Izakaya Tamako & my cousin's birthday

It was my cousin's birthday this week and we had dinner with him at the cozy Izakaya Tamako, in Plaza Damas.

Agedashi tofu is an old and revered dish.

Izakaya is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. The food is usually more substantial than that offered in other types of drinking establishments in Japan such as bars or snack bars. They are popular, casual and relatively cheap places for after-work drinking.


Sashimi which is very thin bite-size slices of fresh raw fish, traditionally served with soy sauce and wasabi.

Knowing my cousin, he is particularly careful about the type of food he allows into his body.
Seeing as he is such a huge KDT fan and one of its top students (ahem!) , his very effective but simple motto of, staying away from emotional eating, but rather switching your perception and looking at your meals as "everyday food" vs. "sometimes food", will actually see you lasting longer on a health regime that you pick for yourself. It is a life long science vs. a one off diet fad really, i.e. exercise regularly, eat a healthy balanced diet , but occasionally feel free to pig out on that bakuteh or huge, blood red steak- without feeling guilty.

I love my cousin. He is very wise!


The nice, cosy atmosphere of Izakaya Tamako is really conducive for chit-chat and slow, unhurried makan! Very pleased to meet you, K of Velvetescape and little Kafka!


This place is actually famous of it's Japanese Satay. Yes, you guessed it.. the Yakitori.


The Buta Bara looks like some form of hap-hazzard nyonya layered cake accept that it is layered lean and fatty bits of pork belly.

Babi-yakitori to be specific.
(Hallelujah! I am a convert.. I am a Babitarian! Pass me another skewer please.)



In between yakitori sticks, we take more photos.


Enter the new and 42KM improved, Bald Eagle.
Lean, mean, yellow machine.

I don't want to fight with this guy for that last piece of Yakitori.


No, I lie.. I will fight for the last skewer of pork belly Yakitori:P



Cordon Bleu Chef and Masterbaker Nigel!


Oh Shishamo.. I would like to be slim and trim like the shishamo ..., but not grilled whole while full of eggs!


The extremely healthy soba will become the Crying Soba, especially if someone chucks a whole dollop of wasabi into the miso soup (without telling you) and you happen to scoop it up, right into your eager, open mouth!

Spitting it out would be uncouth. So instead, you sit there. Crying. Swearing. But mainly crying.

:P

Happy Birthday Nigel! Hope your birthday was a great one! Continue to be the wonderful, kind, generous soul that you are and may God always grant you the desires of your heart and prosper you!



Oh, yea, one last thing.... this gorgeous, moist, butter walnut banana cake you are seeing for the first time, has been Christened...
Cumi's Banana.


Don't ask me why. Ask the Masterbaker:P





Add:
Izakaya Tamako
E-0-10/E-1-10, Plaza Damas
(Walk out of Hartamas Shopping Ctr, Opposite Starbucks),
Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,
Sri Hartamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.

Eishun ki'anu rifs @ Decanter Too

de·cant·er (d-kntr)

A vessel used for decanting, especially a decorative bottle used for serving wine.

a stoppered bottle into which a drink is poured for serving

ox·tail (äks′tāl′)
noun: the tail of an ox, steer, or cow, esp. when skinned and used in soup/stew.

flash (fl' esh)

v. flashed, flash·ing, flash·es

v.intr.

1. To burst forth into or as if into flame.

2. To give off light or be lighted in sudden or intermittent bursts.

3. To appear or occur suddenly

4. To move or proceed rapidly

spic·y (spai' si)

adj. spic·i·er, spic·i·est

1. Having the flavor, aroma, or quality of spice.

2. Piquant; zesty: a spicy tomato sauce.

3. High-spirited; lively.

4. Slightly scandalous; risqué

hand·some (han' shum)

adj. hand·som·er, hand·som·est

1. Pleasing and dignified in form or appearance.

2. Generous or copious.

3. Appropriate or fitting.

4. Large.

de·li·cious (di-lishus)
adj.

1. Highly pleasing or agreeable to the senses, especially of taste or smell.

2. Very pleasant; delightful.

Asian Keanu Reeves ( ei-shun ki'anu rifs)
1. actor, born September 2 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon, and raised in Canada.
2. Well known for playing Neo in the action film trilogy The Matrix.
3. heart-breaker/hunk.

des·sert (di-zûrt)
1. A usually sweet course or dish, as of fruit, ice cream, or pastry, served at the end of a meal.

sa·ti·ate (say-tee' ated)

tr.v. sa·ti·at·ed, sa·ti·at·ing, sa·ti·ates

1. To meet expectations (an appetite or desire) fully.

2. To satisfy to excess.

Decanter, more famously known for being a pub, is now changing its concept to restaurant. The main improvements they have made (other than having a young, good-looking keanu reeves look-alike manager ahem..) include no smoking indoors till after 10pm(i.e. after dining, so other non smoking customers can enjoy their dinner properly and not leave the place smelling smoky), upgrading their chef and food and revamping their style so that more executives will drop by and have a great chill-out 'makan-spot' for both lunch and dinner.. and finally, the best part is that alongside all these improvements, their prices are really reasonable. So , there you go. Check it out today! For more info, click here.For a map, click here.

