Eat Drink KL

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Haru Japanese Restaurant @ Kasah, Medan Damansara

Haru sprang to life in Bukit Damansara this week, specialising in omakase-style dining that showcases the imagination & craftsmanship of Malaysian chefs. Run by a hard-working team, Haru has the potential to become a well-respected restaurant.

The main man behind Haru's counter is Chef Oreo, formerly of Coco Tei; he's spent much of the past year refining his skills at restaurants in Tokyo, Osaka & Hokkaido, with an eye toward channelling that experience in creative ways at his new workplace.

This week, Haru's recommended omakase set costs RM180++, kicking off with a nice-to-nibble selection of starters that work well as an introduction to the meal ahead.

Haru's sashimi is entirely enjoyable too; no complaints, only praise for this platter.

If you're in a group, you'll receive a sharing platter of raw fish, painstakingly put together for excellent visual allure.

Apple salad, with crunchy-creamy components that keep our palates pleasurably perked up.

Grilled prawn with salmon belly & flying fish roe. Expertly executed; succulent & savoury.

Love this combo too: Maguro with foie gras, salmon with truffle oil, kampachi with fish roe.

Oden? Absolutely, yes, please. A lovely surprise to see this being served here.

The sushi platter is tasty too; not a show-stopper but satisfying enough in its simplicity.

Umeshu jelly brings the meal to an end. Worth the cost? Pretty much ...

... especially since we guzzled glass after glass after glass of sake. JULY EDIT: Do note, a free flow of sake was initially included in the RM180++ cost of the meal as an opening promotion for Haru; however, it is no longer available for now.

Haru may start serving an a la carte selection next month for customers who don't have two hours to indulge in omakase offerings. Expect reasonably priced options like a three-coloured bowl of udon & soba ...

... or seafood (prawns, salmon & scallops), pan-fried with butter. Will we hear more about Haru in the months ahead? Definitely.

Haru Japanese Restaurant

124A, Jalan Kasah, Medan Damansara, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2011-8783

Lunch & dinner, Tuesday-Sunday

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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 is a catalogue of insights into what inspires our contemporary culinary craftspeople, from Elsie & her sister Jennifer's experiments with tong yuen at home to Eugene & Emrys' escapades with hand-crafted sodas in Tokyo.

This resource will be continuously updated with new listings, so bookmark the following permanent link & check back regularly to find out what's fresh: www.eatdrinkkl.publ.com/businesses

Also, take a look at the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favourites, completely redesigned with a revamped look, featuring 100 recommended restaurants for April-June 2014, including more than 30 new entries for this quarter. This eBook is available to read or download at this link: http://eatdrinkkl.publ.com/Eat-Drink-KL-100-Favourites-Apr-Jun-2014 (Link expires June 30, 2014; see blog entries after that date for new link).

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Betjeman & Barton @ 1 Utama & The Good Tea Company @ Main Place, USJ Subang

Tired of coffee? Time for tea: Here's a peek at two new mall-based tea traders, starting with Paris-based Betjeman & Barton, which opened its first Malaysian outpost this week inside 1 Utama, less than a year after embarking into Southeast Asia with a branch in Singapore's Raffles City.

This is the sort of cafe that'll perform well in a mall _ potentially perfect for shoppers who want to rest their feet & replenish their strength with some soothing tea & invigorating sweets. Enthusiastic crowds will likely hang out here on weekend afternoons too, underscoring the likelihood that more tea rooms by various companies will open in the Klang Valley in the months ahead.

Betjeman & Barton serves more than merely a spot of tea _ the store's selection is sweeping (more than 200 varieties), spanning Indian & Chinese origins among others, featuring classic & perfumed blends whose names range from Des Amours to Les Invites.

Tea can be consumed at the cafe or purchased to take home; for the former, many of the recommended pots of tea on the cafe menu (more than 50 varieties of classic, blended, plus fruit-infused) clock in at RM24 each before taxes, sufficient for four cups.

