Reunion Revisited, For Lionheart's Surprise Birthday

There's something rather fascinating with "surprise" birthday parties. Always the chink in the armor that inadvertently gives the game away, like some smartie pants who sms-es the birthday boy on the day of the dinner, "happy birthday, see you tonight", when the guy's birthday isn't actually on the day, OR, "let's wait till tonight to take a group picture", at a red herring birthday lunch, ......

For planning a surprise birthday, I think STRICT instructions have to be given to guests, AND THEIR SPOUSES (especially), and should come with a hefty penalty for leaking pots. (cheen pou). Cut off their handphones for a month as a punishment, or make them sing Frank Sinatra's "START SPREADING THE NEWS" in the foyer of Suria KLCC....

However, there are the odd occasions, where despite close hiccups, (such as almost bumping smack faced into the birthday boy in the foyer, carrying a birthday cake), a surprise still manages to succeed.....

Such was the case last week, for Lionheart. His good wife had planned this dinner months ago, and had cleverly told him that he had to come to join her for dinner with clients. Me & wife walked into the front entrance of BV, and saw the man on the opposite side, head bowed down busy texting away. (Speaking of bowing head and texting, I once was mistaken for being extremely religious, because I had my phone in between my legs while the waiter was serving the food, and was sms-ing away, and the hostess thought I was quietly saying grace)

We bolted the way a herd of deer bolt when they feel the ominous presence of a Lion in the Masai Mara, (but not with the dexterity and litheness of deer), and jumped into the nearest elevator, near the Massimo Dutti entrance. We bump into another guest, and quickly exchange stories of close shaves. (nothing to do with hair from any parts)

And since Malaysians are generally a tardy lot, there's always the real possibility of him bumping into anyone of us...heck, I can bump into friends in a busy Shanghai bazaar, so what more in little Bangsar Village.

Mrs Lionheart is frantically sms-ing us to see if we had all congregated at Reunion, the appointed venue. Of course, only 4 out of 10 had arrived.....she appears, all flustered, and excited, telling us that she had told him to go kill time at MPH and use the loo there while waiting for her clients. (Good tip, if you ever need a clean loo to go to in BV2, apparently the one next to MPH is highly underutilised)....

When it was decided we had quorum, she calls him and says, "Dear, you can come now, all my clients are here already. Eh, what fish you want ah? Steamed or fried?"

Meanwhile, I also drop a red herring of my own, sending Lionheart an sms about gym, and saying that I was on my way for in-laws dinner at Kajang...



The above collage captures the surprise, real or otherwise, expression of the birthday boy!

I always find the food at Reunion to be fairly consistent, and of above average quality.






Not usually a cod fish fan, I found this dish VERY good. I think its a kinda honey glazed pan fried cod. The skin was delumptiously (delicious + scrumptious, something I learnt from a Secret Seven book in my youth) crispy, while the flesh firm and sweet.



Claypot Brinjal with Mincemeat. Extremely flavourful, and a carb magnet. It just screams out for rice.



Of course, dine with any Brit educated flers, an order of duck will inevitably draw comparisons with Bayswater's Four Seasons, ....which actually I am inclined to think is a bit overated. (eeeks, bracing for the onslaught of FS Duckians)....

The Pei Pa Ngap at Reunion I thought was good. Succulent, not overly fat, but fat enough, and the skin, lovely and crispy.



Mmmm, comfort food, steamed mince pork with salted fish. Again, another rice magnet. Very tasty, and just the right balance of meat and salted fish.






I'm not sure what this dish is called, but it's kinda like a marmite chicken with little mantous. Very delectable morsels.



Mmmm, baby french beans I think they're called. Tender, and young...just how I like them. Crunchy too, while maintaining their cholorophyl. Lovely crunchy bits of shallots to complete the crunch factor.



Wow, we had a lot of food. Their signature salted egg prawns. I am a bit off salted egg dishes coz they're so rich. I now prefer my crabs done in superior stock, having OD-ed on Salted Egg Yolk Crab... however, if you haven't OD-ed on Salted Egg Yolk, its still a good dish.



AND the piece de resistance. I know its strange to contemplate the fact that there may be hokkien mee in restaurants that taste as good, if not better than established road alleys, and insalubrious corners of KL where the rats set up their official exco and state secretariat....

...but I think the hokkien mee in Reunion really is up there with them all. Infested with crispy divine pork lard, and enough wok hei, and gravy, and almost too much lieu, (ingredients), not enough noodle, it is my all time favourite dish here. Mmmm, just thinking about it....makes me shiver in delight



My humble contribution to the festivities, a Passion Fruit Peach Cheese Cake.



And from the Lionheart's personal trainer, a Baileys soaked Tiramisu!!! Phwaaaah, talk about enough kick.




