Sundays at Sassorosso, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng

Sassorosso, a not-so-new, cute little Italian joint, is tucked in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, a bit unassuming on the outside but lovely once you enter. The good folks here (who also run Giovino's) have a Sunday lunch deal that we finally got around to trying.

We went for the semi-buffet deal (includes appetiser & soup buffet, ala carte mains and dessert). Had a hard night prior so sadly, the booze option was wasted on us (top-up RM50++ for free flow of prosecco and wines).

Here's what we missed. If you're thirsty and you know it, clap your hands!

Buffet spread of salad...

... tortilla, pasta, clams in wine broth...

...cold cuts, grilled vegetables and fresh greens. We were well stuffed by the time we worked through this. Missing in the pic was a steaming cauldron of fresh green pea soup.

Hui's Grilled Jumbo Tiger Prawns. Jumbo awright!

My Pan Fried Sea Bass with potato crust. Truffle butter sauce was a lil' weak but not a complaint really. This was well-executed.

Mei Shean's main, Pan-seared calf-liver, was a formidable deposit of vitality, oozing juice, blood on a bed of mash. Too rich for a single sitting and half of this had to go back to the kitchen.

The sweets, (clockwise from top: Millefuille, Pannacotta and Creme Brulee) went largely under-appreciated as we simply were sated beyond negotiation.

Enjoyed our afternoon at Sassorosso, and during this time, eyed plenty of families enjoying a slow, lazy ala carte lunch. The deal does come in huge portions, with great service at RM118++ per head (without the booze but with free flow of fresh juices; RM168++ with the booze, totally recommended!)

Sassorosso Italian Restaurant & Wine Retailer

9 Lorong Yap Kwan Seng

50450 KL

Tel: +603-21166 6428

http://www.sassorosso.com.my/

Chote Chitr, Bangkok

So much had been said about the legendary Bangkok icon of a hole-in-the-wall eatery Chote Chitr (in recent years, more bad than good) that we didn't know what to expect. We were prepared for the food to be either sublime or disappointing and overpriced; the service was known to be erratic and subjected to some degree of arrogance on the part of the lady owner.

Well, no knocking till we tried it, so after a 15-minute walk from Rambutri area, we were somewhat heartened to like the facade that we saw, on this small road off Tanao Road.

Old but clean and well-kept, the shop was empty when we got there slightly before 6PM. Celebrated lady owner came to take the orders, a commanding air and her equally well-known Shih Tzu in tow. We are no fans of small, yappy dogs but this one was subdued and kept mostly out of our way so we could get down to the eating.

The famed Banana Flower Leaf Salad proved its reputation correct. The nutty dressing drew the subtle bouquet of the banana flower out, inspired feelings of rolling around in grassy splendour. Or one of them Thai beaches.

We decided to venture against lady owner's recommendations (which incited visible annoyance) and picked another starter, Spicy Chicken with Salted Egg paste served with fresh vegetables. This was unusual in its pairing of the flavours - salted egg yolk and a good dose of tamarind? juice. Would go beautifully with mountains of fluffy white rice. No regrets but we would probably skip this in the future.

Finally, the stunning Chu Chee Curry with River Prawns - more sweet than spicy, the fresh crunch of the prawns when drenched in the coconut-based red curry, with the striking scent of kaffir lime leaves, sealed it for us.

Bill was around THB600, not the cheapest given that it's Bangkok, whose streets are teeming with great food at a fraction. But the succulent meal, paired with the opportunity to meet the grand dame (and defy her!) was well worth it!

Chote Chitr

146 Th Phraeng Phuton (off Tanao Road)

Banglamphu, Bangkok

Seri Petaling Seafood Village

The Boss decided she would show those willing and able a slice of neighbourhood seafood that was turning into a regular spot for her family.

