In the making: Silver Spoon's "Crazieapple"

Remember we mentioned earlier we were going to create a cocktail each that denotes our personality.

Well, last weekend, Crazieapple tries to come up with her "crazy" recipe

We ran out of lots of our mixers, so we had to make do with whatever we have.

I was too skeptical to speak of course, just looked in awe of the amount of alcohol she throw inside the blender, and thinking "i hope i don't need to drink this"

Experiment no. 1- "CRAZIEAPPLE" potential??

Afraid not, and the white mice says no. Try harder!!

Stay Tune for more disastrous experiment =)

Ms. Jazz Reviews: Dancing Fish, Bangsar Shopping Centre

Has it been so long since i've had a proper indonesian meal? The thing about writing food beyond your comfort zone of the usuals italian and chinese cuisines, is that it is hard to elaborate my vocab when attempting to describe the food taste sparing generic words such as "good, delicious, salty.." ( how do you know how it's suppose to taste like to begin with? there's hardly any comparison) even my "list of desciptive words" won't be much help im afraid.

That being said, be glad of the presence of this indo-malay cuisine which has shine its presence in the buzzling food scene of bangsar shopping centre (BSC). A rather sizeable restaurant whom seem to have got the very element right- AFFORDABILITY. With price ranges from as low as RM10 up to RM30 per dish, it promises good food without you breaking your piggy bank.
During my visit there i've spied couple of well-known faces, so what is that saying about this restaurant?

Naturally curiousity perks up on the name "dancing fish". A fish that dance? Or a fish that moves about in its graceful ways? A creative signboard easily captured passer-by's attention.

The simplicity decor with spacious seatings create a friendly eating environment.

Chicken Satay 1/2 dozen (RM12.90)

The indo version tends to stray towards the sweet side.

They use mainly lean meat, which is lightly charred on the outside and surprisingly tender on the inside. Their satay dipping sauce also differ to our malaysian version. Spare you the description, you have to eat it to like it or hate it.

Sup Buntut aka Oxtail Soup (RM16.90) was a slight dissapointment. Came with a small portion of liquid filled with puny pieces of meat. The taste is not as thick as i would like it to be.

We enjoyed the Soft Shell Crab with Kerabu Mango (RM34.90) very much. A delicious combination of soft shell crab and tangy Kerabu Salad with hint of spiciness made it an addictive eat.  

Cumi-Cumi Bakar (RM15.90) is another must have in most indonesian cuisine's menu. The squid has a nice biting texture while the caramelized marination was sweet.  

Gulai Pucuk Paku (RM9.90) Definitely my favourite by far. Young shoots of a local jungle farm paired with turmeric, coconut milk and spices. I'm not a fan when it comes to sweet dishes but this is exceptional. A perfect marriage of flavours.

Cha Kangkung with Sambal Belacan (RM10.90). A safe order that goes well with rice.

Bebek Goreng Bali aka Crispy Duck (RM24) for half portion. I am no stranger to Bebek goreng after all you get to eat these everywhere in Bali. A particular restaurant i went to in Bali that serve decent compressed crispy fried duck is Bebek Bengil (Dirty Duck) in Ubud. 

A long hours marination with indonesian herbs and spices makes the meat flavourful but the texture was dry, but with the help of dipping sauces, it still made it a delightful eat.   

Daging Rendang (RM13.90) was unmemorable. Even the Australian Beef tenderloin they used did not make justice to this dish. The beef cut was smaller than bitesize, and is flavoured. rather bland i may add was marinated with local herbs, spice and coconut milk

Last but not least, the masterpiece that carries the restaurant name DANCING FISH (RM38) comes with a selection of sauce differently priced. The visual itself is entertaining with fins carefully prod up to resemble (what do you know..) a fish that dance. The fish was nicely fried, crispy skin while manage to capture tender flesh.

Can't recall what complement sauce we opt for but there are choices between sambal terasi and kicap, masam kedondong pedas, belimbing salad, mango kerabu, and tangy acar

Ending with a sweet note is the lemongrass jelly with assam balls. A very refreshing end indeed. We like it =)

All in all, Dancing Fish is an ideal restaurant if you crave for spicy offerings, there's certain hit and misses, but taking into account vast offerings and reasonable priced, i'm thinking this place will certainly be a crowd pleaser for all.

