Lazy Sunday: Journal by Plan B, Publika, Duta Solaris

Another "Lazy Sunday" post. I think I will make this a regular weekly title. Every Monday I will post up a "Lazy Sunday" post. It might be food that I had, things that I did or movie that I watched the day before.

So, yesterday I had a late lunch in Journal by Plan B in Publika. Publika is now my favourite place to chill on a Sunday. Plan B is part of B.I.G group which is kind of expanding very fast recently. In Publika you can already find a few of their establishments like Ben's Independent Grocer, Ben's, and Journal by Plan B. B.I.G group was formed by Ben Yong, whom was the founder of Delicious Group. He sold all his shares in Delicious to E & O and partnered with his friends to form B.I.G.

In the eateries under B.I.G. that I went, I will always be served with a bottle of water. I like their concept so that those that only wanted to drink plain water don't have to ask for it or pay for mineral water.

I haven't got my coffee fix in earlier, so I ordered a cup of Latte. Their coffee is brewed with a mixture of a few good quality beans. You can read about the details in their menu.

I don't want to go too heavy on my late lunch, so I ordered a Ox Tongue Sandwich and a bowl of Wild Mushroom soup. The first time I tried Ox Tongue sandwich was two years ago during the launch of Delicious Times & D'lish's new menu. So, I'm not surprise to find Ox Tongue Sandwich available in the menu of Plan B.

Spread with English Yellow Mustard, it goes right with the ox toungue with the tinge of spiciness that is not too overwhelming. I cut a few pieces of the gherkin that come with it and put it in the sandwich. Oh my, I'll have to say it provided a new whole taste and texture. The gherkin is not too sourish and not to acidic.

Instead of the normal fried potato chips, here in Plan B I was served with fried sweet potato chips, fried ubi keladi chips and fried yam chips? I like it because it's not too salty at all.

Their Wild Mushroom soup is very rich and fulfiling but I still prefer the one I had in Red BeanBag.

After this fulfiling late lunch, I went to Ben's Independent Grocer to do some shopping and take away Lamb Shank for supper from Ben's General Food Store.




Address:

Journal by Plan B
Lot No. 65, Level G2,
Publika, Solaris Dutamas,
Jalan Dutamas 1,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.

Google map here.

The Red Beanbag, Publika, Duta Solaris

Nowadays, Publika seems to be my favourite hangout place on a lazy Sunday. I buy my organic oats from B.I.G. here bi-weekly. It's just 5 minutes drive from my place and there are a lot of eateries here.

So, one lazy Sunday afternoon, I woke up at about 2.30 p.m. and craving for a big breakfast. So, I drove to Publika since I have to restock my oats. There are a few eateries serving all day breakfast here. So, I use my Nokia E7 and Googlle "all day breakfast Publika". Voila, out come my foodie friend's blog post about The Red Beanbag.

I kick start my day with a cup of Latte. Not too bad. Better than Stabucks. Since it's a late brunch, I ordered Soup for the Soul (changes daily). Wild Mushroom soup (RM 15 nett) was the soup for the soul that day. I like a dash of white truffle oil on the soup that the chef did. It really brings out the whole mushroomy aroma of the soup. Not too salty and the mushroom is diced just nice. Reminds me of the Wild Mushroom soup in Dave's when they first opened their door in 1 Utama.

As for the breakfast, I had the Red Beanbag Signature Breakfast (RM 19.90 nett). You can choose the way you like your egg. As usual, I go for scrambled and it turned out to be the perfect scrambled egg I had in mind. Not overcooked, fluffy and still a bit of wet smoothness from the yolk. You can choose either chicken or beef sausage and chicken or beef bacon. Comes with beans, hash brown and two pieces of toast. Oh, their bread is very good. Someone told me their French toast is very good too.

Well, it's sure nice to have a place so near my crib to have an all day breakfast. Next time I'll try Wondermilk.





Address:

THE RED BEANBAG
Lot A4-1-8, Solaris Dutamas
(opposite Publika’s open space/Ben’s)
Jalan Dutamas 1,
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-6211 5116
Tue – Fri: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Sat – Sun: 9:30 am - 6:00 pm
Pre-booked dinners for functions available.
http://www.facebook.com/theredbeanbag


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KampungBoyCityGal
Adriene
SneakyLily
Eat Drink KL

Merry Guinness with Masterchef Adam Liaw

I've been lagging in my blog post. Sorry. Two weeks ago, I was invited to a food tasting session where Guinness invited Masterchef Australia, Adam Liaw to show us his Guinness infused menu for this upcoming Christmas Guinness promotion.

I'm one happy man already.

I'm a happier man now.

It's more fun to share food with fellow foodies. Chris, Christine, Ai Wei and Wilson.

正所谓“吃色性也”。美女和酒当然不可分开。 =)

美女没有人会嫌多吧？ =P


After about an hour of drinking and mingling. It's time to start the event. 好了！开Show啦！

Looks like there will be cooking demonstration on the spot.

The man himself. MasterChef Australia, Adam Liaw.

Cooking up some lamb shank in stock that had Guinness Foreign Extra Stout.

