42 East, TTDI

It's was one of our gatherings and inexplicably, we'll end up somewhere porky- it's just hard to skew sometimes :p

We decided to try 42 East, another porky place that sprouted at the TTDI neighbourhood. It was about 730pm when we reached, it was not too packed, but the dining tables were fully taken. Late diners would have to settle for bar stools and high tables I guess. Not too crowded, it was, surprisingly, a family place where most diners were with their children/ teenage kids..

The pigs in blanket (RM14)seems to be a hit here, I noticed nearly all the tables had a plate of it.

In the bandwagon we jumped and it was luckily, a right call :)

The bacon was slightly crisp, while the sausages was piping hot and well seasoned. Good with mustard, we cleared this in a minute.

The spicy crispy bacon (RM14) didnt turned out as crispy as I would like..

Some parts were crispy, while some ends were a tad hard/ chewy. Average.

Mussel Pot (RM16)came next, a good way to warm our bellies..

I expected mussel in white wine sort of combo, but nope, it was cooked in onions and the broth was just clear and sweet. I do feel that the broth was too light for the bread, I could just drink the broth without the need of bread to mop up or balance out the flavours.

The Fettuccine Carbonara (RM20)

I thought this was bad. The fettuccine was a tad hard and the cream sauce was salty.

The Ratatouille (RM18) on the other hand, was a stark contrast to the mild flavoured mussel.

It was rich and thick with tomatoes, in fact, I find too much tomatoes to the extend that the rest of the vegetables were smothered by it's flavour.

And then the big guns....the ribs...

There were 3 flavours- we decided to order all 3 to try (half slabs- RM36 each)

The Wasabi Ribs was up first..

Ok, this was not how I imagined it to be. Yes, they were generous- half slab feels really large, but the ribs, with wasabi paste smeared all over- looks rather moldy. Haha. The ribs was covered with a rather thick layer of paste, which clung on from the grill. The meat was slightly dry, the wasabi hits me straight, but didnt leave any lingering flavour while the marinade tasted rather localised (reminds me of rendang paste). The ribs was served with sides of vegetables, mash and more wasabi paste, for those who wants more kick.

The spicy Ribs was next..

Lo and behold, this looks similar to the Wasabi Ribs, minus the 'mold' :p. So, instead of Wasabi, this was coated with salsa sambal sort of sauce. The meat was more tender on this slab, but I'm still not a fan of it due to the thickish 'rendang' paste coating.

The last of the ribs trilogy, the Connor Stout ribs..

We were told this was the most popular of the 3...and with one look, we knew why too. This was nicely charred, and I noticed the pastie marinade was not there. A different marinade was used, the ribs was sweetish- caramelised from the marinade and had a wonderful smoky aroma. The accompanying stout sauce went well with the ribs too.

Yup, I will only order the Connor's if I revisit.

42 East is located at 42, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, TTDI, KL.

Halia, Singapore Botanical Gardens

Ahh, I'm back from a hiatus..taking a break, making a short trip to visit a friend who has recently relocated to Singapore. We had good time catching up, doing things at a relaxed pace..and enjoyed the Lion King musical (do watch if you have the opportunity to!).

I thought I should see a different side of Singapore this time around- well, there's more than just sales and shopping arcades right?

And so we did a lazy sunday outing- we went to Botanical Gardens, to take pleasure in what nature had to offer :)

But of course, it is Singapore, even the Botanical Gardens was crowded. Full of tourists and locals. Sigh.

Though I'm not too impressed with certain parts of the garden, there were a few areas that was certainly picturesque..

And all the strolling left us hungry, and we made our way to Halia restaurant, located right in the middle of the ginger garden within the Botanical Gardens.

There was a choice of indoors or outdoors dining- we chose the former, as we were all sticky and sweaty from all that walk! :p

I felt like I was eating in a greenhouse, which provided a wonderful reprieve from the sweltering heat.

