RyuGin, Hong Kong (2 Michelin star, 2016)

Tags

Hong kong, hong kong restaurant review, japanese, japanese restaurant review, Michelin, Michelin star, restaurant review, ryugin, two michelin star

This was my surprise birthday dinner! Since I had completely ruled out Japanese restaurants while researching for restaurants to try in Hong Kong (good Japanese food does not come cheap in Hong Kong), I was completely unprepared but pleasantly surprised when I was shown in to this restaurant. Despite the glamour of its two Michelin star status, the setting was simple, save for a great view, it being situated 101 floors up. It claims to offer traditional but unique kaiseki cuisine. Unique it was indeed! And yet it retained all the clean, seasonal and delicate aspects of traditional kaiseki that the Japanese pull off so well.

This is the first overseas branch of the Tokyo restaurant, which boasts a full spectrum of Michelin stars.

http://www.ryugin.com.hk/about_e.php

We weren’t given a choice on the food. Everyone had the tasting menu.

The tasting menu consisted of 10 dishes, which change according to season:-

1. Cold noodles topped with white shrimp, caviar, abalone and abalone liver sauce
2. Foie Gras flavoured with porto and wasanbon sugar served with fresh figs and sesame cream sauce
3. Charcoal grilled Alfonsino with matsutake mushroom in ichibandashi soup
4. Assortment of sashimi
5. Charcoal grilled Amadai brushed with Miso-yuan sauce
6. Cold Kegani crab egg custard with grated fresh apple vinegar
7. Wagyu beef shabu shabu, lotus root cake and onion ponzu sauce
8. Steamed rice topped with Ikura salmon roe
9. RyuGin Specialty -196 °C pear candy and 99 °C pear jam
10. Chestnut ice cream with roasted chestnut biscuits

We chose to have sake to go with our dinner and they presented us with a choice of sake cups which I thought rather lovely. Weakness for tableware.

Chilled sake this time.

First course: Cold noodles topped with white shrimp, caviar, abalone and abalone liver sauce

This to me was the star of the night! I’m not usually a fan of cold noodles but this blew me away. Something about the delicious salt brine of the caviar mixed with the sweet creaminess of the shrimp and dashi scented savouriness of the liver sauce coating those perfect cold noodles. The herbs, which I’m guessing is mitsuba, adds a heightened flavour to the dish and the abalone is cooked to a tender perfection. Now that I’ve tasted it, I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to satisfy my newfound craving for it 😦

Mmmmm….Second course: Foie Gras flavoured with porto and wasanbon sugar served with fresh figs and sesame cream sauce.

I loved this as well, but it could be because I’m partial to foie gras. Popped the entire thing in my mouth. It tasted like peanut butter. Delicious but the foie gras to fig ratio could be better. The fig came dangerously close to overpowering the foie gras. Overall a nice mouthful (or two, the second is not pictured here).

Third Course: Charcoal grilled Alfonsino with matsutake mushroom in ichibandashi soup

Now this is what I’d expect from a top notch kaiseki restaurant. This is quintessentially kaiseki to me. The soup is clear, clean and yet flavourful. Ichiban dashi just refers to the basic stock that is used in most Japanese cuisine, made from katsuobashi (dried bonito flakes) and kombu (kelp). I had to look up the Alfonsino’s more familiar Japanese name, Kinme. It’s a type of sea bream, thus its taste is of a white-fleshed fish with enough fat to keep it tender but not as fatty as the cod. Well balanced fish cooked just right with a lovely charcoal aroma from the very slightly charred skin.

Fourth Course: Sashimi, standard offerings of hirame (I’m guessing here), akagai, hotate, ebi and saba sushi.

They’re all good and fresh, although special mention has to be made for the akagai and the saba sushi. I’ve not had the akagai cooked lightly like this before and I think it vastly improves its flavour and texture, making it easier to eat. The saba sushi is also done well, meticulously balancing the vinegar seasoning with the usually strong tasting fish. Absolutely nothing fishy about it, perfectly fatty and good use of seasoning.

Fifth Course: Charcoal grilled Amadai brushed with Miso-yuan sauce

All I can say is that the chef knows how to cook his fish well. Juicy and thinly glazed, it has none of the cloyingly sweet miso glaze I was dreading when I first saw the menu. I also liked that crisp that came along with it, it’s like a healthy ikan bilis cracker.

