Villa Danielli, MIGF

It is upon us again, that annual event of gastronomic pleasures for an entire month. Our very own Octoberfest so to speak. The Malaysian International Gourmet Festival.



When all the best chefs showcase their talents. Actually, I think it's just an excuse to fill the gaps. Malaysia is one annual eating fest anyway. In the beginning of the year, there's the Chinese New Year frenzy, then there'll be Valentine's Day, ...any excuse to eat.

I was delighted to get an invite to Villa Danielli, by the lovely Evelyn Koh of Sheraton Imperial. Traffic that day however, was diabolic. It took my fellow diner, Unkaleong, 1½ hours to travel from his office at Citibank to Sheraton Imperial. Half the other guest were late as well.


The fine dining, elegant romantic setting...great for couples, nightmare for food bloggers...terrible lighting for photography.


Il Divo Malaysian Style? Preparing their next presentation?

Guest Chef Fabrizio hails from The Westin, Beijing Financial Street, and his Festive Menu which we got to sample included:


Cappesante marinate agli agrumi, micro insalatine, mandorle tostate...all these Italian names...sounds like a catholic liturgy...almost want to say AMEN after that...
Citrus marinated scallops, micro salads, toasted almonds
Torralta Prosseco, Piedmont Prosecco. This was probably my favourite dish. Simple, refreshing, fresh, and the tangy citrus complemented the scallops.




Crema di cannellini, raviolo al fegato grasso e granchio al vapore
White bean soup, goose liver raviolo, steamed blue flower crab
Kim Crawford, Malborough, Sav Blanc 2009. I love the soup, a thick, hearty wholesome soup, a meal on its own. I thought the raviolo was a bit too heavy.


Tagliolini di grand duro, cream di zucca, gamberi croccanti e chips di patate rosse
Hard wheat tagliolini, pumpkin veloute, crispy prawns and beetroot chips
Ruffino Libaio IGT, Tuscany, Chardonnay 2008. I'm impressed they managed to keep the crispy prawns moist on the inside.


Filetto di spigola, torata di pomodorini, rucola
Pan seared sea bass fillet, cherry tomato tart,, rucola. Initially, I thought it smelt fishy, but there was no fishy flavour accompanying the smell, and it was a delightfully light and clean dish.
Robert Mondavi Private Selection, California Pinot Noir 2008


Herb crusted Lamb Cutlets.




Cannoli Sciliani Ripieni di ricotta al cioccolato e canditi, salsa al pistachio
Deep fried crispy shells, chocolate and canditi ricotta, pistachio sauce
Ruffino Serelle Del Chianti, Tuscany, Vin Santo 2006. Now, I've always been fascinated by Cannolis ever since learning about it on EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, where there was one episode that featured this dessert. The ones I've had so far, in KL, have been shockingly disappointing, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The pastry was light, and almost fluffy, and the fillings were good too.






My fellow diner, and Evelyn of Sheraton.


The two chefs, Fabrizio, and resident Chef De Cuisine, Chef Kamaruddin, aka Chef Bob


Chef Bob's Festive Menu

Saffron risotto timable filled with beef ragout, green pea and poached quail egg served with fresh ricotta cheese and wild mushroom sauce

Mille Feuille of Purple Potato, tiger prawns, slipper lobster and tarragon mantecato

Gnocchi with white wine braised onion, venison ragout and light taleggio cream

Anchovies and stracciatella cheese ravioli with lobster and artichokes in red mullet star anise broth

Purple asparagus cream, oyster foam and basil oil with crushed pink peppercorns

Seafood soup caciucco style, spicy blue crab broth and fresh buffalo mozzarella

Lamb cutlet thyme gratin with parmesan potato lasagna, olive oil artichoke cream and herb jus

Sea salt crusted beef tenderloin wih crunchy polenta and white asparagus compote with grain mustard and beef jus

Pan fried wild sea bass medallion on capsicum panzanella topinambur cream and anchovy oil


Pricing:
5 course set RM220++
4 course set RM180++
3 course set RM150++

Wine Pairing
4 glasses wine RM120++
3 glasses wine RM90++
2 glasses wine RM60++

Many thanks to Cindy and Evelyn for playing the gracious hosts, as usual.

