The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Posted: 16 May 2014 05:25 PM PDT

BY EU HOOI KHAW
May 17, 2014

The Lavender Cherry Pound Cake is as good as it gets. – May 17, 2014.I like it that the food is for sharing at Sitka Restaurant, whether it's the soft tacos or fried chicken, or a salad as a main course. Balance seems to be the swing here, as every dish is accompanied by a small bowl of salad.

Aubergine and Portobello Salad with miso and honey marinated vegetables and millet.The bistro in Damansara Heights is only a month old, but it's already attracting a neighbourhood crowd. You have to do the ordering at the counter but the food is brought to the table. It's probably to let you take in the row of the cakes on the counter, and the Danish pastries, and keep in mind for later. I already had my eye on the Lavender Cherry Pound Cake.

We shared the Aubergine and Portobello Salad, Soft Tacos with Aromatic Shoulder of Lamb, and the Hot Buttermilk Fried Spring Chicken with honey and thyme.

For the salad, the aubergine had been marinated with miso, ginger and honey before being roasted while the Portobello had been marinated in a braising liquid derived from simmering two types of mushrooms. So the roasted vegetables were flavourful on their own.

Sweet cherry tomatoes, zucchini, coriander, spring onions and millet made up the rest of the salad. It was topped with a perfectly poached egg and daubed with aioli. Altogether they tasted so good.

The soft tacos were filled with shredded lamb shoulder that had been marinated with 12 kinds of spices, among them ginger, fennel, cumin and cinnamon, overnight and then braised with yoghurt. The lamb was rich and intense and so right for the tacos. Together with pea mash, fresh mint and thin slices of baby radish, the tacos made delicious bites.

Soft Tacos with Aromatic Shoulder of Lamb, crushed peas and mint.You can also have the tacos with beef brisket braised with the Korean Gochuchang sauce and served with feta and spring onions or Tempura Fish with apple slaw and smoked red pepper aioli. For a vegetarian version, try the Panko Fried Mushrooms with Soy and Truffle Dressing.

Only the Fried Chicken with Hot Buttermilk, honey and thyme came up a little short. While the spring chicken was moist, tender and had tasty hints of its salt and herb marination, I found its deepfried crust a bit grainy and it detached easily from the chicken. Much work had gone into making this no doubt.

Hot Buttermilk Fried Spring Chicken, honey and thyme.Every dish comes with a nice, refreshing quinoa salad.

The Lobster with Squid Ink Bun, Cocktail Sauce and Celery Leaf is worth trying – it has pleased a couple of my friends.

The Lavender Cherry Pound Cake was as good as I expected it to be. The cake was dappled with cherries that gave a tart, fruity snap to the moist, soft cake. It was irresistible.

I don't fancy meringues, but I was bowled over by the Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake that I was told I should try. It was just a thin meringue which crumbled and fell apart at the bite, with a layer of chocolate mousse and a chocolate ganache topping. It was the layer of intense raspberry compote that defined this cake, giving it a tart and exquisite lift.

There is a Strawberry Rhubarb Tart that I would love to have on my next visit.

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse.Only on weekends can you get freshly baked breads like muesli and Alpine seed loaves, cranberry and rye breads at Sitka, though there are Danish pastries and croissants every day.

The prices: The Cherry Pound Cake is RM12, Chocolate Raspberry Mousse RM12, Tacos with Lamb RM27, Aubergine and Portobello RM22, and Hot Buttermilk Fried Chicken RM23.

At present, Sitka is open from 9am to 6pm daily but in a month's time, its Test Kitchen will roll out a dinner menu from Thursday to Saturday. It will transform into a supper club on these three nights.

Chefs Christian Recomio (of the award-winning Moonfish Café in Aberdeen, Scotland) and Barry Lindsay have been sourcing quality local produce from small farms and select producers.

Already a menu is up on its website at www.sitkarestaurant.com. You can look forward to Sourdough with Flavoured Liver Butter and snacks like Korean Style Gochujan Meatballs with Sesame and Scotch Egg with Mushroom Ketchup.

You may try Hay Smoked Beef, Pickled Egg Yolk and Salted Radish, or Indian Lime, Seabass Crudo, Burnt Tomato Curry and relish Spring Chicken, Corn and Sumac or Short Rib, Black Bean, and Squash.

Of course there are edgy desserts like Pineapple, Szechuan, Ricotta and Wolfberry Sorbet, and Goat Milk Pannacotta, Banana and Chocolate Wantan.

Sitka is located at 8-5 Jalan Batai, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, tel: 03-2011 1117. – May 17, 2014.The warm ambience at Sitka.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Jumaat, 16 Mei 2014

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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