EAT Food Village

EAT Food Village: Round Two. Earlier entry: August 21.

Here's more from this Solaris Dutamas food court, starting with Kin Kin Chili Pan Mee. Even though Kin Kin's main outlet on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman is only a 10-minute drive from my office, this was my first taste of its yolk-sloshed, anchovy-fraught noodles. Delectably creamy and savory, but I heeded everyone's advice by not pouring in too much chili.

The cult of claypot recruited us with this Hun Kee Tian Yuan ginger duck rice, a 40-year-old recipe from chef See To Hun. Well worth the calories, featuring a bonanza of steaming-hot, aromatic rice & tender, gravy-enhanced meat.

Sentul's Ah Yap potato flour noodles, fried in the fashion of Hokkien mee. Not as starchy as feared, though not as satisfying as regular Hokkien mee (dude, where's my pork lard?).

Loke Yun Hainanese chicken rice from Ampang. Fair but forgettable; what we really enjoyed was this set's freshly made ginger chili sauce (not in photo), which proved astonishingly addictive for a mere accompaniment.

Lorong Seratus Tahun curry mee. Nothing like the sight of hearty cockles to warm the cockles of our heart (though the curry seemed too oily to finish).

Bukit Mertajam yam rice with stewed pork & egg. Fragrant grains, flavorful protein.

E.A.T. Food Village,

Publika Shopping Gallery,

Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur.

Souled Out @ Ampang

Souled Out has opened its second outpost, storming into Ampang with the kind of food, cocktails & vibe for which its long-entrenched Hartamas trailblazer is renowned.

A familiar fusion favorite: the Sake San wood-fired pizza, abundantly topped with salmon sashimi, cherry tomatoes, lolorosso, mayo & a touch of wasabi. This seemed more impressive when we first tried it several years ago in Hartamas, but it still nicely encapsulates Souled Out's doctrine of dishing out comfort food filled with fresh ingredients.

Sunset Beach (vodka, melon liquor, amaretto, cranberry juice) & Strawberry Dreams (vodka, bailey's, strawberry ice cream, strawberry puree, strawberries).

Cosmopolitan Long Island & Watermelon Mojito. Souled Out's cocktails are potent enough to please, though the current selection at Ampang is not as wide as Hartamas'.

For even more challenging cocktails, take a five-minute drive to Tate at The Intermark, where manager-mixologist Kevin's latest creation is his own spin on the Bloody Mary, featuring the freshest of tomatoes, roasted capsicum & a triple whammy of pepper, chili flakes & Cayenne pepper for a spectacularly complex spiciness that lingers on the palate.

Earlier entries on Tate: June 30 & July 27.

To wrap up, some more shots of Souled Out, our recent refuge from rain.

Souled Out,

Menara HSC, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2181-1626

Trattoria Il Porcellino

Now that Il Lido has gone pork-free & Chiaroscuro is plain gone, here's where can we go hog-wild with Italian cuisine in the city center.

Not the typical bruschetta: one topped with pork lard & walnuts, the other with minced pork & emmental cheese. A fabulously flavorful introduction to Trattoria Il Porcellino, a pork-filled, vastly superior offshoot of Jalan P. Ramlee's pork-free Trattoria Cucina Italia.

Tomino cheese wrapped in speck bacon. Soft, oven-baked cheese with smoky, salt-cured bacon: a hookup that's sinful but sensational.

Porchetta ham, described as "the product of a pig that's gutted, deboned, arranged in layers of meat, fat & skin, then rolled, spitted & roasted over wood." Sounds tediously elaborate, but the result tastes more satisfying than supermarket ham.

Crisp-skin suckling pig ribs stuffed with cheese & ham. A bane for girth control; too fatty & greasy for our liking, but still a rather unique recipe.

Atomica Pizza, topped with spreadable pork sausage, tomato & mozzarella. A fine change from other pizzas topped with ordinary sausage slices. This has mushy, spicy sausage meat spread across its surface, providing a pleasurable pungency to every bite.