Sixth Course: Cold Kegani crab egg custard with grated fresh apple vinegar

This dish is your usual chawanmushi, except that its cold. The crab meat didn’t do much for me, and the orange stuff on top of the egg custard could be smoother. However I did like how it tasted of kaffir lime zest and juice, although it could have just been from the grated fresh apple vinegar. Interesting combination.

Seventh Course: Wagyu beef shabu shabu, lotus root cake and onion ponzu sauce.

I thought this was good! My dining partner said it could be more tender. If it were done yakiniku style, with the same sauce and garnish, I think it would be perfect. Needed a little boost to further melt the fat, but delicious otherwise. By this time I was too full to do justice to the lotus root cake, but I didn’t really fancy it much anyway after taking a small taste of it.

Eighth Course: Steamed rice topped with Ikura salmon roe

This is standard fare in kaiseki. The rice course comes out right at the end before dessert. While I’m not wowed by this course, I do love my ikura on warm fluffy rice rather than on cold, vinegared rice. Very satisfying and comforting along with the most delicious soup! The depth of flavour in this unassuming soup is unrivalled so far!

Ninth Course: the RyuGin Specialty -196 °C pear candy and 99 °C pear jam

It comes shaped as a beautiful, frozen pear which you tap and break into the insides before the waitress ladles the warm pear jam (which is more like poached pears) on top.

I love pear and I loved how the differing temperatures of the two components came together in a pleasing mixture to show off the pear ingredient. Very clever. My dining partner is harder to please though.

Tenth Course: Chestnut ice cream with roasted chestnut biscuits.

This tasted like chestnut ice cream, with chestnut shavings and roasted chestnuts cooked in some kind of alcohol. I loved this and would have finished the lot had I not been bursting at the seams. Dining partner didn’t seem to like it however. Not a fan of chestnut it seems (or the bill, since I didn’t pay for dinner hahahaha!!)

Conclusion, I really liked it! Fresh ingredients cooked well and on the mark, sometimes with a twist. The chef skirted with his cooking techniques, pushed boundaries and yet managed to execute the dishes with such finesse. The sake helped it all to come together I must say. And there’s nothing like an authentic Japanese meal to end a wonderful day.

I can’t speak for the value for money aspect of the dinner as I still do not know how much it cost. Ignorance is bliss.

Opening Hours / 12nn-3pm (Private Lunch Only) 6pm-9:30pm (Dinner Last Order)
Address / 101/F, ICC, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon
Reservation Telephone no. / 2302 0222
Number of seats / 48 ( including 2 private rooms, 1 for 4 guests and 1 for 12 guests)
Parking / 4 hours Free Parking

Shepherd’s Pie

Tags

autumn recipes, brunch, chives, comfort food, easy recipe, lamb mince, lamb sauce, lunch, mash, mashed potatoes, One bowl meal, pie, rosemary, sheperds pie, thyme, winter recipes, worcestershire sauce

I’ve been itching to have a go at making this pie for a while now! What’s not to love about creamy mashed potatoes and a hearty thick lamb mince ragu all in a single bowl? It’s a pretty balanced meal is it not? Carbs, protein and vegetables? Let’s forget for a moment about the amount of cream and cheese that went into it and label it as the ultimate balanced meal.

Comfort food. Easy to put together. I will definitely make this again! The recipe calls for peas and corn as well but I made do without them since I’ve got a picky eater on my hands today!

Ingredients 

Meat Layer

• Minced lamb – around 700 grams
• 2 carrots, diced into smallish cubes
• 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
• 1/2 cup fresh English peas (if you’re feeling lazy there’s always the frozen mixed vegetables option which has carrots, corn and peas all in one convenient bag. Use 1.5 cups of the mix then)
• 4 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1 cup minced onion
• 3 tsp chopped rosemary leaves
• 3 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 3 tbsps Tomato puree, have an additional 3 tbsps on hand if you prefer more of it in the ragu
• 2 tbsps Worcestershire sauce – other recipes call for 1 tsp, I found it insufficient and ended to my taste, so add to your taste
• 2 tbsps all purpose flour
• pepper to taste

Potato Layer

• 700 grams peeled russet potatoes approx.
• 200 ml cream
• 30g salted butter
• pepper to taste
• 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• fresh thyme leaves

