Elegant Inn Hong Kong Cuisine, Menara Hap Seng

Some invites are to be coveted while some invites make you be a bad christian and make up stories about how you have to attend your grandmother's 102nd birthday or your aunty's tupperware party. An invite from Hooi Khaw makes us disobey the 10th commandment. Thou shalt not covet. Because an invite from Hooi Khaw always rocks, and you can be SURE that the food will be par excellent! In fact, if I had another appointment, I'd probably have to come up with some white lie to get out of that other one.

I've always been meaning to try Elegant Inn, because of its Tmn Connaught reputation. You can imagine me doing cartwheels, or maybe not, .... so on a Tuesday night, dumping my usual family dinner (sister comes home to eat on Tuesdays, so the house is very festive), I head for Menara Hap Seng, and find all my FAVOURITTTE people there. Thamby and Bald Eagle, Cumi and Ciki, ALilFatMonkey, our dear Hooi Khaw, and our gracious host, Jeanette.

So classy, got personalised menu! We're mentioned in the menu! Friends ma.



Jeanette, I have so say upfront, is the Walking Wikipedia of food and food ingredients. Exceedingly particular about the items she serves, her cashew nuts are hand selected from the best. Malaysian cashews failed the test, Sri Lankan nuts are the best, Vietnamese are good, Chinese nuts are .... well, depends which part of China.


If you look carefully in the pile of nuts, there are one or two cashews left, coz I had picked out most of them. To eat.


Elegant people for Elegant Inn. Check out the perfectly manicured nails. Not on the menu though.


Monkey thinks there's food on the trees....





A rather lavish Yee Sang....and my first for the year. Now, let's see if I can remember this. The jelly fish for the texture, the abalone for the juicy spurt of marine goodness, and the salmon to wrap it all up. None of the fakely colored preserved questionable vegetables, only freshly grated pear, radish, etc etc....Really refreshing. RM88 for full mai, RM68 for half mai, RM48 for mini mai. Ours was the half mai, and very substantial. We tossed to various things...for the KLCI to hit 2000 points, for peace and harmony in the country, for more glorious food reviews.... etc etc






My two favourite Monkeys


Salt & Pepper HK silver fish and gloriously silken homemade tofu. The fish is battered just perfectly. Crispy on the inside, still chewy on the inside. It screamed for a glass of ice cold beer.


Japanese Kobe (yup, you read it right, JAPANESE KOBE) in E.I. Garlic Style, and special chilled spoon with fresh salmon and crabmeat. Eat the silverfish first, wash your palate with the chilled spoon, a tangy combination that refreshes your tongue, followed by the absolutely spine tingling melt in the mouth Kobe beef. Seriously, being spoilt like this, makes you think you must have done something right to deserve such blessings.


Our ever smiling Hooi Khaw. Alas, our host, Jeanette, warned us, NO PICS of her.


In case you missed it, check out the kobe close up. Okay, this dish is NOT cheap. It's RM108 for 100gm, and there's probably 50gm in each bowl.

Traditional Signature Pig Stomach With Peppercorn and Salted Vegetable Double Boiled Soup.


Look at the amount of ingredients that go into the soup. Kampung chicken, dried scallops, yunnan ham, pork ribs, pork stomach, abalone mushroom, salted vegetables, and because its double boiled, the carcasses still retain its flavour and can be a meal on its own.


Peppery without it assailing your palate. It should leave a subtle pepper afterburn AFTER you drink it, not while, according to Jeanette.




Golden Fried Estuary Garoupa Fillet with Chinese Leeks Topping. Excellent dish. The skin is crispy, and there's a light layer of potato starch to crisp it, without battering it. The fish was firm, and fresh. Excellent.

If one fish wasn't enough, Jeanette insisted we try the steamed tilapia with Ham Yue Fah Lam. (salted fish and belly pork). Alilfatmonkey very astutely observed, "it's very difficult to take pictures of fish, cos they look so ....dead".... to which Bald eagle chirped, "yeah as opposed to Kobe beef, that look like they're on a spa vacation".


Somewhere at this juncture, we find out Jeanette is actually A SINGAPOREAN!!!!!