I thought we're going to eat the lamb shank like what we normally do, the whole thing. Turn out Masterchef has something up his sleeve. The sliced lamb meat soaked up the stock nicely and has a strong Guinness present to it. You'll love it if you like Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. Pair it with some smooth champ. Yums.

Open GUINNESS® Lamb Shank and Mushroom Pie with Champ Fine

Actually, we started with this. I must say, I like the Guinness mustard very much.

Farmhouse Terrine with GUINNESS® Mustard

At first, I thought the Guinness cream will be sourish. How wrong I was, the cream tasted very mild and it enhanced the natural sea taste of the oyster instead of covering the oyster taste.

Oysters with GUINNESS® Cream

Guinness butter anyone? Yes, infused Guinness Foreign Extra Stout with butter and marinate the chicken with it. Voila. Tenderlicious roasted chicken but yet the taste is not overwhelming.

Roasted Chicken with GUINNESS® Butter

That day was the first time I heard of and tried Guinness infused salt. I didn't we can do that. Crispy, a tinge of spiciness and Guinness savoury. It's a very nice snack to go with a Guinness Draught.

Crispy Squid with GUINNESS® and Chili Salt

Actually, there are also food that is part of the Guinness menu but not designed by Adam Liaw but it's too many to post all here. If you want to find out more about the Guiness infused menu, click here.

Of course, what is a feast without dessert? I love these GUINNESS® and Fruit Christmas Puddings. Who whole have thought that Guinness can be used to make puddings?

GUINNESS® and Fruit Christmas Puddings

I like the combination but I found the damper is a bit too hard to my liking. Maybe I should soak it more with the ice-cream.

Sweet GUINNESS® Damper with Maple and Blackberry Compote

Ah, it's a wonderful feast. Are you interested to have a taste of the Guinness infused menu inspired by Mastercef Adam Liaw? Then you're in luck.

GUINNESS® will be throwing Merry GUINNESS® Christmas parties that will feature a culinary feast which will include MasterChef Adam’s special Christmas dishes throughout the month of December.

The Merry GUINNESS® Christmas parties will be held at:-

1. El Meson Spanish Restaurant & Tapas Bar, 13th December 2011
2. Jarrod & Rawlins, AMPWALK, Ampang, 15th December 2011
3. Garibaldi Italian Restaurant & Bar, Bangsar, 17th December 2011
4. Market Hall, Pavillion, 21st December 2011
5. Souled Out, Ampang, 24th December 2011

Not to forget the Merry GUINNESS® Christmas Promotions

2000 outlets nationwide are participating in the event with 85 outlets featuring selected GUINNESS®-infused recipes from MasterChef Adam’s Christmas menu.

Every purchase MasterChef Adam’s delectable cuisine at a participating outlet will entitle consumers to a pint of GUINNESS at a special festive discount of 50%.

Consumers will also receive a limited edition stainless steel money clip when you purchase 6 pints or 1 bucket of GUINNESS at participating outlets nationwide. A perfect addition to your Christmas stockings this festive season!

Gaucho Grill, Chulan Square, Jalan Raja Chulan

Once again it's another Groupon deal that I've used. This time it's Argentinian steak at Gaucho Grill, Jalan Raja Chulan. Hey, paying only RM47 instead of RM95.10 is a really good deal to resist, especially from such an well known restaurant for steak.

The deal gets meet unlimited refill of soup and salad from the bar. I will say the salad bar is quite nice with variety of vegetables both cooked and raw to choose from. There are about 5 to 6 kind of salad dressings such as thousand island, coleslaw, French, mint and one that I don't really know the name.

I don't know what is the orange colour dressing is.

Soup is potato cream soup that night. At first look it's kind of plain but after I tasted it, I think it's not bad at all even for me that don't fancy potato soup.

Plain looking potato cream soup.

The El Feugo Argentinian Grilled Rib Eye Steak is what I came for. Ordered it to be cooked to medium. While it's unlike Wagyu steak that melts in one's mouth, it is tender enough. The only complain is that it is not juicy enough. Maybe it's because it is rib eye, hence not much fat around the meat. A good cut for those that don't fancy too much fat in their meat.

The steak is use is of good quality that little marination is needed. I prefer to eat it on it's own rather than dip the black pepper sauce provided. Besides, I think the black pepper sauce doesn't goes very well with the steak. I tried eating one piece of steak with the sauce and it tasted like eating steak in the Uptown food court that sells for only RM11 per plate.

Pinkish, just the way I like it.

After devouring the steak, I had a 3rd helping of the salad and then called it a night. This is my first time trying out Argentinian steak. Might come back again and try other cuts or I'll wait for another deal to come up :p

Saw this funny sign outside.

Address:

Gaucho Grill
Block B, Lot 5 Chulan Square,
92 Jalan Raja Chulan,
50250 Kuala Lumpur.

Phone: 03-2145 4268

Google Map here.


