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. 

 

Lobster spaghetti in tomato sauce

Tags

basil, chicken stock, chilli flakes, cooking with white wine, cooking with wine, diced tomatoes, dry white wine, garlic, ginger, italian, lobster, lobster meal, lobster spaghetti, onion, oregano, parsley, Pasta, romantic meal, seafood, shellfish stock, spaghetti, special occasion, tomato lobster spaghetti, tomato puree, western, white wine, white wine tomato sauce

Recently I’ve been having this urge to cook lobster. Lobster… anything! I initially wanted to make a lobster roll, then I went to Signor Sassi in London and had a variety of lobster dishes. I eventually settled for making lobster spaghetti in tomato sauce and a lobster version of the Sang Har Tong Fun (big head prawn with glass noodles in wine soup). I’ve done a little research online on how to make this dish. A lot of chefs tend to boil the lobsters and then remove the meat to cook in the tomato sauce. The carcass of the lobster usually goes into a shellfish stock or a bisque later on. I do it a little differently, and I firmly believe that the lobster flavours are able to come out in all its glory this way. Obviously it would involve cooking the shell and head in the sauce ;D.Ingredients (for 2-3 pax)

• Half a lobster (this is of a larger lobster)
• 10g salted butter
• 2-3 thin slices of ginger about an inch in diameter and about 2-3 mm in width
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp chopped onion or shallots
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup chicken stock (best if you have shellfish stock but chicken is fine too)
• 1/2 cup tomato puree
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes preferably with herbs and garlic in them
• 2-3 pinches of chilli flakes
• 1 tsp sugar and another 1tsp in case the pasta needs a little more sweetness
• 200g pasta (or around 1/3 of a 500g package of pasta) – spaghetti is slightly too thick so I used San Remo’s vermiccili pasta. Instant spaghetti by San Remo’s will do as well.
• Dash of dried oregano
• Salt, black pepper

Cooking Instructions

Prepare the lobster (prepare yourself I meant…. cutting that thing into half is no joke! It’s all spiny and painful! Coupled with a very tough shell, you may need a lot of strength to cut the head into two… or a very heavy object to help get that cleaver through). I suggest you use a towel to protect your hands from the lobster’s myriad spikes and a pair of strong kitchen scissors to cut through the tail end of the lobster.After a lot of effort… finally..See all that golden stuff?? That’s where the flavour’s at!Heat up some oil in the pan and fry the onions, ginger and garlic.

Add the lobster, brain side down, and let it fry for a minute (do not let the meat sear! It should be on medium fire), before adding the wine to the mix. I wanted to try to flambe the lobster, but the kitchen is so small and I was worried I might singe something so I just put the alcohol into the pan and let the alcohol cook off. This step is where you draw out the flavours in the lobster into the broth. 

Add the stock. Cook the lobster for about a couple more minutes in the stock before removing from the mixture. 

Add the diced tomato, tomato, chilli flakes, some salt, pepper and oregano to the lobster broth.

Remove the meat from the lobster shell. You can see that it isn’t cooked through and this is what we want as we will add the lobster meat back in to be cooked fully along with the pasta noodles. Otherwise we’ll have dry, overcooked chunks of lobster, which is a waste of such an expensive ingredient.

Place the lobster shell back into the tomato sauce mixture and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened like so. Then add the butter and mix in. I stuffed the sauce into the lobster shell to get the most of that lobster goodness!

At the same time, start cooking your pasta in boiling water with some salt. Cook it about 2 minutes less than the instructions stated in the packet because you’ll finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. 

Get the chopped basil and parsley ready. Add the lobster chunks back into the tomato sauce probably a couple of minutes before adding the pasta so that it’s cooked just right by the end of the whole process.

Drain the pasta (but not too much as we need some of that pasta water… about 2-3 tbsps or so) and add it directly into the sauce. I forgot to mention, remove the lobster shell before you add the pasta in, otherwise it’s going to be a struggle to toss the pasta in the sauce. Place the shell in the serving dish, it will serve as an aesthetic component.

Toss the pasta over low-medium fire so that the sauce gets incorporated into the noodles. Add the basil and parsley and toss a little more. Check on the seasoning and add more salt/pepper/sugar as you wish.

Place the pasta on the serving dish, top off with the lobster chunks, more parsley and some cheese.

If you like your spaghetti with more sauce, just add more puree and white wine but make sure you season accordingly. You also don’t want the sauce to be too wet otherwise it won’t stick to the noodle very well.

