Believe it or not (perhaps at this point, you'd believe it), our trip to Kuala Lumpur was mostly driven by our desire to eat ribs at Tony Roma's.
Both Jourdan and I are big fans of beef, especially the ribs (for him), and beef tongue (for me, but this is saved for discussion another time okay :P). Unfortunately, Tony Roma's in most parts of the world is not a halal establishment, which is totally reasonable considering they are famous for their baby back ribs.
So where to go if we're craving for some juicy, meaty, tender, mouth watering ribs if not the Tony Roma's in Malaysia? This was basically the main idea of why we made that trip to Kuala Lumpur the other day. Yes, we definitely are willing to travel for some good food. How I wish we could do this for a living, travel to eat :D. It'd be great if this were also supported by a hobby of exercising and keeping the body fit. Alas, we can't have the best of both worlds. Well, technically we can, but we're just too lazy it seems.
So, long story short (I actually wanted to make this post as long as I could haha), the next day we immediately headed to Mid Valley City, to binge on some ribs :).
But before that, of course we have to check out the breakfast spread at the Hilton KL! Stupidly, it skipped my mind to include this portion to my last post which talks more about the hotel itself*sigh. Moving on.
I was not sure whether it was because of the holiday season or it has always been this way at the Hilton KL, but the line to the breakfast buffet in the morning can be very long. It can even reach all the way to the elevator area.
The breakfast spread itself is pretty extensive, with all kinds of signature dishes from all the different cultures that make Malaysia, well, Malaysia; Chinese, Malay, Indian, with also some western, Japanese and Korean type of dishes thrown in.
I tried to sample as much as everything as I could, so needless to say I always had a big breakfast in the morning, which I wouldn't normally do. I'm being serious here.
My favorite was definitely the siomay, especially the one with the purple topping (was it yam?). You can see what I ate in my video, link of which I included below this post. Oh my goodness that one was to die for!!! I made a couple of trips back to the siomay stall specifically just to ask the one with the purple topping. The third time, I asked Jourdan to do it for me, because you know, I'm quite shy :P.
After our wonderful breakfast, Jourdan and Naylla took another dip in the pool, while I snooze the calories away in the hotel room. It's the best arrangement for everyone.
When it was almost time for lunch, off we went to Tony Roma's. By that time, my stomach has made room for the all the meat I was about to eat.
With the Hiton being so close to the train station (right across the street), we decided to take the train to Mid Valley. You know, trying to experience the local public transportation :).
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| Source: www.mbg.com.my |
To tell you the truth, we thought the train system would be similar to Singapore, where trains come in every 4-7 minutes. So, after a short discussion, we decided to get off the platform and just take a taxi. What a waste of money for tickets we already bought. But we decided, the time saved is worth the extra money spent, or so Jourdan said. Though, we had to queue once more at the taxi counter to pay the fee to get on the taxi itself.
20 minutes after that, we arrived at The Gardens, the mall at Mid Valley City. Looking around the mall, there were many shops, and halal eating places that just begged me to come over. The temptation was almost too much for me to bear.
Including this Manhattan Fish Market restaurant that had lobster promotion and had cleverly put their lobsters on display, really intriguing for me. If it were not for my love for beef, I would have been swayed.
Walking into Tony Roma's we noticed they had this new dish featured on their menu, it just started the day before: Baby Beef Back Ribs. Interesting. I had to read it about 5 times to make sure what I was reading was actually what it really was, my brain needed time to process.
It didn't take us very long to decide what we wanted to eat. Jourdan wanted the baby beef back ribs, I wanted the New York Strip and since they had a promotion going on to celebrate, errr....something, Naylla ate for free, and she ordered the kid burger that also came with ice cream (delicious, yummy and super creamy by the way).
While we waited, they served us with some bread and butter.
I tried not to eat so much of the bread, but I was hungry and the bread was good. Crusty on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. I wondered a little if it was okay to ask for some extra bread....and butter.
The long awaited ribs arrived. I think the portion was just right for Jourdan. And they looked insanely good. Not too much sauce on, grilled perfectly with some caramelized and charred edges, and the portion is more than the sides, always a winner.
That first cut into the ribs, ooohhh so tender, it was like cutting into butter, and the outside had a crispiness to it, while the inside stayed moist, juicy and....fatty :D. When you bite into these ribs, you forget all about the sides (even though it's french fries, food you can and should never say no to), the sides seem insignificant, and bothersome. It was all about the ribs. Jourdan shared the ribs with me, and as a fan of beef, I was loving it also. But one comment I'd like to make is that since this is baby beef, it doesn't taste all that beefy, it tasted light and far less gamy.
While some people may welcome the change, I personally felt like something was missing. The beefiness was exactly what I was looking for when I'm eating beef. Eating mutton on the other hand, I do enjoy eating 'baby' mutton (arrghh this sounds wrong). But Indonesians are probably familiar with the term 'Balibu' Bawah Lima Bulan (literally means under 5 months old), a term used for dishes that uses baby mutton meat. Now these I enjoy! Because I don't miss that goat smell in my meal.
Anyways, let's move on from this uncomfortable topic.
Undoubtedly though, I was enjoying all that sweet meat encasing the rib bones, infused with beautiful luxurious fat. The ribs mean business! It's a shame it's not a regular on the menu. The ribs were priced at RM 78.90.
Walking into the restaurant, I actually didn't feel like eating fatty ribs all that much, but a little bit of fat on the side of the cut of beef is still very much welcomed. So, I ordered the NY strip.
I have to say, I hadn't had steak that good for a very very long time T-T. It was a touching moment for me, when I cut into the meat, and some of the fat lining was included, oh my gosh, my heart stopped...even before the artery clogging fat was in my blood stream. I dipped the meat into my choice of sauce, Carolina Honey's, and enjoyed the whole balanced bite in my mouth.
Let me tell you, that meat sings! It was unbelievably good. It was like the first time I ever ate steak. Like my life flashed before my eyes, I was flooded by all the wonderful memories I had since childhood: the time I got a new bike, the time I learnt how to swim well, the first time I had bakso (meatballs soup), the first time I had beef tongue (oh my laaawwwdd), and the first time I saw New Kids on the Block on TV. It was such a wonderful experience. I wasn't done with my meal but I wondered when we can come here again.
So of course, I can honestly say the steak totally beats the baby beef ribs' behind, and I was so happy with my choice. It was one of those rare moments where my choice is better than Jourdan's :D.
It was never a competition, but I rejoiced a little whenever this happens, and this doesn't happen a lot, so I was enjoying every bit of it. I didn't actually rub it to his face, because his choice was awesome too. But mine was a little bit more to my liking. So, I'm happy with that.
The NY strip costed RM 65.89, an odd number but that was what the receipt said.
Naylla's kid burger, while also delicious, was nothing special. The burger really catered to little children's taste (read: did not involve any veggie in one form or another. It did have plastic cheese in it). The taste was not too strong, but tasty. So obviously, she enjoyed that, but she was too full to eat her chocolate ice cream. And this is where I came in.
I try to always be there for her, especially at a time like this. No worries, I'll save that ice cream for you....in my belly.
So that was our trip to Tony Roma's. I personally thought it was going to be downhill from here. Because there's no way anything could top that!
Here's the video I made for this trip, I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if there's anything you'd like for me to talk more about, or less of :D.
For more information on the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, you can click here.
For more information on Tony Roma's:
http://tonyromas.com.my/index.html
The Gardens
Lot No. LG 217, The Gardens Mall
Mid Valley City
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 603-2282 8243
Opening hours: 10.00 am - 10.00 pm
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