She did endear herself to us by the fact she's lived here a long time, and also, she was saying, aiya, these singaporeans, to them, (in relation to crabs), its all about the size. Hence the sri lankan crabs are popular. Size, doused in sauce.

As opposed to us clever Malaysians who appreciate the subtle sweet flavours of our smaller mud crabs.





Someone quipped that it would be quite hard to ruin this photo, as the crabs looked soooo beautiful. Signature styled Egg Yolk Style. Rather than the usual deep fried murdered by salted egg yolk style you get, this one allows the flavour of the crab meat to be savoured. Delicious.


8 Vegetarian Treasures in Chef's Sauce. The wood ears ...or was it cloud ears, are from HARBIN, where apparently the best ones come. Wood or cloud, the texture is supposed to be somewhere in between. Not an ear connoiseur, even I could tell that this was really fine quality stuff.


Bitter gourd with Salted Vegetables. I love bitter gourd, so this is one of my favourite dishes. Bald Eagle and bittergourd are like PKR and Umno.



The amazing Claypot Rice with HK Waxed Meats. What can I say? I think a picture (even a not so terror one, unlike those from the Queen of the DSLR) speaks a thousand words. I can almost smell that intoxicating aroma....


Their signature fried rice, simple, but not so simple. Two types of rice, (thamby managed to sniff this out with her nose, the amazing chap), crab meat, enough wok hei....


The handsome young chef, and co-owner, who made it all happen.


Sweetened Japanese Pumpkin Sago Soup With Green Beans. Smooth and creamy, but not cloying, sago pearls to give it that contrasting texture, and green bean to give it that oomph.


Malai Gou. (Malay Kueh). Not a fan usually, but this was moist, spongy, and not too sweet.






Banana Chinese pancakes...(banana chinese are what ah? Yellow outside white inside?) and Nutty sesame rice ball. I like this take on the pancake, instead of the normal lotus or red bean.


Now, what were these people laughing at?

Check out this cute little bejeweled chandelier....



Did thamby steal some of the jewels and wear them like a queen?

No, apparently, they were laughing coz they saw her digging her nose. How very unqueenly. It's like imagining the Queen on the potty. Cis.

Thanks again Hooi Khaw for the invite, and to Jeanette for having us.

Elegant Inn also has some CNY set menus, very reasonably priced, from RM788++ per table for dinner, or from RM538++ for lunch. (thinking to self, when to go back there and eat).

On another unrelated note, erm, I was interviewed on BFM yesterday, so if you want to listen, check out the pocast HERE.

Happy Belated New Year, And Kudos Crudo Bar

Talk about a slow start. I feel like a 43 year old engine stuck in a snow storm. Or in this case, a storm of sorts. A storm engulfing the nation. A storm that leaves me heavy hearted, like a cholesterol clogged heart.

[Switching topic like one with the memory of a goldfish]
But it's the NEW YEAR, so let us delete that previous opening para, and start afresh. Happy happy! The first day of the year certainly was. 41 bottles of bubbly with friends, and countless bottles of red and whites. One of the reasons I havent written anything is because I havent DONE or EATEN anything interesting since last year. However, I was suddenly reminded that just before 2009 expired, we had a most delightful lunch experience, courtesy of the lovely Cheryl Lum, of Le Meridien, at Favola again, to sample the offerings of the Crudo Bar.

Now, Fratmustard who constituted the other half of "we", was sooo sure that Crudo Bar was a BAR, as in, one with flowing alcohol, and lots of bottles. I on the other hand, was perplexed, as in the previous visit, I had no recollection of any drinking Bar in Favola. Inebriated as we were on wine and kerosene (Grappa), I SURELY would have remembered a BAR in Favola. With the excitement of two schoolgirls going on a shopping trip, we gleefully traipsed into Favola, 15 minutes early, and sniffed around for the Crudo Bar. Turns out, Crudo Bar is not an alcoholic bar at all, but that counter in front of the murals, where there was laid out a large antipasti spread, for the Crudo Bar Antipasti Buffet.



If you opt for the buffet antipasti, it's RM35, as you can see. A gorgeous spread of tantalising err.... antipastis await. The good thing about antipastis is, since its anti, it cancels out any calories you may ingest by eating pastis.


