Nobu, Kuala Lumpur

Overpriced, bad service and mediocre food - those were the reviews by close friends. We have been there a couple of times since, and although we agree that the service is bad, we absolutely enjoyed the food here.

Nobu represents a fusion of South American and Japanese cuisine. Subtle Japanese flavours, combined with strong South American flavours - these are exciting on the palate. 

High praises lavished for Nobu's food, but disappointment is reserved for their service. Or the lack of it. 

Most notable faux pas: 

1. First visit, we were shown to our seats by apathetic staff. We then spent the next 10 minutes waiting for the menu, even flagged the staff several times. The final straw was when one of the wait staff delivered the menu to another guest (who turned up later than us) and then stood chatting with him for a good 5 minutes while we stare at our hands.

2. Second visit was pleasant enough, although we also had to flag the staff several times due to their inattentiveness (to order, to ask for desserts, the list goes on).

3. Most recent visit: My girlfriends and I had come to try their lunch menus. We all opted for a 3-course dish. My main course arrived FIRST. I told the waiter that I haven't had my appetiser and it didn't seem to bother him. He asked if I'd want him to take away the main course. Errr, maybe not. Appetisers have milder flavours, and should be consumed ahead of the main, otherwise the stronger flavours in main courses will overpower the starters.

So I started on my main course, and a couple of bites later, my appetiser shows up. NOW I have a main course sitting cold, while I switched back to the appetiser. No apologies from wait staff were made.

After we were done with the main courses, it took them some 30 minutes before serving our dessert (we had to request for it). It annoyed me that they hurried with our appetisers and main courses, but then decided to delay dessert..... Finally, our request for the bill took 10 minutes (restaurant was almost empty at this point), so there was no excuse for the slow service.

A most Insta-worthy presentation of the Salmon Anticucho. Salmon on rice, served with anticucho sauce (a South American sauce that reminds me of Peri-Peri!), mushrooms and greens. I love this dish! A hearty meal and the anticucho sauce is a delight.

The starter that arrived after the main course. Such a pretty presentation too! Ceviche of cubed tuna, salmon, octopus, sea breem and quinoa. Superbly yummy. Just remember to stir it all up, or you'll have an excess of the sour lime ceviche dressing at the base.

Salmon in (most notably) soy sauce, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Very light and refreshing. 

My friends ordered the chicken with truffle sauce (soooooo yummy), and tenderloin (not bad but portions are quite small) - no photos though!

Ah, desserts. I've tried quite a few of their desserts here in Nobu and they do not disappoint. 

In fact, the desserts have all been phenomenal. My favourite is the chocolate sphere  (this option is not available for lunch set menu, though). Nobu's balance of flavours (salt/sour with sweet is impeccable), texture (crumble, crunchy nuts, ice-cream...) are well put together. 

Clockwise from top: Whiskey cappucino (very small portion), banana fritters with passion fruit (deliciously made) and Sata Andagi (deep fried doughs filled with melted chocolate, served with crunchy nuts and pandan ice-cream). Drool!

Broga Hill Hike

It's a crime to have to wake up at 5am on a Saturday morning. And I committed that crime on 5th September (coincidentally Dad's birthday!). Pooped and washed my face, I then changed into a t-shirt and shorts, and packed isotonic drink, a Snickers bar and my Bubbles towel into my backpack.

Close to 6am, I received a call from Stanley, a colleague from work, to tell me that he's already outside my condo compound. Still bleary-eyed, I climbed into his Kenari. Lam, another colleague was already in the car and we were on our way to pick Jocelyn up. She lives all the way in Taman Cempaka (no idea where that is), so Stanley asked me to give Jocelyn a call to inform her that we're on our way and that will probably take about 30 minutes.

We reached Broga hill after 45 minutes drive from Jocelyn's place. The foot of the hill is actually an oil palm plantation and there were already countless number of cars parked along here and there.

After a few minutes of stretching, we made our way up.

