Chynna @ KL Hilton, Brickfields

I don’t normally look forward to these meetings, but when at the end of the day I get fed- well, meetings aren’t too bad after all (yes, I am a pig)

I dined once at Chynna and was impressed with the rich decoration , the food and of course the bill.We did a last minute reservation and manage to get a private room, once we stepped into the private room, everyone Ohhhhh and ahhhhs over the posh decoration, nice heavy thick burgundy curtains, the lantern ( which was hanged pretty low) above our table, the  crockery …everything about the room spelled opulent  ( and expensive)

Almost everyone wanted to’take’ the beautiful crockery home

Once we were seated (where most of us were  trying not to make it too obvious that we do not want to sit next to Da Boss), the serving of tea begin, the waiter came around the table with a pot with a long sprout and ceremoniously poured 8 treasure(八宝茶) into our cups , we commented that in China they do some acrobatics while serving tea and  only then did our friend ( who was from Qingdao) did some elaborate  movement of swinging the teapot over his head, around his body etc before pouring the tea into our cups ( identity of the  pumpkinheads were withheld)

I didn’t get a chance to view the menu, so the names mentioned here will be basic without the flowery language . First up – Beijing duck, the duck was carved at the side table ,

 

and each of us were served 3 small pieces, and  each piece had different toppings, the meat was a bit cold,  with the slightly oily layer beneath the crispy layer, nothing to shout about.

We wondered where was the rest of the duck, and was told that they will serve this to us in a pancake. I find the  pancake a bit heavy and floury, and after taking a bite, I tasted more flour than duck. The sauce was tasty though.

 

 Next up was the soup – this was served in a ceramic pot , the ingredients include : old cucumber, dried scallops, dried oyster, sharkfin, chicken,  dried octopus. This was delicious with layers of taste from the different ingredients, you could taste the goodness and richness of the soup with each sip . The portion was a bit too large though ( I think this was more maybe even more than 3 small bowls) and although it was tasty, it still took  a bit of an effort to finish. ( I guess people will complain about everything and anything, small serving –complain, big serving, also complain, bahhh ! hamburg )

 

Salmon with inoki mushroom – the dish was beautifully presented. Although the distinct taste of salmon was still retained. I find the salmon a bit over cooked-  the meat was overly dry- the sauce that was dribbled over salmon was like the chili sauce for chicken rice, which was a weird combination..someone bit into the chili padi and had to gulp down beer very quickly..or maybe that was just an excuse to have  more beer…The inoki mushroom- tempura style was a bit wet and not as crunchy as I would expect of a tempura style thingy

 

Duck feet  with dried abalone and shitake mushroom ( I guess this would have a more glamorous name than this) ..the duck claw was yummylicious, . The sauce was just nice and the claw was cooked to perfection .  the skin was smooth, moist and came off easily, the abalone was soft and chewy- the shitake mushroom was soft, juicy, succulent with the gravy..major yum !! the Mat Sallehs braved the horror of ‘HUH, what ? duck feet …errr…are you sure this is safe to be eaten , don’t they walk with these ..? ‘ and took a few bites of the kaki, and I think it wasn’t as bad as they thought.

 

Prawns with lobak- the prawns  in light batter were deep fried – the gravy was thick and sweet ( maybe a tad too sweet) . lobak was ok..the taste of 5 spice powder was not as prominent as the regular roadside lobak Penang is famous for ..Weird combination for a cantonese restaurant, this is what they call fusion food, I guess ..the lobak had some chili sauce on it ..initially I thought it was keropok lekor..if they did serve this combination, I would be flabbergasted…a scenario like  where Hang Li Po meets Nik Aziz

Black pepper beef with cashew nuts …the beef was succulent, tender and well marinated , ozzing with the taste of black pepper . Very tasty..not sure was it wagyu beef, I never had eaten a cow that was massaged,  and neither have I ever massaged a cow… so , I wouldn’t know..but the crux of the matter was – this was very good.

 

Wantan – I think the wan than in my bowl looks like a goldfish..the filling was fresh, sweet and succulent  prawns and with some minced meat, the broth was tasty .This was yummy , the skin was smooth and soft and just slip through your throat…Although by then  I was up to full tank capacity, this still tasted very good.

 

We were also served noodles with minced meat in bean paste, well marinated  minced meat – sweet-spicy  bean paste gravy , noodles texture was good. Good blend

For dessert we had a choice of sago with ice cream and tau fu far..most of us grabbed the ice cream and left a few disappointed Mat Salleh with the tau fu far , I don’t think they liked the idea of having tofu as a dessert lahh….the taste of vanilla  ice cream wasn’t too prominent, and I would have liked the evaporated milk that the ice cream  was swimming in  to be a bit sweeter to bring out the taste.