For folks bringing tea back, it might be worth splurging on these temptingly beautiful tea caddies (canisters) to store the leaves. Many of them, exclusive to Betjeman & Barton, cost between RM49 & RM69.

We opted for the seemingly safer choices of Betjeman & Barton's more popular varieties, such as the Autumn Blend, with a base of Chinese & Ceylon teas that's intended to be reminiscent of figs, grapes, quince, nuts, raisins & sunflower petals. Our tea tasted very light.

Pouchkine, Betjeman & Barton's oldest & most admired tea, reputedly a closely guarded recipes for decades now. Can be enjoyed as a regular pot of hot tea or an icy-fizzy beverage with citrus overtones.

No lack of confections; the chocolates comprise flavours such as blueberry milk, mascarpone dark & praline feuilletine.

Earl Grey gateau (RM14.90), plus vanilla & hazelnut macarons (RM4 each); not bad, but not the stand-out here.

We like the French-style ice cream (RM15), which comes in rich renditions of pistachio, vanilla & dark chocolate, memorably served in beetroot & orange-tinged waffle bowls for extra dimensions of flavour.

All in all, Betjeman & Barton could be a fun stop for folks who want to try out blends of tea unseen elsewhere in Malaysia.

Next up, heading to Subang: The Good Tea Company started out as a Shah Alam retail store, but it recently opened a full-fledged cafe at Subang's new Main Place mall, where customers can also enjoy their tea here or purchase some to bring home.

This is a family-run business that's as serious about its tea as any coffee specialist in KL is about its single-origin beans. It largely tackles tea from Indian gardens in Darjeeling & Assam; the teas include elite single-estate varieties, served at the table with timers to tell us when they're ready to be consumed.

Margaret's Hope Darjeeling tea (RM18) supplies a sad story of an estate on the mountaintop of Himalayas; its name is meant to be in memory of its former owner's daughter, who passed away as a young girl before World War II. The tea itself is supposed to showcase notes of grapes, blackcurrants & a floral resonance.

The single-estate teas carry evocative names like Castleton, Thurbo & Halamari, but The Good Tea Company also offers the classics, from Earl Grey to Irish Breakfast (RM7.90 each).

Chai latte? Check. Flavoured teas such as Alphonse Mango, Apple or Green Mango Darjeelings are available as well. RM6.90.

Iced tea, in forms such as Shibuya (Japanese milk tea, RM8.90), Boston cranberry tea, Georgia raspberry-lemon tea & more.

Baked treats to pair with the tea: Coffee-glazed cinnamon cakes (RM6.90), croissants, scones & lemon poppyseed loaves.

Plenty of hampers & jars are available on The Good Tea Company's retail shelves, seemingly perfect for Hari Raya gifting.

Sniffing certainly allowed: Enjoy complimentary whiffs of Assam, Green Tea, Afternoon Tea & other blends at the front of the cafe. The Good Tea Company's plus point: Seems worth supporting for customers who favour Malaysian-grown businesses.

Betjeman & Barton Tea Room Malaysia
G220, Ground Floor, 1 Utama (Old Wing), Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

The Good Tea Company

GF29, The Main Place USJ 21, Jalan USJ 21/10, Persiaran Kewajipan, Subang Jaya, Selangor

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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.

This resource will be continuously updated with new listings, so bookmark the following permanent link & check back regularly to find out what's fresh: www.eatdrinkkl.publ.com/businesses

Monday, June 23, 2014

Little Fat Duck, Spagme, La Famiglia & Oishi Bento Food Trucks

New food trucks have roared into KL & Selangor in recent weeks, revving up a key trend for the F&B entrepreneurial boom. Expect to see more mobile vendors-on-wheels pop up in the months ahead, but for now, this is the Klang Valley's essential guide to getting Italian & Japanese street eats at cheaper-than-restaurant prices.

Little Fat Duck, which surfaces on most nights at Subang's SS15, bears the most intriguing name of these trucks _ it could be an allusion to its founders' culinary ambitions, since the truck serves no duck. The men here nonetheless supply a makeshift eating space by the street for patrons _ helpful, since the wait for Little Fat Duck's food can exceed 15 minutes at peak hours.