We were seated quickly, the service was attentive yet not suffocating.

Though the brunch menu had a good range to choose from, all of us opted for sandwiches.

I've worked up a hearty appetite by then, so I decided on the Grilled Steak Sandwich (SGD22)..

This is certainly a generous portion, the steak was sufficient (not too thick), served on ciabatta with sauteed brown mushrooms, onion marmalade, roasted tomatoes and a side of salad. The steak was juicy, paired will with the rest of the ingredients.

Jun, who's still in the breakfastie mood, went for the Poached egg on brioche (SGD22)Served with crisp bacon, roasted tomatoes, mushroom, spinach and dill hollandaise, this was quite a mouthful, but satisfying so.

Amy on the other had, decided on the Chef's brunch special (SGD23)- the list of ingredients was so long that I cant even recall..only a few things stuck on my mind- it had truffle, ham, cheese, tomatoes.... And this is how it looks like..She was a tad disappointed with her portion after seeing ours, but the combination of flavours and texture was excellent. The bread was crisp and warm, the filling- almost pate like, had a discerning rich flavour which was satisfying. The virgin bloody mary provided on the side was to cleanse our palate with every bite of the sandwich, so that we can enjoy the playing of flavours of this combo. And yes, it does fill you up although the portion is genteel :p

Halia Restaurant is located at 1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden (enter via Tyersall Avenue, Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Aria, Bukit Damansara

It was not my intention to eat at Aria at the beginning. We were at Bukit Damansara during one of those packed festive season and could not get a place to eat. We settled for some pub grub, which left me sorely disappointed..

But didn't you try Aria? The food's pretty good.. My friend told me the next day when I complained.. Actually, I didn't really notice Aria, as it was at the quiet end of the block. Keeping that in mind, I decided that I should try it the next time I'm over at Bukit Damansara. A couple of months later, I did managed to made my way there. Aria's a cozy little place, service was just ok. We started the meal with Black Mussel with White Wine sauce (RM22) This was a fantastic starter, the mussels were thick and fresh, the sauce was thick, aromatic with white wine and very sweet. The crisp bread were perfect to mop up all those yummy sauce..

The Grilled Portobello mushrooms Salad (RM22)Came out rather skimpy. When they meant mushrooms (plural), it means 2 pieces. And it's the smallest portobello I've set my eyes on. Well, to be fair, the mushrooms were grilled to juicy perfection, with crisp cheesy top. Just that its so very little to satiate me.

The Seafood Zuppa (RM25) was next..

The amount of seafood stacked on the bowl was generous- but we were not impressed by the seafood, it was the flavour of the soup that got our votes. It was light, not heavy with tomato flavour, filled with sweetness from the seafood and a hint of smokiness in the soup. Very satisfying.

The pastas were next.. Linguine Aglio Olio Smoked Duck (RM28)

Though the pasta was cooked al-dente, the pasta was a tad too oily and salty. Eat it with smoked duck and olives added to the saltiness. Only order if you like your food salty.

Spaghetti Alla Opus (RM32) was next. And yes, if you find the name familiar, Aria is run by the same management as Opus, hence some similarity in dishes..

Though this dish scored low for finesse (seems like they just dumped the whole thing on the plate), again they scored high on the flavours. Fantastically addictive, sweet sauce, seafood fresh and springy, the pasta nicely al-dente. Delish.

And lastly, our meat for the night..

Pecorino Lamb Cutlet (RM55)

This dish didn't leave me impressed. The lamb rack was deep fried and the crust tasted suspiciously akin to KFC batter. The lamb was fully cooked, while I prefer ed mine still pinkish and juicy.

Of the dishes I've had, I feel that Aria does well in seafood dishes but average on the rest. I'll definitely pop by again, there's still a number of dishes which caught my eye, but didn't have the stomach space to try it this time ;).

Aria is located at 44G&44M, Plaza Damansara, Jalan Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, KL. Tel: 03-20950016.