A Local KL Breakfast @ Restoran Win Heng Seng, KLCC

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 4 Comments

Date of Visit: Numerous – my local KL breakfast place

This post is for my friend who will be visiting KL next month with her family. She asked me about good local eats in KL, so I am recommending Restoran Win Heng Seng at the junction of Jalan Barat and Jalan Imbi, near Bukit Bintang in KLCC. It is close to the majors hotels e.g. Westin, JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton as well as Pavilion where I stay. This is also where I go for my local breakfast when I am in KL – total spend of under RM5 for a bowl of wonton noodles and a drink! Cheap!

How do one get there from Pavilion Mall…

Liuligongfang crystal bowl fountain

Cross Jalan Bukit Bintang and walk into the street between the Sephora and Uniglo.

I am perplexed as how this funky deconstructive building received its development approval seeing that one of the sharp corners of the building pokes out into the pedestrian pavement. A wee bit dangerous, one would think, nevertheless, I am unperturbed since I like Sephora because they stock some niche make-up brands including Stella, Too Faced, Urban Decay, Kit, etc…

A Daniel Libeskind copy

Keep walking until you reach the end of the street.

Star Hill Mall on the right – where Debenhams department store is located

You will have arrived at Jalan Imbi when you see a green coloured corner lot in front of you. This is the restaurant. Take care to cross the busy road (the pedestrian lights do not work)

Restoran Win Heng Seng in green

This cafe is as local as it can get – one can mingle with the taxi drivers, office workers, families alike.

There are many stalls selling a myriad of hawker foodstuffs from fried noodles, soup noodles, tofu, rice (including nasi lemak – Malay rice delicacy) and pastries. The local tea and coffees are very nice. I always order Kopi-C Kosong Ais – Iced coffee with evaporated milk, no sugar. Take care if you order Teh-tarik – Malay pulled milk tea which is extremely sweet!

I recommend sitting alfresco if you are early, before the sun gets too hot (around 7:30am – 8:30am) because it can get a bit stuffy and smoky from the woks inside the restaurant. You will be hassled by beggars, hawkers selling lottery tickets and charitable organisations seeking for donation – please check the charity workers’ ID tags since it is compulsory that they carry it!

I always have fish-skin wonton noodles soup. The wonton skins are made from fish paste and filled with minced pork. The soup base has ikan billis (anchovies), parsleys and bean sprouts – and a LOT of MSG! Very delicious, but still, don’t drink the broth!

Fish-skin wonton noodles soup

Accompaniment to the noodles: Light soy with green chilies for extra kick!

There is also a stall selling mini pastries baked fresh on the premises – egg tarts (or princeling tarts), siew bao (pastry ball stuffed with BBQ meat), pineapple tarts, apple tarts, tuna pies, etc. This stall is apparently very popular among the locals. (Psst…they misused 1 Chinese character, since when is a tart=tower?)

Mini Egg Tarts fresh from the oven (about $0.70 each?)

Princeling tarts, apple tarts and pineapple tarts

After breakfast, it’s back to Pavilion Mall for window-shopping. The mall only opens at 10am though.

Entrance to Pavilion Mall: The LINE android app mascot saying ‘Hi’!

I reckon the Christmas decoration in Pavilion Mall is the best in KL! There are lots of activities, meaning it is very noisy which drives me KRAZY!

Christmas Bazaar in the atrium inside Pavilion Mall

More furry friends on the top floor. Let’s be naughty – let’s give ’em a good rub to turn them black! OK, because we are adults, we say it’s for Good Luck then! 😝

Larger-than-life furry friends

Staying Awake For A Nice Long Dega Dinner @ Oscillate Wildly, Newtown

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 4 Comments

Date of Visit: November 7 2013

Oscillate Wildly is only a short skip opposite Newtown Station, facing the Local Courthouse and next to Black Star Pastry which is very famous for its signature ‘strawberry watermelon cake with rose scented cream’.

To get to Newtown, Side-Kick Nana aka Side-Kick Chica from here – but read on why we felt our age in this dinner!) and I caught a train from Wynyard. I have not been to Newtown by public transport before, so we arranged to meet at Wynyard station to catch the train together. Lots of talking, and paying no attention meant that we jumped into the limited express train which did not stop at Newtown, we went all the way to Strathfield and had to take over a good half hour to detour back.

We arrived right on the dot at 6:30pm, nevertheless!

