NEO

Alilfatmonkey.. bored, hungry and waiting for Ciki, Cumi & Paranoid Android (PA) to arrive.
Dum-dee-dum.. tap, tap, tap..
.
.
.

Munkey : the waiter has already explained the menu to me .. extensively.. what else is there to do.. drink my still water..

drum, drum, drum.. yawn, drum..

.
.
.

Munkey: If those goons don't get here in the next 5 minutes, I will turn their wine to water!


Paranoid Android: Eeyer, running late.. running late.. what is this stupid red honda cutting me off at the jockey! Hell drivers. Outa my way!

Ciki: It's US la.. PA. What la you.. nearly rammed into us with your huge-ass 4wheel drive! You trying to flattened the C&C monkeys ar?
Faster, faster... the lilfat one is has nearly passed out from H2O over-dose.

(the three of us RUN up the stairs to NEO as it was half nine, and we were already half an hour late. Correction, Cumi ran, Ciki glided and PA thundered.)



MIGF! Got to love it! All the Chefs of the world (ok, Malaysia) toiling to prepare the best there is the offer..

Now into its 9th successive year, the Malaysia International Gourmet Festival made its debut in 2001 when the organisers, AsiaReach Events, brought together an intrepid group of 13 restaurants to form the inaugural KL International Gourmet Festival (KLIGF).The Festival's primary aims from the onset were to increase the size of the local fine dining population for the mutual benefit of the participating restaurants; to create a sustained interest in the local fine dining scene; and, ultimately, to establish Malaysia as an international culinary tourism destination of choice.The idea is also to make fine dining as accessible to as many people as possible and not just to an exclusive few. We were all psyched to try out the Special Festival Menus at special prices that the MIGF had to offer.

At NEO, the couples menu is either approximately RM400 for a couple (without wine), and RM600 for the menu with wine.


So damn excited these munkeys were, so you can imagine their dismay when the guy announced that , due to being a relatively new restaurant, they were unable to cope with the demand of the MIGF menu and as such, had run out!

So, NEO sans MIGF:(
Bummer.


Nevermind .. its the company that matters right.. so we can still come back on another date for the MIGF menu.

The original menu was really simple and looked quite good. As we are all preparing our six pack bods for "AhPa's" pool party, the lilfat one said - TAPAS is GOOD!

I like the way NEO names their menu.
Agents!
They have good taste;)


Presenting.. the world's smallest amuse bouche. I threw in my 'bling' for good measure.. so you can see for yourself just how small the tuna "mouth amuser" was.



Munkey thought it might be fun to show us how clever he is at using huge utensils to eat microscopic food.


Tapas no. 1 - Scallops Asparagus RM30.00

Huge huh? (not!) Fresh but not tasty enough. This tapas lacked flavour.


Tapas no.2 - Fusilli Portabello RM40.00

Delicious, al dente and full of bite. We loved this dish. The lilfatmonkey had to refrain from eating too much because .. because.. (sigh, the pool party.. always the pool party.. )


The chef preparing someone else's humongous portion of food:P


Tapas no.3 - Lamb Shank Couscous - RM45.00

My favourite tapas of the night! What is it about Couscous that just gets under your skin.. a good portion of well seasoned, gamy lamb coupled to perfection with the grainy gritty couscous. Insanely good.


Tapas no.4 - Duck Risotto- RM40.00

Not my favourite, for obvious reasons, as I do not like stodgy carbs and risotto is a stodgy carb. I gave Cumi the Risotto and devoured the duck.


E.T. phone home.

The bar tops light up with a dusting of pulsating lights, giving it an intergalactic planetary, milky-way, sort of effect. Very cool.

(incidentally , this was how I felt last week in Taipei.. except that it was CIKI phone homeeeeee!)


Arsing around .. as monkeys do.
"LOOK! Its a star, it's a plane.. NO.. its superthingymajigg.. "
Hunter's Pinot Noir has a strange effect on the lilfatmonkey who hardly drinks, if you see what I am saying.

PA looks on thinking..wondering.. how much more loony can AhPa's kids get..?
Tsk, tsk.. just ignore them and hope they calm down.. or go away.. sigh.. :P

The Neo private room window seats are gorgeous. They literally hangout into the trees.
Ciki and the lilfatmonkey soon start to have hot, burning BUMS because of the spotlights that shoot up right under the window seats. Aoww!

Time to adjourn to the bar.

The martini extra dry. Shaken not stirred.

PA said he was drinking this in his majesty's secret cervix, i mean service. That's why he's always half hidden and elusive, in the background.
What a gentleman.

Down the path of no return.. cocktails, mocktails.. and the intergalactic planetary milkway starts to blur. Finally PA declares, "I am seeing stars. Time to hit the sack".

A great night out.. we will be back to try the MIGF menu for sure. Just try and stop us.

Add:
Neo,
19, Jalan Sultan Ismail,
across from The Life Centre and Equatorial Hotel
(it used to be located in Ampang Jaya).
Tel: 603 2148 3700

Footnote:
*this post is specially dedicated to alilfatmonkey.. the guy who doesn't drink but acts like he's drunker than all of us put together. High on life is the only way to put it;)
**this post is also dedicated to Ahpa.. because we are all, afterall, Ahpa spawn! Without Ahpa.. where would we be :P (sane, sober.. and erm, boring).