Antipodean @ Tan & Tan

Almost a year after becoming a haven for brunch addicts in Bangsar, Antipodean has breached KL's city center, opening a branch in Menara Tan & Tan that should reap similar success.

Entry on Antipodean at Bangsar: February 21, 2011.

Antipodean is the rare Western-cuisine pork paradise within a 500-meter range of KLCC, with a menu identical to the Telawi outlet's. The all-day breakfast platters & sandwiches here are worth the calories, particularly this cinnamon-dusted French toast with bacon & maple syrup.

Dump the diet at the door & savor some sweet-salty toast topped with a trinity of thick marmalade, feta cheese & rosemary. Sounds like a recipe for culinary chaos, but it makes an assertively aromatic statement. Served with bacon too, naturally.

Kiwi lamb burger with bacon. Mary might sacrifice her little lamb if she knew it would produce a patty this succulent, hitting precisely the proper notes of gaminess.

Pumpkin & sage orecchiette with more feta & more bacon (the pinnacle of porky perfection!). Difficult to share without sparking a fight for every melt-in-the-mouth morsel of herb-fragrant pumpkin & pasta.

Hit us with your best (caffeinated) shot! Fire away...

Our only lament: this Tun Razak outlet's business hours aren't as convenient as the Bangsar branch's. Let's launch a petition for late-night coffee!

For this opening week, customers have enjoyed Free Coffee Days (a serving per person). Won't last much longer, but it's a crowd-pleasing tactic. Maybe there'll be Free Bacon Days eventually (we can't help going hog-wild over Antipodean's meaty, savory slices of bacon)!

Antipodean Cafe @ Jalan Tun Razak,

Menara Tan & Tan, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2161-0752

Dessert Parlour @ BSC

Is there truly always room for dessert? This sugar specialist will help test that sticky theory, taking up space on Bangsar Shopping Center's fourth floor beside the Burp food court.

Customers can lounge in cushy comfort indoors or breathe Bangsar's unfiltered air on the alfresco terrace. Everyone from restless children to ladies who lunch may feel therapeutically tranquilized here (until the inevitable glucose rush).

Malaysian treats are the highlight, so banish all aspirations for macarons, creme brulee & tiramisu. Dessert Parlour's 'leng chee kang' (RM4.50+) _ a cooling combination of lotus seeds, gingko nuts & what-not _ is what the doctor might recommend for our what-the-heck weather.

Pulut hitam (RM4.50+) _ black rice pudding with coconut milk. The terrible truth, however, is that Dessert Parlour makes mediocre versions of these familiar recipes. Shoppers at BSC can stop here for a pick-me-up, but nothing we tried would warrant a special visit.

Skip the banana fritters with ice cream & honey (RM7.50+). Disastrously bland & doughy.

For a better brush with syrupy stuff, head to this enclave's other mall, Bangsar Village, where Garibaldi serves treats both creative & crazy-tasty, such as bourbon panna cotta with strawberries marinated in aged balsamic vinegar.

White chocolate mousse with dark chocolate pipe. Might be even more decadent if milk chocolate played a role in this, to create a menage a trois of the most seductive ingredients known to man. Nothing teases & titillates the taste buds like chocolate.

Crispy meringue with chocolate chip parfait & dark cherries. Sure, it might seem unfair to pit Dessert Parlour's cheaper offerings against Garibaldi's, which hover near the RM30 price range. But if cost isn't an issue, then sweet satisfaction lies with the Italians.

Make bubur cha cha, cendol & ais kacang while the sun shines!

Dessert Parlour @ Bangsar Shopping Center,

Kuala Lumpur.

Open through 10pm.

SekMeChoy

This no-frills eatery in Salak South is dishing out decent deals for the Chinese New Year season, feeding congregations of ten for RM324 nett (without tea).

Reserve a slot in SekMeChoy's air-conditioned section (which has as few as five tables _ less than a quarter of the outlet's capacity) & raise your chopsticks for the salmon-jellyfish yee sang.

SekMeChoy's signature bak kut teh is the centerpiece of this set, with refillable hot broth. Distinctively peppery, awash with plenty of meaty-fatty pork belly & tail & bouncy intestines.

Spicy steamed tilapia, fleshy & flaky, with tangy tomatoes, stinging cili padi & crunchy shallots.

Pork shank with dried oysters & mushrooms. Deliciously emblematic of ingredient-driven Oriental cooking, thanks to meat & accompaniments braised to sumptuous succulence.

Prawns served cold with pineapple salad. Gorgeously presented & relatively healthy, but not the most pleasurable crustacean preparation. Steam them with rice wine or stir-fry them instead.

Pak choy with fish maw. Nothing wrong with this, but it probably won't be remembered by the time the Year of the Snake slithers in.

