Common Feed, Plaza Batai

This new firewood-filled venue tackles not only wood-fired pizzas but wood-fire grilled steaks.

Common Feed's Angus MB2+ ribeye (RM38 per 100 grams) emerges irresistibly at the table, its crisp, commanding char surrounding a perfect-pink medium-rare centre. No-nonsense beef that represents rustic, red-meat realness, the kind of bold-bodied cut to expect at a carnivore's campfire.

The wood-fired pizzas boast paper-light crusts, blanketed with well-rounded toppings like a Polish-style kielbasa spicy sausage spread and bacon (RM38), proper enough for a pizza night in Damansara Heights.

Parmesan potato gnocchi surface with a slight smokiness, plus a side of firm, briny-fresh clams coated in wood-roasted pepper-Cognac cream (RM32). 

You could have a full-fledged Italian dinner here, with pappardelle in thick truffle cream with luscious Serrano ham, sliced portobello, and mushroom soil (RM42).

But the Cognac-cooked duck tops this trio of choices, particularly at its price (RM32), which yields two slabs of plumply tasty breast meat with a red wine glaze, ginger pumpkin puree and orange-fennel salad.

Common Feed

Lot 8-1A, Plaza Batai, Jalan Batai, 50490 Kuala Lumpur. Open Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-10pm. Tel: 03-2011-7882

This post first appeared on eatdrinkkl.com

Huo Flamethrower BBQ, Puchong

The heat is on for fans of red meat in Puchong: Huo Flamethrower BBQ offers sous-vide beef finished by torching, furnishing that final sear with a flourish for a satisfactory steak.

You'll find various cuts here, including MB5 rib eyes and MB7 briskets. But for tighter budgets, Angus is available too: We couldn't resist the Brazilians' most prized cut, the picanha - also known as rump cap - smoothly tender with a relatively robust meaty flavour, topped off with melted garlic butter and a side of kosher salt and salad leaves (RM80).

Huo Flamethrower BBQ is one of various F&B businesses operating in Puchong's Jam Factory restaurant.

Huo Flamethrower BBQ

Jam Factory, 64, Jalan Layang - Layang 2, Bandar Puchong Jaya 47100 Puchong, Selangor.

This post first appeared on eatdrinkkl.com

Cork & Cleaver, Bukit Tunku

If you're game for dining outdoors amid greenery galore, Cork & Cleaver might be your next new favourite haunt, especially if meat is your sustenance of choice.

Start with the salmon hinava - inspired by the Sabah Kadazan-Dusun people's equivalent of ceviche - featuring raw cubed salmon cured with fresh lime, ginger, bitter gourd and bird's eye chillies for a zesty fish dish (RM39) and the steak tartare of freshly ground Angus tenderloin beef with onions, capers, pepper and Worcestershire sauce, topped with a free-range egg yolk, for a true taste of a cherished classic (RM39). 

Cork & Cleaver is both a butchery and a grill, so the highlight of the meal will come from the chiller. Choose from Australian 200-day grain-fed Black Angus cattleman's cutlets to Japanese Omi A5 striploin - we picked the Argentinian pasture-fed rib eye, prepared medium-rare; at RM20 per 100 grams (with a RM25 cooking fee), this was one of our most worthwhile steaks at any restaurant this year, beautifully done with a crusty bite and succulent, sizzling chew, rounded out with no fewer than four sauces (chimichurri, jus, blue cheese and Diane). Pair with house pours at a reasonable RM30 per glass.

Cork & Cleaver

Lot A-2, Taman Tunku, Off, Jln Langgak Tunku, Bukit Tunku, 50480 Kuala Lumpur. Daily, 10am-10pm. Tel: 012-482-7494

This post first appeared on eatdrinkkl.com

Bo All Day Dining: Wagyu Tomahawk

Bovine bliss at Bo: If bigger and beefier is how you savour your steaks, with sultry succulence sealed within a smoky char, Bo All Day Dining's Wagyu Tomahawk is the full-fleshed feast for you, showcasing Australian beef grilled in a British-built oven by an American chef for the best of the carnivorous world.

