Food Review

France is the place full of food and the strong culinary background. As a culinary student, is a must to go to France and explore the culinary background in order to learn something new or explore things that we couldn’t see in Malaysia. On the last day in Toulouse, my friend  brought me to a restaurant nearby my hotel. I found this restaurant is unique because there was 2 man run the whole restaurant. They were the waiter, bartender, chef and steward. The restaurant could fit for maximum 30 person but it was a bit pack. On the night there were 30 guest, which was 15 person from Bachelor In Culinary Arts and 15 person from Bachelor In Event Management. 15 of us cramp into 1 table. The chef had prepare 3 course meal for us, consist of appetizer, main course and dessert.

The chef prepared the salad in a big mixing bowl. The salad toss with vinaigrette and serve with huge fois gras. While we were eating the foie gas, the chef opened a bottle of white wine. The wine taste was sweeter than the usual white wine. The chef said the foie gras was the duck butter, so I decided to eat the foie gras goes with the butter because as a typical Malaysian, we prefer to eat break with butter. It was so addicting but it is very bad for the health because it contain too much fat. We couldn’t finish the foie gras and left it at the table around 20 minutes, I saw the foie gras started to melt like butter. After the appetizer, we had the best oyster in the world. Why I describe it the best oyster in the world because the oyster was so huge and it taste salty because of the sea water and it was super fresh. The Best Oyster In My Life! Love it so much!

 The Huge Foie Gras a.k.a. Duck BUTTER!

Huge & Salty Oyster! YUMMY!

For main course, we had chicken seafood paella. Paella is a Spanish rice fish that includes different combinations of vegetables and meats characteristically seasoned with saffron  but also has other spices depending on the recipe and area in Spain it come from. Paella is both a Valencian and a Catalan word which derives from the old French word paella for pan, which in turn come from the latin word patella for pan as well. The traditional paella is usually cook with saffron flower.  As the paella taste so good, I ate 2 plate. Why is the paella taste good because it cook with a lot of seafood and capsicum also known as bell pepper. For the dessert, the chef serve us apple tart. The tart look simple and doesn’t taste good. So I decided to take a small slice, the first bite I had, the tart taste so good and the short crust pastry was like sandy crumble. It is very hard to get the same texture as I ate.

The chef  decided to charge us 20euro per person, I was shock why was it so cheap. Where can you get 20euro for such nice dish. It was a good experience and the chef were friendly to the customer.

 Chicken Seafood Paella

 Apple Tart

Restaurant Review In France

During the early of November, I went to France with my school trip. It is a compulsory trip for all the bachelor degree final year and final semester student for the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts. It was a 10 days trip exclude travelling from Malaysia to France. The school has decided for us to visit Paris and Toulouse. The purpose of the trip is to learn about the culture of France and visited the historic place and to explore about the culinary experience in France. It is very different with Malaysia culinary.  On the 4^th day of the trip, we went to Carcassone. It is a French city in the south of France famous for its medieval fortification and architecture. It is very popular with tourists who are awed by its castle, cobbled streets, ramparts. Pinted turrets and towers. The city is also famous for its role in the Cathat crusades when it was a stronghold of Occitan Cathars. During the visit to Carcassone, my friend and me decided to dine in to a restaurant. Restaurant L’ostal Des Troubadours.

As you can see from the board, this restaurant is famous for the grills cooked over their open wood fire and also they are famous for their cassoulet. During we had our meal, there was live band sing by the french guy. They were singing the french song, we don't understand the song but we enjoy it. In the restaurant they build in the open wood fire stove. The restaurant do use the stove to grill the food and keep the restaurant warm during the winter season. The restaurant didn't use the table cloth and they use the disposable table cloth, it is more convenient and more hygienic.

 The a la carte menu has a large variety of food and the price of the food is worth to pay if you don't convert it back to ringgit malaysia. The restaurant do have few set menu which is the price from 18 euro for 3 course meal 21 euro for 4 course meal and 25 euro for 5 course meal. The signature dish is bean cassoulet, it contain butter bean, pork meat, pork lard and pork sausage. 

Pork Bean Cassoulet

Waiter grilling the meat at the open wood fire stove

Hereafter Cooking Scene

This cooking scene is about the chef is conducting a cooking class. One of the student came late because she having some problem with the registration. The chef like to play some music in the kitchen, he said cooking is with all the senses. I agree with this because most of the chef like to play some music while completing the task. The guy use the wrong knife to cut tomato. In kitchen, we have vegetable knife to cut vegetable. Deboning knife for debone the meat. We have to follow the sequence.

Personal Essay ( Kimchi)

In the morning, I was sleeping like a dead pig. Suddenly, my parents wake up up and ask me to eat breakfast prepared by them. I was like ’ can I sleep for another 30 minutes because I very tired, yesterday night I rush my professional food writing assignment until late night’.  My parents prepared the Korean Ramen and served with Kimchi as a side dish. Kimchi is a traditional fermented made of vegetables and variety of seasonings. It can described as spicy or sour, in traditional preparation Kimchi was often allowed to ferment underground in jars for months at a time. Kimchi is Korea’s national dish and there are hundreds of varieties made with a main vegetable ingredient.

What do you think when you eating kimchi? If me, I will feel the sourness and spicyness on my tongue even though before I am eating it. I could imagine the texture, taste and smell of kimchi. Korean people every time had their breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper with kimchi. It serve as a side dish, kimchi is really importance in their menu. It is like Korean couldn’t survive without kimchi.

I had eaten kimchi before at one of the restaurant in ampang, and that was my first time eating of kimchi. When I put into my mouth, I feel like there was a bomb in my mouth and it explode in my mouth, my tongue was cuddled by the kimchi combination of sour and spicy, I could feel my teeth cried. At least, I still tried to eat the kimchi because I fall in love with the crunchiness of the vegetable, the combination of sour and spicy, even though the process of eating kimchi is making me suffer but I still love it so much.

I could eat kimchi because I’m really daring enough to have another explode in my mouth. It sounds really pity of me, because I cold not enjoy the original taste of kimchi. After that, every time I consume korean food, I always ask for more kimchi even though I feel suffer but I enjoy the feeling. Some time I will ask the waiter to change the side dish to others because I will take some kimchi from my friend. I’m not really a Korean food lover but somehow I loves kimchi. I know that kimchi have a lot of benefit for our body, Kimchi is loaded with Vitamin A, B and C and it is also a food for anti cancer. There is no way to make kimchi have a better taste like other Korean foods. Even it is cooked by the other method cooking. It still have the smell, sourness, spiciness and the texture as well.