 

The damaged came to ~ RM3K + inclusive of 3 rounds of beers which, from passed experience was less than what I was expecting we would have to pay, turns out that this was a set menu, so the pricing were ‘special’

Overall, there were a few outstanding dishes like the black pepper beef , with  the duck feet and wan tharn would come a close second and third , the other dishes were average lah.

Operation hours:
Lunch
Monday to Saturday – 12:00 noon to 2:30 pm
Sunday & Public Holidays – 11:00 am to 2:30pm

Dinner
Daily – 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm

Chynna

Hilton Kuala Lumpur
3 Jalan Stesen Sentral
Kuala Lumpur Sentral
50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: +60 3 2264 2264
Fax: +60 3 2264 2266

Web site: http://www.kl-studio.com

Annalakshmi @ Brickfields

Imagine this, a comfy cozy nicely decorated restaurant, friendly and good service, eat and refill all you want, reasonably good food, bottomless fresh mango lassi..and …u get to decide what you want to pay. Whaaaaaaat ? Like that also can ? Well, experience that when you dine at Annalakshmi  

Annalakshmi is a vegetarian restaurant serving a variety of north and south Indian menu, and with the tagline ‘where vegetarian dining is a cultural experience’   , Annalakshmi is the Hindu Goddess of food .Read more about this from their official website  here.  

The entrance , intricately carved wooden door.

 

Once you walk through the door, you will be greeted by this lovely sight

 

 Checkered tablecloth line the tables

 

The spread

 

It’s self service, first you collect the big steel plate at the beginning of the line, also collect  the steel bowls ( for gravy /curry/dessert). Then u get in line..and fill your plate /bowls…

On that day of our visit, there were 2 different types of rice, plain white rice and rice plus some condiments, was this  Pulao  rice ?   And  if you would like to have  tosai ( plain, ghee, paper, masala or rava) or plain Ootthappam  – which were not served on the buffet table- you can order these from the waiters.

The menu : ( can read ahh ?)

 

 There were various dishes available, I am not an Indian food expert ( not even a regular) , so I won’t attempt to name them, this was what was on Chunny’s plate

 

And this was mine- no points for spotting that I had a bigger portion than my fellow diner ..greedy person that I am…

 

What was on my plate : potato in dried curry ( nice), vegetable chutney ( I like), bittergourd curry ( the first bite into this, when u taste the spiciness, then aiks..the bitterness..wonderful combination), some chopped mixed vege, pampadam ( fried fritters). In the bowls, dhall and something that has a soy-ish, taufoo pok-ish texture thingy.

And guess what, after finishing what was on my plate..i got into line again…had my second helping of bittergourd curry and vegetable chutney, tried some fried bee-hoon as well..

Some of the food, up close, maybe you could name them better than i can..

 

 

 The cozy and nicely decorated environment

 

It was only towards the end of the meal did we realized that the available food is not just what is on the table , but that you can also order some of these stuff on the menu from the waiter ( no extra charge, i.e. still falls in the pay-as-you-eat-category). And although I was very close to full capacity, I had to have my mango lassi..

The lassi was nice –thick and mango-ey..yummyyyy

 

After the meal..that will be where the dilemma creeps in..hmm..how much to pay worr..? we start to work on what we would normally pay for this quality and quantity of food , factor in the nice ambience and good service..and while Chunny visited the bathroom, I was observing (kaypo-ing ) what the other dinners were  paying..i saw this guy ( family of four) counting four fifty dollar bills and passing to his wife ( is that the weekly allowance or to pay for dinner ?), another couple passed a RM50 bill to the waiter behind the counter, but  saw i saw the cashier returning 2 RM10 ..sooo…how..? hahah…anyway, the thing is, be sincere lah..just pay what you feel is right, and at the end of the day, what you give will support the temple of fine arts activities..so, enjoy the food and don’t be too greedy…as mentioned on their website – You cannot put a price on the food prepared by a mother or a wife, and this is why at Annalakshmi you – eat as you like and pay as you feel.

I think this would be a nice place to bring guest ( local and foreign) and being vegetarian..i guess it should be halal as well..

Close on Monday. Operating hours :

Lunch 11:30 am – 3:00pm

Dinner 6:30pm – 10:00pm

 

Location :

Annalakshmi @ The Temple of Fine Arts

114-116, Jalan Berhala,

Brickfields

50470 K.L

Tel : 03-22723799

(across the road from the side entrance of the Brickfioelds Buddhist Temple). Map is available here

Kabul Restaurant @ Sooka Sentral, Brickfields

Thinking back , there were a few postings where I didn’t end up eating where I had initially started out to, and be forewarn…this is one of them.

