It was one lovely sunday morning. Light Breeze and Cool Air, we decided to take our breakfast outside and enjoy the sun...

Characters of the day:

- Poached eggs with hollandaise sauce on home made english sourdough muffins
- Gourmet Assorted Sausages from O Gourmet
- Streaky Bacon from O Gourmet
- Day-old Sour Dough from O Gourmet bakery

Venue: Augustdiners "alfresco" kitchen admist greenery
Time: Sunday morning

Chefs onboard:
Chef De Cuisine: Ning Geng
Sous Chef: Melissa, Ms. Jazz
Chef De Partie: Crazieapple (disallow me to include pictures with her just got out of bed look)
Kitchen Helper: My lil cute devils

You gotta earn your dough, so everyone had to take part in helping to put food on the table. The kids were very brave to challenge the bacon (with the fats and all) the oil tend to jumped everywhere, but this did not deter them. *bravo girls*

The Settings













The making of hollandaise sauce





Perfect Poached Eggs






For once we have non alcoholic drinks on our bar: Pura Milk from Australia (which is the BOMB), and Florida Orange Juice


The finishing touches



Our End Product.
YUMMAY!!!

Next Up in Augustdiners Breakfast Club: Waffles + more

Here's my take on the Time Out KL Food Award 2010 results that was presented at the MAP Solaris Dutamas few days back- Despite the results being derived from an overwhelming 30,000 public voters this year, it seems to have create a controversy within the food blogsphere. Many has found the result surprising, and others thinks that they were well-deserved, myself included. But the game's all fair and square, no doubt some may not be our FAVOURITE winner, but all has put an effort to achieve their status today. We should give all the nominees encouragement and our congrats to the winners. For you all are the winners this year *cliche i know, poof*
Thank you masak-masak for listing out the winners, as we had to regrettably missed a whole chunk of the award for a second apppointment. But we appreciate TOKL for inviting us, and had a bomb helping ourselves to the free flow sparklings- (the girl has no shame)

Here are the winners:-

Best Continental- La Bodega
Specially Commended in the Best Continental Category- El Cerdo

Best Healthy Eating/ Vegetarian- Marmalade

Best Chinese- Chynna, Hilton

Best Indian- Bombay Palace

Best Italian- Prego, Westin KL

Best Japanese- Fukuharu

Best Malay- Bijan
Specially Commended- Enak

Best Middle Eastern- Al-Amar
Specially Commended- Tarbush

Best Mamak- Nasi Kandar Pelita

Best Pub Grub- Jarrod and Rawlins
Specially Commended- Sid's Pub

Best Seafood- High Tide
 

Best Steakhouse- Prime, Le Meridien
Specially Commended- Qba, Westin

Best Thai/ Indochine- Tamarand Springs



Best Independent Restaurant- Albion

Specially Commended from the Best Independent Restaurant Category- Rama V


Best Fine Dining - Lafite, Shang-ri la

Outstanding Chef This Year- David King from Westin


Best New Restaurant of the year- The Pressroom- BSC

Best Restauranteur- Edward Hyde of Gastrodome
Specially Commended - Benj Conway of Nero Group

Again, Congrats to all winners!!!

Helloo baby, come home to mommy :D (does that sound alcoholic, hope not!)

Ms. Jazz

Crazieapple

I am glad to have a bunch of food loving friends whom despite not having a flog, loves exploring for new food places, and willing to go to restaurants with an open mind.

Most importantly they don’t mind me talking about food 24/7 (if they want to talk about something else, they’ll just ignore me, haha); neither do they care much of having me slowly finding the right angle for the food photos.

A recent comment however arised from the bunch
“Finally we are dining in a more affordable place”

I looked out the street with guilt. She’s right, the recent places I’ve been bringing my friends to all left us with empty pockets.

So it was perhaps a right move to suggest them to MARUFUKU @ JAYA ONE one night for some udon love affair. Located in an unseeming corner but visible from Brussels Beer Café, next to Frontera , sits this no-frills but clean comfortable Japanese café. Their forte is their freshly made udon by daily, however there are also some decent appetizers and yakitori offerings.
I’ve heard of their sister outlet Sanuki in Taman Bukit Desa, but have never visited the foreign land to indulge, but little bird told me that the udon there is very good too. Seems like they’ve gotten the whole concept right, as expansion is underway and next outlet will be at Taylor’s college, so for those subangers do look out for them in the coming months.

