Monday, March 23, 2015

The Barn - 1 Mont Kiara(MK) - Wine - Small Plates - Firegrill - A Nice Place to Wine and Dine Review By Best Restaurant


There is a new restaurant in Mont Kiara that was opened just a couple of months ago where the concept is to be able to buy a bottle of wine from the New Wine World (Australia and New Zealand), dine in the restaurant while listening to the Live Band Performance while enjoying the delicious food especially the pork dishes served at the restaurant.


Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to review The BARN @ 1 Mont Kiara which is located at Lot G-2, G-3 & G-26, Ground Floor, 1 Mont Kiara No.1, Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara 50480, Kuala Lumpur.

The concept of The BARN @ 1 Mont Kiara; in that it has its own retail wine room/shop with a wide selection of wine at one side of the restaurant; where customer can either shop for a bottle of wine or choose a bottle to be consumed at the restaurant for their meal.


The ambience of the wine shop gives you a feel of a wine cellar decor. Customer who choose to consume the wine at the restaurant only need to pay for the service charge and not the corkage charges unless you bring your own wine/liquor.


The BARN @ 1 Mont Kiara is section out; into the main dining area,


a cigar corner with soft sofa settee


with a cigar cabinet that is filled Cuban Cigar,


a bar lounge area with live band music


 an al-fresco area outside the main restaurant


and a coffee and desserts counter i.e. DRIP @ The BARN which serves a special blend of coffee from Coffex. DRIP @ The BARN is open in the morning, so you can grab your coffee fix for breakfast over the counter.


Also, the kitchen that serves the Tapas is based on an Open Kitchen Concept where you can watch the food being prepared and served.


Our food review started with the signature Tapas which is the Bacon Wrapped Sausages - the premium sausages have that bouncy, firm texture and was a good pairing


to the Classic Margarita which was concocted with Tequila, Grand Marnier, Cointreau and Lime Syrup.

 

Next, we had the Crackling Skin Crispy Roast Pork Belly, which uses a secret recipe and technique that ensure the skin is as crispy when roasted while the layer of fats and meat was very well balanced.


With the slight salty taste of the roasted pork belly, it was superbly paired with the


Luis Felipe Malbec (Chile) Red Wine which has a smooth texture and taste.


followed by the Garlic Prawns which was firm, succulent and bouncy. The garlic, herbs and butter taste was of the right balance without being too overpowering each other.


One of the nice things about dining in the Barn @ 1 Mont Kiara, is that they serves a wide variety of Tapas which goes well with the wine, beer or liquor drinks that are served here.


The next Tapas that we had was the Belacan Chicken Wings. The marinate of the concoction of belacan was very balanced where you can taste a tinge of it right to the bone. It was fried until light golden brown and has a crisp skin while the meat was still juicy.


The meat within the crispy surface was surprisingly tender as opposed to tough, which is common for most deep-fried items.


The last Tapas for the night is the Skewered Pork Satay. Here, each skewers of the satay contains a layer of fats and then meat and then fats and meat.


We were quite surprised why it was so: after checking with the Chef, it was purposely set in that manner, so that when the skewered are grilled, the juice from the fats layers will flow to the meat thereby making the meat to have a softer texture and covered with the fat juice to make it succulent. The peanuts sauce has a very strong peanut taste which was good as the dip for the Satay.


For the Cold Cut we had the Barcelona Platter which came with an assortment of premium choice cuts of milano salami, gypsy ham, iberico ham served with mix of olives and balsamic vinaigrette and ciabatta bread.


After our tasty Tapas, we then proceeded to have our main dish, the first of which was The BARN Original Pork Ribs. The pork ribs are cooked till tender and grilled with the BARN special fresh BBQ sauce.


The Ribs was grilled enough to be flavourful without tasting the carbon while the meat was tender and came off the ribs without much efforts. The BBQ sauce also has a smoky, tangy and sweet flavours.


Our next main was the Slow Roasted Pork Belly served with asparagus and Spanish salad mix. The Pork Belly is first roasted and then slowly cooked with Chinese herbs and spices. The aroma of the dish was it has this distinctive smoky aroma.


The verdict: the Pork belly was very tender, while the broth which has a very unique smoky taste was very tasty and delicious. Perfect if eaten with some white rice. It was so good that we finish the broth up to the last drop.


For our coffee fix, we had the AFFOGATO with Kapiti ice cream. The espresso has the right kick and the after taste still lingers in the throat which was matched with the super smooth Kapiti ice-cream, it was one of the best Affogato in recent time that I have tasted.


The coffee machine used in DRIP @ The BARN; extracted out the full flavours from the coffee beans is the La Cimbali - one of the premium range of coffee machine.


For desserts, we had 2 cakes the first of which is the Blueberry Cheese cake,


followed by the Red Velvet.


The Barn at 1 MK - Mont Kiara is truly a place to de-stress; where you can dine or chill with your families, friends and business associates having finger food (tapas) while sipping your favourite wine where you can purchase at their wine shop or liquor drinks in a comfortable setting while enjoying the soothing live number belted out by the live performance.  

Sunday, March 22, 2015

SimplyD Cafe - Simply Delicious Grand Launching at Avenue K Rooftop


Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to witness the Grand launch of SimplyD Cafe at Avenue K Rooftop on 12th March 2015.


Simplyd Cafe is part of the Delicious Group which is owned by Eastern & Oriental Bhd that brought you the famed Delicious Cafes.


Simplyd Cafe which means Simply Delicious is a new casual dining concept and is set to change the way the customer feels about fast food. It's motto is FUN, FRESH and TASTY.