Cooking Instructions  

• Heat up butter in a large deep skillet on medium high heat
• Add the chopped onions first, and cook until translucent and starting to caramelise.
• Add the garlic and fry for about half a minute or so until that’s soft
• At this point if the mixture is getting a tad too dry, add a little more butter. After which we can now put the lamb mince into the pan to brown. Break up the meat into small pieces (the smaller, the smoother the ragu will be, but that’s only if you like it that way)
•  Mix in the vegetables, we’re only adding them now as we don’t want to overcook them
• Sprinkle the thyme and rosemary over the mixture and give it a good stir.
• Pour in the red wine, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce and tomato puree and flour.
• Bring the sauce to a boil and lower the heat to simmer for a couple of minutes. The flour should thicken the sauce in the process.
• Turn the heat off and cover with a lid.

• As for the potatoes, place them in a large pot and cover with cold water
• Add salt to the water
• Bring to a boil. Once they are pierced easily with a fork, drain them. Check in about 10 minutes, if the potatoes are still resistant to the fork the leave for a bit longer. However, take care that you don’t overcook them. Don’t want mushy potatoes!
• Press the potatoes through a ricer (or mash them by hand) and put aside.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the cream. Bring this to a gentle simmer before adding the potatoes to the cream and mixing it all up. Season with salt and pepper.
• (Additional step:- you can put the mashed potatoes through a sieve to get rid of all the lumps for that smooth mash)

Ladle the ragu into your prettiest deep dish (one that is oven-compatible). Sprinkle a layer of cheese over the ragu.   Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the ragu like so.
After which you’re done. You can use a fork to create patterns on the mash which will turn out a little crispy after some time in the oven. My ideal meat ragu to potato ratio  is 3:1.

However, you can add more if you like your mash. Here, I decorated the top by squeezing the potatoes through a decorative nozzle.

Sprinkle some cheese over the top of the mash layer, and arrange some thyme leaves strategically into the top layer as a sort of garnish and for the fragrance.

Bake at 205 Celsius for around 20-30 minutes
Added some chopped chives before serving, just because I like chives.
  

Maguro Tuna Avocado rice bowl (Maguro Avocado don)

Tags

avocado, clean, cleaneats, cleanfoods, easy, easy meals, easy recipes, healthy, homecooked, ikura, leeks, maguro, maguro avocado don, maguro avocado rice bowl, mayonnaise, one person meal, onebowlmeal, quick meals, rice, rice bowl, solitary eating, soy sauce, tuna, tuna avocado

This is one super easy and delicious don! (don = rice bowl dish in Japanese). All you need to actually cook is the rice. The rest is all about slicing up the sashimi and avocado and assembling the rice bowl. Since the current trend now is all about clean eats, clean foods and healthy eating, I suppose this makes the cut (if you ignore the ubiquitous mayonnaise blobs popping up among the luscious chunks of creamy avocado and fresh maguro).
Ingredients (for 1 person)  

• 100 grams sashimi grade maguro tuna
• 1/2 ripe avocado, pitted and skinned
• Mayonnaise – amount at your discretion, I used Japanese mayonnaise
• Cooked short-grain white rice
• 2-3 tsp soy sauce depending how seasoned you like your tuna
• Optional (for garnish) – chopped chives, seaweed flakes and thinly sliced leeks (only the white parts). I would highly recommend you add these as they add texture, lots of flavour and freshness to the dish
• Optional – 2 tbsp ikura (sashimi grade salmon roe)
• Optional – furikake (a type of Japanese rice topping/seasoning)

Method

• Slice up the maguro sashimi into thick chunks, I cut mine into 3/4 inch cubes but do it however you like.
• Season the maguro with soy sauce and set aside.
• Cut up the avocado into cubes/chunks roughly the same size as the maguro.
• Place the rice in a bowl (if you’ve opted for the furikake, mix it into the rice before arranging the rice in the bowl) and pile the maguro and avocado on top.
• Squeeze mayonnaise over the dish in zig-zag lashings or you can add them in blobs like I did.
• Add the ikura and garnish with chives, seaweed flakes and sliced leeks.
• Serve

I enjoyed it so much I had it again for the next meal… only in the sloppiest, most disgusting way one eats when alone:-  Still tasted amazing nonetheless!

Roast vegetables

Tags

broccolini, butter, corn, oven roast, roast vegetables, sweet corn, truffle oil, young corn

 

I suppose this isn’t so much a recipe, more of what works for me when it comes to sweet corn, young carrots and broccolini. An oven temperature of 200-205 degrees celsius is recommended for these vegetables, and a short cook time of 15 minutes in the oven (sweet corn has to be steamed 5 minutes beforehand).

