Category Archives: Gastronomy

L’Auberge provençale – Antibes, France

27 Friday May 2011

Posted by in France, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

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Update : Nov 2011

** I was in Antibes, France on Week 47, 2011 and was so excited to head back to this restaurnat. Sadly, when I got there, the restaurant was closed. It looked like it was all cleared out and preparing for some sort of renovation. I hope it is the restaurant doing some upgrading work and will be back for business… and is not because it was closing down. Will update again when I go there next time.

Had a sudden attack of nostalgia of this quaint restaurant hubs and I went during our pre-honeymoon in Antibes, France.

It is by far the MOST romantic restaurant I have been too. It is not the posh classy romantic type but, sort of the rustic, old school charm with the Mediterranean feel kind.

The nice waitress sat us down in the middle of this whole wonder. Next to a small fountain. It was really beautiful. If I have a choice, I would definitely pick this as one of the stop for pre-wedding pictures.. Or even to hold my wedding reception here… hehehe… one can dream, no? ;p


Look at the beautiful settings. The green foliage above. Open air. Isn’t this Romantic?

The food here is pretty good too. We ordered their Menu (a set thingy) which comes with the starter, main and dessert.

Bouillabaisse – sort of fish stew. Dunk in the toasted pieces of bread and a hot peppery sauce called rouille. Sprinkle the cheese in. Yummmmmilicious. My favourite. I always have Bouillabaisse whenever I go to Antibes.

Was not very impress with this. It was seafood chowder baked with cheese. Love it only because they used Staub to prepare this dish.. ;p

Grill Dorade – Amazingly juicy. Not overdone. Thumbs up !

Duck in Fig sauce – Looks yummy right? Don’t be deceived. It was only so-so. The sauce was really good.

Pistachio mouse with raspberry sauce. Pure delightful.

Apple Tart with vanilla ice – Yummm yumm… Tart was crispy around the edge. Vanilla ice – so good !!

The 2 of us manage to clean all the plates. 🙂

After the meal, we were serve with complimentary shot of lemoncello each (Italian lemon liqueur – type of digestive). The waitress saw that we were so excited about our lemoncello that she gave us another 2 more rounds of that. I was feeling a little tipsy when we walk out the restaurant. hahahaa… sigh…It was an amazing lunch.

For those of you trying to locate this place, it is along the Rue de la Republique, facing the Place Nationale (which is sort of like a coutryard / carpark). On Sunday, this place is crowded with little marque selling arts and antiques. quite interesting to browse around after the heavy meal.

ICE Room for the hot hot days.

13 Friday May 2011

Posted by in Gastronomy, Local Restaurants

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37 degree !!

That was what I read on the temperature displayed on my car dashboard when I drove out for lunch. Ouch… that is painful. Not to mention, it is those types of heat where you feel as if the ray are burning tiny holes into your body.

No wonder I have been having sleepless night lately. Even with the air-con set to the coldest and blasting away was useless. I felt like I am inside an oven bakes alive. I was half tempted to just soak myself in the bathtub and sleep there. (Sadly, it was just my imaginary hope, for I own no bathtub – sigh…)

So, for lunch 2 days ago, my brother decided that anywhere with air-con is no longer sufficient. He told me there’s only ONE place to go for lunch. Since I am usually the less fussy eater, I let him decide. After some quick direction, we reach our destination.

It is a tall green building opposite the Giant supermarket in Kota Damansara.

The name of the restaurant is ICE ROOM. (I like it already)

We walked into the restaurant which was relatively colder than some air-conditioned restaurant we been to but no where near ice temperature. This restaurant actually serves shaved ice.

They have wide selection of flavoured ice. Apart from the normal fruity ice, they also have some really interesting flavour like the black sesame ice, peanut ice, bubur chacha ice, Yam ice, red bean ice and etc. Most of them are priced at around RM 7.90 – 9.90 (which is a little steep for just ice) but, on a HOT day – I am not complaining.

After drooling over the selection, I finally settle on bubur chacha ice. It was not very authentic. I think it tasted a little like vanilla. It would have been better if they drench it with some coconut milk.

My brother and colleague ordered the passion fruit ice and mango pomelo ice.

Now these are really nice… yumm.

It was definitely refreshing especially on a hot day like that. I would definitely go back there again for another try… maybe the black sesame the next round. :p

and thankfully, it POUR yesterday. I finally had a GOOD night sleep yesterday… yay !

Address for the ICE ROOM

No. 27, Jalan PJU 5/20E, Pusat Perdagangan Kota Damansara,

The Strand, Kota Damansara PJU 5,

47810, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel : 03-6142 8727, 03-6142 8728

No knead bread – failed

26 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by in Baking, Gastronomy

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My mom (who is a cooking instructor) used to bake us fresh bread when we (my siblings and I) were young. After we hit teen years, she stop baking. By that time, we were quite sick of breads anyway, so, we didn’t mind as much. And also because we stop eating her bread, mom realised that she was giving most of them away instead of feeding us. hehehe…  ;p

Yes yes – we don’t know how lucky we are. But, imagine having bread everyday!! AND on top of that she will bake tons of other stuff. So, the novelty wear off after 10 years !!

Anyway, now that she has retired. She REFUSED to bake anymore. le sigh..

Considering that I grew up with a baker / cooking instructor, many relatives think I should be blessed to know how to bake as well. Sadly, I don’t. I only know how to eat those breads and cakes. I was only forced to learn how to cook when my mom pack me off to Australia. The first meal I prepared for myself was a disaster. Rice was half cook. Chicken tasteless. Broccoli half cook (and I just throw them in hot water). It was a sad sad dinner indeed. While sitting down by myself, eating horrible tasting food, I realised how fortunate I am to have nice tasty food all this time. After that, I was determination to learn to cook. During the summer holiday, I went home and started bugging mom and my aunty to teach me how to cook. 10 years plus later, I think I am a pretty passable cook now.

Recently, I started thinking about making my own bread. Seeing my friends with their babies made me realised that I would love to be able to give my kids freshly baked bread too. Just like what I had during my childhood. So, being a zero experience baker, I was so excited when I come across the No -knead bread. Wow. This is so easy. Everyone says that even 4 year old can do it. So, I set off to give it a try.

Last night, I measure everything and get the dough ready.

The recipes calls for 12-20 hours of rising time. I thought since I am in a hot and humid country, 10 hours should be sufficient.

I waited patiently. (in fact, I was so excited I hardly sleep the whole night). Around 6 am this morning, I woke up to prepare the bread. It  has risen nicely. Took it out. Folded it as per shown on you tube. Throw it into my Staub cast-iron pot (which was pre-heated) and ran back upstair to shower.

When I come down, took the lid off. The bread was so beautiful. I was so excited. I took of the lid and let it bake for another 20 mins (to get the crust)

Looks amazing, right?

I let it cool on the rack before slicing it.

It was a GREAT disappointment.

Inside was dense. Not much big bubbles which I have seen from other people’s blog. the only plus point is that the crust was nice and crispy.

ARGHHH…. I failed. sobbb sob..

And to add to my injury, 4 year old can bake it better

T__T