallet away.

We decided to start the meal with a simple deep fried school prawns with an awesome and spicy as hell nahm prik dressing, finished off with some cooling raw cucumber and cabbage pieces.

I asked for some pork belly and this was served. Rather as the main element of the dish, it was half of it, sweet and sticky paired with deep fried barramundi pieces and a spicy and sour apple slaw. This place is definitely not stingy with the chilli.

The memory has definitely faded but I do remember plentiful of soft shell crab (not just deep fried flour) and a dry curry paste that kept us reaching for water and then back into the dish.



To numb our tongues further, we had slightly milder son in law eggs. Deep fried eggs with a chilli jam was meant to accompany our meal.

By the end of it, I was convinced that their South East Asian cuisine was in no way watered down to please and rather by sticking to their level of spiciness, they have gained probably much more customers. As much as the noise level, the pretentious and cool customers and dining at 5pm irritates me, I find it hard to say this but I will be back.

Address and contact details:

Verdict: 4 stars out of 5 stars. There's merit in the food that they serve but what makes them famous and at the same time irritates me is the horde of fans they have and their no booking policy. Looks like I will just have to eat at 5pm.

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On another note, for my Malaysian readers, I have a friend back in KL who has recently started up his ice cream venture. Give him a little encouragement if you can by liking his Facebook page hereor follow him on Twitter here. If you have calories to spare, there's no better way to spend it by trying some of his ice cream.