 It was a Saturday evening, we planned to have dinner  at Oriental Spoon as Chunny had a  dining voucher which was close to expiring, so, to Sooka Sentral we head, parking was RM4 per entry for after hours. The last time I was at Sooka was probably a bit more than half a year ago where Sooka was promised to be the ‘in’ place, with quite a variety of eateries and cafes. So, it was a big shock that the place was pretty dead for a Saturday night, most of the eateries weren’t open  and some had err..moved on to greener pastures.

There were 3 options available i) there is a bar/bistro..but we are not beer drinkers… ii) Kabul Restaurant- where we see 4 middles eastern ladies sitting at one round  table, and one other long table occupied by maybe around 10 men -who were pretty noisy…iii) leave ..but oh..then what a waste of parking fee ler..RM4 worr..very big money lehhh… we then decide to have a look at Kabul’s menu  before we make a decision, I guess the menu was pretty agreeable…

I ordered a mango lassi and Chunny had Masala tea. The lassi was pretty good, nice and thick.. not too sweet …the way I like my lassi.  The masala tea  came in a pot but I forgot did the pot filled more than 1 cupful.

 

The sitting area is pretty big, occupying 2 store front as well as the sides of the walkway.  The environment was pretty good, cozy and the waiter that served us was pleasant and helpful.

Chunny ordered Chicken Briyani and I ordered Cheese naan + Kabul special gravy chicken. Chunny’s order arrived first, a pampadam atop the rice + 2 bowl of sauces + one bowl of chicken curry..hmm..

My order came a few minutes later, and I was like..ekkk….the chicken so small bowl one mehhh …Chunny’s got a better deal lerr…I should have ordered nasi briyani too…sniff….

 

Then Chunny started her meal, and discovered the piece of chicken in the rice…so, turned out that the chicken curry in a bowl is the Kabul Special gravy chicken  ..and it’s MINE… so, my meal now looks like this >>

 Had a good laugh over our ignorance of nasi briyani… aiya..so dungu-loid one la..we all…I f only the waiter hadn’t brought this dish with Chunny’s order, this won’t happen lorrr…but in that case, we might think that Chunny’s dish is too simple  with just the pampadam and the two sauces…the moral of the story is— ‘check the  rice before you sue the chicken’..or ada ayam di sebalik nasi

 The cheese naan was good , filled with melted cheese..nice and warm..like comfort food..The chicken was pretty good too, slightly spicy, chicken was tender and well marinated, the curry does not taste like the normal curry, maybe it’s a different set of spice, this dish  goes very well with the naan. The dhall was good as well- the gravy much thicker compared to the ones at my usual mamak.

 Chunny seemed to have enjoyed her nasi as well, I tried some of the nasi, very fragrant, I am not sure what the gravy  were made of , but the whitish sauce seemed similar to the gravy  I get with tosai, and the other gravy seemed similar to my chicken curry.

We decided to share a Pistachio kulfi, and heyy..it was nice..very milky and I quite like the texture which was like a ‘hard’ version of the ice cream …i wish we didn’t have to share this ..

 Overall – an enjoyable meal..well, apart from the good food , I had good company mahh!

 Pistachio kulfi (2.90), Masala Tea ( 3),Mango Lassi ( 3.50), Kabul Special Gravy Chicken (8.90), Naan Cheese (4.50), Chicken Briyani (8.90)

 

Location :

Kabul Restaurant,

Lot 1.3 & 1.9, Level 1,

Sooka Sentral, Jalan Station 5,

50470 KL

Tel : 27851932

Checked out the  the www on what is Kulfi – and as usual- Wikipedia never disappoints – Kulfi or Qulfi is a popular flavoured frozen ice cream dessert 

Unlike other ice-cream, kulfi takes a very long time to melt. Unlike Western ice creams, kulfi is not whipped, resulting in a solid, dense frozen dessert similar to traditional custard based ice-cream. Thus, it is usually considered a distinct category of frozen dairy-based dessert.

Traditionally in South Asia, kulfi is sold by street vendors called kulfiwallahs who keep the kulfi frozen by placing the moulds inside a large earthenware  pot called a “matka” filled with ice and salt. It is served on a plate or frozen onto a stick. It can be garnished with pistachios, cardamom and similar.

Interested to make some kulfi ? Try the links below for the recipe. Tell me if it worked out, better still, send some over if it worked out..

http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/Recipes2/7171.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/indian-ice-cream-with-pistachios-pista-kulfi-recipe/index.html

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2008/07/22/pista-kulfi-pistachios-ice-cream/