[Cook] Shibuya Toast

SHIBUYA TOAST

Shibuya Toast! Made this sinful dessert for supper. Nicely caramelised at the edges and ice cream gives a nice cold contrast to the hot toast. But a bit too sweet. Need to reduce sugar next time. #homecook #shibuyatoast #supper #dessert #yummy #sinful

A photo posted by @eugene_the_great on Jul 12, 2016 at 9:44am PDT

INGREDIENTS

Bread	1 loaf uncut
Butter	3 tbsp
Sugar	2 tsp
Honey	as needed

STEPS

- Cut approximately 2 inch thick slice of bread. 

- Divide it into 9 cubes, cut almost till the end. The end result is 9 bread cubes just barely attached to each other.

- Melt butter using double boil method. ( put butter into bowl and place the bowl on top of boiling water. Indirect heating method often used in melting chocolate.)

- Add in sugar and stir well to combine. Add honey to taste

- Place cubed bread slice on oven safe plate/tray.

- Pour butter mixture over bread. Pour enough to coat top of bread. It might be too overpowering if you put all the mixture.

- Place into oven and toast at 180 degrees for 5 mins or until nicely browned.

- Remove from oven and top with desired toppings. (here I used ice-cream and palm sugar syrup.)

End result is a quick and easy dessert. Toast is nice and cruncy with sweet and wonderful caramelized surface. Cold soft ice-cream fits perfectly well with the crunchy hot toast.

An alternate way to cube the bread is to cut of the top, then cut the INSIDE of the loaf into cubes leaving the crust making a simple bread bowl. The cubed insides of the bread is then mixed with the butter and toast both the crust and cubes in the oven.

When removed from the oven simply toss all the cubes back in the bowl and add topping. This is just another way to present it.

 

[Eat] Secret of Louisiana @ Kelana Jaya

There's something magical about having a wonderful meal while watching the sunset.

Secret of Louisiana is located at a rather run down area of shops in Kelana Jaya. The area is just beside Kelana Jaya park. The main attraction here for me is the view of the lake. And on this beautiful day the weather is just perfect nice breeze and clear skies. Nothing like enjoying a good meal while watching the day slowly end with a sunset. 

I ordered the Neptune something which is a generous seafood platter with crawfish, mussels, oysters, scallops, prawns and fish on top of a bed of spaghetti. The food was good, not as flavorful as I expected but good enough for me to return. The menu also has interesting Louisiana dishes like gumbo.

Overall this is a very nice place, hard to find that view anywhere else in Petaling Jaya. The food is good, at least it's a pass in my books. So if I ever want a relaxing dinner, this would definitely be a place I would consider.

Secret Of Louisiana

Google Map : https://goo.gl/maps/cFNeCA7x6Bu

Opening Hours : 

Mon-Sun:
11:00 am - 3:00 pm
5:00 pm - 11:30 pm

Rating : 3 STAR

[Eat] Shang Palace @ Shangri-la KL

Extravagant siu mai topped with scallops! #yummy #dimsum #foodporn #chinesefood

A photo posted by @eugene_the_great on Jul 7, 2016 at 12:46am PDT

I rarely go to extravagant restaurants like this, but once in awhile it's a nice indulgence. We requested and got a room, so we got to dine in a private room in a beautifully designed restaurant.

We were here for the dim sums. 

The siu mai was awesome, with generous ingredients, prawns and most noticably a good sized scallop slice on top. Har kow was plump and filled with prawns. 

The fried lo pak ko was just ok. 

I loved the deep fried prawns wrapped with beancurd skin, It was wonderfully crunchy and generously filled with prawns.

Plump Har kow

Fried Lo Pak Ko

Deep Fried Prawns Wrapped with Beancurd Skin

The most decadent dish we had was the wat tan hor with cod fish slices. 

They were very generous with the cod fish.

However the noodles and sauce was just ok.

Wat Tan Hor with Cod Fish Slices

Overall this is a nice classy restaurant and a great place for family gatherings with good food. 

Shang Palace

Google Map : https://goo.gl/maps/exz3pPWUY9m

Opening Hours : 

Lunch

12noon - 2.30pm (Monday to Saturday) 

10.30am - 2.30pm (Sunday and Public Holidays) 

Dinner
6.30pm - 10.30pm (daily)

Rating : 3 STAR

[Eat] Yut Kee @ KL

Hainan Pork Chop

We were there on Raya morning about 10am, and the place was packed! We had to wait about 30mins to finally get a seat. However service was fast and friendly. 

