Friday, August 03, 2007

Fogal Meat Market Deli & Cafe, Plaza Damas

1.

"Why do you eat so slowly?", he asked.

I took my time answering. I piled a few strands of noodles into my spoon, making sure none fell out, and then picked up a fishcake and placed it in the centre of the spoon on top of the noodles, and finally scattered a few pieces of chopped spring onions around the fishcake.

"Because I am obsessive and compulsive", I quietly replied.

He didn't give up. "But you don't have to be so prim and proper all the time", he retorted. "If you feel like slouching, you should. If you feel like putting your legs up, you should."

"This is who I am", I tried to explain. "I can't be someone I'm not."

I have OCD. When I eat nasi lemak, I compartmentalise all the different ingredients, and have a certain ritual when eating. I first place the nasi lemak on my spoon and scoop up a bit of sambal using the tip of the spoon. I then place ONE peanut on the bed of rice, followed by a couple of pieces of fried ikan bilis. Once I am satisfied with the visual presentation, I place the beautifully designed arrangement in my mouth, while being very careful that none of the food touches my lips.

I think he understood me. Hehe.

Do you have any quirky eating habits?



2.


I seem to be strangely drawn to Plaza Damas.

One day, my friends and I were in the mood for some simple, wholesome fare, and having read about Fogal in a couple of blogs and in the newspapers, we were keen to see what the hype was all about.


fogal - exterior fogal - interior


There aren't many tables in Fogal, but I suppose that is because Fogal is primarily a meat market where you can pick up your choice of cuts and sausages. Behind the glace facade are chillers filled with different types of meat. We walked to the back of the shop which opened up to a outdoor terrace where we could enjoy the gentle breeze. The weather took a turn for the worse, subsequently, and we ended up huddling indoors, away from the afternoon rain.


lamb burger lamb burger
Aussie Pies


And the food? My lamb burger with cheese and bacon (RM13 + RM1 + RM1) was nice; the thick patty consisted of juicy, coarsely ground meat which was cooked perfectly. The additional slice of bacon which I requested for didn't make much of a difference to the burger as it was too thin to be noticeable.

Unfortunately, that's where the excitement ended.

Barbie's Aussie Pies - three slightly-larger-than-dime-sized pies comprising aussie beef, chicken & mushroom and steak & mushroom were scantily filled with the different meats. Pretty Pui had a more disastrous experience. She had been craving for a pork burger, so when her pork burger (RM11) arrived, she ravenously dug into it. Her face screwed up and we were all puzzled. "What's wrong?", we asked her, concerned about her expression. "Taste this", she said as she pushed a chunk of the burger patty to me. It was extremely salty. And mind you, Pretty Pui and I are big salt lovers. We love to add salt to our food. We rationalised that maybe the chef had accidentally sprinkled too much salt on part of the surface of the burger. As Pretty Pui dug deeper, she passed me another piece from a different section of the burger. It tasted just as salty.

This reminds me of the Visa ad when Zhang Ziyi pronounced, in her most alluring chinese accent - "The soup is too salty". An impersonation on my part would have definitely backfired!

Also check out:

Kampungkayell
Lots of Cravings
My Life Encounters


Fogal Meat Market Deli and Cafe
N-1-4, Plaza Damas,
No. 60, Jalan Sri Hartamas,
Sri Hartamas, KL.

Tel & Fax: 03-6201 3206/6201 3306

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would have just eaten the nasi lemak like how a glutton would do :O
But the supposedly OCD, makes eating so lady-like, and elegant! WoW!

The lamb burger - I could see you have sliced it up so nicely even though the "area" (or rather the bun) looks small. On the other hand, I don't think I have the skills to eat them the typical "fingers-all-over" way too! Plus, I'm not sure if I could stretch my mouth 180C like a hungry crocodile :P

boo_licious said...

Oh dear, when they oversalt food it's terrible since you can't do anything to it. Must admit I've not eaten this very raved abt lamb burger as we usually eat the roast meats here. The pies - you can get them at the frozen section of Village Grocer. It's done by their sister company, Tucker Box.