To contact, Call Sheraton Imperial, 03-27179900.

Jarrod & Rawlins Revisited

It's nice, and almost flattering, when people from F&B establishments reinvite you to a particular outlet. It kinda reinforces your worth ... alright, maybe I exaggerate, but you get my drift, its a nice feeling. It's like when there are repeat orders from customers for cake. Speaks volumes.

A few weeks ago, that lovely young lass, Elaine Chow, previously from Grey PR, invited me again to Jarrod & Rawlins for their new menu. It's scary how quickly time flies. A quick check revealed the last visit was in December 2009, and in the blink of an eye, its almost October 2010. Incidentally, my baby girl, who I felt was just born, just finished her UPSR last week. Gasp! Soon you'll be reading a post about my daughter's wedding dinner, and how I was drunk and don't remember anything. As I descend into a panic, let me veer back to the topic at hand.

Yes, Jarrod and Rawlins, that lovely homely place in Lorong Dungun, the perfect locale for a lazy weekend brunch with my favourite meat.... nothing like the scent of frying bacon to cheer up even the most despondent of souls. To add to the bonus, Paranoid Android asked if he could tag along, because he's never been, but not so much to eat, as to take pictures. Elaine kindly allowed it. I was thrilled, coz if you follow Paranoid's blog, you'd know that his pictures are almost too perfect to be human. He is afterall an Android.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS IN TODAY'S POST ARE COURTESY OF PARANOID ANDROID.

Fish Fillet With Parsley Sauce, boiled potatoes and grilled zuchinni. Okay, to be honest, I think the best way to eat fish is the Chinese restaurant way. Grilling fish produces such hit and miss results. The overall presentation was pleasing, but the fish was not memorable.


Prawn Pasta with spiced cream and basil pesto. Cant go wrong with this combination, and is probably a dish I could finish on my own.



Vegetarian Pasta With Zuchinni, Bell Peppers, Tomato, Pesto and Wine. A healthy combination of deliciously grilled vegetables tossed in a springy al dente pasta.





Chicken Mushroom and Leek Pie. A winner here. Lovely light puff pastry, and a hearty solid filling, reminiscent of mother's cooking, if you are a Caucasian, that is...


Pretty as pie.


Some artistic thing taken by Paranoid Android, I also dunno from where....



J&R Premium Beef Burger with Cheese (made with 180g Prime Beef Pattie). The burger was delightfully dense, and tasted beefy alright. None of that processed stuff you get from you know where.


Now here's a dish you don't see very often. Toad in the hole...sausages in yorkshire pudding. I suspect it was a cheap dish to use up leftovers in the days of yore, a British chop suey, so to speak. However, these days, gourmet sausages replace bits and bobs of leftovers... and it makes for a substantial meal on its own.



Smoked Duck Pasta With Rocket and Mushroom. Hmm, I think this was my favourite dish of the day. Excellent combination, of the leafy greens, the earthy mushrooms, and the gameyness of smoked duck, adorning the carbohydrates in the form of pasta.


For dessert, a very acceptable creme brulee. Loved the texture. However, I feel that they could enhance it by using real vanilla bean.

These new items were launched on Sept 3rd. Amongst the other stuff that are on the new menu but we did not sample are,

Linguini Gorgonzola with Radicchio & Toasted Pine Nuts
Roast Beef & Beetroot Salad with Horseradish & Sour Cream
Creamy Pea Soup with Ham & Bacon
Pork Cumberland Sausage served with Mustard, Mashed Potato & Coleslaw
Gammon Steak with Parsley Sauce & Boiled Potatoes
J&R Club Sandwich with Tomato, Lettuce, Ham, Bacon & Cheese
Whole Slab of Hickory Baby Back Ribs (approx. 1.2 kg) served with Baked Potato & Coleslaw
Selection of Creamy Milkshakes (Vanilla / Chocolate / Strawberry / Vanilla Malt)
Chocolate Mousse

Paranoid Android, you did say you'd like to sample the food there again right? When shall we go?

