Chef Choi With Milk Fed Lamb

Now everytime C invites me to Chef Choi, it is a very unique feeling. It is one of anticipation, but also horror, because one does not leave Chef Choi without being in a state of food coma. She assured us that this meal would be moderate. Obviously, these terms bandied around are quite subjective. I was smart, I skipped lunch, and went for a workout before dinner. I was smart, or so I thought.

Just looking at the "moderate" menu, I could already envisage the regret of tomorrow, the remorse, the guilt, after a night of orgiastic feasting.




To start, a very deceptive healthy start, a tropical salsa, with the most delicious home made tortilla chips. As in, they fried their own tortillas. Oh so good. Great party idea, but it's deep fried, and who deep fries at home?





For something so deep fried, it did not seem very oily. It is an art, eating at Chef Choi, because you have to know how to PACE yourself, despite the temptation to just pig out on the first thing that appears.


Speaking of pigging out, the most divine Pork Stomach Soup. That subtle peppery taste that is a slow burn, rather than assailing your palate at the first spoon. The stomach is meticulously cleaned, so you can sure Miss Piggy's last meal is not forming any residue in the soup.


The star of the night, the Milk Fed Lamb (also from Spain). How will we ever eat meat that isnt Spanish anymore? Last time was the Spanish Pig, and now its the spanish lamb. The Spaniards certainly know how to make good meat. Milk Fed Lamb is probably the lamb equivalent of a suckling pig. A lot of people have difficulty facing the carcass of the lamb spread eagle like this. I don't know why.


The token salad...I love those cherry tomatoes, incidentally.


Seriously, this is the best lamb I have EVER tasted. Well, at RM300/kg, (and this baby is about 6 kg), it should be good. The good news is, you don't have to order the entire lamb at Chef Choi, as they have perfected the art of roasting it, albeit not on a spit, like this one here. Chef Thye Seng assures us that the smaller portions are just as succulent. Moist, tender, not lamby smelling, ...really quite heavenly.


As if we might be meat deprived, Thye Seng throws in a Roast Goose too. Ah, to behold such a succulent hot chick. Meat that melts in the mouth, skin that shames the most tanned adonis.





BBQ prawns. Okay, I have to say, these were a bit overcooked. Which is a pity because the prawns were really fresh.


Barbeque cuttle fish with thai sauce. This is another amazing dish. Such tender cuttlefish. The perfect snack to have with booze.


The pre-finale, abalone fried rice. Can you get more decadent than that?! Fried rice, swimming in a gorgeous superior broth. And, just when you thought it was over, yours truly had to open the big mouth and enquire, innocently enough, if Chef Choi served hokkien mee. Thye Seng gave an audible gasp of shock horror that I have never sampled their lard laden hokkien mee, and insisted we have some to try.






Where people got serve hokkien mee with scallops one? Oh so soooooo goood. Chunks of chee yau char, dotting the dish like mines in a minefield. I could just go there and eat the hokkien mee.


Now apparently the entire family knows how to make Crepe Suzette. The proper way. Chef demonstrates with great aplomb, the caramelisation of the sugar, turning into a gorgeous golden amber color, before orange juice and booze is added to create the sublime sauce.




Seriously, I have had some crepe suzettes where the sauce tastes like haliborange or cough mixture. But this was really good. We all lapped up our sauce like a kitten licking the milk bowl.

A fabulous dinner, with many thanks to CS and TS as usual for their generosity.

Now, my mother wants her birthday dinner to be held here. I can't wait

LouSang No 2 at Chef Choi in 2012, A Feast Of Feasts

Do you know that 10 minutes of reading time before an examination begins, where you're supposed to read the questions? That is like an eternity, because, it gives you an idea what lies in store, and whether or not the road ahead is going to be a struggle, or a breeze (though I have never experienced the latter)...and sometimes, the road ahead seems so insurmountable that you just want to stab yourself with the pen.

Well, it might not have evoked quite the same reaction, but certainly, when I read Chef Thye Seng's menu for the night, I thought WOW, that is A LOT of food. Insurmountable! Don't worry, he assures us, the pork knuckle is a very small portion.








Check out the cute lil angpow packets, picked specially from Hong Kong. Chef also made a profound remark, that the dish should be high after low. As in, after "low sang", the pile of stuff should remain high, because if the dish sinks, it means the vegetables/fruits were cut too early, and all the moisture had gone out during the toss. So, measure that mount of yee sang after your toss!


Did I say Chef Choi has an amazing variety of cuisine? It is not JUST a Chinese restaurant. This balsamic vinegar, wonderfully aromatic, is from that high class vinegar joint at O Gourmet, (I forget what it's called). But really, looking at the menu, WHO I ask, in their right mind, would want to eat bread regardless of how delicious the bread, olive oil and vinegar is? Well, all of us succumbed.





Grilled Sardine Fish, only because we were so lucky and Thye Seng had found fresh sardines in the market that morning. So don't expect it on the menu. Now, I have to admit that this is my first recollection of eating sardines that are not from a can. In fact, I wasn't even sure if Sardines referred to the method of preparation, (packed like sardines in the LRT), or the type of fish. It obviously refers to the type of fish. Fresh sardines are simply delicious, and simply grilled, really brings out the flavour of the fresh fish. Fish experts would know, looking at the eyeballs, that the fish is really fresh.