Interior shot

The restaurant is cosy, servicing 20 people max on the ground floor, but on our date, the restaurant was packed with a private function upstairs. We were seated under the stairs. I took care not to look up whenever someone is going up/down the stairs to block the thoughts of sprinkling dust. 😳

Service was polite with excellent introduction to each course and water constantly refilled.

To amuse us, we were served 2 Snacks

Pic #1

Followed by something stuck in a bowl of ice.

Pic #2

Any takers for what they are? *Hint* These are 2 iconic aperitifs – served solidified!
Well?
Given up? OK.

Pic #1 looking like stiff wrinkled plastic wrappers is dehydrated Kir Royale(!). It was made of potato starch, flavoured with cassis and blood plum and tasted like the Chinese haw flakes on edible rice paper. James, who looked after us told us not to worry about making a mess on the table since it was quite delicate and crumbled when bitten. Now, I am not sure about you, but I love haw flakes which is a very common sweet snacks for the Chinese people – it purports to have blood-presure lowering properties. I surfed the net to find more info on the haw flakes and found that many non-Asians find this a ‘weird and awful tasting’ snack – so many silly postings on YouTubes on it – even a haw flakes eating challenge (which I won’t bother on linking here). If you are curious as to what haw flakes taste like, check out this link by Mel Eats Weird Stuff where she and her friend attempt to give an accurate description

Pic #2 is the classic GT or Gin Tonic – compressed in sugar cane – no description needed!

Amused by the Amuse Bouche?! Hope you were!

Bread-rolls and butter were served next, accompanied by ribbons of super-salty lards that you can eat sandwiched with the roll or do what I did – eat no bread – snack on pigs’ fat all by themselves!

Bread roll, butter and luxurious ribbons of lard

Ribbons of lard (+ details in the background picture: Butter dotted with salt-flakes)

Course #1

Slices of sashimi trumpeter (from Tasmania) on rice paper crackers signals the start of our degustation. The fish has beautiful firm white flesh without a very strong taste, so that was probably why it came with salty smoked butter.

Trumpeter, Butter, Rice

Before the 2nd Course was served, we were given hand towelettes to wipe our hands – the ever popular tablet that magically ‘grows’ and turn into towelettes when one pour water over it.

Course #2

A compact goodie of freshly-planed cauliflower and Jerusalem artichoke chips stuck into the creamy foie gras custard and garnished with crushed macadamias and hazelnut powder.

Foie Gras, Artichoke, Macadamia

Course #3

A faint smoky-salty aroma wafted through the room as this dish was brought out. Here, we have Job’s Tears – commonly known as Chinese pearl barley – with sautéed Chanterelle mushrooms on sweet black garlic custard and bits of Appenzeller cheese. The foam of Appenzeller, a Swiss washed-rind cheese, was the ‘smelly’ culprit.

Job’s Tears, Chanterelle, Black Garlic

Course #4.1 (Additional add-on for $20)

The waitress had us sold when she told us that the kitchen had received some white truffles and recommended us their special for the night: White Truffles and Polenta Sweetcorn. I found the polenta and sweetcorns very custardy and overly sweet, whereas Side-Kick Nana found it to be too cheesy for her liking. We also have a slice of percorino cheese for the extra sharpness to go with the polenta.

White Truffles and Polenta Sweetcorn

Course #4.2

This is SO pretty. Whenever I see fronds, it conjures up Toad from my favourite novel ‘The Wind in the Willows‘. Here, we have pan-fried Murray cod plated up with roasted young almonds (still jelly in the middle) on a bed of potato, drizzled with chive oil.

Murray Cod, Potato, Almond

Course #5

Saddleback pork belly sitting in duck broth and crowned with thin crispy crackling. Eating the crackling by itself was bland, but dunking the crackling in the duck broth comprising mustard seeds, onions and parsley really elevated it. (The original version has prawn floss, but since I am allergic to shellfish, mine did not have any).

Pork Mustard, Parsley

Pork Mustard, Parsley

Course #6

The final savoury course is tender charcoal-grilled Wagyu beef from Victoria, combined with bitter water-cress and refreshing discs of radishes. The sous-vided-almost-set egg yolk gave a blokey’s touch of steak-and-eggs to fill one up, if one is not already-surely not!

Beef, Radish, Yolk

Because we have been sitting and eating for 3 hours already, when enquired whether we would like to order a pre-dessert of Cheese on Toast (+$10) – a signature of Oscillate Wildly‘s, we had to decline as it was getting very late and we were both very tired -SideKick Nana is sliding off her chair and I am trying my best to keep my eyes open!

