Spasso Milano is one of the many higher-end restaurant located on Level 6 Pavilion. We were just passing by and thought to give it a try as we both love Italian food. I think I was probably an Italian cook in my past life! Keeping it simple, we ordered one pizza (for him) and one pasta dish (for me). The margherita pizza looked pretty good with a solid crust. I hate pizzas that are so thin you can't tear the slices out properly. This was a very simple and straightforward pizza with tomato, mozzarella cheese and some basil. Flavours were good. I opted for Spaghetti Bolognese and it looked pretty good. However I felt the bolognese sauce was lacking the depth of flavour. It was pretty one dimensional. The pasta was also slightly overcooked. Very disappointing. It's very unlikely we will return there again.

Generally, I don't eat heavy meal before I perform on stage. So before my gig last night at Pavilion, I decided to just pop into Dome for a quick meal. After studying their menu, I picked the wild mushroom soup. I have never tasted the food at this chain before but looking at other tables, food looked promising. Before long my aromatic bowl of soup arrived on the table, piping hot. This may not look like much, but the bowl is pretty deep. The soup is pretty thick with tiny bits of mushrooms (I like it this way), the flavour is earthy, savoury, with a hint of garlic and cheese. The croutons were perfectly crispy and matched well with the soup. Here's a closer look.

Unfortunately, it got a little too creamy for me halfway through so I had to stop. Have to say it was quite filling too because I didn't feel hungry for the rest of the night. RM18 might be a little expensive but the service was attentive and friendly.

Despite all the glowing reviews, all this time I haven't had a chance to dine at Frangipani, but when I heard that Frangipani has now a new executive chef thus a brand new signature menu, I knew I had to check it out. Hails from Malaga, Spain, Chef Manuel Lopez Quinones has worked in many countries as well as his homeland, and most impressive accomplishments includes his stints at 2 Michelin Star "La Broche" in Madrid and 2 Michelin-star "Arola" in Barcelona, under the famed Sergio Arola. Previously a predominantly French menu, now Chef Manuel brings a bit of Spain to the table.

We were most impressed with the beautiful layout of the intimate dining area with a pond in the middle, and the lighting was sufficiently dim to create a romantic ambiance. Service staff was most attentive and polite, they definitely know the menu very well. Without further ado, we were given a menu to choose our dishes from the Signature menu. And I decided to stick to seafood and let the service staff do the wine pairing for me.

Of course, the amuse bouche was first given to us.Arugula, Smoked Salmon, a touch of cream cheese and alfalfa sprouts. Tasty combination. The arugula lends a peppery and bitter note this which I enjoyed.

My first course was Sauteed Baby Squid and I love the simple and elegant plating. Adorned with super finely chopped parsley and chives (impressive knife skill), garlic, extra virgin olive oil with a quenelle of mash on the side and dots of aioli surrounding the baby squid, this was almost too pretty to eat. The herbs and EVOO definitely enhance the flavours of lightly sauteed squids. They were cooked to perfect, tender with a touch of bite. The mash is on the light side as we were told Chef Manuel doesn't like to use a lot of cream and butter, which is refreshing actually. Very good start to the meal.

My second course was grilled Hokkaido Scallops presently daintily on 2 rings of Mango salad. Once again a very elegant way of presenting the dish. Look at the giant sized scallops with beautiful char marks, what a sight to behold. I love the meaty scallops, the texture was dense yet delicate and soft, pairs well with the mango salad which had some coriander, mint and a touch of chili. Perfection.

My main course was confit black cod with corn puree, baby corns and some caramelised bits of corn.I love the simplicity of this dish. Black cod is my favourite fish and it was amazingly soft. Heavenly! Pairing with corn gives it very clean flavours. Sweet and savoury well balanced. The assorted sprouts on top lend a contrast to the the texture. Delicious! This foie gras dish is not included in the signature menu but we ordered it anyway because I heard Frangipani does it well. And people have spoken, as this was hands down the best foie gras dish I have tasted so far. The liver was perfectly charred outside and buttery soft inside, great mouth feel. Pairing it with apple is quite surprising, but it works.

I thought the foie gras was going to be the highlight of the dish as I'm usually not crazy about dessert. Boy did I get it wrong! The desserts are not specified on the menu so when this banana and toffee "fritter" (I'm sure Chef has another name for it but I think I had too much wine at that point to remember it), with Creme brulee icecream was presented to me, my eyes lit up instantly. I love everything about it. The icecream was the first one I went for and it tasted exactly like creme brulee. The "fritter", crispy with well caramelised banana inside. It was like Chef read my mind and knew exactly how I want my dessert. Needless to say, this tops the list for dessert in Klang Valley at the moment.

Good food, great service, what more can I ask for? More wine, perhaps, though I think I sure had quite a few last night. Hopefully we will get another chance to visit soon.

Malaysia International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) is back with an interesting theme “Cool Chefs – Cooking with attitude”. Having missed out on the Taste MIGF due to work commitment, naturally I was excited to receive an invitation to try the MIGF menu at Nook, joining the festival for the very first time. This menu is extra special to me because Chef Steven Seow, though not actually from Sarawak, has taken the effort to feature the treasures from Sabah and Sarawak. You’ll see when we talk about the dishes.

