CHASING FOOD DREAMS: Mexican

Showing posts with label Mexican. Show all posts

March 5, 2017

Fresca Mexican Kitchen & Bar @ Gardens Mall

A Mexican Culinary Adventure!

Mexican cuisine is so underrated in Asia. The cuisine has such wondrous flavours that it should really be given more limelight here. Glad to say at least there are a good handful of Mexican places to dine in our city. Fresca Mexican Kitchen & Bar has been serving scrumptious Mexican food that borders Tex-Mex in the city for the last five years.

Fresca has two outlets currently in Gardens Mall and Avenue-K Mall. Siblings Meng Lim and Jan Lim fell in love with the cuisine and the country’s passion for Viva La Vida, translated to Live Life, while seeking their adventures in Mexico and decided to open up their own Mexican restaurant. The cuisine is hard to replicate here due to the distinctive ingredients such as chilies, herbs and spices but that has not deterred the siblings from going all out and importing these ingredients for their restaurant.

Fresca has such an inviting and warming décor filled with lots of natural wood and iron steel. The country’s flamboyant colours are also projected here through posters, Mexican Sombreros and other display of knick knacks. The restaurant has a gorgeous bar and plenty of windows to allow lots of natural lighting. It’s a great place to enjoy a bold flavours of Mexican cuisine.

Not my first visit at Fresca, I am always pleased to be back for their delicious menu filled with small plates, dips and chips, main courses, desserts and of course lots of giggle juices. This round was a little different and I was here for a Mexican cooking demo by Chef BB together with Meng.

The owners believe in making almost everything they can from scratch. It is crucial to them in making their food from the freshest and finest ingredients available. They import lots of Mexican chilies such as Ancho, Pasilla, Poblano, Guajillo, Chipotle and Jalapeno as well as corn flour.

Today’s lesson was the makings of Corn Tortilla, Guacamole and Tacos Ensenada. Fresh corn tortillas are made daily using the traditional cast iron tortilla press and cooked on hot griddle. Its not hard to make these but one needs to find corn flour or Masa. There are white corn or yellow corn flour and Fresca uses both depending on the dishes.

Guacamole is another favorite Mexican dish of mine. I practically make these for all my home parties simply because it is so addictive and tasty with tortilla chips. Chef BB makes a really tasty guacamole using ripe avocados, chopped onions, cilantro, lime, salt and pepper in a big mortar with pestle. The trick is not to over mash the avocados, leaving bits of small chunks for textures. One can also easily adjust the seasonings to your likings. I like to add chopped jalapeno for extra bite.

Fresca serves Tacos Ensenada, California Baja style fish tacos. Using the freshly made white corn tortilla, he piles on golden crispy fried fish strips along with coleslaw, pico de gallo and cilantro.

After our cooking demo, we headed over to our tables for lunch. Baskets of golden crispy fried Tortilla Chips are served with house made Pico de Gallo and Guacamole. All salsas and dips are made fresh daily in the kitchen. These were so addictive, one order may not be enough, especially when you’re dining with a crowd of foodies and friends.

Tacos time! Fresca offers six choices of tacos filled with chicken, beef, fish and shrimp. We had their Tacos Ensenada and Tacos Alambre served with various salsa and sauces.

The Baja style fish tacos or Tacos Ensenada is such an easy dish to enjoy. Even my little one enjoys this a lot. Crispy beer-battered butterfish fillet with creamy crunchy coleslaw on soft tortilla is made even better when one piles on pico de gallo salsa, tomatillo sauce or chipotle sauce.

The Tacos Alambre has chopped beef sirloin cooked with Poblano chili, spices and onions and topped with crispy turkey bacon. Expect bold and big flavours of deliciousness from these tacos, especially when you piled on that spicy Chipotle sauce.

Pollo a la Parilla came sizzling on a hot plate. The grilled chicken is marinated with house special coffee marinade and is served with Mexican green rice along with sautéed onions and bell peppers. The flavours are quite unique and the coffee presence is certainly noted with hints of subtle sweetness. My little one actually enjoyed this dish a lot too, saying its yummy chicken with rice.

There are lots of other dishes to try at Fresca such as Enchiladas, Fajitas, Quesadillas, Burritos, Carne Asada and more.

