Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Did you know there's a difference between whisky without an E (whiskey), and Scotch refers to whisky produced from Scotland? Well, yeah, I knew the latter, common sense dictated that, but I didn't know a whiskey from a whisky.

When I got an invite to attend a single malt tasting, I was a bit apprehensive at first, coz if it was ANYTHING like WINE tasting, where people swirl the glasses, sniff the wine, gargle it in their throats, and rattle off a verbose list of unpronouncable french terms, like buckay, vintayje, etc. And since I am a pleb, who knocks back anything alcoholic (not those alcohol flavoured stuff like Watsons gin) basically (except tequila & gin, cos I o/d-ed on those in my youth), I thought, hmmm, would a single malt tasting be wasted on me? But I DO LOVE SINGLE MALTS, so I agreed, and in any case, it was a very small crowd of food bloggers that were invited. (before any of yall ask why I didn't invite you, it basically wasn't within my powers to do so, ....alas). Oh, did I mention we were told we'd get to taste a 30 year single malt???? Weep, people, weep.

The venue, Carcosa Seri Negara, no less. Fit for Kings and Queens, and who did I get to escort me? The QUEEN herself. Queen of the DSLR Realm, AWhiffofLemongrass aka Thamby. The woman was riddled with a flu bug, (not the swine variety I hope), and argh, riding in a aircond car with her was as good as sending out a gilded invite to the swarm of bacteria, "You are cordially invited to take up residence in my body"...

We were the first of 4 bloggers to arrive, and met our host, Marian Eu Hooi Khaw. We see her name in the papers all the time, so it's nice to finally put a face to the name. She's such a sweetie, and so very friendly.

Dinner was a buffet spread, ....as our main purpose there was to write about the Single Malt, I didn't really take note of the foods. It was decent enough, the duck confit wrapped in cabbage leaf was delicious, and so were the prawns at the salad bar.


Although the dining room was all decked out, like a bride, we weren't allowed to eat there as they wanted the table settings untouched (like a bride) for the whisky tasting.


The bottles were priced at a special price....


.......which I still cannot afford anyway.



These stairs have had the privilege of being walked upon by Queen Elizabeth II herself...I think.


Her Majesty, Queen of the DSLR





David Mair, Balvenie Brand Ambassador


Our wonderful organiser, Marian Eu Hooi Khaw


According to David, the distillery is somewhere here. (look at arrow)


The 12, 15, 21 and 30 years, waiting to tantalize my palate.


The only distillery to have their own inhouse coppersmith...


The miniature parts, exact replica, of the whisky stills....


The hands of friendship meet over whisky...





Wonder if its to suck in or blow out? Anyway, he's Chummy with Ciki...(get it?)


Famous Blogger, KY Speaks....nice meeting you KY!!!! It was an honor!



Ah, the sweet caress of a 15 year old....


My wife's away in Alor Setar, he tells the 15 year old...



Lyrical Lemongrass has always prided herself on her tongue, which apparently can detect the taste of nearly anything...

Anyway, the 30 year old one, which costs in excess of RM2 k a bottle, is indeed fine stuff. Smooth, and oh so very palatable. It has a wonderful fragrance, mellow okay tones and hints of candied orange peel.

The 21 year old is also great, and to quote their words, refined with remarkable character, it is creamy and silky with fruit, honey and spice notes.

The 15 yr is actually better with water, apparently, but this was the least favourite one, perhaps because I gulped it down BEFORE David said to add some water.

The 12 year is a fine drink, and very drinkable. Funny, someone said that although when you taste the whiskies, obviously it gets better with age, but after you've tried the 30 yr, surprisingly when you go back to the 12, it is PERFECTLY drinkable.

It was a great night out. Thanks Marian, and you know who you are, for organising this!

Four Seasons, Capsquare

I must be the last living KL Blogger who had never been to this place, ... well, to be honest, I wasn't really a diehard fan of the famed Bayswater outlet in Queensway. I preferred the other Chinese eateries along the same road, like Hung Toa, and Kam Tong. But since the sterling has soared to RM7 to the pound, and although it has dropped back to around RM5.5, I haven't been to visit the Queen since 2005, so one has no choice but to replicate one's anglophile needs here in colonial KL. Marks & Spencers, ......Harrods (I still haven't been to the KLCC outlet), ....Victoria Station, ....(kidding), and now, Four Seasons of Bayswater.

The Everybody Loves Raymond group hasn't met up in awhile, and when the list of possible to eat at places was sent out via email, there was a resounding aye to meet here.

For starters, I didn't even know this Capsquare place existed...I mean, I did know, but I didn't know it existed in its present form. It actually looks quite nice. Although it was very quiet at night, I quite liked the ambience of the entire area. Good dinner venue, easy parking, etc.






Surprisingly, we were one of the only tables there that Monday night. However, I am sure the place must fill up at lunch time.



