Chinoz @ BSC

A welcome addition to BSC _ though for the sake of diversity, we'd probably prefer a menu here that isn't a complete replica of what Chinoz at KLCC serves.

But regardless of the location, Chinoz's offerings remain as tasty as always. The poached egg with hollandaise sauce & grilled jumbo asparagus is a decadent delight. Creamy comfort food.

Marinated raw yellowtail with lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil, macadamia nuts & salmon roe. Gorgeously presented. Recommended if you have no qualms about an oily dish.

Pumpkin & parmesan gnocchi with spinach & portobello in tomato ragu. Not bad; the gnocchi could have been fluffier, but it wasn't exactly stodgy either. And while we're usually not fans of tomato-based sauces, at least this one tasted somewhat wholesome.

Slow-cooked beef short rib with root veggies. Hearty, but could be more tender.

Mojito & The Chinoz Imperial (grand marnier, cognac, espresso, hot milk, chocolate & whipped cream). Can always count on Chinoz's drinks for a decent buzz.

Shizuoka Japanese green tea for a healthy touch.

It's been an excellent year for eating out in KL. Wherever you are reading this, whoever you are, here's wishing you a 2011 filled with as much happiness as your heart can hold.

Chinoz,

Ground Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre.

Brasserie Le Carnot

France, Part IV: This provincial brasserie was an accidental discovery, but a happy one!

The main attraction here: the notorious Andouillette sausage, a powerfully odorous pig colon-&-tripe sausage that smells exactly like a bad public restroom. Even as the plate is brought to the table, the stench of it already assaults your nostrils.

The key to eating this is not breathing while you bite into it and chew. If you can manage that, it's actually addictive: supremely succulent, with complex flavors that manage to be both sweet and savory (but with a stinky aftertaste nevertheless).

Less intrepid eaters can still find tremendous pleasure in the Perigord salad. The version here is a massive mound of green salad with duck gizzard, smoked magret, foie gras, potatoes & croutons. This probably contains as much carbs, fat and sodium as three Big Macs, but let's say it right now: this was the best salad we had all year.

Being in Champagne region, champagne had to be the drink of choice, naturally.

The brasserie is a five-minute stroll from Reims' marvelous Gothic cathedral.

Brasserie Le Carnot,

Reims, France.

My Cookbook

Beware: the following photos depict a potentially shocking eggs-travaganza of a meal.

Forty-five-minute poached egg with black cream sauce on dried scallop toast. Tasted like regular soft-boiled egg, though that's not a bad thing. The toast was crunchy but slightly too charred.

Half-boiled eggs with crispy squid & curry-butter baguette. A liquidy mess to scoop out and eat, but what a fine mess. Or, just pop the eggs into your mouth for explosions of gooey goodness.

Smoked Omega eggs with fish roe & shimeji mushrooms. Similar to the seasoned eggs often served with Japanese ramen. The roe and mushrooms made scarcely any impact.

Black-eyed pea cake with salted egg yolk & chili. Creamy comfort food. As greasy as the pan-fried radish cakes offered at traditional dim sum outlets.

Sang har porridge with century eggs. Recommended for anyone who's bored of bland, watery porridges. This had us licking our lips and our spoons.

Sang har noodles in prawn broth with 45-minute poached egg. A satisfactory alternative to sang har meen, with the chicken egg adding a burst of extra flavor.

Pineapple & green apple juice, alongside Savanna Cider.

So ultimately, that's what My Cookbook is all about _ a creative menu featuring Chinese fare with contemporary flourishes. A nice change from the nondescript watering holes at Sunway Giza.

My Cookbook,

A-12, Sunway Giza Mall,

Sunway Damansara, Kota Damansara.

Tel: 6140-6113

The Red Victorian

The Red Victorian's quirky decor makes it one of Changkat Bukit Bintang's most singular settings, though some might find it kinda kitschy. Do 19th-century ornaments belong in (A) a restaurant, (B) a museum, or (C) a haunted mansion?

