Sunday, November 2, 2014

Samba Brazilian Steakhouse Churrascaria@ Avenue K – A Brazilian Samba Buffet Churrasco and Gourmet Cuisine Review



Churrasco is the term for a barbecue in Brazil and some of the Latin American countries. There are not many churrasco restaurant in Malaysia that serves authentic Brazilian cuisine. 


Best Restaurant To Eat was invited to review one of the original Brazilian Buffet – All You Can Eat Churrasco and native Brazilian spread at SAMBA BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE CHURRASCARIA @ AVENUE K strategically located near the city centre at 156, Jalan Ampang, L3- 3/3-4A, Avenue K, Level 3, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Just opposite KLCC Suria.


SAMBA BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE CHURRASCARIA@ AVENUE K has in place a host of Brazilian Chef namely Ms Mariana Barbosa which are experts in native Brazilian food and Mr Daniel Lira which is the Head Chef for the Churrasco 


The restaurant main theme is everything Brazil which is lively football festivity; here there are many posters and murals which exuberates this theme. 


It has a separate area which caters to the different dining experience, while there is also an alfresco dining area, which overlooks the SURIA KLCC and the stunningly picturesque KLCC Twin Tower. 


The buffet line was very impressive as there were many Brazilian special cuisines on the tray of the buffet namely the Cheesy Parmegiana Beef, Summer Rice, Fish Moquecca, Baby Potato & Mushroom Sauteed, Creamy Bechamel Penne and more.


The other Brazilian dishes are Brazilian savoury soups and beans based stewed dishes. They are Pinto Beans, Beef Rubacao, Nuts Vatapa and Shrimp Bobo. 


There is also a wide salad selection from you to choose from i.e. Caesar salad, Tropical fruit salad, Potato salad, Greek salad to Pasta salad Tropical Fruit Salad & Fresh Romaine Lettuce. It was the ideal complimentary dish to our BBQ. 


Others on the buffet line include the very popular SEAFOOD ON ICE which were poached seafood like PRAWNS, SLIPPER LOBSTER, SQUIDS and OYSTER. 


The seafood was very fresh and goes well with a sprinkle of zesty lemon juice and a tinge of Tabasco sauce or you can have it with the popular Thousand Island dressing or even eat it on its own to savour the natural taste of the seafood. 


We were just nibbling on these dishes as we want to leave our stomach to the CHURRASCO meat offering which we heard was superb. 


But, for me, this night belongs to the STAR dishes i.e. the Churrasco specialities which boasts a total of 20 meats on skewers, but due to the limited space in the little tummy of mine, we just couldn’t sample it all. 


The variety of beef, lamb, sausage and chicken are cooked on a purpose-built "churrasqueira", a barbecue grill, which supports the spits and skewers rotating on a presets speed and temperatures to ensure a perfectly grill of these tender and succulent meat. 


One of the nice experiences about SAMBA BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE CHURRASCARIA@ AVENUE K is that these meats on skewers are served by the server at your table, so it is as freshly cut straight from the grill as you can get. You do not really need to go to the buffet counter to have your choice of meat. Just tell the servers what meat cut you want and they will bring it to you. 


When the servers comes to your table, he will angularly slice the meat cut based on your preference and you use a special tongs to clip the pieces of meat as he slices it accordingly. 


The first Churrasco was the fresh Shrimps wrapped with Beef Bacon. The flavours of the natural taste of the Shrimps was mixed with a slightly salty crisp bacon. Wonderful combination.


this is followed by grilled Dory Fillet. 


Next, is the succulent Chicken Thigh which was crisp on the outside, moist in the inside meat which was very tasty. The chicken was smooth and tender, bursting with flavour upon each bite.


This is then followed by the Super Size Fat Juicy Sausages 


Next, is the Chicken Fillet wrapped in Beef Bacon. Each sumptuous piece of Chicken Roll was a medley of flavors.


For Beef Lovers - The Rump Steak, this one is a must try. The meat is moist, tender, and flavourful. 


followed by the firm and chewy fresh white squid. It was a wonderfully grilled and flamed licked to perfection


Smoky, succulent Chunky Peppery Beef in Skewer with Capsicum
.

Look good & Smells good - Beef Fillet Wrap With Bacon. Real Beefy goodness 


My personal beef favourite, it is the PICANHA BEEF RIB- It is the topmost layers of muscle covered in a layer of thick fat. Look at the size of this slab of beefy ribs.


 It is a flavorfully grill roasted back ribs which the meat was still moist, juicy, tender and succulent. Just so yummy.


The smoked duck skin was grilled to perfection, giving you that nice oozing feeling when the juicy fat melting on your palate.  


Next is the Cheese Steak - which has a strong melted cheesy taste.


Followed by the grill Quail. 


Smoky, succulent grilled Sirloin Steak


 Crispy and savoury skin, with a tender and juicy interior that was oozing with flavour. 


Sweet and flavourful grilled pineapple. A break from all those super tasty meat.


Lastly the Chicken heart - Not for the faint heart. Overall all the BBQ meats and seafood was delectable even without any sauce and pleases all your taste and senses 


At SAMBA BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE CHURRASCARIA@ AVENUE K, since the servers come to each table, there is a chip which has one side GREEN - signalling you want more or RED - I had enough, so the servers would not come by.


At the restaurant, there are some specialities snack food, which is not available on the buffet line, During the course of your buffet, the servers will serves you this small Brazilian Snack, the first of which is the super smooth Passion Fruit Mousse, 


and the Chicken Croquette 


For patrons who would like to have a drink or two, the restaurant also serves hard liquor.