Thanks again to Elaine for a lovely meal. 2 hours of workout after that was not enough to negate the effect of the decadent brunch.

Appreciation Grows, Hennessy XO & Michelin Star Chef, Alvin Leung

The youth of today and their single malts. In my day, the trickle of Hennessy X.O. into a glass of crackling ice, was the sign of ultimate luxury. It was a rare treat, given only during Chinese New Year and special occasions. Speaking of special occasions.....

..my dear buddy, AWHIFFOFLEMONGRASS (AWOL), very kindly included me in her exclusive list of invitees for Hennessy's XO Appreciation Grows, a lah dih dah event, organised by Hennessy, Moet Hennessy Diageo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Riche Monde Malaysia), and Milk PR Sdn Bhd, (who was the one who invited us thru AWOL, thank you very much).

At RM800 per person, we were full of heightened expectation, wondering what wonders lay in store in a specially constructed dome on the grounds of the Bukit Kiara Equesterian club, actually built on the site where horses did their daily trots around the corral. We were ushered into the outer sanctum of the large marquee, in the comforts of airconditioning, while waiting for the laggard guests to trickle in. When an invite says 6.30, black tie, one would expect a bit of punctuality.

We were then ushered yet another step closer into the holy of holies, into another sanctum, where we donned on state of the art wireless headsets that didn't work, but were regaled with the story of Hennessy XO, by the dashing Regional brand ambassador, Arnaud Mirey.


The Kuala Lumpur glitterati....


Speaking of Kuala Lumpur glitterati, if you know these two, you probably know the whole of KL. The inimitable Nigel Skelchy, who takes half an hour to move 20 metres because he has to stop and say hallo to everyone.


Happiness, apart from family, good health, friendship, love and all that, is seeing bottles and bottles of expensive liqour waiting to flow down our throats.


The Man of the Hour, Michelin Star Chef Alvin Leung, sharing a light moment with Frederic Noyere, MD Of Riche Monde Malaysia, in a "press conference" like setting. The floor was open to a very shy press, to ask questions. Of the 4 or 5 questions asked, I think 3 came from OUR group, namely Nigel, of course, and our very own celebrity, Aly of Red FM.





Alil naughty monkey, with BabeKL in the background!


She looks like she's crooning, That's What Friends Are For.


Our Menus, wrapped in a black napkin, like a tuxedo laidat. So classy hor!


The circus has come to town...the main dining area is one big domed tent, a bit like Hogwarts..the ceiling changes pictures and theme according to food that is served. Rather interesting concept.


The first dish was Glass Garden, an avant garde Hong Kong interpretation of a garden dish, made from baked morel soil, dehydrated enoki, braised caterpillar fungus, and green onion puree. It's supposed to resemble a vineyard in winter? Dried vine plants on the brown soil. I thought this dish was quite amazing. The green onion puree was something very unique, and the flavours were intriguing. Familiar, yet completely new. The texture, ethereal, and light.


The combination of the dried morel soil, which was delicious, with the green mousse was also inspirationally clever.


Orchids seem to be the FOTD. (flower of the day) [cheers to you, Fratmustard]


Har Mi...or Har Mai, a perfectly executed crouton of carebinero, sauteed capellini, roasted cherry tomatoes and deep fried sage. In English, its basically dried shrimp that has been cooked for 48 hours (much like serunding), tossed together with angel hair pasta. A lot of people declared this their favourite dish. Again, it was the familiarity and comfort food element of this dish that probably appealed to the palate, but yet, with that added culinary twist that we could never quite replicate.


Of course, Foie Gras is always MY favourite. So I was delighted when the health conscious like Nigel decided only to have a morsel of his, and passed the crumbs to the waiting rakyat. Palate Fantastique, pan fried foie gras meticellulose and xantana. I like it, when I don't know the meanings of more than half the words in the description.


