Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant @ Feast Village, Starhill Gallery

Week Day Set Lunch

Teochew cuisine is rather understated on our shores and I am not sure why it doesn’t get the limelight it should. The cuisine has such refine flavours that comes from the importance of freshness and quality produce. There is also a sense of humbleness in the dishes that echoes the heart and soul of Teochew people and its Chaoshan region.

There’s not many fine Teochew restaurants around the city and the one that has withstand the test of time is Pak Loh Chiu Chow at Feast Village in Starhill Gallery. Pak Loh Chiu Chow has been serving exquisite and fine flavours of the cuisine since 1967 in Hong Kong. Continuing the legacy of serving fine Teochew cuisine in Malaysia, Pak Loh Chiu Chow is helmed by award-winning Executive Chef Alex Au and his culinary team.

Chef Au’s creations never fail to impress us each time we paid a visit. His continuous passion and patience for the cuisine has taken Pak Loh Chiu Chow to new heights in the culinary scene in the city. The restaurant has recently launched their Week Day Set Lunch menu to cater to gourmands as well as the busy business executives in the metropolitan city. Featuring hearty and healthy dishes that can be served within minutes, diners are in for a scrumptious treat of classic comfort favorites.

The Week Day Set Lunch menu, available weekday daily from 12pm to 3pm, offers six choices of set which includes an appetiser of Roasted Duck with Butterfly Bun, a main course of your choice, fresh fruits and a juice.

Slurp on a bowl of La Mian Soup with Bacon and Seasonal Vegetable (RM35) for some comfort food. Smooth la mian in a cloudy and creamy broth derived from hours of slow boiling of pork and chicken bones, the noodles is jazzed up with colorful kernels of sweet corn, carrots, crunchy greens and crisp bacon.

The Fried Rice with Barbequed Pork, Prawns and Seasonal Vegetable (RM35) is a classic dish that has been executed to perfection. Essential wok hei gave the rice its robust deliciousness that every fried rice should have. Well-studded with prawns, char siew, egg and vegetables, the rice was fluffy, tasty and very aromatic, so much so we polished this off happily.

The younger crowd will be pleased with the Lemon Chicken Chop with Rice and Seasonal Vegetable (RM35). Boneless chicken thigh with a yummy and crispy batter is smothered with a lemony citrus sauce and served with steamed rice and vegetables. The chicken was juicy, tender and cooked to perfection. Old school dish that is worth savoring daily…

There is also more noodles with Stir-Fried La Mian with Pork and Seasonal Vegetable (RM35). These were aromatic with good dose of breathe of wok. Generously studded with tender pork, mushrooms and vegetables, noodling for lunch seems like a great idea.

Perhaps when classics appear on the menu, one cannot help but to put in an order of Rice with Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Moi Choy and Seasonal Vegetable (RM45). The dish may looked relatively simple but it takes days and hours of various processes of boiling, frying, steaming and braising to achieve this gorgeous layers of melt-in-the-mouth porcine goodness with savory and sweet mui choy. It’s one dish I can never get enough off, especially when it’s cooked to such sumptuousness by Chef Au.

The final choice of lunch is probably the highlight of the meal in my books. Rice with Baked Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs and Seasonal Vegetables (RM45) features two thick cuts of pork ribs with glorious layers of lean meat and fat, slow braised in an unctuous sweet and savory sauce with hints of tang from black Chi Kong vinegar. The flavours are superb and addictive while the meat is simply heavenly. The sheer simplicity of meat and rice here had us salivating at sight. As I write this post, I find myself drooling again just at the thought of the delectable pork and sauce… a Must Order!

The next few dishes are on the regular a la carte menu but can be easily served up within 10 minutes of order. Honey Barbeque Pork (RM40), pieces of pork marinated in fragrant rose wine or Mui Kwai Lo and other sauces and spices, emitted glorious smoky char and sweet notes. Layers of lean and fat makes the char siew taste even better.

If there is one dish that Pak Loh Chiu Chow is renowned for, its Chef Au’s Slow-Braised Goose with Pork Fillet, Pork Intestine, Pig’s Ear, Egg and Bean Curd (Small RM45|Regular RM80). It takes years to develop a full-bodied and well balance lou sui for the goose and other ingredients. Hence the most prized item in Chef Au’s kitchen is the heavily guarded lou sui that produces the pronounced flavours of this dish.