Course #7

Our first dessert arrived in a white bowl with smokes blowing off it -a rather impressive entrance. Here, we have coconut shavings on lime sorbet (very tart), under the sorbet we have the tiny pearls of tapioca and kaffir limes – influenced by Thai dessert perhaps. Nice, but not smitten by it!

Lime, Coconut

Lime, Coconut

Course #8

Our finale is a quenelle of Chocolate sorbet on Eucalyptus-infused mascarpone covered with chocolate soil and topped with a crunchy chocolate caramel shard. A refreshingly ‘light’ minty dessert sending us home with a high-note into the dark of the night.

Chocolate, Eucalyptus

I must say that I have enjoyed the remake of classical dishes with a touch of molecular gastronomy designed by head chef Karl Firla . This is a spectacular degustation dinner at $100 per person. The only low-point is that the meal pacing was uneven and it took us 3.5 hours to finish dinner!

At the time of posting, Oscillate Wildly scored 84% out of 267 votes

Epilogue: Overly tired, I took the wrong train home and had to make another detour to get home…

$69 Lunch Deal @ est., CBD Sydney

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 2 Comments

Date of Visit: November 21 2013

Thought I’d spend a nice day at home packing before I take-off again tomorrow but that was not to be… a last minute call to show up in the City for a meeting came at 9am, so off I went to the City – but before that, a quick call to make a reservation for lunch at est.!

est. is a 3-hat restaurant in the city, head-chefed by Peter Doyle – is he related to the famous Doyles fish and chips joint in Watsons Bay, I don’t know. All I am sure of is that at this moment, they are running a $69 2-course lunch deal. est. is a firm favourite with the suiters crowds, set in a heritage room with highly decorative ceilings supported by luxe corinthian colums.

Dining room

Marble bar at the back

My seated view

As soon as we were seated, a champagne trolley was wheeled over to take our champagne orders – which we declined.

With our lunch order taken, a bread sommelier showed us a tray of breads, there were choices of sliced linseed bread, rye or sourdough dampers. I chose the sourdough damper which was somewhat disappointing being cold. I am sure I would have enjoyed the bread and finished it if it was warm!

Sourdough damper

A bowl of chips as starters! Hot and crunchy with fluffy insides, perfect accompaniment to my 2010 Niepoort ‘Sempar’ from Douro Valley, a Touriga wine varietal from Portugal. This is a medium-bodied, plummy-tobaccoey, dry tannic wine which opens up after decanting.

I’m an adventurous wine drinker and tend to order exotic foreign wines that I have not heard of, as part of my continuing professional development (CPD) in wine education! Moreover, I can always get ‘Ossytrayian’ wines from the bottle shops! (I did do a quick wiki on what touriga is before I ordered, apparently this is the finest varietal from Portugal and used to make ports. The current trend however, is to use it to blend with other wine varietals)

Chips ($11)

This is seriously the best wagyu sirloin I’ve came across – meltingly soft-tender-fatty beef from Tassie! Paired with the beef is an assortment of 4 very delicious grilled mushrooms. The 2 deep-fried crumbed sticks were turnips, I presume… the shiso leaves added both colour and a bitter kick.

Robbins Island Wagyu scotch fillet, grilled mushrooms, caramelized shallot

4 Mushroom accompaniments.

As always, dessert is a highlight.

My dining companion chose est.’s signature dessert, the Passionfruit Soufflé. It was very, very sweet – too sweet to finish. A pity since it had risen up to a perfectly formed soufflé.

Passionfruit souffle, passionfruit sorbet

I, on the other hand, truly enjoyed my dessert – bittersweet valrhona chocolate with sour cherries. The chocolate fondant was bitter and had kirsch cherries hidden inside, the sorbet was sour and paired with fresh firm cherries and chopped up nuts and coca nibs. (The tart sour cherries went well with my touriga too!)

Bittersweet valrhona chocolate and griotte fondant, sour cherry sorbet

We finished with coffees and complimentary petit fours. I enjoyed the malt-rye macaroon and the crunchy sea-salt peanut cookie, not sure about the green-colured gelée and the chocolate (which had fennel seed gelée in it). All-in-all, a perfect and very satisfying lunch!

Coffee

Petit Fours

At the time of writing, est. scored 88% out of 471 votes (+ an extra 1 from me!)

Well, with my review done, I am going back to finish my packing now. Do you find that half your luggage is always taken up by computer cables? Anyway, if I forget anything, there is always online shopping!