A lot of recipes that I read require the vegetables to be in the oven for 45 minutes, but these vegetables would overcook and turn mushy. 15 minutes is perfect for them to retain some of their original crunch.

Carrots, trim the leaves off and use a small knife to scrape the surface of the carrot to clean. Rinse and pat dry. They’ll look like this after you’re done!
Cut up the corn into three sections and place into a steamer for 5 minutes. Pat dry.
Wash and pat dry the broccolini.

As I’ve repeatedly mentioned throughout this post, always make sure the vegetables are dry before seasoning and roasting. No one likes mushy vegetables!

To season:-

• Sweet corn:- 2 tsp truffle oil per ear of corn and dash of salt rubbed into the corn
• Young carrots:- enough olive oil to evenly coat a very thin layer of oil onto the carrots. Season with salt and sprinkle on some sugar (I tried honey, it didn’t work out too well)
• Broccolini:- again, very thinly dressed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Lay out the vegetables on an aluminium foiled sheet tray and roast for 15 minutes at 200-205 degrees celsius.

Place the vegetables on a serving plate and brush the corn with some butter before serving.

This is a tray of roast vegetables which were cooked differently, also at 200 degrees celsiuse but for 45 minutes. Seasoned with olive oil (I suspect I didn’t add enough oil), salt, pepper and garlic powder. Not bad actually. I tried to keep the vegetables the same size as much as possible so they’d cook at the same pace. Will try this again with more oil!

Creamy mashed potatoes (pomme purée)

Tags

butter, cream, french style mash, mash, mashed potatoes, pomme puree, potato ricer, ricer, roast, sides, sieve

Yes I know, there could’ve been a better picture of it. I should have done it justice and posted something that represents the texture and creaminess of it all.

As it stands, I’ll just post the recipe for it so someone else can have a go and take food magazine worthy photos of this decadent side dish.

So here goes:-

Ingredients (Serves 6-8)

• 2kg Yukon Gold potatoes (washed and scrubbed)
• 2 cups heavy cream or more just in case you like it creamier
• 450g salted butter
• salt and white pepper to taste
• You will also need a ricer for this recipe

Place the potatoes in boiling water and reduce the heat to medium low. Cover and cook until tender (1/2 to 1 hour).

Drain and cool the potatoes.  Peel the skin off.  Pass the potatoes through a ricer.
This is a new toy of mine. It ensures that the mashed potatoes stay fluffy and airy since you don’t have to mash it do death by hand, and therefore it also keeps the potatoes from getting gummy.
Potatoes all pressed through the ricer!  Pour the cream into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Slowly mix/whisk in the butter until sauce is emulsified. I actually used more cream than what is stated in this recipe.
Then stir in the potatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Eyeball the creaminess and add more cream if you wish.

After which, I sieved the entire pot of mashed potatoes. And the result? The fluffiest, creamiest mash ever!
  

❤

Whole Roast Chicken and Roast Chicken Thighs

Tags

baste, butter, celery, chicken, chicken thighs, compound butter, dinner, easy, easy meals, easy preparation, french cut, garlic, mains, onion, oven, oven roast, protein, quick preparation, roast chicken, roast chicken thighs, rosemary, thyme, western, whole, whole roast chicken

Roast chicken dinner for the family! There’s nothing quite like a full roast at the dining table… and no, Nandos and Kenny Rogers do not count. Roasting a whole chicken (or just the thighs as I will show later on in this post) is actually easier than one would think.

Fresh out of the oven and piping hot, it releases a perfumed steam as you cut into the juicy roast. Absolutely divine.
My shopping haul XD. So without further ado, the ingredients:-

Ingredients (for just 1 roast chicken, you can double it if your family is as greedy as mine)

• 1.7kg whole chicken
• 25g salted butter, softened
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (or whichever herbs you prefer)
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thmye
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium white onion
• 1 stalk of celery of around 10 inches, chopped into large sections (optional)
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine the butter, chopped thyme, rosemary and garlic to form the compound herb butter.
  To prep the chicken, remove feet, giblets, head, neck and internal organs. Give the chicken a rinse and then pat it dry with some paper towels.
Gently separate the skin from the meat of the breast and spread the herb butter on the meat underneat the skin. If you can get to it, try to spread it onto a part of the thighs as well. Take the remaining butter and rub the skin (do it as gently as possible so the skin does not break. It is very important to keep the skin intact and whole). Rub some salt and black pepper onto the entire surface of the chicken, including the cavity of the chicken. If you’re prepping the chicken the night before, cover the chicken with cling wrap and refrigerate it. Some would condone leaving the chicken uncovered for crispier skin but I just can’t bear the thought of food exposed in the fridge!

