Tonkatsu by Ma Maison, Mandarin Gallery

Here's a look at the Mangalica pork katsu and ebi katsu from the Tonkatsu shop by Ma Maison (333A Orchard Road, #02-35/36 Mandarin Gallery, tel: +65 6733 4541). If you're wondering what the Mangalica pork was, it's meat that comes from a certain shaggy looking Hungarian pig. Here's the kicker. While I could quite clearly tell that the fatty meat tasted differently from the regular pork, I couldn't exactly describe how so. I was a little disappointed by that even though it was a very competently done piece of tonkatsu. It wasn't the bad kind of disappointment and by all means, don't avoid it. 

The ebi katsu on the other hand was so unexpectedly soft to the point whereby quite a bit of the texture from the prawns were lost. I had inwardly been expecting the meat of the prawns to be be similar to the nicely done ones which Saboten had. The latter had more bite even though it came in chopped pieces and these ones contained unnaturally soft whole shrimps. If I had to make a comparison, I very much prefer Saboten. Those guys make a better sesame dressing for their cabbage which really works miracles on their rice for me.

Deep fried cauliflowers from Gandhi's Vegetarian Restaurant

It's been a few years since my first visit to this place (No.28 Jalan Scott, ground floor of Scott Sentral Serviced Apartment, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur 50470). It was quite a change in location considering that it used to be located on a lot in an open parking space. This time round, we ordered up some deep fried cauliflower among other stuff and those turned out to be really good. How should I describe this? The flavor of the crispy batter tasted much like the ones on the curly fries that McD has. All that tasty savory crisp enveloped hot juicy cauliflowers flavored with some fried curry leaves and a squeeze of lemon. So much better than those at Pizzeria Mozza.

Backstreet breakfast in KL......

Al-Amar Lebanese Cuisine, Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Ben's, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

Note to myself that cafes/bistros aren't always a place for lousy food. Sometimes, they aren't bad.

What did I like about here? Let see...the warm mushroom salad rocked with the rockets that were nicely wilted beneath the pan roasted mushrooms. I could have been bias since there were a handful of crumbled Roquefort and caramelized walnuts, but that'll just be me. The red duck curry brought back memories of Baan Khanita. Deep fried ducks and lychee ween't too bad together in curry. Loved the awesome sour and spicy mango salad on the side which was appetizing throughout.

Must say that the moist coconut cake was pretty enjoyable as well. I guess KLCC isn't that boring after all.

Latteria Mozzarella Bar, Duxton Hill

Quietly and unbeknownst by many, The Jackson Plan fell apart and was replaced by Latteria Mozzarella Bar (40 Duxton Hill, tel : +65 6866 1988). Run by Beppe de Vito of Forlino and Il Lido. This new restaurant which was barely 2 weeks old had kept intact, the decor and even the land line from the previous establishment.

We were served some hard and crusy bread at the start. It would have been tough for my poor teeth and rather bland if not for the accompanying olive oil and vinegar.

We hit up a pan of their garlic prawns, chick peas and pesto. The prawns were fresh and crunchy and the flavors were surprisingly quite moderated. The garlic didn't dominate the palate like how most garlic prawns tend to taste and one could even taste the natural flavors of the chick peas.

This came from the specialty section of the menu which contains mostly mozzarella based cheeses in various forms. This was known as a stracciatella, which consisted of "rags" of mozzarella with burrata cream. Heaped on top of roasted zucchini and topped with bottarga. I liked the idea of serving the cheese in this manner, but the actual dish fell a little short as there was vinegar in the zucchini and the flavors of the creamy cheese was outstanding. This really just relegated the "moderated" portions of bottarga to second or third place. I could hardly taste them.

We ordered the Latteria mac and cheese pretty much for the novelty of having mac and cheese baked and served in a squash. The fact that it has four cheese in them helped, but the flavours of the cheeses were very subdued to the point that it tasted just milky. I could only positively identify the mozzarella on top. Lol.

Portions were extremely generous. I do mean extremely. What really shone for this particular bake, was actually the pumpkin which was nice and naturally sweet.

As usual, we were bought in by their smoked mozzarella risotto with black truffle puree. No prizes for guessing what made us order this. The risotto turned out to be the better of the mains which we ordered. I guess it was because this was simply a nice savoury blend of flavors that were buffed by the truffle puree and smokey accents of the mozzarella. Said flavours were saved from being overly monotonous by the rockets.

At this point, were already quite stuffed. We couldn't even finish the mac and cheese. It was quite a testimony to their lemon panna cotta that we still managed to finish most of the dessert in spite of the huge portions. The texture of the panna cotta wasn't so wobbly, but rather heavy and creamy. The flavours were milky and light and very much aided by those balsamic vinegar strawberries.

Wouldn't mind coming back to try more of their cheeses.