Yeast Bistronomy @ Bangsar

Bonjour!  After having had some awesome Spanish food at Mercat Barcelona Gastrobar in my previous outing with friends, I thought I'd have some (yes, you've guessed it) French food for a change.  So, Yeast Bistronomy @ Bangsar was where my friend and I ended up.

With a typical Parisian bistro feel and a French-styled white and black checkered floor, this quaint little bakery and bistro has a casual vibe with an outdoor patio for you to enjoy your meal in a laidback ambiance. Established since 2012 as a boulangerie and pattiserie, it has built its reputation to garner a good rating over the years (let's see if I concur with the ratings). ^_~  Love the open kitchen concept inside...and the absolutely beautiful hanging copper pans (Do they cook with those or they're just part of the decor?  I'd love to take one home...hee..hee).

Our meal began with some complimentary (in-house) bread (probably a combination of French sourdough, baguette and farmer's bread?) served with butter (French, I hope...lol).  Chewy, crusty and delicious, I wish I could finish them (but we couldn't).

Starting off with an absolute favourite, a must-have for me, is the Escargots a la Bourguignonne @ RM25, a French delicacy of gourmet snails.  If you love the mollusc family like cockles, clams and oysters, then you won't be squeamish about eating snails.  The dish features 6 baked escargots with shimeji mushrooms, garlic and parsley butter.

I can't say I tasted shimeji mushrooms but you can definitely taste (and see) the herbed butter.  The cooking of these French snails was not like the usual preparation I've had at other places where you'd find them in an intensely flavoured garlicky sauce.  Here you'll bite into tiny pieces of garlic found along with the snails.

What was also different in the preparation of these snails, other than eating them for the first time out of their shells (which was even better!), was the tiny piece of crispy something (almost like a cheese crisp) covering the snails.  I believe it's possibly a piece of buttered breadcrumbs, infused with garlic and parsley (maybe even some cheese?), which was then baked to crispy perfection.  Eaten together with the tender, lightly chewy snails, the ensemble offered an incredible burst of textures and flavours.  Gloriously tasty, absolutely addictive...and best not shared...hehe (I can eat a dozen of these on my own)! ^.^

Our next appetiser for sharing was the Crab Cakes @ RM36 served with garlic aioli and a rather chunky citrus vinaigrette (can't remember tasting what were the exact components though since there was so little of it but I do remember it was nicely refreshing) together with some fresh greens (of lettuce, frisee, arugula, purple cabbage and cherry tomatoes).  When the dish arrived, I noticed there were 3 pieces of what looked more like crab balls than crab cakes (as in shaped like patties) that I was expecting.

Taste wise, it was just acceptable, not something special that would warrant a repeat order.  Truth be told, I was expecting to see chunks of fresh crab meat in the crab cakes (I think I wasn't expecting too much based on the price point of RM12 a piece, right?).  But what I got was finely shredded crabmeat instead (you know, like those we get in a packet from the supermarkets together with fake sharksfin that we would use to cook crabmeat and sharksfin soup or omelette at home...haha).  Hmmm, not quite the crab cakes I was hoping for.

For mains, I couldn't resist ordering the highly popular French dish of Boeuf (or Beef) Bourgignon @ RM78 which has been a signature dish of theirs since 2012.  The dish is made up thick chunks of prime-cut beef braised in a red wine sauce served with pearl onions and tender glazed carrots over a bed of smooth celeriac puree and finished with crispy sweet onions and some micro greens.

There were 3 sizeable chunks of beef that were braised to tender perfection sitting atop a creamy, fluffy celeriac puree.  If not for the description of celeriac on the menu, I would have easily mistaken it for a potato mash.  I welcome a celeriac mash since it's a healthier lower-carb alternative to potato (+ they do taste almost similar).

This is a classic recipe that's both hearty and authentic in flavours.  The red wine reduction sauce was rich with an immense complexity of flavours.  Look just how unbelievably velvety and shiny the sauce is. ^o^  I've to say this beef bourgignon was way better tasting than the one we had at Cork & Cleaver.  If you want to enjoy a proper beef bourgignon, there's no other place to have it really than at a place that specialises in French cooking.

Our other main was the quintessential French dish of Confit de Canard @ RM40 that's a firm favourite with many.  It's confit of crispy duck leg served on a bed of potato wedges and caramelised onions with a side of salad greens and some crispy onions together with a delicious sauce that binds everything together.

Duck confit is a classic French preparation where the duck leg is cooked in duck fat at a low temperature for a long time (low and slow) to render the meat absolutely tender while infusing it with fat and flavour.

