Fuzio Bar & Ristorante, Jalan Berangan

WL & I craved for a fantastic dinner for Valentine's Day but no wanting burn a hole in the pocket. All thanks to Groupon, he bought a voucher to dine at Fuzio Bar & Ristorante at Jalan Berangan, KL. It wasn't all that pretty driving to KL especially on a rainy Friday evening because we didn't want to get caught with a busy crowd on the actual day.

The restaurant was peaceful when we arrive even though there were a few tables occupied. Me likey! As soon as we took our seats, the waitress served us focaccia & started taking our orders. A romantic dinner ain't complete without a glass of wine. So, we ordered white wine because it is less strong for a lousy drinker like me. We were really hungry & quickly asked for our soup to be served quickly.

The soup was rich in flavour & came with good amount of seafood. This delicious soup kickstarted our appetite for the night.

Our first main is linguine seafood cooked in white wine sauce. Indeed using white wine in cooking really helps to elevate the flavour, brings balance & the right amount of acidity to any dish. Particularly in this pasta dish, the white wine blocked away the "fishy" odour or taste that we would expect from sea produce. No doubt the seafood was fresh but the hint of alcohol brought about an enjoyable eating experience.

WL was raving about the chicken skewer he had at the restaurant previously & ordered for me to try. I was pleasantly surprised how juicy & tender the chicken was even after being cooked on a hot grill. It's officially my favourite dish of this restaurant.

The next main is a funghi pizza - a combination of tomato sauce, mozzarella, button mushroom & oregano. I always have a thing for Italian pizza & this dish was spot on. Crust was thin & crispy, button mushroom was succulent. A simple pizza, yet delectable.

It wasn't WL's first time dining at Fuzio & so he insisted that I should try the more expensive dish. I let him decide our last dish. Surely he has impeccable taste, for he asked for baked cod fish. One bite & all I could blurt out was the word, WOW. This masterpiece was a concoction of flavours created with teriyaki sauce, chickpea & young papaya salad. Even more surprising was the mashed chickpea being more addictive than the fish itself. Simply brilliant!

I would definitely visit Fuzio again in the future. For a normal dine-in, it is an expensive affair. For special occasions, I would highly recommend this restaurant for it's worth every dollar spent on pampering your tummy. Rating 4.7 out of 5. Just beware of jockeys who help park your cars. They stole coins from WL's car.

Address:

29, Jalan Berangan

50200 Kuala Lumpur.

Contact:

03-2110 0303

Opening Hours:

Mondays to Sundays 5:00pm - 1:00am

Double Valentines

This year on Valentine's Day had been quite special because we celebrated TWICE. Haha, that's right. There wasn't a particular reason for doing so - pure spontaneity I would say. We were supposed to dine at Ben's Publika last Saturday but due to my busy schedule, I totally forgot to made reservation. My bad =(

So, we ended up eating at Windmill Restaurant at Subang Jaya just opposite Grand Dorsett. Although it was established for quite a while, it was my first time dining there. Just by looking at the decor & furniture shows you clearly how old the restaurant is.

We picked our choice of dishes & as soon as it arrived, the dishes looked appetising & promising.

However, we were disappointed because the ingredients weren't fresh & the taste was so-so. According to WL, the standard has deteriorated from the last time he dined several years ago. Sad =(

On 14 February, my office was in a lovey-dovey mood when one of our creative agencies sent out heart-shaped balloons to all the ladies as part of publicity act to promote their new ground activation service.

We decided to try our luck again by calling Ben's Publika but to no avail because they were fully booked again. Since I was eager to eat desserts for our Valentine's celebration, we headed to Food Foundry. We ordered Chicken Cordon Bleu, Aglio Olio Pasta, Duck Confit with Crepe & an appetiser that I couldn't remember the name. It turned out we had to wait for more than 30 mins to be served & the worse had yet to come.

The food tasted awful - pasta was too soggy & wet, the duck confit was dry & too small a portion. The appetiser turned soggy & rancid too quickly. WL's Chicken Cordon Bleu was rough & stiff, not even as tender as we expected.

To complete our dinner, we ordered a slice of Vanilla Mille Crepe that everyone was raving about at Food Foundry. Thankfully, the cream is light & the sweetness is just nice...but the texture is rather dry. I'd have to admit that the dessert is only the possibly edible food out of their whole menu.

