Thursday, May 7, 2009

Cubes Chinese Cuisine @ Jaya One


Cubes @ Jaya One

Two Fridays ago, I got an invitation from Eiling to do a food review/free dinner at Cubes @ Jaya One. I have read about Cubes before, at least having knowledge that it is a Chinese restaurant and not blindly go there and ask for a medium rare steak :p



KY arrived just moments before me and we spent about 20 mins flipping the menu waiting for our host.


Eiling & Mr Ang

Our host arrived, pictured here with the owner of the restaurant, Mr Ang. He was a very hospitable, friendly and nice chap. I know the one question everyone is curious and dying to ask is, "Why CUBES?" According to Mr Ang, the name "CUBES" came about as he didn't want his restaurant to sound typically Chinese (ie. Garden, Imperial, Palace etc) so "CUBES" popped in his mind and it was no turning back since.


Dalmore 21 & Glenmorangie Lasanta

Eiling was being generous, she pulled out 2 bottles of Single Malt whiskies for the dinner but only I drank with Mr Ang. KY claimed he had his quota of alcohol the night before and Eiling was suffering from a mysterious allergy. We polished the Dalmore off. Have yet to try the Glenmorangie Lasanta... Will curi some from the alcohol corner at home teeheehee.


Aromatic duck

First dish to arrive was, I quote, "Probably the best aromatic duck....." This is their signature appetizer dish. The duck thigh was brought out and flossed right infront of us. It is served with thin crepes, similar to popiah skin, jullienned cucumbers, spring onion, and the special sauce.



Eat it the same way as you would with peking duck skin :) The aromatic duck roll is quite good, at least compared to the one I had in The Social. We polished up both wraps and meat.


Double boiled Scallops with Tung Sum Soup

After an amazing appetizer, out came the special soup to help cleanse the palate. We were served a bowl of Double boiled Scallops with Tung Sum Soup. The soup taste herbalish (I like) as it has ingredients such as wolfberries and Tung Sum (a type of ginseng lookalike herb). The taste is further enhanced with the use of ingredients such as pork ribs and sweet succulent scallops. Eiling claimed that this is her favourite soup here and I don't see why not.


Tiger Prawn with Rice Crisps

Next in line to enter our mouths was this Tiger Prawn with Rice Crisps. Before you ask, "What? Rice crisps??" Well believe me, never judge a book by its cover! This may look abit weird but it tastes fantastic. The prawns are huge, fresh and succulent and according to Mr Ang, the rice crisps are intended to neutralize your taste buds. Very amazing chemistry I must say!


Honey Glazed Spare Ribs

The Honey Glazed Spare Ribs await us while we finished the last gulp of the soup and licked clean the prawns' shell. This is another signature dish at Cubes which the owner is very proud off. It is not hard to see why he is so proud of the ribs.


So tender

They're juicy, bursting with flavour and tender! The meat just falls out from the bone at the poke of the fork. I usually shiver at the sight of pork fats but this one just melts in your mouth and the form of reaction my body sent me was a message to the brain saying, "This is oh too good, can I have another piece pleaseeeeee?"


Homemade beancurd with spinach and mushroom

Fans of beancurd will rejoice for this is a piece of heaven. The beancurd is soft, and the gravy complements well the usually bland beancurd. There is also a layer of spinach which I have mistaken it for seaweed on top of the perfectly golden brown beancurd.


Deep fried & stir fried lotus with celery

The last dish of the dinner was this healthy mix of vegies consisting deep fried and stir fried lotus with celery. I particularly love the deep fried lotus and have had my first deep fried lotus during CNY 2 years ago. It serves as a very delicious and addictive snack (fattening too but who cares!).


A very healthy vege drink

But of course, when you have the owner at the table with you, the dinner don't stop here. He instructed the kitchen to blend a very special healthy vege drink for Eiling who claimed she can't have alcohol for 5 days. Can't really remember what combination of vege was used but I remember there was Kai Lan and Celery in it. Surprisingly, it tastes really good!


Fruit enzymes- Dragonfruit & Starfruit


Fruit enzyme- Apple & Ginger

He also generously brought forth his special not-in-menu fruit enzymes, brewed by himself and brought out on special occassions and requests to entertain guests like us. The fruit enzymes were amazingly drinkable (*grins) and I almost couldn't tell what I was drinking as it does not really have very strong taste of ie. ginger.


