Exclusive Valentine's Dinner @ Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar

This Valentine's, Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar is opening up their Executive Lounge for the first time to love birds to celebrate the occasion with a romantic meal.

Dubbed "Love is in the Air", couples are literally whisked up to the 26th Floor to be dazzled with the city skyline while enjoying a specially crafted 4-course menu. The Executive Lounge is normally only accessible to executive guests of the hotel. This Valentine's dinner package is limited to only 35 tables at RM250 nett per person.  If booked before 7th February 2015, guests will receive the Early Love Bird offer of 15% off total bill.

A romantic, relaxed setting which oversees the city skyline

The chefs preparing this meal will be from the hotel's La Cucina Mediterranean Restaurant, where I had two great meals in 2014. Guests will have a choice of 3 dishes to choose from for every course, which are made using the freshest ingredients sourced locally and from overseas. To start, guests will also be served a glass of champagne each and be presented with a complimentary gift (cute XO shakers).

Cheers! Bubbles to keep a girl happy ;)

For appetizer, guests can choose to have either foie gras terrine, salmon and barramundi carpaccio, or Caprese salad. I had the foie gras terrine, and I really enjoyed it. The terrine was smooth and paired well with the apple celery timbale and aged balsamic reduction. Loved the romantic touches throughout the meal i.e. heart-shapes appearing in dishes. My date had the salmon and barramundi carpaccio, which was light and fresh.

Next course is the soup, where you can choose from cauliflower, crab bisque or tomato gazpacho. I totally love the cauliflower soup with scallop ceviche (now you know why I love it, right?). The soup was rich but not cloying and the scallop ceviche added a nice texture contrast. The crab bisque will be perfect for those who love stronger flavours.

For main course, the choices are Black Angus beef tenderloin, caramelised crispy roasted duck breast, or pan seared white cod fish. Surprisingly, even as a meat lover, my vote for best mains would go to the perfectly cooked cod fish - a generous chunk of beautiful, fresh fish with crispy skin. It is served with lobster oil and spinach risotto. The beef tenderloin was served with a cute heart-shaped polenta, though for me personally I would prefer to have mashed potatoes or mashed pumpkin with it as I am not a fan of polenta.

To end the meal on a sweet note, guests have the choice of raspberry mousse, triple chocolate pleasure, or chocolate tart and vanilla creme brulee. For me, the raspberry mousse was the perfect sweet ending as it was tart and delicious, and the heart-shaped chocolate totally won my heart. The triple chocolate pleasure was also good - enjoyed the smooth, creamy texture.

My 4 choices for the perfect, romantic meal :)

Thanks to Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar for spoiling us with this romantic meal.



This "Love is in the Air" promotion is available on Valentine's Day 14th February 2015, and is priced at RM250 nett. Book early before 7th Feb, to enjoy 15% off. Advantage Plus members are also entitled to 15% discount. For booking or inquiries, call 03-2298 1857 or email H7972@accor.com.





Location: Executive Lounge, Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar, No 1 Jalan Pantai Jaya, Tower 3, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-2298 1857

GPS Coordinates: 3.115850, 101.6632

Website: http://www.pullmanhotels.com/gb/hotel-7962-pullman-kuala-lumpur-bangsar-/index.shtml


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Top 8 Recipes for a Brilliant Sunday Roast

It's the first Sunday of 2015 and there's no better way to spend it than with my favorite Sunday tradition - Sunday Roast. A typical Sunday roast consists of roasted meat, roast potato, vegetables, gravy and Yorkshire pudding.

Here are 8 of my favorite recipes for a brilliant Sunday Roast.

1. Roast Beef

My favorite cut to use when making roast beef is rib eye. Tender and succulent, the whole family loves it.

I usually cook my roast beef to medium rare - the cooking time is 5 mins per 100g at 180°C. Allow to rest for at least 15-20 minutes before carving.

For roast beef recipe, see here.

2. Roast lamb

Roast leg of lamb is great if you're feeding a large family. This Heston Blumenthal-inspired recipe is my favorite - simply slow roasted at 90°C for about 2 hours. 

See recipe here.

3. Roast lamb loin chops

Baby C's favorite lamb cut is the lamb loin chops. This is much more quicker to cook compared to the whole leg of lamb (20 mins vs 2 hours). 

See recipe here.

4. Roast chicken

This is a simple roast chicken recipe from Michelin-star chef Thomas Keller. You only need 4 basic ingredients for this recipe - unsalted butter, salt, pepper and fresh thyme. Moist chicken with incredibly crispy skin.