Little Fat Duck is scarcely two weeks old, but it's already amassing a significant fan base for its pastas; choose from bolognese, carbonara or aglio alio _ with chicken or beef _ or pesto with fish, each for RM5. One serving probably suffices for a light dinner, though some customers might require two or three.

It's frills-free food, capably executed under the limitations of budget & circumstances, but rudimentary in preparation & flavour. The word 'Gourmet' emblazoned on the truck is a shrewd tagline, but it might not necessarily fit. Note that the truck can be swamped sometimes, so customers who take away their orders should check to confirm everything's in the bag; we ended up missing the pesto fish pasta that we had paid for, but that was equally our fault, since we could see that the men in the truck were struggling to keep track of multiple orders.

Little Fat Duck also offers chicken confit & grilled fish with Hollandaise sauce (RM12 each, both with mashed potatoes) ...

... mushroom soup (RM4) & omelette with shredded cheese & choice of chicken ham or beef salami (RM3) ...

... & house-made milk pudding (RM3). Soft drinks & iced lemon tea cost RM2, so it's possible to eat & drink here for RM10. The caveat is that while it's likely a fair bargain, it's not an exhilarating steal. That's OK though.

Another truck that might be worth chasing: the cheerfully coloured SpagMe, which operates in different places on weekdays for lunch. It's more often at Jalan Dungun, sometimes outside Ampang's Wisma MCA & occasionally at Pusat Bandar Damansara.

Fried spaghetti is Spagme's forte; prices start at RM6.50 for spaghetti with egg, chicken sausage & ham (no pork here), RM9.50 with tempura fish, RM11.50 with chicken fillet & RM17 with spicy lamb.

We like Spagme's prices; there's more meat than expected in their substantial servings, surely enough for a heavy lunch. Not the healthiest meal around, but hungry patrons shouldn't mind much. Spagme often teams up with a pink-coloured juice truck named OMFJ Oh My Fruit Juice, so you might see them side-by-side at their locations.

Next up, back to black: La Famiglia, the only truck that runs both for lunch & dinner. It's mainly at Dungun in the daytime & heads to Subang (SS15 too) after sunset..

La Famiglia's pastas range between RM6.50 & RM8. The priciest option, 'The Boss,' is pretty worthwhile, with plenty of spaghetti in a sweet-savoury combo of carbonara & bolognese sauce, topped with tender chicken slices, onions & garlic. We slurped up each strand & every bit of the sauce.

Finally, some Japanese: We caught Oishi Bento at Dungun as well, though it tends to travel to other office enclaves throughout the week. Fortunately, there's a phone number on the truck for folks hunting for them.

Forgot how much this cost, but it proved the most satisfying of our food-truck finds: Japanese rice, warm & flavoursome, with creamy Japanese curry (comprising chicken, carrots & potatoes), hot & even more flavourful, plus a side salad & a selection of tasty maki slices.

Restaurant-level fare; Oishi Bento provides us with optimism that KL's kerbside enterprises will continue to raise the bar for themselves, serving menus that prove not merely wallet-friendly but palate-worthy too.

Note: Everyone's doing their job, but what makes it tough for these trucks is that they're often chased away by city hall officers. All of them were forced to leave Dungun on a recent weekday, only minutes before the lunch crowd flowed out of the offices here.

Little Fat Duck. SS15 Subang (usually outside Public Bank). 8:30pm-midnight, Tues-Sun.

Spagme Food Truck. Daytime, Mon-Sat, Jalan Dungun, Wisma MCA or Pusat Bandar Damansara.

La Famiglia. Lunch at Jalan Dungun, dinner at SS15 Subang.

Oishi Bento. Whereabouts a constant mystery, but call Alan at 012-663-8733 to check.

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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.

This resource will be continuously updated with new listings, so bookmark the following permanent link & check back regularly to find out what's fresh: www.eatdrinkkl.publ.com/businesses