My mother's glazed sardines (Iwashi no kanroni)

One thing I’m really enjoying here in Japan is cooking simple things at home with my mother. To me, quintessential Japanese home cooking is a dish like this. Sardines, which happen to be quite inexpensive (and sustainable too), are slowly cooked until they are well flavored, meltingly soft, and glossy with a typically Japanese sweet-salty sauce. (The ‘kanroni’ (甘露煮) in the name refers to the method of simmering something in this sweet-salty sauce.) It uses just a few basic ingredients, so please give it a try if you can get a hold of very fresh sardines or similar oily fish. (The fish do have to be very fresh for this to be really good and not-fishy.)

I had a bit of a job working out this recipe, which comes from my mother, since she really doesn’t measure anything when she makes this! After some trial and error, I think these ingredient amounts work well

Scallion Sesame Crêpes from French Indochina (Viet Nam) Read more at Suite101: Scallion Sesame Crêpes from French Indochina (Viet Nam)

Vietnamese cooking is similar to Chinese in style but uses less oil, more herbs and vegetables, and is highly aromatic. Some consider Vietnamese cuisine one of the healthiest in the world.
French Indochina

The French controlled a great swath of Southeast Asia for roughly a hundred years. French Indochina included all of present day Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos.

French Jesuit missionaries came in the 17th century, followed by traders and then armies to protect both. At different times, Saigon (present day Ho Chi Minh City) and Hanoi served as capitals for French Indochina. French culture, language, cuisine, and religion have left their mark on Vietnamese lifestyle.
Vietnamese Cuisine

Vietnamese cuisine reflects the influence of their sometime rulers - the Chinese as well as the French- and trading partners -the Portuguese and Indians. Religion influences the cuisine, too. The large Buddhist population prepares primarily vegetarian dishes.

Rice is the foundation of the Vietnamese diet that also makes extensive use of fresh herbs like lemon grass, basil, coriander, parsley, laksa leaf, lime, and chili.

Cafe Barbera

Click here for earlier entry on Cafe Barbera (January 7).

We enjoyed our previous visit to Cafe Barbera in January, but a more recent stop here for desserts earlier this month turned out to be a misstep, starting with a rather dry carrot cake that seemed to have languished in the chiller for too long.

Forgettable tiramisu. A splash of kahlua might help, but booze isn't served here.

Cheesecake. Relatively OK. Creamy and fresh-tasting.

Apple pie with vanilla ice cream. The pie should have been warmer; the ice cream managed to sit on it for nearly five minutes without melting.

Chocolate fondant. Nicely presented, but all too ordinary.

Cafe Barbera,

Lorong Maarof, Bangsar.

Uncle Chilli's

Still a defiantly old-school establishment, despite the hotel's valiant efforts in recent years to spruce up the menu with more modern offerings.

The bread looked like what a KL steakhouse might have served 25 years ago.

Complimentary crab bisque. Steaming hot and brimming with flavour.

Simmered roulade of sea bass with pommes puree. Looked like chicken, tasted like fish. Seemed like a healthy dish, with a fresh, natural sweetness.

Polenta-crusted salmon fillet. The fish was super-juicy, enveloped in a very thin, very crisp crust that added a nice texture to every bite.

Tomato-glazed black cod & seared scallops in saffron broth. Not bad, though the scent of saffron was somewhat lacking. Still, cod is always a crowd-pleaser.

Braised beef cheeks. Succulent meat soaked in an aromatic red wine sauce.

Lamb shank with onion confit & fried egg. Interesting recipe, but the lamb was too stringy. We broke the egg and drenched the meat in the yolk but that failed to enhance its flavour.

Ribeye Angus beef fillet with rosemary potatoes. Also too tough and chewy. The problem probably wasn't in the preparation but in the quality of the meat in the first place.

Passion fruit creme brulee. Lacked a proper caramelized sugar crust.

BDPR Languedoc VDP Chardonnay (France).

BDPR Languedoc VDP Merlot (France).

Uncle Chilli's,

Vanity Mansion

With a restaurant, a club and 7 karaoke rooms under one roof, this two-story outlet's stated mission is for customers to "dine deliciously and dance the night away."

