Monday, November 03, 2008

Ozeki For an 18th...


I have to say, the youth of today are a lot more sophisticated ..... hmmm, let me rephrase that, the Youth of Today that I hang out with are a lot more sophisticated than I was at that age. At that age, I was waking up the next morning wondering how I had 13 tequila shot glasses from the bar that we were drinking at the night before, in my jeans pocket. They were deep pockets.

I certainly had never heard of Foie Gras, and almost choked, when a friend of mine ordered it at the Mango Tree, as a starter, costing RM30. In those days, RM30 was the price of a main dish, not a starter. We humble folk who were weaned on prawn cocktail (chilled prawns doused with 1000 island dressing), and cream of mushroom soup for starters, certainly would not have paid good money for the liver of an overfed goose. Birthday parties were usually capped at RM40 per head, usually going Dutch, though we'd all chip in to buy dinner for the birthday person.

These days, there's a full degustation menu at Max's Kitchen, (though granted, she isnt quite the "youth of today"), and more recently, a full fledged almost kaiseiki (though I have no idea what a kaiseiki is) Japanese feast, celebrating Mrs FOTY 07's "X"th birthday.


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See, got special menu printed out some more. None of the usual run of the mill Tempura Moriawases, or agedashe taufus.... all stuff that is the equivalent of things I cant pronounce in French.

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The Venue, Ozeki at Menara TA. Arty or not, my shot? Bean on a pole? Very stressful la, sitting next to the Queen of the DSLR. I better quickly put up my pics and post before she does, and mine looks like a Mona Fandey next to the Mona Lisa.

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Ah, reminds me of that epic ballad, I've Never Bean to Me, dedicated to Hairy Berry and Thamby. Well, no need to do a dissertation reviewing the edamame.


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The most interesting platter of a new hybrid of sashimi I've seen in awhile.



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The most amazing buri, something like hamachi! Absolutely fresh, and gorgeous. And the wasabi is freshly grated too. Heck, I think I am a fresh wasabi virgin. Not sure if I've ever had it freshly grated before.


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I think this is the sumiyaki jidori salad.... translation: chicken salad, roughly thereabouts. It was a burst of flavour, and everything about it, from the chicken to the croutons, were delicious. As there was only 1 portion of it, it vanished pretty quickly.

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Soft shell crab salad. Anything with Soft shell crab can do no wrong in my eyes. I simply love their tangy zesty zingy dressings. I don't mind eating salads like this for the rest of my days.

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TERIYAKI FOIE GRAS! Orgasmic! Divine. A serious treat to the palate. I seriously could've chomped up another piece, had there been one to chomp on. I peeked at the ala carte, this dish costs RM68.

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Dobin Mushi, my favourite Japanese soup. There's something about the clearness of the soup that envelopes your soul with a sense of cleansing and well being. And drinking it in those dainty little tea cups.... actually, if not for the polite company I was keeping, I'd have just poured it straight from the teapot into my mouth. And risk scalding my entire mouth.


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With much aplomb, the waitress strips off the aluminium foil from this platter, to reveal
THIS:


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Grilled Beef on Hotstone. Yummy. I dunno what is it about hotstones, like a moth to a flame, I seem to have this inexplicable desire to touch them....like the stones in the sauna. But I have so far resisted. I do love dropping hot candle wax on myself though.

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Dunno what fish this is, as it wasn't on the menu. That long red thing is actually ginger. Wow, talk about presentation. The fish is actually very palatable, though I think I got an area where the salt granules were congregating.

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Ah, the King Of Maki. If the adjective King is used to denote HUGE, then it's an apt name. Apparently the likes of AWOL (A WHIFF OF LEMONGRASS) could not get it into her mouth in one go, so you can imagine how huge it is. However, I did manage, and actually, that IS the best way to eat it, for its the amalgamation of flavours simultaneously that makes the maki.
Fantastic. I loved the different textures and flavours all in the one mouthful. It was like a mini buffet happening on my tongue. Speaking of tongue.....

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......this platter of assorted kushiyaki came with my favourite, BEEF TONGUE. I just LOVE TONGUE. It may seem odd, but I loved the Salt Beef Tongue in Selfridges, London, and when Mr Ho's first started selling it here, me and the two older kids would order slivers of it as a treat, before the price went from RM69/kg to RM110/kg. I'm not sure if they still have it. I digress though.

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A discussion ensued as to whether or not a Wagyu cow's tongue would be any different from your normal cow's tongue. Afterall, we doubt the Wagyu or Kobe Cow's Tongue would have been massaged daily. Bald Eagle reckoned it would be a good marketing gimmick. I guess it is right that tongue should be quite expensive, afterall, it's like the other dangling part, there's only 1 piece per cow.

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Someone brought the birthday gal's favourite chocolates, Royce. Actually, Nigel of JHP and I both agree that it tastes a lot like a good quality ganache. Must see if we can replicate it with good quality chocolate, and a sprinkling of cocoa powder. Of course the Japanese Royce was in keeping with the theme.


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And to cap it all, my favourite black sesame ice cream. Not as good as the one in Zipangu and Isthmus, but good enough.

Coupled with two x 1.5litre bottles of sake, between 9 honored guests, it was a great night of great food, great company and great booze. Thanks a lot, FOTY 07 and happy happy Xth birthday, Mrs FOTY, and to many many more to come.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gimme soft shell crab salad everyday!

Anonymous said...

It was a great party huh FBB? I'm really thankful to have taken up on the offer of the vietnam trip. Otherwise we wouldn't have met you and the rest of the wonderful ppl. Cheers to many years of good friends, good food and good booze!!!

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

hahaha that big arse maki? had 1 at the old klang road restaurant..tell me abt it when it comes to stuffin it all in..

