A Pre CNY Meating at Meatology

In the chaos and mayhem approaching Chinese New Year, I complacently thought that my back log of yee sang posts had been completed, and that I had seen the last of those tossy posts behind me for now...Until I saw these two books on my desk this morning, and thought to myself, SACRE BLEU!!! I forgot to post about this place!!!!

I'm referring to the the Meatology Book and the Her World Cookbook,..not the drinks menu which I certainly do not have on my desk right now.  A brief intro, Yenni is one of the authors of the Masterclass by MPH series, which also includes the likes of luminaries like Sapna Anand, Marinah Mustapha, etc etc... But for some reason, the title of that book made me think it was an Atkins or Keto kind of anti carb book, and so I never even bothered to open it.  Talk about judging a book by its cover.  Anyway, when Makan Fairy Godmother (hereinafter referred to as MFG) invited me to sample their unique yee sang, I was quite fascinated.  Unbeknownst to me Meatology is the former Boathouse, in TTDI.

It was with eager anticipation that I visited, because I also was excited to meet famous instagrammer and blogger, Foodgazer, whom MFG described as a "most earnest person".  Yenni and partner were busy initially, as the restaurant was rather packed, which is always a good sign.

Yee Sang, a rather different take, and the most outstanding and interesting difference was the "crispy" choi pok pok stuff that adds the crunch to the dish.  In this case, it was choi Pork Pork...unbelievably light and crispy pork crackling.  The overall dish was more of a salad rather than your traditional yee sang, and looking at Yenni's svelte figure, you'd swear she was trying to health you up with a healthy yee sang salad.

The Yee Sang is priced at RM32.80, which is mighty reasonable considering it has tuna sashimi, octopus, jelly fish..

MFG's Pink Margarita...

The flaming crabmeat soup was delicious, truly... with Xiamen Mushrooms.  Flambed with brandy, I liked it already even before tasting it. Priced at RM29.80, I would actually label this as value for money soup.  Now we learnt something interesting about the huge xiamen mushrooms.  Apparently farmers of this crop have to be pure in heart, or the entire harvest will turn black and fail.

Sea Treasures, a pot brimming with the fruits of poseidon, abalone, scallops, mussels, prawns, slipper lobster, squid, razor clams on a bed of glass noodles, over and above the crispy vermicelli.  Priced at RM88.80, I also concluded that this was a very reasonably priced dish.  The glass noodles, which had absorbed all the lovely flavours of the seafood, was so good.

Blue Eyed Cod Salted Egg Thermidor, RM118.90.  Well, I'll just have to return to try this again, because this particular rendition failed to impress.  The flesh seemed tough, almost like chicken breast, and overcooked.  Blue Eyed Cod is different from your black cod which is apparently almost impossible to overcook.  I also feel that for a good piece of fish, like steak, there shouldn't be too many supporting actors to outshine the main star...

In place of the traditional lap mei fan, an amazing smoked duck risotto.  RM43.80.  Not particularly a risotto fan, I actually quite enjoyed this dish, save for the bits of waxed duck that made me wonder if salt is free in some parts of the world.  But no matter, cos those small morsels of salt licks weren't significantly damaging to the entire dish, and the smoked duck was superb.

Not many places do crepe suzettes the old way, ie, making and flambeing the sauce in front of you.  The last memory of such an occurence was at the Chalet at Equatorial (now being reconstructed and rebuilt).

I think they use brandy here, instead of Grand Marnier or orange flavoured liqeurs, which is actually good, because some crepe suzettes seem to have that "cough mixture" kind of taste.

That's us, Makan Fairy Godmother, Foodgazer, See Ling, FBB and Yenni.  What a privilege it was to sit down and chat with them and listen to her stories.  Incidentally, I bought her books after I saw that there was another one about Rice, so clearly she was not an Atkins or Keto advocate in Meatology.

Address: 16 Lorong Rahim Kajai 14 Taman Tun Dr Ismail 60000 Kuala Lumpur
Phone: 03-7727 4426

Golden Churn, the Gold Standard for Butter - Now With An Olive Oil and Avocado Oil Blend

I've always associated that distinct gold tin of golden churn butter as the essential-est of ingredients in a good butter cake, and when ingredients of distinction meet Chef of distinction, it's definitely an invitation I cannot say no too.  Chef Wan has always been one of my culinary idols, and when I got the invitation from the good peeps at Salina & Associates PR, to witness the unveiling of the new line of Golden Churn, I was rather thrilled at the opportunity of seeing him in action.

A light hearted moment between Chef Wan and Salina before the start of the event.

Mr Jonathan Sekhon, General Manager of Sales for Ballantyne Pty Ltd,  Australia introduced the two new brands that were being unveiled, which were the blends of spreadable Golden Churn Butter with Olive Oil, and Golden Churn Butter with Avocado Oil.  A butter purist like me actually prefers pure butter without any fancy additions, unless it's truffle, but I was quite curious to try.

Apparently Golden Churn has been in Malaysia for at least 70 years, which is quite a feat.  I still know people who swear that the only acceptable butter for butter cake is Golden Churn.

And what better way to introduce the two blends, than with the inimitable Chef Wan doing a cooking demo, using the aforementioned product.

TV host Serena See was the emcee for the day.... obviously quite a glitterati event.

Chef Wan regaled us with stories about his childhood, how his family used to live in the air force base in the military quarters, with very limited room, and how he began cooking at a young age.

Both the butter blends have 25% less fat than the usual butter, (how is that a good thing???), and the avocado one has all kinds of miraculous qualities, such as improving skin tone, potassium for regulating blood pressure, and dietary fibre to control sugar levels.  So it really is a case of more butter is better for you...

He mentioned how most people associate the butter with butter cake or cake in general, so he thought he'd use it for something different.  He also extolled the virtues of the blend, as people are getting more health conscious, and how virgin olive oil and avocado are good for health.

The first dish demonstrated was a Lebanese Chicken Rice....don't ask me why "Lebanese", perhaps it was the spices used.  Generous dollops of the butter were plonked it, and it wasn't long before the entire venue was filled with a delectable aroma.

To be honest, I am always a bit "skeptical" at these celebrity chefs cooking demos as they usually have a ready made end product which is what we usually get to try, as opposed to eating the actual stuff that was cooked.  So I was curious to see whether we really got to that dish he cooked.

 At some point in the demo,...this happened...

Yes, he actually said that.... he's absolutely hilarious and totally entertaining.

Using the Avocado Blend, he whipped up some savoury corn muffins, and quipped, if your eggs are big, use two, but Malaysian eggs are usually small, so I use three...

In this case, we got to sample some pre made muffins.  I loved the buttery-ness of it and the savoury flavour was reminiscent of Kenny Rogers corn muffins, which I love.

And the moment of truth, the way he seemingly randomly "campak"ed (tossed) everything into the pot, I really wondered how the end product would taste.  But of course, that is the mark of true genius and a real cook, going by gut feel, instead of measuring to the last millilitre or gram, like a chemistry lab experiment.  It was absolutely delicious!!!  My hero, Chef Wan. Oh, and Golden Churn of course.

Putting the finishing touches to the rice....

And there we have it, Chef Wan's Lebanese Chicken Rice using the Golden Churn Spreadable Butter With Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

That gorgeous tinge of green from the Avocado...

EPILOGUE

We were given a lovely party pack with two tubs of the butter to try.... being a minimalist, I had my spreadable with plain toast, and some sauteed mushrooms with another generous dollop of the butter

Absolutely yummeh.....

And lurve lurve lurve the cheese board and wooden spoon.

Watch out for the new line of Golden Churn in supermarket shelves.