MIGF @ Le Francais - 29 Nov 2007

We return to Le Francais for 3 reason, 1 to reminiscent the time we were at Paris City. 2 because the food is great 3. We’re craving foie gras.

Blame me for spoiling HB with this sinfully dish … He was innocent till I introduce it to him, one taste…he’s hooked…muahahah. Just cant get it out of our mind until we satisfy our taste buds.


His White: Privilege house pour white RM22. Dry, Sweet, slightly tart and fruity

My Red: Ch. Lavagnac RM30. Full bodied, Floral, Sweet & slightly bitter on the tongue.

Warm crusty bread with salted butter. Fresh from oven, crusty on the outside, hot and yeasty on the inny. The salted butter compliments the bread so well. It's so very good even before we start...

Complimentary Appetizer: Smoked salmon with caviar and cream cheese with chives. The smoke salmon goes well with the slightly salty caviar and the cream balance out the overall flavours by just being creamy, cool & aromatic,

STaRTERS MIGF: Pan-seared Foie Gras served on a Duck Confit Salad, Demi-Glace Vinaigrette. Topped with 2 small piece of pan fried foie gras, creamy & decadent, The duck is full of flavours, very easy to eat as the meat is shredded. When paired with warm, slightly crusty foie gras & savoury duck meat...OOhhh

Salad: Pan Fried Foie Gras (3 slice) serve with rocket salad RM72. This was not on the menu, i ordered this again, as last time i had it, i couldn't forget this dish. Cold salad slight bitter green taste, sweet dressing eaten with warm crusty creamy foie gras. Grab a hot crusty bread, slater some salted butter, place slice of creamy foie gras on melted butter....simple & goes superbly well. i need nothing but this mouthfull of sin.

MIGF: Velvety Cream of Garlic with Italian Parsley Mousse. Very creamy without feeling heavy. Full of robust flavour, light in the mouth but goes down easy & slightly sweet savoury.

Soup: Prawn Bisque RM21. This soup looks simple, but full of prawny flavours. Taste a bit heavy , like sucking on prawn head. The more you sip, the more you can't stop, but the taste is quite heavy, i need HB to help me finish up.

MIGF: Sweet Basil Sherbet with Marinated Sundried Tomato. Aahhh.. just the thing i need to cleanse the palate, after the heavy flavours. The basil sherbert refreshing & sweet, a hint of green, very aromatic. Sundried tomato is chewy & sweet.

MaIn MIGF: Roasted Australian Barramundi, Pommes Anna and Orange Mousseline Sauce. The fish is firm but tender, means fresh, the sauce compliments well with the fresh fish, slightly sweet and creamy, a hint of orange cover any fishy smell. Potato gratine does a good finish, incase not enough eat.

Main: Garlic Gratin Lamb rack serve with steam vegetables on a bead of couscous & lemon scented lamb juice. The lamb is served medium. With a dot of mustard, not required, as the meat is flavourful and savoury on it's own. The salty garlic gratin on top goes well with the tender sweet meat. Lamb is on slightly fatty side, almost 40% is fat. Couscous is cooked just right with mushroom, soaking up the lamb juice but not soggy, small portion of vege goes well with the couscous. A big portion, so i need HB to finished up the last 3rd piece.

DESSERT TRILOgY MIGF: Crème Brulée, Chocolate Fondant with Strawberry and Roasted Szechuan Pineapple
> Roasted Szechuan Pineapple, just average, specialty is roasted, a bit of paprika/cayenne might lift this to another notch & nicer presentation.
> Chocolate Fondant with Strawberry, HB never had this before, but i know this is the type of desserts he likes. Outer is spongy choc cake, inny is warm melted chocolate sauce, topped with strawberry jam. For his it's lovely, for me, just average.
> Crème Brulée, the desserts we looking forward. Last time i had one with aged old chivas, which were nice, but left me a bit woozy as the Chivas is plentiful & strong. This is just nice, cute even.As we crack the burnt sugar to get the custard filling, the taste is not overwhelming sweet and custard is on nice consistency. If there's vanilla in this, it would be much nicer.

MIGF: Tea, served in a large pot, enough for 2 people, along with variety of sugar.

I say yes to returning back here, as service is attentive. Place is private & cosy. Not pretentious at all. Lots of foie gras with affordable price...

