Street Food Detour

We did venture out of the hotel to hunt for street food a couple of times in a big group whilst in Kuala Lumpur last month. Those certainly were one of the highlights of our trip - it's almost like we never felt hungry at any given moment in those few days as we literally ate non-stop.

Nose To Tail Lunch

One afternoon during our brief stay in KL we went to check out Entier on top of Alila Bangsar hotel. After days of street food and parties, we were looking for somewhere quieter to sit down and eat and the restaurant headed by Chef Masashi Horiuchi seems to fit the bill.

Kuala Lumpur "Stay-cation"

It did feel like a stay-cation of sort when we spent a few nights at The Majestic in Kuala Lumpur as we slipped out of town for a quick getaway after Christmas - barring a few occasions when we went out to eat, we essentially stayed in most of the time and made full use of all the facilities in-house.

First of the Decade

Thought we would treat ourselves to a serious breakfast to kick-start the new year and decade. I have always wanted to try the morning menu at the new Somm at Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Central, so I made a booking to go check it out on January 1.

Post Party Dim Sum

We were sorting out where to eat the day after the Michelin Gala dinner and at the end "settled with" Jade Dragon under the same roof. Well I suppose "settled with" may not be an appropriate description, given the restaurant just kept the highest 3-star rating at the Michelin Guide for 2 years in a row.

Curry in Brum

"For the curry!" was the official line we had when people asked why we made a quick stopover in Birmingham before we headed back home after spending a week in London. While it's not entirely accurate, but we did want to check out the Indian restaurant scene while we were there, given the reputation of the town being the "Curry Capital of UK".

Lunch 'Til Dusk

Making a reservation at eat at The Greenhouse was perhaps one of the best decisions I made for our recent London trip. I followed my chef friend D’s recommendation to plan for a lunch there while we were in town (after hearing him raving all about it and its chef Alex Dilling’s cooking a few weeks ago).

Sunday at Frenchie

My wife gave me a strange look when we (with our nephew) walked into Frenchie at Covent Garden on a Sunday afternoon with absolutely no one inside. I have been raving about my solo dinner at the Frenchie Wine Bar, one of its sister restaurants in Paris, a few years back, so it seems odd that the place was empty when every restaurant on the block was filling with weekend brunch crowd in the busy neighborhood of Covent Garden.

Feel Like New

It does feel like a whole new restaurant when Man Ho at JW Marriott went through months of refurbishments and re-opened a couple of months ago. And a new Chinese name too, more for the practical reason of differentiating with another restaurant under the Marriott banner miles away.

The brief break also gave Chef Jayson an opportunity to re-work the menu at his restaurant, which I was able to try when we went for a casual family dinner a few weeks ago. The dinner went off an interesting start with the introduction of an amuse-bouche dish, which was a chunk of pickled papaya garnished with lime zest. More Thai style than Chinese, but it was refreshing.

Pre-Christmas Lunch

I thought we would pay Chef Guillaume's team a visit at Caprice before they got swarmed during the Christmas week. Well, special “festive menu” may not be our thing, but given my last meal here was already 3 months ago, I am interested in checking out some of their new seasonal dishes.

Just Another Breakfast

I dropped by The Wolseley one morning to enjoy its popular breakfast, just because it has become a tourist attraction of sort or for those obsessed with "Full English Breakfast", whatever that means. The restaurant was just a block away Green Park underground station in Mayfair, midway between The Ritz and the Fortnum and Mason store, so essentially in the center just about everything as far as out-of-towners are concerned.

Beauty in the Details

I long admire the work of Chef Anne-Sophie Pic so we made plan to eat at her restaurant in London one afternoon. The restaurant was one of the dining outlets of Four Seasons London at Ten Trinity Square, a relatively new hotel converted from an old building (formerly of Port of London Authority built over a century ago). A quick 2-minute walk from the nearest Tube Station (Tower Hill) I was right in front of this gorgeous building with magnificent facade completed with huge columns and the stair entrance facing the River Thames.

Luxury Hotel Crawl

I am going to call this the "luxury hotel crawl" evening of our London trip, when we started off with a drink at the legendary American Bar at The Savoy followed by dinner at the Rosewood. It's my first time visiting and fell in love with the spectacular decor the moment I stepped in to the lobby with the impressive festive season decorations including a few bigger-than-life pieces made entirely of Lego bricks. A perfect example of combining class with fun.

Fine Dining Inside Stadium

We had a number of good meals while in London this time, but eating at Galvin at Tottenham came down to be one of the more special ones. I kept saying the key part of the London trip was to go on the pilgrimage to the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and watch my favorite team play at the home field - not once but twice in the same week. And I went the extra mile, splurged a little and got myself a ticket at the executive club level for one of those matches.