Monday 31 December 2012

Review: Just Heavenly Cafe @ Bangsar Shopping Complex

Just so you are not aware, the Just Heavenly duo of Nigel Skelchy and Allan Yap have roped in Caroline Lee as their COO to open up Just Heavenly Cafe at Bangsar Shopping Complex a few months ago. We went in for tea and got to sample quite a number of dishes... 

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Just Heavenly Cafe is located on the second floor of the newer wing. You can choose to have a quite corner inside the cafe or to see or be seen over at the outside which overlooks the concourse area.

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Just Heavenly Cafe 01

We started off with Coconut Chicken Salad which is one of my favourite item on the menu. The chicken is poached in coconut milk and the salad is a mish mash of Nyonya ingredients such as cucumber, onion, pineapple, deep fried shallots, thinly sliced bunga kantan (torch ginger) and lemon grass. The chilli jam dressing gave it a slight hot, sweet and sourish flavours.

Coconut Chicken Salad RM20.00

In the other Asian style salad, Soba Salad, which to me could be a meal on its own as it has soba noodles, shiitake mushrooms, strips of yam bean and carrots, and some Japanese cucumber cubes with a drizzle of a very Japanese style dressing of soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Loved the addition of local herb of ulam raja which tasted quite similar to arugula and the nuttiness of toasted sesame seeds.

SOba Salad RM18.00

Then we have the layers of toasts, turkey ham and cheese topped with a runny poached egg. Who could resist the golden liquid oozing out from the egg? Find Monsieur Bullseye under All Day Breakfast!

Monsieur Bullseye RM16.00

This cafe serve a rather mean burger by the name of BLT Burger. As the name suggest the thick and juicy patty is made from Australian beef served on sesame bun with lettuce and tomato with a chunky mushroom sauce. On the side are a green salad and fries. These are no ordinary chunky fries as the process to cook them are rather labourious. The potato chunks are first blanched before deep frying them twice in order to achieve a tender but yet super crispy texture.

BLT Burger RM25.00

The next item is easily my BoiBoi's fave as he loves smoked salmon. This sandwich has smoked salmon in between wasabi mayonnaise, watercress, tomato slices and croissant. A wonderful light meal this would be, in order to save some space in the stomach for dessert :p

Smoked Salmon With Wasabi Mayo RM22.00

Quiche Lorraine RM16.00

We tried 2 types of quiches. Being a meat lover, Capt'n Hook loves Quiche Lorraine as it has slices of beef brisket and sweet onions. In contrast, I love the Monster Mushroom Quiche as it is heavily packed with 3 types of mushrooms! Vegetarians would adore this one.

Monster Mushroom Quiche RM15.00

It's hard to get perfectly cooked carbonara as some places made it so rich and creamy or some... the sauce just split. Just Heavenly Cafe's Penne Carbonara sits just right on my palate. It's creamy but not insanely rich. I could polish this up on my own!

Penne Carbonara RM22.00

For those who are fond of tomato sauce based pasta, I would recommend Spaghettini Con Gamberi. The star of the dish is of course the large prawns but I love the freshness of the tomato basil sauce.

Spaghettini Con Gamberi RM24.00

Knowing we're in Just Heavenly turf, we can't leave without desserts! We have both the Chocolate Eclairs and Classic Eclairs.

eclairs

A very decadent Lemon Meringue Pie which the tartness of the lemon curd, to me is just nice... not overly sour, balances well with the not too sweet meringue.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Now, there's this Key Lime Pie which is only available at the cafe and not the other outlets. There's a buttery lime cake layer that sits on a pie pastry with generous topping of cream. Even though it sounded rather heavy but the sharp lime flavour cuts through pretty well.

Key Lime Pie

We can't leave without have a bite on the Chocolate Durian Cake, do we??? Just in case you have never eaten this... inside the smooth and thick chocolate ganache lies thin layers of cake filled with creamy durian puree. One would never imagined that chocolate and durian can go so well together!