Ratings:

Food: 6.5/10

Service: 6/10

Ambience: 7/10

Presentation of food: 6.5/10

Overall rating: 6.5/10

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

Dancing Fish

3rd Floor,

Bangsar Shopping Centre

KL

Tel:  03-2095 6663

Alkie or Non-Alkie?

Silver Spoon is coming out with a new exciting drinks menu soon with an extensive range of cocktails, mocktails and smoothies and guess what!! Augustdiners will be in it!!! YAYYYYY
We're super excited to be given the opportunity to invent our own drinks and put 'em in the menu! How cool is that?!
Do keep an eye out for drinks such as "Crazieapple" and "Ms. Jazz"!

The drinks are suppose to carry out our own personality- so we all know Crazieapple will be as her name implies.. CRAZIENESS! I'm thinking one filled with potent alkie but don't worry, i already forbade her from using absinthe as an ingredient. And since they don't sell Bacardi 151 here, i think you will be safe from rolling home.

Mine will probably be something more mellow, girlie, with a hint of secrecy....

Keep tuned and fingers cross that this will work out well!

Ms. Jazz Reviews: Opus Bistro (Revisit)

Refer to my previous visit here

The Long Forgotten- It's been awhile since i've been back to this friendly neighbourhood restaurant- Opus Bistro.
Seems like this restaurant has been sitting at the backstage for awhile now and may i add that it's ageing pretty well. no evident wrinkles yet but the face lacks its usual lucsious shine.

There is minor adjustments to the menu with some refreshing additions to the all-time favourite items. One thing you can rest assure dining here is simple comfort loving italian affair.

Clams in white wine is almost a fail-proof order. Fresh with comfortable servings.

A limp presentation of the dish.

I've always ordered their roasted cod fish whenever i dine in Opus. Either i order it for myself, or i made people order it so that i can get a quick bite from it. Quick, large bites that is...*smiles sheepishly*

This time i couldnt decide between their lemon capers sauce or their olive based sauce (although i have tried both) but they were thoughtful to suggest to put both sauces as a side so that i can taste the best of both world.

It wasnt as good as i recalled, but the once lip-smacking piece of cod still manage to have me hanging!

Probably my favourite after the Roasted cod is the squid ink pasta. A dish that was definitely not an ideal choice during a date,  with risk of leaving a not so good impression for its blacken tongue and potential black residue stuck onto your teeth. Nevertheless, it is not frequently found in most western restaurant in town, and opus manage to execute theirs fairly well. Now if only my hand did not itch to give this a good splash of salt.

I'm one who often avoid ordering risotto in most restaurant purely because the ones i had so far never seem to please me. True enough, the wild mushroom and asparagus risotto definitely did not meet the mark. The blend of flavours did not go well together and ended up smelling like something gone wrong.

We left most of this untouched.

The smoked duck linguine was also unmemorable, and sadly bland, 'nuff said

SO, There was definitely some hit and misses off the improvised menu. Nevertheless, it eludes private and cosy dining environment that was ideal for us to catch up with friends hence we're able to forgive the slight hiccups in food- for now.

What irks me more perhaps is not the food, but the RM60 bucks corkage fee.

SO EX LA..My cheap moscato that i brought along was only RM50 bucks kk?

Augustdiners can cook (NOT!) : CNY dinner

As you may have already been well aware of this, Augustdiners are not particularly a good cook, not exactly the best wife of the year candidate here, but once in a blue moon, we will feel inspiration pouring in and decide to cook for the family. So on the 3rd February after spending long hours watching Junior Masterchef Australia (they are blardy amazing), we felt totally inspired, and start working out a list of what to make for the family. Turns out there will be some guest joining us for dinner, and so the pressure is on to cook an (EATABLE) meal that serves 15pax.
I ordered most of my main ingredients like chicken, seabass, tenderloin etc through my restaurant, and for the rest of the ingredients we merrily went to BSC for some grocery shopping. I LOVE GROCERY SHOPPING IN BSC! As we happily topping away food onto the trolley feeling extremely generous with ourselves in conjunction to the Chinese New Year celebratory mood, everything on the shelves seems to be “necessary” to make this dinner. After a good hour of intense muscle flexing from shelve to trolley, shelve to trolley, we felt so accomplished!!!