I can see the reasons of their potential success,
1. Japanese food (familiar cuisine to malaysians)
2. Simple, quick-to- prepare dishes is always a plus point for franchise opportunities
3. Cheap! Affordable as Lots of Craving puts it (the cheapest being their house special udon(RM6)
4. Yummy food!
5.Low set up cost

Order Counters for busy days.

Edamame, nicely salted. Can't go wrong with this one

We've had a couple of yakitori which ranges to about RM2-3 per stick, quite affordable: Chicken Skin, Okra, leg and  I Like all things fatty so naturally i had my sight set on the chicken skin which was salted and crispy. (only a bit oily) but not that im complaining.

House Special udon (RM6)- what differentiate this udon from other japanese outlets is the springy and wonderfully chewy texture. Topped with runny egg yolk, and simple splash of spring onion is all it needs. End result of a very refreshing mild tasting udon dish that was an addictive eat.

Curry udon was again unlike other outlets whom like to include a big amount of starchy curry sauce which could be rather overwhelming at times if you have to eat a big bowl of it, but rather the ones here was served with minimal curry sauce enough for you to get a small taste of curry flavour. Again it goes well with the noodles which i believed to be quickly blanched to retain its original texture. 
*correct me if i'm wrong*
Nabeyaki udon- A combination ingredients of shitake mushroom, tofu puff, tempura ebi, beancurd skin and spring onion, the texture of the noodles is softer as a result of cooking it for a longer time. Quite a nice comfort eat.

More chicken skin please? =D now if only they serve ox tongue- i'm so gamed.

Umeshu with soda water (RM12) for two shots.

Our bill came up to RM70+

Ratings:

Food: 7.5/10
(one of the better udon place in town)

Ambience: 5/10
(good for casual hangout, or quick japanese fix)

Service: 7/10
(friendly staff during a quiet night, hope same goes to busy days)

Presentation of food: 6/10

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Marufuku udon
Unit L-18-G-1
Ground Floor, Palm Square
Jaya One

Tel: 03- 79576368

If you have NOT gotten sick of my Gu Yue Tian's Posts yet.. here's another one =D

We were invited by Chef Frankie to sample some of his new creations, since he doesnt know that i own a food blog, lets just hope he doesnt read it here because the below dishes are still in the testing stage, so yep.. we were pretty much his white mice waiting to be sacrificed indulged

Our purpose of this visit is to try the spanish iberico pig (black pig) and the Pork Bone Hot Pot.

We started off with 5 small selections of amuse bouche (don't think they use this word for chinese cuisine, do they?) Chef's standard starter being the roasted garlic, cherry tomato with caviar, parma ham with melon, cucumber with chicken floss and braised duck tongue.

One of the largest juicy oyster i've seen in KL, it was really fresh although few of us had to make several toilet visit later (mmm.. that's not saying much, does it?) But seriously it was really good, if only for those who can stomach it.

Black Pig with a very complicated sauce mix of pumpkin puree, soya, pesto, and wasabi. I can't say i enjoyed this very much, it was very bold flavor no doubt, but the combination did not quite hit the mark.

This my dear friends, was delicious! The pork bone soup was stewed for many hours, together with the white turnip, end result is a soup packed with flavours and a distinct peppery taste.
There were about 6 large pork bone in a pot, which i happily gobbled down 2 without much thought. One of the guilty pleasures in life :)
After we have cleared the pork bone, we were set to put in other ingredients such as homemade prawn balls with foie gras, prawn dumplings, fresh greens. It was all very well prepared. Big plump fresh prawns shows that Chef is generous with his fillings.

Fresh Boston Lobster for hotpot

Stir Fried Lobster with Ginger and spring onion.

Last but not least- something i can't live without, it the Fried Hokkien Mee. Gu Yue Tian's version is not the best in town but it serves it purpose to satisfy my craving for carbo food!


I'm normally not a whisky drinker, but the YAMAZAKI single malt whisky is pretty good!

Thank you Chef Frankie for the hospitality and the dinner!

Time out KL food award is today, where they unveil the best restaurants in town, i already have my mind set on a particular restaurant, hopefully they'll win. (although truly.. everyone knows silver spoon is still the best...right right? hahaha)

For the past few days, i have been pretty emo. Lots of things running through my mind. I don't normally write about personal things in this blog, and i'm not too sure about you guys, but good food always manage to tweek a little smile on my face. I guess food lover can understand this feeling?

