Leonardo’s, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

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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

 

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Kazu Sumiyaki at Cuppage Plaza (Charcoal grill)

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charcoal grill, cuppage plaza, foie gras, grill, japanese, kazu, lamb chop, pork balls, restaurant review, restaurants, singapore, skewers, sumiyaki, yakitori

This is one of my favourite charcoal grill restaurants. Mainly because of its foie gras skewers and its pork and apple skewers. I’d make the trip there just for those! The restaurant is located in Cuppage plaza, home to many a dodgy karaoke bars with girls bursting in their in skimpy clothing hanging about the entrances. Despite that there are a couple of good restaurants here, I’ve yet to try them out but I will do that one day. 

A couple of peeks at the menu. I highly recommend the Tontoro Ringo fatty pork apple skewer! The pork belly was pretty normal to me.

I also highly recommend the foie gras! I’d order 4 skewers just for myself ;p

They will serve you this for free the first round… however you will find that this sweet cabbage with a little lemon and dunked in that delicious miso based sauce, would have been quickly gobbled up. And then you’d have no choice but to order another portion. It is that addictive. I’m seriously considering replacing an entire meal with this cabbage and miso sauce alone.

If I’m not mistaken, these are the foie gras skewers. Beautifully grilled, dripping with delicious fat and seasoned with salt and cracked black pepper, these babies are well seared and hot. Good crust to the outside that gives way to the creamy rich goodness on the inside. It is almost falling off the skewer so be careful when you pick them up.

SGD 6.50 a skewer? I’m so sold on this!

Grilled chicken wing, not bad. Nothing much to say on this one as it was average to me. 

From left to right, pork belly, beef balls (i think), pork balls, and finally the amazing fatty pork and apple skewers. The pork belly skewer was good albeit slightly chewy, same with the balls, had a little too much resistance that day. The fatty pork and apples were perfection. The apples’ sweetness intensified after being grilled and lend so much depth and flavour to the fatty. When eaten together, they form a perfect harmony in the mouth, that of the natural sweetness of the apple and the briny oily fatty pork. 

This is a tamago dish. I was expecting the usual sweet tamago that you find in all Japanese restaurants, but somehow we got this. I’m not sure if we ordered wrongly, but it wasn’t great. I did not like the slimy sauce that was poured over the egg, it was just a major distraction for me.

More of that cabbage! And fresh uni sashimi. Expensive but so fresh and good!

Asparagus wrapped with bacon. It wasn’t bad, but I just never understood the combination. I always found the asparagus taste too strong for the bacon, or the bacon too salty. Why does the bacon in SIngapore and Malaysia taste so salty T_____T The ones in UK taste so good~

More pork belly and fatty pork with apple. So tantalizingly juicy.

Mentaiko chicken skewer. I did not taste mentaiko and the chicken was tough. Not a good choice. The chicken liver at the side was better, if you’re a chicken liver lover you’d probably like this. 

The lamb was good as well, grilled to perfection, juicy yet not bloody, with the right amount of fat and seasoning to ensure a good balance of texture and flavour in each bite.

I’m not a lover of squid, I always find it tough and rubbery and not good to eat. Grilled squid just doesn’t do it for me. I prefer calamari!

Some radish dish with meat. Clean tasting and simple, as if it is a kind of home cooked dish? Comes in a base made of dashi.

Another dashi based dish, this time its beancurd skin topped with slightly charred uni. Skip this dish and just order uni sashimi 😉From left to right: I think this is chicken/pork, Chicken skin, chicken liver

All of these were good, the chicken skin nice and crispy. Perhaps a little more char on the chicken liver would have made it a lot better.

One thing I have to say about the service, it’s pretty bad. Also, I would recommend making reservations, especially during weekends, its always packed full! There’s usually a queue as well. If you can, try to avoid weekends, the service is really bad during weekends. Servers forget your orders, they don’t respond to your calls for them, food is slow, even the bill is slow. And their tempers are not at their best. They would also try to make you leave by a certain time if they are trying to seat other customers. I’d sit there longer just to annoy them (the inner demon in me is unleashed).

Go during the weekdays and you’ll enjoy the food a lot better 😉

*edit: New post on Kazu Sumiyaki (Aug 2018)

Kazu Sumiyaki restaurant,

#04-05 Cuppage plaza

5 Koek Rd  Singapore 228796

+65 6734 2492