Thanks to Carol for showing me Fascination & Kitchen because I could drive by here a hundred times without stopping, not realising the hidden gem that I am missing. JB is like that - gems are scattered far and wide across the city and needs to be uncovered one by one.
I like the ambiance here. The shoplot restaurant is deep and narrow. Tables are set in neat rows. Nice warm wood furniture, mood ambient lighting, and classical music playing softly in the background. I will enjoy just chilling out here and saw several people with the same idea (savouring precious me time).
Soup of the Day (RM15+) was classical cream of mushroom soup. House made with shitake and button mushrooms thicken with potatoes. We enjoyed it with crisp garlic toast (price RM5+).
For appetiser, we chose grilled squid (price RM38.8+). I was surprised that it came in a whole squid with capsicum confit oil 😬 It's supposed to be an appetiser right?
The squid was marinated in a savoury sauce. I can taste the squid's signature flavour despite the quite robust savoury salty marinade. The squid was done slightly chewy. The chewy tentacles (my favourite part) had the most intense flavour. Beer food!
The Grilled Guinness Pork Belly (price RM38.80+) is one of Fascination & Kitchen's top sellers. The tender stout marinated grilled pork belly was savoury salty and not overly greasy.
I was blown away by Fascination & Kitchen's Honey Glazed Smoked Duck with house made blueberry sauce (price RM38.80+).
It's a whole thick smoked duck breast sous vide with herbs and spices. The smoked duck is pan fried till the skin is crisp and golden brown before serving.
The thick meaty chunks of smoked duck were tenderly juicy with savoury salty and gamey duck flavours which I enjoyed very much ❤️ The skin was crisp and the layer of juicy fat below was savoury and subtly sweet. Out of the five chunks, I ate three 🤭 Just too shiok lah 😬
For carbs, we had Fascination & Kitchen's Ocean Tom Yum Rigatoni (RM28.80+).
I like the al dente doneness as I like a bit of chewiness in my pasta. The sauce was savoury salty with crustacean umami from clams, mussel and prawns. Garlic, lemongrass and tomato added their flavours and aromas to the popular dish. It was not spicy at all.
Dessert time!
House made Cheesecake with Taro was nice.
I also opted for Chocolate Lava Cake with ice cream (price RM24+) because it was once my favourite dessert and I haven't had one for a long time.
Made with 80% chocolate, Fascination & Kitchen's rendition has a nice bitter chocolate taste with sweetness and butteriness in the cake.
It was so sweet of Fascination & Kitchen to present Carol with a birthday brownie to celebrate her birthday 🎉 The sweet brownie was moist and rich with butteriness (price RM24+).
Barista Felix making our coffees.
I like the savoury bitter sweet taste and rich round body of Fascination & Kitchen's coffee. (Note to self: This is a good place to cool our heels between meals during long food trails.)
Oh... I was blown away by that house made almond cookie that came with the coffee. It was light yet rich with butter and lots of almond chips inside.
Fascination & Kitchen owner chef Ong came to join us. Chef Ong hails from Tangkak, Johor (that place famous for durian and beef noodle) and worked in several restaurants in Singapore before striking out on his own in Johor Bahru.
It's been four years with Covid pandemic and all, Fascination & Kitchen has built up a loyal following through word of mouth. I saw several families here, folks celebrating birthdays and others just chilling out in the calming ambiance at Fascination & Kitchen.
I enjoyed my (extended) lunch here at Fascination & Kitchen today and look forward to trying other dishes in the menu.
Other nice food places to try in Masai 👈 click
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