WATERMARK Makes Its Mark!

Going to this place, 'We Aim To Eat Ravenously Macam A Rich King'. Now that not only spells our first dining experience in Watermark but yes we were indeed chowing down on food fit for a King!

After a few failed attempts to dine here, we finally got to reserve a table for our weekday dinner.  

A cosy place with a feel of European bistro serving comfort food. 

I love how this place fully utilizes the indoor and outdoor (al fresco) area of this corner lot to maximize the seating arrangement, and apart from a small 6-seater private dining area, I personally think we've got the next best spot in the restaurant. 

A simple no fancy-schmancy-looking menu for each patron. A picture paints a thousand words (and lots of demands) when my kids are given a menu to order from. 

I started off with their Cream of Mushroom Soup (RM 12) and that little floating thing in the middle is called a 'Cheese Sushi' (coz it's shaped like a sushi perhaps?). This little bowl of foamy soup was rich yet light, pungent yet subtle. Not making sense here but hands down, one of the best mushroom soups i've had. My only wish was to be able to bite into tiny chopped-up mushrooms for flavour enhancement.  

What's soup without old-fashioned Garlic bread eh? Grilled to perfection - super crispy exterior with an omg soft buttery middle. Everyone should start grilling their garlic bread from now on, man! 

At RM 8 for just 5 pieces, it got all of us swooping down like a hawk on the last piece of bread.  

 

The chef decided not to make me my Smoked Salmon Benedict (RM 17), claiming that the eggs in their possession were not as fresh as they had intended for their eggs benedict, so we substituted that dish with their Grilled Focaccia with turkey ham, tomato and melted cheese (RM 12). I'm not a fan of turkey or ham nor both combined, but i still found this pleasantly crispy and cheesy. A nice touch of greenery (lettuce perhaps?) to this dish would have been lovelier. 😊 

Now comes the mains or 'comfort food' as listed in their menu. But frankly speaking, everything served so far has been very comforting to me. haha. 

This is Chicken Whole Leg Confit served with Potato Ratatouille and white pepper sauce (RM 18). Not sure if confit includes deep-frying but i wish they didn't cover the beautiful colors displayed on the plate by smothering more than half of this dish with the white sauce.

Another star of the night was their Salmon Fillet (RM 26), a beautifully-portioned crispy skinned salmon with moist flaky meat. YES they got the skin crisped to perfection but NOOO, why did they have to serve it skin down? I very pantang if my crispy skin is kissing something else and not facing up to the sky. Why hide the beauty of the golden skin, unless it's burnt or torn or not crisped-up properly.   

The accompanying crispy vegetable ravioli, mashed eggplant and meuniere sauce was a nice unique concoction compared to other salmon fillet's i've had. The meuniere sauce seems to be a mixture of butter, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and lemon and i love it's tanginess!

Watermark dropped the bomb again with their Cherry Tomato & Mussels Spaghetti (RM 19). I have nothing but 100% praises for this dish as bite after bite tickles all my senses. I love all the elements in it - from the bursting cherry tomatoes (i only like eating them this way!) to the fresh greens (menu says basil but i thought it tasted like baby spinach) to their tender baby mussels (deshelled, hallelujah!) to their superb garlic white wine and kombu stock reduction that made every spoonful taste like the ocean. In short, everything just shouts umami with this dish.     

So as not to take up too much stomach space, we ordered just one Pineapple Tea (RM 8). It is strong iced tea served with crushed pineapple, a refreshing and fruity punch for pineapple lovers.   

So here i thought i'd share their simple yet wholesome menu. There is definitely something for everyone. 

Here are their array of desserts that I never got to try as I'm not a cow with four stomachs. 

I can't wait to try their cakes one day, which i hope aren't too sweet, just as i find their dishes not too salty and perfect for my palate.  

Only their 'downstairs' area where we dined is air-conditioned. The ground level areas are 'opened' but definitely more happening as you can view the kitchen and behind-the-counter hustle and bustle. 