*definitions courtesy of thefreedictionarydotcom.

I came, I saw, I macaroned...

It was so dainty. So cute. But it was so bloody technical and taxing on my chubby fingers that I will probably never make another Macaron again! The only reason I was there, at The Cooking House, was because of the free voucher I got from the My Nourishment Magazine launch a couple of months back.

The cute French teacher said in her sexy French accent " add a gram too many or too little.. and you can just say goodbye to your Macaron. Same goes for the temperature. "
That's comforting! Sheesh.. so damn precise.. Can someone just tell me.. precisely when may I eat the Macaron..?

The teacher also said.. it's a labour of love. only make the Macaron for someone you love. (Huh.. I can't think of anyone I love that much...)

But really, if not for the cajoling and encouragement from my good friend fbb (baker extraordinaire) and Ryan Khang (25 year old chef extraordinaire), I would have never gone for the class in the 1st place. So.. enjoy the "slaving over tiny french pastry dessert" photos! This is my labour of love!

Oh, and believe it or not, the teacher said I had a pretty OK technique.. :P
See.. near perfect semi-spheres.. no?

Not bad huh? Well, did I enjoy my first class? Of course! Tremendously actually, because of the great company, the excellent teacher and my new found friends.

Would I go for another baking class..? Erm yes.., but probably only as food-taster;)

Photos courtesy of my gorgeous and talented Japanese friend, Yasuyo, on my left(who incidentally has an excellent food blog called "Que sera sera Deco's Diary") and the handsome dude on my right is an energetic, talented guy, studying to be a Chef.

THE END

Sake Sessions

"What some sake to go with your success?"

You looked at him with an expression that says: Nani?

"What's with the face, I heard from your BFF that you liked sake.. and that you just hit your target.. ?", he grins knowingly while pouring the sake into the glasses.

"Uh, I do and I have, it's just that... I'm sorta working.. ?"

"It's your day off isn't it?"

"Well yeah but.."

"So here, then have a drink with me."

You take the tiny glass and sip it.

"So, you and your sake, you guys are together a lot..?"

"Uh yeah, she shows me around.."

"And on public holidays you just bum around doing nothing?"

"I wouldn't call this nothing.. It takes a lot of planning to get this good at what I do"

"Oh yea, right... I heard stories about that…"

"Really?"

"Something about you being a meticulous sake-drinker."

You two laugh and talk about many things.

"Oh, drink up.. I have to get back to work."

THE END

The place : Eric's Deli (though it looks nothing like a deli.. more like a chinese restaurant) at hartamas shopping complex

The hook: Good, affordable Chinese food/ also Steamboat, at reasonable prices in comfortable surroundings. Hartamas is a convenient area for most!

The line: You can bring your own booze.. ANY booze

The sinker : NO CORKAGE!

More on "hitting the target": Join the Club, HERE!

Footnote: Only the parts about the TARGET, and those who have to work on public holidays were real. Other parts of the conversation, just happened in the over-active, sake-soaked mind of a monkey blogger .. namely me, Ciki.

octoberfestavalidetox

Octoberfestavali celebrations have gotten me eating and drinking and drinking and eating and drinking..

Don't get me wrong.. I love the occasional piss-up session as well as regular binges.. but in the light of day, those size 4 jeans still need getting into so, back to gym and all that jazz.. haha...

As part of the detox process, I have resorted to having heavy breakfast and lunch, but feather light dinners.

Last night after the gym, we hit rumours for some salad.


Hmmm .. the place was strangely deserted..

For starters the seafood soup and the aubergine soup. The Seafood soup was rubbish - weak, thin and tasteless and most shockingly, prawns and fish that tasted like refrigerator. Not impressed.

The aubergine soups was good ( I think anything you add that amount of cream to, should taste good anyway).

Caesar salad - small portion and not very interesting. The taste was average.

Avocado salmon and cheese baked oysters. Yums! This I liked. No complaints here.

That concluded dinner. To make up for a (fairly) healthy dinner, we decided to have some dessert.

Cheese cake at Backofen.

Another average cake. Come to think of it, since we were so near, we should have driven to damansara heights to a certain someone's house for cake instead la ;P

This is the reason why I hate detox/salad night. It's so boring.