Nothing warms the heart more than seeing a whole range of meats strung up, waiting to be eaten. Actually, yesterday, while lunching at a coffee shop in Lucky Gardens (Nam Chuan), I was counting the chickens (after they hatched) at the chicken rice shop. Wow, just running some quick numbers through my non-Chinese educated and math impedimented brain, I'd say the chicken rice man was into some serious money! He can probably send his kid to study in London and ask them to eat 4 Seasons Duck rice there every day. I digress.


The brinjal hotpot with mince meat is always a favourite, wherever and whenever. If you like brinjal that is. Brinjal. Somehow brinjal sounds so much less exotic than Aubergine or even Egg Plant. What's in a name right. Problem with these dishes, they were all screaming out for rice the way a damsel in distress screams for her prince charming to save her from an ivory tower.


Sweet & Sour Prawns. Truth be told, I have always thought sweet & sour was the "ngak gwai low" golden standard. Which true blooded Han chinese eats sweet and sour ?.... however, there are sometimes when a good sweet and sour dish really adds flavour to complete the entire range of tastes.....the prawns were fresh, and crunchy, and this was a pleasing dish.


I presume this was Hong Kong Choy Sum. Though why Hong Kong, of all places, should be deemed a paradise for growing vegetables, is beyond me. I'd have thought with so little land, growing choy sum wouldn't be high on their GDP earning list. Well, veg is veg. As long as its not too old, and chewy, it's fine by me. Actually I don't even mind old and chewy. I'm a simple person.


Can't remember what taufu dish this was, but I remember it was one of their signature ones, and it was good. Bits of fish paste I think it was. (that's the problem blogging more than a week after the event....these grey cells have been ravaged by alcohol and retain less memory than an outdated pentium)...


Does this dish need an introduction? The layers of fat, sandwiched between the lean, beckon like an old friend. Actually, someone commented it wasn't fat enough. True, but thankfully so. Again, another dish that just yells, RICE PLEASE.


Charsiu, one of the mandatory litmus tests of any roasts place. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it an 8. Pretty good, and a good balance of lean and fat. A conversation ensued about how it's impossible to find fatty charsiu in Singapore.

Hairy Berry, is that true? (very deja vu, I think we've had this conversation before)



Red Velvet cake

My second attempt at a Red Velvet cake. I seem to have major problems with preventing my creams from melting. Maybe because this was put together in haste, and it was like building a house on shifting sands, and the blardy cake nearly collapsed. Fortunately we weren't there for the aesthetics and I think the cake tasted quite good. Well, I gave the remaining quarter to Thamby to try.

Ah, how could I forget their piece de resistance, the famed Roast Duck. Well, let's not compare with the ducks in UK I reckon. I actually find the UK ducks a bit TOO fat (gasp, is that possible!) for my liking, and this one here more suited to my palate. Although the ducks hang around greeting arriving guests in the front, they aren't just chopped up and served immediately. I think they are slowly roasted again slightly, so that its warm, and the skin almost cripsy. Very good. No complaints whatsoever.


Definitely worth a visit. In fact, I went again with my folks 6 days later. Didn't bring camera though. Do try out the see chiu ngau hor too.

Sin Kee, Brickfields, with Jules & L

Intrepid food explorer, Julian Si, (he who can post 10 posts by the 3rd day of the month), asked me to join him & L for the famous chicken chop and mun fan in Brickfields on one fine working day. Why not right. Afterall, it's a privilege to be dining with the Indiana Jones equivalent of the food blogger. Every nook and corner explored, no stone left unturned in discovering the ultimate map to culinary paradise. The holy grail of food, the lost ark....

Yeah, so anyway, we checked with food gurus, AWhiffofLemongrass and Boolicious of Masak Masak where lies this famed chicken chop.... and the answer was Sin Kee, Brickfields. Parking in Brickfields is a blardy nightmare, but fortunately, there's lot of illegal street parking in front of Sin Kee, and they do keep an eye out for the long arm of the law. I guess if the authorities did come, there'd be a mad scramble from each table.

Jules seems to have done his research, and knew exactly what to order. Alas, one of the dishes he ordered (can't remember what) was sold out, so he replaced it with the pork rib rice, which turned out to be fantastic.

The pork rib rice, which was a bonus.

The crunchy greens were perfectly cooked.

Yau Mak with Garlic

The trademark Mun Fan, which is served mysteriously beneath a plastic bowl, .....ah, just thinking about it makes me want to park illegally again just to savour the delights beneath.


What mysteries lie beneath? A finger slowly lifts the protection to explore the goodies therein...

Almost there...we're coming, we're coming....

Ta dah, the veil is lifted.

The famous hainanese chicken chop was good, but nothing particularly outstanding.

Famed Hainanese Chicken Chop

So, definitely worth a visit there. Warning, the place is exceedingly packed, and if you are in a group of 2 or 3, be prepared to share tables with strangers. Incidentally, the table we were sharing with were definitely experts on what to order. In fact, on several instances, I almost accidentally reached out to help myself (psychologically, on the same table, there's a certain bond)....

