Thirsty Monkeys Café & Bistro Taman Desa Old Klang Road German Bavarian Pork Feast Review

 

One of my favourite German Dishes is Pork Knuckles. When Best Restaurant To Eat got this invitation to review a new restaurant that serves Pork Knuckles, we jump in without any hesitation. The new restaurant which serves German Bavarian cuisine is the Thirsty Monkeys Café & Bistro located at No.2, Jalan 4/109e, Desa Business Centre, Taman Desa, Old Klang Road, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Established in July 2014, the newly opened Thirsty Monkeys Café & Bistro is a restaurant serving the German food and beers.

Thirsty Monkeys Café & Bistro Taman Desa was a combined idea of 3 partners who saw the potential of bringing quality German food and beers culture to Malaysia. Why is it called Thirsty Monkeys? Simply put, all three owners are all born in the Year of the Monkey!

As the restaurant is at a corner shop, the décor is one of bistro setup with open spaces along the sides of the restaurant giving diners option to chill and dine in natural ventilation. Foods that are served here are suitable for family dine in or chill out with friends.

Our review started with a simple salad that comes with Thousand Island dressings.

Next, comes one of my favourite, which is Lamb Shanks. I have eaten many lamb shanks from many other restaurants previously and I find the sauce that was used to braise this Lamb Shanks to the right tender texture (the meat are easily removed without great effort) was very delicious and lip smacking as those that I have previously eaten. 

The meat was very tender and there were no gamey lamb taste which can be a great turn off for Lamb Shanks. The Lamb Shanks was served with mashed potatoes and salad.

The next main course for us was the Baked Pork Belly which was served with mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables and apple sauce. 

The Pork Belly was baked to ensure the layers of fats are fully gelled up to the tender meat with a slight crisp of the pork skin. The Pork Belly is then layered on top of a chef created Apple Sauce which gives it a special sweet and tangy taste to match the slightly salted Pork Belly.

In any German Bavarian cuisine, you can never miss the sausage and here at Thirsty Monkeys Café and Bistro at Taman Desa, the sausages are served in a Sausage Platter Set meant for sharing and it has 6 popular sausages in it. The sausages in the platter are the Farmer’s Bratwurst, Nuemberger, Emmenthaler, Hungarian, Thueringer, Chorizo and slices of bacon to topped up to this dish. 

The sausages are very meaty and firm which I liked, Although a tad of saltiness was evident, it is a very nice pairing to the Hoegaarden cold beer that we had. The Sausage Platter is served with garlic mayo, habanera mayo, mustard, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.

Another dish which is a signature for German Bavarian restaurant is the Pork Knuckles. One of the your truly favourite dish. I find the meats and fat was nicely roasted and was flavourful but to me the skin was not to the crisp which I yearn for. A check with the chef says that some of the customers preferred it this way.

For those who love the skin to be roasted to a more crisp, please let the chef knows about it during your order. The Roasted Pork Knuckles are served with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and pork sauce.

At, Thirsty Monkeys Café and Bistro @ Taman Desa, they do serve a variety of German Beer and the one we had was Hoegaarden – a very smooth beer and nice pairing for the meat dishes that we had earlier.

and Konig Ludwig Dunkel. For fans of German Beer, Thirsty Monkeys Café and Bistro @ Taman Desa is having a promotional German beer which is the German Bucket Promotion ie. RM120.00, you can have choose any 5 bottle of the German Beer. 

Thirsty Monkeys also serves some snack food, which are suitable dishes for the Beer for example Tender Chicken, Squids Ring and the one we had was the Spicy Mutton. The Spicy Mutton has a very strong spice infused aroma and taste, which was ideal as a side to the beers.

Lastly, we had 2 desserts to end the night, the first of which, was the Fried Banana Fritter Ala Mode – The banana are battered and deep fried with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup, it is a combination of something hot and something cold which is a mix taste to our taste bud.

and the Apple Crumble. The apple crumble was soft, fluffy and crusty and with the layer of zesty apple sauce in between the crust, it was a sweet ending for our dinner at Thirsty Monkeys Café and Bistro.

So, for those that stay around the Taman Desa or Old Klang Road, you need not travel far to enjoy nice German Bavarian style dishes and beers. Thirsty Monkeys Café and Bistro is just a stone throw away and will be able to satisfy your yearning for German food.

Din Tai Fung Empire Shopping Gallery Subang – Michelin Star Shanghainese Dim Sum Cuisine Review

Shanghainese food is getting very popular these days in Malaysia, one of which is Din Tai Fung. Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to try out some of these Dim Sum dishes at Din Tai Fung Empire Shopping Gallery Subang outlet located at Lot G15, Ground Floor, Subang Jaya Selangor.

As with most of Din Tai Fung outlets, the décor is brightly lit with simple modern Chinese design which exudes the fast moving food that are served here.