The Key to Looking Good is Vanity!

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 5 Comments

I know, I know, I promised to update on my Body Transformation Project – er, nearly 3 weeks ago?? Gosh, time really flies when one is super-duper busy!

So, Q: What have I been up to since my declaration of body transformation 3 weeks ago?

Well, on the work front, my task in Sydney wrapped up last week – we won the test case in all points which was really a morale booster for us going forward when we start our other cases in Malaysia and secondly on a more personal front, my residential project finally got a DA approval – it’s on a conservative heritage-y site in the Lower North Shore, and I have to think about financing moving forward…

Because I had not had a good sleep for a long, long time in outback rural Malaysia with the incessant barking and howling dogs throughout the night, so yeah, I have been doing a helluva lot of sleeping since I back in Sydney! Plus, the chilly weather made snoozing even more blissful!

BTW, do you know that one of Karl Lagerfeld’s tips on losing weight is by sleeping? Sleeping also burns calories by making the internal organs work harder. Read the freebie online roundup of his diet here or buy the book he penned, ‘The Karl Lagerfeld Diet’ here

To be honest, I have been bummed the past 3 weeks since I’m back in Sydney – rolling out my bed and heading out to the City for meetings then back home to sleep. I didn’t go to gym, but did some stretching to prep for workouts to come – for a hyper mobile person, I’m finding difficulty in touching my toes! Moreover, I have very low energy level (no exercise means a drop in endorphin, making me lethargic all the time!)

Nevertheless, I did some thinking. I gave some thoughts as to WHY with all the motivation I have in the World to workout hard in the gym, I never get the change I wanted. It could be that I am happy with the way I am and not vain enough! What do you expect of a chica who rolls out of bed and ready to head out the doors in 10-minutes flat? Surely, that’s not vanity!

“Vanity is the excessive belief in one’s own abilities or attractiveness to others. Without vanity, one is complacent with one’s present self and see no need for change. Thus, the status quo remains. In order for a catalytic change, one needs to play the vanity game, hence the Vanity Project – outforalonglunch.com”

Before I ramble on, I like to show you my street cred from University of Sydney! (This is the peacock in me waving a piece of paper in your face! 😜)

This is how desperate I am in losing weight!

The Vanity Project Framework after my many years of ‘research’:
1. Play the mind game! Torture yourself with fashion mags of sickly thin models in dresses you like – perhaps in our case, engross ourselves with the supertoned fit healthy models from fitness mags!

2. Practise mindful eating but never ever under-eat! You never win the battle from hunger! Fill up with protein, vegs and water.

Cape Grim 300g beef ribeye steak, mixed leaf salad and roast kipfler potatoes

Sometimes, I slip a little. For example I had a seemingly healthy lunch today at North Sydney Harbourview Hotel – kale salad with pomegranate, steamed vegetables and a piece of roast beef…

Buffet plate

But got carried away at dessert… A big No, NO!

Orange poppy seed cake

3. Keep yourself occupied. My favourite is watching food porn. This helps to trigger your brain that you had some of it and is satisfied. Writing a food blog is a great distraction from food too – like blogging on outforalonglunch.com! If you are not a blogger, give me a Follow! Salivating over food is apparently a fantastic idea!! 🙈🙉🙊

4. Lift heavy weights! I have scrutinised the web for physique transformation advises and tips – of which I must admit, it’s a jungle out there! I have been enamoured by Fighter Diet for a while now and have bought a handful of her ebooks which I shall be using in my Vanity Project aka Body Transformation Project.

My friend’s (in bikini) first show in Singapore where she came #1!

Lastly Body Transformation = Psychological Mind Game = Vanity Project (for me)

Lagerfeld emphasised appearance and looking good as a reason to embark on his diet. Taking his cue, I applied the 1st Principle of Vanity Project by getting a facial peel last week ($200). With a smoother more porcelain-y skin, perhaps I get a boost in confidence. Can I declare myself vanity ready? Well, firstly, I need more beauty sleep seeing that I am not getting enough and that I’m flying off again end of this week. In any regards, I shall update!

WATCH THIS SPACE!!

My 2nd Liebster Award

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | Leave a comment

Check out Happy Yuan’s answer to my Qs!

My Fun Life

I received a comment from outforalonglunch right after I came back from Hawaii. She nominated me for the Liebster Award! This is the second time I got this award. Thanks a lot, outforalonglunch. Her blog is filled with interesting stories and pictures of food. Why don’t you take a look! Out For a Long Lunch I’d like to join the award and answer her questions. The logo is different from the last one.

