Theobroma Chocolate, KL

Back to Singapore, but first, some Halal cake!

Located at the LCCT terminal, it is a convenient place to hang out and while some time away before your budget flight. That's pretty much it for this cafe though!

We wanted to go to Starbucks first but it was full so we settled for this near empty coffeeplace. Not long after sitting down did we discover why - there was a strange soapy disinfectant rancid stench wafting around the main sitting area (where someone was mopping the floor), so we plopped ourselves at the furthest table possible. After which we were assaulted by a legion of fly armies commandeered by Leonidas himself! Argh.

Nevermind, we attempted to comfort ourselves with some cake instead. The mascarpone carrot cake looked enticing in the shelf.

Carrot cakes are lovely - it's usually served warm, moist and soft and has chunks of raisins and walnuts in it, bursting with cinnamon-y goodness and the saltiness of cream cheese.

We did not have this.

What we did have, instead, was a room-temperature dry, flaky and pathetic (half-baked? ha!) attempt at a carrot cake. The mascarpone was non-existent. In its place is an overly sweet, almost whipped-cream thing that made up half the cake. There was almost no carrot to speak of either.

Dry, a little sweet (when it should be salty/sour), and besides that tasteless, it's closer in constituency to chinese carrot cake than actual kek.

Disappointed, we turned to our second order - dark chocolate cake with layers of ganache. As soon as I put my fork in it, all hope vanished. It was utterly crumbly and dry, not quite the rich, molten kind I had envisioned. The ganache was okay but the cake didn't hold together very well to begin with. After some prodding, the cake was reduced to a plateful of crumbs and despair :(

In summary...

Meh!

Oh yes, we tasted the difference indeed.

By the way, for two slices of cake and a latte this was the most expensive meal we had in KL. Should have stuck to Starbucks.

Rating (out of 4) :

Ngau Kee Beef Noodles, Tengkat Tong Shin, KL

Last day of our trip - we religiously googled the day before using crappy Malaysian wifi and finally found this one place that might be worth our calories - Ngau Kee Beef Noodles was 5 minutes away from our hotel. We were superbly grateful that this place was open for breakfast!!

Heard raving reviews about their dry beef noodles, so that was what we had - I had one with mixed beef stuff and Bunny had just the beef balls (meatballs mind you).

I had a small bowl, and even so this filled me up sufficiently. Bear had a medium, and looked a lot more substantially noodley ( I was struggling to finish).

What can I say - these were absolutely MINDBLOWINGLY HEAVENLY. God awesome. The dry noodles came with copious amounts of minced beef (some say it's pork but didn't taste like pork at all. Maybe kurobuta) steeped in this dark flavourful sauce. And that was it - the noodles by themselves were just that simple! Add a little (I added a lot) chili flakes and it was just subliimmmee. Supremely oily mind you but so godlike and flavourful, thank goodness we found this place!

The minced bork/peef? sauce was really good I thought - and there was a lot of it to properly coat your noodles with for that ideal sauce-noodle ratio. As Bear mentioned, this is one very oily (and therefore yummy!) dish - but how else is one supposed to start the day off?! :D

I really liked the handmade beef balls - they were firm to the bite and dense with beefy goodness, without too much of the non-meat nonsense they usually mix in to produce a fake bounce.

I had mine with mixed beef stuff in them - it was alright, nothing to write home about. The real shiznit was still in the noodles themselves and the beef balls.

From Google : http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ngau+kee+beef+noodles

Rating (out of 4) :

Sister Drunken Chicken Mee, Jalan Alor, KL

Due to silly flight scheduling, we had to fly into KL from Siem Reap on our way back to SG. This was no bad thing, since this means moar gastronomic explorations! With only about 24hours, we plonked ourselves in the Bukit Bintang area for convenience.

Hungry and keen for some local nosh upon reaching, we walked around Jalan Alor for a bit before deciding on this little stall situated slightly further away from the zi char places (as most were already closed).

We ordered:

Wanton mee! This is one of those noodle dishes that shouldn't go wrong but still often does. However this unassuming bowl was really good! The noodles were the right texture (slightly chewy) and came doused in black sauce that was not too salty. It also came topped with a bit of chilli oil for that extra kick.

Noodles were Q, sauce wasn't too over bearing, wantons juicy and flavourful. I thought this wanton mee pwned all that I've tasted in Singapore, but probably still can't beat the JB style with the slightly flat noodles.

Best thing about this was the char siew! KL-style with a bit of gravy, it was appropriately fatty and tender. We gobbled this down.

