Brunch at Brotzeit

A German joint has taken root at Megamall in Midvalley. Brotzeit (2287-5516), originating in Singapore, is a restaurant-bar with an interesting menu and a variety of beers.

I checked it out with food junkie Bangsar-bAbE, as we’ve decided to pair up as a tag team for reviews – she’s d food specialist, me d booze. I like both food n drinks, so its a sweet deal!

A long bar as u enter

Drafts

We started brunch with some ales, since i’ve kinda eased back on lagers. I went for one on tap, Paulaner Hefe Weissbier, a wheat beer (5.5%). As with all wheat beers, its pleasant n easy-drinking.

Some of the German brew available (click to enlarge). Note that prices are not nett

Mango mix

Sue Lynn decided to try for a beer cocktail. She had an affensaft – weissbier with mango. Turned out good. Fruity, and importantly, very palatable, so u drink fast. The banana mix didnt turn out so well.

To start d munchies, we had a spicy bacon pizza, a crispy one with roasted bacon bits, onions, cherry tomatoes & chilies. The base is crunchy, so its more like a bacon biscuit. A good combi of tastes, with a spicy buzz to go with that beer. As its bacon, there was a scary layer of oil under the pizza.

Starter

Sip sip

Dunkel

I moved on to a dark wheat beer, Dunkel Heffe Weissbier, which was perfect timing as a shitload of pork ribs appeared.

It was great stuff. Still moist, with a well-marinated outer. Fortunately the meat doesnt fall off the bone, coz dats for toothless sissies. The Brotzeit guy with us wasn’t certain, but i reckon it’s roasted. At $102, its steep, but enough for a few people.

Meat fest

Würstelplatte

More meat in the Wursterplatte ($89.70), a combi of garlic sausages, spicy chicken, pork, and mini pork-cheese. And sauerkraut of course. The garlic one was d most interesting, as it had a distinct twang compared to same ol sausage flavours.

Macaroni?

What i thought was macaroni was Käsespätzle ($39), homemade egg dough with cheese, a Bavarian thing. Rich n cheesy! Kinda milky too. Best if shared, coz tough to finish.

The massive pig-out ended with Apfelstrudel = apple strudel ($25.30). Any dessert with ice-cream has my vote, and this one is good stuff, with juicy apples inside, and a flaky outer, combined with almond-topped vanilla ice-cream.

Closure

Platters

Got well-stuffed. We hardly made a dent in the menu.

Only tried two beers, so hopefully will swing by someday to test more.

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Brain damage: 6/10

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The cachaça samba

While rum is da man in Central & South America, cachaça is big chief in Brazil. It’s a ol skool clear liquor produced from good ol’ sugarcane juice.

Hmmmm. Gives me ideas.

I did try to ferment sugarcane juice once but it failed coz the container wasn’t airtight. Will definitely retry soon.

Met up with Boozepimp Michelle from TWE & mixologist Ben Ng at Celsius, a stylish new bar downtown to get to know cachaça better (pronounced ka-SHAH-sa).

Yet more new stuff in town

Its similar to rum in terms of the raw product source, but rum uses sugar cane molasses, produced by boiling the juice until it turns to solids (crystals). Cachaça is made by fermenting and distilling fresh-pressed cane juice, thus it retains an intense earthy aroma. It’s used mostly for cocktails, the most popular being the world-famous Caipirinha (cachaça, lime juice, sugar), one of my faves.

If you’ve seen a red/white label bottle with a large “51” on it sitting behind bars, that’s cachaça, but a different brand, Cachaça 51.

There are more than 5,000 cachaça brands in Brazil, the majority known as a ‘poor man’s drink’, as its dirt cheap. 99% consumed domestically. But these days, better quality (and more costly) options are available. It’s Brazil’s national drink.

Maybe we should give some to our national team so they play better football.

Clear as water

Like capoeira, it’s got a long history (five centuries), but is only now becoming popular outside Brazil. Plantation owners used to give it to their slaves to make ’em work harder. Nice incentive.

One of them that TWE has brought in from Brazil is Sagatiba, which has the honour as the world’s first premium cachaça.

Had a sampling of it in several Caipirinha cocktails at Celsius, but of course a neat shot first.

It really grabs you with its strong flavours. I got some earthy vanilla hit. Its ABV is 38%.

Soon there was a Caipirinha feast goin down.

Pomegrenate Caipirinha

Spicy Mango Caipirinha

Mangosteen Caipirinha

A Cucumber Caipirinha

They’re all fruity, refreshing drinks. All that’s missing is a beach. You could add more liquor to give it some bite/resistance.

Then Ben brought out some eggs.

What's cookin?