Let me quote the rule from her blog.

“Liebster is an loving German term and that mean ‘sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome’.

The Liebster Award is kind of a pay-it-forward blogger award. The rules are: If you receive one you must answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who awarded it to you, list 11 random facts about yourself, and then come up with your own 11 questions for the 11 bloggers you choose to bestow…

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A Dieter Goes Lunching @ Bistro Moncur, Woollahra

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 7 Comments

Date of Visit: November 14 2013

Dining out when one is on a pseudo-diet is kinda hard. How do one choose what to eat from the long list of deliciousness? E-A-S-Y! That is, if one has a checklist of what one can and cannot eat – i.e. a limiting factor as a guidance to make choosing off the menu a breeze.

Today I am going high protein, so no carbs for me… although I did cheat with a glass of buttery cold chard from Western Australia… c’mon, it’s been quite a stressful day, a glass can do not harm, right? 😉 Nevertheless, this is my survival story…

Crusty sourdough for my eyes to feast on…

Sitting through Starters, watching and smelling one’s dining companions’ foods can be a torture, but with the right mindset, watching people enjoying their food and being able to participate albeit only by watching is priceless (no weight gain!) One can play the part of the interviewer querying, “How’s the food? How’s the taste? You like?”

The French Onion soufflé smelt very good, exactly like the french onion soup except in the pudding/ soufflé form and surrounded by grilled cheese. Totally decadent…mmm… but of course my mind started berating: “Do you want to jiggle like the soufflé?” My strategy was to satisfy my inner cravings by inhaling deeply …ommm, namaste!

French Onion Soufflé

Same goes for my strategy on my other dining companion who had Chicken Liver Pate with the accompaniments of melba toasts and 3 cherries. I used the visualisation cue – imagination.. And that’s what I did, I imagined myself in my companion’s shoes, spreading the thick malleable creamy chicken liver over the charred melbas…

Chicken Liver Pate

Finally, plates were cleared, our Mains arrived.

Sirloin steak and shoe string fries for the gentleman. Thank Heavens, I was busy with my own food that I did not even attempt to nick a fry! Good self-control by way of a pre-occupied mind! (See my dish below)

Sirloin steak and shoe string fries

Salmon for the other lady companion. Now, remember, people are often very generous with their food and will offer you a tasting bite. Say: “NO! Thank You!”

Salmon

Unfortunately, the translucent potato chip piqued my interest. Check out the ‘fossilised’ parsley! So, I let my guard down and took one… Anyway, no point in beating oneself over the gluttony, as the saying goes, “start afresh, tomorrow is another day!”

Potato Chip

My ‘pre-occupation’ was in the form of the delectable Pork Belly & Pork Loin paired with baked apple, walnuts and braised savoy cabbage. I practised mindful eating at this point – slowly devouring and savouring each mouthful of the perfectly cooked and very succulent pork. You know what? Baked apples is so much more filling than apple sauce, and it was nice to be cutting up the apple and spreading it on the meat!

Pork Belly & Pork Loin

Since I took a rather long time to polish off my meal. We were not tempted by the desserts – the limiting factor here was the 2 hour car parking – we did not want a ticket from the parking ranger!

As you can see, strategic planning by arming oneself with limiting factors such as what one can or cannot eat, not wanting a parking ticket; the right mindset; cueing with visualisation and eating mindfully played an important role over my lunch today. Practise it often, and one can survive a darn good lunch!

(Past visit at Bistro Moncur here)

Hot and Cold… Frozen and Crumbed @ Tomislav, Darlinghurst

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 5 Comments

Date of Visit: November 1 2013

Like most ambitious young chefs, Chef Tomislav Martinovic went abroad and worked in many kitchens including the highly esteemed Heston Blumenthal’s. So when my friend, Side-Kick Chica (she writes a travel blog here), said that she missed out on dining at Fat Duck when she was in UK recently. I told her we have a Fat Duck alumni here! No need to travel all the way to Bray in Berkshire county – a 50 minutes journey from London’s Paddington Station and why bother figuring out the logistics and lodging simply for dinner?! Duh!!