Take the chicken out of the fridge an hour before cooking. This makes for tender chicken and even cooking throughout the bird.
  Stuff the cavity with the onion, celery and 1 sprig each of the thyme and rosemary. Here I had stuffed a lemon into the chicken but I’d much prefer the onion and celery option.
Scatter the remaining herbs on top and it’s good to go into the oven!  
Into the oven they go at 205 degrees celsius.   Roast for around 1.5 hours, basting the chicken in its own juices every half an hour.
And there you have it,  a hearty roast chicken that’s ready to be eaten with a variety of side dishes, as can be seen in the picture below!   Roasted some vegetables (recipe to come), made some mushroom soup, lobster pasta, cauliflower cheese (recipe to come) and pomme puree (recipe to come) as well as gravy to go with the chicken.

My sister also made some excellent focaccia bread to go with aged balsamic vinegar. I’m going to nick the recipe off her as well!
  Complete roast chicken dinner.

Roast Chicken Thighs

This is a good alternative when cooking for 1-2 people or if you simply prefer the thigh meat.  Clean the chicken and pat dry. You can use the chicken straight away but I prefer to make it look … somewhat more posh and french.   With reference to the above picture, I cut around the bone near the end of the drumstick. What happens is that I cut through the tendons and sinew (as seen in the top chicken). Remove visible tendons (they’re tough to eat). After which I proceeded to remove all skin, bone and cartilage from the bone end of the chicken, thus resulting the the chicken on the bottom of the picture. All cleaned up at the end.Chicken quarters cleaned up french style.

Make the compound butter (same as that used in the whole roast chicken recipe)

  Smear the compound butter under the skin as evenly as you can.

Tempt the dog (dog doesn’t seem tempted at all).Place the chicken into the oven preheated at 205 degrees celsius (ignore the 190 degrees seen in the picture) for about an hour or until juices run clear and the skin is golden brown in colour. Don’t forget to baste the juices onto the chicken, a couple of times will do I should think.

That’s it! Oh and if you have spare sprigs of herbs, go ahead and arrange them onto the completed dish for decoration.

Quick post: Roasted chicken thighs!

Tags

butter, carrots, cast iron pan, chicken gravy, compound butter, cream, gravy, gravy from scratch, mased potatoes, mash, pomme puree, potato rinser, roast, roast chicken, sieve, thyme, young carrots

Been a while since my last post! Coming up: myhumblefood recipes for pomme purée (basically an incredibly light and creamy French version of mashed potatoes), chicken gravy from scratch and the roast chicken. 

 

Shaoxing Wine Ginger chicken

Tags

chicken, Chinese, easy, easy meals, easy recipe, ginger, ginger wine chicken, healthy, Home Cooking, scallions, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, shaoxing wine ginger chicken, South East Asian, spring onions, white pepper, wine, wine chicken

This dish brings back a lot of memories from my Warwick days. For some reason I remember that the preparation process was long and tedious back then! It involves deboning chicken thighs/drumsticks and skinning and julienning ginger. At the present though, I no longer find it as long and dreary a process. Perhaps I could attribute it to… better knife skills? Or maybe just better knives, I don’t think my knife skills have improved at all since then!

This is a very warming, hearty dish and the sauce is lovely with freshly cooked white rice. It’s currently a favourite with the family and guests who happen to try it! It doesn’t take very long nor need many ingredients and makes a perfect addition to the dining table. I include pictures from two attempts at cooking this dish and I realized that I naturally throw the same ingredients into the pan, despite starting off with perhaps a couple less ingredients in one of the photos. That goes to show that agaration (the South East Asian technique of cooking by guesstimating) isn’t very far off from precision after all!Ingredients from trial number 1Ingredients from trial number 2.