I had the titular drunken chicken mee. How they got the chicken drunk is anyone's guess, but this ultra flavourful dish was astounding. Sauce was extremely thick and FILLED with shao xing wine, tremendous flavour. Parsley, fungi, ginger (which went so well with the chinese wine sauce) and fried egg (at extra cost) with the mee sua-like noodles were absolutely delicious. We took advantage of the drunk chicken :D

All in all it was a pleasant surprise as we wandered into the stall randomly, not knowing what to expect. We left with a new found respect for wanton mee and drunk chicken!

Rating (out of 4) :

Abacus, Siem Reap

Siem Reap was such an adventure! Clambering over temple ruins while trying not to get a heatstroke is something I would actually recommend doing at least once in one's life. There is much natural beauty everywhere: in watching the sun rising over the Angkor Wat, and then beholding the subsequent soft light on the temple stones; traipsing over blocks in the tranquil wilderness of Beng Mealea and discovering trees so ancient and huge; the indescribable lull of acceptance after a tiring wait for the sun to set atop Bakheng Hill...

Before I proceed to wax lyrical about how wonderful of an experience Siem Reap was to us, let's shift our attention back to our favourite task: eating!

Dinner was much enjoyed at Abacus, serving 'fine French and Cambodian Asian food'. I must declare at this point Abacus serves incredible fine French and Cambodian Asian food that does not cost an arm nor a leg!

We telepathically agreed on the foie gras to start.

This is the largest hunk of duck liver I have ever had on a plate. It came with a piece of toast ( which looks like another piece of foie gras), sitting atop mango and arugula lettuce with a pretty drizzle of balsamic reduction. We were in awe of its mere presence on our table!

It certainly did not disappoint - the foie gras was smooth, moist and buttery. It went really well with the sweetness and mushiness of the mango, the accompanying toast gave it a nice crunchy texture. Although reluctant to fault this dish, we thought it could have been pan fried slightly longer for that extra charred/ smoky flavour.

Oh my god. Besides this being the biggest slab of foie gras I've ever laid eyes on (for 17USD), the soft, melty foie gras was oh-so decadent and the mango, greens and crunchy bread do pair perfectly. It was slightly sinewy, but somehow did not leave the cloying fatty feeling in the mouth upon consumption. Sweet moses.

I feasted upon this Entrecote Bordelaise both with my eyes and my tongue. This massive monster hunk of rib-eye was served in a thick shalloty sauce. Was served with garlic taters, sauteed spinach (which waere SUBLIME), and pan fried mushrooms. And I kid you not, those mushrooms, quite simply put, was imba. I've never quite had mushrooms like this, and being a god-damn SIDE DISH, what the hell was I to expect from the beef??!?!?!!

Perfection in this rib-eye, medium rare, soft and juicy and pink. The sweet onion red wine sauce complimented the bloody steak perfectly. I also commented to Bunneh how the saucey blood oozing from the steak fused with the sauce giving it an interesting taste (and as a result, a clean plate). Vanderful.


I decided on a medium-rare slab of beef tenderloin in a special ginger sesame sauce with sides of potatoes, mushrooms and creamy spinach. This was stellar!

Many have said that perfection is simplicity - and I believe this dish echoes this philosophy. Each item is so simple, and simply done well. The mushrooms were succulent, spinach was so.. spinach-y (ie, as opposed to non-real frozen stuff) and creamy - even the potatoes were yum. I really enjoyed the sweet ginger-infused sauce too, with liberal amounts of sesame seed in it.

Now. The beef. The beef was an excellent cut and cooked the only way steak should be cooked (medium rare!).

After quite possibly the most imba beef dinner we've had, we had this strange contraption for dessert. This apple pie thingamajig had sliced caramelized apple over filo pastry, sprinkled with Cambodian kampot pepper, with a side of vanilla ice cream and a decorative pepper vine draped over it.

I thought the pepper gave the apple and pastry an interesting zing, but thought the overall taste slightly bizarre. The ice cream though good did not gel well with the rest too, and we were hesitant to pop that vine into our mouths (don't think you're supposed to anyway. We didn't ask).

The final bill for the grand foie gras, two stellar beef mains, dessert and two reds set us back 69USD. What, the heck, and mind you this was one of the (probably the) finest restaurants in all Siem Reap, so worth it.

TripAdvisor : http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g297390-d1048764-Reviews-Abacus_Restaurant_Garden_Bar-Siem_Reap.html
Rating (out of 4) :