Kuala Lumpur Impression (Part 2): Enak

After my "brunch" at Yut Kee, I went back to city centre to dine at the basement of an upscale shopping mall - Starhill Gallery next to The Ritz Carlton and Marriott. Enak is a Malay restaurant that is true to traditional flavors, yet trying to put in a contemporary touch in terms of cooking and presentation.  The restaurant came recommended by my Malaysian friend Jenny and CNN Travller rated it one of the best in KL, so I decided to come here for lunch.

Kuala Lumpur Impression (Part 1): Yut Kee

One major downside about business travel is that, you went in and out of a city so quick, with so many things to do, that you hardly felt like you have experienced the place you travelled to. That's how I felt during my recent trip to Malaysia - specifically Kuala Lumpur.

Cooking at home: Carefree Clafoutis

Come summer time, you saw these succulent cherries calling and screaming for you as you walk by the fruit stalls in the market. Big ones, small ones, red ones, golden ones... well, we don't produce them locally and we have this all year round - in winter they were shipped from Southern Hemisphere places like Chile or Australia - but I still prefer the American ones for they are juicier and tasted better, and to me, cherry is always a summer fruit.

10 Commandments for Le Creuset Pots

There are all kinds of pages and sites in facebook that I am part of, and one of them is called "Friends of Le Creuset". Well it's good to see so many people love their colorful, versatile cast iron pots, but it's also jaw-dropping to see many people didn't have a clue how to care for them or maximize their potential, while keep on bragging about the many pots they "captured" and kept in mint condition - forever.

Night Out at Socialito

It's probably my prejudice (or more from past experience), but I always have this impression that places that are more for drinking don't serve decent food. So I didn't come with particularly high expectation before I set foot at Socialito - just another gimmicky place in LKF for people foolish enough to dine at a "to see and be seen" hip place, I thought.

Cooking at Home: Fresh Homemade Pasta

A friend came over to our place recently, saw our new KitchenAid food processor sitting on the counter and commented, "oh, so you got a new egg beater". Of course that's one way of seeing it, but what we found out, especially once we put this toy into practical use, was that this is a versatile piece of tool that open up a range of options with such convenience. We actually regretted not getting this sooner.

One thing I tried my hands on recently was making pasta. One thing I don't particular enjoying doing in the kitchen (other than washing up) is to leave my hands with gluey dough - that's why I am never fond of making bread or pasta. But with the KitchenAid mixer (and the pasta attachment) - I saved the trouble of dealing with messy dough and it turned out to be much easier than I thought.