I wouldn't say that the place is exactly breathtaking, it was just alright. I got a few mozzie bites as I was wearing shorts, but other than that, I managed to make my way to the first peak in 25 minutes (with multiple stops along the way when Stanley/Jocelyn takes pictures)

L-R: Lam, Stanley & Jocelyn.

View from the first peak.

The distance from the first, second and third peaks are not very far. Maybe 5-10 minutes apart. I wouldn't say that it's hard to climb up the hill, in fact I find it relatively easy and I am eager to find more challenging hills to climb so I can train up for my Mount Kinabalu hike.

The view from the picture may look like it's really nice, but the pictures have been enhanced :)

Then we went on to the 2nd peak. At this point, Jocelyn gave up and roamed around the area, saying that she felt very tired and has vomiting urges.

And that, is the third peak.

At a point on to the third peak, we had to climb over boulders and use rope to lift our way up. Definitely interesting but I have no idea how going will be like... yet.

Me showing the thumbs up after conquering Broga. Hill.

Got all posey posey.

After much snapping away on the camera, we proceed our way down the hill. Just opposite the hill there is a Rabbit Fun Land - a rabbit farm.

According to Stanley, the place serves rabbit satay and whatnots, and he's right. To enter the farm, we have to pay RM5. There are also other animals in the farm such as sheeps, ponies, monkeys and goats.

Baby cempedak.

I find the place relatively ok, but couldn't bear with the stink. The place also sells rabbit spaghetti, rabbit sausages, among all things.

We got steadily hungrier as it was already mid-morning. Stanley said he read from a blog about a shop that sells pan mee somewhere in the Broga town. The place is usually frequented by students from Nottingham University.

Broga town is really small and it's only about 5-10 minutes drive from Broga Hill. We just have to drive along the main road from the hill, and then we're already in the 'town' with the shop right by the main road (a few blocks away from a furniture shop). That area is also just on the border of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

I ordered dry Pan mee which came with a small bowl of wantan soup while the others had soup Pan mee (Lam), wantan mee (Jocelyn), and Lor mee (Stanley). The taste is alright and the total came to about RM4+ for a plate of Pan mee and hot milo. Soooo cheap after months of KLCC food :)

The next destination was also an idea of Stanley's, which is a temple. Takes an additional 5 minutes drive from the shop.

And that was pretty much my crime on a Saturday morning hehehhee.... But I must train myself right? For Mount Kinabalu!

Hakka Restaurant, KL

Ming CC and Ian were both in town on a business trip. Well, the latter one is but the former is really here on holiday and shopping purposes. So, on Friday after work, Ping CC, the two of them and I had dinner at the Hakka restaurant, located smack in the middle of KL, opposite the atas mall Pavilion.

Ping CC and Ming CC were the ones to order our dishes for the night. Among them are:

Yong tau fu-style tofu and vegetables.

Spinach cooked with garlic and salted eggs.

Yam

Deep fried sweet sour-ish chicken.

Fish head curry. You cant see the fish head because it's all beem chopped into pieces.

Great view! This was after the restaurant had its roof moved for us patrons to enjoy the cool air. The roof was initially on pulled over the restaurant as it was raining.

After dinner, we took a walk along Petaling Street. It's sort of like a night market with everything sold here, lighters, bags, fruits, kuehs etc.

And I am very much amazed at the bags that are sold here.

There are Gucci bags, LV, Coach and whatever branded stuff you can think of! Obviously these are fake ones but you can hardly tell! The quality is pretty good and the material used don't look cheap either. Having bought a Coach bag that is over a hundred USD, I feel scandalised looking at these bags.

Humph. Anyway we then proceed to a dessert place before our 11.15pm massage appointment^^.

KTZ is supposed to be pretty famous and it is indeed packed when we arrived. Lucky for us, a table has just cleared up so we took over.

Ping CC's barley and gingko dessert.

And myself, cool gingko, red dates and bok nee.

The massage that we went to charges RM80 for 2 hours of full body massage. It was complete bliss as every part of my body is almost yelling in frustration from all the aches and sores...