Cafe Vina @ Setia Alam

Every neighbourhood deserves a a cosy venue like Cafe Vina, situated across the street from a row of terrace homes, spearheaded by the family who founded Pizza Uno in the 1990s (they've since sold their stake in the Italian restaurants).

Cafe Vina's a welcoming place where customers can linger for hours, admiring the colourful collage of Hollywood film posters & European landscape portraits on these walls while appreciating the menu's melange of everything from Portuguese-inspired bacalao & English-style fish & chips to Penang lor bak & Vietnamese spring rolls.

Cafe Vina's fare feels honest, hearty & home-made; the oven-roasted, sausage-stuffed pork belly proves as satisfying as what Mom might make for her family. Fair value for RM26. Pork shoulder (RM28), ribs (RM38) & knuckle (RM60) are available too.

Don't duck the applewood-smoked duck breast (RM28), moist & meaty, flavourful & fulfilling, well complemented by an orange-cranberry glaze, rocket leaves & roasted potatoes. Or order the duck leg confit (RM28) or duck ragu with fusilli pasta (RM20).

Tapas include pan-fried halloumi cheese with olives (RM13), cheese-baked spinach with bacon (RM14), olive oil prawns (RM14) & fried button mushrooms (RM12) ). We also had much-appreciated bites of Cafe Vina's sausages, which taste terrific.

With the family's pizza heritage, it makes sense to try a pizza here, crowned with choices like mixed sausages (RM20), bacon & pineapple (RM20), anchovies & olives (RM20), spicy salami, chillies & onions (RM20) or prawn, squid & mussels (RM23).

If you're reading this before the close of February, head over for Cafe Vina's CNY lap mei fan (RM25). Setia Alam might seem a distant drive for most of us, but this restaurant is worthwhile if you're looking for an easygoing retreat run by gracious people.

Alas, we had no stomach space remaining for dessert, which spans the likes of upside-down apple cupcakes with ice cream (RM6), crepe suzette (RM11) & tiramisu (RM11) at Cafe Vina. Bring your own wine - the corkage fee is only RM10 per bottle.

Cafe Vina
8 Jalan Setia Indah Y U13/Y, Shah Alam. Open Wednesday-Monday, lunch & dinner. Closed Tuesdays. Tel: 03-3359-6895

Check out the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, featuring 100 recommended restaurants for January-March 2015. This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://eatdrinkkl.cld.bz/2015 

This link expires March 31, 2015. Please check the newest blog entries after that for fresh links.

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Sausages to sambal. Muffins to marshmallows. Peanut butter to mango chutney. Cornflake ice cream to honey aloe yogurt. Lavender-laced lemonades to lychee-&-guava juices.

Eat Drink KL: Small Businesses, Huge Flavours is the first eBook to help customers navigate the diversity of independent F&B entrepreneurs who bake & boil in their own kitchens, offering some of Malaysia's finest, most fascinating food products.

This resource will be continuously updated with new listings: www.eatdrinkkl.publ.com/businesses 

Iberico Kitchen @ Oasis Ara Damansara

Trying to take a passion for pork to tempting new thresholds, Iberico Kitchen is devoted exclusively - as its name indicates - to the Pata Negra breed of acorn-foraging Iberian pigs, with a porky potpourri that swoops from Iberico salads to Iberico burgers.

 If you're hungry for the hog, we'll rubber-stamp the Iberico shoulder loin, a tableau of unexpected tenderness, readied semi-confit style & surrounded by portobello mushrooms, oven-baked tomato & a Lebanese-inspired potato cake that hints at Iberico Kitchen's cross-continental influences. RM58; a simple-looking but stellar-tasting testimony to pork's persuasive power.

 Iberico Kitchen combs through the world's trove of meat-based recipes, emerging with highlights like this juicy Iberico jowl schnitzel, cocooned in Japanese bread crumbs & complemented by a vegetable kebab, peppers salad, house-made sauce & mashed potatoes or fries. RM39; prices here are comprehensibly higher than the norm, since this is premium imported pork.

 And of course, there will be Iberico ribs, the kind you'll grease your fingers for & lick your lips over. Two variations are offered - 'Original' or 'Honey-Glazed,' served in quarter-racks (as seen above), half-racks or full racks for RM16 per 100 grams. Each quarter-rack sampler comes with a side dish; choose from paprika fries, pilaf rice, pineapple salsa, creamy sweet corn & more.

Pasta gets an upgrade, with aglio olio topped with pan-seared collar slices that showcase Iberico's pure but rich flavour. RM33.

If you read this before the Chinese New Year fortnight ends, head over for this Iberico ham yee sang, a terrific twist on the season's staple, with the ham supplying a smooth, sweet-savoury succulence that elevates a plate full of crisp, fresh nuances.

And if the kitchen's not too busy, it obliges requests for customised orders - we like the seafood fried rice here, which comes topped with shrimp & loaded with crab meat interspersed among the grains (RM19), but why not make it a true porky pleasure too by adding the restaurant's own-made Iberico jowl meatballs, which will cost extra but prove worthwhile.

Off-menu specials might be possible, but be warned that the Iberico belly, luscious though it is, comprises more fat than flesh. There's more to come, since the restaurant remains new; expect everything from Iberico paella to Iberico spare rib 'har mee.'

