Meisan Szechuan

Chinese New Year set meals at hotel outlets remain as exorbitant as ever, but some are less so. Of course, we get what we pay for, so the cheaper choices exclude premium components.

Meisan Szechuan is an OK option, with sets for six people starting from RM320++.

"Golden Harvest" Four Seasons platter. Food here is 100 percent halal, mostly well-prepared and comes in sufficient portions, though there's nothing mind-blowing.

Braised (fake) shark fin soup. Our favorite for the evening, thanks to an unexpectedly bountiful infusion of crab meat, seafood and spinach.

Crispy chicken. Disappointingly dry and shockingly salty.

Steamed Mandarin fish with assam sauce. Fairly fresh fish engulfed in a spicy recipe.

Crispy prawns in salad sauce with mixed fruits. Not juicy enough to recommend.

Stewed assorted Japanese mushrooms with broccoli & oyster sauce.

Fried rice. Decently done, free from any sickening saturation of oil.

Chilled chrysanthemum flower with lotus seeds & white fungus.

Meisan Szechuan,

Quality Hotel Shah Alam.

Market Hall

Here's our fearless forecast for February: Pavilion's hottest tables will soon be at Markethall, which opens next week after months of anticipatory frenzy.

Freshness is the primary philosophy here: Markethall insists its supply of meat and veggies makes as few stops as possible while traveling from farms and plantations to the kitchen.

The restaurant recently extended an open invitation to regular members of the public to head here for complimentary set meals during staff training sessions. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch (or dinner)?

Ruby Salad (beetroot with goat's cheese, honey-roasted walnuts & watercress). A generous portion of crisp leaves and earthy beets in a well-executed recipe that harmoniously blended soft, savory cheese with crunchy crushed nuts.

Crespelles, stuffed with seafood, lime & coriander in bechamel sauce. Creamy and zesty, these baked crepes should be a real crowd-pleaser.

White Pizza. No tomato sauce, no mozzarella cheese _ topped simply with smoked salmon, avocado, cream cheese, capers, dill & baby spinach. Warm and hearty, but it might have worked better with a thin crust instead of this doughy one.

The creme catalena, smooth and supple, supplied the striking sensation of sweet success. Everything ran without a hitch: the food tasted terrific and the service team moved with perfect speed and plenty of smiles.

Customers can order cocktails from Bedroom KL, the club-lounge beside Markethall, also opening soon. Booze never tasted as delicious as the Dream Cloud (absolut blue, lime juice, vanilla, half & half, strawberries, blueberries) & Vanilla Sky (absolut peach, midori, triple sec, vanilla, red chili, mango juice, vanilla bean).

Need a sneak peek of Bedroom? Here it is.

The publicity will persist; in the days and weeks ahead, many more people will be talking and blogging about both Markethall and Bedroom. Not everybody will be complimentary _ but nothing good ever escapes a backlash.

Market Hall Kitchen + Bar,

Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.

Hanare

Hanare: Round Four. The trilogy has turned into a quadrilogy,

For earlier entries, click: Feb. 2, Feb. 6 & Feb. 8.

We rarely risk ordering "omakase" at Japanese outlets; from experience, letting the chef decide what to serve us can result in a slew of dishes that we dislike. But Hanare surprised us with a cunningly creative selection that was supremely satisfying from the very start _ this slick, savory mix of cucumbers & fine seaweed.

Crunchy mustard flowers with fish roe. Feeling guilt-ridden after weeks of festive feasting? The "omakase" here might help; each course tastes clean, fresh and healthy, even though the meal as a whole remains incredibly indulgent.

Clams with sumiso (vinegar miso sauce). Prices are not outrageous; a basic "omakase" costs around RM180+, while the most lavish one is RM300+.

Baigai (a small water snail with a meaty texture) & smoked duck (deliciously juicy _ the best we've had in KL), accompanied by broad beans & spicy wasabi flowers.

Sea urchin with squid. Also spectacular; the inimitably sweet, soft uni proved to be the perfect partner for the chewy squid's subdued flavors.

No complaints about the sushi platter. Fish is flown in three times a week.

Ditto for the sashimi. Doesn't get more seductively luscious than this.

Tsukemono, a plate of pickled veggies. The radish was remarkable, with an infusion of citrus that imbued this humble root vegetable with real character.

