Monday, June 30, 2008

Jogoya, again

What kind of buffet doesn't serve you white rice? Why, Jogoya of course. Although, the last time I was there, I managed to get white rice from somewhere, but this time, even that avenue was blocked off. So, no white rice.

"But who wants to go to an expensive buffet and eat white rice?!"

"Me la, of course! Can do so many things with white rice you know? From the dishes I'm going to show you here, so many of them could be vastly improved if only there was white rice."

To start off, I got distracted by the tempura counter while getting the coconut drinks (refer previous post).

And prawn tempura, is basically, prawn tempura lah. Deep fried prawn with batter, dipped into the radish sauce. Crispy and light. Yum yum.

Next up, raw oysters. Or as some of you would call it, 'Icky Raw Stuff'.

There we go. Two oysters with some lemon. There are people who like it, and there are people who don't. There are also people who don't like it but eat it for the novelty. I'm not too sure which group I fall into.

And then, more 'Icky Raw Stuff'!

The fish looks quite pink. I'm sure there's some hamachi in there somewhere. But realistically, I only liked the sashimi. Now if only I had some white rice, I'd be able to make some Salmon Don, a la Sushi Ten!

My meal then progressed from the raw food, to the cooked food. So.

Some unagi, which I was raving about the last time I was there. Only had 2 sticks this time though. Again, if only I had white rice.

I did find some fried rice though, and I also got distracted by some fried fish. So I put those two things together and came up with this.

The rice was pretty good, with plenty of prawn. But the fish was not good at all. Thumbs down for this.

After that, I remembered that I could request for handrolls. So back I went to the counter.

Unagi roll, and Crab Roe roll. Orange and green. Both were made fresh on the spot and put on the plate for me. And I think not many people knew about it, so I was the only one there requesting.

And thennnnn, because I so wanted to recreate the Salmon Don, I tried it with the fried rice.

DSC00742

Which turned out to be a spectacular failure, and should not be talked about anymore.

The next two dishes were ordered by my friend.

DSC00744

Looks like a dead fish, and probably is a dead fish. As much as I like steamed pomfret, I had to ask my friend, "Why come to Jogoya to eat this? Cannot get at home ah?" Oh yes, this would benefit greatly from white rice as well.

And a plate of garlic black pepper beef.

I tried a few pieces of this, and it was quite good. Like mini pieces of steak. If only it could be done medium rare, I think this could be one of the hidden gems on the menu.

It is a well known fact that no meal is complete without vegetables.

DSC00749

Upon the arrival of this dish on the table, I got hit by my own question from my friend, "Why come to Jogoya and eat this? Cannot get at home ah?"

Touche.

My other friend ordered some Soft Shell Crab, which, looking at the picture now, I probably should have ordered, but that thought did not occur to me at that time.

DSC00750

I'm quite sure it tastes as good as it looks.

And finally, dessert was some Haagen Dazs ice cream (they had Baskin Robbins and some other brand as well).

DSC00753

That egg tart was a separate thing that I just dropped into the ice cream cup.

Overall, I remember it to be a very enjoyable and satisfying meal. I did not overeat.

And I would have been happier had I found some white rice.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

On Top of Spaghetti ...

On top of spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball,
When somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table,
And on to the floor,
And then my poor meatball,
Rolled out the front door.

--

Today, we shall talk about contrasts. Two dishes were made for dinner today, both taken from Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie at Home' book. A soup dish and a spaghetti dish. What resulted is an excellent study in contrasts.

DSC00755 

This soup, which does not look so good on camera, was awesome. It was excellently seasoned, and the egg was ingenious. Jamie Oliver used poached eggs, which till now, I cannot replicate, so, I made replaced them with half boiled eggs instead.

DSC00758

Unfortunately, the spaghetti went horribly wrong. The only thing going for it is that it looks good. After that, everything fell apart. Firstly, I couldn't find the correct type of pork sausages to make the meatballs. So, we substituted it with minced beef instead, which, unlike the half boiled eggs, was not a good idea. The taste of the beef was too strong, and the flour used to hold the meat together made the meatballs too powdery.

Couldn't get fresh peas as well, in Malaysia. And the sauce wasn't enough, was also too tomato-ish, and got comments of 'bland' and 'sour' from two different family members.

Tsk tsk.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Italian(n)ese

I've been to Italian(n)ese twice in the last 2 weeks, this Italian franchise that's available in most shopping complexes around KL. Personally, I enjoyed the food there, most especially the free flow of bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dip. But on both occasions, I overdid it with the bread, and was too full when the meals actually arrived. Bad move. Twice.

Anyway.

Here's the food.

DSC00701

Fried calamari. Can't go wrong, but somehow did. Very average. Bleh. Maybe I was too full from bread. But. Bleh.

This was very very very good. The mangoes and grapes were very sweet, which was a nice contrast to the saltiness of the dressing for the vegetables. I ordered this salad on both the occasions that I was at Italiannese.

DSC00704

This was quite well seasoned, but not very spetacular. Tasted good, but that's about it.

DSC00675

Again, same comment as above. Tasted good. But did it wow me, well, no, it did not.

But you see that drink behind it. The purple colour drink? That was some form of grape drink. Which did wow me. And it went very well with the chicken salad as well. Love it.

Bye!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Psht.

The meaning of 'Psht', from... Urban Dictionary again:

--

psht

A word you can say to blow off or show disregard for something someone just said.

Person 1: I am so good at throwing rocks!.
Person 2: PSHT!! Your aim's lousy!.

--

HAHA!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Ayam Goreng Mc D

AAAAAAA!

Mc Donald's Fried Chicken?

Yes yes yes!