Max It To My Heart

Updated 20 September 2009: Max! Kitchen has shifted to IHaus in Imbi which is bigger and has a better parking facility.

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Ahhhh... I'm still on cloud nine albeit coming down with a cold. Thanks, Love, for fulling your promise :x

Hubby came to picked me on Tuesday and he told me that he's taking me to Max! Kitchen. I was like huh??? What's today's date??? Hehehe... I thot I've missed some important date that I ought to remember. He just said he need to full fill his promise to me. Hmm how nice, so ok we headed to Tengkat Tongshin and managed to get a parking in front of Bollywood after circling 2 rounds using the backlane. We were filled with enthusiasm but only to be clouded with a "We're sorry we can't accommodate you cos we're full." Hubby looked around and asked but there are still so many empty tables. The poor wait staff had to explained that Max is cooking alone that night and he has many diners to attend to, so won't be able to cope. Sighhh... what a let done.

So hubby made a reservation there and then to make a come back on Thursday as they were running a private function on Wednesday. So here we are again last night. We got lucky again in getting a parking bay in front of the Korean rest house cum restaurant next to Bollywood! Hahaha... Good sign indeed.

Since I've already made up my mind on what to order, I let hubby take his own course. I've asked for Sea Scallops with Mojama and Wagyu Beef Cheeks with Mushroom Ragout served with Polenta. Hubby opted for Yabbies Lobster Tail with sauteed avocado, garden chive and white balsamic and Lamb Cutlet.

Since I was amongst the last of the floggers to try Max! Kitchen, I took a good look at their pictures this morning. Seems like serving and presentation varies from time to time. I was actually armed with my mini tripod last night but too embrassed to set it up since there is a group of 8 diners on my right and another couple on my left. Most of my pics turned up very dark hence they're heavily doctored to make an appearance here.

After 2 servings of bread, my scallops arrived, hubby exclaimed out loud "Wow the scallops are huge!" They definitely are! Each piece have a ham liked sliver perched in the middle, tasted like ham but they're not. Found out from Precious Pea's post that these are sun-dried tuna loin! These scallops are utmost succulent and tasted so fresh that I can almost smell the sea. He thinks the same too after downing one. My scallops came in a light bed of butterhead and red chicory (I think) with a drizzling of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, topped with black pepper and sea salt.

I was eyeing on hubby's yabbies since the presentation looked so lovely with 2 large slivers of anchovies. I knew he enjoyed it and shared a piece with me. They were evenly cooked and again, very fresh indeed.



After some waiting, my beef cheeks came piping hot! The beef cheeks are so so so tender as the meat is interpersed with some layers of gelatinous fat, the result of long braising. Loved the selection of mushrooms especially the morel which absorbed the most flavour.



I exchanged a piece of my beef cheeks with hubby's lamb cutlet. Since he asked for well done, I find them slightly tough on the outter bits but I still enjoyed the tender bit in the middle. Hubby still detected some gamey smell on his cutlets but definitely not on mine hehehe. He's extremely sensitive with this gamey smell, but he claimed they were still good in his books. Max came to say a quick hi, and he knew very well at least one of us is a blogger since he spied me whipping my camera out :p



By now, my stomach was bursting from all the food I had. Can't even finish my polenta, pea sprouts and mushrooms which hubby happily volunteered mopping up the remainder gravy with a piece of bread. I refused dessert but the glutton decided he want to have the Crisp Kataifi Pastry.

Whilst waiting, hubby mentioned that we should come here again to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I nodded my head in agreement but huh I was nearly jolted out of my chair... cos it's just next week LOL! He went to the cooking counter and spoke to Max. Not sure what was transpired, all I know was Max promised to have something out of the menu for us and he will place us at table no. 1 at the corner. I didn't expected this to happen at all! Can't wait!

The dessert came pretty fast as the orders thinned out. The kataifi pastry are wrapped around strawberry with passion fruit and placed on a bed of fruit salad of kiwi, dragonfruit and strawberry. We detected that these fruits were infused with rum or maybe some other liquor. Very lovely indeed. In between these pastries, there are 2 scoops of coconut ice-cream served on spoons. Loved this ice-cream flavoured with coconut and tasted a bit tangy with dots of crunchy chocolate chips.

The wait staff served us a couple of Cowboy shots which Max mentioned that only his place have these shots originated from Australia. The shot glass is made of plastic and from the outside, you can see 2 different liquid spiralling down. After peeling off the cover, inside revealed half a portion Bacchus Velvet Cream and half portion of Bacchus Butterscotch Schnapps. We quickly downed the smooth concoction.

'Twas a lovely dinner and I'm looking forward to my next visit.

Do check out the gastronomic pictures and write out from the following:
Masak-masak
Precious Pea
You Get What You Give
A Whiff of Lemongrass
Lots if Cravings

Max! Kitchen & Wines
27, Tengkat Tong Shin
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-21418115
Closed on Sundays
Recommended to call for reservations

Tengkat Tong Shin