As if there wasn't enough decadence, a Moet courtesy of Boolicious....


Fettucine with crab and black truffle. I wonder how I will ever eat ordinary fettucine again.


Perfect al dente, and the gloriously subtle flavour infused by the truffle really sent shivers down my tingling spine.


Saucisson, Pork Loin and Shaved parmesan.


Home made pickled Zuchinni. Lovely way to eat Zuchinni. It has a lovely crunch, isn;t pickled so sour like a pickled cucumber.


The hidden Mickey in the Saucisson. The dried cured meats are lovely, and the pork loin, though the first bite didn;t make much of an impression, really grows on you.


Steamed kurau with white truffle. MY FAVOURITE FISH, steamed with TRUFFLE. Bliss on a plate. And such fresh kurau too. I said I found it rare for any restaurant to serve kurau, though the connoiseurs on the table said it was available at a few places.


Thye Seng demonstrates how heavy an 18 inch cast iron wok is, especially if you use wrist work to toss the wok. You need one strong wrist!!!




The modest sized pork knuckle (Yuen Tai), with the tender succulent meat falling off the bone. Layers of mouth watering artery clogging fat.








Braised Wah Wah Choy with scallops. The token vegetable dish.


Arghhhh, such delicious fried glutinous rice. Just thinking about it makes me salivate. Seriously, so so so good. Ta-pau-ed some little leftover, and the kids whacked it in 2 minutes.


The Makan Trio...


And the finale, that lap mei fan that was oh so so soooo good.








Thye Seng's special tiramisu. Ethereally light mascarpone with savioardi sponge fingers.






Perfectly manicured nails to model that yummy nian gou.

Chef Choi is another place to seriously consider if you want great food and great ambience, and easy parking, for CNY or reunion dinner.

Chef Choi Restaurant
159 Jalan Ampang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2163 5866

Thankie once again TS & CS for an earth shaking dinner!

The Fellowship of the Pigs... at Chef Choi(the sequel to Hairy Crabs)

This is the 2nd part of the same dinner....Read the prequel HERE.

In the previous episode of Hairy & Available, (in that deep narrator tone you get on TV Series), Hairy Crabs and their questionable sexuality....







Now here's a tail of the little pig, who built his house with straw.


I'm exhausted, he proclaims, from all that hard work......


Friends, Chinamen, Countrymen, lend me your ears...it's apparently the best part, after the tail.


Glorious glorious iberico suckling pig, crispy crackling, roasted over a spit for hours. This little pig, weighing 4.5kg, cost RM1,100-00. It may sound shocking, but don't forget, the Iberian Pig is the Wagyu equivalent of pigs.... they feed on gold lined acorns, from the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. How will we ever go back to eating the common pig after feasting on such porcine paradise. Melt in the mouth goodness.


Barbeque baby back ribs, from another Iberian pig. Now, at first sight, it might look bony and not much flesh, but boy, can looks deceive. The meat is sublimely tender, and just the right amount of fat, and with Chef Choi's (actually its Chef Thye Seng) amazing barbecue skills and seasoning, this is one of the nicest barbeque ribs I've ever sampled.


A luxurious take on a wholesome home made favourite, steamed mince pork. Everyone asked, "with ham yue ah?" (with salted fish?). But that would have been sacrilegous. The pure flavour of the pork, with a little added crunch from the water chestnuts, is simply beyond description. I could just eat this, with a bowl of good rice, and be in 7th heaven.


To break the piggy routine, Chef Thye Seng threw in some pigeon for us. I'm not sure if these were flown in (as in, after they were killed), or local, or flown in and then slaughtered here, but whatever its origins, it was delicious. Pigeon actually tastes more like tender duck than chicken, to me.


Braised pork with asparagus and XO Sauce. Simple, effective and gorgeous. You can't seem to go wrong with this pork, but I think the Chef's vision really amplifies the unique texture and taste of the Iberico black pig.





A few things sprang to mind, when we saw this:
Hey chicks, don't lose your heads
Let them eat cake, Marie says to Anne


When I first saw sweet and sour Iberico pork, my first thought was, ARGH, what a travesty! But I tell you, this is one bomb of a sweet and sour pork. Excellent, and I wish I could have more.


The most amazing tou miew. Cooked to perfection, and so plump. One excellent reason to dine here is the passion into which the owners pour into sourcing the best of ingredients. They themselves love food, so even down to the minutest detail, such as vegetables, the choicest pick of the crop.


And finally (bear in mind we also had the Hairy Crabs in the same meal, so I was really slipping into a food coma by now), red bean paste with 18 Yr old mandarin peel. What? 18 yr old? Apparently, people keep mandarin peel as old as 60 years, but those are for medicinal purposes. 18 years is still a long time, ours doesnt even last 18 days before its all gone. So take note, start keeping your mandarin peel from the next Chinese Year, and it'll be good to go in....2029. I will be 63. I hope I can sell off my stock for retirement.

So what exactly does the 18 Yr Old Mandarin Peel do? I am not quite sure really, but there is a very subtle, yet definitive taste of the peel, a bit bitterish, which complements the smooth sweet red bean paste. Definitely something for the connoiseurs to savour.

I cannot thank CS & TS enough for their kind invitation. The food at Chef Choi from the few times I've been has always been par excellence! What a privilege!

Chef Choi Restaurant
159 Jalan Ampang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2163 5866