Double Take of Mommessin and Follin Arbelet

Mommesin Bourgogne 2003: Bought this Pinot Noir from the local supermarket at a crazy price of sub RM60 * which translate to less than SGD25. It opened up with some typical cherry, without any complexity in the palate. The palate was rather diluted but was forgiven at this price point. It wasnt delicious on the first nite however, the palate dramatically improved on the second nite as more woody tannins and earth/stem note appearred, which covered up the hollowness of the palate.

Domain Follin Arbelet, Pernand Vergelesses Les Fichots, Premier Cru, 2004: I am a fan of Follin Arbelet entry level wines, which screams value for money compared to many Burgundy Producer. This Pernand Vergelesses was not an exception either, with a good damp earth tone, and some stemminess on the nose. the palate carries good weight, with cherry and later dark tea dominating the end palate. Good buy at around SGD65.

Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel 2006

almost all local wine shops in KL has severe overheating and bad storage issues...not to mention about the exorbitantly priced wines where typically the retail price would easily be cost price X 300% for the upper tier wines.

After our splendid dinner in Nagomi, we adjourned to Vintry at Jaya 33 where the Wine Czar SH joined from . SH and I used to open a Caparzo Brunello Montalcino that cost about RM300 here and we could not go furhter than 2 sips-- it was extremely tired wine, with much fatigue, flat palate and heat, most likely signs of accelerated aging from bad storage.

We opt to go for a safer new world wines this trip and SH spotted this highly rated yet reasonably priced Zinfandel from California. Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma County 2006 at around RM160.

Winemaker notes: rated Wine Spectator 91pts
Well-defined berryish fruit is the centerpiece in both the outgoing aromas and the full, fleshy flavors of this weighty effort, yet, for all of its volume and richness, it stays nicely on the varietal track with its background notes of dry spices and briar. It is youthfully exuberant and somewhat juicy in character, and it will be at its best in service with savory roasts of pork marinated in brine and basted with young port."

Dogmanotes:
Intense berry on the nose and noticiable alcohol heat. On the palate was dense, big blackberry..Palate after taste was silky and overwhelmed by blackfruits. Tannins was pretty silky..
A typical fruit forward Zinfandel but with pretty graceful palate.
Overall, was a good value wine at RM160 retail price in the awful malaysia wine industry.

Nagomi ShabuShabu@Jaya 33, PJ

Demona: A friend of ours, SinHui, is currently based in Malaysia for a while for some acting/singing etc. An upcoming star, whos got a great voice, just got back from Taiwan.. and whooosh. Major transformation. a star.. becoming more, and more refined. Dogma and I whispered to one another.

Demona: Psst... pssssssssst. Better get her signature and picture first before she no longer has

time for us.

Dogma : *snap*snap* See picture below.

Demona: She suggested Nagomi ShabuShabu. We arrived before her, so we went into the restaurant to get a table first. To be honest, we were slightly intimidated when we walked in and there weren't many patrons inside, plus the place was quite posh looking.

Dogma: Superstar ma!

We weren't sure on what to expect from this restaurant as we rarely have steamboat meals in Kl, even if they are local. As we flipped through the menu, nothing was below RM30, except the vegetarian steamboat set, which was a dollar less. Besides steamboat sets, they also offer famous japanese known delicacies eg: sushis, sashimis, etc. The prices were sky rocket high, thus we quickly looked at SH and showed our puppy sad eyes. *sniff*sniff*

SH: Let's choose the buy 3 free 1 steamboat set meals.

Demona&Dogma: Yippie Yay!

Demona: This was some awesome kick-ass spicy dipping sauce. A mixture of sour, spicy, peppery-like taste. Purrrrrrrrr-fect.

Demona: SH ordered the beef slice set... which we did not get a chance to try them out. The plate was placed a little further away from the maximum reach of the tip of our chopsticks. So.... we were.... a little too shy to grab some from it.

Dogma ordered the duck slice set, where as I chose the chicken slice set. They both gave similar tastes once dipped into the hot soup. The hot and spicy soup was really quite delicious! Although a little salty, but savouryyyyyyy. SLURPS. Bottomless soups BTW.

Demona: We chose salmon slice set for the free one. Bad, bad choice. Once added into the hot soup, the meat turned hard and the deliciousness tender factor just fizzled away. We did try, dipping the meat in the soup at a shorter time duration, but somehow, just we failed getting it cooked at the right consistency. I attempted eating it raw..... which was , uh oh, bad idea also. Dogma ala food cleaner helped finished it up, although even he, found it challenging to do so.

Demona: Besides the meat slices set, each one also came with a HUGEEEEE bowl of vegetables eg: cabbages, mushrooms, jellyfish strips, tofu, brocolli etc. Just one set, with a combination of both the meat, and vegetable together was enough to feed 3 girls. And here we were, 2 girls and 1 guy, attempting to finish 4 sets. Our tummies deserved a big round of applause for this.

