Month: August 2011

Yoko’s at Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Within the same week after checking out Daikanyama, we returned to the same area to meet up with a good friend at Yoko’s, a restaurant owned by a Japanese lady named well, Yoko.

# – Yoko’s.

The interior of the restaurant was cozy and unpretentious, in my opinion the perfect atmosphere to catch up with friends. Due to its location, I would imagine people who visit the place for the first time to expect a sort of 5 star service, where waiting staff would be on their hands & feet at their beck and call.

However I would like to warn against having such expectations, for Yoko’s is not that kind of eatery. It’s just a friendly, casual, humble, almost unassuming restaurant serving wonderful Japanese fusion food at a prime location.

# – Inside Yoko’s. Hmm, nevermind.

Our friend, who is a regular at Yoko’s sung praises about the food and knowing his tastebuds, I was very excited to check out the place!

# – We started with fresh, thickly cut salmon sashimi. Beautiful!

# – Followed by the Dragon Roll. Standard stuff, no negatives :)

# – And then, Spider Maki. Cripsy, meaty soft shell crabs, yummy!

# – Butterfish sushi. Fresh, meaty sliced raw butterfish on sushi rice.

From this point forward, the dishes started to get really interesting. Many of whom I couldn’t recognise or name as they were specially created by the owner of Yoko’s.

# – The peculiar dish called Adam & Eve, which is essentially various seafoods cooked in an apple. Superb amalgamation of flavours.

# – I loved Adam & Eve! Every morsel of seafood, be it scallop or prawn was cooked to perfection and beautifully flavoured by the flesh of the apple. The apple itself on the other hand, was flavoured by the sweetness of the seafood. What a treat!

# – Salmon 4 Floors Sushi. Like rice & salmon mille feuille. If you like your salmon sashimi unadulterated by too much flavours, this is perfect.

# – Chicken thigh and leek yakitori. I really enjoyed this but the BF loved this more because he’s English and English people like leeks.

# – Mentaiko pasta, the highlight of my dinner. One of my favourite Japanese ingredient is mentaiko (spicy fish roe) and I could eat like 3 bowls of rice as long as I have mentaiko to go with. This simple pasta dish was just spaghetti with a creamy sauce made of mentaiko and probably mayonnaise. Every mentaiko clung on to the pasta for dear life and that’s the way I love it. LOVED IT!

# – Yoko’s No 1 Roll. This is a roll packed full of eggs, veggies, fish and other goodies. However not recommended when you’re too full because it’s quite a generous portion. Our friend got a bit carried away with ordering food, haha.

# – Japanese inspired Crabmeat & Avocado Pizza. Delicious crabmeat and chunks of fresh avocado baked on a thin, crispy base topped with some sinfully delicious sauce. Addictive!

Yoko’s pricing ranges between RM30-RM150 but portions are generous with fresh ingredients. Considering its location, it’s really not that expensive either.

All in all, I was really happy with the food at Yoko’s. My only regret is that we didn’t get to meet Yoko, who according to our friend is a gorgeous & vivacious character. It’s okay, because we’ll be back and then I would like to thank her for such gorgeous food!

# – Yoko’s menu.

Yoko’s,
36, Changkat Bukit Bintang,
Bukit Bintang
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2144 3378

Sweet and sticky baby back ribs recipe.

I am extremely pleased with this recipe! It’s quite simple to make really and the baby back ribs were juicy, succulent, flavourful and practically falling off the bones.

It was so delicious, I honestly wish I had made MORE! It made me want to eat baby back ribs everyday!

# – Sweet and sticky baby back ribs.

The surprising thing was I used frozen ribs (bought them fresh but due to bad timing I had to freeze them for a few days) and seriously, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

For the rib preparation:

  • 2 pieces of baby back racks, about 400-500grams each
  • 100ml soy sauce
  • Enough water to cover the racks in a pot

For the marinade:

  • 100g of soft brown sugar
  • 100ml of Shaoxing wine or any chinese rice wine
  • 100g of ginger , peeled and finely grated
  • 3 pieces of garlic cloves , peeled and crushed
  • 200ml of tomato puree (you can use ketchup too)
  • 1 tablespoon of mustard
  • 100ml of soy sauce

# – First, submerge the ribs in a pot of water. Then pour in the soya sauce.

# – Bring to a simmer and let it boil for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool down for 1/2 to 1 hour.

# – In the meantime, prepare the marinade. Pour the Shaoxing wine into a heated pan, followed by the brown sugar.

# – When sugar has dissolved, add in the finely chopped ginger and garlic. Bring to a gentle simmer.

# – Then, squeeze in a dollop of mustard.

# – Followed by the tomato puree or ketchup if you should fancy. Stir to combine.

# – Pour marinade into a bowl to cool down slightly.

# – Place the ribs in a tray that you’d be roasting them in. I suggest lining it with foil for easy cleanup later.

# – While the ribs are still warm, brush about 1/4 of the marinade all over them, coating evenly. Cover and refrigerate the remaining marinade.

# – Cover the ribs with foil or clingwrap and stick it in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 2 hours. Overnight is best. I did mine just 2 hours though and it was so good…imagine if it had marinaded overnight!!!!!

# – When ready to cook, stick it in a preheated oven at 220 degrees celcius for 40 minutes, curved sides up.

# – Brush the marinade all over the ribs at every 15 minutes for 2 times.

# – After the 40 minutes mark is up, turn the oven down to 180 degrees celcius, brush the last remaining marinade all over the ribs and leave the oven door ajar for 10 minutes. This is to ensure that the ribs have sticky and gooey sauce to eat with :D

# – Sweet and sticky baby back ribs, DONE! Serve with baked potatoes and homemade cole slaw.

# – DELICIOUS!

# – I love ribs!

This recipe was actually adapted from the recipe that belongs to one of my favourite TV judges, John Torode. Thank you for gifting me with simple to make but stupendously awesome baby back ribs.

/sniffs

Salted chunky chocolate chip cookies recipe.

This has totally become one of my favourite recipes. I have made it 3 times and I’ll probably make it again later today.

# – Salted chunky chocolate chip cookies.

The recipe works everytime! Want cookies that are not so sweet, crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle with melty chunky choocolate oozing out? This is the recipe for you.

The ingredients:

  • 115g of salted butter, softened at room temperature
  • 110g of brown sugar
  • 100g of caster sugar
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
  • 180g plain flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
  • 200g of dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

# – First, beat the caster sugar, brown sugar and softened butter till creamy.

# – Then crack an egg over the mixture and add 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

# – Beat till combined and creamy.

# – Now, sift in the flour and bicarbonate soda.

# – As well as the coarse sea salt.

# – Fold to combine.

# – Then throw in the roughly chopped dark chocolates.

# – Mix till combined, refrain from eating cookie dough…or not.

# – Cover bowl with clingfilm and stick it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours. I chilled mine overnight though.

# – To make the cookies, work with the dough while it’s still chilled. It’s normal for it to be quite hard and you probably need a hard metal spoon to help you hack at it. Form balls the size of a walnut and arrange them on a non-stick baking tray or one that’s greased and lined with non-stick baking paper. This recipe makes a maximum of about 75 decent size cookies!

# – Stick it in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 10 minutes.

# – When the cookies are done baking, remove from oven and loosen them up from the tray with a spatula.

# – Allow to cool completely on wire rack.

# – Salted chunky chocolate chip cookies, DONE!

I love these cookies so much, with pops of saltiness coming through the decadent chocolates…DIVINE!

# – Hmmmmm.

Thank you Citrus & Candy for sharing such a wonderful and straightforward recipe.