The goose is tender and yet firm with a good bite. Soaking up the wondrous flavours of moreishness, the goose is very flavourful. Besides the highly prized goose, there is also pork fillet, succulent large pork intestine, chewy and crunchy pig’s ear, braised egg and bean curd. Enjoy this with the side of garlicy vinegar sauce to bring out the robust aromas of the lou sui. A bowl of steamed rice would be perfect for this dish…

Pomfret Rice Porridge (RM45) is another option if you’re seeking comfort and healthy food. Chef Au uses three kinds of fish to make the stock base for the broth before whipping up Chiu Chow style rice porridge with premium pomfret fish slices. There is so much flavours in the dish that makes me want to keep eating it. Chef Au added Chor Hau Yue or dried sole to give the broth a tasty depth of flavour as well.

The Double-Boiled Pork Tripe with Pepper and Salted Vegetables (RM25) reminds me of my mom’s own recipe for the dish. Peppery and robust broth with a slight tang brought back such familiar flavours. There were tender pieces of pork tripe and soft salted vegetables in the soup too.

Another dish perfect with steamed rice is the Braised Spring Chicken Stuffed with Glutinous Rice, Garlic, Ginger and Straw Mushrooms (RM45). The chook’s meat is fork tender and has absorbed all the moreish savory flavours of the sauce. We dug in and found the creamy glutinous rice with mushrooms filling that is very tasty and so earthy with its gingery and mushroom notes. The coriander finished the dish with fresh aroma while crunchy wood ear fungus added textures to the dish.

Stir-Fried Kailan with Fresh Lily Bulb and Halibut Fish (RM40) is simple and delicious. Lots of freshness of crisp greens, sweet lily bulb petals and crispy bits of dried halibut fish.

PAK LOH CHIU CHOW RESTAURANT

Feast Village, Feast Floor, Starhill Gallery

181 Jalan Bukit Bintang,

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +603 – 2782 3856

Website: www.feastvillage.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/feastvillage/

Business Hours:

Daily 12.00 noon – 11.00pm (Last order at 10.45pm)

Kimi-Ya Japanese Restaurant @ Avantas Residence, Old Klang Road

Marvelous May Promotion, Mother’s Day Special, Lunch Set and More…

If you’ve never had fugu before, you can now savor this exotic pufferfish at Kimi-Ya Japanese Restaurant this month. Located in Avantas Residence in Old Klang Road, Kimi-Ya serves lots of Japanese classics to avid foodies of The Land of the Rising Sun.

It wasn’t hard to locate the restaurant since it was located on this fairly new residential block of the bustling road. Beautifully designed, it had all the markings of the epitome of a Japanese restaurant with lots of woodwork as the base of the restaurant theme.

Dine in booths as well as regular dining tables or catch some sushi actions at the beautifully designed modern and minimalist sushi bar. Kimi-Ya also has a private dining room for private parties.

The restaurant is spacious and well-designed that echo Zen and comfort throughout the restaurant.

Kimi-Ya has a large impressive collection of sake too!

For Mother’s Day promotion, Kimi-Ya is bringing an exotic taste of the infamous pufferfish to diners with Fugu Nabe. Valid from 1^st May till 14^th May, diners can enjoy fugu in its purest form. Fear not if you’re wondering as Kimi-Ya’s chef is licensed to prepare this special fish.

The fugu is served thinly sliced on the side with a pot of bubbling nabe filled with lots of various vegetables and bean curd in delicate dashi broth. Just gently swish the fugu slice for a few seconds in the hot broth and enjoy the delicate natural flavours of the fish. The slightly firm and bouncy texture of the fish is rather unique. It’s a very refine dish that symbolizes what Japanese cuisine is all about.

For the whole month of May, diners can also enjoy Japan Karatsuki Hotate Butter Yaki. Glorious fresh Karatsuki scallop with roe from Japan is cooked gently at our table on its own shell with Shimeji mushrooms in rich butter sauce. Deliciously aromatic and succulent, the scallop was sweet, buttery and divine. The mushrooms had also soaked in the sauce well and was a treat to enjoy with the premium scallop. One may not be enough…

Kimi-Ya’s a la carte menu consist of various selections of sashimi and sushi. We had the Matsu Sashimi Moriawase, featuring six types of the freshest sashimi cut of the day. We noted that the Matsu Sashimi Moriawase platter was arrange in 360 degree presentation and was told that this way, everyone around the table can enjoy this platter.

