The Shepherdoo Valentine Set Menu

Orange Romance Valentine’s Day Menu

Though everyone is busy with the coming festive CNY, let’s not forget that Valentine’s Day comes first. So make a date to take your loved one out for a romantic dinner this Valentine’s Day and set the mood for some romance in the air before our festive cheer.

This round, I headed back to The Shepherdoo Restaurant and Lounge at One City Mall to catch a taste of their upcoming Valentine Set Menu available on 14 February. The Latin American themed restaurant and lounge has prepared a couple Valentine Set Menu filled with much fruity essence to sweeten the romance of every couple. The Shepherdoo serves up a fun and creative Latin American cuisine in its regular menu. This Valentine, The Shepherdoo is so going a step further by injecting other inspired cuisine into this love menu with an Orange Romance Valentine’s Day Menu.

Our Valentine menu starts with Smoked Duck Breast Salad with Caramelized Citrus Dressing with two servings for each couple. Salty smoked duck slices, cherry tomatoes, melon balls are nestled on classic mix greens and dressed with a lovely fruity and tangy orange dressing all completed with edible flowers. It’s simple and makes a light started for the following courses.

The next course is two sets of soups for the couple, a gorgeous Carrot-Orange Seafood Soup. Contrasting beautifully on the white plate, the bright hue of the orange bisque also has pan seared scallops with cherry tomatoes. It was indeed very flavourful. The orange citrusy notes are well balanced with the carrot and there is a good mix of sweetness with savory and hints of sour notes. The soup is very silky and creamy too. The seared scallops are juicy and savory. Some may find this very orange intense but I really enjoyed the fruity notes of the soup.

For main course, there are three choices so the couple can choose one each out of the three. There is a choice of salmon, chicken or beef for the mains.

The Orange-Lemon Chicken Confit Accompanied with Melon Delight is absolutely gorgeous at sight and in flavours. A whole leg of chook, cooked in its own fat for hours before being seared up just before serving is beautifully prepared. The chicken remains so moist and the skin is tasty and crispy. The sour orange-lemon sauce cuts beautifully with the chicken and made the dish very bright and sublime.

Served with potato gratin and a side salad with melons, the dish is finished off with a sprinkling of citrus peel and caramelized slice of orange for freshness. Highly recommended for those who love chicken and citrus flavours!

Beef lovers may want to opt for the Red Wine-Orange Skin Braised Angus Beef Short Ribs. A large thick cut of beef ribs has been slowly braised till tender and tasty and served with a robust red wine and orange sauce. A side of lemony couscous is served with the beef ribs together with a drizzled of reduced balsamic vinegar. I really like the caramelized and rich sweetness of the balsamic with the beef rib. It enhanced the flavours of the overall dish wondrously. My only gripe is the portion may not satisfy big eaters for some men but it is plentiful for ladies. Other than that, the dish is unique and delicious with the addition of the orange to give the beef a different level of flavours.

The third choice is so pretty, almost too pretty to be eaten. Poached Norwegian Salmon Coupled with Orange Zesty Mashed Tuber is an interesting dish that is paired with fruits and truffles. The thick cut of salmon is nicely poached with chopped truffles and remained moist. A tangy and fruity zesty orange sauce with raspberry provided the taste for the salmon. The salmon on its own is mild and delicate but it is the sauce that really makes the dish delicious and enjoyable.

Our salmon is paired with mashed sweet potato and has pretty edible flowers strewn all over the plate!

In theme with the previous dishes, dessert is a tall glass of Blood Orange Panna Cotta meant to be shared by the couple. After all, it is Valentine’s and sharing is the perfect excuse to spice up the romance level. Our beautifully set panna cotta is executed well with flavours of more oranges.

The Orange Romance Valentine’s Day Menu is priced at RM168 per couple at The Shepherdoo One City Mall only.

Drinks are not included in the Valentine menu and The Shepherdoo is famous for their cocktails so check out their classic Cosmopolitan, Mango Margarita and Lychee Mojito or simply ask the bartender to whip up your favorite cocktail!

