Review: The BlackBoard

Let me start it off with a review of a restaurant at Desa Hartamas. I got to know about this little restaurant from reading in the newspapers and I was amazed at their concept. The BlackBoard is how it is, a restaurant with it's menu on the blackboard. I remember reading about it in the papers, and I got all excited because it was something different but longed to try the place out. So my friends and I decided to go on an outing (Christy, Wen Yan and Peik Yen) of makan makan. It was fun.
Anyway, here is the newspaper article on the restaurant that got me fired up!
The BlackBoard on NST

When we entered the restaurant, the interior was kinda dark, sticking to the colours of black and white but it was pretty cosy. There weren't many people and it was a Sunday night. Most of the customers there were having drinks and a bit of tapas. We were welcomed by warm and friendly people. To me it was like we had just gotten personal service. Drinks were a bit pricey, but I decided to try a cocktail. A Mojito sounded lovely but they ran out of ingredients so I ordered a Lychee Martini, which wasn't bad, quite nice but I would have prefered a little more lychee syrup.

The Chef, Michel Cottabarren is very friendly and open. I told him that I'm a culinary student and he invited me into his kitchen. I was surprised and delighted. I wished I had met him sooner, then I wouldn't mind doing my industrial training there. Anyway, he is the owner, the bar tender, the chef and the menu! Yes, everyday the menu changes, only the tapas remain on the blackboard. So for daily specials, Chef Michel would go to each table and repeat the menu of the day, as well as recommending dishes that we would like. If you fancy for something custom made, he would do it if he has got the ingredients.

We started off with tapas.

The Chicken Liver pate

I'm a big fan of chicken liver and normally eat it at mamak stalls where it's all fried up and tasty or from chicken rice stalls where it's pouched. Yummy..... well, this chicken liver pate was just lovely. The liver taste wasn't too strong and it just had the right amount of seasonings. For RM9.50, it was great and we kept ask for more toasted bread to clean up the pate. All I can say, free flow of bread hahaha.

Calamari

I kinda forgotten the correct name of this tapas, but it was sauted calamari in butter and black pepper. Pleasent enough. I was expecting something like fried calamari rings but it turned out to be pretty good anyway. My friend Christy loved this.

For our mains, we decided to order 2 to share among the 4 of us. The portions were big, if you are a big eater, order 1 main for yourself but if you are a small eater, get 1 main to split.

Chilli Con Carne

This was a lovely dish. The condiments by the side, you can add according to your taste. The reddish powder is chilli powder, so we added it according to how spicy we wanted it to be. Again, nice toasted bread on the side to savour the chilli. I like this very much. It had a nice smoky flavour, and the meat was very tender. I think it was a mix of beef and lamb, but my memory is kinda fuzzy. It's not the kind made with cheap mince meat. It's really flaked meat, so it was really flavourful and not fatty like mince meat.

Lamb Rack Cutlets with Ratatouille

This has gotta be the best for the night. I love the ratatouille. I made ratatouille before and this tasted so different from the one I made. It wasn't too tangy, very nice and savoury. The lamb cutlets were not overcook. Medium, nice and tender and well seasoned. It was marinated in a herbed butter, which was flavourful. Brought out the flavours of the lamb and the herbs didn't overpowder the dish. I think this was  RM30.... definitely under RM40.

We had a really memorable time. We actually brought a book, Best Eats by Fay Khoo because we were unsure about the address. We showed the chef and he was flattered that his restaurant was mentioned in the book.To show thanks, he actually let us have 2 slices of cheesecake, on the house and it wasn't cheap. A slice cost RM10... but it's just so tasty, with a warm vanilla bean sauce, it wasn't heavy and just perfect.

My friends and I are not done with The Blackboard yet. We will definitely visit it again for another makan session.

Blackboard
No. 60, Jln 27/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 017- 7353 0953

My first post

I finally found what I really enjoy doing, cooking and eating. Yes, I enjoy good food and I do enjoy cooking up dishes for friends and family. I think I started cooking at the age of 12 when my mom taught me how to fry an egg. At that age, I was curious and did all sorts of things with fried egg. I wasn't a good cook at that time, when I was in Kemahiran Hidup class, I cooked fried rice that was tasteless and I ended up burning chili paste. That didn't stop my interest, I was always trying to find a way to cook for my family, especially breakfast or dinner on special occasions like Mother's Day or Father's Day and Christmas.

I'm Hun, and I'm on my journey towards my dream, becoming a chef and one day, open a restaurant of my own. Since I'm on a journey, I better start a food blog as a journal of my adventures, failures and successes. I'm currently a culinary student, already in my 2nd year and doing my 2nd industrial training now.

This blog, I will post up recipes, places to makan and maybe a bit about college life.

Why Taste Plate?
I was trying to come up with a blog title, many names that I like were already taken and suddenly, the word "taste plate" came in mind, and it was still available. To me, every journey we take, it starts with a small step and we may experience different adventures or difficulties at the same time. A taste plate is where small portions of different food are placed on the same plate as an appetizer or a way to sample a few food at the same time. So I guess my experience will be that way, a taste plate.

This is not my first blog, if you are into animals, I already have a good stable blog about sugar gliders in Malaysia.

Suggies At Home