Jun 13, 2010

A self-confessed food critic says...

I hate western food joints in KL!

Forgive me to suddenly into turn an emotional food critic wannabe, but this is about my sentiment about western food in Kuala Lumpur. One word - pretentious. I find it amusing (read: mind boggling) why people glorify 'western' food. I'm talking about the ones sold at fancy or "trying to look fancy" restaurants infesting Kuala Lumpur food scene.

It's quite disappointing to find that I have eaten at quite a number of restaurants / cafes / foodstalls with 'western' food in their menu but to no avail I have not found a single place with the acceptable quality in taste or authenticity which suits the pricing.

I felt so cheated when I was at this self-proclaimed  Italian restaurant 'Milano', nested in the middle of walkways in One Utama, where I innocently tried their carbonara alfredo. For a second I thought I was eating a plate of plastic pasta with cheap cheesy soup (straight from the can I'm 99% sure) and a sprinkle, yes you read that right, of sliced mushrooms. No, I did not try the real dish with carbonara when I was in Milan, but I can tell you the 'Milano' version is far from good.

 Another good example of western food done improperly is this salad literally drenched in olive oil. And the leaves are not even fresh! Price-wise - trust me, it's pricey.

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A substantial amount of olive oil has been poured over this salad

But local food, on the other hand, should be celebrated and introduced at bigger restaurants. I know you little stingy bastards out there who rather splurge on so-called western food (but low in quality) rather than spending a little more on great tasting (and 100% authentic) murtabak.

Case in point...

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Murtabak and mojito

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  Cucur udang avec ma soeur and my nephew

Murtabak raja and cucur udang from MUSA Cafe. I especially like how this seemingly western oriented fashion boutique and cafe actually serves this kind of cuisine. And they are pretty delicious I tells ya. Yes, mojito and murtabak is a rather peculiar combo but in this case I think it kind of works for my taste buds.

Just a thought...local TV dramas portraying a guy having dinner with his girlfriend at this distastefully decorated restaurant with beef steak and spaghetti plus meat balls. Another movie having people with fresh (or cordial) orange juice on their garden tables. Familiar with these scenes?

P/S: Nasi goreng USA is not western cuisine!




2 comments:

angelus_izika said...

Nasi lemak will ALWAYS triumph on comparison to some "spaghetti carbonara" ..LOLZ

fadly said...

are you sure you went to halal milano restaurant? because carbonara alfredo use bacon in their dish with cheese cream and butter to thicken the soup.

either way, i do agree that western foods in malaysia are so overrated. They don't even know how to develops the taste and texture and a lot of them use processed ingredients, such an insult to our country that has abundant of fresh ingredients and herbs all year long.

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