Eat: Ben’s, Bangsar Shopping Centre

The last time I went to Ben’s could have been more than a year ago, I don’t remember exactly when but it definitely has been a year or so since my last visit. But I can remember exactly what I had during my last visit, it was their Golden Soft-Shell Crab Spaghetti. Other than that, I have only tasted their Chunky Chicken Mushroom Pie which I found the dough too thick.

This time around, I’m back at Ben’s with the Nuffnang Tastebuddies’s bloggers which coincidentally was all ladies! It was a very casual session where we all ordered one mains of our choice, one salad and a few desserts for sharing. So, you’ll see pictures of all the food we ordered that day but I won’t be able to comment on all except on what I had. So, shall we begin?

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Eat: Brotzeit German Bier Bar, Mid Valley

Brotzeit German Bier Bar is not a restaurant that I am unfamiliar of, in fact I have been meaning to pay them a visit. This is no thanks to my syndrome of "forever-craving-for-sausages". Frankly, it is uncurable but its symptoms can be lessen by "nom-nom-ing" on delicious sausages. And this brings me back to how I know of Brotzeit, simply because I heard that the sausages and the pork platter there were really good.

As usual, I have been meaning to pay them a visit but it's always nicer to go there in a crowd, and finding the right party to go is quite a hassle sometimes with our ever clashing schedules. It's a better idea to visit in a crowd because Brotzeit has recently been offering really good deals via a couple of group-buying websites for their "Brotzeit Platter". Just the other day before I was in Brotzeit, a friend of mine posted a picture on Instagram of the "Brotzeit Platter" that she had (on a discount), which was humongous but looking so delish. I knew I had to try it then.

But lucky lucky me because Nuffnang Tastebuddies were invited to Brotzeit to sample some of their signature dishes, and the gluten me was like "Yes, yes, I have to go for this". So, here's a simple lay down casual food post on the food we had while we were there.

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Brotzeitflade Speck, Bacon Pizza | RM32

We started off lunch with a Bacon Pizza, which was a crispy thin pizza with the usual tomato sauce, mozarella cheese, onions, vine ripened tomatoes and two ingredients which was the deal maker for the pizza. Of course, anything with bacon would taste great but what is even more unique was the Malaysian touch added to the pizza, with the usage of tiny spicy green cili padi. I like how the pizza was thin, yet crunchy (best eaten while hot) and the tiny burst of spiciness with every bite of chili padi. The pizza itself isn't spicy, only if the slices with cili padi then it'll be spicy.

Salat mit Schafskäse, Feta Salad | RM38 (Regular), RM23 (Small)

Then, it was followed by a generously huge serving of Feta salad. Feta is actually a type of aged cheese produced from sheep's milk and the German word for it is schafskäse (pronounced as schafs•kä•se) which when translated means sheep's milk cheese.We can just call it Feta cheese. The salad is made up of various salads leafies, red bell peppers, semi-dried tomatoes, onions, olives, garlics, croutons, feta cheese and tossed with house dressing.

I like how the salad was not overloaded with zealous amount of dressing, it was kept minimal with hints of the dressing. That is just the way I like it, and the combination of the cheese and sun-dried tomatoes were just simply lovely. It was pretty refreshing to have that, and I think I wouldn't actually mind just having that. Sometimes, not all the times because I'm practically a carnivore most times.

Brotzeit Oktoberfest Platter | RM258

When the platter was served, I was like "woah" inside my heart because I didn't want to sound so jakun but I was sure I heard someone muttered "wow" too. It was served on a long wooden platter. It filled the whole table for four persons, that would roughly give you an idea of the length of the platter. The Oktoberfest Platter is specially crafted by Chef Helmut, Brotzeit's native Bavarian chef which feature Brotzeit's Signature Pork Knuckle, lumberjack steaks (pork chops), garlic pork sausages, oven roasted chicken and gipsy bacon. The platter is served with two sides of sauerkraut and potato salad, which was a pretty generous serving as well. The platter serves 5-6 people, but even with 9 people on the table we couldn't finish the platter. Maybe it was because most of us were girls with small appetite. :3

Chef Helmut begin by helping us to de-bone the pork knuckle which was really simple, and for the chicken, you'll need to cut it into smaller pieces also. The pork knuckle in all honesty, looks mighty glorious which is why it is their famed signature dish anyway. Having said that, it would be expected to have higher expectations on it, only to be mildly disappointed. The skin was crispy, but it wasn’t like the air crisp you would taste when the pork knuckle has been fried long enough. Probably this was because it was to avoid being over fried and over cooked. In terms of the meat, it was tad dry, but flavourful nevertheless. Maybe it would have been best taken with the brown sauce.

