Anniversary Celebration @ Ma Maison

My girlfriend and me celebrated our 5th Anniversary at Ma Maison, a French restaurant situated in Ampang. As both of us can be quite fussy when it comes to food, we have difficulties determining where to dine until we came across Ma Maison while browsing for reviews online. Most of the reviews favoured the taste and the portion of the food. Besides, the interior definitely sets for a Anniversary celebration. It is said that Ma Maison is frequented by regular French customers. And with the owner/chef himself is a French, it definitely sounds promising.

Entrance of Ma Maison

The interior of the restaurant was uniquely decorated as well. It definitely sets the tone for a romantic dinner.

Interior

As the portion of the meals is said to be quite large, we decided to order a set of course meal to be shared. We decided to go for 2 appetizers, 1 main course, and 1 dessert.

Appetizer #1 : Grilled Duck Liver In Grape Sauce

Two grilled duck livers served with grape sauce. Priced at over RM50, it's supposed to be the premium appetizer. Unfortunately, a part of the duck liver was slightly overgrilled. Although I'm not a great fan of duck liver, I believe that it will taste nice if it's nicely done.

Appetizer #2 : Fish Dumpling in Seafood Sauce

This fish dumpling is a recommendation from my girlfriends' GM. Coming from a man whose fussiness in food surpasses mine, I expect this dish to be nothing short of delicious. Thankfully, this dish lives up to its reputation. At the mention of fish dumpling, I expect it to be something like Chinese "Wan Tan". It turns up to be nothing like that.

From the bite and the taste of it, the Fish Dumpling is made by stuffing fish meat into its belly skin and then frying it. It is then cooked in seafood sauce in a claypot and mind you the seafood sauce is as nice as the dumpling itself. It is creamy and there are pieces of prawns in it. When we are finish with it, the whole claypot is as clean and dry as new.

Main Course : Spring Chicken in Red Wine

Coming at over RM20, the main course is quite normal by my standard if compared to both appetizers. Perhaps I should follow my girlfriend's suggestion and ordered it's roast duck instead. Well, as the name is spring chicken, there's not much meat to expect and I definitely did not get much taste of red wine from it. Verdict : Not recommended.

Dessert : Chocolate Mousse

To concluded our meal, we got ourself Chocolate Mousse as dessert.  We found it too sweet. The sweetness totally covered the chocolate taste. Another non-recommended item.

Along with two glasses of house wine, the whole meal cost us RM166. As there's only another couple of customers there on that night, the service is fast and the waiter is friendly as well. For the Fish Dumpling, we will definitely come back again.  Next time, we will go for the Roast Duck.

Ma Maison
32 Persiaran Ampang,
55000 Kuala Lumpur,
Tel : +6 03 4256 5410

Note : They only accept cash.

My Birthday at As... It Bistro

I turn 27 on Oct 27. I was supposed to have dinner with my girlfriend to celebrate my birthday. The destination was As...It Bistro. It is located at Aman Suria. Once, I had walked pass it and thought that the environment was quite nice especiallly with the live band inside. The band however, only plays on Tuesday and Thursday and coincidentally the band is playing on my birthday.

Eggs Tied With Ribbon

As we walked ourself in to the bistro, we are seated on one table with special table cloth with "Happy Birthday" all over it. And to decorate the table, is a basket of red boiled chicken eggs.

It was then that I smelled something fishy. This whole thing was pre-planned by my girlfriend. The boss of the bistro is a lady known to regulars as Angela or Mama Angela. She personally served us as we took our seat.
She recommended us to start with the mushroom soup followed by main course. I ordered Grilled Chicken Set while my girlfriend went for Beef Ball Set. She then recomended for us to have a Vegetable Salad while waiting for our meal to be prepared.

My Red Birthday Egg

The first that went into our stomach are the eggs. We both have one each. Although the eggs are normal in taste but the hassle they went through to prepare it is meaningful.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

The mushroom soup arrived first.  The mushroom soup, unlike those found in regular western food stalls or restaurant, appears darker in colour. As I put the first spoonful in my mouth, I knew that the main course that follows must be nice too. Every spoonful of the soup is littered with pieces of mushroom. This is probably one of the best mushroom soup I've ever tasted. For RM7.80 per bowl with two pieces of garlic bread, it definitely was worth it.

Vegetable Salad

Next to come is the Vegetable Salad. This is just some normal salad with onions, cucumber, small tomatoes, tomatoes, capsicum with light salad dressing. The salad comes at RM13.80 with the portion big enough for two.

About 10 minutes later, the main course arrived; the Beef Ball. It comes with mushroom sauce. One bite into it and you will feel the whole thing is compact with beef yet soft in texture. As I do not indulge in beef and lamb, that's the feedback I received from my girlfriend. The Beef Ball set comes at RM20.80.

 Beef Ball Set

Mushroom sauce for Beef Ball

My Grilled Chicken Set cost Rm18.80. For me, it was value for money. The chicken was grilled just right as I can still feel the juiciness in the chicken. Grilled with BBQ sauce, it definitely beats many of the western foods out there. Both of the western sets comes with side coleslaw, mashed potato, a piece of grilled corn and boiled vegetables(carrots and beans). The mashed potato does not gives the impression that it's mixed with flour as those found in fast food. 

Grilled Chicken With BBQ Sauce

Last but not least is the 'surprise' birthday cake. The cake is normal, definitely not in the league of Secret Recipe but what matters is it is handmade by the lady boss herself.

My Birthday Cake

Environment wise, it's pretty relaxing and the staffs and boss are very friendly. I even manage to blurt out a few songs upon invited by the staff there.

They belted out birthday song for me, one of the regulars bought me a beer and I would say I definitely enjoy my time there.

As my fussy tastebud is concerned, I'll go back there again for their Grilled Chicken and Mushroom Soup not to mention too their friendly band. And I managed to get a smell of Laksa one of the customer ordered before I leave. Well, by the smell it definitely is promising.

As...It Kafe Dan Bistro,

No 12, Jalan PJU 1/45,

Aman Suria,

Sunway Mas Commercial Centre,

47301 Petaling Jaya,

Selangor,

Tel : 03-7804 4510