Hainan Roti Babi

Roti babi was good, but the dish that I loved was the toast and pork chop. 

Pork chop was nicely cooked, sauce infused with tomato and potato was flavorful.

The toast was awesome, paired with good butter and the awesome homemade Kaya. Could definitely eat this everyday. 

Toast with homemade Kaya

Hailam mee and beef noodle was really just normal. These are not worth ordering.

Hailam mee

Beef noodle

Overall a very nice place but expect to queue to get in. However once you are in, food will be ready very fast.

Yut Kee 

Google Map : https://goo.gl/maps/i5PQ3hPaFDU2

Opening Hours : Tue-Sun: 7:30 am - 4:30 pm

Rating : 4 STAR

[Cook] Eryngii Aglio Olio

Eryngii Aglio Olio!

INGREDIENTS

Eryngii	400g
Cherry tomatoes	200g
Butter	2 tsp
Spaghetti	2 portions
Parsley	Handful
Garlic	2 tbsp

STEPS

 1) Take half the Eryngiis, cut length wise about 0.5cm thick. Cut the other half into cubes.
 2) Cook spaghetti in separate pot, reserve some pasta water.
 3) At the same time, heat up a pan and add a tsp of butter. On medium heat, fry length wise cuts of Eryngii. Season as needed. Remove from pan and set aside. 
 4) Add about 3 tbsp of olive oil, add garlic and fry until brown.
 5) Add cubes of Eryngii. Cook for about a min, and toss in cherry tomatoes. Season as needed. Cook for another 5 mins.
 6) Add in spaghetti into pan and toss, pour in about half a cup of pasta water. Toss.
 7) Season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat, throw in parsley and a tsp of butter. Toss.
 8) Transfer to plates and garnish with length wise Eryngii.

[Learn] Of Pancettas & Prosciutto

A chance visit to Luretta DOP has given me a closer look at Italian cured meats. Luretta, located at the top floor of Isetan 1Utama, serves Italian food and more importantly, quality Italian ingredients. From dried tomatoes and porcini to what I was here for, Italian meats.

The 3 I tried :
Prosciutto - Italian Ham
Prosciutto Crudo to be exact, is Italian dry cured ham.
There were 2 different Prosciuttos, one from Parma and another from San Danielle. I felt the Parma ham was tougher, San Danielle had a more savoury taste and a more melt in your mouth feel. I would think the Parma was more suited to cook with or perhaps in heavier sandwiches, the San Danielle is easily eaten as is.

Porchetta - Italian 'siu yok' (pork belly)
The Porchetta, Italian roast pork, was wonderful. There is an unmistakable Italian herb & spices taste with beautifully cooked pork.

Pancetta - Italian Bacon
I have always wondered how Pancetta would taste in comparison to normal bacon, but never really gave it a try considering it is about 3x more expensive. Luretta DOP was serving good quality meats so I thought this would be a great time to try. My verdict, pancetta has a smokier flavour, aromatic meat and erm, silkier? Fats. When you hold it in your hand, you can already feel the fats melting. Visually, you can see more wonderful fat marbling on pancetta.



And now to capture those wonderful Pancetta flavours in a classic spaghetti carbonara. Many of Jamie's recipes often call for pancetta that I had previous times simply substituted with bacon, this time I can really follow exactly.
It is tastier, but hardly significant (of course it might simply be I am not skilled enough). For me, future carbonaras, simple bacon is good enough.

For the Prosciutto and Porchetta, I added it to a salad and it really elevates it to an amazing level of tastiness. And surprisingly this goes really well with Japanese sesame salad sauce!

[Hiking] Bukit Batu Putih @ Port Dickson

Bukit Batu Putih is in Hutan Rekreasi Tanjung Tuan and is located near the border of Malacca and Negeri Sembilan. It is further north from Port Dickson and is technically in Malacca, but boy is it worth the trip. It is only a short hike, about 30mins so great for casual hikers like myself.
The entrance is just right beside Ilham Resort. Register and pay a small RM1.00 fee and go up the tar road until you see the stairs to the light house as pictured below :

Look for a path to the right heading upwards. Follow that path until you see the rocks pictured below :

Just climb up this rocks and that's it! Enjoy the wonderful view. 

* Please note there is barely any shade so go early morning or evening.
* There are also lots of mosquitoes when we went