The Matsu Sashimi Moriawase platter had Salmon, White Tuna, Yellowtail, Tuna, Scallop and Salmon Roe.

Sublime slices of sashimi that is further enhanced with house recipe soy sauce and fresh wasabi.

The gorgeous salty globules of salmon roe is divine!

No matter which angle you look at, this sashimi platter is striking beautiful and delish…

Next dish of Hamachi Carpaccio features my favorite yellowtail sashimi. Sublime slices of Hamachi is rolled with finely shredded radish and onion and sauced with house ponzu soy sauce. It’s an explosion of umami flavours in the mouth!

The Salmon Tataki is also superb with thick slices of lightly seared salmon sashimi served with house soy sauce, spicy grated radish and scallion. We adored the salmon for its texture and flavours. It’s so moreish, we were literally fighting for this dish.

One cannot go wrong with sushi rolls, especially if their looking this good! We had their Avocado Ebi Mentai Roll and Unagi Avocado Roll but there are few more rolls that sounded equally tempting in the menu.

The Avocado Ebi Mentai Roll has that salty luscious Pollack roe or mentai sauce with creamy avocado and crispy prawn tempura. This one is also very tasty and delish with its combination. It was polished off faster than a speeding bullet on our table.

The Unagi Avocado Roll takes on classic combination of sweet and smoky eel with creamy avocado, tamago egg, cucumber, salmon roe, mayo and eel sauce. Needless to say, flavours of sweet, savory, smoky and creamy works harmoniously yummy.

Besides a la carte, Kimi-Ya offers value-for-money lunch set on weekdays that comes with a free choice of dessert. Diners can choose the 12 variations of lunch set that comes with Steamed Chawan Mushi, Pickles, Soup, Fruits, Rice or Noodle. Price starts from RM26 to RM46, Monday to Friday from 12.00pm to 3.00pm.

The Chicken Teriyaki Gozen (RM26) features delicious and tender chicken thigh with the classic sticky sweet and savory teriyaki sauce. Can’t go wrong with this one…

If you love Salmon like me, you can opt for the Salmon Mentaimayo Yaki Gozen (RM38). Cooked well, the salmon was moist and was deliciously draped with the moreish mentaimayo sauce that has been lightly torched.

For some slurping action, the Nabeyaki Udon To Sushi Gozen (RM36) never fails to satisfy with its comforting flavours of hot broth, thick, slippery udon, shrimp tempura, soft egg and vegetables. This dish is paired with an assorted plate of sushi.

From the lunch set, one can choose one dessert from its dessert menu. There’s Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Ice Cream, Black Sesame Ice Cream, Matcha Ice Cream, Mizu Shingen Mochi, Abekawa Mochi, Matcha Shiratama Zenzai, Yuzu Sherbet and dessert of the day.

The Mizu Shingen Mochi is irresistibly adorable with the cute concept of kitty cat and cow. It’s actually the latest Japanese dessert craze of Japanese raindrop cake, well not really cake but jelly to me, served with brown sugar syrup and soybean powder.

The Matcha Shiratama Zenzai is refreshing with its lush Matcha ice cream served with red bean paste and little glutinous rice balls.

Dessert of the day was a Sweet Potato Pudding that is light and easy on the palate as a sweet ending.

Kimi-Ya offers quality and premium ingredients in their menu as well as classic favorites. Prices are slightly above the normal Japanese chain franchises but diners are assured of quality and execution. There is also free valet parking for diners too. There’s plenty of dishes to cater to every one of all ages and the ambiance is really lovely and comforting.

KIMI-YA JAPANESE RESTAURANT

G-2, Avantas Residences,

162, Jalan Klang Lama,

58000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +013 239 3406

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KimiYa.Malaysia/

Business Hours:

Mon to Thurs         Lunch 12.00pm – 3.00pm | Dinner 6.00pm – 10.30pm

Fri to Sun              Lunch 11.30am – 3.00pm | Dinner 6.00pm – 11.00pm