We ended with a classic Mexican dessert of Churros con Chocolat y Cajeta. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser as these long crispy strips of Mexican donut coated in cinnamon and sugar is served with sides of chocolate dip and goat’s milk caramel. Such a drool worthy dessert!

Make sure you order their Agua Frescas to quench your thirsts. There’s Tamarindo, Hibiscus, Limon, Mango and Horchata. These are all perfect with the Mexican dishes as they are all somewhat tangy and fruity.

FRESCA MEXICAN KITCHEN & BAR

Lot G242-A, Ground Floor, The Gardens Mall,

Midvalley City

59200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2201 2893

Website: www.fresca.com.my

Facebook: www.facebook.com/frescabar

Business Hours:

Sunday to Thursday 11am to 11pm

Friday & Saturday 11am to 12midnight

May 19, 2014

The Shepherdoo, Sky Park @ One City: Latin American Soul Food

From Nachos to Tacos, It’s Latin American at The Shepherdoo!

In pursuit of its successful outlet in Centro Mall, Klang, The Shepherdoo opens its second outlet at Sky Park in One City recently. This outlet screams Latin American all the way from the moment one walks into the restaurant cum lounge. The six of us was here for a magazine shoot as The Shepherdoo is gorgeously decorated with a Latin American ambience to match its menu.

There are two levels at The Shepherdoo. Enjoy your meal at the dining area below or simply head up to the next level for more privacy and comfort. There is also the casual bar area that has a huge mural of bodacious sceneries in Latin America. The stairs leading up to the next level is brightly painted a sunny yellow to mimic the colorful houses in that region. Choose your dining in the restaurant or al fresco on both levels.

The upper level has a large sofa area for chilling while dart machines will keep many busy. A large wall covered in a beautiful poster of houses from a certain area in the region provides the backdrop for the ambience. Its’ all about bold colors to create a happy and easy-going ambience that makes diners want to hang out there.

Enough about the ambience, let’s see what the menu has to offer! The Shepherdoo team takes their food and drink list and amps it up with loads of fun flavors. We were recommended some of their signature cocktails and mocktails that evening to unwind the day. The Shepherdoo’s mixologist makes pretty cool drinks.

I love the Passion Fruit Heineken. It’s a beer smoothie! Pretty fresh and delicious… and I don’t even like beer. We also had their Classic Mojito, Mango Margarita and Afrutado. The Mango Margarita is lovely too but it’s more of a ladies cocktail because of its fruity sweetness.

The team at this restaurant takes their drink list seriously… there’s about 10 pages of drink list alone! From Freezing Smoothies, Hot Sun Coolers, Coffee, Tea, Mocktails and Cocktails to Beers, Shooters, Wines, Champagnes and Liquors, there’s plenty of giggle juice to keep everyone pretty happy. Happy hours are even better… with Buy 1 Free 1 deals and more.

The menu is filled with lots of choices too. There are plenty of appetizers, snacks and tapas while mains are plentiful as well. We had Pollo Nachos, Mexican Buffalo Wings and Quesadilla de Hongo.

Even Nachos alone, the menu has several options. Our Pollo Nachos is a pile of crispy tortilla chips covered with a beautiful mess of cheese sauce, sour cream, jalapenos, pico de gallo and crowned with a scoop of housemade guacamole. This version has grilled chicken pieces for that extra protein. It’s a mount of flavors and textures and a great one to be shared!

The Mexican Buffalo Wings is really awesome. Ticking off the essential checkmark of crispiness, kicking tang and spicy flavors and the meaty wings, this one disappeared pretty fast off the plate.

Quesadilla de Hongo has sautéed garlicky mushrooms and cheese as a filling before it’s sandwiched with tortilla and chargrilled for a toasty texture and finished off with a drizzle of balsamic reduction. It makes a nice snack when shared or one can even have this as a main course if you are going meatless.

Our mains had us starting off with Pizza de Mexicana. It’s a fairly simple pizza made with tortilla topped with sauteed sweet and soft bell pepper, sweet onions with a light red sauce and plenty of cheese. This one makes a great bite with cold beer. I like the light and crispiness of the tortilla pizza.

