21.07.15

Greetings for Hong Kong International Airport. What better way to spend a 17 hour transit than to finish up a blog post right? 

Few months back, my best friend, Zong-Ying, all the way in Malaysia posted on her Facebook a list of fine dining restaurants, and I promised to bring her to one when I come back to Malaysia. That promise became a reality the evening after my return from Yunnan, when I brought her to Cantaloupe Sky Dining Restaurant located at the Troika!

Our 5 course dinner begun with 3 bites, and since their official names are not on the menu and neither did ZY or I caught them when the server mentioned them, I shall literally call it by what it is

Bite #1... Avocados wrapped in a crispy cone topped with this sour foam plus a clam on the side with some light creamy sauce

Verdict... Normally I'd say the foam is too sour but just because it was literally the first things we ate, I thought it was really smart of the chef to LITERALLY wake up our tastebuds and the avocado just right after again was really smart and helped tone down the sourness! Might I say, GENIUS

Bite #2... Grilled Prawn with a tabasco/barbeque mix type sauce and two foams - I know I'm SUCH a foodie *sarcasm*

Verdict... LOVED IT, why was there only one lousy prawn! #notmadeforfinedining

Bite #3... Yam Fritter with feta cheese and raspberry sauce

Verdict... Raspberry sounded weird at first but the sourness helped cut through the creamy heavy feeling of the cheese and the fritter! Might I say the fritter was DELICIOUS! It was like  a deep fried pocket of creaminess! NOM NOM NOM

Course #1... I got an Oyster Risotto consisting of tsarkaya oyster, lemon, parmesan, beurre noisette, arborio rice, and egg yolk foam; while she got an Oyster and Beef Tongue consisting of oyster, grilled wagyu tongue, beef glaze, puff pastry, and beef tendon

Verdict... Can I just start with the oysters were BLOODY AWESOME. Super duper fresh, cooked perfectly to get rid of the overly slimy texture that some don't like about raw oysters but not overcooked to the point where the natural sweetness of the oysters were lost! And honestly when you have oysters that good, everything else in the plate really didn't matter

Course #2... Lobster Bisque consisting of lobster meat, crouton, bisque, corn custard

Verdict... Slight hint of bitterness and not my favourite combinations of flavours for such a classic dish. Would've preferred for it to be smoother but I think the corn custard was too thick, affecting the overall texture of the soup. MEH

After our 2nd course, we were given some Green Apple Sorbet with Elderflower Foam to help cleanse our palettes! The Elderflower foam smelled like floral heaven and the sorbet had the perfect level of sourness to refresh our tastebuds! Only complaint is that I think it would have been more effective / appropriate if served between the duck confit and the wagyu beef dish instead!

Course #3... I got the Duck Confit with mashed potato, mustard sauce, and crispy potatoes; while she got the Black Olive Crusted Cod consisting of some dried black olive tapenade, cilantro puree, garlic, leek fettuccine, and celeriac fondant

Verdict... The server did warn that the confit was going to be on the saltier side, thus we were supposed to eat the confit and the potato at the same time, but the dish still felt a little overboard after a few bites! Fortunately, the mash potato was on point with its gooey cheesiness! As for the cod, not a fan of the olive but the texture of the cod was beautiful!

Our fantastic view of the Kuala Lumpur skyline - before dinner and after dinner!

Course #4... Wagyu Beef consisting of wagyu sirloin, roselle glaze, potato, spiced salt

Verdict... It's hard to mess up steak but it's hard to get it perfect. Fortunately, the chefs at Cantaloupe got the perfect balance of texture with this baby! LOVED IT, wish there was 5 more portions of the same thing! OH, there was though this mushroom that was bitter, didn't really like that!

Course #5... I got a Pistachio Cheesecake with spiced caramel syrup, feuille de brick, and pistachio moss; she got a Raspberry and Peach which consisted of caramel peach bavarois, raspberry soup, eucalyptus meringue, cider ice cream, and raspberry drop

Verdict... The cheesecake tasted fantastic on the first bite, unfortunately after a few bites it was too creamy for me >_< the Raspberry and Peach soup however was FANTASTIC, the flavours and textures of each component went together really well!

Overall the food at Cantaloupe was good, the view of the Kuala Lumpur skyline was FABULOUS, watching how the beautiful sunset reflection off the ever-impressive KLCC, the service was lovely, and best of all I had great company! As ZY mentioned on her Facebook, cheers to a great 14 years of friendship. It's truly a blessing to have been able to grow together all these years, and may there be many, many more beautiful years to come!

Here's some beautiful photos of us, hehe

Listening to "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran
Images by Zong-Ying and I