I think that's Frat's hand, holding up his two balls. Goldfish memory be blamed, but I think they were little balls of bonconini.


This dish strikes me as too healthy. Stay away from it.


Another salad, in a bread bowl. Literally, a bowl made out of bread. Such pretty presentation. It felt almost wrong to dig into it.


Terrines of various sorts.


One can really get quite full on this buffet antipasti alone. A cacophony of tastes invades the tongue. And it is gloriously washed down with lovely chilled Prosecco, so kindly provided by our generous hostess.


Part of the Crudo bar also comprises dessert. Honestly, we were too full to even go there by the end of the meal, though I could not resist the chocolate mousse which was sublime. Light, ethereal and rich all at the same time.


My favourite dish from the antipasti, the octopus. Mmm, lovely flavour and texture.


Despite being full on the buffet starters, Cheryl insisted Frat and I ordered some mains. Frat was looking very delightfully pink by this stage. Damn, I forgot to take a pic. My pasta was the argh, tomato based one, as I thought it would be lighter.


But actually I prefered Frat's angel hair. Pasta, that is. With seafood. Yummy. I could eat it right now as we speak. Light aglio olio -ish, with fresh seafood and a hint of chilli.


Although we had food coming out of our ears, and prosecco fumes coming out of our noses, Cheryl insisted we try the grilled chicken pizza. Lovely thin crust, apparently achieved even without a woodfired oven. It was against the building regulations to have a wood fired oven in the kitchen at Favola, afterall, there were hotel rooms just above. I can imagine the guests feeling the heat emanating through the floors.

Thank you again Cheryl, for a LAVERLY lunch. Do check out the Crudo Bar antipasti buffet.


On a separate note, the latest issue of MY NOURISHMENT is out on the stands. I would like to thank my father, and mother, and standard four teacher, Mrs Stella Samuel, for helping me improve my English so I can write for English language magazines.


If you zoom in large enough, you will see, emblazoned on the front page, ahem, a BY LINE, by Fatboybakes. (all teary eyed, and emo). Lihatlah dunia!!!! Go and support and buy the darn magazine okay. Only RM8. Chockful of interesting recipes. And articles.

Toasting, to a great year ahead, everyone. Chis! oops, I mean, Cheers.

Fabulous Favola, Le Meridien

This the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la FA-VO-lA. For some reason, that ditty got stuck in my head, so I thought I should purge it by posting about this wonderful dinner we had recently at the newest outlet at LeMeridien. Favola.... sounds like an exotic name of a dancer, or maybe I'm confusing that with Pavlova, or a gipsy fortune teller. It could even be Malaysian, Favo-LAH!

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a little ravenous rabbit introduced us to her cousin, one of the other rabbits that had multiplied like rabbits in a fertile faraway land, who had invited a group of motley hungry floggers*, to sample the new treats they had to offer. Unlike the Witch who beckoned Hansel and Gretel to her gingerbread house, and subsequently ate them, our wonderful hostess, Cheryl Lum of Meridien, just fattened us up without eating us while we aspired to live happily ever after.

*Us comprising the Famousest Flogger of All, KY Speaks, The Queen of the DSLR Kingdom, AWhiffoffart (oops, I mean awhiffoflemongrass), The Queen of the Flogging Kingdom, Masak Masak, The Flying Winged Monkeys, Ciki and A LilFatMonkey (the penguin equivalent of Flying monkeys, ie, flightless), and The Baker who made the gingerbread man....

Favola means "FABLE" in Italian.


What was previously the Middle Eastern Al Nafourah no longer has belly dancers, but murals and frescos made to resemble some casual alfresco dining place in Italy. Check out the man in the mask groping the lady's chest.






The lovely breads. Actually if you are on a low budget, just come here and eat lots of bread, with the lovely potato truffle flavoured dip, and order a small starter. Sure full one! (don't kill me please, Cheryl).


