Cafe Barbera

Click here for earlier entry on Cafe Barbera (January 7).

We enjoyed our previous visit to Cafe Barbera in January, but a more recent stop here for desserts earlier this month turned out to be a misstep, starting with a rather dry carrot cake that seemed to have languished in the chiller for too long.

Forgettable tiramisu. A splash of kahlua might help, but booze isn't served here.

Cheesecake. Relatively OK. Creamy and fresh-tasting.

Apple pie with vanilla ice cream. The pie should have been warmer; the ice cream managed to sit on it for nearly five minutes without melting.

Chocolate fondant. Nicely presented, but all too ordinary.

Cafe Barbera,

Lorong Maarof, Bangsar.

Uncle Chilli's

Still a defiantly old-school establishment, despite the hotel's valiant efforts in recent years to spruce up the menu with more modern offerings.

The bread looked like what a KL steakhouse might have served 25 years ago.

Complimentary crab bisque. Steaming hot and brimming with flavour.

Simmered roulade of sea bass with pommes puree. Looked like chicken, tasted like fish. Seemed like a healthy dish, with a fresh, natural sweetness.

Polenta-crusted salmon fillet. The fish was super-juicy, enveloped in a very thin, very crisp crust that added a nice texture to every bite.

Tomato-glazed black cod & seared scallops in saffron broth. Not bad, though the scent of saffron was somewhat lacking. Still, cod is always a crowd-pleaser.

Braised beef cheeks. Succulent meat soaked in an aromatic red wine sauce.

Lamb shank with onion confit & fried egg. Interesting recipe, but the lamb was too stringy. We broke the egg and drenched the meat in the yolk but that failed to enhance its flavour.

Ribeye Angus beef fillet with rosemary potatoes. Also too tough and chewy. The problem probably wasn't in the preparation but in the quality of the meat in the first place.

Passion fruit creme brulee. Lacked a proper caramelized sugar crust.

BDPR Languedoc VDP Chardonnay (France).

BDPR Languedoc VDP Merlot (France).

Uncle Chilli's,