So a Saturday lunch at Tomislav was settled…

The restaurant is a leisurely 10-minutes walk from Kings Cross Station – one can also trek up William Street, if one is up to it – like we were going to, except it was a 30C Saturday…

We had the 4-course set lunch at $95 (no other options). We parked ourselves at a table for 4 on the balcony, enjoying a partial view of the Bridge and a partial view of the Coca-Cola sign blocked by the trees and the magpie that swooped in for a visit…but mostly entertained by the sound of traffic…

As we waited for our 1st course, we snacked on rice crackers with sea salt (+$10) which we spritzed vinegar from an atomiser – so deft! The rice crackers were apparently “simply brushed with egg white and deep-fried for two to three seconds, resulting in paper-thin scrunches that look like dropped hankies. They stay crisper than crisp even when sprayed with the little atomiser of vinegar, a move nicked straight out of Heston Blumenthal’s kitchen/laboratory” (much quoted sentences from food blogs).

Rice crackers with sea salt and vinegar.

Rice crackers

Lemon, lime and bitters and Tap water

The affable Ann- Maree, looked after us well. We had house-churned butter and frozen chocolate presented on a granite plinth accompanies our complimentary sour dough. What a kooky idea to blend choc-ice with butter! Interesting chocolate bread idea, but I preferred picking and eating the choc-ice instead!

Chocolate-ice and house-churned butter

Our Amuse Bouche was the triple cheeses onion toasties. The cheeses were marshmallow-ishly soft and tasted cheesey, accentuated with bits of caramelised onions and fragile crackers.

Triple cheeses onion toasties

Course 1

My Choice (Kickass Chica): A light summery dish of thinly sliced Spanish mackerel carpaccio covered in finely chopped salad of burnett – the herbs tasted very fresh, reminiscent of cucumber – and when paired with celery sorbet makes a good transition to the crackers held in place by creamy mackerel mousse. Should I have broken the quail’s egg to mix with the carparccio? I am not sure since it is ALWAYS my habit to always eat the yolk whole without breaking it.

Spanish mackerel carpaccio, salad burnette, mackerel mousse, prawn crackers

Side-kick Chica’s choice:

Roast Kurobuta Pork Belly, anchovy juice, raw cauliflower, poached cuttlefish

Course 2

My Choice: A fan of offal and eggs, roast veal sweetbread with poached quail yolk – again? – foie gras was my ideal choice. I enjoyed the sweet caramelised sweetbread against the bitter charred pieces of spring onions. The frozen and crumbed foie gras was a novelty – creamy and smooth for me to smear over my sweetbread. The grilled mango was presented in the form of a streak on the plate – from my fading memory, I recalled popping candies of dehydrated cranberries and a couple of thinly sliced radishes as well, however, I may be proved wrong…

Roast Veal Sweetbread, poached yolk, grilled mango, foie gras crumbs

Side-kick Chica’s choice:

Butter poached scallops, peas shoots, broccoli cream, cyrstal bay prawns

Course 3

(Both Side-kick Chica and I had the same course).

The pairing of coconut pudding with the roasted Riverina lamb neck piqued my interest so I decided to order it to see how well they matches. Overly contrasting and perhaps mismatched, I can only describe the pairing as ‘interesting’. The lamb neck was faultless but I ate the coconut pudding – basically tapioca sago cooked in milky coconut – separately as dessert.

Hmm… we have another play of the ‘frozen and crumbed’, now in the form of frozen mustard.

Roast Riverina Lamb neck, frozen mustard, pickled radishes, coconut pudding

Course 4

My Choice: I had the lemon cheesecake which Tomislav described as his perfected version of Wow Cow yoghurt. An interesting deconstructed cheesecake with lemon mousse studded with cheese on a sable base; a pink quenelle of strawberry sorbet sitting on the crumbed sable with salt; green frozen and crumbed mint on the yellow grilled pineapple – added a contrast of colours to the dish – oh, and not forgetting the 2 deep-ruby berry drops on the plate.

Lemon cheesecake, mint crumbs, frozen yoghurt, grilled pineapple

Side-kick Chica’s choice:

Chocolate and Caramel Cake, coconut ice, chocolate biscuit, roast apple ice cream

It was definitely a very technique-driven lunch of flavoured frozen crumbs on hot dishes. I am sure Chef Tomislav had made good use of his paco-jet machine to the delight of us all, his customers!

While browsing though my pictures, I was thinking how the choice of plates made for interesting and psychedelic plated dishes!

I also have to praise Ann-Maree for her fantastic hospitality which added to our luncheon enjoyment! 😘

At the time of posting, Tomislav scored 91% from 136 votes!

