A romance that blossomed in Hanoi might now make food lovers in Kuala Lumpur strike up an affair with Vietnamese fare, home-cooked with the sort of passion that's the province of the tastiest private kitchens.Cute Ball Kitchen is the brainchild of Malaysian Kenneth Teoh & his Vietnamese wife, Hoa, who met while Teoh was working in Vietnam's capital. Teoh returned in 2013, bringing home Hoa & their now three-year-old son, whose Vietnamese-language family nickname forms the basis for their new private kitchen's name.Hoa is likely to prepare communal meals of three to four dishes for guests. Her repertoire includes grilled seasoned pork, juicy, aromatic & savoury, wrapped in wild betel leaves that the couple pick themselves from a nearby hill, braving mosquitoes there to procure these peppery pleasures.Hoa's Vietnamese salad scores top marks, light & exceptionally easy to gobble up, wholesome-tasting & ravishingly nuanced with fresh veggies, seafood, meat, herbs & nuts. Like everything here, it's painstakingly prepared, with nearly a full day's worth of slaving in the kitchen to whip up courses like this.Salt-&-pepper squid. Hoa's standards for seafood are high, the result of many years spent at Halong Bay; the couple now regularly drive to Sekinchan on weekends to secure straight-off-the-boat seafood _ an effort for which guests will be grateful.Braised pork belly, sumptuously caramelized. Bring a nice Merlot to savor with this; in a cost-effective contrast to eating out at a restaurant, there's no corkage fee here.Steamed rice is thoughtfully sourced too, coming from a paddy processing plant amid Sekinchan's rice fields.With Vietnam having a strong French connection, it's not improper _ but nevertheless a pleasant surprise _ that Hoa opts for French sweets to wrap up her meals. Freshly baked madeleines are an uncommon treat, but what really won everyone over was the heavenly dark chocolate tart, thick & creamy, rich in flavour.All in all, this feels like a lovely way to spend a casual Saturday evening, the only time Kenneth & Hoa currently operate their private kitchen. The couple have hopes of eventually starting their own cafe (we vote, "yes, please!") & are currently open to also supplying cafes with baked goodies (the dark choc tart would be a sure-fire hit, much more delicious than the norm).
Follow Cute Ball Kitchen at https://www.facebook.com/CuteBallKitchen ... Meals cost RM55 per person (Edit: updated to RM68 as of February 2014), a very fair price for the entirety of the experience. More details available at https://plateculture.com/where-to-eat/vietnamese-dinner-at-cute-ball-kitchen

Hamky Panky (have to love that name), an unabashedly porky stall at the Grocerant's non-halal section of its food hall, beside Lam's Kitchen & Sun Huat Kee.Sandwiches rank high among Hamky Panky's stars; customize your own, filling fresh focaccia with murderously massive slices of roast pork, cheddar cheese & BBQ sauce for only RM13.80.Ciabatta with German black forest ham, streaky bacon & honey mustard. Substantial in size, satisfying in flavor. Note: There's now also a Hamky Panky at Empire Gallery's Jaya Grocer.Hamky Panky serves a real whopper of a pork burger (RM19.80), saturated in savory juices.Virtue or vice? Opt for spinach salad or French fries to complement the burger.

Another new entry on this street: Bean Buff, serving stunning chilled "tonyu" soy milk puddings.Sensuously lush, beautifully balanced in flavor, remarkably restorative for muggy afternoons, this could be one of our favorite desserts this year. So soft, so smooth.Finely tuned flavors range from cool cappuccino to milk tea to black sesame. Only RM3.50.

Seven's luckier than ever: Replacing Ascott's 7atenine, Tujo heralds a triumphant revamp of this venue, now branded a "bar-serrie" where customers can "eat, play & live.Tujo's cuisine forges further with the East-meets-West playful flamboyance for which 7atenine became beloved. Patrons will have plenty of fun sharing this Chicken "Stinger" Satay, partnered with pineapple salsa, nuts & spicy shrimp paste for a sauce reminiscent of rojak.Venison rolls (RM28++), a perilously addictive snack featuring minced deer meat marinated in fiery Indian spices & wrapped up in warm, fresh chapati bread.Tujo's mushroom soup (RM18++) purees seven types of edible fungi, including enoki, shimeji, shiitake, oyster & button, topped with hot milk froth.Liver terrine (RM23++), a fine, flavorsome blend of foie gras & chicken liver, mixed with sultanas & chives to impart extra texture.Tujo's pizzas boast a twist: the crispy-thin crust is infused with either spinach or squid ink, then topped with the likes of more spinach & the runniest of eggs (RM25++).Beef bourguignon (RM30++), an aromatic stew with braised grass-fed meat & shallot confit. Grilled seafood, steaks, lamb & chicken are a cornerstone of Tujo's menu. The affably efficient service team will probably push the lobster (RM160++ for 500 grams), rubbed with the customer's choice of Montreal salt, herb butter glaze or coriander lemongrass.

The Oriental Group keeps expanding: this year's entry to its restaurant roster is Noble Mansion, likely to be a popular pick for Lunar New Year merriment.Noble Mansion is meant to look like "a modern reinterpretation of a traditional Chinese mansion," with sections labeled Bamboo Courtyard, Grand Hall & Terracotta Rooms.Shunde specialties are the highlight, focusing on fresh seafood, pork & poultry: the three come together in this serving of lobster, chicken & pork stomach in spicy sauce.Staggeringly chunky-meaty, far exceeding our evening's protein requirements.Braised whole superior fish maw in imperial sauce. Gotta love the grandiose descriptions on Chinese restaurant menus.Sizzling claypot abalone & frog meat. Executive chef Justin Hor is the man to thank for this interesting recipe, befitting The Oriental Group's reputation for top-flight fare.Liver sausage, remixed & reinvented into a sticky-sweet "char siew roll." We love liver sausages; Noble Mansion fulfilled our plea for them to be served on their own. RM15++ for two, the cheapest plate of our orders.