As usual, twas a lovely enjoyable dinner with great food, great company. What more can a person ask for. We look forward to your grand 50th Birthday, dear Lionheart....(I know its not for a few more years, but we must save up mustn't we, to buy our airfares there!)

Reunion, Twice in 5 Days

Oddly enough, I've never been to Reunion at Bangsar Village II for dinner. Ever since they moved from Bangsar Shopping Centre, (Previously known as YI GARDEN), I found this new posh setting a bit intimidating, and at RM12 or so for a measly bowl of wantan noodles, and RM4.80 per person for tea, not a place I was looking to head to in a hurry.

Then I got an invitation to a friend's birthday dinner, hosted by another friend. Such generous friends. Everyone but one, was fashionably late, and I was famished by 8.30 or so, so the reviews here might not be so objective, because I think it's true that everything tastes better when you're hungry. Conversely, nothing really tastes very good when you're stuffed.

We left the ordering to the expert, who patronises the place as often as .....help, my metaphors escape me at this point. I actually find ordering food for people, at a chinese restaurant, to be quite stressful business, so am always glad when there is someone else to do it for us.

The first dish was the crispy skin roast chicken with keropok. A timeless classic, this. The chicken was moist and succulent. I am so glad that God in His wisdom created some people to be breast men, and some leg men. ("Men" being the all inclusive of gender term, including women). This prevents unsightly battles for a particular anatomy of the dead chicken. I personally am a leg and thigh person. I find breast meat like blotting paper.

To the youth of today, who probably have never seen a blotter or blotting paper, in the days of yore, when we used REAL fountain pens, which can squirt ink, and suck ink, we used a blotter to quickly dry the ink to prevent smudging.





The other dishes more or less came simultaneously, hence the name reunion, I guess. Feels like a Chinese New Year eve reunion dinner, when all the food's on the table, and we are spared the wedding dinner style one by one by one courses. I like it when all the food is there at one go. You can mix the flavours together with your bowl of rice. Feels homely.


The (presumably Hong Kong) Kai Lan was soft and tender. You didn't need the molars of a T Rex to chew your way through this dish.



Sweet and Sour Fish. Nothing outstanding about this dish. Would have probably been happier if it had been pork.


Sauteed Prawns with Snow Peas (are they called snow peas?) with a generous helping of deep fried shallots and garlic. The prawns were plump and fresh, though a bit one dimensional in taste. As in they were not sweet. The taste was purely external.




These pork ribs were yummy. Well seasoned, (Nam Yue Pai Kuat I think) and the meat was nice and tender. Also a bit on the lean side. However, the servings were toooo huge. We are afterall delicate eaters.




Ah, the carbo nightmare. Spicy Brinjals With Mince Meat In claypot. This dish alone makes the perfect bridal partner to a bowl of rice. Slathering that lovely greasy gravy, a bit pedas, on rice, ahhhh, this is the comfort food. There was a hypothesis on the table that brinjal is a lady's vegetable, or usually only women like brinjal. Hmmm, I'm not sure of the vast ramifications and freudian implications of that statement, but heck, I am not ashamed to admit I lurve brinjal, and its relatives. The fat round ones, the long phallic ones, the bell shaped ones....

And that was Saturday night. Yesterday, Lemongrass pops up on MSN and asks me for lunch. I had my standard answer ready, coz I had just had my eggs and toast and was stuffed, and said, "I got no transport", which is true. Then she said, s*** la you, its in f******* bangsar. (don't believe me? its all there on the MSN Archive). I then played the "I just ate" card, but she insisted that the food would have digested by then. Anyway, I thought it WOULD be nice to meet up, so I went along, saying that I would join them for the company. But that woman in all her wisdom WAS right, by 1.20pm the breakfast had dissipated into an eggy smelling fart.

So, everyone was late as usual, and I wandered around the Kitchen Shop next door, and nearly fainted at the prices. ANd as they arrived, I suddenly had a phone call I had to take, so by the time I re-entered Reunion, I was the last.

Lemongrass was feeling particularly carnivorous and wanted her meats. Nigel said he was fine with the protein fix. Paprika, aka Lulian, aka Ravenous Rabbit, (make up your mind, woman) was easy, as was I, and left the ordering to them. But I did request the hokkien mee though, as we had that on Saturday as well, and it was deeeeevine. Pieces of deep fried lard calling out my name.

The meat platter was good. The siu yoke was too fatty though, it was like, SKIN AND FAT. Eugh. Very contradictory, I know, but the only form of pork fat that I eat readily, without question, is chee yau char, (very healthy, I know).







There you go, I told you the piece of lard was calling out my name.

Twas a most entertaining lunch, and I had no regrets going.