Tell-A-Tale (Part 6): Life Is...A Weekend Extravaganza

What's life?

A Chinese New Year weekend turned retrospective as he contemplated on the meaning of life, inspired by the significant events leading to the brand new year.

Life is...bittersweet

The weekend took off with a brunch at Marmalade. They ordered all their favourites like the infamous carrot cake and homemade teas while he tested the Spaghetti With Smoked Salmon. The dishes were good, as usual. Everything went so well...until the staff came by with a lovely "no photography of the food allowed" greeting. So, as much as he'd love to visualise his joy, especially of that new found dish, he was left utterly disappointed. Anyway, the spaghetti was fantastic! The salmon was cooked just pinkishly right while the warm cream cheese sauce was rich and ever flavourful with each bite. Sad, isn't it?

Acceptance is about letting go.

Life is...full of surprises

Who would have thought a lion dance was going to start moments after the bittersweet brunch. Not just any lion dance, but a performance by the world-renowned, made-in-Malaysia Kun Seng Keng troupe. The crowd was left spellbound. Here are some highlights.

Of agility, coordination, grandeur and speed.

Almost a love story.

A change of scene.

The funky and harmless Qilin (Chinese Unicorn) took centrestage.

Whose your daddy now? Say my name! Say my name!

Surprises, take it with open arms (and enjoy it, truly).

Life is...pursuing completeness

What is completeness? A reunion dinner of friends and family, filled with love and of course, good food. The venue was his staple Taman Batu Restaurant. The turnout, 24 pax. The food; abundant, delicious and warm. Here are some interesting dishes that completed the night.

The no-frills, flavoursome, colourful Yu Sang.

The crispy-skinned Suckling Pig.

The textural and aromatic Fish Meat Filled Chicken Skin.

The rich and prosperous Braised Pig Trotter.

The sweet/savoury, crispy Deep-Fried Prawns With Salted Egg.

Completeness never felt so full.

Life is...hopeful

Like the break of dawn. Like that beautiful Sunday morning. Hoping the first meal of the day would be the best. Hoping the revisit to Marco Polo would be worthwhile. Hoping the rest could wake up in time. Here are some of the hope-turned-delicious dim sums.

Not a dim sum, but the freshest, most refined and most flavourful Yu Sang he had this year.

The beautiful blend of textures and tastes in the Fried Radish Carrot Cake.

The tender bites of the simple Fish Paste.

The ubiquitous yet wonderfully flavoured Char Siu Bao.

The soft and warm Glutinous Rice With Chicken

When there's a purpose, there's hope.

That was the last Chinese New Year weekend for the year.
But seemed like a lesson of a lifetime.
Life is certainly...a weekend extravaganza.
Of wonderful colours and flavours.
If you want it to be...

Still in time to wish you a wonderful Chap Goh Meh.
Hope you had a fruitful new year celebration this year.

Taman Batu Restaurant

Time spent with family is getting shorter with each passing day, leaving a deep sense of lament for the unappreciative attitude towards family meals in the younger days. Therefore, I make it a point to have at least one meal with my family whenever I return to KL.

This is a place that we've been dining in quite frequently for a few months now. Tucked in the rather accessible Taman Batu, it is somehow overshadowed by its more popular corner lot neighbour, Tak Wah Restaurant. Unelaborated and unpretentious, it's just a typical MSG-laden (optimally) Chinese restaurant that somehow satisfied our palate.

We started off with the Hokkien-style fried noodles (RM9). Rather weird, I'd say but it has been a staple for our family. The thick yellow noodle and kuay teow (flat rice noodle) combination provided a nice texture and was coated with a rich layer of sweet dark soya sauce. Ingredients aplenty, including mustard cabbage leaves, shrimps, pork and squids. This dish wouldn't be complete without a belacan sambal (dried shrimp and chili paste) dipping which exhibited a rather interesting spicy taste to the noodles. And let's not forget the aromatic crispy fried lard bits. What I enjoyed most was the "dryness" of the sauce, thanks to the well-controlled heat.

The Steamed Kurau or threadfin (RM24) was tender and fresh, despite the rather small portion. The juice tasted sweet with a hint of savouriness from the preserved vegetable. The tofu added texture to the dish while cilantro provided a refreshing scent and taste. A dish that went well with white rice. A Meatless Stir-Fried Vegetables dish (RM13) was up next. We specifically requested for less oil since most of the other dishes were fried in one way or another. A typical combination of Chinese kale, cabbage, mustard cabbage leaves, button mushrooms, carrot and ginger, where each exhibited a distinctive texture and taste. Simple and tasty.

The Mini-Wok Tofu (RM9) was disappointing as it was practically squared and fried local tofu drenched in a starchy gravy. Despite the many ingredients included in the gravy, such as shrimp, shitake mushroom and minced pork, the taste was bland. Cornstarch was overused, too.

The Japanese-Style Pork Ribs (RM13) tasted rather interesting as the sauce was both savoury and sweet. I failed to see how Japanese it was as there was not hint of teriyaki sauce. Perhaps Japanese soya sauce and mirin was used, hence the name. Anyhow, it did taste good. The fried ribs were tender with a slight crispness and came piping hot.

The meal cost RM72 for 5 pax.

An aunt of mine provided dessert for the night. Cakes from Eastin Hotel. The Cream Puff looked more like a dessert version of the "Big Mac" as it was really huge. Instead of ground beef, there were layers of apricot slices, which went well with the fresh cream. However, the puff was chewy, perhaps due to exposure to air. The Tiramisu was somehow typical with layers of coffee-infused sponge fingers coated with fresh cream and dusted with cocoa powder. Personally, I prefer the moist alcoholic version (like Alexis'). At this point, we were so full that we had to doggy bag the Japanese Cheesecake.

Another well-spent evening.

Taman Batu Restaurant
25 & 27, Jalan A,
Taman Batu, Off Jalan Kuching,
52000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-6258 9768 / +6012-288 8768