The duck skin was expertly finished to crispy perfection...it was just out-of-this-world crispy on the outside. We decided to add on another well-known delicacy in French cuisine, foie gras @ RM32 coz I have this thing for livers (be it pork, chicken or duck liver, except beef liver...lol).  The foie gras which was well seared with great grill marks was incredibly rich and creamy but probably not so worth it for such a tiny piece (since it's such an expensive ingredient). >_<

For drinks, we had Fresh Orange Juice @ RM14 and a Virgin Mojito also @ RM14.  As with any place offering traditional French cuisine, you can bet they'll be equally adapt at making fantastic French pastries but my friend and I were already bursting at the seams after two meaty main courses and just didn't have any stomach space left for desserts.  Merci beaucoup! ^_~

My Personal Opinion

When one thinks of French food, a few popular French dishes comes to mind immediately like French onion soup, bouillabaisse (seafood stew), ratatouille (vegetable stew), croque-monsieur/madame (sandwich with ham and cheese), boeuf bourguignon (beef stew), coq au vin (wine braised chicken stew), fish en papillote (baked fish wrapped in paper), lamb shank, duck confit, salad nicoise, escargots (snails), champignons (mushrooms), charcuterie (meat and cheese board), steak-frites and foie gras along with some of the finest French patisserie (and who can forget the spectacle of a flambeed crepe suzette).

I've had the privilege of trying/eating most of them, some of which I'm happy to call my perennial favourites.....and that's why French food (along with Spanish food) ranks at the top of my list of favourites when it comes to western or European cuisine.  And the selections we had here (other than the crab cakes) were simply magnifique too! ;)

If you've not had French food before, I implore you to try especially if you love tender, braised meat in red wine sauce washed down with a glass of (the finest) red wine....lol!  I may not drink much red wine but I certainly enjoy dishes made with red wine.  If you must have escargots and beef bourgignon, there's no other place to enjoy them other than by one expertly experienced in fine French cooking techniques.  Bon Appetit! ^o^

Yeast Bistronomy

24G Jalan Telawi 2

Bangsar

59100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2281 0118

Eatomo @ Bangsar

Eatomo @ Bangsar is one of our favourite places for good tasting, affordable and great value Japanese food.  And just like Christmas, we had one of our Chinese New Year meals here.

I like that I can easily get a table during the festive period since Japanese cuisine isn't usually on people's minds when it comes to a CNY meal (+ we grew tired of indulging in too much Chinese food).  By the way, did you notice the two salmon 'caught' in the fishing net above?  I thought it was rather cute.

First thing I noticed on the menu was a dish synonymous with CNY....what else but the Eatomo Yee Sang at RM78 (for regular) and RM98 (for large) which we chose not to have.  The photos below were from two separate visits.

A starter I've always wanted to try is the Bloody Mary Oyster Shooter @ RM13.90 with a Fine de Claire oyster (FDC4) or option for a larger oyster (FDC1) @ RM18.90 in a house-made tomato-based cocktail sauce (note that a FDC1 oyster is RM8.90 and a FDC4 is RM13.90 on its own, so that means the cocktail shooter costs an extra RM5).  Don't let the name Bloody Mary fool you as this one is safe to slurp (even for those who are under age to drink!) since this is a tomato-based cocktail.  I've always been curious about an oyster shooter but couldn't try since a shot of vodka is involved until I found this one.  So, this was my first oyster shooter...albeit a non-alcoholic one.

Now, how do one go about eating an oyster shooter?  Well, if the oyster was served in the shot glass, that'd be easy...just slurp it up! ;)  But since it was served atop the shot glass and the tomato-based sauce was filled right to the brim, I sipped the briny 'liquor' (or juice) from the oyster first to prevent the shot glass from overflowing when I put the oyster in later.  The tomato juice was bright and had a slightly salty aftertaste when I slurped the whole thing into my mouth.  Pretty delicious way to eat an oyster.  Now, did I eat this the right way?...kekeke! ^_~

Another addictive starter (which we had before...and continues to order every time we're here) is the Enoki Fries Basket @ RM9.90 that's super crispy and worth every cent.

I'm impressed at just how they're able to get the well seasoned batter to such a crisp level.  Your kids will give you extra hugs and kisses for ordering this.  And sometimes, one is just not enough! :P

After trying the Mentaiko Mozza Fries @ RM16.90 for the first time on our last visit, (like Sean) we were hooked.  Who wouldn't when the perfectly cooked, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, gourmet fries are laced with lots of savoury and smoky-flavoured mentaiko (and oh, there was some mozzarella cheese too).