Ruffino, Aziano Chianti Classico DOCG (Toscana). All in all, there's much to recommend about Trattoria Il Porcellino, a rare Italian outlet that has a predominantly female staff, including the heads of both its kitchen & service team.

Trattoria Il Porcellino,

Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.

D'Ceilo

Hoping that Bangsar can sustain another spaghetti-serving sanctum, D'Ceilo has taken over from Tea For Two on Jalan Bangkung.

Smoked salmon bruschetta. This satisfactory starter fairly symbolizes D'Ceilo's philosophy of providing hearty, fuss-free Italian fare.

Spaghetti Gran D'Ceilo, a remarkably flavorful mountain of noodles with (deep breath) mussels, scallops, clams, prawns, broccoli, mushrooms, asparagus, capers & black olives, cooked in aluminum foil & topped with smoked duck breast & mesclun. On paper, this sounds pricey at RM123++, but three or four people can merrily share in its wealth of ingredients.

A kilogram of mirepoix-poached Red Sea prawns _ 24 air-flown crustaceans, all in all. Plump and juicy, but probably too much of a good thing. Suitable for, say, six to eight diners.

Keeping up the seafood streak: pan-seared salmon trout with vanilla pod tahitensis cream, butter basil, balsamic tomato & herbs. Moist and flaky; a relatively healthy reminder that Italian cooking isn't always a guilty affair.

One misstep: scallop, prawn & broccoli risotto. Closer to mushy than al dente.

Canadian cod, oven-baked with paprika & wild honey to enrich the fish's delicate flavors & garnished with tomato salsa to ensure a zesty zip.

Complimentary dessert: a twist on the traditional molten chocolate cake, set like pudding at the base of a bowl & topped with vanilla ice cream. This photo depicts the delicious hot mess that remained after we pierced through the gooey chocolate lava.

Double trouble: Lychee Mojito & Apple Mojito. Rejoice! A full bar serves cocktails here.

Richland Estate Chardonnay (2010, Australia). To quote a dwarf, everything's better with some wine in the belly.

D'Ceilo (or D'Ciello, perhaps; the manager's card spells it one way, the menu another),

Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2095-3729

EAT Food Village

This cavernous food court, specializing in non-halal Chinese street fare, is the first eatery at Solaris Dutamas' soon-to-open Publika shopping gallery.

Reminiscent of Lot 10's Hutong, EAT Food Village gathers a slew of beloved businesses from the Klang Valley & Penang under one air-conditioned roof.

Straight from Sentul, Ah Yap's charcoal wok-fried Hokkien Mee is a lard-laden pleasure, certainly comparable to Hutong's Kim Lian Kee (though perhaps with slightly less 'wok hei').

Also from the 50-year-old Ah Yap: buttermilk pork ribs, creamy and a bit spicy.

Bukit Mertajam loh bak, boasting a fresh, flavorful feel. Crisp outside, hot & juicy within.

Also worthwhile, hailing from somewhere on Penang's mainland: salted pork & a savory soup brimming with pork liver, intestines & pig's blood tofu.

Lorong Seratus Tahun char kuey teow, a mainstay in both Penang & Petaling Jaya's SS2. Decent, though some extra cockles would make this much more satisfying.

More outlets will be opening here soon, including bak kut teh from Klang among others.

Business hours are 10am-3pm daily, but they'll be extended through dinnertime eventually.

E.A.T. Food Village,

Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur.

Chawan @ Citta

Following its tremendous success at Telawi, Chawan has opened its second outlet at an unexpected location _ Ara Damansara's Citta Mall (we'd have expected Mont Kiara or TTDI).

Lontong with rendang daging tok. Decent enough to satisfy any hankering for Malay food, though the rice cakes might seem slightly too stodgy.

Nasi kerabu with ayam percik. Not the best in town, but it contains all the essential ingredients. Some of the food here could be precooked and lightly reheated on order, so both the rice cakes in the lontong and the rice in the nasi kerabu risk being less than lukewarm.

Entry on Chawan @ Bangsar: July 31, 2010.

Chawan,

Citta Mall, Ara Damansara.