Cold Antipasti (RM35 for a selection of 5) from the Crudo Bar which includes the following:

i. Octopus tossed with chopped garlic, chili flakes, sea salt & olive oil. The octopus was surprisingly tender, and not like something from the Michellin (tyre) factory.

ii. Seafood Salad in a dressing of garlic, chili-olive oil, lemon juice and sprinkled with Italian parsley

iii. Bresaola, shaved dried beef topped with aragula, fresh fig, pink peppercorn, drizzled with lemon juice and extra virgin oil.

iv. Bruschetta with cured salmon, portobello mushrooms and buffalo mozzarella topping

v. Caprese, a unique salad of buffalo mozzarella layered between slices of tomato, basil, anchovies, garlic confit, and oregano.

(Note: Food titles and some descriptions have been shamelessly plagiarised from Alilfatmonkey's blog, since my memory is failing me)


The platter of Warm Caldo Antipasti (which could lead to an angioplasty) included crispy sardines, which were my favourite, coz I don't think I've had them before, breaded cod fritters, with a duo of dipping sauces, of which the garlic sauce was sublime, and Panzerotti. (the curry puff shaped ones). I loved them, because I thought the pastry tasted delightfully buttery. But apparently, its pizza dough, ....perhaps it was fried in butter. Perfect finger foods.


Another starter, crispy pizza dough with olives kinda thing.


While the rest of the table was sitting down in civilised conversation, the two monkeys were roaming the restaurant, trying out the most amazing fruity balsamic, and err....making monkeys of themselves. In an adorable way, of course.


The lobster risotto. Usually not a risotto fan, I found this one quite palatable, perhaps it has been made to cater to our uncultured palate. Not too aldente, but not soggy either.


The Wagyu Cheek Lasagna. Actually it was great, but I felt it would have been just as good with any normal beef. Lovely layers of freshly made lasagna. Eat your heart out, Garfield.


The Conchiglioni Marinara al Cartoccio
Shell shaped pasta, served in parchment paper. Must be inspired by Seri Kembangan chi pau kai. Nicely al dente, and not overpowered by sauces, you could taste the tastiness of the pasta itself, complemented by the subtle tomatoey clammy sauce.


Veal Escalope Duo Mondi, one seared, one breaded. With a generous serving of truffle mashed potatoes. I prefer the seared veal.


The veal osso bucco in rich jus. I love sucking the marrow.


Seared scallops on a bed of mashed cauliflower doused with truffle oil. How can you possibly go wrong with such a divine combination. Hmmm, I feel like having this for lunch.


The honored cast for the fable that night. We had to get home before we turned into pumpkins, before midnight.


The two monkeys. "Let's send our pics with our resumes to Elphaba"


Say Chis Everyone. Let's grope the grappa.





Thamby: Shall I snip off his name tag?


KY: Blink blink, pinch me, am I dreaming, surrounded by such HAWT HAWT CHICKS!!!! I must be in a fable....


One of the house specialties, Mussels err....in a tomato sauce. Although we were bursting at the seams by this time, Cheryl insisted we had a mussel each.


Monkey moans that he has more Mussels!!!


The jolly Chef Antoine and the lovely Paprika aka Ravenous Rabbit.


That blurry thing is actually the empty bone which had its marrow sucked out. (No no no, not the bones in focus. The unfocused one)

Note: How does one pass the meat dishes to CIKI? "Here please pass the meat to those bones"


Their signature Tiramisu. Yummy layers of sponge, soaked in Illy Coffee and slathered with mascarpone and chocolate. This is why the rabbit lost to the tortoise in the race. Too much tiramisu.


A ricotta thingie with summer fruits. Very light, almost yoghurty, and resembles a very healthy breakfast.


My personal favourite for the night, the Panna Cotta with a summer fruit coulis. The texture of the panna cotta was amazing, and the sweetness was balanced by the tangy coulis. Yum.



At the end of it all, the hostess with the mostest tosses her hair back in satisfaction, knowing that her harem* was well fed and contented.

What a feast. And some VERY POTENT GRAPPA at the end to finish us off. Heaps of thanks to Ravenous Rabbit for securing us the invite, and to Cheryl for having us.

Prices are very reasonable. Considering the location and 5 star venue, the prices are comparable with your normal Changkat BB kinda outlets. A casual happy atmosphere, (not the quiet quiet prim proper fine dining atmosphere), a great place to hang out with friends.