The menu here features a mishmash of mostly Western recipes. This "Summer of Love" salad was supposed to contain cucumbers, red onions, boiled eggs, pineapples & shrimp, but the cucumbers were replaced with lettuce, while the shrimp was absent until we requested it (yep, missing ingredients are a pet peeve for us). Not a bad recipe, but forgettable.

Onion soup with beef bouillon & red wine. Flavorsome enough to mop up with the bread, though it could nevertheless have been richer. OK, that's nitpicking.

Sea bass with fennel & linguine. A thick slab of moist, meaty fish, with reasonably well-prepared pasta. Simple but satisfactory.

Pan-fried sliced calf liver with tomatoes, onions, garlic & bread. Chewy, strong-tasting offal. Not exactly a crowd-pleaser, but liver lovers should be OK with this.

Potato pancakes. Basically rosti, but pretty much perfect. Chunky potatoes _ crisp on the edges, soft and fluffy inside. Not greasy at all, the 'pancakes' worked fabulously with the creamy mushroom sauce.

Vina Maipo Cabernet Sauvignon (Valle Central, Chile). Medium-bodied and balanced.

The Red Victorian,

Lorong Sahabat, Off Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

Busaba

Another week, another insanely beautiful restaurant opens at BSC.

Busaba exudes a calm splendor that makes it ideal for a memorable meal.

Fish maw salad. A marvelous mix of tastes and textures; light, crisp maw with fresh veggies and crunchy cashews, all tossed in a tangy, delicate dressing.

Coconut soup with chicken & mushrooms. Reasonably thick and aromatic, brimming with enough ingredients to make a hearty meal even by itself.

Steamed sea bass with garlic, ginger & onions. Firm, fresh and fleshy fish; not as piquant as some might expect, but we still devoured everything except the bones.

Asparagus with shrimp paste & prawns. Well-prepared, but not terribly thrilling.

Southern-style beef curry with peanuts & potatoes. Tender meat in a curry that wasn't as creamy as we might have preferred. Still, it struck a nice balance between being spicy enough to titillate our taste buds and mild enough to keep our digestive systems calm.

Evan & Tate Salisbury Cabernet Merlot. A fair selection of wine is available by the bottle, but there are too few choices by the glass.

One bonus: for the Christmas season, they've been playing David Archuleta's 'Christmas From The Heart' CD. So all you Arch-Angels know where to go now!

The drawbacks: iced & warm water isn't served for free, so customers have to order mineral water. Also, the food seems laden with MSG, since we were thirsty for hours.

Busaba Thai Restaurant,

F15, 1st Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 2093-7708

XVI Avenue

France, Part III: One of the pleasures of Paris is sitting by the street outside a bistro in the evening, while watching the world go by. Fortunately, we managed to savor this during autumn, before the recent snowstorms struck.

A bit of booze is all we need. Louis de Saucy rose, orange juice & Gosset brut. Cheers!

XVI Avenue,

Paris.

Chi Ka Yin

There's Hakka blood in me (supposedly), which might explain why I like this cuisine.

Abacus seeds. Glutinous goodness. The Chinese version of gnocchi, right.

Pork belly with yam. The meat could have been more tender, but this recipe always turns out to be an enjoyable combo of protein and carbs.

Salted chicken. Reasonably juicy and not excessively loaded with sodium.

Vinegared pork knuckles. A tad too chewy to recommend. Pity.

Spring rolls. Seemed fresh, without the artificial feel that often plagues spring rolls.

Steamed pork with salted egg. Soft, fluffy and absolutely addictive. Loved it.

Hakka yong tau foo. Nothing wrong with this _ except that it's 100% forgettable.

Stir-fried "dou miao." Obligatory veggies. Crunchy and tasty nevertheless.

Chi Ka Yin,
Bandar Puteri Puchong.