Alternative Fine Dining

9th April 2011, Boxwood Cafe by Gordon Ramsay, West Hollywood

This restaurant was owned by celebrity chef and the host of world popular Hell's Kitchen US, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare, The F word, Gordon's Great Escape and Cook Along Live. Yes he is my favourite chef, Gordon Ramsay. Christina Machamer, the 4th season of Hell's Kitchen winner used to work for Chef Ramsay in this restaurant, Gordon Ramsay At The London. Since I was near to the restaurant that day I decided to go to Boxwood Cafe By Gordon Ramsay for brunch and it was located in Gordon Ramsay at The London.

The service of the waitresses and Maitre'd were professional and friendly. I expected nothing less than from the staffs of the world acclaimed chef. I would consider the decor of the restaurant as modern classic which I like. The restaurant was quiet and comfortable.

My starter was Spicy Tuna Tartare, Pickled Ginger and Toasted Pine Nuts. Tartare is chopped raw meat with seasoning and sauce. Tartare was thought to be originated from Tatar tribe from Central Asia. However it was named when it was always served with tartar sauce in the olden days. This was my first time I ordered a tartare dish. My tuna tartar was spicy, fresh, tender and appetizing.

My first entree was Prime Beef Shortrib Risotto, Mascarpone Cheese. This dish was somehow interesting as it reminded me of a Taiwanese dish, Stewed Pork Rice, but the risotto had stronger flavour than the later. The risotto was creamy and savoury. The braised prime beef shortrib was tender, full of beefy flavour and well seasoned. The shortrib and risotto were prefect combination. They were very savoury and absolutely delicious. It was the best risotto I had tasted, so far

My second entree was Striped Bass. Green Beans, Truffled Potatoes. The bass was fried and seasoned perfectly. The skin was crispy. However I think the dish was still quite "dull". A bit of lemon or lime juice would "woke" the bass up by adding flavour to it

I will return to Boxwood Cafe By Gordon Ramsay, just for the Prime Beef Shortrib Risotto

Address: 1020 North San Vicente Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069, United States

Delicious Steak in Woodlands Hill

2nd April 2011, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar

It has been quite while I have not update this blog. I am a "superman" currently, I am always flying around in Asia for business trip. During these trips, I encountered cuisines, most of them are just "not too bad", the few of them are excellent to my demanding taste bug. One such cuisine are Indian cuisine. Indian cuisine is absolutely amazing. Only fresh ingredients are used for the northern India curries, and dried spices are used in southern india curry. Curries from both regions are absolutely delicious, and these let me consider that our South East Asia curries are "Donkey" curries. I will do understand more on India cuisine before I return to India to introduce them to my readers.

During my last trip to Chatsworth, California, I encounter a great steakhouse and this restaurant is mentioned in Zagat To Go (iPAD version of Zagat Survey), and it earns 24 for food, 23 for decor and 24 for service by the Zagat inspectors. I personally think that these are good scores. I decided to pay this restaurant a visit.

The decor is nice, comfortable and classic. The bar was also in the restaurant and showing sport programs on several television sets, the diners were cheering for their favourite team. I personally likes to enjoy my dinner quietly. I must admit the noise from the bar affect my dining experience there. However the service of the waiter and Maitre'D were great, they paid great attention to details. They cleared my table once I had my complimentary breads and raviolis and they left my table with any single food particles on my table. Their excellent service manage to gain a lot of points from me.

My starter was the Roasted Mushroom Raviolis. I had my first raviolis in this restaurant in my life. Raviolis were the Italian version of Chinese dumplings. The fillings were mushroom, spinach, salt and pepper. The spinach was fresh, the mushroom brought the earthly flavour and complement to spianch and the seasoning was prefect. The raviolis were tasty. Which version I like better, the chinese dumpling or the Italian ravioli? I like BOTH.

My main course is a rare Filet Mignon Petite. The plate has no sauce, no meshed potato, no peas. There was nothing on the plate except my steak and chopped parsley sprinkled on the plate. This reminded me of a saying from Chef Gordon Ramsay, "Keep it simple, but good. Forget about pompous sauces, and over-the-top creations. I like good food that is simply cooked, without pretension, but with a lot of heart and flavour" (Source from: More and Beyond, A Collection of Recipes from the Singapore Airlines International Culinary Panel). And this was what describe this steak. I got what I order, a rare steak which was full of flavour, well seasoned, tender, juicy and absolutely delicious.

I will definitely return to this restaurant, just for the great attention-to-detail services and delicious steak.

Address: 6373 Topanga Canyon Boulevard., Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Website: http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/

Cuisine in California

My affair with cuisine in California for one month.

Original Baby Ribs from Tony Roma Universal Studio Hollywood. Melt-in-mouth tender, and absolutely delicious.