Value Dega @ Bishop Sessa, Surry Hills

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 1 Comment

Date of Visit: November 1 2013

Ever thought of naming your restaurant after your favourite game? Well, Chef Paul Cooper did. His restaurant at 527 Crown Street, Surry Hills is named after Sessa, the inventor of the game of Chaturanga, an ancient Indian strategy game which is the common ancestor of the board game of chess which he is fond of.

Tonight’s night-out was a 6-course dega meal ($69). I did not opt for wine matching this time because I was on a ‘diet’. Nevertheless, dinner is not dinner unless there is a glass of wine, so lieu of 6 glasses of wines for wine matching (+$50), I ordered a Spanish white -Marques de Tezona Macabeo ($7.50) – which was rather dry and quite minerally.

Bread was served while we waited for our meal to start. Since part of my diet was the minimise unnecessary grain and gluten intake, I only looked at it…

Bread + Olive oil

Course 1

Albacore comes from the tuna family which has reached a fashionable status in regards to its sustainable status. In Course 1, the delightful albacore tuna tartare was matched with sweet pea puree and creme fraiche in a cute mason jar. The pale pink tartare was sweet, clean and delicate on the palate. The addition of cracker and crispy rice puffs added a crunchy mouthfeel – hmm… rice puffs are called woba in Shanghainese which remind us to one of our course – Scallop – at BO Innovation in Hong Kong (review here)

Mooloolaba Albacore tartare, peas, fennel, creme fraiche, lemon

Course 2

Course 2 mimicry the arrival of summer with its appetisingly refreshing smell of fresh cucumber juice. Creamy scallops and creamy avocado paired with icy cold ginger sorbet hidden under the wispy rice cracker. I particularly enjoyed the sorbet for its Japanese-pickled-gingers-taste served at the sushi bar. A very refreshing and neat dish that I simply had to lap up the cold cucumber juice.

Scallop ceviche, cucumber,avocado, ginger beer sorbet

Course 3

The pork belly has to be the best pork belly we had ever eaten! A hot fatty piece of meat with perfect crackling that literally melted in our mouths! The pickled calamari sliced thin like fettucine was a palate cleanser with its pleasant acidity. The sweetness of corn kernels rounded out the flavoursome combination.

Corned pork & local calamari, barbecued corn, lemon verbena crackling

While waiting for Course 4, we saw The NSW Mounted Police on their horses. By the way, do you know that The New South Wales Mounted Police Unit is the oldest continuous operational mounted unit in the world? Fancy that! Check out their website (here) for free tours and museum visits every Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The New South Wales Mounted Police Unit

Let’s continue with dinner…

Course 4

We moved into the heavier French-inspired course 4 for our duck cooked 2 ways – roasted duck breast and confit duck sausage roll. Whilst I enjoyed the duck breast paired with the orange & onion marmalade jam with slivers of orange peels, I found the duck in the puff pastry too gamey for my liking. The roasted carrot in balsamic was interesting.

Roasted Ayelsbury duck breast, confit duck sausage roll, orange & onion marmalade

Course 5

The Wagyu course had the same accompaniment as the duck course, which are sauteed silverbeet (cooked in balsamic reduction?) and pumpkin puree. Unfortunately, very lackluster being overly sweet. The ‘steak’ came packaged in biscuit-like potato pastry, it was bits of pulled beef seasoned in herbs, but liven up by the vinaigrette-y, mushroom pate.

Potato wrapped slow cooked Wagyu, pumpkin, mushroom vinaigrette, silverbeet

Potato wrapped slow cooked Wagyu, pumpkin, mushroom vinaigrette, silverbeet

Course 6

Dessert was a course I could – and should – do without! But hey, it’s a Friday night – chillax – so I devoured chocolate mousse and brownie – cleaned the milky ice-cream and the works! I couldn’t recall anything special about this dessert except the marshmallow tasted weird in grainy sugary texture.

Chocolate chip parfait, chocolate mousse, caramelised pop corn

If you are looking for fine dining in the area, I will suggest Bishop Sessa.

Bishop Sessa – more tables upstairs

At the time of posting, Bishop Sessa scored 90% out of 108 votes

Burnt and Charred @ The Woods, Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Kickass_Chica | 2 Comments

Date of Visit: October 26 2013

Destination dining in hotel restaurants is very popular in Asia and I am perplexed as to why it is not catching on in Sydney. Perhaps, it has to do with the perception that hotels often overcharge – think bottled water. I love good food, and do not mind paying extra for restaurant interiors (e.g. ambience). My rationale is that, since I am already forking out for a grand night-out, I might as well get a great all-round experience which includes atmosphere and service.