Am not a fan of egg in cocktails, but he created a very drinkable and almost smoothie-like drink – Maracuja Sour which is from Peru, but Ben replaced pisco with cachaça.

Koktel tarik

Its other ingredients are passion fruit juice and sugar syrup.

Batida

The final one’s my favourite, a Strawberry Grapefruit Batida. A Batida is a popular cocktail in Brazil that combines cachaça with fruit juices, and sometimes coconut milk. I could drink this all day.

The Sagatiba Pura is available now at TWE (map) for about $130, as well as bars like Celsius, Traders Hotel, Elixir, Laundry, ReggaeBar, Werner’s and Friday’s. There are plans to soon bring in the top-shit premium Sagatiba Velha, which is aged in oak barrels. Lookin forward to that!

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Brain damage: 7.5/10

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Cocktails @ Desire

Had a cocktail-tasting session at Desire @ Manor (2691-3030), Heritage Row, KL. The outlet opened three months ago, and has already hosted several parties.

The Manor

Now there’s a list of 350 cocktails! I was invited to try some last Thursday, not all obviously. Should have brought my sleeping bag and some rations – 50 cocktails a day, i could be in and out of there within a week.

The cocktail list is separated by cocktail types – aperitifs, long drinks, shooters, classics and frozens.

The intro drink turns out to be Brain Hemorrhage. Its not as sick as it sounds, although it looks like an alien foetus.  Its a shooter – a mix of Kahlua, Peach Schnapps, Baileys and Grenadine. A very pleasant and easy drink to shoot.

My first long drink is a Tequila & Tomato – tequila, tomato juice, lime juice & tabasco. A lil like a Bloody Mary, but better, to me at least. I guess it’s a tangy version. Pretty spicy. Tequila & tabasco combine well – in fact it’s also a common shooter. Tex-Mex shit.

Weekend special

Multi-flavoured

The Weekender is a mix of Malibu, dark rum, banana liqueur, Grenadine, orange juice & ginger ale. Sounds very tropical and flavourful. There might have been too much mixer, so it was a lil bland for me.

Hit a Caipirinha, a classic of Cachaca, brown sugar & lime. Refreshing, sour, bitter and sweet at d same time.

Suck on dat

Then comes the Blow Job, a classic shooter. Baileys, Kahlua, Creme de Banana & whipped cream. Ur supposed to use only your mouth to lift the glass and swallow the contents. Can get pretty messy. Obviously a nice-tasting drink.

I enjoyed this shooter called Black Forest – Kahlua, Baileys, Cherry Brandy. You could have a few of these without blinking. And its got a classy ruby-red hue.

My cherry

Am not into frozen cocktails, mainly coz they seem to take days to thaw. But had to go for the Brown Cow. Also, coz i feelin totolly tropikal marn. This is rum, Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao and chocolate ice-cream. Niice.

Great dessert drink. An alco-slurpee. The chocolate and mint liqueur is just a perfect blend in terms of taste, while the rum provides da boost.

Unfortunately i had to leave early.

Mmmm...... chocolate

Daaaaaamn. I was just gettin warmed-up. Other stuff that caught my eye were another dessert, Frozen Banana Mama (rum, dark rum, banana liqueur, coconut, pineapple juice and strawberries), Jamaican Dust (rum, Tia Maria, pineapple juice), Bangkok Special (vodka, rum, gin tequila, Midori, Cointreau, ginger ale), Harbour Lights (shooter: tequila, spiced rum, Kahlua) and shitloads more.

Prices (nett) for all drinks are $26.45. There’s happy hour for beer buffet (6pm-9pm): $50 net for Carlsberg, $130 for Hoegaarden, daily but closed Mondays. The outlet is for dining as well.

Decked out

The Manor consists of Desire, O Walk and The Terrace. Party section Desire is a nice-lookin joint. Pretty stylish and cosy too. There’s a generous & tasteful application of glass, with a cool semi-outdoor lounge.

If ur into deep/funk-house, I’d definitely recommend Tim Coates, who’s on deck Fridays. There’s also this Aussie freestyle chick, Jamain MC who’s launching her single on Thursday. Heard her belt out some rhymes. Pretty good. She’s featured on an MOS album.

Take your pick

Cocktail fans can check out their list at the bar.

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Brain damage: 7.5/10

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A peek at The Hill

Hit a new outlet on Lorong Dungun, Damansara Heights, KL.

Its called The Hill (016 229-1505), and is a converted fat-cat bungalow. The place is a pad, and is restaurant/bar. Location here.

Some pictures from Saturday night:

Upstairs

Some corridor

To the loos

Outdoor seating

Gettin there

There

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