Choc Durian Cake

We also have some refreshing drinks ranging from Mojo Jojo (fresh lime and mint leaves muddle with sugar, orange syrup and topped with soda); Charlie's Angels (have a combination of sweet red dragonfruit and apple balanced with a hint of lemon juice) and my favourite of all Lemongrass Passion (an infusion of lemongrass and pandan in soda).

Lemongrass Passion, Charlie's Angels & Mojo Jojo

We end our tea with cappucino as it was highly recommended by Allan.

Cappucino RM9.00

And most interestingly the tea served here are by Bradley's and the biodegradable tea bag comes in a cute little cardboard box which can be recycled, of course. Open up the box and dunk your tea bag into the hot water.

Bradley's Morrocan Mint Tea Infused

Allan & Nigel
Allan & Nigel

Do note that they serve a rather ridiculously big breakfast on weekends... so huge that it covers almost the entire table hehe... do drop by and check it out yourself! There's a wager going on between Capt'n Hook and I... to see of BoiBoi can finish up the entire big breakfast on his own!

Thank you to Nigel, Allan and Caroline for having us over!


Level 2, West Wing
Bangsar Shopping Centre
285 Jalan Maarof
59000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2011 4866
Opening hours: Daily 9:30am – 10:00pm

Monday 24 December 2012

Friday 21 December 2012

Have A Blessed Dong Zhi 2012

So, is the world coming to an end soon [that's 1.00pm Malaysian time btw as Peru (where the Mayans are from) will only be 21 December 2012]??? :p

Whatever it is, today is a rather big day for the Chinese around the world where Winter Solstice Festival is celebrated. Reunion dinner where the entire family gathers is a must and of course the partake of tong yuen (glutinous rice balls) which will ermmm make us one year older. And so, I'm officially one year older already!

dong zhi 2012

More on this here, here and here.

Wishing everyone a blessed Dong Zhi filled with peace, harmony and joy!


Wednesday 19 December 2012

Wendy's Flagship Restaurant Grand Opening @ Suria KLCC

Wendy's collage

We were invited to the grand opening of Wendy's flagship restaurant at Suria KLCC last Friday morning. We were debating whether to attend or not and gave it a go since Wendy's did gave Capt'n Hook and I some kind of childhood memories that we have back in the 80s when we patronised the then Wendy's located at Masjid India area. The vision of burger and fries served in baskets came back to me.

The ceremony opened by a short speech by Mr Eric Leong, Director of Wen Berjaya Sdn Bhd (the master franchise owner in Malaysia which is a subsidiary of Berjaya Group). He mentioned that the new flagship restaurant carried an ultra modern design and furnishing and this new design will be slowly introduced to the rest of the Wendy's outlets. We were told that Wendy's burgers were made-to-order to ensure quality and freshness, the values held by the founder, Dave Thomas. Not only that, customers would be able to customised their orders accordingly.

Eric Leong

Later on, Mr John Pain, Vice President & Managing Director of Asia Pacific & EMEA, The Wendy's Company introduced us the short history of Wendy's which you can read here. He emphasised that even though Wendy's is a quick service restaurant but the food is made fresh upon order. Each day the lettuce and tomatoes are cut right at the outlet kitchen because they taste better when they're fresh and they do not come pre-cut from a central kitchen.

John Pain

He mentioned that Wendy's is America's favourite which is confirmed by Zagat in their 2012 restaurant guide. Well, being naturally curious, I did a search and yes indeed... Wendy's is listed number 3!

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Crew behind the counter

And so with the partnership with Wen Berjaya, the latest and largest Wendy's in Malaysia is located right at Suria KLCC which also boast the first international looking outlet.

John behind the grill

I had a look around and they have a variety of sitting combinations ranging from the normal height tables and chairs, they have stools, high top tables and counters. We were told wi-fi is available too for free and best of all they have multiple power points for your mobiles or laptops that are running out of "juice".