Will most likely make it again as I have another lobster in the freezer! Happy to say my brother seemed to enjoy it. He ate three quarters of it by himself.

Here’s a video that I think quite closely reflects how I cooked it:

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

Leonardo’s, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Tags

bacon and eggs, bacon wrapped, bangsar, bangsar restaurants, black pig, chocolate lava cake, chocolate molten cake, iberian black pig, KL, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur restaurants, Leonardo, leonardos, malaysia, Malaysia restaurants, molten chocolate cake, Pasta, pork balls, pork loin, pork loin steak, pork steak, restaurant review, www.leonardos.my/; pork

I’ve been meaning to do a review on Leonardo’s since last year! It has become one of my favorite restaurants in KL. There aren’t many restaurants in KL that serves really good pork. This was a good find!

This post includes pictures from two trips to Leonardo’s. Might make another trip sometime soon just for the molten chocolate cake. Nice and cosy ambience, perfect for a chilled and relaxing dinner.

Yeah, prices are on the steep side ;( If you do come here though, order the pork. That’s what Leonardo’s is known for.

First up, the pork balls. This is a really fun dish, like a fried meatball on a stick but a more refined version.

Chunks of pork meat and fat. You eat it like you would a meatball, but that first crunch obviously puts it heads and shoulders (and whole body) above the average meatball. It’s got a good balance of flavor, rich but not overpowering.

We had the scallop and lychee salad as well. I can’t exactly remember what it tastes like now but I remember not being disappointed with any of the dishes. Good thing is, this place is pretty consistent. Over a span of 7-8 months the quality remains at the same standard, really good stuff.

Pasta with mushrooms, bacon, chilli padi and garlic. A bacon aglio olio XD. Al dente on the noodles, all the flavors have been well absorbed and each strand is well-coated and well-seasoned. Love the little kick that the chill lends to it too!

Spanish Iberico Black Pig shoulder loin steak. As tender and juicy as you can imagine it. The meat from an Iberian black pig tends to be more tender than the regular pig and is obviously not going to be as tough. The steak is served medium done with truffle oil mash potatoes and some vegetables. Yes please do away with the notion that pork has to be well cooked to be safe for consumption. That isn’t necessarily true. An internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit is deemed safe by the USDA. So a pink middle is fine as long as the internal temperature is 145 Fahrenheit. A relief to pork eaters as we never liked tough cuts of thoroughly cooked pork either. Same concept as beef well done I suppose?

Anyway, this loin steak and the truffle mash? Yummy-licious! I’ve a dire weakness for meat and potatoes like that. Beef eaters would say I’m missing out on all the good steak and mash but I’m very content if I have this instead. Meat craving satisfied!And a glass of cloudy bay. Lovely and easy to drink. One of my favourite wines for a chilled dinner with friends. I tend to veer towards the more complicated French wines when I’m with colleagues. 

And helloooo slice of heaven!

I can’t even begin… will you look at that? It’s so molten it oozed bittersweet chocolatey glaze as we dug into the cake. The vanilla ice cream was pretty good as well but I didn’t even notice cuz of the cake!!! We didn’t have to dig to deep before we hit the chocolate gold so I’d say perfect ratio of cake to molten chocolate. Neither the cake or the molten chocolate has that cloyingly overly sweet commercial vanilla note that most chocolate cakes do. They’ve hit the perfect note with bitter and sweet and rich. The outer layer of the cake is also slightly crisp which makes this dessert texturally perfect for me. 

Onto the 2nd dinner at Leonardo’s. Above is the watermelon and feta cheese salad with a ball of soft mozzarella in the middle. I love soft mozzarella! Watermelon and feta cheese is pretty good too, very refreshing. But I’m not a big fan of olives so I left those alone.

Now this was a surprise! When we ordered bacon and egg we didn’t expect this succulent, tender braised pork belly at all! It just melted in our mouths. The molten egg was a delight as well. Put them both together and you have a luxuriously smooth and sexy combination melting together in your mouth. xoxo 

Pork balls again! Different presentation, same delicious taste. I especially like the balsamic glaze to go with it just because I could never resist the thick black shiny sweet stuff.

And here we have the grilled pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon in garlic au jus. It was perfectly cooked and tender but I prefer the Iberico loin steak as it was more… juicy I would say. Good nonetheless. I don’t remember how the sauce tasted like as I didn’t take much of it. All the calories are in the sauce! (well, the bacon too but I’d rather meat over sauce).

Yes this was what I’ve been waiting for the whole night. My molten cake !!!! Our greedy faces. Very very satisfied indeed.

