Our Father's day celebration

Just a quick one before i buried my head back into work.

How did you celebrate your father's day?
It is not often we get to do something special for our dad, so every year, we scratches our heads thinking hard on what to do for the only special guy in my life (ok, that sounds so wrong)

As daddy always go out for entertainment most days of the week, we thought it'll be good to have him relax at the confinement of his own home, but we arent really keen on doing much cooking, so my sister came up with the fussy-free idea of HOTPOT.

Here are some photos to share:- (again apologies for the bad quality photos, you'll have to get used to it until i figure out the settings hahaha)

Yum yum, we had a choice of szechuan soup base, and clear soup base. No prize for guessing right which one i opted for

Then there was the customary dipping sauces

The absolute necessities: beef slices, and lamb slices

Vast amount of food that can feed the whole kampung, according to my mom

Oh well, better over prepared then under prepared right? =)

Our Alcohol bites: Yung Kee HK's Century egg is the bestest!!

Desserts is no other than chocolates from PATCHI, *licks*

Last but not least- drinks!! We're a bit more adventurous on this special day 

Did couple of shots of china's Bai Jiu, and Sake

Then proceed to my favourite PATRON's Coffee Tequila

Ended with some Glenmorangie Single Malt Whiskey

Last but not least, my gift to daddy dear.

 

LOVE YOU MUCHIE DAD!!

Ms. Jazz Reviews: Bistro A Table, PJ Section 17

A meal in Bistro-A-Table is easily enjoyed. I’ve heard nothing but praises for this 11-days old French bistro tucked away in a quiet row of shops of PJ Section 17, directly behind Decanter.
I confess I’m a little bit of a Francophile – I like all things French-I love French for their fashion, for their food, and for their wine. Oh yes, I love French guys in particular.

Headed by the young and attractive Private Chef Isadora, (what a nice name, I’m naming my kid Isadora- regardless of its gender) , Bistro A Table interior was minimalist, with uses of light curtains which enhances diners privacy, suspended light bulb hanging loosely above the head allow a dimly lighted space and soaring French music uplifted the mood of the place.

Their menu choices are somewhat limited, but there are some very tempting items like caesar salad soup, and deconstructive tiramisu that had me waiting in anticipation. I was told that these menus are not a fixture and will be reviewed from time to time in a short span of a week or two. Chef Isodora mentioned that she has all these crazy dishes going through her mind and she can’t wait to present it to her diners. Ah, I can’t wait.

Aside from the regular bistro menu, you can also look out for their degustation menu that will be available every first Monday of the Month. With an extravagant 12 courses to devour and dwell on, it is no wonder that their July Degustation reservations have been fully booked. The fact that the degustation cost RM500 per pax did not to deter people from making reservation well ahead of time.

My much anticipated Caesar Salad Soup (RM18)-is beautiful in presentation- a soft-boiled egg hidden shyly within the confine of a crisp toast, on top of a bed of green (soup). I looked left and right then, hoping my counterparts know how to drink this in a proper manner, do we break the eggs and toast to be toss & devour with the lightly puree salad soup? After slight deliberation, we gave up all pretenses and jumbled everything together. Turns out to be a good marriage in flavors and definitely try worthy

Then there was the Duck Parfait (RM19) that didn’t leave a lasting impression to me. But that’s just personal preference as my friend happily woofed down chunks of the creamy content with the thinly baked toast.

I like the simplicity of the coddled egg with maple syrup (RM16) that’s served with crouton dust and asparagus spear. With a little crouton dust, Spoon out the glorious runny eggyolks that was sweeten by the syrup. Mmm.. Mmm.. It reminded me of a dish I had once in Melbourne’s Bistro Vue.

Down to the main course, we went with three finalist: Traditional duck cassoulet (RM48) instead of the beans on the side, ours was served with lentils. Slipper lobster and sea urchin linguine (RM132) which cost as slippery as the lobster and Seafood Bouillabaisse (RM58) which I believe is not what the actual dish is called, but too bad I have no reference in other food blogs for this dish to copied from. Oops, trust me not to do my homework, let’s just call it seafood stew shall we?

Duck Cassoulet (RM48) was done in a perfect succession. The slow cooked duck flesh has an almost fall off the bone texture, come with a crispy skin, and robust sauce which twinge of sweetness.