We also had Taco-Taco, The Shepherdoo’s rendition of crispy tortilla shells stuffed with fish and the standard taco filling of shredded greens, pico de gallo, guacamole, chipotle aioli, cheese and sour cream. We had three orders here as each order has two tacos. This is very flavorful as one gets a burst of sour, creamy, savory and a little heat together with its various textures of the tortilla and fish. I daresay it’s a little messy to eat but hey… it’s a beautiful mess!

We were told that their fajitas is a popular choice and we must their Combo Fajita which had wild mushrooms, chicken and beef all piled up into one sizzling plate! The fajitas had mixed peppers and onions for sweetness while the spices in it jazzed up the flavors. Simply take the accompanied soft flour tortilla, heaped on the fajita and dressed it with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. I usually piled on a lot of the condiments since I love them. It’s a hearty taste of Mexican cuisine. These are also the heart of the street food in Mexico and one can literally see them on every nook and corner in the country.

I am no Gringo but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try The Shepherdoo’s Gringo Burger! Thick beef patty has a blanket of melted cheddar cheese and is dressed with turkey bacon, sunny side up egg, lemon mayo and greens with a sesame seed bun. This one was tasted decent and the fact that the sunny side up egg had runny egg yolk makes the burger better than other regular ones.

We also settled for Chicken Parmigiana ala Mexicano, a breaded chicken breast baked and sauced up with a spiced tomato sauce and topped with melted cheese. This one comes with curly fries and side salad. Despite it being a breast, the chicken is really moist and flavorful. The sauce is tangy and tomatoey with a good dose of spice undernotes. Not usually a chicken parmigiana fan, I seemed to enjoy this a lot as the chicken is really juicy and tender.

The next dish was my favorite of the night. Pasta ala Pollo features a French cut Mexican rubbed chicken breast nicely chargrilled. It lies on a bed of pesto sauced pasta and is crowned with a chargrilled caramelized pineapple. The aroma and flavors are simple marvelous. The pesto sauce has such great depths of herb and cheese flavors that make it so scrumptious. The chicken again is utterly juicy and tender while the spice rub makes it very flavorful. What seals the dish had to be the caramelized pineapple, adding a little fruity sweetness to the chicken to remind us of its Latin American flavors. A Must-Order!

Pierna Rojo Vivo is also top in my list of Must-Order. Spicy marinated chicken thigh is beautifully chargrilled and comes with a fruity and tangy papaya salsa with potato salad and greens. The flavor combination worked really well. A squeeze of orange juice from the orange wedge does more wonders for the chicken.

The Shepherdoo does have some desserts and we had their signature Cinnamon Wafer Tortilla. It has crispy golden tortilla chips served with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream before being drizzled with lots of caramel sauce. Sweet and crispy, it’s really easy to enjoy, especially when I am such a fan of vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.

It’s fun all the way at The Shepherdoo. The ambience is groovy and colorful while the food and drink is as bold as the ambience. Prices are decent too for the food and drinks. It’s perfect for hanging out with family or friends and definitely a great place to unwind…

THE SHEPHERDOO RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE

A-GF-07, Sky Park, Ground Floor,

One City, Jalan USJ25/1A,

47640 Subang Jaya

Tel: +6018 337 8828 / 6018 656 8828

Website: www.theshepherdoo.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theshepherdoo

April 14, 2014

Las Carretas Restaurant and Bar: Australian Grass Fed Lamb Shoulder Rack Promotion

The New Lamb Shoulder Rack makes the Cut at Las Carretas!

It’s my first visit at Las Carretas Restaurant and Bar. I love Mexican food and have been wanting to pay this restaurant a visit but somehow never made it. One evening, I was invited to by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) in Malaysia to check out a new cut of Australian grass-fed lamb at the restaurant. Las Carretas owner and Chef Victor Siow is proud to showcase his creation of the new cut of lamb that is available at the restaurant for the whole month of April.