Dave's Hot 'N Juicy

As for the menu, we usually go for beef burgers and Chili is a must of course which BoiBoi have learnt to like it. This time round, I've tried a Spicy Chicken Sensation Burger and I'm surprised to bite onto strands of chicken fibers. Eric informed us that they only use chicken fillets of either thighs or breasts and NOT minced chicken patties. BoiBoi mentioned that his Dave's Hot 'N Juicy is really juicy as it claimed.

John behind the grill

The dessert menu springs a surprise to me with the usage of Frosty (their soft serve ice cream) in cones, floats and shakes. While there is no official website in Malaysia but there is a Facebook page where information and promotions are dispensed. Rest assure you that Eric had vowed to ensure customer service and quality of food from Wendy's will be his top order of the day.

Fries & Shakes

Wendy's Suria KLCC is located over at LC-C02, Concourse Level, Ramlee Mall (turn left when you see Haagen Daz). The other 10 outlets are located at Sunway Pyramid, IOI Mall Puchong, Jaya One, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Mont' Kiara, Giant Kota Damansara, Berjaya Times Square, AEON Rawang & AEON Ipoh Station 18.

Thank you Haridas of Softpillow Mollycoddle & Co for the invite and John, Eric and Esther for having us over.


Holiday Season Giveaways! - CLOSED

UPDATED: 1.04pm

Wow the responses were so good that the 9 giveaways have been full filled. Thank you for your participation. The 9 lucky subscribers are:

1. NicH
2. CyreneK
3. LouiseF
4. EugeneT
5. HueyMinC
6. CynthiaT
7. SuYiK
8. YontenJ
9. JianH

Will inform you guys of the details once I hear from the good people at Zinio. Thank you Stephanie for your kind offer. Have a blessed Christmas ;-)

-----------------------

In collaboration with Zinio, Babe in the City - KL would love to give away 9 magazine subscriptions *ahem* and I get to keep one sighhh so difficult to choose which one. Yes, you read it!!! It's subscriptions... which depends on how many issues that particular magazine has on offer and it would be any magazines available on Zinio.

Just to let you know, Zinio is the world's largest newsstand and bookstore. With its many digital products and services, Zinio creates better ways for people to discover published content. You can purchase content once to be read on any screen! There's an Explore section that lets you read - even without a subscription - thousands of articles from your favorite magazines and share them with friends.

For this season, Zinio have 300 magazine titles available at up to 50% off their already-discounted prices. Here are just a few sample titles: LA CUCINA ITALIANA, VEGETARIAN TIMES, FOOD ARTS, CLEAN EATING. However, this 50% discount will be available until 20 December 2012, yup just this Thursday which is tomorrow. Click here to view the yummilicious food mags on offer.

Just some of the selections... salivating already?

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS has also put out some fantastic special holiday issues at 30% off:  Food Gifts, Party Food, and even an entire issue devoted to Christmas Cookies! Just look at the colours... so festive! This offer is on until 31 December 2012.


The first 9 readers who email me at babe_kl(at)yahoo(dot)com with the subject "Zinio Giveaway" followed by your first and last name, email address and title of the magazine by 24 December 2012 will receive one magazine subscription courtesy of Zinio. So hurry and send in your details. I will announce it here once I've reached 9. One magazine per person please and I will correspond with you via email if you're within the 9 as I would not like to expose personal information wide open here.

Thank you and happy holidays!




Tuesday 18 December 2012

Walnut & Date Loaf

Oppsie daisie... it has been slightly more than a month since my last update. Well it's year end and it's school holidays... have been busy with the young lad oh yeah excuses, excuses! Reviews are limited as we don't eat out as much as we did before. Somehow Capt'n Hook and my senses seems to be able to sniff out msg and we're getting a little intolerant of it as we tend to get thirsty rather quickly after a meal lashed with it these days. As for recipes... hmmmm there were just too many easy peasy repeats but perhaps I will post up some really good new ones.