Sauerkraut | Brotzeit Oktoberfest Platter

Potato Salad | Brotzeit Oktoberfest Platter

Garlic Pork Sausages | Brotzeit Oktoberfest Platter

I actually started off with the garlic pork sausage, (duh, no surprises there), which got me hooked with just one bite. You won't be tasting much of the garlic, but it was bouncy, chewy and flavourful. It'll leave you wanting for more.

Oven Roasted Chicken, Gipsy Bacon, Lumberjacks Steak | Brotzeit Oktoberfest Platter

Then, I had the gipsy bacon which took me surprise because it was so damn good. A closer look at the bacon and see you see the fatty layer on the bacon, except it didn't feel like fats. I have this thing against fats, because they taste like eating white chunks of cold oil. But this just melted in my mouth and coupled with the meat on the bacon, it was enough to make me go "oh-la-la".

The charred steaks behind the bacon, are the lumberjack steaks which as dry and charred as it looks is really dry. The name sounds way more appetizing than it tasted. Probably, dry pork chops suit it better. (By the way, quick Google search showed me a juicy, fat, slab of lumberjack steak and I wished I had those instead). Last but not least, is the oven roasted chicken which looks yummy, and evenly roasted. Something I wish I could try to roast one day. Taste wise, I look the skin! It wasn’t oily as all, perks of roasting a chicken. And the chicken meat tasted like well marinated ones.

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Shall we move on to desserts now? :) If anything, I think the desserts here impressed me more than the food actually. Which I know is probably surprisingly, but you’ll see why I said so anyway.

Kaiserschmarren, Emperor’s Cake | RM20

If I hadn’t read the menu and solely relied on my tastebuds, I really couldn’t have known that this was shredded pancake. It didn’t taste much like pancake maybe when topped with icing and eaten with plum sauce, rum and raisins. It’s fluffy light, but not something I fancy much.

Bavarian Orange Trifle | RM18

This was surprisingly refreshing for a dessert, it was one of those food that with the first bite you’ll go [O.O]. I said that because it totally took me by surprise. I know it was one of those pretty little nice glass of desserts that I stay away from at the buffet lines because of how usually artificial it taste like. But this, man this is made from layers of rum and orange sponge fingers and yummy fresh cream. The sponge texture is rather unique on the tongue too btw.

Sweet & Savoury Duo | RM25

As the name suggests, this was a mish mash of salty and savory sweet. It's something unique, I would say extraordinary almost and worth a try at least once. But not everyone would enjoy it. Simply because those chocolate strips are actually crispy fried bacon coated with chocolate, and those vanilla ice cream look-a-like is actually white chocolate mousse and the strawberries have pepper sprinkled over them, marinated with lemon and then doused with apricot sauce. It really is a celebration of all flavours. This itself is an experience eating it. But oh-so-yummy-memorable!

Profiterole Duet | RM20

Yums, this looks yummy! Again, I didn’t know the names of the pastry paired up with the ice cream and the chocolate sauce. It turns out to be chocolate profiterole with ice cream. And in the far end corner is the cinnamon sugar apple fritter with vanilla sauce. Overall, I’m not much of a dessert person (I just like photographing them) so my verdict would be it was just okay.

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If you’re interested in the Brotzeit Oktoberfest Platter, that would be available from Sept 21st till October 31st for RM258++.

As always, Brotzeit will be hosting Oktoberfest at their two outlets and the dates have been scheduled for 2nd, 3rd and 4th October 2013 at Mid Valley and on 10th October 2013 at Sunway Pyramid. Reservations are encouraged as seating is limited to 200 covers per evening and advance purchase of Entrance Tickets are recommended at RM50nett per person which includes a pint of Oktoberfest bier and a chance to win a range of attractive lucky draw prizes from dining vouchers to air tickets.

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Please call 03-22875516 or 03-56385516 for reservation.

Here are the address for each outlet:

• G(E) 018, Ground External Floor, Mid Valley Megamall, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur
• OB K4 Oasis Boulevard, Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, 3 Jln PJS 15/11, Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor DE

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Eat: ‘Warung Nasi Padang Ibunda’ Ramadan Buffet, Concorde Hotel KL

Gee, time flies. You would have probably heard me say that a couple of times, or more. I mean really, Raya is coming again! How is that not time flying by again? I remember how I didn’t eat much during the last Ramadhan but I did feast quite a bit for Hari Raya. And I know Ramadhan is already coming to an end, but here is my post on one of the Ramadhan buffet that I went to, (which I actually left sitting in my drafts and I forgot to post it up). T.T

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Presentation of the specialty Padang dishes | Scroll down for close-up pictures.

Okay, so here’s a little background on the theme; besides the usual buffet food spread, the highlight of it this time are Padang dishes which are cooked by chef Dewi using her mother’s recipes. She is from Padang, Indonesia so the food served is as authentic as a home cooked Padang dishes.

 Masakan Padang #1 | Ayam Goreng Berempah

This dish is probably one that most Malaysians know and would have eaten it before. I’m actually a really huge fan of Ayam Goreng Berempah. It’s like I have a weak spot for these amazing fried chicken, especially when it is very well marinated with spices. So far, I have yet to come across a really good one. So, how does this dish fare? Honestly, it was just pretty normal. Nothing fantastic, it actually just tasted like normal fried chicken. I have expected more, since it’s supposed to be more authentic.

Masakan Padang #2 | Udang Gulai Paku

I have never been a huge fan of anything that is 'gulai'. For a start, I have no idea how 'gulai' is made. I would usually prefer to know how a dish is prepared before I eat it. But being a foodie I am, I gave this a try and it was definitely something different. I didn't taste much from the gravy, in that sense it was almost tasteless. As for the paku, or I would still prefer a Chinese cooking style for it.

Masakan Padang #3 | Terung Balado

What this looks like is basically stir fry brinjal topped with whole loads of tonnes of chillies. Even more, chillies and more chilies. I do generally avoid taking chillies because I have never been a fan of them. But this being one of the Padang speciality and also because the daging version of this was finished so quickly, I thought this must be pretty awesome as well. Except it wasn't. I mentioned it looks like it was just stir fry brinjal with chillies and that is really all that is to that, unfortunately.

 Masakan Padang #4 | Gulai Lomak Cili Padi

This is yet another gulai dish, cooked with cili padi and tenggiri fish. The sauce like the earlier gulai dish was a bit tasteless, when I probably expected it to be at least more creamy. It was a very plain dish, not that much unique and probably something you would usually have from the Malay stalls too

 Masakan Padang #5 | Kelio Ayam Nangka

As the name suggests, it seems to be a dish cooked with one of Malaysian favourite fruit, the nangka. Or in English is known as the jackfruit. I do personally love to eat the jackfruit, especially when it is super sweet. The jackfruit itself is sweet, so when cooked most likely the dish would be infused with sweetness as well. I found this dish rather unique and it was definitely something different from the rest of the Padang dishes.

 Masakan Padang #6 | Daging Dendeng Balado

I have probably mentioned before that I avoid eating chillies because I don't like how my skin reacts to spicy food. But when I saw this, which is actually just the meat version of Terung Balado, I decided to make an exception of eating chillies. I tried a bit of the daging, expecting it to be dry since most daging dishes would be. But I was surprised that this was not too dry. It was bit chewy, but not too bad.

There are actually a couple more Padang dishes, but I didn’t managed to capture them all. Yes, there were that many! So, I’ll list them down here anyway. The mains are Ayam Goreng Minang, Udang Kelio, Gulai Kambing, Paru Dendeng, Ikan Goreng Lado Hijau, Urat Kaki Lembu, Rendang Daging. For desserts, there is Godok Batinta (banana fritters with palm sugar), Serabi (Indonesian pancake with coconut milk), Sala Lauak (Indonesian fish ball with preserved fish filling), Cenil (Indonesian ‘onde-onde’ ). There was a special drink served, which was Es Rujak Timun – cucumber juice with lime & chili. The drink was really refreshing, it was a nice change to the usual juices. And I have to apologize for the blurry pictures, because I didn’t review my pictures after I took them. >.<

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Anyway, that’s all about the Padang food for the the buffet and now, moving on to the rest of the spread.

 

You’ll see the first row of pictures are the other types of Malay main dishes and the second row are pictures of nasi briyani, kerabu, ulam and the rest are appetizers up till the last row. The last row are desserts! I found the dessert spread quite extensive and they were pretty “photogenic” and tasty too. :) The appetizers was actually some of the best I had. Again, there were a lot of variety of appetizers and most of them were cooked really well.

 

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Here is the details for the Ramadhan buffet if you’re planning to visit;

Melting Pot Cafe

2, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur [03 2144 2200 ext 2337]

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And the promotion and price is as follows:

 

Melting Pot Cafe (July 10th - August 7th 2013), RM 108++ per pax

Concorde Hotel Ballroom (July 16th - August 4th 2013) , RM 114++ nett per pax

15% discount for Card members - Alliance Bank, CIMB, Citibank, Hong Leong, Maybank, Public Bank and RHB.

Eat: Kelantan Delights, Sooka Sentral

I love eating local Malaysian cuisine, I mean it's only natural for myself being a Malaysian (almost, true blue one) to love all these amazing local food. We have the Nasi Lemak, Mee Rebus and and I would never be able finish this post if I went ahead to list down all the food I could think of. So, last weekend, I was at the first ever Tastebuddies by Nuffnang gathering and we were invited to Kelantan Delights.

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I must confess that I know nuts of what Kelantanese food are, so I had no expectation of any sort and I was pretty much excited to know how different Kelantanese food were. So, anyway we started off with appetizers first.

 Sirih Daun Kaduk | Fried popiah skin and daun sirih, filled with dried shrimps, roasted peanuts and chili padi in special sauce.

My first thought when I saw this was, do I eat the leaf too? It’s a pretty much abuden, but I have never tried eating leaves before. Somehow I have this impression that they taste mighty awful, only to be proven wrong after I had my first taste of this. It didn’t smell too leafy, probably masked by the special ingredients. The sauce, the peanuts and the shrimps blended well with the daun sirih and I really liked it.

Tomyam Kelapa Muda | Tomyam soup with prawns and coconut flesh.

My favorite soup! What is there not to love about Tom Yam soup? ‘nuff said. (Except that in Kelantan Delights, there is an added twist because coconut flesh is served along with the soup). The soup has a tangy sourish spicy taste. It was served in shot glass which makes me want to gulp it down in one shot. :p

After the appetizers, there was an option to choose either Nasi Kerabu Ayam Percik or Nasi Dagang Gulai Ikan. Seeing that I just had Nasi Kerabu the day before that, I decided to choose the Nasi Dagang instead.

 Nasi Kerabu Ayam Percik | Ayam percik, with ulam, salted egg and keropok ikan

Nasi Dagang Gulai Ikan | Nasi dagang with gulai ikan tongkol, acar timun and egg

Compared to the Nasi Kerabu, I have to admit that this looks rather plain. The rice was rather hard, (I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t be like that) and the gulai ikan was just okay. There wasn’t enough gravy for me, because I like to eat my rice with more gravy. When I asked for more gravy, I was given chicken gravy. Which I then said my dish was gulai ikan and the waitress simply said, it works for both. erm, okay. =.= Needless to say, I didn’t like the Nasi Dagang one bit.

I managed to try the Nasi Kerabu, and my, that was like a gazilion times better than the Nasi Dagang. The portion of the ayam percik is rather huge, so it’s best to share the dish. Taste wise, it was good but not the best I have ever tried.

Nasi Tumpang | :) I love how unique the Nasi Tumpang dish is and there is a story behind it.

In Kelantan Delights, a fried chicken is served along with the Nasi Tumpang. I'd welcome this with my whole heart (or appetite would be a better word to say it). You can never go wrong with a well marinated fried chicken, crispy on the outside and still juicy inside. Because of how tedious the process of making this dish (approx. 3 hours.), only 18 pieces are made.

Nasi Tumpang | This is how it looks unwrapped.

Back in those days, farmers would be hard at work in the paddy fields for the whole day. The wife would pack food for them in these banana leaf coned shaped package. The cone shape allows it to have different layers, and it was to be eaten from the top much like the Wall's Cornetto ice cream cone. The top layer is filled with shredded egg with rice. This is breakfast. Then, there's Gulai Ikan and Sambal Prawn in the second layer. Again, this whole Nasi Tumpang is filled with rice all over. Lastly, there would be Serunding and that's for tea! What a novel idea it was to have 3 meals packed into a humble cone. The banana leaf would allow the food to be kept for hours long.

By the time Nasi Tumpang was served, I was practically stuffed to the brim. I just ate bits of it but I do love the novelty of the dish and I would definitely come back just to try this again, with an appetite of course.

 Laksam | Noodles in fish gravy with chicken floss.

Another dish I love from the menu is the Laksam, where flat noodles (almost similar to the Chinese Chee Cheong Fun) is served with blended fish and herbs gravy. It was a rather plain looking dish, lacking interesting colour to add attitude to the dish. One bite into this, I can immediately imagine how this is comfort food for me. And for all I care, my comfort food can be rainbow in colour I would still eat it because it makes me feel good.

Laksam | Closer look on the noodles.

And finally, desserts! Dessert was Ketupat Sotong and Lompat Tikam, when we first read that on the menu, we all went what is Lompat and Tikam? Jump and stab? Such a weird name for a dessert. I really couldn’t wait to see what it looks like, and ta-da…

Ketupat Sotong and Lompat Tikam | :)

So, the brown stuff with tentacles is the Ketupat Sotong and the contrasting green kuih and pink rice ball is the Lompat Tikam. When I asked about the history of the name, apparently that was how the Kelantanese call it. But I’m pretty sure there’s a history to it. If you do know, please tell me cause I’m curious how a name like this came about. Honestly I didn’t like either the dessert. The squid was weird to eat with ketupat and it was also sweet. The Lompat Tikam was pretty much kuih and glutinous rice. Not exactly my type of dessert.

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Here is the address for the restaurant if you’re planning to visit;

1-5, Level 1, Sooka Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur [03 2785 1945]

Note: It’s closed on Saturday and Sunday. You can visit the Subang Jaya branch on weekends.