Simplyd Cafe was born out of an idea from its CEO Mr Steve Alen and his love for Malaysian amazing array of food. With a simple menu comprising of mix-and-match Pastas, Burgers and Cakes, that infused the local favourite into a western meal; and viola a new fusion dish like the Salted Egg Pumpkin Pasta is born.


With fresh and unprocessed ingredients unlike those associated with fast food, Simplyd cafe is indeed simple, unfussy, fast, fresh, great in value and most importantly tasty.


The signature dishes at Simplyd cafe are very simple i.e. Salted Egg Pumpkin Fusilli, Classic Beef Burger and Coconut Pandan Cake. There is no need for frills at Simplyd Cafe where food and drinks are served in colourful melamine bowl and plates.


The first Simplyd Cafe was opened in July 2014 at Nu Sentral Mall i.e. Lot G9, 201, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur; followed by outlets in The Curve, Lot 158, First Floor, Jalan PJU 7/3, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor and the latest addition is in Avenue K Shopping Mall, C16A, Concourse Level, 156, Jalan Ampang. 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Korean Wang BBQ Centre - SS2 Petaling Jaya - A New Korean BBQ Restaurant Review By Best Restaurant


SS2, Petaling Jaya has a lot of restaurant offering various foods like steamboat, cafes and etc but very few BBQ restaurant; more so for Korean BBQ. Best Restaurant To Eat was invited for a food review at the newly opened Korean Wang BBQ Centre located at 42, Jalan SS2/66, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.


Speaking of Korean run BBQ restaurant, you will usually find it in Ampang and Solaris Publika; reason being most Korean are living around those areas but Korean Wang BBQ Centre decided to start their business in the food capital of PJ that is SS2; as they want to bring this Korean specialty to be enjoyed by the masses.


The decor is simple and does not really look much like most Korean restaurant. One of the special design is the smoke eksoz chimney which has a vacuum system that extract out all the fumes during the BBQ session. This makes the place less smoky and more pleasurable without getting smoky smell all over your body after the meal.


The BBQ stove uses a special charcoal which is less smoky to grill the meat.


I have tasted quite a number of Korean BBQ and find that the way the meat, Korean Wang BBQ Centre prepared and its serving portion is a step upward ie. the portion are bigger and its taste is comparable if not better than some of their counterpart in Ampang.


For the Korean BBQ, you can order the set which comprises of meat and other food while the ala carte gives you a better option to order the type of meat and dishes that you enjoyed.


As with most Korean BBQ, the waiter will do it for you as they will know the right way to grill your meat to perfection while retaining the juiciness and soft smoky texture of each of the meat portion.


Korean BBQ is usually served with an array of side dishes which includes kimchi, fresh garlic, special sauce, sesame and salt dip, fresh green chillies and of course fresh green lettuce for you to wrap the meat in.


We started with the Grill Pork Belly - Samgyeopsal which has a generous portion. Grilled to a slight smoky and tender texture, the combination of the fats and meats of the Pork Belly, with the fresh lettuce wrap was the great start for a wonderful meal ahead.


the Samgyeopsal being grilled on the stove.


The next grilled that we had was the Grill Pork Shoulder - Moksal - this part is more for those that does not like to eat the grill pork fats as in the pork belly, as the meat are leaner compared with the Pork Belly that we had earlier.


the Moksal looking perfectly grill on the stove.


Followed by the Pork Rib marinated in special Soy Sauce - DwaeJi Galbi - The special sauce enhances the meat and you do not really need any other sauce to dip for this dish.


The last meat that was to be grilled is the Marinated Chicken - it is already flavoured with a special sauce and like the DwaeJi Galbi, you can just eat it after the grilled with no additional sauces dip required as it is sufficiently flavourful.


the BBQ Chicken being grilled on the stove.


After the BBQ, we were served with other side dishes which you can order ala-carte or as a special lunch set; the first of which is the Kimchi Jigye (Kimchi Stew). It is a Kimchi soup which has small pieces of pork belly cooked in it. I find that this Kimchi Jigye was to my taste as it is not too overly sourish.


Next, we has the DoenJang Jigye (Soy Bean Based Stew) which has some seafood and taufoo added into it.


Followed by the Tteokbokki. I am not a real fan of Tteokbokki as most of the restaurant, that I had eaten previously, they tend to be a little too hard, but at Korean Wang BBQ, the Tteobokki served here has the right texture and the sauce was just right without being too overly sweet or sourish.


The chef has also cooked up some new dishes to be introduced, which is the special Cheesy Pork Rib in special Korean Spicy sauce. The sauce tasted much like the "Pie Kat Wong", and the soft firm texture of the meat was gel and wrap in the melted cheese topping.


and the Chicken Thigh in Cheese Sauce. similar in taste but with chicken thigh as the meat base.


One other dish is the Cheese Omelette which has a layer of cheese wrap in the omelette. The eggs were very fluffy while each bite; you could savour the cheesy and smooth soft texture of the egg.



Some of the offering of the Special Lunch set.

For folks in Petaling Jaya especially SS2, you need not have to travel all the way to Ampang to savour Korean BBQ, you can just pop by to Korean Wang BBQ Centre at SS2 to savour this delicacy.

For more Korean Food Review By Best Restaurant To Eat. Please click on the link below.

Jang Gun Korean Buffet - Fahrenheit 88 Kuala Lumpur  KL Best Restaurant To Eat
Choi’s Don & Dak @Kuchai Entrepreneur Park Old Klang Road, Korean Teppan  BBQ Table Review
Authentic Korean BBQ and Traditional Korean Home Cook Jal-Dae-Ji at One Ampang Business Avenue