I would surely be back as there were just not enough mouths to feed the many other dishes I wanted to try. Plus I have the luxury of this joint being located less than 500m away from my residence.  😂

Hence please wait for the sequel of this posting where I hope to review their much-talked-about Lamb Shank (out of stock that day... sob)  

I would never have discovered Watermark nestled in this very quiet dead-end corner if i wasn't a Pokemon Go player wanting to bring down a gym nearby. LOL. 

If not for social media or word of mouth, one could also chance upon this restaurant while visiting the late P Ramlee's former house nearby (aka P Ramlee's Memorial House).    

'X' marks the spot

What can i say but Watermark has truly made a mark for itself. With their always-packed occupancy (especially on weekends and public holidays), advanced reservations are a MUST! Parking is not a problem. With just a little bit of walking, customers park their cars along the road of this residential area foc. 

Nom-nom place 💨 Watermark Restaurant

Waze me at        💨 No 22, Jalan Mawar, Taman P. Ramlee, 53000, Setapak

Call for reservations 💨 +6018-282 7225

Bon Appetit!

Baan PhadThai (for PhadThai lovers only)

The story goes that one day, i decided to check out the newly opened Baan Phadthai in Pavilion which is hyped to be the next new sensation in town, since its Bangkok outlet was awarded the coveted Bib Gourmand by Michelin back in 2018 (and has since received the award yearly up till 2022). ("Good to Know" : Bib Gourmands which translates to 'Gourmet Bibs' are awarded to restaurants that offer what Michelin deems to be of good quality and good value). SO let's see.... 

The interior decor is pretty simple and diners have the choice to dine inside or outside (if you do not mind passers-by stealing glances at your food) 

If you are familiar with Pavilion, this new eatery inhabits the location of the now defunct Gravy Baby and prior to that, Tom, Dick & Harry's. Yup, busy walkway right outside its entrance so I'd prefer dining indoors 😀 

Their menu is a simple straightforward two-pager which focuses on phadthai, phadthai and phadthai. Hence, the name of this restaurant. One would be in the wrong place if they are looking to enjoy a myriad of Thai cuisine consisting of tomyam, green curry chicken and Thai fried rice. 👀    

Being first-timers here, as the restaurant usher was explaining to us the recommended dishes, we were quite rudely interrupted by one of her female co-workers (probably her senior/ supervisor) who asked that she return to her role at the front of the restaurant. That was a sour start for us (even before ordering!). The lady then took over to impatiently and uninterestingly explain that they serve phadthai and that all the phadthai are the same, just the topping that makes a difference. Geeesh.. Anyway we scoured through the menu ourselves to finally make our choices.         

Quite a bummer that they were out of the Grilled Beef PhadThai and Tao Hoo Tawt (Deep fried tofu). 

One could choose to enjoy one's phadthai using their shimmery fork and spoon embellished with decorative Thai-inspired design;

...or one could prefer to eat it using a pair of plastic chopsticks inspired by one's neighbourhood char koay teow stall.  

Our drinks were served in a huge classic tin mug, Thai Tee (RM 9) was nice, strong and not overpoweringly sweet whilst my Ginger & Lemongrass Tea (RM 12) was refreshing but rather lacking in the lemongrass and the ginger department. It was a lot for me to finish by myself too.    

This is the PhadThai Kai Yang which is PhadThai with grilled chicken (RM 26), described in detail as stir-fried rice noodle with eggs, peanuts, bean sprouts & chives (raw), tofu, dried shrimp, tamarind sauce and chicken. Crushed dried chillies and peanuts are placed by the side of the dish for those who prefer more 'kick' in their noodles.

Non-spicy version (paler in color)

Spicy (original) version

This below is the PhadThai Poo which is fried with blue crab meat (RM 39). Their noodles texture is just nice and springy to taste, and when eaten together with the raw veggies, the flavours are a palatable blend and not too sweet for me. Quantity-wise, a good portion for a hungry adult. 

But can you tell there's crab meat in this dish?

For the price charged, the chef could have topped the dish with a small heap of crab meat to make the dish more appealing.  

Nice array of extra condiments (ground peanuts too!) for each table.

