Review: Sunday Masquerades @ Shook!

Opportunity to spend Sunday at leisure while sipping champagne and feasting to a smorgasbord of gourmet offerings doesn't come often for us at least. Thanks to my friend, Kevin Eu, we were invited to Shook!'s latest offering of a champagne brunch that starts from noon to 5.00pm touting to be one of the longest brunch in Kuala Lumpur at least! This champagne brunch is not your ordinary brunch served with champagne cos be prepared to party with your masks on that is with the theme Sunday Masquerades.



As you walked into Shook! located at the Feast Village of Starhill, you'll be greeted by a bevy of beauties and handsome lads in Venetian costumes. Tables are decorated with ornate masks, "gems" in all shapes and glittery. The wait staffs and chefs are equally dressed up as well, some as court jesters, and one can't help but to feel nothing but festivities in the air. There's even a band to entertain diners and it doesn't stop just there.



For the younger ones, there's a clown occupying them with the art of balloon sculpting. A magician goes round playing tricks on your eyes and even shared how some of these tricks are done ;-) BoiBoi was totally enthralled! The atmosphere is totally carnival-like. So put on your masks and get on with the party!!!



Laurent Perrier Champagne is served free flow whilst teetotalers can opt for mocktails specially created for this brunch. The buffet brunch showcases offerings from the Japanese kitchen, Western grill, Italian kitchen and the Chinese kitchen that also dishes out Vietnamese and Thai dishes.





For starters, there is a seafood bar with towering prawns, fresh and baked oysters, smoked salmon and gravlax.





BoiBoi kept going to the antipasti section where a huge selection of cheeses, cold and cured meats, large variety of marinaded tomatoes, roasted vegetables and olives. Freshly baked breads of all shapes and sizes, crackers, fruits and nuts to go with them. We loved the novelty of having a cheese drum to toss our Caesar Salad in.











Over at the Japanese section, we satisfied our palate with sashimi, sushis, and some cold appetisers. At the Chinese side, we managed some cold jelly fish, dim sum, Thai fish cakes and there's even a pretty Thai lady dishing out my som tam upon order.















The day we went, it was Hari Raya Aidiladha, hence there's a small selection of must haves like lemang, ketupat, rendang, serunding, kuah kacang, masak lodeh and kuih-muih.



For mains, you'll get some grill actions and be prepared to juicy chicken, lamb or beef served with their appropriate sauces. There's even a whole lamb on a spit roaster! Apart from buffet, all the four kitchens are all fired up to cook up your choices of mains in the ala carte menu. You can find this menu on your table or as per listed on the blackboard at each kitchen. Ordering from a wait staff would be great here as they would know which table to bring your order to. As we went on the second Sunday, there were some minor glitches on the ordering which we feedback to Kevin and he acknowledged that as one of their main problem with the brunch staff who are not as knowledgeable as those in dinner service. He assured us that action will be taken on this and I do trust he will ;-)





A special mention to the excellent risotto that was done perfectly for Capt'n Hook's baked mussels.







We went easy with the food as the dessert counter is something ought not to be missed! BoiBoi has been eyeing on the gelati cart the moment we stepped in. The gelati are from Gelatomio and you can opt for hand scooped or like our BoiBoi, he preferred the pre-packed version.







There are lots of luxurious chocolate desserts, some laced with gold flakes, others like macarons and profiteroles turned into high tower of decadent delicacies. Pavlovas, pannacotta, fresh honeycombs, cheesecakes and handmade chocolates are available too to satiate everyone's sweet tooth.







There are also desserts made ala minute so just place your order at the counter. Remember to check the counters right at the entrance as there were just too much desserts to be offered inside lol.







This Masquerade Brunch is available every Sunday from noon to 5.00pm. The price per person is RM268++ for free flow of champagne or RM158++ for non-alcholic drinks and RM88++ for children above 6 years of age. I'm very surprised at the turn out as it was almost fully occupied so remember to call to make your reservation at +03 2782 3875.



Pssst... there are a whole lot more photos on my Flickr album.


Shook!
Feast Village, Starhill Gallery
181 Jalan Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +03 2782 3875

Review: Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant

This is considered as one of my more recent venture. The Starhill Feast Village has been opened for quite a while but I can never seem to be able to find any good excuse to check the place out until recently. Hubby has been there for business a few times and as always there isn't much comment from him since food to him is something to keep him filled rather than to be enjoyed... duh! I happened to checked with a foodie friend who frequent this place, which he claimed there is nothing spectacular about the food in the Feast Village which explained why I never bothered to wade thru the perpectual traffic jam along Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Somehow we managed to find ourselves there one Friday evening last month as hubby was hosting a farewell do for someone close. After deliberating at the concierge, we carefully walked our way thru the tunnel, goshhh the floor is full of "traps". Thank goodness I wasn't wearing any stilettos else I would be cursing like mad for the floors is uneven because of the pebbles and there were little drops or steps here and there. So ladies, be careful OK.