A 5-minute walk from Asian Heritage Row, Vanity Mansion has taken over the premises of Heritage Mansion after a management change. It's the best new outlet this area has seen in recent years, with enough potential to revive the moribund dining scene here.

Vanity Mansion is affiliated, not surprisingly, to Envie ClubLounge at Changkat Bukit Bintang. Here's hoping these guys will keep giving us more places and reasons to sin.

The food offerings are limited for now, but a wider menu should be ready within several weeks. We liked the butternut squash soup with sage brown butter & nutmeg creme fraiche. A creamy, subtly sweet concoction that tasted freshly made.

Onion soup with braised lamb shank. A bit too peppery and salty, but worth ordering for fans of broths that bear a strong, meaty flavour.

Fettucine carbonara with chive egg yolk glaze & smoked salmon. Perfectly prepared; a welcome reminder that this ubiquitous recipe can be really satisfying when done right.

Pan-seared mulloway with clam barolo sauce, served with carrot & zucchini strips. Moist and tender enough to recommend if you're in the mood for fish.

Sexual Eruption (vodka, monin passion fruit, monin green apple, cointreau) & Vanity Illusion (vodka, malibu, cointreau, monin watermelon, lime juice, pineapple juice).

Seven Sins Shots, including Lust (passion fruit vodka, mandarin vodka, blue curacao, sugar syrup, soda water), Envy (gin, monin green tea, lemon juice) & Pride (gin, monin violet, monin lavender, lemon juice). The other deadly sins are available as individual cocktails.

Vanity Mansion,

Asian Terrace

Asian Terrace offers run-of-the-mill but well-prepared Thai and Viet food.

The competition is stiff in Solaris, but this place might be able to hold its own with its cordial service and lovely ambience.

Raw salmon salad. A bit too spicy for us, but it might satisfy anyone who craves a fiery salad.

Salmon parcels with Hanoi sauce. Packed with scrumptious salmon.

Green curry with roast duck. Flavourful and aromatic, exactly as it should be.

Gin & tonic and Cuba Libre.

Asian Terrace,

Solaris Mont Kiara.

Noodle with fish source

Noodle is a nice food for many people especially for those who are vegetarian.

A kind of Meatball

It is meatball - of course, meatball 2010. But I like another type of beef meatball.

Asian Steam Fried Chicken

Chicken it is a chicken with fried chicken steamed cook together with vegetable and tomato etc

Caving Water Melon

Learning how to cave the fruit is not an easy stuff. I found it hard to do. So I just gave up but if you find it interesting you can do it well i'm sure.

Fry vegetable

Fry noodle with vegetables mix

Johnnie Walker Drink Family

Johnnie Walker Family is selling well in Cambodia in the recent years.

Eating Baloot

Eating baloot. What do you call this in your country?

Vanity Mansion

Click here for earlier entry on Vanity Mansion (March 29).

Slowly but surely, Vanity Mansion is expanding its offerings. Now they have satisfyingly thick slices of complimentary bread, which wasn't provided previously.

Wilted romaine lettuce with smoked anchovies & poached eggs. A well-prepared recipe with a creamy blend of flavours, but the portion was too puny for the price.

Grilled king prawns with Espelette pepper angel hair pasta & capsicum puree lemon butter sauce. Fresh-tasting crustaceans with a mild-flavoured pasta. But the description on the menu was more tantalizing than the actual offering.

Pan-seared foie gras with sherry caramelized apple tart tartine & spiced chocolate sauce. Can't go wrong with foie gras; wish the serving size had been chunkier though.

Baked pineapple flan with creme fraiche custard & meringue. Tasted like a fresh-fruit version of a pineapple tart, if that makes sense.

Chocolate mousse with lime cinnamon creme chantilly & vanilla sauce. Sumptuously sweet.

Greed (white rum, galliano, orange marmalade, monin spicy mango, mango juice) & Sloth (dark rum, blue curacao, monin lychee, monin cucumber, lemon juice).

Wrath (kiwi vodka, wild strawberry liquor, monin strawberry, lemon juice, cranberry juice) & Gluttony (gin, cointreau, orange marmalade, lemon juice).

Vanity Mansion,

Jalan Kamunting.