MIGF MENU RM180 (USD55)++ per person without wine

Total Dinner: RM471.40

Le Francais
Address: One Bangsar,63-F, Jalan Ara, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur
Reservations: +603–2282 2510
WWW: http://www.lefrancaisfrenchdining.com/

Izakaya Ichiban - 28 Nov 2007

Having a farewell dinner with HB brother, he’s flying out to Doha tonight…Initially want to eat at Fogal, but couldn’t find the restaurant. So we settle down for Izakaya Ichiban, as I heard of some good reviews from few floggers

Things I did try:

Moi Ichiban Bento set: RM45

· Appetizer, Dessert & Salad, Chawan Mushi, 1 slice Watermelon, 1 Slice honeydew, Miso soup [normal taste],

· Raw Dish: My bento come with: 2 maguro, 2 octo, 2 Salmon, 2 Butter slices on a bed of white radish [fish is firm & clean, no fishy smell] .

· Fried items: 2 piece fried chicken [not bad], ebi tempura [size is med, taste ok], 1 Shisamo [size ok, taste normal] on a bed of cabbage.

· Edamame [sprinkled with salt, taste is firm to the bite],

· 2 Med sized unagi [which is not bad, meaty & not too sweet]

· 2 Beancurd piece [normal]

*shared with HB

Cha Soba RM16 – came with a quail egg, average dish

Shake Bell Sashimi RM28 – Salmon steak, but presentation is very different from average Jap dish, almost western like, taste is westernized. Salmon steak taste is fine & topped with lots of fish roe, surrounded with mayo cream like sauce, slight tangy, dotted with black caviar, Decorated with fried soba dipped in tempura batter, add a crunchy touch to the overall dish… most unexpected dish of the nite

Lamb Miso Steak RM20 – Tender & just right. Not too much fats about 15%. Sauce is just enough. Came in iron pan.

Uni Sashimi RM55 – very affordable, taste a little frozen but not actually Popsicle, but still fresh & most importantly no fishy smell..

Chuka Iidako RM12 – compare to SKing / Genki… worthy as quantity is the key here.

Salmon Belly topped with Ikura RM28 – belly not really fatty, just like normal salmon sashimi, but compensated by Ikura & size of salmon slice

Gyoza RM10 – came in 5 pcs, nothing bad, nothing excellent either, just average.

Age Dashi Tofu RM10 – Just nice portion. Taste is average

Things I didn’t try:

Hiyayako Grilled Mackerel Set RM23 – came with a nice half piece of Mackerel [minus head & tail], very “tai”, topped with rice [HB dad clean his plate, old ppl also enjoyed & no complain wor…]

Spicy Seafood Ramen RM18 – Came in a BIG bowl [didn’t try, but there’s no complain & the bowl is clean]

Garlic fried rice RM6 – serving is ok, doesn’t look oily or bland [no complain also]

Saba Steak RM18 – came in a nice portion, in an iron pan [ usually lots of complaint with her food, but today not a complaint of the dish she ate]

Total Damage: 332.35 for 6 Adults

Price vs quantity (worth it!) vs quality (not bad at all). Plus a membership-point-collecting card.

Further more with lunch set starting from RM18, RM20…Might bring my M&D to lunch soon…

Izakaya Ichiban (2 doors away from Starbucks)
Lot P-3M, Plaza Ground Floor, Hartamas Shopping Centre,
60, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-62015905
E-Mail:


Izakaya_ichiban@yahoo.co.jp


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Operating hours:
Lunch: 11:00 am to 3:30pm
Dinner: 5:00 pm to 10:30 pm

23th Fishing Adventure: Kelana Jaya Mini Fish Competition @ 18 Nov 2007

Sunday HB wasn't working today...keeping it a secret from the rest of the team... :o>
Was told to meet up at Laguna, Kelana Jaya. We are the 1st to arrive..within 1st 15 minutes, i have already bitten half a dozen times by mosquito [haiya...always to forget to bring the mosquito coils].

I know this place is brimming with small fish at the side, while the deeper pool is in the middle of the pond hosted larger fish like patin, pacu, talapia even lampan. Here is suitable for small player like Moi who thinks small fish is better fun than struggling with a monster, unlike my better half.

When Lim, MS, Ricky, KS, Wayne + Kelly arrived, they were surprise that Jas was there grinning. So we all started off as a team....i was already ready with smallest hook & lightest mono line, by the 1st hrs i think i had most of the easy catch, few time i had double whammy *grin*... later on the rest catch up with me & most ladies landed few pretty nice catch. Wayne keeps counting our score, i think he's kinda very proud of his lovely GF catching up his fishing fever & doing quite well with the catch too.

By end of 8.30pm we packed up, full of love bites by the pesky mosquito. We have easily exceed 4 times the catch from below pic shown below [range from baby, tiny, small & med]...Nice & Easy fun.