Demona: Dogma and I decided to dine in Moussandra after doing some research on romantic restaurants in KL. I made a table booking online about a week earlier.
Parking was COSTLY. Prepare yourself for rude and non-chalant "valet" and a minimal amount of RM 10 parking fee if you are planning to dine, walk and shop around the Bukit Bintang area.
Without a doubt, the restaurant was romantically decorated, with giant oil paintings hung on the rustic, pastel coloured walls, dimly lit lamps, acoustic Spanish music, and each table was placed with a giant red candle, using an empty wine bottle as its holder. Moussandra had many positive reviews, thus we were very eager to try out this place.
Demona: We decided to open the Les Ribieres that night. This bottle of wine was given by Dogma to me as a present. I have a few more bottles of wine kept in my wardrobe. Personally, I found this as a very romantic gesture, being given a gift which has to be kept, and to be opened and shared when the right time comes. Thank you, you.
La Maison Deméocq Les RIbieres:
This is a boutique wine from Cote Du Rhone Region by the LMD group, which was set up to promote small boutique growers in burgundy region. Varietal unknown, probably with some cabernet franc (cooked vegetable nose)
Eye: Mid cherry red
Nose: Initial was a raisiny alcoholic heat nose, with cooked vegetable. After 45mins of breathing, it slowly evolved into a beautiful vanilla from the oak and sweet licorice.
Palate: light weight, gripping tannins initially that gives a slight bitter after taste. Furry and rustic typical of Cotes du Rhone blend. Sip in some air you could taste some licorice sweetness amidst the alcohol. Medium length
Ratings: 3.2/5
Price: 40sgd?
It was an interesting wine for this price, as one would get a good evolution of nose and experience some elegance from this cuvee. A good effort from a non classified French however, do keep in mind this is not a wine to impress but rather, to experience a good non classified cotes du rhone.
Demona: The first thing that always puts me off when it comes to a restaurant, is when you ask the waiter for some food recommendations and coincidentally, the best dishes are always the priciest in the menu. The lady who served us, did exactly that, recommending us the priciest tapas on their menu without bothering to explain more on the dishes even after being politely asked by Dogma.
We decided to choose the tapas on our own. Dogma ordered a few tapas and garlic bread. The garlic bread serving came with 4 long slices of garlic butter toasted baguette. I thought it only tasted average, as the baguettes did not have enough garlic butter spread on them. This cost us, RM 8.00.
Demona: This dish was the hummus. It was made up of mashed chickpeas, sesame tahini, lemon juice and olive oil, I believe, along with some small pieces of pita bread. This was slightly disappointing, as the chickpeas were a little over blended and smooth for a rustic hummus. Because of that, you could hardly taste the bite and flavour of the chickpeas. It did not help when it was served with cold pita bread. The pita bread did not taste fresh too, giving us the impression that they might have been pre-made for some time, and heated using a microwave prior serving. This dish cost RM 8.00.
Demona: This was the dolmades. Minced lamb wrapped in vine leaves. It came in 5 pieces, with a thousand island sauce (I believe) in the middle. This dish was pretty interesting, as the minced lamb was well spiced, covering up the meaty smell while the vineleaf soak in olive oil provided a creamy refreshing lift. This dish cost RM12.00.
Demona: This was the asparagus and beef bacon dish. It cost RM 9.00. Extremely disappointing. It was way too oily, covering the flavours of the ingredients. The first thing that came into my mind after having a taste of it was, "Gosh, I can easily cook this at home." Dogma and I felt that the dish had a strong Chinese cooking style. Innocently, Dogma queried another lady in charge on this dish. We were given a sarcastic remark in return. This was how the conversation went.
Dogma: "Hmm...I did not really enjoyed this dish, it tasted pretty bland and looks like a chinese dish."
Lady: "Yes, yes, it is a Spanish dish. Locals could not really adapt to the taste."
(cleared plate, and quickly walked away.)
Dogma and Demona: (Speechless. Exchanged stares while all we wanted for a brief exchange of information on this dish).
