Buka Puasa Di Latest Recipe, Hotel Le Meridien

The recurring annual festivals are a reminder of how quickly time is passing us by. It seemed like yesterday that I was enjoying the Soup Gearbox in The Melting Pot, Concorde, and before you know it, the invitations for Buka Puasa reviews start to flow in again this year. This year however, some hotels have even started previews of the Ramadan fare before the start of the fasting month, I guess perhaps to give the media a headstart as to the available options out there, and believe me, the options are many.

To be honest, I am not a buffet fan. Going to a buffet I feel is like buying a CD. There are rarely more than one or two songs that I usually like in an entire album, and likewise, in that vast cornucopia of food choice, I'll be lucky to stumble across one or two items, and eating in a buffet is like playing culinary russian roulette. So over the years, I've wisened up, and take only very miniscule portions as a reconnaisance move, and IF I like something, at least I wouldn't have been filled to the brim.

The first of such buffets this year that I went for is the one in Latest Recipe. Actually, the buffet here has always been above average, I felt, because the Indian Food section is nice, and I also like the Teppanyaki section, with its Teppanyaki beef. In the days of yore, when Latest Recipe was indeed the Latest, they even had scallops in the Teppanyaki, but I guess that is now but a distant memory.


I love zeroing in on the desserts counter. I loved the fact that this one had vast choice in fruits, and the Chief Food Editor of Malay Mail and I had a wonderful time eating a lot of those lovely lychees, ...the ones with the teeny weeny seed and lots of sweet succulent flesh. The other thing that is quite outstanding in Latest Recipe is their Belgian waffles. Lovely crispy on the outside, and moist and melt in the mouth on the inside.


There are cuisines to represent all the major components of the Barisan Nasional parties, ie, Malay, Indian and Chinese. I love the Gulai Paru, (lung), and the serunding, from the traditional Malay section. As I said earlier, the Indian section is really very very good. For those with an appetite for carbs at dinner, the briyanis and naans are superb.


A lot of vegetable choices too, from Ulams, to stir fried chinese, to make your own Caesar Salads, or any other salads.


The teppenyaki station is definitely not to be missed, and the salmon sashimi is also worth spending the stomach space on.



Chef Zubir, Celebrity Chef (one of the judges of Malaysia Master Chef) shares with the media, and this entire Ramadan spread is themed REDEFINING TRADITIONAL MALAY CUISINE. Other specialty dishes include Sup Jernih Udang Galah, Ikan Kerapu Ranggup, Rusuk Lemby Panggang A La Mongolia, Pengat Durian and much more. He explains that the difference between the roti jala eaten as a savoury, vs eaten as a dessert is the former is usually yellow, whereas the lacy pancake served with the pengat durian is white. Now, THAT was GOOD.

Throughout the fasting month, the buffet is RM128for adults, and RM64 for children, from Mondays to Friday from 6.30-10.30. BUT if you go from 9pm onwards, its only RM88(A)/RM44(K), but only for Mon- Thurs. On Saturday and Sunday, its RM118 and RM59.

Call 03-22637434 to book.

Le Meridien Dine

De Meridian (Meridien in French) Line is an imaginary line that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole...ooops, hangon, we aren't talking about that....Sorry, the Le Meridien DINE is not an imaginary dine, though it would be to some people, some less fortunate people who have not had the opportunity, as we did. You see, what we had was really quite an astounding spread, a real treat to the palate, and I feel blessed to have been part of this unique experience.

We were invited by a mysterious chap, Damian, to attend mysterious "A Night Of Discovery", at Le Meridien. No details given. Rather exciting, like a groom on his wedding night. A night of discovery. The very name already sends shivers down my spine. The rendezvous begins at the Conservatory Bar. All the guest, in eager anticipation, fight the traffic by taking alternative means of transport, air, rail and sea, to get there on time. Except KY Speaks and Haze who were late... heh heh.

Very glitterati. Free flow Mumm champagne and canapes, so very dainty. It is of course impolite to ask if the canapes were the main form of nourishment for the night, but we are put out of our misery by Damian and Andrew Fairbairn, (the Starwood rep) who reminded us more than once, to PACE ourselves, as there was a LOT of food to come. Good, at least I didn't have to down 20 test tubes full of lovely gazpacho to get full.





KY and Andrew Fairbairn....KY puts on his best sultry sexy look....


If there was ever a jolly Chef title, then it without a doubt goes to Chef Antoine Rodriguez, the affable funny Executive Chef of Le Meridien. And we were fortunate enough to have Antoine personally oversee our entire meal from start to end.


Favola was the next stop. Ah, we've had many a lovely memory here at Favola. A dizzying array of tapas at the Crudo Bar, from tomatoes in all shapes and sizes, to mozarellas from Italy to Langkawi. Yup, some illustrious gwai loh is now producing local dairy products from the grassy plains of Langkawi. And it passes the test and discerning palate of Antoine.







Favola still has amazing breads, and delicious dips as accompaniment. Really, one could get full on bread alone. But man does NOT live on bread alone, as we found out.