Din Tai Fung was transformed to a restaurant  in Taiwan where they started serving their specialities Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Dumpling) in 1972. Headquartered in Taiwan, Din Tai Fung now has branches all over the world serving their special Shanghainese Dim Sum Cuisine.

Din Tai Fung has won many accolades, which includes New York Times Top Ten Restaurant in 1993 and their Pavilion Branch in Kuala Lumpur was voted the top Chinese Restaurant In Kuala Lumpur by Trip Advisor. It was also ranked as No 1 in the 101 Best Restaurant in Asia By The Daily Meal and finally world’s second best chain by CNN besides being awarded Michelin Star for a number of years.

During the ancient times, Chinese scholars have determined that with a bite of something cold, something sweet, something sour and something spicy, our palates are awakened to savour the next dish. With that in mind, Din Tai Fung serves an array of appetizers to whet your appetite.

Our night started with the special appetizer and starters which includes Spicy Sichuan Chicken. This is poached chicken which is topped with a spicy Sichuan sauce with a generous amount of ground nuts and sesame seed that gives you a crunch to match the tender chicken meat. The spicy level was just right for me.

Next, we had the Din Tai Fung House Special

after which, is The Stewed Wheat Gluten which is basically a vegetarian dish in which the wheat gluten was used instead of bean curd that are normally used to be stewed with mushroom.

This is then followed by the Fragrant Pork With Crushed Garlic – the crunchy cucumber was wrap in a sliced of fragrant pork and topped with garlic sauce.

The last appetizer which was served chilled that we had,was the Spicy Pickled Cucumber – The zucchini has that soft crunch and cool feel when bitten into it.

The art of making Xiao Long Bao is a very delicate process especially on the flour wrap which has to attain a certain consistency i.e. the wrap has to be of the right thickness, if it is too thick, the dumpling is doughy and too thin it will break easily. All the flour wrap at Din Tai Fung are made in each of the restaurant ala dante when required.

Even the soup within the Xiao Long Bao cannot be too much or too little, while the meat have to be cooked at the right temperature.

Eating this Xiao Long Bao, the fresh thinly sliced ginger are mixed with the right portion of Vinegar (3 part) to Soya Sauce (1 part) to get the right taste of sourness balance with the sweet salty taste of the soya sauce.

We had the Pork Xiao Long Bao to start off with, which happen to be the top selling signature dish in Din Tai Fung.

Next, we had the Crab Roe and Pork Xiao Long Bao. One of the tip of eating Xiao Long Bao is to have it eaten as quickly as possible so that you can experience the taste of the meat, soup, flour wrap and the condiment of ginger and sourish taste while it is still piping hot.

Next, we move to sample the Dumplings, the first of which is Steamed Vegetable and Pork Dumpling, It has a strong vegetable taste which was mix with the minced pork and wrap in the dumpling wrap.

This is then followed by the Steamed Shrimp With Pork Shaomai. The pork are wrapped in the dumpling and then topped with a fresh bouncy prawn on each of the dumpling to create a dumpling that pleases the eye especially for the shrimp fan and the taste-bud.

To end the dumpling course, we had the Spicy Vegetable & Pork Wanton.

Next, we move to some main dishes which we started off with, the first of which is the Hot and Sour Soup which has a similar taste to the Sichuan Hot Pepper soup.

and followed by the Pork Chop. This pork chop has a slight flavour and aroma of 5 spice powder.

and the Din Tai Fung Fried Rice.

After which, we had the Noodles With Minced Pork In Bean Sauce, I personally find the bean sauce a tad salty for me.

and end the noodles offering with Shrimp Noodle Soup. The Noodles have a generous serving of bouncy prawn while the pork broth is of a light flavoured.

The other side dishes that we had was the Sauteed Baby String Beans With Minced Pork, I like this String Beans as it is very crunchy and the way it was cooked was just the right taste and complemented well with the minced pork.

Next, we had the Golden Pumpkins With Salted Eggs. The pumpkin are fried to a crisp and coated with a layer of salted eggs. I personally preferred to have a more salted egg taste which is a little lacking here.

The final dish is the Stir Fried Pea Sprouts; a light and simple dish to end the night after all the different taste of food and flavours that we had for the night.

What is a dinner without desserts? At Din Tai Fung, they served a special Steamed Chinese-Style Layer Cake, it is quite flat in taste and were recommended to be eaten with

a special concocted black sesame dipping or condensed milk.

As Din Tai Fund is famous for the flour wrap, the next 2 desserts are also based on the wrap which is the Steamed Taro Dumplings

and the Steamed Red Bean Dumplings.

The last dessert we had is the Chilled Grass Jelly Topped with Purple Glutinous Rice.

So, if you are one of those that loves Shanghainese Cuisine and in particular Xiao Long Bao, Din Tai Fung is a good option for you and your family, where you can sample many different varieties of these Dim Sum and small eat dishes all in one restaurant.

Our other review of Ding Tai Fung

2015 Chinese New Year of Golden Goat Set Menu at Ding Tai Fung Pavilion Review