But don’t worry, I’ve consolidated the ingredient list and summarized it as below:-

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 2-3 stalks of Spring onions including the white bits with roots removed
• 3 inches of ginger, peeled and roughly julienned
• 4 Chicken thighs with skin on, deboned
• 3 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 3 tbsp clear chicken stock/broth
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

Chicken marinade

• Shaoxing wine 1 tbsp marinade
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
• white pepper
• 2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp corn flour

Cooking Instructions

Upon deboning the chicken, remove the skin from two of the chicken thighs and discard. Keep the skin on for the remaining two chicken thighs. We want some chicken fat rendering in the gravy but not too much!

Trim off the excess fat and remove the tendons from the chicken. Tendons are tough to cut through and unpleasant to eat so be thorough in removing them whenever preparing chicken! Once that is done, cut the chicken meat into bite-sized, uniform pieces so they cook at the same speed. 

Place the chicken in a bowl and lightly mix in the chicken marinade with your hands. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes at room temperature.

In preparing the scallions/spring onions, cut them into thirds or 2 inch sections. You can take some of the green sections to slice thinly for garnishing as well.

Heat up some oil in a pan/wok on medium fire. When the oil is hot enough (i.e. if you drop a piece of ginger into the oil it starts to sizzle right away), slide the ginger into the oil gingerly (I’m so funny I know) and fry for a minute until the ginger starts to turn a little golden and the gingery aroma seeps out. The point of this step is to flavour the oil with ginger as well as prep the ginger so it’s at its best to mingle with the chicken.Add the chicken pieces and fry until half-cooked.

Then, flip the pieces over and add the chicken stock, sesame oil plus Shaoxing wine and cover to cook for a minute. We’re quick-braising/stewing the chicken with some moisture, not searing it to death. Remember, the chicken has to be swimming in a luscious pool of delicious gravy!Upon uncovering, add the spring onion sections into the pan/wok and stir fry for a little while more. Taste to check if it needs more white pepper or salt.

And it’s done!Not the fanciest of dishes but highly satisfying and easy on the stomach. Healthy too!

Check out the before and after picture of trial number 1. I used 10 thighs for that round of cooking!

Wiped clean. ❤

Lobster glass noodle soup with shaoxing wine.

Tags

big head prawn, big head prawn noodle soup, Chinese, chinese lettuce, chinese soup, chinese soup noodles, coriander, dinner, easy meals, glass noodles, healthy, Home Cooking, huatiao, large prawns, lobster, lobster glass noodle, lobster glass noodle soup, lobster noodle, lobster noodle soup, lunch, Noodles, One bowl meal, prawns, seafood, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, Soup, South East Asian, stew, wine broth, wine soup

Here is the second half of the lobster (first half of which went to making the lobster pasta) and the easier recipe of the two. The original version called for fresh river prawns/big head prawns but since I had the lobster, I figured I could use that instead and add in some large prawns as a bonus. Since there is no recipe that I could refer to online I tried to recreate the taste the best I could remember. Turns out I’m actually quite satisfied with the results! Now without further ado, the recipe:-

Ingredients (4 pax)

• 1/2 lobster
• 6 large prawns (in my first attempt I used 3, but the attempt with 6 prawns tasted better)
• 1 inch ginger, sliced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp minced onion
• 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine (maybe a dash more if you like)
• 5 cups chicken stock
• Chinese lettuce (I used a quarter of a head), cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 150g Glass noodles
• Spring onions chopped into large three inch sections.
• Coriander for garnish
• Finely chopped spring onions for garnish
• salt

The array of ingredientsGlass noodlesLarge lobster.

So we shall start with the prawns. De-shell all the prawns and set the shells/heads aside. Do NOT throw them away! Then devein them and cut each prawn into three sections.Size of the prawn heads and my hand, just for comparison. Lots of flavour in those prawn heads! 

Cut the lobster into half. If the lobster is as spiny as this one, do use a towel and be very careful when handling it. A pair of strong kitchen scissors would be a great help here.

More pictures of the lobster… as you can probably tell, I’ve added pictures from a second lobster noodle attempt into the mix. The second lobster looked way fresher and more succulent with its firmer white flesh and golden globules.

When you’ve managed to cut the lobster into half lengthwise, chop the tail into three parts and dig out some of the flesh from the head (I forgot to do that here) and set that aside with the prawns. Leave the orange/golden stuff behind.