For those who loves wine pairing with their meat, there is an impressive collection of wine in the cellar to choose from. 


and also some invigorating brazilian cocktails like the Kiwi, Lime, Strawberry, Mix and Passion Fruit cocktail to chill your night away after a sumptuous feast.


So, If you are a real meat lover like me especially on Beef and just loves it to be cooked as BBQ, then SAMBA BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE CHURRASCARIA@ AVENUE K will definitely not disappoint you. There are on going promotion which you can check out from time to time on their facebook page 

For More Food Review By Best Restaurant To Eat

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Doiffee Café @Taman Desa, Old Klang Road – Delicious Gourmet Coffee and Thai Inspired Food Review


Doiffee Café @Taman Desa located at 10A, Jalan Desa Jaya, Taman Desa, Old Klang Road Kuala Lumpur is a distinctive new café that is serving up gourmet coffee and Thai inspired food serving in the neighbourhood of Taman Desa, which does not have many such cafe in this area and Old Klang Road.


The café is decorated as a homely décor that exudes a charming setting. All the tables and chairs are different unlike other restaurants, which have standard furniture throughout the café, as it allows the customer the option of having to seat comfortably like at home.


So, what does Doiffee means? Doi in Thai means mountain - Doiffee Café literally means Mountain Coffee Café as coffee is usually grown on mountains quoted by the owner. 


At Doiffee Café @Taman Desa, the coffee serves here are of a few roast type, with bean supplies coming from France i.e.Malongo – specially for the espresso, Singapore Highlander and the Caribbean Cuban.


For a start, we had the POPCORN COFFEE. Although the coffee was of a mild and light taste, the popcorn flavoured infused taste and aroma of the popcorn was strong and flavourful. Fans of popcorn would love this drink.


Next, we had the Iced Latte, it was a light shot of coffee with smooth blended snow ice. At Doiffee Café @Taman Desa, they have a special ice shaving machine that can churn out smooth and fine snow ice.


After that, we had the Hot Chocolate which was from France. It has a distinctive and strong chocolaty taste and aroma. It is a comforting hot drink to warm oneself especially cold weather night, more so for us that night as it was raining cats and dogs while we were leisurely enjoying our cuppa of hot chocolate. 



For me, this was followed by the star of the night, which is the AFFOGATO. The affogato was of the French roast which has a double shot of espresso, it was very strong and you can taste the kick of it while it was a nice pairing with the smooth gelato from KAPITI. The sweetness of the vanilla gelato from New Zealand was blended well with every scoop of the espresso mix with it. 


We start off our dinner with a special Thai Salad i.e. PAPAYA SALAD, it tasted like vinaigrette papaya with a strong dash of chilli padi. The papaya was still has the crunch which is nice and was a good starter to whet your appetite.


This was followed by the MANGO SALAD, the mango was of the Japanese Lilly Mango and tasted very refreshing minus out the sourishness in other mango type. Coupled with the onion and chilli padi in the dressing, it was a tad more spicy for most people. We like the roasted peanuts toppings as the crunch add an interesting dimension to the salad.


When the SUMMER SALAD was brought to the table, our eyes were feasted as the salad was very well decorated with brimming fresh garden lettuce at the bottom, and was topped with alfalfa, pomegranates, cherries tomatoes, capsicum, and carrots. 


There are 2 home made dressing for this salad i.e. Refreshing Dressing which we had and Oriental Dressing which is unique and might need to get use to it to enjoy this salad.


Our first main dish of the night is DRUNKEN SEAFOOD SPAGHETTI; it is one of the specialties serves here. The generous topping of scallop, prawns and squids makes this dish super yummy for seafood lovers like me as each spoonful of spaghetti is accompanied with one of the fresh and chewy seafood pieces. 


The sauce is infused with some red wine, peppercorn with a strong aroma of the basil and fragrant that makes eating this dish very tantalizing.


The next dish is the KERABU MINCED CHICKEN SPAGHETTI – as we were used to eating pasta with a lot of sauces, this dish was a little surprise, i.e. a little dry. It looks quite plain as it is, it tasted very much like a dry noodles that we had but the taste of the minced chicken meat was cooked with mint, basil and with some spices, which made it interesting.


For dessert, we had the MANGO STICKY RICE which is a very popular Thai style dessert. The glutinous rice was very flavourful eaten as it is. Most shop that I had this dessert, the glutinous rice is usually quite bland and starchy. Although the santan that came with the dessert was a bit too little, it was very flavourful nevertheless and was ideal for the mix of the rice, santan and the sweet ripen mango.


Lastly, we had the very picturesque KOI FISH JELLY, this KOI FISH Jelly based is the perfect mixture of coffee taste into the jelly, while the darker colored was with extra doses of coffee, which was very fragrant when eaten. 


Doiffee Café@Taman Desa, also serves the emerald pandan egg santan jelly which has a strong pandan flavoured taste.


The night ended with another cuppa we had, it was the CAPUCHINO, a bit light for me though but a splendid end to a night out with my fellow bloggers on the Café Hopping Malaysia project.


At Doiffee Café@Taman Desa, you can choose to relax in the ambience of home like, while sipping your favourite drinks in this part of town with your family and friends. The food serves at Doiffee Café@Taman Desa is quite interesting as it is presented to diners. Like the saying goes, we eat with our eyes first.