I couldn't fathom anyone else ordering the vegetarian set after having this meal experience. I'm assuming the set would come with, 2 HUGEEEEEE bowls of vegetables? WHOW. Cows would grow green with envy if they ever see anyone eating that set.

The bill came up to RM 140, including drinks. A meat set, is priced at RM 30 plus, which I think Nagomi ShabuShabu 3+1 set meals would be a great choice for a group of maybe 5 or 6 friends, dining together and catching up, over steamy hot soups.

We had a good time there, and we did enjoy the dining experience that we had at Nagomi. I'm sure we'll come back again for another round, but we'll make sure that we have at least 5 confirmed growling tummies before we step in!

HomeCook@Kinrara

Again is the season for budgetary food experience. Equipped with a decade old oven in TS's gigantic mansion, we decided to cook a few dishes at home to liven things up...

First up was Dogma creation: Slow Grilled Chicken Breast topped with caramalized onions and melted cheddar cheese... sprinkled with some crushed black pepper and mustard sauce.. Oohh laa laa....The taste sure lives up to the dish name !

The assorted condiments that goes along with it: Ketchup, McDonalds Grape jelly and Freshly peeled local lime
Dessert: 3 jumbo sized local mango: Sweet to the bone!


Carbo Dish: Toasted wholemeal bread with omellete and mustard sauce..

Shiok..
Simple Dishes perfect Wishes

Budget constrained fish meal@Fatty Tiger Restaurant, Puchong

Demona: The images of rows and rows of fishes on this gigantic banner hanging outside the restaurant was definitely an eye catcher to anyone who passes by. So much so that even if you were standing on the other end of the lot, you could still faintly see it.

However, it wasn't the fishes which caught much of our attention. Instead, it was the two digit number that was printed next to the fishes, the beautiful number of 1 2 and the two alphabets before them, R M.

RM 12/ one full fish woey.!?
We could hardly believe our eyes. Well at least, for KL's price of fishes, that is.

Demona: Fatty Tiger was fairly packed, so we proceeded upstairs. Biz looked good for the taukehs here as several tables were occupied upstairs as well. The menu boasts of a huge range of river rishes, which a frog-under-the-coconut-shell person like myself, wouldn't know how to differentiate except some obvious difference in shapes and sizes between the several few.

Some fishes had golden bar price tags, potentially costing a mere fish head alone to be several hundred bucks (WOW!)

We hunted for the RM12/fish but couldn't spot it on the menu. The waitress came up and explained to us that there was such a fish at such a price. These particular riverfishes are reared by the taukeh and sold at a real good deal price, and they do not make much profit out of this. Instead, their profit targets are more on the higher end river rishes eg: the golden price tag fishes.

Demona: Poor RM 12 river fish, you. Fed to the right size, and scooped right out of its pond and in it went, into a pack of ice, waiting to be served fresh to the next customer...... US.

Demona: Sorry, fishy fish. You were the chosen one to serve us. Cooked assam nyonya style. Initially, the sauce was really spicy and sour, yet at the end palate, the sweetness of the pineapples showed up. The fish meat was fairly fresh. We had this fish, cooked plain steamed before, and my gf who joined in the dinner mentioned that there was a slight muddy taste to it but thankfully, wasn't obvious enough to put you off eating it further. With the assam nyonya paste, the mud taste was of course, covered.

Anyhow, in usual circumstances, almost all self reared riverfishes couldn't run too far from having the distinct muddy taste to their meat as they have less room to freely swim about, unlike their wild river fish brothers.

Demona: Dogma ordered a Dried Chillis Fried Chicken rice to eat along with the fish. The chicken meat was quite tender, with a nice fragrant aroma of ginger, onions and dried chillies absorbed into the meat. Deliciouso! As for me, the usual rice skipper.... I also stole half of Dogma's chicken slices away. Grrrrrrrrrr.

I'm guessing the owner will shake his head whenever he sees people like us coming in, as we chose the cheapes fish, and ate the least (some more share meal!). If there are more of us diners coming in, the restaurant's profit margin's going to decline drastically.

On the contrary, the owner came up to us instead, with a big sincere smile, explaining to us about the fish which we ate, as well as the other fishes that he was selling, and even brought those expensive dead fishes on a tray, just to show us. He did subtly mentioned that the profit earnings for the RM12/fish was not much but that did not affect him severely as this strategy also earned him more happy return customers who potentially have golden goose pockets, and willing to explore more than just the RM12/fish deal.

This is one restaurant that we shall always come to whenever we feel like having good olde' fish meat to eat and not having to burn our wallets too much.