Make sure to book your reservation to secure a table that evening…

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

TGI Friday’s Celebrates 20th Anniversary with RM20 Voucher

Hats Off to 20 Years of Awesomeness!

It’s been a fun and delicious 20 years in Malaysia for TGI Friday’s and they are celebrating this 20^th Birthday with a big bang. TGI Friday’s is saying to everyone, put on your party hats and head over to any TGI Friday’s for some deliciousness. From 27 October to 13 November, 2014, TGI Friday’s is giving out a RM20 Voucher when diners get creative and design their own party hats to redeem it.

It’s that simple, dine at any TGI Friday’s, render your artistic creations on the given party hats placemat given by the restaurant, snap a selfie with the hat, load it up on Instagram with #fridays20th and show TGI Friday’s to get an instant RM20 voucher. We jumped on this anniversary bandwagon recently and had loads of fun dining and unleashing our artistic rendition on our party hats.

First up, we fill up our tummies…

At Friday’s, one should always start with all their tall and refreshing Mocktails and Cocktails. These icy treats are a great way to quench any thirst, especially after a long day at work. Our foodies had the Pineapple Sunshine, Orange Blast Slush, Mojito and Margarita Shaker. I settled for their Bottomless Ice Lemon Tea since I do have a bottomless urge for drinks.

I have always love Fridays Three-For-All. It’s definitely a great choice when one cannot decide which appetizers to order and so this platter satisfies everyone with three of their best sellers of appetizers. From Fried Mozzarella to Loaded Potato Skins and spicy Buffalo Wings that comes with three sauces, it’s a fiesta of flavours that most do not want to miss.

If there is a favorite at TGI Friday’s for me, it would have to be the Tennessee Salmon. Well in fact, I love all the choices of dishes under TGI Friday’s signature Tennessee Grill. It’s the sauce that takes all the meat and seafood to extra scrumptiousness. My Tennessee Salmon was cooked to my liking, medium pink and served with Cheddar cheese mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. The North Atlantic salmon is beautifully moist and creamy while the Tennessee sauce is divine and sweet. It’s a dish that I have ordered many times and have always enjoyed it dearly. I shared this with my little one who also enjoyed it very much.

Dining with foodies is always awesome as I get to also pick from their plates. Xiang had the Tennessee New York Strip and Shrimp. A juicy 10oz Australian strip steak laced with the same divine Tennessee sauce is a beautiful partnership with crispy bread fried shrimps. I stole a taste and enjoyed the flavourful steak!

Kifli had another popular dish of Sizzling Combo Fajitas which comes with a sizzling sensation. The beef and chicken fajitas are served with grilled onions and peppers, warm flour tortillas, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream and cheese.

Choi Yen took on the bold Garlic Marinated Lamb Chops served on a hot skillet. The lamb chops were nicely seared and glazed with the garlicky demi glaze sauce. The lamb was tender and also juicy and went well with the Cheddar cheese mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

The Surf and Turf Combo was Sidney’s choice and it had a luscious 10oz New York Strip grilled to medium with Blackened Cajun Shrimps and sides.

TGI Friday’s 20^th Anniversary Party Hat

After that delicious meal, we were given this party hat place mat and drawing materials. Putting on our artistic thinking hats, we unleash our creativity juices by tearing out the party hat and express our designs on the hat.

After decorating it, simply set the party hat in place, and take a selfie of yourself with your party hat. My little one and I had a fun time decorating!

Upload and share your selfie on Instagram and tag #fridays20th

Finally, show your Instagram photo to TGI Friday’s staff to redeem a RM20 voucher. If you dine in a party of four, you can redeem up to four vouchers with four individual Instagram photos! So bring in the crowd and get your RM20 vouchers. T&Cs applies here.

Another plus point for TGI Friday’s is that it’s a great kids friendly restaurant to bring your little ones.

Happy 20^th Birthday TGI Friday’s!

Find out more at their Facebook: www.facebook.com/fridays.com.my or website: www.fridays.com.my

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