It wasn’t our first time dining at Nook as I have tried out the buffet spead as well as ala carte dishes numerous times when I was performing at W XYZ bar back in June. I also went for an invited review earlier in the year when it was still brand new. I know that they have taken a special interest in improving their dishes because each time I visited, the dishes just kept getting better. FYI, 2 out of 4 dishes on this MIGF menu I have already tried as ala carte, albeit a little less luxurious. I shall stop rambling and let’s get started on the food. Starter first.Smoked Scallop Umai Sushi, Duck Confit with Pomegranate and Yoghurt Sphere

Ooh! Here’s a little bit of molecular gastronomy to please my inner food geek. I loved the presentation and this looks like a well-thought-out dish with different components. The glass contained the smoke (for the wow factor, I guess), I was told it was lemongrass flavour but it dissipated too fast for me to catch a whiff. The scallop umai is basically a Sarawakian citrus cured seafood, very much like ceviche but with local flavours.I enjoyed the sweet, sour, savoury, herbaceous combination of the Scallop umai sushi. Moving on to the duck confit with a tiny piece of skin, well that was seasoned perfectly with good umami flavour and you can give me more of that crispy skin. Yum! I tried that with the sweet fruity coulis, pomegranate seeds and raisin separately and all worked very well together. You simply can't do wrong with sweet and savoury pairings in my book. Oh and the Yoghurt sphere actually popped in my mouth. How cool! What a great introduction to the night. This course is paired with Villa Maria Chardonnay, NZ. Lovely crisp and easy to drink.

Interesting, Chef Steven Seow has chosen to pair the next course with a beer (Leffe Blonde), and I can understand why.Sarawak Laksa with Organic Soba Noodle, Lobster & Abalone

I like to refer this to Sarawak Laksa on steroids. Haha. You see, the robust flavour of prawn and chicken stock in the broth with all that laksa spices would be too strong for a white wine, but pairing it with a red will totally overwhelmed the delicate lobster and abalone. So it totally makes sense. Compared to our first visit, this Laksa has totally exceeded my expectation. The broth is perfect (perhaps a little spicier than usual) with the right ratio of coconut milk: spices. Paired with grilled lobster that was juicy and sweet, it was rather divine. I am not normally a fan of abalone, but here the abalone was cooked with some butter and herbs, giving it a lighter flavour than usual, so this fussy eater approves.While the usage of soba will probably induce a pang of panic for the purists, I don't think it's a huge problem because I love soba noodles anyway. Chicken was poached just right and I like how delicate the omelette strips were.

The next course is the heaviest of all and it features Sabah style cooking.Wagyu Beef Rendang, Farm Vegetables Achar Jelatah , Turmeric Coconut Rice
Some might think using Wagyu beef in rendang is simply sacrilegious. But since Wagyu beef cheeks are used commonly in braised dishes (especially by the French), why not give it a local twist? Here the beef was incredibly tender and the rendang flavours worked pretty well with this cut, although slightly on the rich side for me, probably because of the lighter dishes beforehand. The achar jelatah is Sabahan and it was just sour enough to help balance the dish.Do not underestimate the portion of this: the rice was compacted hence we were mostly fooled. I am a small eater so I could only manage half of the Turmeric Coconut Rice (Sabahan) before waving my white flag. It was suitably aromatic and not overly rich though. I would have happily gobbled the whole thing up if this was the only course (which I had done previously, yum). This course is paired with Madfish, Shiraz, Australia.

Time for dessert and this was super fun!Eight Treasures Ais Kacang

Call me nerdy but any food item presented in lab or medical appliances gets me pretty excited. Before getting the injection on, let's see what we have here in the bowl: jackfruit, sweet potato, sago, cendol, black jelly, blackberries, strawberries and blue berries and of course a scoop of ice cream as cherry on the cake. As for the syringes: they are filled with colorful syrup including yellow – orange + lemongrass, red – rose + strawberry, green – pandan + apple, brown – salted palm sugar, white – cornflakes creamer.In order to not confuse our taste buds, it is recommended we try individual syringe first to see what we liked best. My favourite is the salted palm sugar, followed very closely by the orange/lemongrass concoction. I thought the corn flakes flavoured milk was pretty interesting too.

There are 2 options for this MIGF menu: The light menu priced at RM160+ per person which comes without the Sarawak Laksa from set listed above. The Go Strong menu (full menu) is priced at RM180+ per person (RM280+ with wine and beer pairing). This set menu is available through lunch and dinner and in both September and October.

A while ago we had a Nando's party just for a fun afternoon get together. Now I don't generally go to Fast Food chain but Nando's is definitely ok in my books for their peri peri sauce and grilled chicken. During the party the food came out platter style with mixed level of spiciness to suit everyone's taste. Grilled Chicken Wings
For starters we had some grilled chicken wings to share. As Nando's standards goes, this was the perfect start. Wings are my weakness so needless to say, I enjoyed this very much.Grilled Chicken Kebabs
For something a little different, the kebabs come with colourful vegetables and had complementing flavours. Loved it. The best thing about Nando's is their wide range of good sidelines. My favourite is this spinach dish. It was cooked just right, soft but not mushy, simple flavours. Very good to pair with the spicy chickenOf course, who can resist these peri peri chips? I know I couldn't. Crispy and spicy, very well received. Here comes more chicken! As spiciness goes, I always go for the extra hot with extra hot sauce. Competitive nature? Maybe, but I just love chili! Go hard or go home right? The chicken was tender, juicy, full of flavours. Both Thumbs up!