Demona: This was the spicy eggplant dish. This dish was the best of the lot! The sauce was thick, spicy and very, very flavourful. Eggplant is also one of my favourite vegetables. It blended very well with the garlic bread. Noteworthy dish.
Demona: For desserts, we decided on the vanilla creme brulee. It was pretty good. Its texture was creamy, not too sweet, and it had a powerful vanilla smell. I could taste the caramelized sugar at every spoonful of it. Crunchy sweetness and vanilla creamy combination. Yummy! This cost RM 6.00.
However, the enjoyable yummy dessert moment was totally destroyed when the same sarcastic lady in charge came over to clear the table again. She saw Dogma playing with his camera and said these out.
Lady: "Are you guys from the magazine...?"
Dogma and Demona: (Smiled. Was going to answer her back.)
Lady: (Fake laughter) "or You're acting like one??hahaha"
(Quickly walked away)
Dogma and Demona: (Speechless. Exchanged stares again.)
Verdict: Highly unsatisfactory. This meal was supposed to be a lovely, romantic dinner, lovely company, lovely food. Only to be ruined by poor, poor service and food which were not that wonderful. The bill came up to a total of RM 104.65, and from the total amount paid, RM 10.00 was charged for the "wonderful" service given. We left the place without smiles. I do not think that any of us will have another meal here in future. Big, big apologies to Dogma, for bringing him here.
Demona: By the way, this was a random picture. A roasted lamb at the back alley of Moussandra's neighbour restaurant. The roast lamb looked yummy, but I thought it was a bit uncalled for, to be roasting a lamb on a side walk behind a fancy restaurant.
PS: Moussandra's corkage is 40dollars per bottles which i felt it overcharging by way a lot. There is no proper wine glasses here and you merely get some ikea plasticky wine glass. They insist on charging me the full corkage charge eventhough i brought my own Riedel stemware and my own corkescrew. Pooi!
Demona brought me to this popular Indian Restaurant@Gasing, Petaling Jaya for a sumptuous lunch. It is supposed to be one of the popular places where you people gaze and spot celebrities due to Raju's close proximity to a wealthy neighborhood. Above is the funny mascot welcoming us upon reaching the place.
One of the waiter offered us a fried fish cake. It tasted very much like a typical vadai (onions, pepper, indian spice, green chilli) except with a tad sweet fish taste. Not bad.
Popadams: Demona just can't stop munching and these are the popadam's for her. nothing special about the popadams but I'm glad it did not has the usual pungent refried oil smell found in certain stalls.
Fried Fish (tengiri): The fried fish was fresh with a crunchy outer layer while retaining enough moist inside. Pleasant! However, i believe Kanna still does a better fried Tenggiri fish thou!
Roti Canai/Prata: Nice chewy roti canai drenched in spicy chicken/fish curry. I had always prefer the KL roti canai compared to Singapore's due to the thicker/chewier dough. You get a meatier bite from the generous amount of dough ( probably also due to enough time spent on tossing the dough in the air while preparing it). Kudos to Raju's Roti for maintaining the standard!
Demona's Egg Thosai: This is Demona's staple food. Fluffy light thosai covered in egg. Raju's version is good, clean, generous thosai. The thick chicken curry has abundant of good ol'spice to kick up a satisfactory meal! Thumbs up from Demona!
Chutney: This is awesome!!! Demona ordered this (FOC) and it came out fresh from the fridge. A strong floral,minty aroma fills the air and the chutney was creamy with enough of small bits(peas?) to provide an excellent mouthfil. Best chutney in KL indian mamak to date!
Fried Bittergourd: Raju's version is done differently from the rest. The bittergourd is lightly coated with flour and fried till crispy together with the seeds. The bittergourd was something in between soft and crunchy while the seeds were super crunchy which gives a multi layered bite to this simple but interesting dish.
Thosai making machine: this machine was used to prepare the dough for the thosai. Interesting tool!