Website and Contact details for Leonardos:-

www.leonardos.my/

61 Jalan Bangkung, Taman Bandaraya, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
03-2093 2226

 

Wine Dinner at Bistro Soori: Domaine Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere

Tags

Château Malartic-Lagravière, red wine, white wine, wine review, wine tasting, wine tasting notes

This is a long overdue post. After this I’ve got one more wine event I’d like to review, but perhaps after the truffle series ;p. Way back in June I had the opportunity to attend a wine tasting dinner in a very cosy and intimate setting (about 10 of us at most) with the owner of Château Malartic-Lagravière, Mr. Jean-Jacques Bonnie, at Bistro Soori.

We had the following wines available for us to taste:-

Château Malartic-Lagravière White

2009 & 2007

Grand Cru Classé, Graves

&

Vertical Tasting of Château Malartic-Lagravière Red

2009, 2006, 2005, 2003 & 2001

Grand Cru Classé, Graves

Little bites and wine before going into the room for dinner.

I think the above picture shows the Château Malartic-Lagravière Red 2009. It tasted of toast wood, smoke, stone and red fruit with dark, sweet berries in the nose as it is quite young. Pretty balanced wine with around 7 seconds finish. Smelt buttery after a while ;D It has been given a score of 92 by Robert Parker.

I remember having the Malarctic White 2009 as well but only remember it being dry and fruity. Not much to work with I know ;(

Wines in decanters

Wine list above, and menu below:

The scallop was paired with the White 2007. It consists of 85% Sauvignon, is straw greenish in color and more viscous than the 2009. Quite a nice wine and I preferred it to the 2009. I think the fruit taste in this wine leaned toward the more exotic fruits like pears and lemon? I like it better paired with the food rather than a standalone wine.

This red 2003 has a reddish brown colour to it and was pretty tannic. According to the owner this was a difficult vintage despite the good weather. To me it didn’t leave much of an impression to be honest, not my favorite and didn’t have much structure to it.

Beef that I couldn’t eat ;(

The red 2005 is also pretty tannic and smelt/tasted young and green. Still pretty closed at this point and full potential has yet to come out.

The Red 2006 on the other hand, while it also had the tannic astringency that I’m not too fond of, had a some mocha in the nose and spice in the palate with a medium finish.   Perhaps will have to try this again in a couple of years, it didn’t seem ready yet.

I liked the red 2001. It is thicker, smoother with some toast. A pretty masculine wine with some earth, smoke, plum and jam on the palate. It is very subtle but has structure to it. My favourite of the night would have to be this one, the white 2007 and the red 2009.

I enjoyed this dinner particularly as it was very educational to talk to the owner and learn about his wines and the effort that had gone into the making of the wine. I really hope I would get the opportunity to attend more wine functions such as this one in the near future!

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London

Tags

british food, dinner, dinner by heston, dinner by heston blumenthal, england, english restaurant, fat duck, historical, historically inspired, london, restaurant review

Apparently this is a restaurant that requires 2 months of advance booking -____-“. It is tucked away at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge, London so it’s not as far off central London as Heston’s other famed restaurant, the Fat Duck. Dinner by Heston has a very British focus to its food, it is indeed pretty interesting to see all the historically inspired British dishes. Anyway, here’s a siege of photos of just the menu. 

And they even included the sources of origins of all the items on the menu. Pretty neat.

I totally regret not trying the British Cheese T___T I love my cheese!! I was lucky… the dishes I chose turned out to be pretty good. My mom didn’t have such luck though, somehow her orders weren’t very good.

For the appetizer, I chose “meat fruit”. I really loved this! It is a very airy, fluffy and light but yet rich chicken liver and foie gras parfait, made to look like a mandarin orange. I’m not sure whether the “orange skin” was meant to be eaten so I just scraped out the insides and enjoyed them on the thick slab of toasted bread. An ingenious and clever presentation which does not lack in flavour at all.

Just look at that!!!

Here’s what the others ordered for their appetizers. Unfortunately I don’t remember what they are, except for the … questionable lobster and cucumber soup.

As above, said questionable lobster and cucumber soup. It somehow manages to be a salad and a soup at the same time. The green soup is served cold and is poured around the salad. I tried a little and didn’t like it. I thought that the soup and the salad did not blend well together and the soup is too grassy for my liking. I prefer my soups hot -__-

My main course, the Black foot pork chop. This was delicious. I had expected it to be on the dry side, since pork chops tend to be quite lean but this was a thick, very tender pork chop. Some of this is probably attributed to the fact that it is not cooked all the way through.

