Monday 18 January 2016

Ante@1-Utama


It was a Saturday and my brother and I had planned to go to Serai. Yup, I wanted to eat at Serai again because I loved the food and wanted to feature it in my blog. But sadly when we got there, they were closed for a private event. Arrgghhh!!!

So how now? I suggested to my brother why not we go to 1-Utama and try the newly opened Ante? I read about Ante (the one in Solaris Dutamas) in Kris' blog back in 2015 but I couldn't remember if Kris gave it a good review or otherwise. I did not refer back to Kris' post because I wanted to go in fresh without any expectations.

We got there just before 12:00pm and got a table quite easily. The menu is quite sparse, there are not many choices. It took us quite a while to decide. I suggested the Sweet Belly (I remembered Kris ordered this but I can't remember if she liked it) for sharing and both of us ended up ordering the Big Breakfast. For drinks, it was a Caffe Latte each.

Though the restaurant was not that busy, it took some time for our drinks to arrive. When it came, I noticed that mine was spilled.


My brother's had a broken heart hah...hah...


But it was good. We enjoyed our Cafe Latte without sugar. Then we waited some more.

There were 8 pieces. We took one each and then
I suddenly remembered I forgot to snap a pic. Drat!

Ah! The Sweet Belly finally came. Eh, this looks like siew yoke and we each took a piece. It came to the table piping hot and the skin was very crispy. We chewed in deep thought.

"It doesn't taste as good as the siew yoke from the chicken rice shop", I remarked. My brother agreed. But it all fairness he said, the seasoning is different. True true.


The pork was juicy and the cracking crispy and we shouldn't be complaining. But we couldn't help comparing because we are so used to our regular siew yoke. As for the scant sauce on the platter, it didn't make much of an impression. It was just....sweet.... Next dish please!


The Big Breakfast. It's not big in size, that's for sure. We both settled for poached eggs. My brother's eggs looked better than mine.


Mine looked like it was soft boiled eggs, where they just cracked the egg and dug out the contents.


And I noted that the yolks were overdone and they were sort of congealed. But I still managed to perform the customary egg porn shot.


The best thing on the plate was the bacon. It was a decent slice, thicker than the regular bacon that we buy or usually get on a platter like this. It was smoky, salty and tasty like what good bacon should be. The sausage was ordinary, while the mushrooms and salsa was just alright.

You are probably wondering why didn't we go for the pork steak or even the ribs. I don't know, those mains didn't seem very enticing to us. 

After I was done with my meal, I asked my brother if he had room for dessert. He gave me his cheeky smile and the paiseh-paiseh look. Of course there's room for dessert. No need to ask lah!

I have never eaten a Mille Crepe, so I chose the  Vanilla Mille Crepe and Valrhona Chocolate Delice for us to share.


The Mille Crepe arrived first. It was topped with a generous sprinkling layer of icing sugar. I don't know, I found this so lacking in taste. Discounting the icing sugar, the Mille Crepe was bland and not sweet enough. I am very sensitive to sugar and if I say something is not sweet, you better believe me it is not sweet.


It was dense and dryish (too long in the chiller?) and there was hardly any taste of vanilla. It was milky instead. I'm sorry, I am sure Mille Crepe is amazing but not this one.


Next up was the Chocolate Delice. Thank God this was good! It was a tiny serving, we later realized why because it is very rich and a big serving would have made us feel "jelak" (sorry, don't know the English word). It was slightly bitter on the first taste and then the chocolate comes through with the next bite. 


We enjoyed this very much. The crunchy toppings added flavor and texture to the creamy Chocolate Delice. 

The total damage RM162.80.


The only thing I enjoyed was the bacon from the Big Breakfast and the Chocolate Delice. Will I be back? Maybe, for the Deep Fried Poached Eggs on the brunch menu. But seeing how my poached eggs were presented, errr....maybe not...see how....

When I got back later, I looked up Kris' post and I was kind of relieved (hah..hah...) that she too found that the roasted pork was not better than the ones from the roasted meat stalls. Then I read on and in a way I was glad that I chose the Big Breakfast.

Anyway, I am glad for the experience. Never try, never know. And it proves to me that we have to trust our own tastebuds and not be drawn into something just because of the hype or as the case with Ante, it was voted Best Place for Meat by Time Out Kuala Lumpur's Food Awards 2015.


Anyway, after leaving Ante, my brother and I had to do something. We had to have our first taste of macarons.


This was my brother's treat. Cost him a small fortune of RM3.18 each. Well, maybe this was not the best macaron around and no, we were not impressed. But at least we gave it a try :)

32 comments:

  1. I saw this place too, when I was in 1U last week. Have heard lots of good things about their porky dishes in the Publika outlet but yet to try.

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    1. Try it some day and let me know what you think :)

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  2. I will loves the Chocolate Delice, as anything with Chocolate, i loves...

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  3. Another one of those dimly-lit places? I am sure the food would look a lot nicer with better lighting. Not that great, you say? Not cheap either.

