The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| Mustafa Jones: Southern BBQ culture in Taman Melawati Posted: 23 Sep 2012 05:40 PM PDT  Mustafa Jones working his charcoal grill while his wife, Molly, helps out. Curious to find out, I got a friend to take me to Ampang where Mustafa Jones was doing his thing. As we were approaching the street stall, we could see smoke billowing from under a canopy and I saw a tall African-American man flipping burger patties, steaks and grilling kebabs, making sure that every single piece gets the right amount of grilling. Even from the car, I could smell the glorious aroma of the food as we searched high and low before we found parking. It was night and there was a queue at the stall.  Mustafa pays close attention to everything he grills. They moved back to Malaysia from the States after the 2008 recession and the Jones were thinking up of ways to earn a living here. Since Mustafa had experience working in restaurants and hotels back in the States, it was only natural that the couple decided to start a burger stall and gradually introduce the Southern BBQ culture that Mustafa grew up with back in Arkansas, USA, to Malaysians. "We started in 2009 at the Bazaar Ramadan at Wangsa Melawati. It was burgers, lamb and BBQ chicken wings at first. We had quite a big business there and as we developed our customer base, we moved to a nearby cafe," said Molly Jones. Mustafa Jones (which is also the name of their business) was at the cafe for only three months before they moved in 2010. Approximately nine months ago, the now-famous burger and grill company moved to Kayu Manis in Melawati.  The first Mustafa Jones creation I ever tasted. It was love at first bite because instead of the dripping mayonnaise and tomato/chilli sauce I get when ordering a Ramly burger, the homemade marinade Mustafa puts in his burger meant the true flavours of the meat could be savoured. It was like having a gourmet burger (his patties are homemade)! "Malaysians love their sauce! Every time I see someone putting chilli or any type of sauce on my burgers, I cringe," said Mustafa. He doesn't believe in covering up the true flavours of the meat with sauce. The secret of good burger patties is in the marinade and drowning a patty with sauce shows that the burger is bland. Molly, who is in charge of the Mustafa Jones website, Facebook and Twitter accounts, said she has received both positive and negative feedback from customers. "One guy said that our patty was not juicy enough. He said it was dry," said Mustafa, who took heed and improved his burgers. So far, every single person whom I have dragged to Mustafa Jones has had no complaints about the burgers. In fact, they absolutely adore them and I know people who live in Cyberjaya and Shah Alam who would drive almost two hours just to taste his burgers.  You haven't tried them Southern wings till you try these! "As for the meat, we get it from the local market," said Molly. Mustafa said the wait for a burger can be long because he uses charcoal and some types of wood for the grill. With charcoal, he has to know where the hot spots are to make sure his steaks are medium well to rare and his kebabs are the right texture. How do they manage to keep the prices of their offerings affordable? "Actually, the price of meat has gone up from two years ago. Mustafa is the only labour so that's why we can keep the prices at they were two years ago," said Molly. Speaking to Mustafa, you can see he's a true foodie, from the way he talks about food he grew up with, to the dish he ordered at the restaurant where the interview was held. Apparently, the chicken was not cooked well and it had to be sent back to the kitchen.  You can only get ribs on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Mustafa agreed, but he's not the type who speaks badly about other people's cooking. I brought up the topic of the current burger trend, whether he felt if it was competition or not. Back in 2009, I had never heard of burger bakar and I'm betting my next burger that Mustafa was the one who first started the trend. So, does he feel like it's competition? "No, I feel great because I know I started the trend because when I first came here, nobody was grilling no burger with charcoal. "You guys (Malaysians) were doing the satay, but never a burger. They can duplicate but never be the original," he said confidently. Molly said she felt it was competition in the beginning but when customers came back and gave them feedback, the Jones felt secure. Most of them went back to Mustafa Jones and said that they still preferred their burgers to those of their competition's. Mustafa Jones also offers picnic-style BBQ catering for a minimum of 50 persons and they've been doing catering since 2009. The majority of their catering customers are expatriates who live in downtown KL. What you should look out for during Thanksgiving and Christmas is Mustafa Jones' deep fried turkey.  Scrumptious and flavourful steak, cooked any way you like. I know what you're thinking, "How can a deep fried turkey taste any good?" Well, I was questioning it too but once I tried it, I had seconds and thirds and fourths. Just over the weekend, I brought my friends to Mustafa Jones and we ordered chicken wings, ribs, rib-eye steak, cheeseburgers, grilled chicken salad and cheeseburgers. A few of my friends actually studied in the States and they commented that Mustafa Jones sticks true to the meaning of "soul food". "Do you know that in the South, this type of food is called soul food? It's because a lot of soul and love is put into the way the food is cooked," commented my friend. I couldn't help but agree as I devoured the ribs, with sauce all over my mouth. Another friend who is a big fan of steak and cheese sandwiches spotted it on the menu and of course ordered it. When it arrived, it looked really mouth-watering. Each of us had a bit of it and the friend with the craving said it reminded her so much of the steak and cheese sandwiches she had when she was in the States. Molly Jones was very busy that night but she made sure that our food arrived on time and that we enjoyed our food. The Jones are also very lucky that they have two beautiful daughters to help them out taking orders and serving.  The amazing Jones family... the girls help out whenever they can. Address: No B1-G-3 Jalan Taman, Pusat Komersil Gaya, Bandar Baru Melawati, Taman Melawati Contact: 017-252 6610 Blog: http://flavormalaywesternkick.blogspot.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mustafajones.burger Opening Hours: Tuesdays to Thursdays: 6.30pm till 11pm, Fridays to Saturdays: 6.30pm till midnight. |
| Playboy launches online wine club Posted: 23 Sep 2012 04:48 PM PDT  Playboy, the brand founded by Hugh Hefner, has launched an online wine club. — AFP pic Ranging in price from US$13 to US$60 (RM40 to RM183) per bottle, the Playboy Wine Club is a digital wine cellar they say promises exclusivity and innovation. Curated bottles include wines from a few underrepresented areas like Walla Walla in Washington State, Stellenbosch in South Africa, as well as wine-growing regions outside Burgundy and Bordeaux in France. Members can sign up to receive regular shipments of wine when they enrol in the Playboy Wine Encounter programme, which delivers a dozen wines every quarter. They can also order wines individually. The wine club is only available in the US. Themed packages are also available, including a dozen white wines that make up the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes collection, as well as the Sinfully Seductive Wines collection that includes a pair of 2010 Chateau Laforet and 2011 Labeye Grenache-Syrah, described as "sleek and seductive". Other unexpected entrepreneurs entering the wine business include rock group Train, actor Drew Barrymore, and social media micro-blog with their Fledgling Wine. — AFP-Relaxnews |
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LOS ANGELES, Sept 23 — "Mad Men" is on the right track to nab a fifth Emmy in five years at the 64th award ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, September 23 in Los Angeles.
