A date with Nicolekiss at Tasting Room

As mentioned earlier in my previous post, I was honoured to score myself a date with the popular Nicole of nicolekiss.blogspot.com fame. It was 6.15pm when Kok Leong came to fetch me to The Tasting Room in Bangsar. Poor Kok Leong had to be my driver during my stay in KL! But he was fantastic at that! Before long, we were already in Bangsar area, trying to look for the restaurant. The careless me forgot to print out the map from the website, and was recalling what I saw based on memory alone. I suppose my memory wasn't really great, because we ended up no where near the restaurant! After some calls to Nicole and her friend, we managed to find the place and luckily I wasn't that late. Once I sat down, I was presented with this glass of white wine, recommended by our friendly companion that night, J-Sern. He mentioned that this was unwooded Chardonnay, although I didn't know what "unwooded" meant... But it tasted really good. It's one of those very few wines that I wouldn't drink and cringe my face. :P

First glass of wine

Soon we moved from the comfortable lounge area to the dining area, where we were presented with an extensive menu from The Tasting Room. Nicole was going on about how I should try the Carbonara, but J-Sern had some other recommendations for us. In the end, he did most of the ordering and we shared the food. By the way, J-Sern is this sweet and charming guy working as an Executive Wholesale in Wine Cellar, which is just located downstairs from Tasting Room. :) My first picture with Nicole and her fiery red/orange hair dye. I didn't realize my hair was that black before!

Nicole and Witch!

Before long, our first appetizer arrived and it tasted as good as it looked! This was by far the best appetizer that I've ever tasted. Look at the combination of it all... Mussels, succulent prawns, mozzarella sticks, fresh scallops, fish fillet, fresh salmon complete with fish roe, no less! I would say this seafood platter is fit for the King himself! Oh the glorious cheese sticks... and prawns! According to J-Sern, this was a special dish prepared for us by the chef, so it's not in the menu! I was so honoured. :) The dish that was meant to be served to 4 persons was finished by 3 of us in no time. *LOL* Oh the gluttony...

Chef's special seafood platter!

Mussels


Fresh salmon


Mozzasticks ... I LOVE

Not only that, Nicole was also keen on ordering the Foie Gras after her previous visit to Tasting Room. This was the first time I tasted foie gras and I did not quite like the taste. Perhaps it's an acquired taste, or perhaps there's something wrong with my taste buds. No matter, I'm not complaining because there are so many other glorious food I love! I don't mind eating one less item. :P

Pan seared foie gras (RM28)

J-Sern also recommended this Smoked Pepper Duck Breast Salad, which I enjoyed very much. Isn't it cute that the salad came with strawberries? But the highlight of this salad was of course the tender duck meat. Look at the picture below, the duck meat was red in colour! All this while, I've only ever eaten roasted duck before, so this smoked duck meat was indeed an eye-opener. Plus, I've NEVER enjoyed breast meat so much! *LOL*

Smoked Pepper Duck Breast Salad (RM24)

Truth be told, after eating the appetizers above, I was already full. That was why we took our own sweet time before ordering the main courses, which was again taken care by J-Sern. The pasta dish was especially ordered for Nicole since she was craving for cheese that night. *wink* However, with our full stomach, we could only finish whatever that was on TOP of the pasta, and left most of the pasta untouched. :(

Italian Rigatoni Bake (RM30)

I chose the cod fish to make up the variety of our main courses ordered, and was I glad I did. It was simply the best cod fish that I've ever tasted before and to prove my point, it was also the only main course that was wiped clean that night. ;) Each slice of cod fish was smooth to the touch of your lips and blended perfectly with the surface of your taste buds. Of course, it didn't hurt that the cod fish was marinated and flavoured impeccably by the brilliant chef. I wouldn't mind eating this again next time I'm there. This is highly recommended. :)

Pan-seared codfish (RM35)

The final main course ordered was this Pan Seared Tenderloin, if I'm not mistaken. It was ordered to be done medium rare and the chef did exactly that. Both J-Sern and Nicole loved this dish to bits, because they were complimenting on how the chef made exactly medium rare steaks, just like how they wanted. I, on the other hand, am not a big fan of steaks, and I shudder at the thought of eating blood. Hence, I shall refrain from commenting on this dish. :)

Pan Seared Tenderloin (RM49)

After completing our main course, we were well on our way on our second glass of wine. Perhaps Nicole was having her third or fourth glass, because she looked pretty stoned here eh? :P

Almost drunk Nicole :P

Before long, our dessert arrived and luckily we only ordered one. The size was definitely huge enough for 3 of us! The tiramisu was extremely rich, soft and creamy, without bordering on watery. The taste was also carefully tweaked such that it wasn't too sweet or bitter from the coffee powder. I loved this even though my stomach couldn't really take much at that point of time.

Heavenly tiramisu (RM12)

Finally, we took our own sweet time in having a camwhore session to ourselves! :P Here is Nicole with her dessert wine and a cigar-like chocolate truffle courtesy of Tasting Room.

Nicole with her gift and dessert wine

Another one with J-Sern and Nicole sharing a romantic drink. *wink*

Drinking with J-Sern

Nicole and I posing with our last glass of wine. Very sweet indeed. Perfect as a dessert. :)

Cheers Nicole!

Nicole insisted on a Nicolekiss pose, which I wasn't good at, but I did it anyway. I totally sucked big time! *LOL*

Doing the Nicolekiss pose

J-Sern was jealous of the cigar boxes that we kissed and he wanted to have one himself! So we gave in and posed with him too! Wasn't he such a lucky dude? :)

Lucky dude!

Three of us taking a group picture.

Cheers!

Finally, some juicy and scandalous pictures taken at the end of the dinner! Perhaps we were drunk or perhaps the Nicolekiss pose was just addictive until everyone wanted to do it, including J-Sern! *gasp*

J-Sern and Nicole

Witch and J-Sern

Overall, I enjoyed myself very much with the great company that was given by J-Sern and Nicole. The food was none other than fabulous and I am beginning to look at wine from a different perspective! :)