My slipper lobster linguine (RM132) is one of its kinds. While I questioned whether the price is justifiable, it was to no doubt that I was smidgen with this dish. On first bite, I thought it was a regular tomato based linguine which was slightly sourish. But as I find my way through this dish, I became addicted to the subtle flavours of sea urchin which blends really well with the fresh tomato paste, and there was no skimming with the lobster pieces as I enjoyed the succulent large bite-size pieces

The Seafood Stew was O-K. A seafood lover’s delight using variety of fresh seafood pieces on a light garlicky soup base.

Desserts. Desserts. Desserts. Now I’m really geared up to write! As I’m always overly excited for dessert more than anything else (except for French men that is) They always tend to bring me to a stage of childlike bliss, and thankfully, Bistro A Table desserts are ones that are noteworthy.

One glance through, and the first that caught my eye was the terribly alcoholic tiramisu. (RM29) which indeed live up to its name, and I shall declare it the most “GAO aka strong” tiramisu in town. While we thought the Kaffir lime and lemon tart was decent (RM15), we would recommend you the chocolate fondant (RM18) which was sinfully good. Just think of those oozing dark chocolate made me want to go back for more.

Terribly Alcoholic Tiramisu

Kaffir Lime and Lemon Tart

Chocolate Fondant

To pair with an enjoyable night is a Chilean medium bodied wine Terramater Merlot (RM140).

Our meal comes out to approx RM185 per person. Sorry for the ill quality food pictures, I tried in vain to get the settings right under the dim lighting, but u know me and my noobness with all things electronics…sigh! it was then during my main course that I remember another camera that was stashed in my car, thank god for user-friendly lumix!

Ratings:

Food: 7.5/10

Ambience: 7/10

Service: 5.5/10

Presentation of food: 6.5/10

Overall: 6.5/10

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

Bistro a Table

6, Jalan 17/54

PJ

Tel: 03-7931 2831
(reservation recommended, open only during dinners and closed on monday)

Augustdiners explores Yarra Valley, Melbourne

I.am.now.typing.this.in.silverspoon. *hiccup*

Allow me to be emotional a little, as i indulge alone overlooking the restaurant with a Dunkel Weihenstephaner on my hand. *hiccup* I was thinking, how lovely it would be if there's a new awesomeness restaurant miraculously pop out of no-where. Ever since coming back from my non-too-long-holiday, i have not seen sparkles in my eyes when restaurant is mentioned. And when ask what to have for dinner, it would be "whatever suits u best" which.is.like.totally.not.ME. I DO NOT do whatever. I always have at the back of my mind what to eat before i was even asked.

So today.. just because i feel like writing something *hiccup* i would like to share with you my recent trip to Yarra Valley, Melbourne. Given the constant gloomy weather of melbourne, we were hoping with fingers and toes crossed hard for a good weather.
God must be feeling in a breezy mood that day, because we did have our good weather, albeit one that was slightly chilly, but with a couple of wine down my throat, im already feeling warm and fuzzy allover =)

For more information on Yarra Valley wineries, you can refer to their visitor website

Before i head into too much details, i'd like to apologise from our long lost absence. Mainly because of Crazieapple being busy with l**e, and Crusader bz with something that starts with a C, ends with a C, and has a C in the middle. Go figure. For me, which neither has l**e nor CCC, still manage to occupy my time with W**K. 9 hours a day is barely enough.

So back to the topic. I enjoyed myself immensely in Yarra Valley. We woke up late that day and only made our journey there at 2-ish, which means we barely had time to visit all the wineries, so we picked a few. Yering Station, Yarrawood, and Tarra Warra.
Who says theres nothing free in this world. In yarra valley, there is plenty of FREE wine tasting. You can just stand by their wine tasting area whole day and try all the wines they have to offer. We often started with the whites that leads to the dessert wines, then red light bodied, to the full bodied, and by the end of the testing, your palate is so mixed up that you forgot which is good and end up buying the whole lot. This is their strategy me thinks, EVIL! It doesnt help that the wines are so deliciously cheap, we end up buying a few bottles at every stop we made.
We drank a couple of bottles and brought back a few to further continue our night as most wineries closes at 5pm. Needless to say, i was happily drunk that night.

Among all the wineries, we enjoyed ourselves at Tarra Warra the best, perhaps it was because we manage to catch the sunset which was breathtaking, and perhaps it was our last stop of the day, and we've already got ourselves filled with some loving sexy wines, and you know.. feeling warm and fuzzy all over. =)

Without further ado, here are some of our camwhore pictures (few of the many that we took on our trip)

Love this pic!

Cheers to good health!!!

Too many pictures to absorb in one entry, isn't it!?

:)