Traditionally, the general belief is that pork has to be 100% cooked. No such thing as medium well done or medium. 100%. However, in recent years, the safe cooking temperature for pork has been lowered from having an internal temperature of 160 degree Farenheit to 145 degrees.

I’m still not very convinced that it is supposed to look this pink though:-

Despite my queasiness at the possibility of undercooked pork, it was delicious. Tender, melt in the mouth and so juicy. Perhaps this is what beef-eaters look for in their steak, I’ll never know T____T I’m just glad I could satisfy my meat cravings! While I don’t remember what the sides were, I do remember that I polished off the entire plate, obviously thoroughly enjoying my main course.

My sister ordered the chicken. I’m not sure what the cooking method was for this chicken but it rendered the chicken so flavourful and moist. Definitely another thumbs up on this dish.

My mom ordered the codfish. She didn’t like it and I completely understood why when I took a bite. The fish had a fishy smell to it and was a tad slimy. Not what I expect from a 1 Michelin star restaurant. When the waitresses asked how our food was (they do that SO OFTEN during the meal! It’s annoying!) she just gave a weak “uhh it’s ok” hahaha! Her face was all twisted during the meal it would have been funny if we weren’t expecting so much from this restaurant.

Dessert next! Now this is where Dinner truly deserves its Michelin star! Indeed their desserts are spectacular. Even my mom, who loves her Chinese food, raved about their desserts.

The Taffety tart topped with Vanilla ice cream had very very subtle hints of rose, and was beautifully crumbly, making for a very pleasant eating with the apples. Not sure if I tasted any fennel but who cares, it was good.

If the waitress had not recommended the Tipsy cake, I would never have ordered it. This was by far hands down the best dish of the night. It is moist, with a generous amount of whiskey, tapered down by the sweetness of the pineapple and the cake itself. So very fragrant, aromatic and hearty. Comfort food worthy ;D

Tarte of Strawberries. It wasn’t too bad but it was overshadowed by the maddeningly delicious Tipsy cake. All I remember about it was the sorbet. The strawberry sorbet showcased the strawberry fruit in a pure and concise manner. Just all about the strawberry, which is what made it so memorable.

We ended off with a complimentary chocolate dip which I gave to my mom since she had so much difficulty with her appetizer and her main course.

Overall, mixed response la I have to say. My mom’s food really wasn’t very good, whereas mine was great. I also wished that the waiters/waitresses didn’t keep asking us how the food was, it really stressed me out. I just want to have a quiet meal and am content to just chatter among ourselves. I guess the only time when I welcome chatter is with the chef. I might come back here again, but not if the queue is 2 months long.

ADDRESS

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA

View Google Map

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

Dinner Reservation Line

T – +44(0)20 7201 3833

E – molon-dinnerhb@mohg.com

OPENING TIMES

Monday – Sunday

Lunch12:00pm – 2:30pm

Dinner6:30pm – 10:30pm

Nox Dine in the dark – Beach Road, Singapore

Tags

beach road, darkness, dine in the dark, dining concept, dining experience, nox, restaurant review, singapore

There will only be these three pictures for this restaurant review, because well it’s quite obvious. How do I take photos in the dark?!!!

I’ve been looking forward to this though as it has been several months since I started searching for a “Dine in the dark” concept. When this restaurant finally opened in August 2013 I quickly made a reservation. It is situated at Beach road so you may want to consider taking a cab there. Lots of places to get drinks after the meal.

Upon entrance there’s nothing much to impress; the lounge decor is simple, almost scant. You’ll hang out here for perhaps 20 minutes or so while you start off the evening with an Amuse-Bouche, a bite of food to go with some drinks.

They will explain what the evening would hold for you and give you a teaser of their menu… which says absolutely nothing about what you will be having 😉 That’s the whole fun of it! You will be asked to keep away any light emitting devices in individual lockers. So no cell phones! It’s also not a good idea to wear expensive clothes/shoes jusssttt in case you spill something while fumbling in the dark. Of course if you take care, that won’t happen!

That’s my first drink of the evening. I also ordered a champagne to eat with dinner while my dinner partner ordered a beer to go with his. So once we were done with this and put our stuff away in the lockers, we were introduced to our waiter Rahamat for the night.

He is blind.

I find it commendable that the Nox employs blind waiters as it gives them employment opportunities. They are also the only ones who can do this job. How else do you serve tables in the dark!