As usual, no visit to Eatomo is complete without ordering one of our must-haves, the Wok-Fired Spicy Gyutandon @ RM21.90.  This time we even went overboard and doubled the beef tongue for an additional RM15 until we can't even see the rice underneath...hehehe! ;)  You can also add on an extra rice for a more substantial meal (or share the dish between two).

Hey, but enough is enough.  Let's try the Wok-Fired Spicy Brisket Bowl @ RM19.90 instead for a change. After all, it's the exact same recipe (as the beef tongue) in their house special sauce with a nice kick of heat from the chillies, finished with a sprinkling of fragrant fried garlic and a hint of freshness from the chopped spring onions.

The Australian prime beef brisket was very thinly sliced (with just a little fat on it) rendering it ultimately tender.  I ended up preferring this to the beef tongue for its soft and tender bite.  There you go!  It pays to try something new, it might just surprise you.

If beef isn't your thing (not that it is), order the Wok-Fired Spicy Chicken Don instead @ RM14.90.  This was our first time having this...everything's the same except you get thinly sliced chicken and some Japanese cucumbers.  It has a similar taste as the beef don except it's done with chicken.  Of course, I prefer the beef version.

If you have a really good appetite and one bowl is not enough, you can consider the Mentaiko-Seared Tamadon as your add-on option.

At an easy-on-the-pocket price of RM14.90, it's bound to fill even the heftiest of appetites as a second donburi.  And if you happen to have a bottomless stomach, you can even have a third....heheh, just kidding! ^_*

My Personal Opinion

As always, another two really satisfying visits.....would there be any other outcome?  Hehehe! ^_~

Eatomo Food Co
No 21 Jalan Telawi 2
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2202 3280

Eatomo @ Bangsar

Oh no!  It's Chinese New Year already and I've still not posted what we ate over Christmas...kekeke! :D  Well, we were back to Eatomo @ Bangsar again!  That's a clever calculated option to choose Japanese over steakhouses during Christmas season if you want find a table easily without having to book in advance.

Gee, the tree looked rather pathetic with scant decorations and no lights.  We tried a couple of new dishes on this visit which I thought I'd share with you.

First, let's get our usual order out of the way, shall we? ;)  What else but the Wok-Fired Spicy Gyutandon @ RM21.90 of tender sliced beef tongue spiced with fresh cut red and green chillies and those tiny heat missiles of green bird's eye chillies.  This time, though, they seemed to have dial it down just a little with less of the fiery missiles which I preferred (otherwise we'd be busy picking out some of those little suckers).

I remember having the California Poke Bowl (and loving it) during my very first visit to Eatomo.  So, this time I thought I'd give another poke bowl a try, a northern-inspired Pokelantan Bowl @ RM21.90 with yellowfin tuna and butterfish tossed in zesty cili padi and fresh lime marinade topped with crispy salmon skin and kerisik gula melaka.

Unfortunately, I wasn't loving this poke bowl as much.  I felt there was just too much going on in the bowl. Plus there was way too much sauce until it became a bit too overpowering.  There was a creamy green sauce (which I believe is avocado guacamole) and also a spicy mayo sauce.  And what made it worse was that all these were mixed with an overly big bowl of mushy sushi rice that day (I think the chef or his little chefs were having an off day...bungled the cooking of the sushi rice and a bit too heavy-handed with the sauce).

So far, I've tried two (out of four flavours) of their Seafood Pots, Clams in Lemon Butter Garlic and Mixed Seafood in Thai Coconut Chilli, so this is the third, Clams in Spicy Cajun Pan Roast @ RM33.90 in a Louisiana-inspired blend of spicy cajun, garlic, pomodoro (or basic tomato) cream sauce.

The clams, this time round, weren't as fresh as I'd like them to be compared to the previous two times I've had it.  They also seemed a little overcooked to me judging by how the sauce was drying up around the edge of the pan.

The sauce consistency was fairly thick (as a pomodoro sauce should be), brought about by lots of onions, tomatoes, garlic and cream.

It had that slightly tangy tomato-ey flavour to it and was nicely flavoured with cajun seasoning of probably paprika, cayenne, bay leaves and coriander.  It was pleasant enough but not my top choice.  The fourth and final flavour is the Belgian Cream Curry which I don't think I'll be trying as I'm not that interested in (or convinced of) a western-style curry. :P

Sides for this dish are either Calrose Rice, Gourmet Fries or slices of toasted French Bread which we picked as they would be great for soaking up the plentiful sauce.  Now that I've had the chance to try three, my pick is the lemon, butter and garlic sauce by a country mile.