Henry Yeo said...

wait until you go to an migf restaurant during the gourmet festival

wmw said...

Been wanting to try the lamb burger...oh, I eat that way too...but I do it a tad faster than you I think. Ha ha ha...

msiagirl said...

Haha didn't notice you eating sashimi that way! We spent enough time obsessing about it before we ate it :) My quirky thing, and it is only noticeable in Malaysia, is that at a meal that has many dishes, I only eat one thing at a time...very slowlah and must target the dish I like best first or there will be none left!

teckiee said...

The burger is so thick! The patty...OMG! ... can fit into the mouth?

MeiyeN said...

wow wow wow... that lamb burger is delicious!!!!!! omg, that reminds me of da burgers we had @ carl's.. how can they charge so high, rm 20++ for one burger without plate, fork and knife seriously..

Beans said...

mmm.. the lamb burger looks yummy.

Unknown said...

You forgot to mention you also enter a trance when eating something you really enjoy! Have heard many good things about Fogal, guess they forgot to mention the chef is very "ham sup"! What a shame about the hair-droppingly salty lunch.

SteamyKitchen said...

I eat WAY too fast...that is because my brother eats fast too and growing up I had to protect my "turf" on choice cuts of vegetables and seafood.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

tigerfish:

Glad you saw the connection between the first part and the second! And no, it's tough to open one's mouth so big just to stuff a burger in. I normally take it apart when it's that size. :-P

boo:

Thanks for the info on the pies! Yeah, it's hard to rectify a salty dish. All I can say is, Pretty Pui's swearing off Fogal for a while. hahaha.

henry:

BUT, you must admit that some of the restaurants participating in the MIGF aren't up to par. Some are just overrated. :-P

wmw:

Hehe...yeah, you are definitely faster than I am. I've gotta learn to pick up speed. hehe.

msiagirl:

Unlike you, I save the best for last! Which is stupid, really, coz by that time, I am usually too full to appreciate the dish I like the most! But it's hard to change old habits, eh? :-P

teckiee:

that's why they give you a knife...to cut the burger up into bite sized pieces. hehe.

meiyen:

yalor...you can get a better burger here at a much cheaper price!

bee nee:

yeah, it's yummy alright! try it. :-)

paprika:

You are one of the privileged few who has seen me going into that trance when eating good food!

I didn't see the ham sup chef! I guess I'm not his taste. harharhar.

steamykitchen:

You know, I was like you as a child, but somehow, I changed when I moved out. The sudden benefit of eating alone and not having to "protect my turf" became something I cherished, and so my eating habits changed after 20 years of not living at home. Do you have to fight with your kids for choice cuts now? :-P hahaha.

Kenny Mah said...

{Begin random spiel}

I want me some meat! Now.
But. Not too salty please.

{End random spiel}

***

Used to be OCD about food meself AND ate it damn fast too. Now, I'm the opposite. Don't really care how I eat stuff so long as I can enjoy it at my own pace. And have good company. That's more important to me sometimes.

On that note, I'm ready for some good eatin' this weekend... :D

k.t.x said...

actually, u need to look on the other positive side of eating "faster", 1)the food's still warm/hot, cold 2)the aroma's still around 3)the flavor's still intact 4)the drive is still in order 5)the competition well attended(this is essential in a chinese restaurant when the other 9's mission would be fighting over the food throughout in a gentlemanly fashion)..... lol.

emmmm, i m open to any gourmet burger so as long as it is not McShit..lol. the patty really looks yummilicious, delicious, waterlicious, boolicious....lol.

Anonymous said...

Well, at least your burger is not bad :)

backStreetGluttons said...

does that thing extend to da darkened bedroom 2 V wonder ?
Or to play exceedingly safe maybe we shud always insist you satisfy da culinary part first ok .then again that might even be wonderful bearing in mind you really do take your time not to rush !
hahaha ! u r getting dangerous...

Anonymous said...

I was trained to eat faster when i was young, 10 yrs old i mean. I always eat in the car. And I like to put my legs up when I eat at home. U dun wan to see dat...haha...