My tasty-looking Pancakes and Breakfast Sampler at Ihop.

My delicious beef burger from In-N-Out Burger.

My crispy Fish and Fries from Santa Monica Pier.

 

Last but not least is the original KFC fried chicken. Full of Flavour, moist, and absolutely delicious. =P

And more coming out. ;)

Best Fried Chicken on this Planet

23 March 2011, Les Sisters Southern Kitchen

Traditional Cajun cuisine was originated from Southern France. The British migrated to US and bring this cuisines to the French-Speaking Acadian who lived in Canada and then to Louisiana, USA. The people used the local ingredients, and integrated other style of cuisines together and fuse them to modern Creole cuisine. Both Cajun and Creole cuisines are considered as Southern Cuisine in USA. One well-known "chef" that specialized in this type of cuisine is the Masterchef US winner, Miss Whitney Miller, also known as Pastry Princess. I always follow her blog and she is very talented. She will be a great chef.

Les Sisters Southern Kitchen is amazing. It is located at the small town in California, Chatsworth. This restaurant served fantastic Cajun and Creole Cuisine. According to Zagat Survey, the scoring for food  is 25 and that is quite high. I assume this restaurant served cuisine that deserved such score.

I am always looking forward what I would be dined in the unfamiliar country and cuisine. After my work and training, I had my good friend, GPS with me to take me to the restaurant. As what Zagat Survey describes, the decor of the restaurant was a bit run down. The wall was full of certificates, awards and newspapers cuttings about Les Sisters Southern Kitchen. I was getting more excited for my first Cajun cuisine and hope the restaurant did justice to the cuisine

.

First my starters were Garden Salad and Fried Shrimps. The Garden Salad was fresh, colourful, vibrant and appetizing. My fried shrimps were crispy on the outside, tender and well seasoned in the inside. The oil absorption paper absorbed the oil from the shrimps, I ate them with the special chili sauce and the shrimps were appetizing as well.

Mine entrees were Chicken Jambalaya and Southern Fried Chicken. First the Chicken Jambalaya looked vibrant, spicy and delicious. This dish was well seasoned overall. The rice was cook perfectly, I was able to separate the rice grain by grain. Asian rice are usually stick and meshed, this was due to different of type of rice used by two regions. The chicken was tender, spicy, appetizing, juicy and delicious.

The Southern Fried Chicken was absolutely delicious. The chicken is tender and moist. This was because the chicken was marinated in buttermilk for several hours and then seasoned with salt and pepper and then coated with flour.  The fried chicken was perfectly seasoned. I personally think that this is the most delicious fried chicken in the world. This fried chicken is even better than those in KFC. I will definitely return to Les Sister Southern Kitchen and order this dish again

The service was good, attentive and friendly. The price of food was very reasonable with huge serving.

The address is 21818 Devonshire St, Chatsworth CA 91311     

Tel:(818) 998-0755

The Ultimate Cheesecake Factory on this Planet

19 March 2011, The Cheesecake Factory

If my memory serves me right, my favourite Scottish gourment mentions if I have the opportunity to go to US, I should go to The Cheesecake Factory for a meal. I did not heard him properly and I thought it is a cafe selling coffee and cheese cake.

After training I decided to go there for cheese cake and cappuccino. To my astonishment, The Cheesecake Factory turned out to be a full service restaurant. My first impression outside the building was: it was a fine dining restaurant. My second impression in the restaurant was: the restaurant is a great place for a meal with family. The decoration was cosy, great and attentives service from the waitresses and Maitre-ds. The serving was big for an Asian glutton and it was quite affordable. It costs about USD 30-40 for a good meal.

The Zagat Survey gave The Cheesecake Factory 19 for food. I wonder how accurate the score is. This restaurant always filled with diners most of the time, the food must be great and absolutely delicious. I "sacrificed" myself to witness how accurate Zagat Survey was.

First impression of the menu: a lot of variety of food I could choose from. I thought the best way to read the menu was with a cup of cappuccino and slices of complimentary roti (bread in malay). Every description of the food in the menu looked absolutely delicious and this was definitely not easy for me to choose my starter, entree and dessert. Finally I decided to have Fried Calamari as starter, Filet Mignon Petite as entree and Red Velvet as dessert. The three dishes I ordered were also among the popular food in The Cheesecake Factory, according to my lovely waitress.

The fried calamari (squid) was crispy, not greasy (due to the oil absorbing paper). It was definitely cook perfectly and well seasoned. It was tender with a bit of resistance from the squid. It was tasty with the two sauces, tomatoes and mayonnaise.

Filet Mignon was the most expensive, tender and absolutely delicious meat cut in the beef. It is refereed as tenderloin commonly. It was well seasoned, prefectly seared and very tender. It was absolutely delicious. =) I did not need any side dish to enjoy this steak.