Luckily, the Mentaiko Mozza Fries @ RM16.90 saved the day.  These were their gourmet fries with mozzarella cheese topped with seared spicy mentaiko.

They were highly addictive....and so good! ^o^  I was pleasantly surprised that the taste of smoky, charred, creamy mentaiko was more prevalent than the cheese which is a definite plus for me...hee..hee! ^_~

My Personal Opinion

This was probably my least favourite experience at Eatomo amongst my many good experiences...and since the good outweighs the bad, it'll still remain as our go-to place for Japanese and Japanese fusion food.

It's not that the food I ate this round wasn't good, let's just say they aren't my preferred choices.  As I go through more and more dishes in the menu, I can now eliminate some dishes that don't rock my world...and that would be the pokelantan bowl, uni udon and seafood pots in spicy cajun and Thai coconut chilli sauce...for now! ^_~

Eatomo Food Co
No 21 Jalan Telawi 2
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2202 3280

Eatomo @ Bangsar

Since making our first visit to Eatomo @ Bangsar to try this branch of Eatomo's, we have fallen in love with this branch more than the one we used to visit at Taman Desa.

Even when parking isn't as easy to find as in Taman Desa!  But we prefer the ambience here, so I think this is going to be the start of a long and beautiful 'friendship'....kekeke! ;)

For some light bites, start with the Salmon Sashimi (Regular) @ RM19.90 (RM37.90 for large) with eight thick slices of fresh Norwegian salmon.

The terrifically fresh salmon was served with ultra-thin slices of pickled fresh ginger and a wedge of lemon.

Accompanied by condiments of wasabi and soy for the sashimi for those who need it (I don't).  The soy sauce always come in super cute cat-like containers.

Was there any doubt that we would order one of our favourites when we're here...and that's the Wok-Fired Spicy Gyutandon @ RM21.90 that needs no introduction of prime beef tongue in a spicy shoyu garlic sauce with lots of fresh chillies.  Great for those who want to spice up their lives...hahaha! :O

Another not-to-be-missed is the unbelievably-priced, not to mention tasty, Mentaiko-Seared Tamadon @ RM14.90 featuring four thick slices of fluffy-sweet tamago.  Have to admit the searing wasn't as well done as the Taman Desa branch as this one was only lightly torched but I did appreciate the generous lashings of savoury-creamy-yummy mentaiko though.

All the rice bowls come with a free miso soup.

Ok, enough with the same old, same old dishes already. >_<  On this visit, we did try something new...another one of their made-to-order seafood pots of Mixed Seafood (Regular) @ RM42.90 (RM68.90 for double) in Thai-style coconut chilli sauce.

The mixed seafood pot contained 1.25 lbs of seafood made up of juicy-firm tiger prawns, mussels, moreish clams, scallops and tender Pacific halibut.  They were all super fresh and absolutely delicious.

The Thai-inspired coconut chilli sauce was more creamy than spicy with full flavours of santan (coconut milk) coming through.  The added flavour and aroma of lemongrass, onions, ginger, chillies, Chinese coriander and fresh lime made the sauce vibrantly appetising.  I've now tried two of the four sauces for the seafood pots but I certainly preferred the lemon butter garlic sauce with clams I had on a previous visit (I guess the freshness and tangy flavours of the lemon appealed to me more).

The dish comes with a default side of calrose rice though you could change it to another side of your choice such as gourmet fries or French bread.  But I think it's the perfect side to drench the rice with the slightly spicy coconut sauce for a fragrant santan-infused concoction.

I like that their seafood pots come served in a sizzling cast-iron pot which helps to retain heat and keep the seafood warm throughout for an even more satisfying meal.

Default drink as always...Green Tea (Cold or Hot) @ RM2.90 that's refillable.  We were given some discount vouchers by GrabFood and DeliverEat only to realise they don't deliver to our address when we tried to use them....T_T

My Personal Opinion

I've always come away with a truly satisfying experience in all my visits to Eatomo.  The cooked-to-order seafood pots are a must-try as the seafood is undeniably fresh and the sauces assuredly delish.

There is more on the menu I want to explore, so I guess there'll be more visits in the future then. ^_~

Eatomo Food Co
No 21 Jalan Telawi 2
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2202 3280