Meet me at the corner…

This place is sparkling new – N°2 Casual Dining…

…just opened a week or two ago. Don’t ask me what the name stands for – I really do not know…and I do not know the reason behind the “casual dining” phrase either for it certainly has the makings of a great place…

…for fine dining (…and considering what they serve and the prices as well, if you catch the drift). It has an open kitchen concept…

…and thankfully, they were all working very quietly when I was there – quite unlike those closed kitchens I saw on TV or in the movies with all the shouting going on and every phrase or sentence peppered with four-letter and swear words. LOL!!!

I sure was glad to see fresh flowers, one on each table…

…unlike at some places. Honestly, I do feel that if you are going to use those artificial flowers, it would be better not to have any at all…especially if they’re those tacky cheap-looking plastic ones.

My girl had her favourite, salmon – their Salmon Steak with Wasabi Mayonnaise (RM39.90)…

…and needless to say, she loved it very much. Initially, we were not too sure about that wasabi bit as we are not really into that but the waitress assured us that it wasn’t wasabi, it was mayonnaise. I guess it was something they created, with just a little bit of wasabi in it, too little to really taste it but anyway, there was so little of it, just a little dot, to make much of a difference. I would think it was not too expensive, considering that it was salmon and a huge thick slab of it as well…and the fact that it was a whole lot nicer than what we had here at almost that same price.

My missus had their fish in garlic chives pesto and capsicum salsa (RM22.90)…

…and it was very good too! I am not too sure what fish it was but it looked and tasted like what people call snowfish or Alaska fish, very popular at Chinese restaurants here, steamed or deep fried.

I decided to try their pollo ala brasa or Peruvian (RM25.90)…

…and of course, I did not know what that was but I guessed from the name that it would be something South American. I asked the waitress and she said it was chicken, so chicken it would be then. It was very nicely done too, with whatever spices that they used to marinate the meat and I would say I enjoyed it but come to think of it, I would enjoy the slab of chicken that I would get in my ayam penyet platter at my favourite place in town as well..and I can get 4 plates of that with that kind of money. I probably would save this for some special occasion but then again, if and when I come back, I would want to try something else on the menu so I would have something different to blog about.

I ordered this Loukanika Greek sausage (RM9.90)…

…to share and yes, it was fine – very nice…

…though there was really too little of it to sweep me off my feet. Hehehehehe!!!!

We also shared their soup of the day, green pea (RM4.90)…

…and yes, we enjoyed that as well.

Then it was time to order dessert. I could not decide what to have and was pondering over the items on their menu when the sweet waitress suggested ordering all of them. Clever girl! That was a brilliant idea…and so I did. After all, they only had three. Hehehehehehe!!!!

The French crème brûlée (RM5.90)…

…was the best I’ve had anywhere – even my missus who is not into this, or anything custard for that matter, liked it very much.

The chocolava (RM4.90)…

…was excellent too! I thought it had a richer and creamier chocolaty taste…

…than the ones at that other place in town but I did wish they had served ice cream with it as well as the combination would help reduce the level of sweetness of the chocolate.

Last but not least, their apple crumble (RM6.90)…

…was good as well and again, I was wishing they had served ice cream with it. As it was and at that price, I would much sooner go for the other two.

We went early – before 6.00 p.m. and there were already two tables besides ours. The place began to fill up in a bit gradually…

*That pretty young girl seemed mighty familiar and she did smile to acknowledge me as I was going out – maybe she was one of my students…or maybe she knows who I was – the STP! One thing’s for sure, I do know the father…by sight. Sibu is a very small town, you see. Hehehehe!!!!*

…and I was glad that despite there being so many people, it was not noisy at all, unlike some places…and they played very pleasant soft jazz music in the background, so soft that my girl did not even notice – thankfully, they did not have Taylor Swift, full blast, going on and on and on about her love story, each song sounding not too different from the rest.

I asked around and found out that this place is co-owned by four people…and one told me I was his English teacher and the chef is his brother, trained in Taiwan twinning with France so he was in Europe for a couple of years and upon graduating, he worked in Singapore for over a year before coming home. Another partner was my ex-student too – in my English tuition class…and there was another one, the fourth, who was at the payment counter and I did get to speak to him as well.

The bill came up to RM121.20 and I guess that was more because we ordered a lot more than we should but then again, I just had to try to see what was good here. If anyone is interested, their opening hours are…

…and it is located right beside Medan Mall, Jalan Wong King Huo, at the corner of one of the blocks of shops to the right of the mall (rough estimate: 2.294298,111.841933).

FOOTNOTE:
I took my old camera along since I did not seem to be able to take nice photographs using my new one under dim conditions/at night…so if you can guess correctly which photograph(s) was/were taken using the new one, I may just send a little something down your way. Come, give it a shot!