Las Carretas has three outlets at Damasara, Ampang and Subang. The Mexican restaurant has been around for more than a decade and has been a favorite place for Quesadillas, Enchiladas, Tacos, Fajitas, Steaks and lots of Margaritas. All outlets showcase bright color themes to reflect the Mexican spirit. The outlet I visited at Subang very much welcomes me at sight with its bright and cheerful décor. Bright yellow walls are flanked with lots of art pieces and ornamental items. The space is tight with furniture and a cheeky display of trees sit right smack in the middle of the tables for an added element of fun. The bar is set at the end of the room and seems to be a favorite hangout for everyone since it was pack that night. There is more seating available upstairs and there is also another bar as well. There is also a wall of fame filled with numerous write-ups of the restaurant. After all, Las Carretas is the perfect place to hang out with their signature Margarita after a long’s day at work!

The evening had to start off with a gorgeous glass of Margarita! The one here is as good as what the rave has been… strong with tequila and lime. A sip of this Margarita will make all your problems go away… at least for a while… and that’s absolutely fine by me!

Wines are also available besides cocktails and liquor. We tried a lovely white and a bold red and enjoyed both with our dishes.

We were here for a taste of the Australian Grass-Fed Lamb Shoulder Rack promotion as mentioned earlier. Using lamb shoulder racks which is deemed a secondary cut, Chef Victor and team has brilliantly succeeded in using modern cooking technique sous vide to break-down the meat protein in this cut, rendering a sumptuous lamb dish that can easily take on the expensive lamb rack cut. The lamb is carefully sous vide in a water bath with a precise temperate for more than 16 hours, as I was told, before being finished off upon orders.

For RM69++, one can enjoy two pieces of divine Pan –Seared Lamb Shoulder Rack served with homemade mushroom risotto cake, sautéed zucchini and sauce. Our plates arrive beautifully pink and utterly luscious at sight. The outside of the shoulder rack has a beautiful sear and oozes with loads flavors. The lamb racks are so tender that it really didn’t take any effort to cut into the meat. The meat still has a lovely bite despite the tenderness.

The accompaniments are delicious as well. Crispy risotto cake makes a creamy and contrasting texture to the meat while lightly sautéed green and yellow zucchini is sweet. Enjoy the lamb shoulder rack with a choice of ginger & thyme sauce or light blue cheese sauce. There is 30 minutes waiting time but it is worth every bite.

Besides the main star of the dish, we also enjoyed other dishes prior to it. We kick start our meal with a classic favorite in any Mexican restaurant, Nachos. At Las Carretas, Nachos goes big and is served piled up with Muchos Minced Beef, Shredded Chicken or Sautéed Camarones Shrimps. We dug in under the gratinated pile of nacho chips filled with relish, jalapeno, enchilada sauce and lots of cheese with our protein. We tried the beef and chicken versions and both were equally addictive. For those who must stay true to its origin, there is a plain version too.

Our next dish is a tasting portion of Camarones al Ajillo features lightly sautéed shrimps cooked with jalapenos, bell peppers, olives, tomatoes, garlic and cilantro. It has a soupy base and comes with toasted baguette to mop up the lovely spicy tomatoey sauce. It looks simple but it packs a decent dose of strong Mexican flavors in this appetizer.

Mussels in Coriander and Habanero looked innocent when it arrived. Black mussels are cooked in a creamy sauce and sprinkled with chopped coriander stems. Flour tortilla is served to be enjoyed with the sauce. This dish turned out to be one of my favorite that night. The flavors are bold and spicy. Lusciously creamy with strong habanero heat really pumps up the flavor sense. The mussels are soft and juicy and the tortilla is simply perfect to mop up all the sauce. My tasting portion left me craving for more. Rest assured, I will be ordering this dish again!

We ended with two desserts shared among us simply because we were full. Both Boca Chica and Homemade Brownie are served with scoop of vanilla ice cream. Boca Chica is layered sponge with hazelnut and coffee served with ice cream, chocolate sauce and a light sprinkling of cinnamon. Homemade Brownie is a fudgy chocolate brownie that oozes dark bittersweet cocoa that matches so well with the vanilla ice cream. It’s was a lovely and sweet ending.

There are lots of other dishes that I really want to try at Las Carretas. I am really looking forward to making a return soon. For the month of April, don’t miss the Australian Grass-Fed Lamb Shoulder Rack promotion. Oh… and you really should try the awesome Margaritas there too!