OMG..the foie gras looks like heaven..well thats how i imagine heaven la..some1 stuffing me with foie gras..hahah

Anonymous said...

Youth of Today probably have this level of sophistication due to present company.. And looking back at the pics, the cravings are starting again!! Good pics bro.

So, echoing Birthday Girl's sentiments.. Cheers to many years of good friends, good food and good booze.. =)

Anonymous said...

I almost spit out my breakfast when I came to the part about the hot candle wax. It's as bad as learning that parents have sex too.

The dinner was lovely, mostly due to the carefully chosen menu by FOTY 2007. And the great company, of course. Who would think that people whose ages span a couple of decades are able to become such great friends! (ooooh...I think I'll use that in my own blog post abt ozeki...!!)

HairyBerry said...

oh! mango tree!! is it still there? read about it when i was the youth of yesterday as i used to go to bookstores to flip through the makan pages. no money to buy mah. "reading is already eating it already". sigh...

aiyah, sophistication or nose-digganation, your FOTYs are an awesome! and am glad to have known them! :)

"I do love dropping hot candle wax on myself though."
Hmmm....

HairyBerry said...

OMG, her royal highness QDSLR (aka Potential FOTY 08)....we posted same time lar....again!

Tummythoz said...

Oh don't mind me. M here for the comments again. Everything else blurred after 'hot candle wax'.

Ciki said...

wow! 2 X 1.5l of sake, and AWOL could not get it ALL into her mouth AND also, there was a whole load of TONGUE... Now THATs what I call a party;P

UnkaLeong said...

Hahahah...I was raised on shrimp cocktail myself. 1st time I was introduced to foie gras was at a
French place down on Telawi. Goes to show how good it was as I can't even remember the name of the restaurant. Hahaha!

Good food, Good company and most importantly copiuos amounts of alcohol make for a great party ;)

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh... ubiquitous shrimp cocktail of yore. Available in every single restaurant that serves steaks. After all these years, I only finally made my own a couple of weeks ago. It was such fun not having any limits to the prawns.. :D

Mr and Mrs FOTY are the golden forever-smiling couple? I kept seeing FOXY though.. :D Happy Belated Birthday Mrs FOXY!

I thought someone already made it as FAOTY? Still want to be FOTY??

I just introduced my 9 yr old to foie gras last Sat, and barger.. she was fighting over it with me!! Cis bedebah.. not expensive wan she doesn't like... :P Youth of today... I only had my first taste of foie gras after 30 years of living, and here's a 9 year old little squirt living the good life.. :D

Henry Yeo said...

wonderful birthday kaiseki, is that the futomaki that LL couldn't fit into her mouth?

the hybrid sashimi reminds me of carpaccio and everything looks good (as Japanese food always is)

Anonymous said...

gfad, it's FATY, not FAOTY. Now you know why I don't want it.

fatboybakes said...

SAFP, aiyo, really ah? okay lah, lets make it FAOTY then....

henry, yes, the carpacio lookalike was indeed rather unique. what's a futomaki? its that like putting the fut in the mouth?

gfad, see la, u flers, drive beeg beeg car, chewdren eat foie gras, and still have to think so hard which microplane to buy!!! apah lu!!! yes, they're the golden smiley couple...you met them ma. and yes, even these days at buffets, i sometimes make my own prawn cocktail with the unlimited prawns...and unlimited thousand island...

unkaleong, would that be brasserie balzac? atcherlly i tot it was not a bad establishment.

ciki, indeed.... oh, and there's a picture of bald eagle showing off the tongue, somewhere in fb...

tummythoz, why ah? did the steam from the wax cause the blurred vision?


hairy berry, now, candle wax is NOT something i'd recommend on one as hirsute as your goodself...you're liable to 1. erupt into flame...in case the candle gets too close to them follicles, 2. when u peel of the wax, ...oooooooh....... i can almost imagine....

imaginary PFOTY, whats wrong with parents having sex? unless ur mother's name is V.Mary, and ur foster father's Joseph...its quite normal ya know....

FOTY 07, (finally someone who uses the title KOREKLY), thanks again for a smashing time....

Birthday Girl, isn't it strange how some decisions are so life changing hor...

jason, me too....we should set up a stall selling it hor, next to the popiah stall probably.

Dee said...

Lol, I remember when prawn cocktails were chic :)

Thank you for stopping by. My grandmother left us last week so I haven't been to bloggoland much.

fatboybakes said...

dee, oh dear, sorry to hear about your grandmother's passing. hope you and your family are well.

Henry Yeo said...

futomaki, suppose to be the biggest maki you will find in japan, think 1 inch radius (or 2 inch diameter)

Argus Lou said...

Think my laptop will conk out from all the drooling I did over your food pictures. (The bean-on-the-chopsticks one tickles my funny bone, for some unfathomable reason, FBB. Sorry.) Your story also pretty funny, wor... Will have to take a train to Lucerne to fulfil my sushi craving soon (all your fault! all your fault!).

fatboybakes said...

argus, u are too kind...hardly anyone drools over my pics, ...not the food ones, nor the topless ones. to be able to elicit any kind of reaction, be it a loud guttural laugh or the unlikely awe that AWOL seems to elicit, is gratifying enough. as for your train trip for sushi...hahah, well, just be grateful AWOL hasnt posted HER pics yet, or you'd probably have to buy a season pass to lucerne.

henry, u speaking to the jap food pleb here la.

Anonymous said...

whoa i want 'youth of today" friends like that too!s

Anonymous said...

Potential FOTY 08: Ditto what FBB said. It's how we got churned out ma... Parental sex is very, very important. :D

Henry: One wonders how you figured out LL couldn't fit that in her mouth... :P

Henry Yeo said...

lfb: I have eaten japanese food with her.