So he gets us to form a train behind him, hands on his shoulders and you walk up the stairs, slowly up the red carpeted stairs into absolute darkness. He continues to lead you slowly to your table, and you can hear the other guests talking around you. When you reach your table he seats us one by one, guiding each of us to our seat before proceeding to explain the table format. Here’s where the fumbling begins! I felt around just to know where my utensils are, as well as my champagne and water.

Suddenly I just felt like all my senses were awakened and that I pay better attention to everything around me. The chatter, the clinks and the conversation I was having with my dinner partner. It was pretty amazing I think.

They first served the appetizers. There are four bowls of appetizers placed onto a wooden tray. I find that putting the bowl near your mouth and slurping the food from there is a better bet rather than trying to eat in a civilized manner. No one’s gonna see you anyway! And besides, there is no use in waiting for your eyes to adjust to the darkness because it is pitch black in there! The dinner conversation revolved around figuring out what we were eating, which is a whole topic by itself. Then you’d question if you actually knew what meat you were putting in your mouth? Chicken? Pork? I must have been sleep-eating all this while because I couldn’t figure it out.

The food was delicious though. From the 4 appetizers to the 4 mains and the 4 desserts, everything was well cooked and tasty. Of course I can’t describe it here otherwise that would be spoiling the fun for you. It doesn’t break the bank either. After we were done with desserts we just sat and talked. This is without the distractions of surroundings and phones. Purely just talking and concentrating on the conversation… that’s something I haven’t done in a really long time! See what smartphones have done to us! Nowadays we can’t even get through a conversation without someone picking up the phone and getting distracted with it T____T

I loved every second! Even when I was groping around for the food and despite all the food that got onto my chin, it was a magical experience in my opinion. I now have a deeper appreciation of my eyesight!

Once you’re done you call out your waiter’s name and he will guide you out and down the stairs into the light again. Back at the lounge you will be asked to guess the food you’ve eaten and only then will they reveal the pictures of the food and the full menu. I guessed some of it wrongly T_____T Shame on me lol!

I highly recommend this restaurant for both dining experience and the food, and would love to go back when they have changed their menu! Can’t wait in the meantime 😉

Details for Nox Dine in the dark:

+65 6298 0708

269 Beach Road Singapore 199546

http://www.noxdineinthedark.com/reservations/,

Mentaiko pasta

Tags

ikura, marinated cod roe, mentaiko, mentaiko cream pasta, mentaiko pasta, Pasta, seaweed

Yes, pasta again and this time, with mentaiko (marinated cod roe or pollock roe). By itself, the mentaiko is salty and sometimes spicy, which is why its normally eaten raw with rice (only if it’s sashimi quality) or used in cooking for flavor. It goes really well with fatty foods like cream and mayonnaise.

This dish is pretty simple and easy to prepare. Almost foolproof!

Ingredients (for 2 pax)

• 2 pieces of mentaiko (or 100gram mentaiko)
• Pasta of your choice (I used angel hair/quick cook spaghetti)
• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• Seaweed strips for topping
• Ikura for garnishing (optional)
• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese for use in the sauce
• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese for sprinkling over pasta
• 2 birds eye chilli/chilli padi, sliced
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 20g butter
• Handful of chopped chives for garnishing (optional)

Instructions 

• Cut the mentaiko sac

Use a spoon to scrape out all the contents into a small bowl. Remove the sac

• Remove sac from bowl

• Add 2-3 tbsp cream and mix into the mentaiko.

• The mentaiko cream mixture will make it much easier to combine into the pasta sauce later.

• Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the minced garlic and sliced chilli padi
• Add in the rest of the cream once the garlic is golden and before the butter starts to brown. Simmer for a couple of minutes.

• Add in the mentaiko cream mixture and cheese

• Stir in thoroughly

• Add in the mayonnaise (this below picture is from a previous mentaiko pasta attempt) and stir to incorporate. Turn off the heat

• Cook the pasta 
• Meanwhile, prepare a pot of almost boiling water to poach your eggs and add the vinegar to the pot.
• And as I’m no expert in poaching eggs, here’s a website that shows you how to poach eggs 😉
• http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_poached_eggs/

• Drain the cooked pasta and immediately add it to the sauce. Toss over medium heat to combine before removing the pan from the fire.

• Dish out the pasta. As you can see, this amount could probably feed 3 but I was greedy ;(
• Make a little well in the centre, you’ll drop your poached egg into here later.

• Add the egg into the centre of the pasta and garnish with seaweed, chopped chives, cheese and ikura

And its done! Its a very rich dish so the tanginess from the japanese mayo and the spice from the chilli helps to dispel that sense of “jelakness”.