The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| Luscious and heavenly at Torii Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:49 PM PDT There was a little smokiness from foie gras, sweetness from prawn, with salty bursts from ikura. Altogether it was exquisite. Besides yakitori, soups and salads, soba, udon and pasta, even some dreamy confections rule at Torii. Its menu is easy to navigate, with a few marked with a yakitori skewer to show the chef's recommendations. The Bonded Unagi & Foie Gras was one of these, so was the Avocado De La Mer and the Torii Burger. Two slices of grilled river eel sandwiched in between them a thinly fried egg and foie gras, with a drizzle of the sweet unagi sauce in the Bonded Unagi & Foie Gras. It made delicate, f Instead of using the burger bun, a scone was sliced in half and the wagyu patty, spinach and caramelised onions filled the Torii Burger. The meat was the star – the trimmings and the wispy halves of the scone matched it well. We kept digging out surprises in the Avocado De La Mer. Cubes of avocado, prawns, salmon and mushrooms had been combined with miso and cheese and baked. We would have loved some bread to mop up this yummy sauce. As for the yakitori, we had scanned the menu of 25 items and decided on the chicken wings, garlic-infused chicken skin, ox belly, ginkgo nuts and cod with a sweet sauce. The chicken wings sprinkled with sea salt and chargrilled had a crispy skin and sweet juicy meat. The ox belly had a fantastic mouth feel – it was crunchy yet tender. We had mixed feelings about the sweet, hot salsa on it. I liked ox belly as it was, touched with a little sea salt. The garlic-infused skin was delicious. I bit into the crispy skin, which burst and popped mushy garlic onto my palate. It's chicken skin I could eat again and again. The cod was grilled and drizzled with a sweet teriyaki sauce. It had the right doneness, fish staying creamy and tender. For me, a yakitori tasting is not complete without ginkgo nuts. These were grilled with the skin still on it, which kept them from drying out, and emphasised their natural sweetness. If you need some carbs, there is the Mentaiko Pasta, Torii Fried Rice with foie gras, herbs and garlic chips and Bincho Rice which is burnt rice, soy sauce, sesame seeds and bonito flakes. The cheese cake tasted like a creamier and firmer panna cotta. I revelled in the perfect balance of sweet, salty and sour in this, the lime zest pinging through and the scrumptious honey crumble crowning it. Pure lime flavour surged through with each spoonful of the ice cream. The Whisky Raisin Ice Cream was superb. The whisky in it was unrestrained, drawing sweetness from the raisins. It was so fine, creamy and smooth. There are also sorbets in three flavours – yuzu, dark chocolate and lemon tart. I'm certainly going back for these, especially the yuzu. We chatted with Torii's executive chef Nizam and discovered that he brings with him 11 years of culinary experience at Ozeki Tokyo Cuisine in Kuala Lumpur. "I like to put in a little Italian, French and Spanish touch into Japanese food," he said. They are fine touches, and they work!" There is still a lot more on the menu we haven't tried and we'll be back. The prices: Boded Unagi & Foie Gras (RM28), Trifecta Mushi (RM15), Torii Burger (RM26), Avocado De La Mer (RM18), Raw Lime Cheesecake (RM22), whisky and raisin ice cream (RM10). The yakitori is RM5 for garlic-infused skin, RM7 for ginkgo nuts, RM6 for ox belly and RM8 for chicken wing. Torii is also a whisky place, stocked with well-known Japanese labels. It has a good selection of sake and wines, too. It is located at 18 Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 1, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, tel: 03-7733 9309. At the moment, it is open from 5pm until late. It is closed on Sundays. – March 22, 2014. |
| How your local Starbucks might turn into your local bar Posted: 21 Mar 2014 05:46 PM PDT After introducing beer and wine to a single Seattle location a few years ago, the chain is set to expand the after-work cocktail menu to thousands of stores over the next few years, reports Bloomberg. Currently, customers at 26 Starbucks locations in Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Washington DC are able to order a glass of Malbec along with a blue Brie cheese plate, artichoke and goat cheese flatbread or Parmesan-crusted chicken skewers to share with friends. The Starbucks Evenings Menu is only available after 4pm and is aimed at making the ubiquitous coffee shop an equally busy gathering place for customers at night, as it is in the day. Other menu items include truffled macaroni and cheese and chocolate fondue. The programme is also an attempt to move away from coffee towards other markets where there's room for growth. This week, the chain announced a major collaboration with media mogul Oprah Winfrey in the creation of a new chai tea as part of expansion plans for its Teavana brand. Likewise, the chain has branched out into cold pressed juices opening a juice bar in Bellevue, Washington after it acquired California-based Evolution Fresh. Meanwhile, it's not the first time a fast food company has tried to sell alcohol. Burger King and Sonic locations in sun-soaked Miami also obtained liquor licenses to sell beer on their menus. – AFP/Relaxnews, March 22, 2014. |
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