Tomorrow, it's Charsiew-Siewyoke Night... (it's only fair!! :P)

Add 1:

Rumours, 24, Jalan 28/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas, KL

Add 2:

Backofen, 34, Jalan 24/70A,
Desa Sri Hartamas, KL

Son-of-a-gun

Mee rebus sauce is tedious to make and it goes off fast, so it is best not to keep it over-night.

As you can imagine, in order for any stall to be making money, they should have a good "following" i.e. a steady number of partons per day - or else all that sauce will be wasted!

One of the mee rebus I love is the Uncle Don mee rebus originating from Johor. This Uncle Don is the Son of Haji Wahid mee rebus made famous in JB.

Son-of-a-gun. His mee is good.

The reason why I particularly like this Mee Rebus is because of the GANJA they put on top. Yup.. the nice yellow crispy bits! Try crunching into it and see if you don't get addicted!

The Mee Rebus, Satay Johor, Char Kwey Teow, Murtabak, Rojak and even that oh-so-yum-dessert, the WAFFLE are amongst the food you can get here, and they are all pretty good.

Add:

Aji Don Alley,

E-0-16, Plaza Damas,

Sri Hartamas, KL

Ding goes the cheese-o-meter!

If you are a fan of pizza, you should give Hayn's Pizza a try! It's been around a while, but this is still one of our favourite weekend pizza joints, so very close to home (i.e., no need to go into the heart of KL especially on Merdeka eve .. haha) It is fast,cheap and good! What's more, if you live in the Hartamas area, they do free delivery.

The reason we like this pizza is because it Hits the BELL at the top of the CHEESE-O-METER! Also, for the largest Pizza Funghi, 18inch, it is only RM24. What a steal..

They don't charge corkage, so we nipped down to Denise wines (5 shops away) and picked up a nice Riesling . Mmmmm, it went really well with the Pizza:D

Hmmmm... what was that we spied with our cheesy eye... LEARD a wine a day! How cute:D

Add:
Hayn's Pizzeria,
64, Jalan 27/70A,
Desa Sri Hartamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur

Delivery Toll Free No: 1-300-82-3000


Pizza:6/10
Service:7/10 (very zippy - we just walked over to get a wine, when we got back, the pizza was already on the table! average time: 15 mins)
Sodium levels:7/10 (mainly from cheese)
MSG levels: nil

the many versions of irashaimase...

Our families eat here a lot. And from the look of things, especially the line that is snaking form the counter to the outer part of the waiting area, so do half of the PJ/KL folk!

When you first walk in to Rakuzen, you get the sense that it is going to be a really “tight” night. The place is packed and it’s no surprise as the prices here are affordable and the food is pretty all right. They greet you with “irashaimase” pronounced in the mangled, garbled pronunciations you can hear at a lot of the non Japanese waiter-ed restaurants. It’s a small thing but for a person that understands the word, it’s a constant irritant to have it butchered. Why do non-Japanese staff have to pretend to speak Japanese? They could just as easily say “welcome”, or “selamat datang” and it would not detract from the charm.

Ok, ok.. better stop being grouchy. I must be really hungry today… haha…

But anyway, that’s where my criticism stops. The sushi here is excellent! The rice is expertly flavoured and the fish is absolutely delicious. Very good quality without the bad flavour that can come when ordering whitefish at some lower quality establishments.

I am not a big fan of vegetables at japanese restuarants, simply because the choices are few, and the veges are normally cooked to death. The Rakuzen Seafood Salad however, is out of this world. The salad is light and crunchy, while the seafood is sweet and still in its basic raw, juicy state. That rich, creamy, heart-stopping Rakuzen special sauce that come with it just blows my socks off. Very, very good.


Tempura is a must! I could see, and was impressed that the chef mixed a fresh batch of batter for each order of tempura that he made. There are some restaurants I’ve been to, that treat tempura as any other deep fried dish and get the batter completely wrong. It’s important to use clean oil and fresh batter when making tempura. Rakuzen does both. When the tempura got to the table, I could almost hear the batter crackle! Not bad at all. I could have sworn that the prawn on the inside was still wriggling/pulsating.. that fresh:)

All in all a good night. Our families chatted, bonded, and laughed like crazy over a bottle of sake and some excellent food. We always have fun at Rakuzen, oh yes we do!

Add:

Rakuzen,
Lot P17, Ground Floor
Hartamas Shopping Centre
KL

Food:7/10

Service:6/10

Ambiance:5/10

MSG levels: moderate

At 8 am this morn, we wanna wish our readers - Happy 08.08.08! Wishing you Joy, Peace and Grace on this special day! More power to ya! Hugs n keeses XOXO, cumidanciki :D