Thursday, 2 February 2012

Party Play

"Don't play play ohhhh..."

Following all the hype about this new joint in town (well, fairly new), I finally had the opportunity to pay a visit during this trip back home. We decided to celebrate my mom's birthday early by trying out this restaurant.

Most of the blog posts, reviews, friends' comments about this place were good, so we were waiting with anticipation to enjoy nice food in this place as they do not come cheap.


Menu

It all started well with an interesting looking menu which was specially designed to look like a lifestyle magazine. On the second page was an article about the many great achievements and experiences of the chef/owner of Party Play.

As we were browsing through the pages, we found it rather difficult to see clearly what they have to offer as the menu was dominated by photos and the descriptions were randomly put all over the photos! Have a look at the menu and you can see what I mean.

After much effort, we finally decided on the Classic Lamb Shoulder and Meat Lover Platter for 2.


Watermelon Juice

Oh! and of course we ordered some drinks too while waiting for our food to come.

My parents ordered the pineapple juice as they looked nice on the drinks menu while I went for the watermelon juice (my favourite).

Well, were we not disappointed when the drinks arrived and all we had was HALF filled (small) round glasses of juice which cost RM6 and RM8 each! The size of the glass was not really the biggest issue, what thrown us was the fact that the juice tasted like it was made from squash but was advertised on the menu as FRESH pineapple juice!


Lamb Shoulder

Well, we thought that all will be forgiven by how good the food would be.

So I was really excited when my Classic Lamb Shoulder arrived. I was delighted with the look of the delicious looking char-grilled lamb shoulders and that creamy mash potatoes.

I could not wait to put my knife into the lamb. Well, well, well, did I have a job trying to cut the tough piece of lamb on a plate that kept rotating like a flying saucer on the table! Aha! you guessed right, the plate was not flat on the bottom, hence the plate was spinning like a turntable (like those you find on a round table in a Chinese restaurant).

After we managed to get the kitchen to change my plate, I still had difficulties cutting into the tough lamb and I suspect that it must have been over-cooked.

So, I spent all evening trying to chew my dinner so that I can swallow it without risking any indigestion later.

Even my creamy mash was a little bit of a disappointment, especially when mash potato is one of my favourite side dishes. The mash still had bits of potatoes pieces in it, maybe it was meant to be that way but to me, a good mash should be all smooth and silky ie NO potato pieces left in it!


Meat Lover Platter


NB apologies for the over-exposed photo of the Meat Lover Platter.


I shall not say much about the Meat Lover Platter for 2 as I have nothing good to say about it either. Look at page 8 of the menu.

Doesn't it look amazing on that wooden block just like a Ploughman's Lunch?

Well, look at the photo above. Instead of serving all the different types of meat separately on the dish, so that we can enjoy the different meat individually; the steak, lamb, chicken and sausage were all piled up in one big heap that we couldn't even tell what is what!

What was shocking as well, was that the rack of lamb was not trimmed to reveal the bones and to remove the excess fat as that is a basic 'French'  rack of lamb preparation method.

We expected more from a restaurant of this 'stature' (and pricing)!

On that note, you can safely guess that we shall not be going back to this restaurant again and nor shall we recommend it to any friends!


Being dissatisfied with our dinner, we decided to go to hawker stalls at Tanjung Aru Beach for some local food.


Coconut

Sate


Chicken and Beef Sate with Coconut water - local, cheap and simply the better food!



Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Kota Kinabalu Food Scene - Brought Home

To continue my 'food journey' back in Kota Kinabalu, we brought the KK food scene back to the comfort of our home.

My kind brother went to various restaurants and cafes around the city to 'da bao', or what we call here as takeaway, my favourite dishes!


Kam Heung Crab

First up, we had the 'Kam Heung' Crabs from Luyang Seafood Restaurant @ 1 Jalan Kolam, Luyang.

This restaurant, which is located at the corner of a single row of shops next to a housing estate, has been there for many years and is very famous for its seafood dishes!

One of the restaurant's famous seafood dishes is the 'Kam Heung' Crab which literally translates to 'Golden Fragrance' from Cantonese. Infusing flavours from Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisine, it is very tasty and full of spices that excites your palate!

Crabs stir fried with curry leaves, curry powder, dried shrimps, shallots, garlic and chillies until the fragrance fills the kitchen is simply and amazingly delicious!


Satay

We also had chicken and lamb satay bought from a very popular Malay 'coffee shop' in Sinsuran. This place is never short of customers and you always have to wait your turn for your satay, if you are lucky enough to be noticed by the boss lady who BBQ the satays!

The satay was very well marinated and tasty, they also had a very smoky BBQ taste - yummy!

Satay Sauce

The satay stall in the shop is also famous for its satay sauce. It is well balanced with spices, chillies and sweetness, perfect for the wonderful satay!



Dinner spread!

Chinese BBQ pork and Roast Pork Belly

Oh, and not to forget my favourite food in KK - Chinese BBQ Pork and Roast Pork Belly from the one and only little stall outside of Merdeka Supermarket, Penampang.

The uncle who is also the owner of the stall specialises in these two dishes. He cooks and roasts the pork dishes everyday from fresh and brings them to sale at his stall and leaves when they are sold out.

The BBQ pork is very delicious and the meat is tender; and the reason I love the Roast Pork Belly so much is because of the very crispy skin with the very succulent fat and lean meat layers! Delicious!


Rambutan

Then it was time for dessert or fruits. My mom bought some Rambutans home.

These are weird looking little red coloured harry fruits and you have to take the skin off to reveal tiny white coloured flesh enveloping the seeds of the fruit.

It is sweet and has the texture of lychees. One of my favourite tropical fruits!




At that note, this ends my KK food journey of 2012....for now!