Sao Nam @ Tengkat Tong Shin

Still a popular draw, thanks to its consistently delicious food.

Sao Nam's star recipe, the mangosteen & prawn salad, deserves all the acclaim it has reaped. Plump tiger prawns, succulent mangosteens, grated coconut, peanuts, sesame seeds, dried squid flown from Vietnam and the chef's kumquat dressing.

Vietnamese crispy pancake, stuffed with minced chicken, prawns & bean sprouts, enhanced with coconut milk, turmeric powder & spring onions, served with fish dip. Fun to eat, with lots of crisp leaves to make it seem like a healthy order.

Grilled fish wrapped in pate. Memorably fascinating, with a melt-in-the-mouth creaminess that made each bite a pleasure.

Stir-fried beef with five-spice powder & pink pepper simmered with young coconut. Succulent meat in a thick, aromatic gravy.

Chicken stewed in caramel sauce. Sweet-&-salty comfort food.

Ciku smoothie, mango smoothie and iced lemon tea.

Hardys Rose 2007. A light wine with fruity flavours.

Sao Nam,

Tengkat Tong Shin.

Ecoba @ PJ Trade, Damansara Perdana

Click here for earlier entry on Ecoba (April 9).

Seafood kerabu. A surprisingly tasty Thai-inspired concoction, comprising lots of fresh prawns, mussels, squid and fish. Piquant but not too spicy.

Spaghetti aglio olio with prawns. Unmemorable. Not quite al dente.

Fish & chips. A hearty serving, but a crisp batter would have made it better.

Beef ribs. Too chewy to recommend. Could have done without the chili sauce.

Still no cocktails or wine here this week, but beer remains ever-present.

Ecoba,

PJ Trade Centre, Damansara Perdana.

Qba @ Westin Kuala Lumpur

One of the most vibrant settings to be found in a KL hotel.

Qba specialises in beef, as well as a vast variety of tapas for customers to nibble on while savouring the restaurant's salsa music.

Saltiest complimentary nuts ever! They could have been made entirely of salt.

Potatoes Rioja-style, with chorizo & olive oil fried egg. A super supper snack, with heaps of starch and grease to soak up all the late-night booze.

Freshly shucked Irish Pacific oysters with Latin salsa. Not the best ever, but good enough to drown out any oyster cravings.

Rocket leaves, Cabrales blue cheese, fresh figs & hazelnuts. A flavour-packed salad, with lots of luscious figs buried beneath a mountain of other ingredients.

Poached bone marrow with lemon jus & deviled quail eggs. Less thrilling than we had anticipated; stick to Dish for a heartier, more sinful version.

Pecadillo con Huervos (the "Cuban Nasi Campur"). A massive mix of white rice with beef hash, fried egg (again!), braised canary beans, plantain banana crisps, avocado, pineapple & cocoa bean salad. Might be tastier if the rice had been fried instead of being steamed plain.

Longhorn Tasman eye fillet with blue cheese fondue & braised shallots. Forgettable, despite the clear effort put into creating this recipe.

Wagyu eye fillet, wild mushrooms & truffled taro cakes. Coulda been more succulent.

Master Kobe sirloin with almond & apricot beignets & sea urchin sauce mousseline. Not as sensational as Kobe beef ought to be, though the use of uni was a tasty twist.

Kechetini (ketel one vodka, lychee, creme de cassis) & Just As Nice (baileys, drambuie, peach schnapps, fresh cream).

Ciudad Mexico (tequila, cointreau, cranberry juice, lemon juice) & Escorpion (light rum, amaretto, grand marnier, orange juice, lemon juice).

Qba,

The Westin, Kuala Lumpur.

Bibitus @ Changkat Bukit Bintang

Click here for earlier entry on Bibitus (January 14).

Hickory-smoked anchovies with cream cheese & lemon butter sauce on organic rye & molasses toast. Salty, smoky and slimy, but it worked very well as a melt-in-the-mouth pleasure. Wish we could have ordered a dozen of these!

Basil-infused snails with pea puree, tomato glaze & garlic peanut crumble. A visual treat, a veritable symphony of tastes and textures (like virtually everything here).

Organic chicken breast, seared & then baked in a hay, salt & spice crust, served with celeriac truffle pancake, celeriac puree & verjuice glaze. Not as dried out as breast meat tends to be, but carried an earthy taste uncommon in chicken recipes.

Betel leaf-wrapped Angus tenderloin with Savoy cabbage & Indonesian black nut. A knockout platter with Asian influences. I've never seen buah keluak outside of Nyonya outlets, but its creamy texture and olive-like flavour performed magic with the super-succulent beef.

Thyme & honey ice cream. A refreshingly chilled conclusion to a chilled-out evening.

Hickory-smoked chocolate ice cream. A bizarre but breathtaking twist to the typical choc ice cream. Imagine it flavoured with a Tex-Mex BBQ sauce.

Cotes du Rhone, Le Clos du Caillou, Dom. Poulzin-Vacheron.

Bibitus @ Frangipani,

Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Gelatomio Lounge @ Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

The gelato craze that's sweeping the city hasn't spared Pavilion.

These chilly, creamy confections are surprisingly good here, particularly several alcohol-laced flavours that come in various preparations, including teppanyaki-style.

A double whammy of tiramisu & zabaione gelati. Soft, smooth and not too sweet.

Waffle topped with rum gelato. The taste of booze is subtle, but definitely there.

Croissant stuffed with Cointreau orange gelato. A creatively different way of enjoying croissants. Portions here are pretty generous too.

Green tea ice cream cake. Looked unappetizing, but tasted terrifically milky.

Crepe topped with rum & raisin gelato. Even though gelato is their focus, all their pastries are impeccably prepared too.

Gelatomio Lounge,

Pavilion.

Spritz @ Changkat, KL

Click here for earlier entry on Spritz (April 16).

Deep-fried olives with pork & herb stuffing. A strange but superb starter. The piping-hot, melt-in-the-mouth meat worked well with the flavour-packed olives.

Gnocchi with blue cheese cream & rocket salad. Well-prepared; not as stodgy as many versions elsewhere, though still not as fluffy as it could have been.

Spinach & ricotta cheese dumplings (malfatti) with butter sage sauce & parma ham. Hearty and heavy; best reserved for diners with voracious appetites.

Ossobucco (braised veal shank Milanese style) on a bed of saffron risotto. The rice was lacklustre, with little hint of saffron, but the marrow-filled veal was a meaty treat.

Chocolate mousse. A stunner; this might be the best chocolate mousse in the city. Spectacularly light, with a texture that could have been made in heaven. Combine that with a decadently rich cocoa flavour, and it's a recipe that we pray wasn't a fluke.

Tiramisu. Not bad, but rather ordinary in comparison to the mousse.

Spritz Bar Ristorante Italiano,

Changkat Bukit Bintang.