Tasting Room @ Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar

On their website, Tasting Room states experiencing their wine bistro is akin to a ‘flight concept’ – “a gourmet tasting journey from beginning to end, with one (or several) stopovers in between! As with all tasting tours, as you travel along, you will encounter different regions with their own distinctive styles and flavours. Served all together, the sample size portions of different varieties allow you to effectively evaluate and experiment… Our flights include food, wines, single malts, boutique beers and coffees.”

Our invitation to the Tasting Room’s tasting session was exactly this way. Bwoy, Was it a flight!

We flew in on an imaginary Learjet 60 with our pilot Julian Wong, a former RMC brat, and former semi-pro water polo jock and now somehow involved with the
Nibbleish.com empire!

There were five of us on this night flight. What were we going to nibble on ? The tall in-flight steward, Mr.James (F) Kennedy enlightened us..

Wow! what a big lounge in a learjet, right?

Just like the starry cloudless nights that surrounded our flight… we only gazed into yonder… wishing upon the starzz to fill our glasses… alas… no such fortune!

Our first dish, Portabello Mushroom with chicken cheese & mushroom concentrate. Our nibbly portions shared amongst 5(!) didn’t really allow me to taste the nuances.

The Prawn Bisque was bold with too much heavy cream, whilst the Crustacean taste was mild. The “tiger” prawn was more like a “little cat’s meow” and seemed to be over-cooked. Perhaps a peeled or split one might look more presentable?

Next, the Baby Octopus cooked in white wine and waterchestnut.. the hungry wolves..um passengers set on this dish like ravenous creatures of the night. I missed this one but no complaints heard, so it must have been ok. It actually looks a lot like the Japanese dish and to make it more interesting maybe it could do with a little more experimentation in the presentation department..

The Codfish was delicious and everyone enjoyed it. The squid-ink pasta was pretty average. The whole dish went well with the Cepes voloute sauce, garnished with asparagus and sun dried tomatoes.

The Angus Tenderloin, just like the Cod, has to be amongst the better dishes from the bistro. It was well cooked and tasted really good. The reduced Cabernet sauce was a little too over powering (burnt?) and a tad too heavy a serving. I’ve never been a fan of the risotto so there ain’t much I can say about the accompanying mushroom risotto.

If there were hits and misses, the Lamb Rack had to be the ‘big miss’ on this flight. Tough and rubbery says it all. The Rosemary sauce was really strong to mask the gamy taste.

Chocolate Cosmos is their popular dessert and definitely sent all of us into the milky way with it’s hot chocolate lava center. This chocolate dessert seems to be getting very popular amongst restaurants and TV food programs. The Cheese Cake lacked the Cheez although the biscuit base was good. The Crème Chautilly was a little too sweet.

Before we knew it, we had to land, ending our culinary aviation trip somewhat abruptly.
Captain, O’ my Captain… when’s our next flight??

Next time we must include a trip to the Duty Free! Our alcohol levels are NIL:P