Croatia (aka Hrvatska). I bet you’ve probably never heard of it. Well, I didn’t. Until I got invited to an event at Dubrovnik Restaurant last year. Croatia is actually close to Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia and Romania. In the map its that boomerang shaped orange thing in the middle. And Dubrovnik is actually the name of a city in Croatia. Based on pictures I’ve seen, I think it’s a city by the sea. Really gorgeous place.

My friends and I were invited over for some chit chat and some makan-makan. I’ve been here twice previously so haven’t really sampled all their food so it was a good time to check out the rest of the food!

What’s unique about Croatian food is the mix of Mediterranean, Greek and even Turkish (correct me if I’m wrong?) influences in their food. So expect a lot of lamb and different spices that what we’re used to. But first, a bit of history of Dubrovnik Restaurant Dina Djumic, GM & our host for the evening.

Dubrovnik Restaurant has actually been in Solaris for the past 3 years. In fact I believe they were one of the few restaurants who first opened there. At first glance, it may look intimidatingly expensive when in actual fact, there’s much to learn about this place. In preserving the authenticity of the food, they make most of their items like bread, sausages, pasta and even cheese themselves! Dina’s father, Zoran Djumic, is the Head Chef and he oversees the cooking.

So now on to the food! Warning, photo heavy post after the jump!

Note that the photos you see here might not be the same as the standard portions as we were a big group.

For starters, we had some finger food (pic above) – asparagus wrapped in beef bacon, Kobase (chicken sausages) and home-made bread with Ajvar. We also had Orangecello Martinis – a variation of Lemoncello which is lemon left to steep in pure grain alcohol (or vodka – which is easier to get). Quite an interesting taste. I liked it.

KOBASE (RM35) are home made chicken sausages (you may also order the lamb sausages) that are served with sauteed potatos and roasted capsicum. In the photo below they are cut to bite sized pieces and served with cucumber, or is that zucchini? Not too sure. I like my sausages a bit more peppery tho.

AJVAR (RM12) is a dip made of capsicum and tomatoes and some other yummy goodness. It comes with home made bread baked in the wood oven at the back of the restaurant. That pic above is (I think) a full size serving and this is one of my favourite things to order when I come.

The below pic are CEVAPI and DJUVEDJ (RM60). Cevapi are sausages of minced lamb (more lamb!) and beef which are grilled then served with my fave Ajvar. Djuvedj is special Croatian vegetable rice. I loved the Cevapi, but didn’t quite fancy the rice (I prefer bread or potatoes).

Next is Chicken Stroganoff (RM40). I know people usually have Beef stroganoff but according to Dina, our host, she found that a number of customers don’t eat beef so this is a twist on the traditional. The sauce was creamy and light, the chicken was tender. I’ve never had stroganoff before though so can’t compare it with the beef version.

Im not sure what the fish dish on the right is called –_- sorry! But it has herbed croutons on top of it. I didn’t really have this, cant comment.

I think this is something new to the menu. This is basically a pizza dough wrapped like a pita, instead of semi circle like a calzone. This one had chicken ham and cheese. Didn’t quite like this as I thought there was a bit too much dough in the middle

LAMB PEKA (RM50) served with Juicy baked potatoes. Imagine a piece of lamb, marinated with spices, sitting on a bed of potatoes and baked under an iron bell (to seal the juices in) for three (3) whole hours in a wood fire oven. That’s what Dubrovnik calls “The Best Lamb in Town”. This is really good stuff!! Read more about it HERE.

And those potatoes and onions hidden under the lamb? Absolutely delicious. To me, these are the yummiest potatoes in town! Very very good!

And of course, dessert! We had an assortment of desserts – Crepes with chocolate filling, Apple Pita (Pie) (RM16) & Royal Choc Cake (RM17). The Apple pie crust is light and the apples are cooked just slightly, not until they become a mush like in some versions of apple pie. Neither was it too cloyingly sweet.

But the royal choc cake is something you MUST order when you come here.  It’s a dark chocolate mousse-like cake with a crunchy, nutty (hazelnut) praline base. As Pei Chyi said, its like a “fererro roche” cake. Simply delicious.