See recipe here.

5. Roast potatoes

A must-have with every Sunday Roast is roast potatoes. Crisp on the outisde, fluffy on the inside - delicious!

See recipe here.

6. Yorkshire puddings

We like having Yorkshire puddings with roast beef. They're really easy to make (less than 20 mins for prep and cooking). I love them crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and with lots of gravy poured over.

See the recipe here. 

7. Homemade mint sauce

A good mint sauce is essential when serving roast lamb. I prefer making my own using fresh mint from the garden - so very easy to do. 

See recipe here.

8. Vegetables

We like to keep it simple and have our Sunday roast with steamed or boiled vegetables. Two of my favorites are Brussel sprouts and carrots.

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Recipe: Tenderloin Steak with Pumpkin Mash and Caramelised Onions

Looks like I'm going in reverse order for my Christmas postings this year... starting with dessert (passion fruit meringues) and for my second Christmas 2014 post, it will be the main course.

Tenderloin Steak with Pumpkin Mash and Caramelised Onions

Being meat lovers, beef is usually the star of our Christmas dinner. In the past, we've served roast beef (rib eye is best), op rib (also known as tomahawk, prime rib) and this year, we're thinking of serving individual steaks for Christmas. This is definitely a good option if you're hosting a small Christmas dinner party for your family.

Since it's Christmas, why not splurge on some tenderloin... otherwise, rib eye or striploin would be good too. Since tenderloin is a thick cut, we usually cook it in the grill pan (as we would a normal steak) for about 4 minutes to get a nice sear, then in the oven to finish cooking.

Steaks are fantastic paired with pumpkin. The pumpkin is roasted first, then mashed and simply seasoned with butter, salt and pepper. The sweetness of pumpkin complements steaks perfectly. Also made some caramelised onions to accompany the steak. I'm sure there will be many happy faces in my family if this was served on Christmas Day. :)

Perfectly cooked steak... agree?

Have you planned your menu for Christmas Day yet?




Tenderloin steaks with pumpkin mash and caramelised onions
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
Serves 4


Ingredients
For the steaks
4 tenderloin steaks, about 200-250g each and 2" thick
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Thyme


For the pumpkin mash
800g ripe pumpkin, cut into thin slices
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
A handful fresh rosemary, leaves snipped
A bunch of fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp milk or whipping cream (optional)

For the caramelised onions

2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp salted butter
1 tbsp chopped parsley


For the pumpkin mash
1. Start with the pumpkin mash. Preheat oven to 180°C (roast mode).

2.  Arrange the pumpkin on a baking tray in a single layer. Tuck rosemary and thyme beneath each piece of pumpkin and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until tender and the top layer looks slightly wrinkled. Remove from oven.

4. Remove skin from the pumpkin and place the pumpkin pieces in a bowl. Mash and then add butter, and season with more salt and pepper as necessary. Add a touch of milk or cream if the consistency is too thick.


For the steaks
1. Remove the steaks from fridge one hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature.

2. Wash and pat very dry with kitchen towel. Rub olive oil, salt and pepper all over the steaks.

3. Heat a grill pan over medium high heat for a few minutes,until very hot.

4. Place the steaks in the pan and cook for 2 minutes, then flip over and cook for another 2 minutes.

5. Place steaks on a baking tray, and then place in preheated oven (180C) for 5-6 minutes, or until the meat has reached your desired doneness. To check for doneness, use a meat thermometer.  To test, insert the meat thermometer in the centre of the steak. The temperature you should aim for is between 120°F and 125°F for medium rare.

6. Once it has reached your desired doneness, remove from oven and cover the steak loosely with foil to rest for 5 minutes. Do not cover too tightly or the meat will sweat. After resting, the meat temperature should be around 130°F to 135°F (ie perfect medium rare).

Beef Doneness Temperature Chart

Beef Doneness	Temperature (°F)
Rare	120 - 125
Medium rare	130 - 135
Medium	140 - 145
Medium-well	150 - 155
Well Done	160 & above

Note: You can start cooking the steaks 5 minutes before the pumpkin comes out of the oven.


For the caramelised onions

1. While the steaks rest, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat in grill pan (clean with a kitchen towel beforehand if the pan has any black burnt bits). Add onion, and cook until tender, about 4-5 minutes (again, this depends on your preference, how soft you want it). Add Worcestershire sauce, sugar and butter and toss to coat. Season with salt as necessary. Cook for another 5-10 minutes, then turn off heat.