Bean curd skin with broccoli & cauliflower. Also more of a stomach-filler than a scene-stealer.

Lotus leaf fried rice with waxed sausages. Well-prepared, though the sausages are not as perfumed as the most intoxicating ones out there.

Lemongrass-laced jelly with lychee. A tropical herbal twist to the standard chilled dessert. Potentially an acquired taste, but refreshing all the same.

SekMeChoy,

195, Jalan Besar, Salak Selatan, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-7982-3132

Garibaldi

Within 14 months, Garibaldi has evolved into a true treasure trove of Italian fare _ arguably one of KL's most under-appreciated fine dining restaurants.

Meals here start with a surprise. Will the amuse bouche be foie gras mousse?

If the chef is in the mood for seafood, perhaps he'll serve prawn mousse ...

... or swordfish carpaccio with watermelon, dainty & delicate.

Pasta is our pursuit; we bite blissfully into each slippery strand, every slick string, crazy for the combo of carbs with an infinite spectrum of interesting ingredients. Fettuccine with langoustine & baby zucchini flowers is as fulfilling as it looks.

Pappardelle with wild venison ragu _ rustic, rich & so robust; many might recognize this as a Jamie Oliver recipe, but it's really supposed to evoke the cuisine of Piedmont in northern Italy. Thankfully, there's no need now to fly there to taste this.

Black squid ink ravioli with crab meat & sweet dried tomatoes on potato emulsion. Beautifully presented, this is the rare squid ink recipe that somehow won't stain your lips & teeth. Flavors of both the sea & the soil come together to exquisite effect.

Strozzapreti with knife-chopped rabbit ragu & rucola pesto. Born in the Year of the Rabbit, I've always been fascinated with the thought of eating rabbit meat, and I order it every time I see it on the menu. Pseudo-cannibalism, maybe.

Buckwheat lasagnetta with lamb ragu, smoked scarmoza cheese & pumpkin cream _ the polar opposite of typical lasagna in KL. Steer clear of stodgy, soggy layers of pasta sheets elsewhere, washed out in artificial-tasting tomato sauce.

For the vegetarians, the force-of-nature flavors of the garden spring forth from this spaghetti, filled with fresh tomatoes, crunchy asparagus & broad beans, finished with parchment-thin slices of delicate 'robiola ai tre latti" cheese.

Garibaldi offers more than pasta, of course. The sweeping selection of seafood & meat warrants a whole new post, but for now, we can praise this pan-seared line-caught sea bream fillet with candied apples, black rice puree & whitebait omelet. Each component has its part to play, making the sum of the plate tastier than its individual parts.

Complimentary mousse-like dessert, always appreciated.

Complimentary cake-like dessert, also appreciated.

Berry bubbly cocktails.

Earlier entries on Garibaldi: December 23, 2010, December 24, 2010, January 4, 2011, November 11, 2011 & January 14, 2012.

Garibaldi,

Bangsar Village, Kuala Lumpur.

Lao Gang & LSY

One could spend a year eating out in Puchong & not finish visiting all the restaurants here. Let's take the first step, starting with two Chinese outlets _ Lao Gang & LSY Claypot.

Lao Gang's pork knuckle is a behemoth for RM48. Irrefutably succulent, enveloped in a melt-in-the-mouth layer of fat & crisply flavorful skin.

Claypot chicken with yam. Comfort food, pure & simple.

Battered squid with onions. Surprisingly tangy; must be something in the sauce.

Macau prawns, soaked in creamy, tomato-based gravy. Not bad, but not brilliant.

Escargots with scrambled egg in puff pastry. A fun combo; the morsels of pleasantly chewy snails contrast well with the milky eggs.

Mantis prawns. Tastes like crunchy, calorie-laden junk food.

Macau tomato eggs with pork slices. Skip this steaming heap of way-too-tart glop.

Silky bean curd, topped unfortunately with a hillock of horribly salty fried radish.

Mixed veggies. Prices here are fair; this massive meal cost slightly under RM180.

OK, next up: LSY Claypot, a five-minute drive from Lao Gang.

It's worth visiting LSY just for the claypot chicken rice. Bristling with sweet meat & pork sausages, it's a carb-protein combo that's so aromatic & so addictive.

Porridge, thick & tasty. Would be even better with a sprinkling of pork intestines.

Claypot loh shu fun. Excellent; we really should have Chinese food more often.

Chunks of chicken wings, stuffed with veggies & what-not. Finger-lickin' good.

The sole misfire at LSY: limp slivers of pork trotters, drowned in watery soy sauce.

A little green goes a long way. Ergo, a little green is more than enough.

Lao Gang,

Jalan Puteri 1/8, Bandar Puteri Puchong.

LSY Claypot,

Jalan Puteri 2/4, Bandar Puteri Puchong.