Succulent clams in a tantalizingly tangy broth. Hanare's food should be slowly savored, since the complexities in some of these recipes only reveal themselves with careful consideration; this soup, for example, bore an underlying sweetness that we believe came from Azuki bean paste.

Wagyu beef & burdock with rice in claypot. The Japanese cousin of Spain's paella and Korean bibimbap. Tender, thinly sliced beef, mixed with addictively aromatic rice.

We finished with a flourish, jubilating over a jumble of wafers stuffed with mochi, crushed peanuts & red beans, green tea pudding with vanilla ice cream, and mini-pancakes with apple jam. Ceding control to the chef ended in sweet surrender.

Hanare,

Ground Floor, The Intermark,

Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2164-2133

Real And Wholesome

A full-blown coffee revolution is brewing in KL, with no fewer than half-a-dozen caffeine specialists having opened in recent weeks. Macchiatos are this year's macarons!

R.A.W. sets itself apart by going vegetarian. Its food menu is limited so far to simple sandwiches and side salads, such as this mushroom & tomato on toast. Well-prepared and not the slightest bit bland _ ideal for a light lunch.

Here's a sun-dried tomato & eggplant sandwich for the road. R.A.W. is scheduled to unveil a full restaurant within a few months, providing an alternative to other vegetarian businesses that often only serve variations of Chinese food.

Cappuccino, macchiato (double espresso with milk microfoam) & piccolo (double espresso with textured milk). Satisfying slurps, roasted on site.

Our solitary complaint: the cafe's opening hours are inconvenient, since it closes at around 6 p.m., but that might change after the formal restaurant is launched.

Real And Wholesome (R.A.W. Cafe),

Wisma Equity, Jalan Ampang.

Hanare

Wrapping up our Hanare trilogy, we returned here for this restaurant's first Sunday champagne lunch, which featured a free flow of G.H. Mumm's best bubbly.

For earlier entries (on Hanare's a la carte menu), click: Feb. 2 & Feb. 6.

Hanare offers KL's most limited weekend buffet selection, but quality trumps quantity here; it isn't an all-you-can-eat spread where abundant trays of abysmal food flood the counters. Instead, everything is efficiently and painstakingly prepared to order (even the sashimi, which is only sliced upon request).

Just three types of raw fish were available _ tuna belly, salmon & yellowtail _ but all seemed worthy of blue-ribbon distinction, flown in from Tsukiji Market. As good as sashimi gets in the Klang Valley.

U.S. oysters, freshly shucked as soon as the two-hour lunch started at noon.

The cost is considerable: RM298+ per person with champagne and RM150+ without. But since Hanare's sashimi and oysters are steeply priced on the a la carte menu, this remains a sensible way to freely indulge while still capping your expenses.

Teppanyaki, cooked with a smile. There were only five tables of customers during this lunch, so the service team managed to keep things running smoothly.

Plump prawns & fleshy fish. As someone once sang: let it flow, let it flow, let it flow.

Achingly tender beef, perfectly prepared. Not unnecessarily salty.

Tempura prawns & veggies, lightly battered with minimum oil. To illustrate how Hanare's weekend lunches are an economical alternative to its weekday dinners, a simple plate of seafood tempura on the a la carte menu would already cost 60 ringgit.

Veggies for variety's sake; green is the new pink. Our only complaint: 120 minutes might seem too fleeting for a leisurely lunch, particularly since many other outlets in KL allow three or four hours for Sunday brunches.

Smoked salmon with seaweed & salmon roe. Admittedly though, we were satiated by 2 p.m. and couldn't eat or drink much more. Mission accomplished!

California Maki. And that, folks, is all that this buffet provided (we tried everything!). Nevertheless, noodles and other tidbits will be available in the future.

Japanese strawberry ice cream brought the curtain down on the meal.

Of course, the primary attraction is the ceaseless supply of champagne...

... and all the sake you can slurp (10 glasses per person might be the safe limit). Would two hours be sufficient time to get sloshed? Here's where you can find out.

Service is irreproachable. Our glasses were never empty for more than a minute.

Hanare Japanese Restaurant,

Ground Floor, The Intermark,

Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2164-2133/ 2164-2633