To serve

1. Spoon pumpkin mash onto serving plate, then top with steak and caramelised onions. Garnish with thyme. Serve with good quality salt such as Maldon or Fleur de sel.

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I am submitting this to the "Cook & Celebrate: Christmas 2014" event which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Diana of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe. To join, simply cook or bake any Christmas recipes for the whole month of December 2014.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in December 2014 - please do not link older posts.Please mention our "Cook & Celebrate: Christmas 2014" event in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Diana of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:


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Recipe: Korean-style Marinated Steak with Grilled Scallions (Bobby Flay)

We're cooking Bobby's Flay recipes for "Cook Like a Star" event the whole of this month, so I have been browsing his recipes online. I found a couple of good steak recipes to try, and one of them is this Korean-style marinated steak with grilled scallions.

In his recipe, Bobby Flay uses skirt steak but I substituted with striploin steak since this is more readily available over here in KL. A Korean commented on this recipe that the marinade tastes pretty authentic, which gives me the confidence to try it. The steak is simply marinated for 30 minutes, then grilled to medium rare. Bobby serves his with some grilled scallions and tortilla wraps, but I omitted the wraps since this would be plenty for lunch.

The steak has a distinctive Asian flavour to it, and it does remind me of eating kalbi (Korean-style beef ribs). I would however increase the brown sugar in future, as the one I had before in the Korean restaurant is slightly sweeter. Overall, a good, simple recipe to try and makes a nice change, however my favorite way of eating steak is still naked with some good sea salt.

Grilled to medium rare perfection, I have to say! :)

Scallions (spring onions) from our garden for this dish!

Let me snap some photos of mummy's steak too!

Korean-style marinated steak with grilled scallions
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Bobby Flay
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 1-2

Ingredients
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sake
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 scallions, white part only, minced
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
300g striploin steak (1" thick), trimmed and cut into 4 portions
1 tbsp cooking oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

To garnish
2-3 whole scallions, cleaned


1. Combine sugar, soy sauce, sake, garlic, scallions, ginger and sesame oil in a bowl or flat dish. Add the steak and coat well and leave to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes, turning once.

2. Preheat grill or grill pan. Brush off the scallions, ginger and garlic from the steaks (as it will burn easily on the grill) and place the steak on the grill. Grill for 2 minutes each side for medium rare.

3. Remove from grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes, before slicing thinly against the grain. Season with more salt and pepper as necessary.

4. Meanwhile, place the spring onions in the pan and grill for 2 minutes. Remove and set aside. Pour in the remaining marinade into the pan to thicken into a sauce for dipping.

Note: I will increase sugar to 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp the next time I make it.

**************

I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Bobby Flay" event which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Grace of Life Can Be Simple. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Bobby Flay websites or cookbooks for the whole month of November 2014.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in November 2014 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Grace of Life Can Be Simple and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:


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Lunch @ Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar, The Gardens Residences, KL

Always a pleasure to dine at Sage KL;)

We love coming to Sage when we're doing our daytime dating. The ambiance is lovely, service is good and food is always exceptional. I like how Chef Daniel always comes out to greet us with a warm smile. I like how his food tastes - simple but always delivers.

Just like our starter of hiramasa with shaved black truffle and soy vinaigrette. It looks deceptively simple but it tastes so good. All throughout the first course, Hubby keeps going "mmm mmmmm" with approval. My fav course of the afternoon.

Tranche of Hiramasa with Shaved Black Truffle and Soy Vinaigrette

We always go for two appetizers when we lunch here, because frankly it's just too hard deciding which one to go for. Love the smoked duck breast with foie gras, served with fig and date chutney. You know what they say, "good things come in small packages".

The set lunch at Sage is now priced at RM120 nett (formerly RM100), but you will notice that they now serve Wagyu (marbling 5, I'v been told) beef for lunch instead of Angus. All the more reasons to love the steaks here, richer in taste and more melt-in-the-mouth.

Two way preparation of Wagyu beef with Yuzukoshou and Chasseur sauce

Perfectly cooked!

An off-menu dessert for us - French Chocolate Fondant with Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream

And that is why Sage is still my favorite restaurant in KL.

Pork-free.

For their weekly lunch menu, click here. Full a la carte menu here.

Dress code: Smart casual.

Opening hours: Lunch:Monday to Friday 12.00pm to 2.00pm; Dinner:Monday to Saturday 6.00pm to 10.30pm. Closed on Sunday.

Price: RM120 nett per person for 3-course lunch.

Location: Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar, The Gardens Residences, Level 6, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2268 1328

*Children below the age of 6 are not allowed in the restaurant.



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