Nibbleish Food Crawl Event, Changkat Bukit Bintang

Time flies. I didnt realise it was more than a month ago that we attended the Nibbleish event at Leonardo's, and the food crawl in Jln Bangkung, courtesy of Julian Si, Memoirs of a Chocaholic and Nigel Wong of Nibbleish.com.

Another invite to try out the Changkat Bukit Bintang restaurants popped up, and I thought, ah, why not, in these bad times, if one has to work for one's supper, so be it. There is a whole school of thought, spawned from these complimentary food tasting events. However, let's not go into that, suffice to say, under certain circumstances, I see no harm, and in fact, and sometimes rather pleased to be called, afterall, you get to meet new people, etc etc... as was the case here. I met the delightful Alexandra of Chefspiration, the very friendly people from FoodStreet.com, the owners of Le Bouchon, Delucca and Palate Palette, the team from Nibbleish, and another member of the Wong family I didn't know existed. (Nigel's family, that is)....

We assembled at LeBouchon first, where the briefing began (similar to the one at the previous Nibbleish function) and we were served some delectable titbits, and a glass of bubbly, ...and the affable owner, Phillipe Le Francois told us about LeBouchon, and its homely concept, complete with fireplace....




We were given a tour of his upstairs tenant, Envie, a new club, complete with interactive dance floor, (can probably play twister on it), and nice rooftop garden.

To recap, how it works is, you buy the coupon online from Nibbleish, at a discounted rate, and can opt for your starter, mains and dessert at 3 different participating restaurants in the vicinity. For this particular event, starters were at FLAMS, sister restaurant, and pork free, to the famed Bermuda and Onion.

Choices available were a dill cured smoked salmon with ginger seasoning and garden salad, a beef tenderloin carpaccio with parmesan, rocket salad , and truffles soft egg laid on mashed potatoes and celeriac.






As I foresee myself careening towards a high uric acid and gout state in my older age, since I am genetically predisposed to it, I thought, heck, I might as well go for the beef while I still can.


My Beef Carpaccio was HUGE!!!!! Very generous portion indeed, and very nice. It's like eating beef sashimi, I guess. Generally, the idea of eating raw animals from the land isn't as appealing as eating those from the sea, maybe because the original cavemen discovered fire, and cooked mammoths and other meats over it....but the carpaccio was tender and succulent.






The Strawberry Bellini is basically a strawberry puree in some bubbly, I'm guessing either a prosecco or a cava. Very refreshing, and deceptively mild. It is priced at RM22++.


The interior of Flams is dotted with pictures of celebrities we are supposed to be able to identify immediately. The one above is Brigitte Bardot, me thinks.


Of course I know not who's posterior is juxtaposed against the famous Parisian landmark. Can anyone enlighten me?

After a brief tour of Bermuda & Onion, we walked over the the quieter area where No Black Tie, Palate Palette and this new place, reside.

Delucca is located on the ground floor of the spanking new building called One Residency on Jalan Nagasari, although the entrance is more on Jln Mesui.



Choices here were the Fabrizio's Home made fish ravioli with tomato zuchinni and prawn sauce. It looked good, and I didnt hear any complaints to the contrary.



The lamb and mint risotto, according to Alexandra, was a bit bland. I am not a risotto fan anyway, so it would have been an unlikely choice for me.



The other choice was the Home made fettucine with spicy seafood. They are rather generous with their prawns. Huge. Alas, a bit overcooked. But I loved the texture of the fettucine. Correctly al dente, and VERY tasty. I won't mind having it again.






Now, the next stop, is a place I've ALWAYS wanted to go, since Awhiffoflemongrass and her clan speak so much about it. So I was thrilled to know we were desserting here.






There were some really interesting drinks offered to us for trying, which are on the menu.


From the back, the Cappucino Crush, the Oh Boi, RM15 nett (calamansi assam boi with a kick), asam boi, RM7, (minus the kick), and my favourite, the CHILI PADI PASSION MARTINI RM20 nett. A whole new range of sensations as the fiery potion goes through your tastebuds. The proprietor, Paul, (I think) was explaining to us the concept behind the drinks, with his American accent.



Desserts offering included Toasted Carrot Cake.....



I am not a hardcore carrot cake fan, and I feel its too healthy a way to end the night....

A gorgeous ginger creme brulee....which I must order when I go again...thanks Alexandra for the bite,



And dark chocolate cheese cake. Contrary to popular belief, I dont eat out all that often, so I reckon, when I do, I might as well indulge.



The cheesecake was VERY rich, a bit TOO rich for me. I guess if you had had a light meal, this will definitely seal the deal.... but otherwise, I'd stick to the ginger creme brulee.

Now, this entire package is priced at an AMAZING RM51++, if you purchase it from Nibbleish. I reckon that is REALLLLLY good value for money. So, want to kill three birds with one stone, go for it!!!