Anyway, we ended up at Pak Loh Chiu Chow restaurant where it's headquarter is located in Hong Kong. Chiu Chow stands for Teo Chew in Cantonese and there isn't that many great authentic Teo Chew restaurants around Kuala Lumpur. I used to frequent one few doors away from Soo Kee in Imbi but they have closed down many years back. So was Classic Restaurant near Tong Shin Hospital that closed down late last year.

Pak Loh Chiu Chow has glass walls all round it which allow people to peep into its kitchen. The entrance is a stone arch and once inside you'll noticed the patterned wood on the walls. It's softly lit all around which is a biatch challenge for me to take clear photos.

This is the kitchen... pretty narrow but long. It's so full of action even though it was past 11pm and the restaurant weren't that pack. Well, maybe there were patrons ordered stuff who were seated at other restaurants in the village. Yeah they allowed cross ordering which is a superb concept. They are open till 2am for those who fancy supper.

A very helpful and attentive lady Captain (what do you call them these days?? Mike, help???) took our order painstakingly explaining to us their specialities and recommending us their "jiu pai choy" (popular and special dishes). I glanced thru the menu and they seems to have a pretty extensive list which includes Teo Chew porridge and condiments.

Anyway, hubby and guests dictated what they wanted, some dishes were from the menu some where not which the Captain did a fantabulous job in recommending. I didn't really paying attention as I was super sleepy since I was still preggy then. So embarassed actually as I was yawning away thru dinner!!!

Hubby enquired about their Chinese wine after he saw bottles of them lining the glass shelves. Seems like they do not have the wine he drank frequently when he is in China. I was joking to him to order Looi Yue Hoong, a type of wine I frequently heard in Kung Fu movies especially Wong Fei Hoong hahaha and hubby thought I was pulling his leg!!! Darn he didn't believed me its a real thing until the Captain said they do have that wine. So hubby ordered one bottle. Check out the wall of Chinese wines... Click on the pics to view larger pics.

We actually raised some eyebrows when the waitress brought out some suen mooi (tyzng boi or assam boi... whadayacallitindamnenglish??? :p too lazy to google plus I don't eat these stuff one) and some tiny slices lemon quarters. So sua koo (country bumpkin) you know until have to ask the waitress which gave us a sheepish smile, she explained that they are to serve together with the wine. She placed one suen mooi and one slice of lemon into the wine glass before pouring the wine in. They're supposed to errr make the wine more palatable... pardon me ok I wasn't really paying attention since I can't drink plus I was yawning away but I did had a teeny weeny sip. Surprisingly it's very smooth and tasted quite good. Maybe can try it now since we brought back the left over bottle hark! *hic hic*

Omigosh such long winded grandma story, ok let's get back to the FOOD!!!! I'll try to recall what we ate... I'm having the same syndrome as Mike but I had a valid excuse hahaha being pregnant tend to have short memory, that's for me, not sure about other ladies. First dish that arrived is this fried kailan. Pretty tasty with the addition of joe hau yue (it's a type of fish which I can't recall the English name) which lend a very fragrant taste to the vegetable. Tried a bite of the fish but it's so hard!!! Maybe its the dried version. Usually my mom will grill the fish till crispy and pound it till it turned powder to be used in her stir fries.

Next up was a braised lamb in claypot (not sure of actual name). I tell you, this dish is super delish with white rice!!! I ate quite a number of pieces of the lamb and tried to wallop whatever little sauce that clinged to the pot. The sauce went deep into the meat and it's ohhhh so tender. Can't wait to eat it again!!!

The next dish was ordered by one of the guest. Guess what??? It's a very very simple choy poh (preserved turnip, I hope I got this right) omelette. Let me tell you, this is the most delicious dish of all the dishes they've ordered in my opinion. I wonder what are the extra ingredients they have added in to make this so fragrant. It's something that I can't described... but please don't tell me it's MSG!!!

To me Teo Chew cuisine means taro or yam cos I find that they use them frequently used be it sweet or savoury. So we had a taro duck or something. Sorry this one I really can't recall... I think it's a vegetarian dish. We find this nothing spectacular and it's pretty oily but I can be bias since I don't fancy deep fried stuff.

Next up is a braised chicken which is fine but it's a tad too salty. It's cooked with plenty of onions and ginger. This is something that can be easily recreate at home.

Overall, it was a pretty pleasant experience and it's somewhere I won't mind going again. Might try the Teo Chew porridge next time to compare between such high class place with our regular hawker haunt at Pudu. Price wise I think it's quite fair for the kind of service and ambiance. There were 5 of us that evening and the total bill came up to about RM300 plus. The Looi Yue Hoong is RM100 and tea is mighty expensive per head at about RM10 or was it RM15, I guess depending which type of tea.

So if you're around in the vicinity and do not mind splurging some dough for some good food, this is the place. Check out some thots about Pak Loh Chiu Chow from non other than Patrick Teoh himself.

Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant
Feast Village, Starhill
Tel: (603)2782 3856