Much has been written about the ‘new adventurous destination restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel‘ and its interior. Moreover as a fan of the now defunct, very posh Kable’s, with fond memories, I am eager to appraise whether The Woods matches the Four Seasons’ fine dining experience.

The Woods located on the ground floor lobby.

INTERIOR

Described a festival of wood, there is a lot of Australian hardwoods in rich caramel and dark chocolate colours at work in its interior. A beautiful space with a lot going on – wood-fired oven, open kitchen, ‘vertical herb gardens’, timber racks stocked with bottles and a ceiling with mural of recipes and diagrams to boot! Unfortunately, the lightings were very dim and monotonous, thus made my eyes very tired.

Flos Lighting

Long tables to cater for large parties

The quirky pots are actually assemblages of a ‘vertical herb garden’!

Another section off from the main restaurant – for semi-private functions

Decor was nice but why seat our party of 3 to a table at the top of the disabled ramp away from the main restaurant? There were PLENTY of tables in the ‘main restaurant’ – PLUS I made my booking a week in advance!

Nevertheless, despite the lack of white tablecloths, I was anticipating a Morton’s style of experience – not sure why, but to me, grills make uncanny references to American steaks. I have made a point of dining at a Morton’s at any cities that has a Morton’s, much like Planet Hollywood in my younger days! My menu was always their pulled porked sandwich – call me silly! 😛

I digress…

Back to The Woods, this restaurant is helmed by rising Australian Chef Hamish Ingham of one chef-hatted Bar H fame.

Although The Woods made references to wood-fired oven, it was puzzling that the breads arrived stone-cold.

Stone-cold bread ($3 pp)

Melted blob of house-churned butter – but no flaked salt in sight! What about a candle for the table?

Melting blob of butter

I am actually pretty impressed with the wine list. We had an Italian Sangiovese – I seldom order Aussie nowadays when I dine out, I prefer to be ‘adventurous‘.

I am uncertain as to where to put the menu at The Woods, whether a fine dining menu or a hotel menu. It seems to me neither here nor there…

To kick off the lackluster night…

A plate of Oysters comprising of Petit Clair, Clair de Lune, Moonlight en Surface, Moonlight Kisses and Rusty wire. I was advised to eat from the smallest oyster to the largest – delicate to the strongest. My favourite in the assorted oysters was Moonlight Kisses, overall the oysters were very briney and had strong smells – might be off?

Assorted Oysters ($4.50 each)

Duck and pork terrine accompanied by radicchio salad came across as dry…

Duck and pork terrine ($19)

Hmmm… never encountered a sirloin steak with bone before… burnt and charred…

Aged sirloin, cafe de paris & hand cup chips ($44)

Bowl of Chips

Whole line caught John Dory Fish grilled over apple wood – serves 2… burnt and charred… (Can’t smell apple wood)

Whole line caught John Dory Fish grilled over apple wood ($49)

John Dory

The waitress had to be reminded of our salad…

Green Salad ($8)

Since October was Good Food Month, with a special Let’s Do Dessert segment, The Woods’ featured dessert was Wood-fire pear tart tartin with smoked vanilla ice-cream and verjuice caramel with a glass of Brown Brothers dessert wine, all for $20. Whilst I enjoyed the caramelised pear segments, but I couldn’t detect any smokiness nor vanilla flavour of the smoked vanilla ice-cream – only milkiness… The thin base was akin to the flaky croissant.

Wood-fire pear tart tartin

The Woods definitely does not fit into the profile of a 5-star property such as Four Seasons. It didn’t come a surprise to me that the contract is not being renewed (here). This is more a tapas/ bistro joint – we quickly vacated when the boisterous private party crowd came at 8pm to be seated at the large tables near us. To its cred, it IS an impressive place to hold parties!

At the time of writing, The Woods scored 86% out of 51 votes

Out For a Long Lunch

A Chica Around Town

Monthly Archives: November 2013

A Local KL Breakfast @ Restoran Win Heng Seng, KLCC

Staying Awake For A Nice Long Dega Dinner @ Oscillate Wildly, Newtown

$69 Lunch Deal @ est., CBD Sydney

The Key to Looking Good is Vanity!

My 2nd Liebster Award

A Dieter Goes Lunching @ Bistro Moncur, Woollahra

Hot and Cold… Frozen and Crumbed @ Tomislav, Darlinghurst

Value Dega @ Bishop Sessa, Surry Hills

Burnt and Charred @ The Woods, Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney