02.23.09
Loving love on the up.
Also guest blogging at Backseat Radio: Coldplay live in Singapore @ 23 March 2009 and Love is like an African Safari.
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When you have two friends performing a set in a gig another friend of yours is organising, it is a two-hit shot saying you have to be there. I was back at my second On The Up event last Wednesday after being M.I.A for say, four months.
All was full of love coming from the bands that performed that night. One last attempt to prevail this February’s red hearts and chubby cupids as guests were treated to songs from all sides of the strongest muscle in us.
First up was the singer/songwriter Rina S flown in all the way from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. She was soft-spoken as she said hey to the crowd, her voice tainted with a tad bit of childishness and shyness. But when she strummed her guitar and opened her mouth to sing, I was caught off guard to hear how enriched her voice is. There was nothing embarrassed or kiddish when she closed her eyes and gave the crowd her all. It was like there were two Rina S’es on stage that night: the giggly girl that introduces her songs, and the more matured lady performing the songs.
In the name of love, she kicked off her set with a Malay number Hanya Kau di Hati with her catchy tap on the heart of her guitar that guided her strong voice to soar higher. She also sang easygoing love songs like One of a Kind – dedicated to all couples out there fresh in a relationship, and still unsure if it is real or just another bout of play around, and Falling in Love – about well, falling in love.
I have known Ray and Ash for quite some time now, and I would have to admit that I have spent more time listening to them singing ass wipe songs when they were high, than seeing them perform seriously on stage. But I will also have to admit that they have a strong passion for music. At any given free time, Ray would grab for his guitar and strum up a crazy tune from the top of his head, and often Ash has entertained me banging on my dashboard while driving him to work in the mornings.
For musicians who seek influences from guitar heroes like John Mayer and Ray LaMontagne, you can expect to get from them elaborate guitar solos that make you wonder how a guy like Ray, who has no musical background of sorts, to just pick up a guitar one day and play a melody like that. His fingers zoomed across the neck like creepy crawlies out for an attack, and his vocals are the starting point of a feel good funk and blues success.
They can be crazy and a little cuckoo in the head most of the time – well, OK, all the time, but when they are up there performing, you can see that they mean business.
However, so much energy put into fancy string plays, lyrically they are quite limited and repetitive. They have yet to grasp the profound words of Mayer’s New Deep and St Patrick’s Day, or LaMontagne’s Till the Sun Turns Black and Winter Birds. But I guess all art needs time. Not everyone can get an overnight epiphany like LaMontagne, let alone penning down lyrics that shape the heart.
The atmosphere in No Black Tie after that seemed to be taken over by a mysterious wind bringing in a larger crowd to fill the empty spaces, along with a couple of dreadlocked fellows with a full band in tow.
Judging from the exciting comments I have read on this instalment’s On The Up, Rivernation already has quite a firm fanbase here in the heart of the city. Till then, the event has been laid back with performers giving their best with nothing more but their perfect voices and well-strung guitars.
When Rivernation came on, they brought on everything a peaceful community of green, yellow and red stands for. The ever elongated shadow of the late Bob Marley gracing the catchy beats of the keyboard, guitars and drums of reggae and ska. Yet for tweaking things to go their way, they fitted their loved genre with Malay lyrics, giving their songs a Malaysian heritage that any local could relate to. It was like strolling down a beachy shore in Malaysia, instead of Jamaica.
Like the caffeinated drink that is ever so addictive, Coffee has been around since 2007 with such adorable songs that are hard to resist – much like the drink – and which come in so many flavours of pop, rock, jazz and soul (latte, decaf, expresso…).
Akhtar – Suria FM’s own night time DJ – is the sensual lead with a captivating voice that has the rest of her band co-existing with her voice like planets orbiting around the sun. The runny chords of Amir’s guitar for Mana were like cascading waterfalls hidden in the depths of a no man’s island; Ahmadz’s compromising backup for Akhtar as she capped the bridge for Sentiasa: “Kau buatku tersenyum / Kau buatku ketawa / Kau buatku tersedih / Kau juga buatku menangis”.
The way she moves, the way she serenades, the way she flows… what is not to like about the band? Just makes you want to have another one of those must-have cuppa before you start the day. Only, they are not bad for your health.
Truth be told, 2009 has not really been smooth sailing since the ball dropped. I have been wandering around trying to find the better light of life, and often I am flipping a lightswitch that does not work. And I am kind of afraid of the dark. But every now and then, a car would pass by outside, beaming in one ray of sunlight to hold in my hands, making me see the faces around me to smile again. I am glad this car passed by last night, blasting from its backseat radio easy tunes to love, and lovely tunes to be at ease with.
* Sorry the pictures are crap. The camera I was using was acting up.
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On the Up is a monthly music event organised by Time Out KL at No Black Tie.
The next On the Up gig will be held on March 18.
For more information, check out their website.
02.12.09
Say cheese!
I have always been a fan of cheese. I like cheese in my pasta, I like cheese in my lasagna, I like cheese in my rice and I like cheese on my cake.
However, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I am slightly lactose intolerant. While I like cheese in food, I can never have dairy products on its own. I can have milk with cereal but drink a glass of milk I would purge after two sips. I have to have cheddar cheese in my sandwich but do not count on me nibbling on one by itself.
So, I was skeptic as to what will happen to me at the end of the meal, as I browsed through the signature menu at Chalet. A part of me was quite estatic to have cheese served in half of the course – it could have easily been any girl’s dream to chow on cheese like it were rice, but another part of me shudder at my unexplanable intolerance. Throwing up in a fancy fine dining Swiss restaurant in front of my clients would be of utmost embarrassment.
First up was a full blown cheese charade. The Raclet Valaisanne, a traditional Swiss melted cheese served with baby potatoes and cornichon pickles. The smell was empowering like fuck. It was like meeting the cow during the slaughter before you eat its meat. According to the Chef, they would get a roll of pure cheese, heat the surface and when it is boiling, slice it off the surface onto the plate.
Awful smell aside, the moment the cheese touched my tongue, it watered. It was everything I would want to taste when I put into my mouth a big chunk of baked and melted cheese. Like those layers of baked cheese on my rice, but only more enriched and better.
It was quite heavenly until that bile feeling at the back of my tongue started coming up, and I had to neutralise my palette with the pickles and potatoes, which did not help much considering potatoes were quite heavy and pickles were, well, pickles.
All things considered, it had a good run with me, though only for a short while.
Also, diners should eat it while it is still hot, as you know when it cools it hardens and the stringy and creamy cheese texture would have disappeared.
Next up was the Fondue Suisse au Fromage, or commonly known as cheese fondue. It is a famous Swiss dish of dipping bread cubes in melted Emmental cheese enhanced with Kirsch – a clear and colourless fruit brandy from Germany known as Kirchwasser – and wine.
In Switzerland, where the land is often cooling, cheese plays a very big part in their lives to keep their bodies warm. So, a fondue is a kind of social food for family and friends, in which they can have a good laugh and talk over a boiling bowl of cheese to dip their bread cubes in.
After the Raclette Valaisanne, I had a problem stomaching more cheese from the fondue, so after a few cubes, I have already set aside by fork waiting for the next dish. But it was definitely a fun dish to share with friends and family; we had quite a laugh as the Chef told us his travelling and gourmet stories before working in Chalet, and we also shared a few travelling stories of our own too.
The Emincée de Veau à la Zurichoise is a thinly sliced veal and mushrooms in cream sauce with roesti potatoes. The roesti is another famous food amongst the Swiss folks, what with the potatoes bringing on the body wamrth via the carbs.
I had my first roesti when I was at a food review in Amuleto, and the roesti in Chalet was very much different from theirs. Chalet’s were softer in texture, while Amuleto’s went for the crispy type – like sliced hash browns panfried together. Chalet’s broke off easy as you mix them with the creamy mushroom and veal sauce. Not that it is a bad thing, mind you. I guess each restaurant has its own way in preparing a meal, and till now, I quite like both in its own ways.
For dessert, we had the Crepe suzette, with paper thin pancakes cooked in orange sauce and flamé with brandy.
The restaurant manager, Azlan, put on a live show for us as he prepared our meal. First, he rubbed the heated pan with an orange for the flavouring and sugar absorption, as well as so the crepes do not stick to the pan. After putting in the crepe slices, he would drown them in brandy wine and liquid marmalade.
Till then, I had not have good experiences with crepes. The first time I had them was when I was in Australia. There was a stall in the city food court serving crepes and I decided to try it out. It was stuffed with fish meat fillings and though it looked delicious like that, I almost threw up halfway through. Since then, crepes had a bad name for me.
But the crepes here regained my love. You could smell waves of brandy as you cut open the steamy pancakes. It tasted sweet yet sourish at the same time. There was even the citrussy and orange tang that is welcoming to the senses. Whilst the cheese and roesti slowly closed up my appetite throughout the meal, the crepes opened it up for more before closing it on a better note.
I liked the atmosphere in Chalet. They have the interior designed like a cottage and at some point, I did feel like I was at the Alps. It has a cosy feeling going on, the people were as friendly as the meal served, and with the food that they put in your tummy, you would feel really nice from the inside to the outisde.
The dishes featured that day were signature ones at the restaurant as well as the country itself. But I did wanted to try out more of their main courses to really get what Chalet has in store for the diners. Alas.
All things considered, Chalet is one of the longest running fine dining restaurants in the city – 36 years, thank you very much – and they have definitely brought to the plate what diners would expect in a Swiss cuisine.
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The Chalet Swiss Restaurant
Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur
Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Opens Monday to Friday @ 12.30PM-2.30PM; daily @ 6.30PM-10.30PM
T: +6 03 2161 7777
E: info@kul.equatorial.com
W: http://www.equatorial.com
02.04.09
Ox-spiciously Sichuan.
It is already the 10th day of Chinese New Year. Angpows are given and received, friends and families are met and reunited. But do not just stop there, you have five days more to go before Chap Goh Meh and the end of the 2009 Chinese New Year. So, before that happens, ring up Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant over at Parkroyal Kuala Lumpur for another ox-spicious feast to finally charge through your year.
Remember a few entries back, when I said I have never been a fan of yee sang and that one cannot really do much with the fixed ingredients. Well. Si Chuan Dou Hua proved me wrong. Dead wrong.
For their Tropical fresh fruits yee sang, they have incorporated fresh juicy fruits into the platter: dragon fruit, kiwi, strawberry, rose apple, snow pear, mango and honey dew… the kind of fruits that give you a fresh reset on the taste palette. On top of that, drench your yee sang platter with Si Chuan Dou Hua’s homemade Spicy Thai chilli plum sauce to give you that special kick in the nuts. A coat of spiciness with peaks of refreshness popping about on your tastebud, it is definitely a brand new dimension brought forth to my table for Chinese New Year.
It ain’t really a proper Chinese meal if there is not a bowl of sharks’ fin soup for me at the beginning of the course. Frown as you may at me for devouring food of cruel intentions, but I like having the privilege of a bowl of sharks’ fin soup at the numbered wedding dinners I go to.
For the Braised pearl sharks’ fin soup with scallops, crabmeat and kani sticks, the chefs use sliced superior sharks’ fin and less starch so the soup is more pristine and watery compared to the ones I have before. Alas, sharks’ fin does not come cheap; there were only so many slices in my bowl, and the rest of the time I was scooping up kani sticks instead. Balance up the ingredients and I would be pretty much contented.
Next up is the Sauteed prawns with salted egg yolk and crispy prawns. Two kinds of prawns cooked with flavours from different ends of the polars. It was an instant love at first bite for the sauteed prawns. I love salted egg yolk, and to have it with my favourite seafood character was unbelievable. You could still feel the sandy texture of the salted egg yolk with every bite your take. Although the prawns are salty, which is not really a favourite seasoning among many, but I’d say bring it on!
As for the crispy prawns, it is so spicy it is ridiculous. Fried in SiChuan’s signature ingredient, peppercorn, the spiciness creeps up on you one bite afater another until at the end of it, your tongue is sweating and pleading for mercy as you raise your hand to the waiter for another round of icy cool water to calm your senses down.
Now, for the Steamed bamboo fish with brunoisse chilli, it seems like you are going to put your tastebud for another rollercoaster ride from the looks of it, but it is not that spicy, really. After the crispy prawns, this is like a walk in the park. Cooked alongside three different kinds of chillis – red chilli, green chilli and chilli padi – they merely add a hint of heat to the fresh fish meat underneath. As long as you keep away from the chilli seeds and the fish bones, it is a pretty decent meal to chow down.
From the vegetarian set is the Braised abalone with dried oyster and black moss. A pretty honest dish considering that it was made for vegetarians. The oyster sauce mixed with black moss is like a coat of sugar on a delicious piece of cake. However, like every piece of vegetarian meat out there, there is only so much one can imitate. By the time your teeth sinks into the tender side of the abalone, the overwhelming taste of flour hits your tongue and as much as you would like to pretend it is real, it is not. The sauce played a huge part for this dish. Without it, it would be like an undisguised sheep walking into the lion’s den.
In the Fried rice with smoked duck and scallops, the duck meat was a little too heavy for me. I am one who loves duck when they are roasted, so it was something completely different for me with this. At first taste, it reminded me a lot of bacon, only more intense in the mouth. After a few pieces, I could barely stomach anymore, and I was left with the fried rice, which from my recollection, I did not find any scallops in it.
For desserts, there was the chockful Pan-fried glutinous rice cake with yam, and the refreshing Sweetened dry longan with glutinous rice dumplings. The pieces of rice cakes were like little gold blocks dressed in grated coconut shreds made to fill your tummy with sheer richness. It probably has something to do with the yam because I would prefer something lighter in the mouth to wrap up my meal. Which is why the rice dumplings were my better choice between the two. With every mouthful of dumpling I had, they just reminded me of my late grandma and how she used to make the dumplings herself for us. Those were the days.
For Si Chuan Dou Hua, it is a split down the middle for me. On the one hand, I enjoyed their versatility in traditions, but on the other hand, it did not tickle my fancy. But I would say go for it, because the restaurant has already established its name for authentic SiChuan cuisine, so though some dishes may time time getting used to, at least you are assured that nothing will probably suck there.
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Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant
Parkroyal Kuala Lumpur
Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Opens daily @ 12PM-2.30PM and 6.30PM-10.30PM
T: +6 03 2782 8303
W: http://www.parkroyalhotels.com