Seri Petaling Seafood Village is located at an unassuming spot, on the road running somewhat parallel to the back of Carrefour. The place was brightly lit, open air and already nicely filled with diners - we switched our hungry blinkers on and listened, bright-eyed and bushy tailed while munching on peanuts and sweet potato chips and Boss helmed the ordering for feast.

Alas, Devastation befell us! The lady informed us that they had run out of crabs! What kind of seafood restaurant runs out of crabs at 8.30PM? A busy, popular one, evidently! We had to make do, and made do we did.

Green Dragon - as green as our colour, watching a neighbouring table suck down the claws of the last crab of the night. Oh we'll get you one day, just you wait!

Fresh, sumptuous, utterly finger-licking Assam Prawns - we downed two plates of these babies!

The Salt & Pepper Squid disappeared as fast as it came - crunch crunch, gulp, gone!

The Assam Fish is probably the best way to prepare the tilapia (fei chow yu or African fish) here. The second preparation of similar fish which came later revealed that maligned swampy freshwater taste.

Mud - lovely on skin, not so in my fish

And came our favourite part the meal - the Salted Egg sigh, everybody together, now! The prawns gleamed in golden grandeur and the squid shone supreme.

TV snack on its own, totally!

Not a fan of venison so gave the Stir-fried Venison with Ginger a miss. Probably a shade paler than the seafood stars here but the others had no problem wiping this clean whatsoever.

The meal fed seven of us too well, and bill total came to about RM350. A right steal, we felt!

And for those slippery lil' crustaceans, we must be back. To the crabs!

Seri Petaling Seafood Village Restaurant

Lot 24221, Jalan Merah Silu

Bandar Baru Seri Petaling

57000 KL

"POP!" goes Wisdom, Sunday Almost-Liquid Lunch, Giovino's

Bubbles. Free flow. A concept that should be approached with caution, both by restauranteurs and patrons alike.

But before you wise up to that (like maybe on the eve of a 30-something birthday), you may want to have a fizzle and see why the counsel. For RM128++ per pax, Giovino's Sunday Lunch Special lets you (and some choice company preferably) have your fill of Prosecco, a spread of appetisers and a wide selection of ala-carte mains and desserts.

We'll take the bottle, thanks! And keep 'em coming!

Spread of this and that... we didn't exactly go crazy with these, distracted by the pop-and-pour action that was going on elsewhere in the room.

More appetisers, designed to line the stomach before the inevitable feeling of bottomlessness and invincibility takes us over. The highlights here could have been the grilled baby octopus and clams, for I remember nothing else.

This Pan-fried Cod Fillet, wrapped in bacon went down a treat. I remember eagerly helping myself to more than my share of fish, lightly crisp, moist flakes of tenderness. Contrasting flavours worked well too - intense heady bacon, meet shy, gentle cod!

We chose to combine forces for the remaining mains and got the Grilled Seafood Platter, fed more than just two! Fresh and sprightly, with bare seasoning, steeping in juices of the sea. We were especially fond of the squid - not the usual rubber blubber we were used to!

We were steadily working our way through bottles of the tart but utterly guzzle-friendly prosecco throughout the meal and by the time dessert orders were placed, we were simply too giggly and delirious to care. I can only surmise that they tasted as good as they looked!

Pretty Panna Cotta

Fail-safe (surely!) Warm Double Chocolate Flan with Vanilla Ice Cream

Chocolate Fudge Mousse with Caramelized Orange Zest - yay, chocolate and fruit!

At this point, a general sense of foreboding and moroseness began settling over us, as the clock inched closer and closer to the end of the meal. We sulked a bit, and somewhere, there's a vague memory of arguing with the patient wait staff members.

Giovino, serving up lots to eat and drink to hungry, happy people every Sunday from 12 noon to 3PM. We must extend a silent salute to the staff, who remained civil and courteous while they witnessed the general deterioration of our table etiquette and sense of decorum, faster than the speed of "POP!!"