Heat up some oil in a large pot and fry the ginger, garlic and onions until the onions are translucent and the aroma of the ginger comes out. It helps to crush the ginger before or during this step.Add the prawn shells and fry until half cooked (almost that coral colour they become when they’re fully cooked) before adding the lobster head to the pot.Continue frying for a minute or so, adding a little oil if it gets too dry. Then add the shaoxing wine to soak up all that flavour that’s coming from the prawn shells and lobster head. I actually would have liked to add another half cup of shaoxing wine but I was worried my family may not like the taste so I stuck with half a cup, but go ahead and use that extra half a cup if you like. 

Add the stock and simmer for around 15 minutes before turning off the heat. Cover the pot with its respective lid and leave it for perhaps an hour.

Then, remove the prawn shells from the stock (if you had a strainer bag in the first place, use it to hold the prawn shells because it can be a chore to pick them out from the soup).

Toss in the lobster and prawn meat that was set aside earlier, along with the spring onion sections, lettuce and glass noodles. The reason why we cook the shells and the meat separately is so that we can extract the most flavour out of the seafood from the shells without overcooking the meat, which is only added at the end. If you were to cook the meat right at the start, you’re going to end up with some very hard, overcooked and dry chunks of prawn/lobster which is such a waste of good seafood.

Place the lid back on and bring the soup to a boil.

Add the sesame oil at the end and season with salt. Top with chopped spring onions and coriander. Easy peasy!

Sage Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tags

fine dining, Kuala Lumpur, kuala lumpur fine dining, malaysia fine dining, mid valley city, restaurant review, sage, the gardens

There aren’t very many good fine dining restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. Way more over in Singapore. Sage which is located at The Gardens, Mid Valley City, happens to be one of the few fine dining experiences that have been consistently good over the years. I like it because its in such a convenient location! Not a fan of driving far out into town for food.

The gripe I have is that I prefer the menu for the appetizers to the menu for the main courses. That said I usually order the appetizers and have it converted to a main course size. It could be because the decent sounding mains are usually beef, however some of of my friends have also preferred the list of appetizers in comparison to the mains.

The menu is up on their website as such:

http://www.sagekl.com/alacarte.php

I always get the Sage Set…it comes with the Chef’s Special Appetizer, Appetizer, Main Course and a dessert.

Chef’s special appetizer that night was a slice of lean tuna akami topped with some  scallop and microgreens. Pretty standard in terms of taste, clean and palatable. Not too sure about the dubious red liquid that oozed onto the plate though. 

Foie gras is always a nice choice here. A nice fat hunk of perfectly seared foie gras paired together with some dark grapes in a very delicious tangy red wine reduction. Hits the spot every time. And believe me when I say those grapes are amazing.

This was my main, a carpaccio of Hamachi with Caviar and Truffle Soy. I do love my raw fish, so yes my main course is comprised entirely of sashimi. They’re fresh, thick cuts with several dollops of briny caviar over the top. The dish was simple, bright and refreshing with a tinge of truffle lingering in the aftertaste.  

Souffle of the day was good as well. Airy, light and fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness.A friend ordered the Cold Somen Noodles with Abalone and Avruga Caviar but she had them replace the abalone with seared scallops. I think the noodles came in a dashi sauce. Noodles were perfectly cooked, scallops also done well but I think I’d still prefer my caviar with nothing more than a water biscuit and some creme fraiche. That’s the best way to enjoy it!

Chef’s special appetizer on a separate occasion, a lightly blowtorched-seared slice of salmon with some frisee and tomatoes. 

Again I ordered from the appetizer list and had them change it to a mains size. This is a Capellini Pasta with Trio of Seafood and Togarashi Spice. They were really generous with the scallops and prawns! I was full from eating just those! The capellini pasta, being thinner, was a good choice for the togarashi spice. Any thicker and the flavour would be lost! The Japanese chilli pepper flavour is mildly spicy and has a very subtle smoky flavour to it, which I think made this dish quite interesting and different from the usual aglio olios, cream and tomato based pastas.

Crepe Suzette which I didn’t order so I don’t know how it tastes like. Haha =p

All in all one of my favourite go-to places on special occasions or when I feel like treating myself. Very good and romantic ambience as well, though there isn’t much of a view. Despite the good standards in quality, I feel that it could do with a bit more creativity. I hardly feel inspired by the menu unfortunately.

http://www.sagekl.com/

Lunch (Mon-Fri): 12pm-2pm
Dinner (Mon-Sat): 6pm-10.30pm
Closed on Sunday

The Gardens Residences Level 6,
The Gardens, Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: 603 2268 1328