Food & Travel Review: Kuala Lumpur - El Cerdo Restaurant
I love weekend getaways! Nothing beats leaving everything behind, work, worries and all and just having fun. Made great use of Z's birthday as an excuse to head up to KL town for a weekend of non-stop eating and partying (actually who needs an excuse for a getaway right?). I'll update with our other yummy meals but first, the highlight of our trip- Elcerdo.
Just looking at the pictures, i think you would have guessed. YES! They serve little pigglets! OINK! All the dishes are porky ones. Nose to Tail eating- that's what El Cerdo offers and i think it's a brilliant idea (though i don't eat all the parts). I suppose we ought to feel guilty for eating the piglets, especially with all these cute piglety pictures hanging around the restaurant, but nope! Our tummies were too satisfied to feel any pangs of guilt. Our stomachs have no conscience. Even Z who is not a pork fan was raving about the food. YUMS.
First came the bread basket with some pate. We were both really excited because we had some really yummy ones with croissants during our stay in Saigon. But this.is.really.bad! I almost vomited. The taste is really gamey and "fishy" and it felt like it has been left out in the heat for days. EEWS. Thankfully i only took a little. Should have just stuck to our regular olive oil and vinaigrette. The bread on the other hand was spongy and tasty. Some onion bits in it which reminded me of that lovely onion bacon roll at the Ledbury. Sigh.
For appetizers, we had the pork croquettes which had more pork than potatoes. I still had the phobia of the rancid tasting pork from the pate and was really afraid to taste this. Thankfully it turned out ok. Nicely battered and tender shredded pork- perfect combination with mayonnaise.
The prawns wrapped in bacon was spot on. We were surprised at how good the seafood is (you'll see in a bit). Crunchy, crystal clear meat, succulent, sweet seafood freshness. I could almost feel the prawn swimming in my mouth. The bacon added a nice smokiness and flavor to dish. LOVE THIS!
This has to be DA BOMB. The birthday girl decided that she wanted the Cataplana- a Portuguese seafood dish cooked in a copper cookware shaped like a clam. This is a popular dish on the country's Algarve coast. The pot is sealed by the 2 clamps and the seafood is left to stew in its own juice. The result, a rich seafood base that tastes oh so sweet and heavenly.
There are tiger prawns, shrimps, mussels, squid, fish wrapped in bacon and sliced mushroom in a tomato-ish gravy which contains the essence of all the seafood. Some potatoes and zucchinis were thrown in to add some natural carbs and sugar to the broth. We were both amazed at how fresh all the seafood were and how nicely done since they are require different cooking time. Somehow everything was perfectly cooked. This must be a magic pot or something!
We couldn't stop raving about the seafood. Birthday girl was really happy with the food of course. Gotta thank Debs for introducing this restaurant to us when we mentioned our Spanish tapas craving. The stew is essentially a lobster bisque and I've never tasted one so full-bodied before. You know how food can make one feel so contented and satisfied with life? This is the dish. My last meal has to be this for sure (ok maybe one of the dishes of my last meal. I'm greedy that way!).
While we were having dinner, we noticed that many people were celebrating their birthdays at the restaurant. They have a special birthday song which the servers would sing as they bring out the desserts. Of course i had to make an arrangement with them. While everyone went for some ice cream thingy (boring), i chose the tiramisu (as Z was kinda craving for them) and I brought the "cake" out while singing the song so loudly that the entire restaurant could hear me. Anything for my BFF! She was so excited that she didn't managed to video record the stellar performance by me but i'm sure no other birthday song would beat mine. :))
The tiramisu was as lovely as the other dishes. Creamy yet light mascarpone with rum soaked ladies' fingers, dusted with cocoa and served with a mango drizzle at the side (which i mistook for nacho cheese. HA.). That was 2 huge scoops of desserts after all those food. We managed to finish everything though because it was so yummy.
Elcerdo has to be the best porky restaurant i've been to so far and the spanish food was really well executed. There is a variety of European, English and Western pork dishes such as sausages, pork knuckles, pork chops etc etc etc. Really attentive service and friendly staff. Perfect place for birthday celebrations too! I'll definitely be back, birthday or not.
El Cerdo
45 Changkat Bukit Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: + 603 2145 0511
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