After more birthday cheers and beers at Healy Mac's next door, we joined in the Sunday evening traffic jam back to suburbia. Not sure how we did it, but we did! Maybe Age lets in on a thing or two after all!

Giovino Restaurant
Changkat Bukit Bintang
Tel: +603-2141 1131

Sublime spa, So-so food at The Westin Langkawi

The recent company jaunt to Langkawi, while painfully condensed, somehow managed to uplift some heavily sodden spirits.

It helped that we parked ourselves for most of the two days at the very agreeable Westin resort. Before I go on to... uh, showcase a sampling of the fine hotel food within, can I just say that the massages at the Heavenly Spa in the resort are phenomenal? Well worth the $$.

Having rolled out of bed at 4AM to catch first flight out of LCCT, by the time lunch rolled around, I was practically tranquilized by lethargy and in severe need of a pick-me-up. Lunch at Tide, the poolside open-air restaurant had better bloody deliver!

The bread comes in pretty undersized glass bowls but they were stone cold. Is this not Westin? What's it take to heat up a roll, or fifteen?

The prawn cocktail starter was a lot more promising. Freshly crumbed and fried tempura prawns sat daintily on a bed of greens served with pickled ginger, guacamole and a slice of tortilla. Easy enough to applaud.

Main of the day was pan seared sea bass with potatoes, asparagus, lemon butter sauce and mango & pineapple salsa. I felt both sauce and salsa were a tad too commonplace to pair with the distinct taste and texture of the sea bass. Portion could have been bigger too. We were using an awful lot of fuel, what with the early start and all that brainstorming.

Dessert was catastrophic, and did not send us happily back to an afternoon of more neural function. The passionfruit crème brûlée tasted like very pungent cheese gone bad, the cardinal camaralized effect all but missing. The brandy snap wafer could've potentially saved this ending, but having never been a big fan of that sticky sweet dental complication, I left most of mine untouched.

Still, hotel food will be hotel food, so I won't hold it against the resort. The breakfast the next morning was perfectly lovely and the massage that followed, again I stress, sublime! If I do not make it to any of the coveted travel locations before the end of the year, I am booking myself a week here!

Tide

The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa
Jalan Pantai Dato Syed Omar
Langkawi

Behold the Bathwater, at Dubrovnik, Solaris Mont Kiara

Come crunch time, we tend to forget the things that mattered or meant something just yesterday. Like neglecting your parents when you're deeply lodged in some silly emotional tribulation. Or how the routine session with friends gave you a new lease on life when you were relentlessly fixed on wallowing in despair.

An apt case in point: a late-night conversation with a friend recently discounted a relationship which had been intensely intimate to obliteration, simply because he couldn't deal with it in, granted, his galling circumstances. "(It) wasn't even a real relationship, I don't know what it was!" he stammered, when confronted with how he had abruptly upended it.

Similarly, it's easy for us to mark down the good-tasting dishes delivered in the wake of the bad at an eatery. Such is a reminder I would like to enlist for Dubrovnik, which delivered more than it failed this one despondent weekend.

Fish in the midst - I ordered a new entrant to the menu, Riba Romesco, baked seabass with breadcrumbs served with a mountain of potatoes. This was commendable - the fish fresh and cooked to a tender quiet, the accompaniment sufficiently light yet ample. Like nights in with a loved one requiring no charades.

Ciki had asked for Lamb Chops even before she arrived so this couldn't have failed. Pretty much like the promise of a smile that releases persecution of all that's perverse.

PA made a stand with Palacinke, crepes filled with -egg and dairy, a requiem to a dream. Ahh, this is stuff that sordid sex is made of. You cannot get enough of it, even when it gets too cloying and convoluted.

The Kozice, a dish featuring fresh water prawns with Mediterranean rice, was akin to the collapse of the Kingdom of Croatia. The prawns were overdone and the rice was a sad, flavourless mass. Not too different from the arguments and the disagreements that persist in any accord. Do we dare compromise?