And so, we lived happily ever after.

*Special Acknowledgement to Kenny Mah for helping me with my vocabulary.

Congratulations Julian And Louise

A few months ago, in a moment of weakness, and I was not even under the influence of any Scots person named Macallan or Johnny, these newly made friends asked me to make their wedding cake. Cough cough, choke choke. Those of you who know my decoration skills, or lack thereof, would ROFLYAO. Haven't we had enough disasters, in the decor department.

Instinctively I said NOOOOOOOOOO, I DONT MAKE WEDDING CAKES, and it's absolutely true, I DON'T. Ever since the first one, done for a very special friend (that was even before I started "selling" stuff"), I swore, never again. I'm not sure what I swore on. Anyway, there are a few times when you can get me to say, when I would normally say no. 1. when I'm err....happily high. 2. when I am in a hurry 3. when I intend to have an escape plan B. I cannot for my life remember HOW or WHY I said yes. And you know how quickly time flies these days. It's like Rapunzel's father promising his firstborn to the neighbour.... only to find, lo and behold, the dateline has arrived.

DAY 1 - Anyway, it was with great trepidation that I set out with this task. First were the dimensions. My first attempt was very ambitious, with the base at 14" diameter, which used up enough electricity to power a small village. This time, I was wiser, and used a 10" for the base, and baking time wasn't too bad.

DAY 2 - Another lesson I had learnt from the previous attempt, was don't bother making your own fondant. Sure, it's cheaper, but the massage bill after that kinda equalises the cost. Ready made fondant is SOOOO much easier to roll out. Tah dah. Rolled out in less than 5 minutes.

Okay, it's covered. Well, at least the base is. Now what? Argh, where are the masters when you need them?!!!! Oh well, time for dinner at Favola. Cake would have to wait.

DAY 3 - less than 36 hours to the event. Argh, panic panic. How to decorate? Frantic sms to the bride revealed, 1. theme was lavender and cream, 2. they did not have any figurines to put on top. Deep breaths.

Went to Bangsar Village florist. Yikes, how much ribbon do I need? Where is unkaleong when you need him? Circumference for 10" dia, 8" dia and 6" dia please.... let's see, 10"circumference is 2 PI R. 2 x 3.1413x 5 = 32 inches la, let's say. Okay, 2 meters please lady.

[Roll eyes in disbelief]. Petite assistant uses the arm method to measure a metre. Is it a JENGKAL? DEPA? Another reason why they should teach Math and Science in English. Google it, and you can't get any info. You gotta be kidding me lady. I ask the lady boss, "you measure laidat ah"? She grabs the roll from the assistant, and uses HER ARMS instead. Fine. I get back to the office and use the measuring tape, and the blardy ribbon is 180cm only!!!! 20cm short. That's TEN PERCENT!!!! And not enough for the cakes.

ARGGHHHHHHH, rush back to the shop, WITH MEASURING TAPE in pocket. Actually, 2meters is JUST about enough to circumnavigate the three cylindrical shapes. No room for error. Wife help me cut off the fraying edges, but I say, ARRRRGH, careful careful, we have no extra to spare. After much fiddling around, and rushing to go off for birthday dinner at Cuisine Studio, tah dah............

Cannot take near near shots, or you'd see the pimples, the wrinkles etc. Can only take pics far far.

Then, THE JOURNEY to Ambang Botanic, in Klang. With no one to help me, I had to leave the cake in the boot, (4WD boot la, not the sedan car type), and stop after every bump to inspect if it had toppled. Fortunately, it arrived intact.

Now, you see the cake (from afar), looks okay la. But on the way, those pesky pollen from the stamen kinda fertilized the whole cake, and when it arrived, the cake was covered with flower sperm. Fortunately, I think the people in charge did a good job of cleaning it up.

(Cake Cutting Photos courtesy of Hoong Jyn)

And awwwwwwww, this is the sight that makes it all worthwhile. Although I was not there to witness it.

So, congratulations my dears, Julian and Louise. The cake might not have been perfect, but is representative of real life, with all its flaws and dents, but made and given with affection and as a token of friendship.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

God bless you both as you journey on this life of matrimony together.