Other Ppl's View:

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arThursday at Malones, Sooka KL Sentral

I was at Malones, Sooka KL Sentral last Thursday. I found out that from 15th till 30th Aug 2011, Thursday will never be the same at more than 100 Guinness outlets nationwide because it will be arThursday. Last Thursday or arThursday in Malones is not only special promotion on Guinness like RM5 Guinness or buy four pints and get a limited edition Guinness Arthur's Day T-shirt. It is also arThursday Live music party.

On each arThursday there will be one new design of limited edition Guinness Arthur's Day T-Shirt. I already got the 1st week's T-Shirt.

Just go to any participating Guinness outlets nationwide to get this deal.

As for arThursday Live Party.

6 group of artists/bands are chosen to perform live on arThursday in a few different outlets. Not only that, they will be competing to get votes so that they could get the two spots to perform in Arthur's Day concert 2011. They are Rosevelt, CSBTEA, Dragon Red, Prema Yin, NakedBreed, and James Baum.

Catch them live on arThursday in these venues and vote for them.

Rosevelt, CSBTEA, Dragon Red

Royal Oak, Solaris Mont Kiara - 25th August 2011
Mandolin, Kelana Jaya - 8th September 2011
Backyard, Sri Hartamas - 15th September 2011

Prema Yin, NakedBreed, James Baum

Finnegan's, Midvalley - 25th August 2011
Lust, Changkat Bukit Bintang - 8th September 2011
Delaney's Irish Pub, Bukit Bintang - 15th September 2011

If you can't go to the venue to vote for your favourirte bands or artists to have them perform in Arthur's Day concert, then you also can support by voting here.

After each round of performance, Guinness girl will come over to ask for your vote. You can vote the artist in or out for Arthur's Day concert.

On that night in Malones, I was able to see Rosevelt, CSBTEA, and Dragon Red performed.

Rosevelt

CBSTEA

Dragon Red

Which of the three you'll like to see in Arthur's Day concert? Of course, a few International artists will be performing too but Guinness is still keeping it a secret of whom will be performing. At the time being, we can decides which local artists we want to see performing there.

That night I drank four pints of Guinness Draught and ate a very delicious Malones Beef Rib. It's so juicy and tender. Oh, the mashed potatoes calcannon is very good too.

Oh, I took the train to Malones that night. Drink sensibly, don't drive if you want to drink a lot :p

Revisiting Tai Ping Koon Restaurant (太平館餐廳), Hong Kong

Two years ago I went to Hong Kong and my cousin Elaine brought me to try out Tai Ping Koon Restaurant. This year, March, I went again to Tai Ping Koon, the outlet in Mau Lam Street, Yau Ma Tei that is just a street away at the back of our hotel. This time there were four of us, my mom, me, my aunt and my cousin sister. Which mean, we can order more food.

We ordered the Signature Set for 2 (HKD$348 each set), which is just nice for the four of us.

For the appetizer, one can choose Seafood Soup or Smoked Salmon and Shrimp Salad. We choose seafood soup and order another salad.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures because it is a dim environment and I am using my Nokia E7 to shoot the pictures. I've lost me digital camera at that time.

Salmon Salad

Seafood Soup

Both look simple yet very delicious. The seafood soup is so rich with the taste from sea.

Each set can choose one signature dish, 6 pieces TPK Swiss Sauce Chicken Wings or one whole TPK Style Roasted Pigeon. We chose chicken wings. I tried this before during my last visit. They still maintained the quality.

Stir-fry Mix Vegetable with Bacon comes with the set. Nice. I should try to make this too at home lol.

Stir-fry Mix Vegetable with Bacon

The main, we can choose TPK Style Fried Rice Noodle with Beef or TPK Style Fried Rice Noodle with Beef in Swiss Sauce or Sliced Roasted Leg of Pig with Rice. Since my aunt don't eat beef, so we had 3rd option of course. It's a good choice after all because the roasted leg of pig is so tender. Eaten with the special TPK sauce, it's marvelous.

Sliced Roasted Leg of Pig with Rice

Since the set doesn't include dessert, we of course put in additional order for their famous dessert there that will take 30 minutes to prepare. So remember to order it when you are ordering your food and not after you finished your food.


This dessert need a fork this big to serve.

Ta daam!! The famouse Tai Ping Koon Souffle! Its big, hot and fluffy. Even with our stomach nearly full, we were able to finish it. The aroma and taste from the egg in the souffle is just so captivating. You must try this when you come here.

This is a video of me cutting into the souffle.

Ah, it's such a wonderful meal in Tai Ping Koon Restaurant. I don't mind eating here again the next time I visit Hong Kong.




Address:

19-21, Mau Lam Street, Yaumati, Kowloon 九 龍 油 麻 地 茂 林 街 十 九 至 廿 一 號
Tel: +852 2384 1703
Opens from 11:00am - midnight 12:00 (Close at Chinese New Year)

Other branches:


40, Granville Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon 九 龍 尖 沙 咀 加 連 威 老 道 四 十 號
Tel: +852 2721 3559
Opens from 11:00am - midnight 12:00 (Close at Chinese New Year)

6, Pak Sha Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong 香 港 銅 鑼 灣 白 沙 道 六 號
Tel: +852 2576 9161
Opens from 11:00am - midnight 12:00 (Close at Chinese New Year)