To replace the absence of their grilled beef, i opted for their Laab Nuea Tawt (Hot & Sour Beef Meatballs), RM 26 which turned out to be these tiny deep fried beef balls with a crunchy (almost hard) exterior and beefy, slightly sourish interior. These balls were sitting amongst a bed of cabbage slices and sticks of raw long beans and cucumber which luckily my daughter happily munched on.      

The finale was I-Tim Kati or Homemade coconut ice cream with Thai condiments (peanuts, condensed milk, sticky rice & fried dhal), RM 15. This was creamy and refreshing, rich with santan - probably my favourite overall. 

Again, this is just a personal take on my dining experience at Baan PhadThai after my curiosity was aroused upon reading the recent articles from food journals and guide on this place. 

Come here only if you are a phadthai fanatic or if you are someone who is as curious as me!  

Nom-nom place 💨Baan PhadThai

Waze me at 💨Level 3, Connection, Pavillion KL

Call for reservations 💨 010-308 0732 (it was just a walk-in for me at noon on a PH)

Kitsuzo Izakaya ... a place for good food and laughter

As much as i love my sate, i'm always on the hunt for a good yakitori place. Perhaps I like to believe that eating chunks of grilled meat (and veggies) from a skewer means i'm getting variation in moderation. An izakaya is THE place for my food on sticks. Izakaya means a Japanese bar serving a variety of snacks and light dishes accompanied by drinks (mainly alcoholic). In my latest exploration of izakaya places (with most of them mushrooming in Hartamas/ Publika/ Solaris area), i found Kitsuzo Izakaya. 

A small little cosy place where you are required to remove your footwear at the entrance and walk past their kitchen (and freezer too!) before heading to your table.  

It was nice of them to reserve quite a spacious tatami room (equipped with sliding doors for privacy) for just the 4 of us. One is free to pose all they want behind closed doors. 

Not to mention, 'Switch' all they want. 

First thing that caught my eye in their menu is this Grilled Lyretail Grouper, which i had hoped to try that night, as part of the promotional set which i had pre-booked earlier. 

But alas, as they were ending their promotional sets, they had ran out of some of the items and hence had to replace my grouper with some other item. 😑

Fried Yufoo (N.P. RM 12.90)

Hiyashi Buta (N.P. RM 13.90). This was kinda bland if not accompanied by the pungent sauce.

Darren staring at my Yuzu Shochu (RM 20), wishing he could have a sip

Shrimp Cucumber (N.P. RM 24)

Fried Prawn (N.P. RM 12.90)

The fried tiger prawn was indeed succulent and meaty!

Fried Udon with Pork (N.P. RM 24.90) - 2 thumbs up for top-notch flavour and udon texture!

Skewers galore.....! Shitake (N.P. RM 10) + Eringi mushroom (N.P. RM 10) + Hotate (N.P. RM 16) for 2 sticks each. Mushrooms were cooked to perfection with just the right earthy, slightly woodsy umami. 

Tiger prawn (N.P. RM 12) + Pork Belly (N.P. RM 16) + Chicken Wings (N.P. RM 14) for 2 sticks each. My fave was the pork belly, dun mind the amount of fat on it making it crispy on the outside yet still maintaining the juiciness of the meat. 

Garlic Fried Rice (N.P. RM 12.90) - flavourful though my personal preference would be 'more garlic please?"

At this point of time, i was already stuffed from the food placed in front of us. Yet it did not stop me from ordering another 2 sticks of their irresistible pork belly and pork cheeks (for sharing, mind you) 

We finally got served this piece of deboned fish which was not on the menu. Nice and flaky, if only i wasn't too full to fully enjoy it. 😝 

Time to pack up and leave with yet another memorable dining experience.

On my way out, the owners were considerate enough to gather our feedback from dinner. I was full of praise for their perfectly grilled meat (and mushrooms). Oh, and as a yuzu fanatic, I informed them of my anticipation of a stronger drink. 😂 

Meanwhile, I do hope they have more awesome promotional deals in the near future so i have a great excuse to bring my fam bam back here.   

Nom-nom place 💨 Kitsuzo Izakaya

Waze me at 💨 Wisma Rapid, 30, Jalan 30/70a, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480, Kuala Lumpur

Call for reservations 💨 012-309 6520