The only problem of this joyful exercise is probably the cost. I shall not disclose the exact amount but it’s definitely a four hard earn figure. I dare not think of the RM130 bucks saffron sitting on top of my kitchen counter right now, especially since my attempt of making seafood paella was a failure.com

So as the clock is ticking away, and a good 6 hours ahead of us for preparation, not a single minute was wasted. Chopped the vegetables we did, clean the gooey (and May I add disgusting) chicken butt I did. We roast, we cook, we broil, we grill, in the end of it all, we were ready to throw in our white towels and call it a night.

The menu is a feat on its own, Crazieapple and I repeatedly had a heated argument on what we would be serving to our guest. She was to be in charge on appetizers and desserts while I can focus on my main course. But being a control freak who likes to take control of situation and make sure everything is perfect (yep I’m a true virgo) I crossed off every single thing she propose or had in mind until a point where she refuses to tell me what she’s making. So there you go, we have two chefs here who refuse to communicate and collaborate.

So how will this night turns out, you wonder?

THE PREPARATIONS

One of many ingredients~

The notes.. =)

The Chefs...

The concentration on camwhoring

tomatoes and capsicums sitting on the baking tray ready to be roasted for one of the triple-play soup.

*scroll down to see what this is all about!* =)

Lesson of the day: DO NOT soak a good slab of beef in the water in hope that it will soften faster!

Baby Back Ribs

In the making..

My adorable assistants..

DINNER AT THE NG’S

Appetizer: Warm tomato bruscetta and creamy mushroom on toast

Appetizer: Triple play soup (which crazieapple names it in some Chinese prosperity bull-ah, something which I care not to translate) a combination of peas and asparagus, roasted tomato and capsicum, and cauliflower soup with cheese grissini. This was the one dish that i strongly disagreed to as it takes up way too much effort.. But im glad that Crazieapple insisted to stick to her plan cause these were absolutely divine!! Each of the soup brings up distinctive flavor altogether..Crowd favourite was definitely the roasted capsicum and tomatoes.

Appetizer: Baby Back Ribs with Whiskey Sauce Décor with sauté asparagus wrapped in prosciutto

Main: Jamie Oliver’s perfect roast chicken (HELLO, MR. HUCK if you are reading this, mine was way better!)

I joke of course. I roasted two but only manage to serve one as my guests were all stuffed by now…

Main: Failure.com seafood paella. I never dealt with paella before. And I cheated the recipe by substituting Spanish rice with risotto rice.

To be fair to myself (also as a comfort for my expenditure of the RM130 saffron that I no longer need) the paella DOES taste like paella. Only mine was a soggier version, and I think I was a wee bit greedy with the saffron and put three handfuls of it when the recipe only require one.

Main: Tray Baked Lemon Seabass (perfect lemony flavor and the right doneness with a nice flaky texture)
The Grilled Rosemary Australia Chilled Tenderloin didn’t manage to make it to the table as the guest called TIMEOUT. Oops, so we did overdo our portioning a little.

Side: Assorted roasted vegetables. Just look at those beautiful colours!

Desserts: Our messy love affair with Oreo cheesecake topped with strawberry compote.

Our wine of the night is none other than my favourite Penfold 707 Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, and our whisky Louis XIII

It was a successful dinner and i could finally sleep soundly that night (and i'm pretty sure it's due to exhaustion) =)

GONG HEI FATT CHOI

Augustdiners wishes everyone GONG HEI FATT CHOI~and a prosperous rabbit year with many more wonderful angpows ahead!!

Ahhh~ it's good to be single! A perfect excuse to stretch your hands out to get some stress free money!!

We're terribly sorry for the lack of updates, i've actually had this post sitting under "draft" for the past one week, until Crazieapple said "so when are you going to finish your gong hei fatt choi post?"
(need she remind me that it only takes 5 mins to do this yet i took 7 days?)

Us in Cheong Sam @ one of the many dinners we've attended this CNY.

We've got so much to share, so pls stay tune!

So how many lou sang have you had this year?

*P/s: Truth is, Ms Jazz doesn't eat lou sang.. She only picks out salmon sashimis and abalones from my plate everytime.. And her definition of "lou sang" is actually just sticking her chopsticks into the plate of yee sang and fiddle for a few seconds cause she's normally too busy taking photos of other ppl "lou sang-ing" hehe

-Crazieapple-