A starter of a duet of antipasti, Smoked salmon with cold cucumber and macadamia puree, grilled peaches, buffalo mozzarella, Pecorino rocket and Radicchio salad. Thoroughly refreshing.


Pan seared foie gras on wild mushroom risotto in clear beef broth. To DIE FOR!!!! So so good. The risotto was so utterly flavourful, I think my tongue ran out of adjectives. And the foie gras, ...if this had been the end of the dinner, I would have been quite contented. Blissful. Melt in the mouth goodness.


But as luck would have it, this was NOT our last stop, in fact, we were only midway.

Next stop....PRIME....one of the best steak places in town


What a gorgeous sight to behold. A Wagyu Marble Score 12. In the old days, it was Bo Derek score 10, and that was the max. Just looking at the meat made me ....happy.


Look at that marbling. One has to stop and pause and think of the kind of life the cow in question must have had. Probably ate the finest grass, and grain, fed beer and massaged daily. What a life.


Other varieties of meat, from Marble Score 6 Wagyu to Australian Angus Beef were also laid out for us to see. ..and subsequently eat. At this point, I should've just made a bulk order of Lipitor.




I am sure not many dead cows get this kind of paparazzi like publicity and attention. But ours did.


See, I told you he is a jolly chef.


You just gotta love this guy!


I love the ambience at Prime. It is posh without being pretentious. And it was pretty crowded! That is always a good sign. We were ushered into a private corner.



Three happy campers. Can you figure out who they are?


You know, it pains me to have to recollect this....seriously, the beef was SOOO good, I feel like Pavlov's dog salivating everytime I look at this pic. Melt in the mouth, alas, my limited vocabulary cannot do justice to a marble score 12 wagyu. Sublime, divine, ....and seared to utter perfection.

Charcoal Grilled Blackmore Wagyu Chuck Flap Tail Marble 12, served with Roma Tomato Confit, Brocolini and Braised Intercoastal on Mascarpone Polenta.



To finish the job, and kill us off, completely, dessert at Latest Recipe. I always enjoy their teppenyaki ice cream, but the pastry chef there had prepared a special platter of dessert for us, and I so could not stuff anymore ice cream into myself.

The platter had Honeydew Sago Shot, Carrot Cake, Lychee Tart, Chocolate Mousse with Citrus Jelly, Vanilla Crème Brule and Agar Agar









And this waffle may look a bit out of place, but it was prepared personally by Chef Antoine, from the buffet table, AND is the BEST waffle I've ever had. Crispy on the outside, moist and soft on the inside, tall and airy....seriously. The BEST.

It has been a joy and a pain recollecting such a fabulous night. Pain because I am now left yearning, and yearning.... ooh, that reminds me, I do have the Starwood card.

Thanks so much to Chef Antoine, and the rest of the Le Meridien Staff for having us, and for Damian for putting together this unforgettable NIGHT OF DISCOVERY. Indeed, it HAS been.... and every bit as good as they said it would be....Ahhhh....dreamy sound....

Eat, Drink and More...

There's Eat Drink Man Woman, a movie by Ang Lee, there's Eat Drink and Be Merry, for tomorrow you die, which apparently is a mishmash of scripture thrown together, for the phrase itself doesn't exist like that in the Bible, and NOW, there's EAT DRINK AND MORE.....

A concept by the Starwood group of hotels, which basically, turns you into The Nomad Gourmet (no relation to The Nomad Gourmand). I was lucky enough to be invited by the lovely Cheryl Lum of Le Meridien, for the launch of EDAM..(eat drink and more, not a cheese) at the Westin. We were greeted by lovely glasses of Midoris, which I was too busy drinking and totally forgot to take pictures of. Fratmustard, ignoring the wisdom of the aged, took a route contrary to my suggestion, and was stuck in traffic, while it took me 15 minutes to get to the Westin. (gloaaaaaat).

We started at basically what was Favola. If you cant bring the customers to Favola, then you bring Favola to them. Basically two sections of Westin had been transformed into Favola, and Latest Recipe, from Le Meridien.



Lovely starters...but we were warned to pace ourselves, as this was just page 1 of 5. In fact, we barely had time to sample all the lovely goodies of the Crudo Bar, before we were ushered to the next destination, the Latest Recipe.


Delicious pots of Wagyu cheek with Polenta, Battered Prawns served in quaint little boxes, a lovely ethereal tiramisu doused with Illy Coffee, .... and little shots of non alcoholic juices. Drat. Needed more midoris at this point.



We then trooped up to EEST, which I have to say honestly, is my least favourite of all the Starwood outlets, as all my dining experiences here have been less than satisfactory. But this time, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The mini yam baskets with prawn and egg roe was lovely, as was the wagyu with Foie Gras. Or was it Kobe? The sauce a bit overpowered it, but otherwise, the texture was divine.


Back to another boozey venue, Prego. By this time, we were getting really full, and would have been more than happy just to imbibe the nectar of the gods. The eggplant roll and the foie gras terrine were to die for.