Notes : I must say that the food in Dubrovnik might seem under seasoned and very “light” to some. I think this is partly because we (or me at least) are used to eating Malay/Indian food that is heavily spiced. Of course im sure you can ask for salt/pepper to add to your dish.

Anyway, planning my next trip for more Ajvar, Cevapi, Lamb Peka and Royal Chocolate Cake. Anyone wants to come with?

Dubrovnik Restaurant KL J-0G-14, Solaris Mont Kiara, No. 2 Jalan Solaris, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur Opening Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 11:30am – 3pm, 6:30pm – 11pm Saturday & Sunday: 11:30am – 11pm Mondays : Closed Tel : 03 6203 6780 / Fax: 03 6203 6780 Google Map | Website | Facebook | Foursquare Foursquare Special : 15% discount on Every Check-in

THANK YOU to David of BuzzMedia for the invite and Dina Djumic for hosting us this evening! It was really fun!

Disclaimer : The food was provided by Dubrovnik Restaurant but this does not effect my judgment or opinion. Bear in mind that tastes are subjective so if you do drop by Dubrovnik, do leave a comment as I’d love to know what you think!

We tried out this new place for roti canai and its been our hangout when we’re in KL town.

The roti here is stretched thinly, so its crispy and fluffy. It came with sambal, dhall and curry (chicken I think). Its RM1 each.

As for the name, well we asked the auntie owner and she said, that Valentine is the name of her son. Interesting name for a roti place right?

Anyway, don’t get lost getting there : From Jalan Ampang, turn left into Jalan Semarak. After Menara Celcom on the left, pass the traffic lights and you’ll see Roti Valentine on the right after the shoplots. You’d have to find a place to uturn though.

Enjoy

I don’t eat salads. At least I don’t eat those Lettuce, tomato, cucumber tossed together and dumped at the corner of the plate kinda things. I usually just leave that on the plate as I consider it garnish, not a meal.

And, as anyone who read my food blog or checks out my Twitter/Foursquare knows, I generally eat more unhealthy food than healthy food. Unless Im eating at home. This time, I was hankering for a good, hearty salad with chicken, green and nuts. Yea, nuts.

I like my salads a bit sweet-ish – either the dressing or having some fruits in the salad. One salad that I like is Chili’s Asian one with greens some mee hoon, cubed chicken and mandarin oranges though I’m not exactly sure if its still available. I have to check.

Anyway, so last night, I decided to take a trip to this well-mentioned Salad Bar. I must say that the location puts you in a spot, being next to Darabif and all. SHould you go for a Lamb Glam, or a healthy meal? I chose the latter.

I was greeted by an assortment of greens and a VAST variety of toppings! We were asked to sit as we looked lost standing in front of the salad bar. We plonked ourselves on the seat and browsed through the menu. It was a flipbook of all the SuperSalads and SuperSandwiches they had.

On the board (in pic above), you are given a variety of set options with combinations of juice, salads, pasta, sandwiches and soups. For drinks, I had Green Apple Juice (RM4.50) – yes, you can actually choose if you want Green or Red apple juice here. And for dinner, I had the :

Souper Set 5 (RM9.50)
1) Half Supersalad : I chose the  Fruity Nuthouse, – which had err…Guava? I think, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds with a yogurt based dressing – and added Herbed Chicken (+RM2.50).
2) Soup of the day : Corn Soup

When my food came, I was very glad Marcus warned about the portions. I mean, seriously they were HUGE for a HALF portion. I mean look at that picture (sorry for the weird angle). And the taste? Corn soup was not my preference but I am looking forward to try their other soups. Friend ordered a “Yo Dawg” Supersandwich but it was just so-so.

But the salad?  It was AWESOME! It was everything that I expected – green veggie that isnt bitter (some salads have that bitter leaves in it, I dislike em), nice light herbed chicken, yogurt-based dressing (I think) and LOADS of nuts! Yum!

I also was interested in their “Create your own 2-3-1 Salad”. You can choose from half size (RM5.50) or Full Size (RM9.50). Choose any 2 greens (iceberg, romaine, butterhead, red coral, red oak), 3 toppings & 1 dressing. They make their own dressing. You can add more toppings for RM1 each or add in Cheese/meat for RM2.50 each.