Chicago-born Executive Chef T. Jay knows his way around a medium-rare cut, having helmed professional kitchens across five countries, from his native U.S. to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Thailand, and now, Malaysia. Harnessing three decades of experience, T. Jay has long harboured a passion and prowess for cooking - his German father and Sicilian-Syrian mother opened up his horizons to food from different cultures, while meals with his boyhood friends from other ethnic communities showed him how various ingredients can convey unique flavours and fragrances. 

It's that border-smashing sense of adventure that T. Jay brings to Bo, making it one of the city centre's most distinctive dining destinations, with a repertoire that spans Wagyu Fat Char Kuey Teow to Jamaican Jerk Chicken Pizza.

Now available for a limited time, perfect for a year-end - or decade-end - celebration, the Wagyu Tomahawk is a primal, caveman-worthy slab that weighs in at about 1.5 kilograms bone-in, showcasing 300-day grain-fed Australian wagyu (marbling score 4-5), from a farm that hand-trims its beef to ensure each tomahawk meets the mark for quality and desirability.

This is no slapdash steak - the tomahawk (RM699++, for four persons to share) takes time, love and tenderness, requiring advance orders by at least three hours, so it's best had during dinner. The Bertha oven, fired by wood or charcoal, takes about 90 minutes to be ready for cooking, for the wood to produce embers and smouldering heat.

The result is worth the effort - Bo's monster-sized rib steak, rich in inter-muscular fat, is a testament to the buttery silkiness of top-flight beef that's prepared right, its caramelised crust yielding to buttery moistness, with each juicy bite conveying a subtle sweetness and sensuous sizzle.

We'd enthusiastically enjoy the tomahawk on its own, but Bo elevates the experience with a series of eight infused salts and peppers, plus two premium sauces, illustrating how seasonings and condiments can brighten or bring even more depth to the beef.

A pinch of Himalayan pink salt could lend an enhancing spark to the steak, placating even purists, while French sea salt and Sarawak white pepper take diners on an instantly gratifying journey through the produce of European waters and Asian highlands. The Chipotle Chile Salt pays homage to T. Jay's American origins, while the Garlic Chips are a tribute to teppanyaki and the Szechuan Pepper furnishes more fire to the meat. Other peppers include coarse ground and pink varietals.

The two sauces comprise Marchand de Vin sauce (a classic red wine reduction laced with shallots and veal stock, accentuating the robustness of the beef) and the Mushroom Cream (a more neutral sauce with a dash of Dijon mustard for punch).

The tomahawk additionally comes with two sides of carbs and fibre for complete nourishment - truffle mashed potatoes, densely creamy, and roasted asparagus with other vegetables of the day - beautifully balancing out the protein.

Bo is one of most ravishing settings for a meal in the heart of KL, a casual but sleekly stylish space that's also ideal for events, accommodating up to 300 guests (about 160 seated) for product launches, engagement dinners, wedding receptions, birthdays, baby showers, and more. Contact Bo All Day Dining for its range of event buffet menus and beverages.

Bo All Day Dining is barely a year old, but its sibling venue - a sister bar named Banker - is set to be birthed in the first quarter of 2020. Located beside Bo, Banker will be a lounge with a sweeping selection of boutique spirits, with cocktails inspired by the Banker's global travels.

Many thanks to Bo All Day Dining for having us here.

Bo All Day Dining

Lot 1-10/1-11, The LINC KL, Jalan Tun Razak, Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

Open Mon-Fri, 11am-1030pm; Sat-Sun, 10am-1030pm. 
Tel: 012-678-0983 (pre-orders by at least three hours are necessary for the Wagyu Tomahawk)

This post first appeared on eatdrinkkl.com