Refer to our previous sage visit here


I love being surrounded by people who enjoys food, we can spend hours and hours talking about food and the topic is never-ending. I was recently invited to a dinner @ Sage with friends who has the same passion as I do.

We were given the pleasure to sample Chef Daniel’s specially design menu to us at a very reasonable price, and to top it off, Sage threw in a free bottle of rose Shiraz for us to start off the night.

The 8-course chef’s menu set ahead has definitely got me talking for a few days now, it’s that good!! Chef Daniel is famous for his sauces, what was presented ahead of us may seem like simple presentation which we gobbled down in few minutes but it requires few days’ preparation to achieve such brilliant result.

The standard ingredients that can be seen in his menus are often- foie gras, caviar, truffle oil, and yes we had all these during our dinner session, i can't say i'm complaining much :)

The business has since flourished from my last visits. The restaurant was filled during weekend.

P/S sorry for the shadow lurking in the corner of every picture. Must be having a bad camera day.

We started off with an espresso sized Cream of Porchini Soup infused with white truffle oil.
OMIGOSH im not exaggerating when i said i'd die a happy woman drinking this! The truffle oil was so intense and the porchini flavour was so dense, with a hint of chocolate aftertaste. This, my friends, were one helluva yummy soup! We drank it sip by sip worried that it will run out soon.

Eventually it did- didnt take too much effort too =D

Mmm.. Mmm. Yum Yum.....

What originally was not in our designed menu, Chef last minute pop in the yellowtail kampachi with caviar and truffle oil. We were trying to outguess each other where the subtle smoky flavour came from, turns out we were right, it was hidden right in the caviar. Daintily presented, this is by far one of the best dish of the night, The kampachi was very fresh! We cannot get enough of it.

Very well prepared and served cold is the cappellini Pasta with Tarabagani and Sea Urchin.
I'll be completely honest with you, some of the dishes of the night sound so foreign to me, i mean what is TARABAGANI really? Sound so indian. haha. A quick google search shows that Tarabagani is a type of King Crab also known as the Red King Crab. The dish uses light ingredients without any overpowering sauces.

Foie Gras Enfold with Yuba bean skin and glazed Anago.
Although i would have love to have Chef's infamous pan fried foie gras in the ala carte menu, i'm good with the alternate choice he made. The Yuba bean skin was crispy wrapped around the oh-so-sinful gooey foie gras. Anago is a japanese word for salt water eel, it tasted very similar to unagi which is fresh water eel difference is Anago meat is more tender and moist.

Pan fried Hiramasa with Zucchini Flower and King Crab Sauce. A high quality Kingfish which is farmed under strict standards. Firm texture with sweet rich flavours, the thick king crab sauce complements well in the palate.

Granny Smith Apple Granite. It was so wonderfully refreshing with distinct apple taste. Again, i wish we were given more of this =)



For our mains, we had the Grilled Wagyu Beef with Mashed Potato and Red Wine Sauce. The piece of meat was wonderfully marbled with a slight trim of fats adding oomphs to the beef. The Red Wine Reduction no doubt has spend many days tumbling around the pot. It was packed with flavours but my only comment is it's tad bit too sweet to my liking.

Chef Platter of Desserts *clap hands in glee*
Chocolate Souffle with glazed strawberries and cappucino ice cream (?) correct me if i'm wrong.
In the cocktail glass sits 2 different types of mangoes, one sweet one sour. One can never say no to sweet and sour. The Souffle was runny inside, just the way i like them, brings me back to my Max Brennar days in Melbourne.

Picture credited to Ning Geng

Picture credited to me. See the big difference? F.A.I.L.com ... another reason to change a new camera hehe, maybe santa may come early!

It was one restaurant i almost couldnt find fault in. Thank you for such an enjoyable dinner with a great company.

Our bill came up to about RM250 per pax for an 8 course degustation menu. How freaking cheap is that? In normal days this would cost approx RM500 in Sage.

Ratings:

Food: 9/10

Ambience: 7.5/10

Service: 8.5/10

Food Presentation: 8.5/10

Overall: 8.5/10
(one of the highest we've given so far in augustdiners years, Chef Daniel's passion in food is really inspiring and infectious)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar
The Residences Level 6
The Gardens, Mid Valley City

Tel: 03-22681328

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