Anyway, here's something I've baked some time back but I guess it's a good one for this coming festive season. Cakes laden with fruits and nuts are always popular. I've used Donna Hay's Date Loaf recipe from the Modern Classics Book 2 but gave it some tweaks to suit our taste buds.

We love this loaf a lot as it stayed moist and disappeared quickly. I've reduced the sugar as the dates are already pretty sweet. Utmost delish when eaten warm slathered with thick layer of butter!

Walnut & Date Loaf 01


Walnut & Date Loaf
(modified recipe of Donna Hay's Date Loaf from Modern Classics Book 2

1 1/2 (190 g) cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
130 g sugar (original 2/3 cup)
1 cup rough chopped dates
1/2 cup rough chopped walnuts (originally called for pecans)
125 g butter
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 160C and grease 10cm x 20cm loaf tin.

Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add sugar, dates and walnuts into the flour mixture. Ensure the chopped dates get separated as they tend to stick together in clumps.

Melt butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat until butter is just melted. Cool a little and pour into flour mixture together with the eggs. Stir until combined. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour 15 mins or until cook when tested with skewer. Cool in tin for 5 mins before turning out. Serve warm, either plain or best with some butter.


Walnut & Date Loaf 02

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Review: Deepavali Delights at Makan Kitchen, Double Tree by Hilton

**Certified Halal by JAKIM**


It was a wet evening and we left early to avoid the infamous traffic jam in the city centre to head to The Intermark along Jalan Tun Razak. Was surprised there were just only 3 of us for the cooking demo cum Deepavali Delights review for some food bloggers held at Makan Kitchen at Double Tree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur. Apparently the rest can't make it for the preview. Kinda shy to have so many people fussing over us.

Deepavali Delights started on 1 Nov and will be on till 30 Nov in conjunction of Deepavali which falls on 13 Nov. For these 30 days, you'll get to savour more than 30 delicious Indian dishes prepared whole heartedly by Chef Prem Kumar, Indian Sous Chef and his team of chefs of Makan Kitchen.

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So for this special occassion, stick to the live interactive Indian kitchen to a sumptuous spread ranging from Chicken Varuval, Butter Chicken, Mutton Saag, Tandoori Chicken, various naans and for the vegetarians just don't fret as there will be something suitable for you like Aloo Gobhi, Okra Masala, Spinach Kuttu and so forth. For those with sweet tooth, it will be a galore to sample on the elaborate Indian sweets and I was told there will be a live demonstration on how to make muruku!

We were delighted to have Chef Prem to hold a rather personal cooking lesson for us. He showed us how to make a Mutton Saag which is a North Indian style mutton with spinach. Gosh so easy actually when all these while I thought making Indian dishes would be rather elaborate. It was just to fry up the dry spices followed up by aromatics like onions, ginger, garlic before adding chopped spinach and pre-boiled mutton pieces to cook for another 10 minutes and tadaaaa can dish up already!

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Chef Azri dropped by and he told us that we MUST try Chef Prem's Butter Chicken - the best he ever eaten, he claimed! So we can't wait.
Chef Prem proceded to showed us how to make the muruku dough and impart some secrets hehe on how to get crispy muruku. All of us get to try out on how to press the dough out. It's not easy as shown by the pro. The dough is not totally soft, hence it does need some strength to press the dough into spiraling circles.

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BoiBoi had a go

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Capt'n Hook's turn

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After the demo, we were lead to a huge dining table and in no time the entire table is filled with mouth watering dishes. Started off with Tomato Rasam. My fave soup as it's spicy and tangy which according to my Indian ex-colleagues that it aids digestion.

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We have Cheese Naan which is a flat bread stuffed with Cheddar cheese before baking in the tandoor oven. The naan went well with the tender and flavourful Tandoori Chicken.

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The naan was great to mop up the rich spinach laden Mutton Saag too! Only mildly hot to my palate.

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Chicken Varuval is basically a spicy chicken cooked with dry chilli. I have a totally different version of this and was given rave reviews. Check out the recipe if you wish to attempt the modern version of it.

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Goshhhh Chef Azri was so right... the Butter Chicken is simply out of this world! The tender pieces of chicken melts in the mouth along with the creamy yoghurt tomato gravy. For buffet, I usually will sample a piece of everything but this was so good that I had 3 pieces :p

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Fish Jalfrezi is a change for those who can't tolerate hot stuff, this is pretty mild slightly on the sweet and sour side.

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Another favourite amongst us is Chicken Lollipop. The lollipops are made using chicken wing parts where the meat is gently scraped to the bottom leaving a bone sticking out. The meat is so well marinade that it was just good on its own. The slight tangy sauce with a hint of chilli is good with the lollipop too.

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Next up we tried the South Indian Prawn Curry which is quite hearty as it uses tamarind juice to give the curry a little lift.

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No Indian meal is complete without a briyani. So we have a Murgh Briyani. Loved how the aromatic Basmathi rice are cooked with each grain separated nicely. I did a count... at least 10 types of dry spices in this dish! Dig deeper into the rice for the chicken pieces.

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Lastly, our must haves - the vegetable dishes, a lovely Okra Masala which is cooked with an onion masala followed by ever popular Aloo Gobhi of potato and cauliflower.

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We were so stuffed but yet looked forward to the Indian sweets after hearing how Chef Prem made the kulfi. We tried both Mango and Vanilla Kulfi. These are not the smooth kinda as crushed nuts like almonds are added for the flavour and texture. When Chef Prem asked which one did we preferred and seems like everyone at the table voted for the mango version.

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We also have Laddoo, Jelebee and Palgova which are not the sickly sweet version. Great that the sweetness level had toned down but not sure if the traditionalist would like it :p

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Samantha who represented Sharifah Anisa to host us requested for Rasamalai which was served to the press the night before. It's my first time hearing and seeing this dessert. Chef Prem explained that malai means milk and the white ball in the bowl is made by simmering milk with lemon juice like making paneer. After straining, the solids are then freeze, grated and then make into balls before soaking in warm water. The white liquid in there is just milk cooked with blended sugar and cardamom. The balls are then soaked in this perfumed milk over night in the chiller before serving the next day. Sounded so laborious huh? After a bite, I totally understand why Samantha asked for it again. The texture of the ball is spongy, so unexpected and sooo nice. Went extremely well with the lightly cardamom scented milk.

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Makan Kitchen is a halal certified 350-seat restaurant which offers 3 live interactive kitchen dishing out Indian, Iban, Malay, Kristang, Chinese and Nyonya favourites.

The buffet is priced at:
Lunch: RM62++ per adult / Dinner RM85++ per adult

Weekend High tea RM55+ per adult


On Deepavali day itself, the first 500 guests at the retaurant will receive the 10 Best Malaysian-Indian recipe book produced by Makan Kitchen! I'm so lucky to have one copy, will definitely share the recipes once I get started cooking them especially the muruku :p

Oh ya there will be a Deepavali Cooking Class on 3 November headed by Chef Prem.

The details:

Date: 3 Nov
Time: 12.30pm,

Price: RM65++ inclusive of high tea and a recipe book

The class is limited to minimum 5 persons and up to a maximum of 15 persons. Prior registration is required. So hurry and book a place if you wish to learn all these mouth watering dishes.

To reserve, call 03 2172 7272 or click here to book online.

We would like to thank Sharifah Anisa, Samantha, Amirool, Chef Prem and his kitchen team, Chef Azri, Nazly and staff at Makan Kitchen for hosting us to such a gastronomy fare.


Makan Kitchen
DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur
The Intermark
182 Jalan Tun Razak,
Kuala Lumpur,
50400 Malaysia
Tel: +603 2172 7272


Note: Visit my Flickr album to view more photos from this experience

Blog Revamping

Hello... I'm in the midst of revamping my blog to make my life a little easier. So do not be alarmed as work is still under construction.

Cheers,
Babe_KL
16 Oct 2012