We gave desserts a shot and the Apple Pita (Pie) reinstated our faith in the gentleness of flour, cinnamon, fruit and sugar. Same ingredients of a winning concoction to intimacy, really.

The Mille Foglie received lacklustre affection. The pastry sandwiching light vanilla custard failed to provoke the passion so palpable in its predecessor.

No matter how convenient, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. No giving up on Dubrovnik yet, until it proves itself to be a certain undoing.

Dubrovnik Restaurant
KLJ-0G-14
Solaris Mont Kiara
No. 2 Jalan Solaris, Mont Kiara
50480 Kuala Lumpur

Permission to Fusion, Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion, Kota Damansara

The word "Fusion" used in food is a source of great personal agitation. Kinda like badly cut pants that chafe at the thighs. Or the Malaysian persistent fondness for replacing the article "the" with "D'" and springing a whole host of D'ed abominations, like D' Pub, D' Shop, D' Bakery, D'Place where you don't want to be if you had a shred of sense in you. Or the inclination to bad spelling, like replacing the letter "S" with "Z." Appropriating the language of another is a necessity for our young lingual heritage but come on, this level of abuse is practically Defilement - another D word of epic popularity among the jesters we call politicians.

I had read about Erawan from the pretty smashing, multi-authored food blog on the Malaysian Insider and its post here got me all hot and bothered, despite the threat of Fusion starting to sound like an excuse for aspiring gourmands to splice and dice cuisine artlessly, badly. Getting to Kota Damansara was however, another challenge for what is that geographical horror if not another cultural nightmare? I shall however, save that rant for another day, for there we were, regardless, ready to pounce and devour.

Seeing that there were all but two of us, Anan, the charming manager deftly explained that the portions were a little on the large side and recommended we went for the single-serve rice dishes or the tomyam noodles, which were also more economical options. The idea of a basil stir fry with rice and a fried egg just didn't cut it with us so we went with ala carte.

The Erawan Pomelo Salad arrived swiftly, well before we had taken in the cosy, warm interior of the restaurant. It came with a separate serving of sweet Mieng-Kam like sauce, to which we were told to mix in on our individual platters to our own taste.

I loved the handsome shelled prawns and the succulent chunks of pomelo dressed with toasted coconut and crushed peanut. Not crazy about fried shallots in general, but it somehow worked to this salad's advantage here. Gorgeous!

We had to contend with a lengthy wait for the mains to arrive, and understood later that Erawan's main chef Korn attends to each and every dish, hence the delay. I need to add here that a meal at Erawan isn't meant to be an in-and-out sort of dining experience; it absolutely needs to be savoured, sipped and praised.

When it finally did arrive, the Tomyam Seafood unseated us from our quiet lull. We were provided a choice of Clear or Thick soup, and spice levels of one (mild) to five (very spicy). Our pick of Thick, level Three set our bellies and worlds on fire. This was very hot and very good.

I had my heart set on the duck curry, but it was unavailable that day. The manager recommended the Green Curry Fish Paste in place. The fish paste, made on the premises with fresh ikan tenggiri (mackerel) are shaped like balls, with a salted egg yolk ensconced within. This was an interesting twist to an otherwise spectacular ode to a classic. Suppose that warrants a nod to "Fusion"?

Fragrant jasmine rice presented in dainty little bowls. Toto, we're not in Tai Pai Tong anymore!

To wash it all down, Lemongrass juice with ginger, dwarfed next to the Iced Lychee Tea.

The meal came up to RM93.50, very gratifying and well worth the journey into the frenzy that is Kota Damansara. For this and this alone, I could sideline my loathing of the rampant use of "Fusion" and just bask in the perfect marriage of spice and everything nice.

Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion
22-1 Jalan PJU 5/16 Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara
47810 Petaling Jaya
Malaysia
Tel: 03-6141 2393

Reservations are highly recommended.