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.
No. 60, Jln 27/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 017- 7353 0953
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