The final stop was Q Bar, which served lovely alcoholic mojito and gin popsicles, a gorgeous creamy illy coffee slushy, and was the perfect way to the cap the night of hedonistic eating.








Thanks again Cheryl for the invite.

To find out more about the technicalities of the Eat Drink and More website, hop over to Thamby's blog as she outlines in detail the mechanism, etc.

Latest Recipe Before the Hurricane of Change

Tunes from the Musicals....Food Glorious Food, from Oliver, and "Do You Hear the People Sing, Singing the Song of Angry Men, it is the music of a people who will not be slaves again...." are probably the two most apt songs over the weekend.

Life can be SO stressful when you have to use up a free stay voucher, coz you subscribed to one of the hotels privilege cards. So, we decided, in very refugee like style, to utilise the voucher to the max, and decided to let the 3 older kids "rough it out" by sleeping on the floor etc. (My MIL assumed that I would sleep on the couch and let the kids sleep on the bed....PUHLEEEZ, hallo!!!).

Anyway, I'd hardly call it roughing it out, even if they HAD to sleep on a hard floor, with sleeping bag and exercise mats.


It's strange how from the common carpark foyer, the two doors lead to completely separate worlds. Left to KL hilton, giltzy and glamorous, Right to Le Meridien, ....hmmm.....

Anyway, as my Starwood card is also about to expire, I thought I'd dine at Prime. (Le Meridien) However, Paprika's glowing review of Latest Recipe suddenly came to my mind, like a bulb in the imaginary speech bubble of a cartoon character. So proceeded with caution, coz I really am NOT a buffet fan, and have declared no more buffets till 2010, or the next change of PM, whichever is earlier. A cursory inspection around the buffet area revealed that it was actually quite tantalising, so I decided to give Paprika's review a try. (and made sure I subjected her to pressure by sms-ing her that I was there at HER recommendation).

I was rather pleased with the freshly cut sashimi, thought it was a mistake ordering the tuna sashimi, coz that was rather bland and tasteless. The salmon sashimi was fresh and fatty. The prawns were juicy and fairly sweet.

The freshly rolled california roll was made better when I embellished it with a piece of sashimi salmon. One tries not to get too full on rice and carbs in a buffet.

According to Paps, the must have was the beef teppenyaki and scallops. Boy was she right. The beef was supremely tender, and absolutely delicious. So were the scallops, which were fresh, not fishy, and swimming in a thick creamy butter sauce. Actually, that sauce is a liability, cos it really fills you up. I would ask for it sans sauce next time, or sauce separately. But let's not get saucy at this point.

Despite my policy of no rice and carbs during buffets, nothing appeals more to this hainanese heart than fluffy yellow fattening artery clogging chicken rice. I had to try it. The impressive array of dipping sauces was also tantalizing. The chicken, and I think some duck, (its a foul feeling of inadequacy when I cant tell my fowls apart) complemented the rice well. Anyway, it was only 2 spoonsful of rice.

Another much raved about thing to the extent of conjuring up non existent words like "fanbloodytastic" by Paprika was the Indian food buffet. Indeed, an impressive cornucopia of Northern indian delights, from tandoori to other stuff I can't pronounce. Thick yoghurty coconuty sauces with swimming meats that induce drool and drip.

Another word that makes me delve greedily into a dish is saffron. It has the same pavlov reflex as the word LARD. But only coz it's the most expensive spice in the world. (not counting the one in DUNE folklore). However, I don't know how much saffron actually goes into briyani rice, or if its just a euphemism for the less glamourous cousin, tumeric. Nevertheless, the briyani was LUVERLY, fluffy and light, flavourful without being oily to the point of "GHEE WHIZ!"...the curries were great as well, and went perfectly with the rice. With more ground to cover, I maintained self control and did not go for seconds.

Teppanyaki ice cream was the other thing that piqued my interest in Pap's blog. Anyway, it wasn't fried ice cream, but rather, "fried" on a very very cold plate, -20C, ..... not sure why or for what purpose. You can choose from a dizzying array of condiments, nuts, chocolate rice, sprinkles, whatever tickles your fancy. In cases like these, always aim for the expensive stuff, like walnuts, pecans, almonds, pistachios, ..... not chocolate rice.

Sad to say, the ice cream was the highlight. The dismal array of cakes made me wonder why serve such good food and end with such a pathetic whimper. I found nothing of interest...the apple strudel pastry was awful and dry. Like layers of blotting paper. Another non descript layered thing, which tasted like thick wantan skin.... awful.

Knowing that a fresh fig cost like RM6 each, I had to try this one that served a whole quarter of a fig. Okay, I concede I don't know what is so appealing about a fig. And so figging expensive too. The jelly like thing in the cup was largely forgettable.

Verdict, even going there for the indian, and teppenyaki alone would have been worth it, at RM88 ++ per head. Lesser variety than say Lemon Garden, but generally good quality stuff.