The Red Velvet cheesecake was tasty. The flavour of the cheese was not overpowering the chocolate and yet complement to the flavour of the chocolate. Very very tasty in fact. Definitely a prefect way to end my dinner.

A week later, I returned back to The Cheesecake Factory for my journey of cuisine. This time I ordered Mini Crab Cakes as starter, Steak Diane as entree and The Original Cheesecake as my dessert.

Mini Crab Cakes were well seasoned and tasty. They were always taste delicious with mayonnaise or drips of lemon juice. The only thing I complained so far was the serving was small.

Steak Diane consisted of the filet mignon medallions with sauce from the seasoned juice from the pan that seared the medallions and then flambé with brandy. The steak was served with mesh potato. The dish was absolutely delicious and well seasoned. The only thing I complained that I asked for a rare steak, the cook gave me the medium steak. At the end the steak was return and I was given the correct steak. Great service.

The Original Cheesecake was absolutely delicious and savory. Again a perfect way to end my dining experience in The Cheesecake Factory. After my dinner, I ordered another The Original to enjoy it in my room. ;)

I think The Cheesecake Factory deserved a better rating, just for the cheese cake.

The address can be found at the following website.

http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/Locations/locations

Everything Cooks Fresh

17 March 2011, Chatsworth, California

It is my 6th day in California, life is started to get a bit bored. I attended training in the daytime, and return to the hotel to have a good rest as I still suffered from jet lag. That day the training ended at 3pm and I have time to do some grocery shopping. So I decided to cook tonight.

The dinner was Angel Hair Pasta with Seared Pork Chop. First I seasoned my pork chop with salt, black pepper and garlic. Then I seared the meat in the hot pan with extra virgin olive oil. I also added some butter to the hot pan and baste.

After I seared my pork chop, I poured most of the oil from the pan and I will use the remaining oil for my angel hair pasta. I cooked my angel hair pasta around 9 minutes in a boiling water. I removed my angel hair pasta from the boiling water and cooled it with cold water to stop the cooking process. I added a bit of extra virgin oil in the pasta to prevent them from sticking to each other. I reheat my pan and the remaining oil from the pork chop, I sautéed my mixed vegetables and added in tomato sauce to my pan. Once I saw my tomato paste was boiling, I added in my angel hair pasta into the pan and mixed them together with the tomato sauce and mixed vegetables. Last but not least I plated my pork chop on top on the angel hair pasta in the plate to make it more presentable.

The dish was delicious, the angel hair pasta was cooked till perfection and the pork chop was seasoned correct. The outer layer of the meat was crispy. I fall in love with this dish and I recooked it for more than six times in California.

On the way to LA

12 March 2011, Singapore Airlines flight to Los Angeloes

Thanks to my new company, I have a chance to fly to LA by business class. I heard that I should able to taste Gordon Ramsay's dishes in the flight. However due to the popular responds from the other passengers on the same flight, his Seared Black Cod with White Bean-Lobster Stew with Fish Veloute and Aparagus were "out of stock". 

The starter was Prawn with Nicoise Salad. It was sauteed prawns with potato, green beans, olives, quail eggs, cherry tomatoes and marche lettuce served with citrus vinaigrette. It was fresh, refreshing, colourful and appetizing. It was definitely a good way to start a meal.

The entree was Braised Chicken Thigh in Shiraz red wine, sauteed spinach, roasted baby carrot and garlic meshed potatoes. The thigh was well seasoned, moisted and delicious. The only thing I did not like was the presentation of the dish was a bit dull. The dish was tasty, but the presentation of the dish was a letdown. Brighter colours of ingredients should be used to make the chicken "alive" again. Probably mixed vegetable should be used instead of carrots.

The desert was the Vanilla Caramel Brownie Ice Cream. Simple, yet absolutely delicious. It was a prefect way to end my lunch.

For my dinner in the flight, I had Antipasto plate with marinated scallops, parma with endive, and tomato mozzarella. Again the dish was colourful, fresh and appetizing. Nothing less from Singapore Airlines.

The entree was awesome. It was Chicken Roulade in Hot and Sour sauce, Spinach Tofu with mushroom and steam rice. It was created by one of the very best chef from Singapore, Chef Sam Leong. The spinach tofu was moist and delicious, both tofu and spinach complemented well together. The chicken roulade was crispy from the outside, yet wet and tender from the inside. The hot and sour sauce was definitely the sauce for the roulade, both ingredients definitely matched well together. However it will be nice if SIA could changed the steamed rice to angel hair pasta.

Last but not least was Baked Cheesecake with Cherry Compote. Again it was delicious and end the meal perfectly.