Okay, maybe I'm biased as I haven't tried most of the offerings. But c'mon, just a few dishes already gave such bad impression. How do you expect that we would even consider returning for the next round? Seems like this year's celebration is full of bad food & poor service. And despite not showering each other with Valentine's gifts, me & WL still enjoyed each other's company. I think that's most important, other things do not matter anymore...

Love you babe! Happy Valentine's Day~ XOXO

Celebrating love is never too late

You know it's the time of the year (again) when shops everywhere are starting to stock up on roses & gifts. It's the day when couples come together to celebrate love. Valentine's Day was on Monday, a working weekday which made it difficult for us to arrange dinner. Most restaurants were full & from past experience, the menu is usually limited to Valentine's Day set dinners which is extremely pricey.

WL & I decided to postpone our private dinner to Friday in order to avoid the crowd. We chose to dine at WIP, one of the restaurants cum bar at Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC). As expected, the crowd started to build up quickly at the eateries at BSC on a Friday night. When we arrived, we were ushered to our reserved table at the corner of the restaurant. The ambient still feels warm & mellow despite the dim lights that casted dark shadows in the interior.

WIP's food menu consist of a diverse variety ranging from Western & Italian to Asian & Indian dishes. We thought it would be safer to order the usual & started of with a bowl of mushroom soup. Our favourite~ =)

Each of us ordered a main course - Chicken Corden Bleu for WL, Coastal Aglio Olio for me. And a third dish called Sake San pizza for sharing.

WL's selection was pretty unique cuz it combines both the savoury chicken ham & slightly salty cheesey flavour. Despite using chicken breast, the meat was surprisingly tender & quite juicy but lesser fat. A plus point for those avoiding oily meat. My pasta dish was uber awesome! The spaghetti was cooked al dente & the olive oil used was just nice to give its aromatic flavour. The seafood was superbly fresh & the chilli flakes really spiced up my taste buds. My only complain was it was a little too spicy for my liking. But then again, it wouldn't matter if you're a spicy lover. The pizza was wonderful too for its fresh salmon & unique taste. However, the presentation was messy & I felt this should be improved soon.

Next, we ordered some alcohol for the heck of it cuz it seemed awkward to not have one when all the tables have at least a glass or a bottle of alcohol. WL called for a glass of Classic Mojito...

...while I got myself a Lynchburg Lemonade.

Being the first time drinking a cocktail concoction, my cocktail turned out to be a tad too strong. It got me lying on the table within 30 minutes, head feeling dizzy & the urge to throw up anytime soon.

Well? I rushed to the washroom to puke anyways. :/ The night turned out to be a memorable one minus my tipsy moments. Food was amazing but pricey as expected. The ambience is not bad but it can be quite noisy at times. For me, I felt it was a little too noisy to have a private conversation cuz the fairly large crowd is busy chattering away, clinking glasses to glasses of beer, bubbly, wine, you name it.

It was a wonderful night well spent with WL. We still had to deal with the growing crowd at BSC cuz it's one of the "it" chillout location but we avoided the crazy crowd on the actual Valentine's Day. Last but not least, Happy Valentine's Day to my beloved WL! It's our 3rd time celebrating it & more to come. Love you~ *hugs & kisses*

Roaring Tiger is here to usher New Year & Valentine's Day

Just after slightly more than a month, the year of the Tiger is here! For the first time (or at least in my life), the Lunar New Year coincides with Valentine's Day. This day is special in some ways as it doesn't happen in another 40 years or so. I didn't want any flowers this year even though WL was planning to give me a smaller bouquet as a gesture to signify our 2nd Valentine's celebration.

As for CNY, this year is a different kind of celebration for my family as compared to previous years - without grandpa's presence. Grandpa's untimely incident didn't allow him to recover in time; return home & to usher the new year with us. We still continued with our customs of reunion dinner & prayers. After that, we headed to the hospital to greet him. It was late at night by the time arrived & he was seen sleeping soundly. He didn't respond much when we called mainly because he was exhausted from the physiotherapy during the day.

Seeing him bedridden & missing out the fun at home made us disheartened. I'm sure anyone who have gone through this can truly understand what we're feeling right now.

But there's nothing we can do. Only time can tell. Meanwhile, Happy Chinese New Year & Valentine's to all of you. Have a prosperous & roaring new year ahead!