Henry Yeo said...

which are the ones? I will be 'trying' to visit as many as I can this year, so any information to help me weed out my options will be greatly appreciated.

PS: must go Tamarind Springs.

Unknown said...

my god..look at the thick patty..im drooling..lol at the OCD part, sometimes i think that i have obsessive compulsive disorder too, especially when all my stuff have to be in place and in order..

Argus Lou said...

Ja, ja, Lemongrassie. I'm a compulsive eater like you. Everything must be arranged nicely, especially when eating soup noodles with a porcelain spoon and chopsticks. And of course I'm a slow eater too (unless I'm starving lah). I cannot mix up everything with rice like my Weisswurst does (it looks so untidy and yucky) -- it drives me crazy, and my being driven crazy drives him crazy. ;-)

Oh, you gotta come over to my blog to look at the pancake dedicated to you, lil' sis Lyrical. ;-P

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

kenny:

Hope you got some good eating done this weekend. Wait....you ate with me yesterday, didn't ya?? Haha...I hope that was good eating, even if there wasn't any meat, salty or otherwise... ;-)

k.t.x:

haha...thanks for the 5 points. You're right, of course. But I prefer to savour the food in my mouth before I swallow. LOL.

jason:

Yep...I guess I was the lucky one!! Haha. But pity my friends lor. They won't enter the restaurant again.

team bsg:

That's for you to find out...it certainly won't be spilled in my food blog. LOL.

xiu long bao:

Haha! I eat in the car too, and sometimes get crumbs all over myself. Must keep a lot of wet towels in the car for spills. LOL.

henry yeo:

I'll drop you an email. :-)

kampungboycitygal:

Ya...patty's thick and juicy. Nice. You have OCD too?? ^5!! LOL.

argus lou:

Oh, we're so alike! Bald Eagle has mastered the art of eating with me. After a few mouthfuls, he takes a break...goes for a walk, watches a movie, then comes back to see me finish my first course. The cycle repeats. ;-)

Thanks for the dedication, dear. I am sooooo touched!!!!

Jackson:

hehe. Go get some, boy!

Argus Lou said...

Yorvelkum, Lyrical.
I don't know about that Plaza Damas (used to call it Plaza Dumb@ss because at its beginning, something fell on someone's head and the person got badly injured). It's pretty new to me -- any better restaurants there?

Do you like The Curve near Ikea?

Anonymous said...

I don't often feel I can contribute much as a fan of your blog, LL, except a bit of parry and thrust from time to time. But when I came across your reference to Aussie meat pies, I sat up and did a double take.

I didn't think there'd be such an item in KL, let alone an eatery specialising in them. Well, here's some tragic news from the home of the meat pie:

It's pretty damned difficult to find a good one here, too!

As a kid, I went on annual family hols to a country coastal town called Busselton, which sported a little bakery that served up THE BEST PIE IN THE UNIVERSE.

It is no longer there. I have been in quest of a pie even half as good ever since - the holy grail still eludes me. Too much gristle these days, not enough pepper, too gluey, and the pastry is doughy, not light, crisp and flakey on the outside with the inner layers full of heart-corruptin' butter-enhanced pastry flavour. The tomato sauce is important too, as any pie afficionado knows.

Anyway, if you come across a good meat pie anywhere...ANYWHERE...pleeeeese let me know and I'll ink in that destination as an essential next stop in my constant but so far barren quest.

Cheers!

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Argus:

Yep, Dumb@ss works as well. :-)

Not many outstanding restaurants in Damas (Jap restaurants are okay though). I just like it coz it's easy to find parking. The Curve's worse. We prefer to skip our meals rather than eat there! :-P

Ross B:

Well, at least you've tried the best meat pie in the universe (even if it was DECADES ago). Some of us will have to settle for ordinary, sadly.

Oh, I shall certainly alert you if I find a good meat pie, but with the amount of travelling that you do, chances are you'll find it before me. I shall keep a ticket to Oz on standby. :-D