Desserts are pork-free; the crema catalana with watermelon salsa is a light & refreshing bet after a hog-heavy feast. RM15.

Iberico Kitchen

D-G-07, Oasis Square, Oasis Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Open Thursday-Tuesday, 11am-3pm & 6pm-10pm. Closed Wednesdays. Tel: 03-7859-9296

Click here for online reservations.

This restaurant is available for bookings under TABLEAPP, which enables customers to make instant reservations at Malaysia's top restaurants, while saving time and money in the process. Reserve your table at this restaurant by clicking here.

Check out the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, featuring 100 recommended restaurants for January-March 2015. This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://eatdrinkkl.cld.bz/2015 

This link expires March 31, 2015. Please check the newest blog entries after that for fresh links.

Stay up to date: The Eat Drink KL newsletter is sent by email to subscribers every Monday; it's the Klang Valley's foremost weekly round-up of new restaurant openings (even before they're featured on this blog), F&B promotions & other tasty tidbits.

Subscribe to Eat Drink KL Weekly for free via this following link: 

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Sausages to sambal. Muffins to marshmallows. Peanut butter to mango chutney. Cornflake ice cream to honey aloe yogurt. Lavender-laced lemonades to lychee-&-guava juices.

Eat Drink KL: Small Businesses, Huge Flavours is the first eBook to help customers navigate the diversity of independent F&B entrepreneurs who bake & boil in their own kitchens, offering some of Malaysia's finest, most fascinating food products.

This resource will be continuously updated with new listings: www.eatdrinkkl.publ.com/businesses 

Ticket To Korea @ Setiawalk, Puchong

Ticket To Korea tries to take culinary travellers on a first-class trip to explore Seoul's soul food; its friendly Korean founders, Jeff & Soo, are a young couple who've poured their passion into nurturing a warm, welcoming restaurant with enjoyable ideas.

Soo leads the kitchen, overseeing a selection that balances time-honoured comforts with modern-minded creations. For the former, the seafood pancake is lovely - warm & fresh, thick & tender. For the latter, the quesadillas packed with kimchi & cheddar & mozzarella (RM18.50) show how a skilled chef bridges the gastronomic gap between Korean & Tex-Mex cooking.

Piping-hot puffs, crispy outside, creamy within with sweet potato & cheese (RM6). Ticket To Korea's menu isn't too wide, comprising only 20-plus dishes, but there's something for everybody, even folks who might not typically be Korean food fans.

Pasta salad, with noodles topped mightily with veggies & ricotta & parmesan (cheeses play a pivotal role at Ticket To Korea), flavoured further with Oriental-inspired sauce. A big bowl, fulfilling a full day's requirement of carbs & fibre, feeds two. RM34.

For a taste of the traditional, this perfect-for-winter stew is a hearty assortment of ham & sausage slices, cooked with noodles & veggies in spicy chicken broth that flaunts unmistakably Korean dimensions of flavour. RM35 for medium, RM65 for large.

The restaurant's pride: Sous-vide, sizzling pork belly, cooked for 48 hours in low temperature, then roasted on the grill for a caramelised crunch & fleshy-fatty succulence, complemented by mushrooms, spring onions & sweet-savoury sauce. RM56.

Desserts are all about ice cream; have it with crushed Oreos on a metal plates for a hot-cold interplay of textures (RM19.50), or with natural honey & its hive (RM6.50), or with popcorn & Himalayan rock salt (RM17.50). 

Drinks also display a distinctive touch, with blackcurrant, lemon or orange juices jazzed up with chia seeds (RM11.50).

There are Korean cocktails too, from the eye-catching, easy-to-drink Soju Pineapple (RM45, with RM35 for each refill) to the Soju Mojito (RM30, with green grapes, green apples & lemon). Many thanks to Jeff & Soo for hosting this memorable meal. 

Ticket To Korea

C-8-1, Block C, Setiawalk, Puchong, Selangor. Open Wednesday to Monday, 12pm-3pm, 5pm-11pm (closed Tuesday)

Check out the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, featuring 100 recommended restaurants for January-March 2015. This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://eatdrinkkl.cld.bz/2015 

This link expires March 31, 2015. Please check the newest blog entries after that for fresh links.

Stay up to date: The Eat Drink KL newsletter is sent by email to subscribers every Monday; it's the Klang Valley's foremost weekly round-up of new restaurant openings (even before they're featured on this blog), F&B promotions & other tasty tidbits.

Subscribe to Eat Drink KL Weekly for free via this following link: 

https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/5106C196432BB23D

Note to subscribers on Gmail: The newsletter will be in the Promotions folder of your inbox.

Sausages to sambal. Muffins to marshmallows. Peanut butter to mango chutney. Cornflake ice cream to honey aloe yogurt. Lavender-laced lemonades to lychee-&-guava juices.

Eat Drink KL: Small Businesses, Huge Flavours is the first eBook to help customers navigate the diversity of independent F&B entrepreneurs who bake & boil in their own kitchens, offering some of Malaysia's finest, most fascinating food products.

This resource will be continuously updated with new listings: www.eatdrinkkl.publ.com/businesses