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    1. The lighting is not as dim as some places. I actually prefer it bright. The food was perhaps not to my not-so-sophisticated tastebuds.

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  4. I thought the first picture was the sweet belly and I went "WTF??!! This and Big Breakfast each?? What happened to losing weight??"... hahahaha!!

    Well, RM 25 for a few pieces of meat that is not comparable to siew yoke.. err... think I'm gonna give this guy a pass. At the moment, my aim is still trained at that Nasi Babi place mentioned in Kris's blog. That would probably be the correct "Best place for meat"...

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    1. You crack me up hah..hah... I think that Nasi Babi place is a better bet lah. That's my next destination :)

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  5. wahhhh so luxurious lah, eat macaroons.

    I'm always scared to buy because of the price.

    Lucky Twilight Man gave me some to try when his wife baked some. Otherwise until now still jakun never eat one. LOL

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    1. Untung lah you got to eat homemade macarons which sure is better than the one I had.

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  6. Thanks for the mention...but, of all the good eats I've blogged about, sorry to see you try this one and had an underwhelming meal too! :'( Yeah, like you said, never try...never know.....and we don't necessarily have to agree with what the masses thought of the food either.

    Since you bake and love baked goods, it was quite a surprise to note that you've not eaten a mille crepe or macaron. I think I had my first mille crepe about 5 years ago when it was the rage then...and I did enjoy it, so don't give up on the mille crepe just yet coz the one you had was probably not a good rendition of it. As for macarons, I'm not impressed either as I find them usually overly sweet with a bit of a crunch...and I don't think you'll like them if you're sensitive to sugar (like me).

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    1. It was the only place I thought of at the time and I should have checked your post before going hah..hah.. I am a lazy baker and I tend to avoid those complex complicated recipes. The thought of making layers of the crepe or making the shells of the macarons make me tired >.<

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  7. Hi Phong Hong, the roasted pork reminds me of the Filipino Lechon we had in Cebu. The skin very crispy but taste wise not as good as our local siew yoke. Maybe we are used to stronger flavours. Agree, never try never know.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! Yah lah, we are so used to the flavorsome siew yoke and orang putih food can come across as bland.

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  8. That's what my spouse says too - he prefers the taste of our local siew yoke to the taste of Western Pork Belly Roast - different spices used to marinate the pork. As for macarons, it seems that all those sold in M'sia are too sweet. Better to just go to Paris, France to eat the perfect ones. Where did your brother buy the macarons from in One Utama?

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    1. I hope to make it to Paris one day hah..hah... My brother bought the macarons from the bakery at Cold Storage. Maybe that's not the right place to sample macarons but it was convenient.

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  9. hehe that was actually rather adventurous, but then never try never know right?? another person may not like the food but that could be something you will die for.. so no fret, just step in and experience it yourself and for yourself!! :)

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    1. You are right, the food not ngam with my tastebuds.

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  10. hmmm somehow I feel that the "DBKL-duo" (just kidding, I can't find a nicer term out of a sudden but you know what I wanted to say la) were rather reserved that day huh?? you only ordered each a Big Breakfast and a roast pork belly to share.. or probably because the choices were very few??

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    1. "DBKL-duo" hah..hah..hah...I like that! Yes, we can sapu the table clean :D Somehow the items (very few) were not so attractive to us.

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  11. look good in the photo but then again, have to try before one can judge how good the food are, right?? so there were actually hits and misses for what you have ordered huh?? i read what you said about the bacon, aiyoyo, I want that, I want that!! haha.. and the chocolate cake was good too?? but easily jelak ah?? I learned the word "cloying" from mun, I think you can use this word.. :)

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    1. The bacon is worth it. It's really good and bacon lovers will appreciate it a lot. The chocolate dessert was fabulous, so the makan session was at least not wasted lah. Oh yes, cloying is the word! Sometimes my CPU not working and the words are lost on my hard disk :D

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  12. voted best place for meat in KL?? hmmm, so what do you think about the review?? or probably "one man's meat is another's poison"?? hehe.. and you went on to try macaron, I had the same experience as you la.. first time tried and was not any impressed at all, I can just taste "crunchy sugar", or like you commented, it was probably not the best, haha!! :)

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    1. Well, I am not qualified to judge lah since I am more kampung in my tastes hah..hah... I don't think I will eat macarons again.

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  13. Broken heart latte also got! hahahaa.. You are a good writer, enlightening remarks on each dish... paiseh paiseh look...hahaha.. I really love that remark!

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    1. hah..hah... It was a good experience though it burnt a big hole in my pocket!

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  14. Phong Hong, creamy Chocolate Delice for me, please!

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  15. wah....look at that piece of fat and meat. I am sure it is marinated and grilled very well! Slurp! Macarons.... the sweet tooth folks' favourite!!

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  16. Thanks for sharing this place as I was hesitating to try it. One-Utama is my second home lah. I like Serai too as their food is generous & tasty but they are quite pricey.

    I like that plate of siew yoke! Looks like cakes! LOL

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    1. I have seen you a few times at Cold Storage :)

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