Melt in the mouth, and that blob of foam on the foie gras, (molecular gastronomy ma!), awesome. Incidentally, all these dishes are paired with the XO, which our in house culinary guru, Nigel, pointed out, completed the flavours. Apparently there was always a missing element that was made complete only with a sip of the XO. My unsophisticated palate could of course make no such distinction, and I thought the food tasted remarkable, with or without the XO. But there is no doubting that the XO was remarkable as well.


A rare treat, when we were given the opportunity to savour the smooth delicate moments of the ULTRA LIMITED EDITION HENNESSY X.O. MATHUSALEM, a 6 litre bottle of ultra limited goodness, created by master blender and secret keeper, Yann Filloux. Arnaud here is demonstrating how to use his rod to extract the precious fluids.





Kukomi Intrigue, an umami dish, created from boiled chicken soup, sous vide egg white, foie gras and julienne truffle. I thought the soup itself was a bit on the salty side, but you see, it had to be drunk with the accompanying egg white at the base, completing the flavours. Gold leaf floating on the surface added a nice touch to the already glittering event.





Nigel wastes no time in trying HIS hand at using the rod and poking it into the precious fluid.





Wagyu Wonders, Alvin Leung's specialty of sous vide wagyu striploin, cheung fun and black truffle. The texture of the cheung fun was amazing, springy yet not overly so, and the wagyu was simply sublime. Tender, melt in the mouth but yet with that texture of beef, that doesnt make you feel like you're swallowing pure fat. Lovely.


The very affable Frederic Noyere, playing the perfect host, going from table to table.


Dessert..probably the most daring dish of the night. Named Eastern Ascent, an unforgettable dessert of kikorangi (NZ) blue cheese, milk, cream and dried longan granita. A glamorized leen chee kang, some said. Yeah, this was definitely the most interesting dish, in the sense that it was daring step of faith, intermarrying the intense odor of blue cheese, with a basically pedesterian tong shui. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favourite for the night.


Stars of a feather flock together.


An encore dessert, basically a tiramisu with liberal doses of X.O., that wasn't on the menu. I would have preferred it served cold. Ours was at room temperature.


Our Michelin Chef, and rising comic star, Alilfatmonkey.

To read more about Chef Alvin, check out the Hennessy XO website HERE.

This event is on till the 25th of September, but I hear it's been sold out. However, if you feel compelled to attend, perhaps you can contact Adeline Ong of Milk PR at 603-20948915 to see if they still have tickets available.

A special thanks to Milk PR (and the CEO, Wei, for being such a gracious host), and A Whiff of Lemongrass for the invite. It was truly an honor.

Chef Alvin Leung, Molecular Gastronomy Meets Chinese Cuisine

This should excite the food connoiseurs out there. Firstly, let me point you to the website, that requires you to declare you are above 18 years of age, AND, a non-Muslim. Click HERE. Why is that? Well, for starters, the organisers of this event are HENNESSY X.O.

[Excerpts lifted from Presskit]
Themed, APPRECIATION GROWS, this gastronomic event features Chef Alvin Leung, whose revolutionary and award winning fusion of molecular gastronomy (YUP, MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY!) and Chinese Cuisine has created new taste sensations that give diners a unique experience everytime.


His Bo Innovation became Hong Kong's only independent restaurant to be awarded TWO Michelin stars by the prestigious Michelin Guide.

WHERE IS IT HAPPENING?
In a specially constructed dome, built at the Bukit Kiara Equesterian Club, Bukit Kiara.

WHEN?
20th - 25th September, 2010

HOW MUCH?
RM800 per head. I think its net.

MENU
You can view the entire menu on the website, but in case you can't get in because you are under 18 years of age, or alcohol is not allowed in your faith, then to give you some highlights:

Glass Garden - An avant garde HK interpretation of a garden dish, made from baked morel soil, dehydrated enoki, braised caterpillar fungus and green onion puree.

Palate Fantastique - With pan fired foie gras, metilcellulose and xantana.

Wagyu Wonders- An Alvin Leung specialty of sous vide wagyu striploin, cheung fun and black truffle.

You know its exotic when half the words show up as errors on spell check!

For further information, call 03-2178 0230 or log on to the website.