Almond cream with black sesame glutinous balls

I thought there wasn't any space for desserts but I went on to have a bowl of Almond Cream with Black Sesame Glutinous Balls. To be honest, this dessert will require more than just a love for nuts, it is only for the acquired taste! If you think almond on its own taste bad, I can just say almond cream tastes _________. There's no word to describe it but in my humble opinion, I dislike almond cream. The black sesame glutinous balls were yummy though :D



To wrap the dinner affair up, we were served rock melon and papaya. These are the very same rock melons used by Italian restaurants to complement the parma/air dried ham. They're very sweet, you can almost become diabetic if you're overdosed with this fruit!


KY and his awesome flash

Pardon me for the inconsistencies in my pictures (some with flash, some without). I am looking forward to see KY's pictures as he takes really good food photos IMHO and his awesome flash is just too awesome.

Overall, it was a great dinner and I left with a bloated stomach but not a single cent poorer (except for parking) and a new friend found (who owns Cubes haha). I will recommend this place to my colleagues for and we can drop by for lunch.... great food at less than a kilometer away!

p/s: As the concept of Cubes is Chinese fine dining, do expect the prices to be alittle steeper than your usual dai chow corners. But if you don't mind paying a bomb for typical Chinese restaurants, then do give Cubes a try!


Read related review-
The Star


Cubes
18-1, Block L1-1,
Palm Square Jaya One,
No. 72A, Jalan Universiti,
Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 03-7958 6616


[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

18 comments:

eiling lim said...

Yay I'm first! Yeah Mr Ang is a very cool man! So nice of him...

Oliver K. said...

mahal lar. can i sue you for introducing expensive place like this?

Anonymous said...

The way you describe the pork rib makes it sound so sinful.

I'd love to try the tiger prawn with rice crisps, is the rice flavored?

The aromatic duck looks nice too! (I love Peking Duck!) Did the herbal soup feel like it had a lot of MSG?

Khian said...

oi..i forgot to ask hor..15th already passed..yet to collect something from u..and i wanna go!! JAYA ONE!! THIS cubes place!!

Katie said...

That all looks absolutely delicious, especially the wraps - anything wrapped up like that gets a thumbs up from me! :D

foodbin said...

like their pork ribs done tung poh rou style with 5 spices powder and the beancurd-melt in the mouth sensation!

Huai Bin said...

Hey, awesome! Single malt and great food, always a good combination. :)

J2Kfm said...

almond cream smells like roach's droppings.

but good for lungs, or so they say,

KY said...

now i'm just very hungry!

YilingL said...

Eiling,
Yeah and thanks for the invite!

Oliver,
Why you wanna sue me for?? At least if no opportunity to dine here, you know you've seen how the food looks like :)

Calvin,
The pork ribs is yummy!

Khian,
Ok in return u belanja me Cubes :p

Katie,
Haha you must be a big fan of popiah, crepes and apam balik!

foodbin,
You're right!

HB,
It was..... :)

KY,
Haha so am I :p

kampungboycitygal said...

whoa so expensive..but looks good wo

Sugar Bean said...

Looks like there's another good restaurant in Jaya One. First time we came across your blog, gotta say, nice header! We love it!

Khian said...

How much sin?
Eh, jom, let's go for dinner sometime next week? Weekdays perhaps?

Ai Mei said...

I should give it a try when I go back. Let me put it into my must-go-place-list!

Lings & Blings said...

J2Kfm,
Ooops sorry left out yr comment the first time I replied. Actually I was abit hesitant to say the almond cream smells like cockroach, but now you've said it, i can't agree more :p just like they say Chivas smells like cockroach too.

kampungboycitygal,
Yeah on the steep side but good food.

Sugar Bean,
Thanks for the compliment :) Give Cubes a try!

Khian,
Let you know this week :)

Ai Mei,
Hehe you should be compiling a list already...?

Anonymous said...

As the dinner was given free, it is hard not to write positive else no restuarnt will invite your group to free food again.

YilingL said...

Anonymous,
Yeah perhaps you are right. Maybe that is why nobody invites me for free meals all the time.

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