Here are the types of toppings you can choose from :
boiled egg, brocolli, carrot, celery, cucumber, olive, onion, oyster mushroom, peppers (green, red,yellow) pumpkin, shitake, sweetcorn, tofu, tomato, apple, grape, guava, honeydew, mango, orange, pomelo, pear, starfruit, watermelon, dried fruits (blackcurrant, dates, apricot, cranberry, mixed peels, pitted prunes, raisins), almonds, brazil nut, cashewnut, cornflakes, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, walnut, buckwheat, chickpeas, millet
Mozzarella, parmesan, chicken sausage, herb chicken, spicy teriyaki

See what I mean about a huge selection? Everything is prepared fresh everyday, from the salads to the soups. I forsee that there will be more salad lunches and dinners in my future

The Salad Bar
No 41, Jalan @@ 21/60,
Damansara Utama

Tel : 0377312228
Email : thesaladbar@email.com

Desserts!! And at the bottom “ All desserts for RM7++”. Needless to say, I decided to sit. The place had a rustic kind of feel to it. Brick walls and along the walls were shelves filled with loaves of bread on one side and tons of ingredients on the other. Not too sure if you could buy those ingredients, I neglected to ask.

The owner of the place (sorry I can’t recall his name) was friendly and dropped by our table to introduce himself. He mentioned that he and his partner were formerly from Telawi Street Bistro (god I miss those long lunches at TSB with a wood fire baked pizza and a pint of Hoegaarden) who decided to set up shop here, just mere lots away. Nice guy.

We took a look at the menu and it seemed to have an interesting selection of western dishes and pizza. The main dishes range from under RM20 (sandwiches and pies) to RM30 (lamb stew, beef ribs) to RM70 (Rump Steak 300gm). Pretty reasonable if you ask me. However, as we were too full, we settled for a Chocolate Mousse to share. I ordered some hot tea as well.

The chocolate mousse was simple, with some (unsweeted) cream on top. The mousse was not overly thick like a pudding but not runny. I thought it was nice and chocolaty without being too sweet.

Am planning to come again for the main dishes, anyone game to join me?

G3 Kitchen & Bar
19, Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 2282-9019

Didn’t know what to eat over the weekend so I turned to twitter and asked around. @ImranAjmain suggested the “Ayam Presto” at Anggrek Kuring – chicken fried so well even the bones can be eaten.

After looking through the menu (click photo above for a bigger pic), we settled on our order. We were given a complimentary basket of some kinda keropok thingy, slightly bitter tasting.

Friend ordered the Nasi Ayam Panggang Set (RM 18.90) – Grilled/Roasted (?) Chicken with Rice, a stick of cumi panggang (grilled sotong), small portion of prawn petai and 1 piece each of fried taufu and pergedi (bergedil). Oh and a bowl of sup kosong with bits of taufu and tomatoes. Forgot to take a picture of it, he was too hungry.

I ordered a plate of white rice (RM2) which came with 1 piece of taufu and bergedil. Then we ordered the Sup Buntut (RM13+? Not too sure) and of course the Ayam Presto to share. And yes, the bones really can be eaten. Its like they put it in a pressure cooker before frying and serving. Interesting dish.

THE VERDICT

Sup Buntut was not worth it. Three pieces of oxtail for RM13 bucks is pricy. The Ayam Presto costs like RM30, I found it expensive but I guess its okay to try it just once. Doubt I’ll be ordering it again though.

However, the set was nice, from the chicken to even the sup kosong. I might come again to try out other dishes like the fish and Empal Gempuk (beef), recommended by Andrew who went to their Bandar Puteri branch and wrote a blogpost (and better photos) about the food.

Bandar Puteri Address is as above. I ate at the Kota Damansara branch, as below:

Restoran Anggrek Kuring (Indonesian Food)
No.60-G, Jalan PJU 5/20,
The Strand, Kota Damansara
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia 47810

Not to be confused with Anggerik Kuning, Anggrek Kuring is located right next to Loud speaker Kareoke at The Strand in Kota Damansara. Same row as Gulati’s . Its also next to a kopitiam.