Adelyn from ONE63 European Bistro & Bar invited me to visit for lunch.
This was my third visit to ONE63 European Bistro & Bar; here are my first and second visits.
We met at 2:00pm after the lunch crowd left, so it was a quiet time to appreciate fine food and to catch up.
This was the main dining area on the upper floor. Very neat and simple - not much has changed decor-wise, since my last visit.
Our starter dish has a rather long name. It's called Medley of Vegetables Ratatouille with Truffle Poached Egg. Well, the name practically described the dish, completely.
But, I must highlight the zucchini. It was really special.
I love this zucchini. Yes, this is zucchini - that green squash that looks like a small cucumber.
This is another example of how inexpensive, easily available ingredients can turned into exquisitely delicious food with the right techniques, skills and effort.
The zucchini was sliced thin lengthwise, marinated with a savoury sauce, grilled, then rolled and served.
The resulting zucchini roll is crunchy, juicy, sweet, yet so savoury. I love it. Very much.
I'll order this starter again, just for the zucchini rolls.
The poached egg was also very interesting.
The jiggly egg looked like an overstretched balloon filled with too much water, and was about to burst.
And, burst it did with help from a little prick, with a fork. The egg yolk was laced with truffle oil.
This starter is a great way to make anyone hungry.
Our main was a Rack of Lamb.
Made with lamb imported from France, the meat was done medium rare. The meat was still pink and there was still dripping juices.
Perfect. Again.
The meat with bone on, was quite thick and it was sooo... sensuously tender. The signature lamb flavour and aroma released with each bite was warm and gentle - friendly to lamb novices, and irresistibly seductive to lamb lovers (like me).
I wiped off 4 pieces of these, and only because I held myself back for good manners :P No kidding.
I also liked the juicy crunchy sweet corn infused with a savoury broth and complemented by tangy sun dried cherry tomatoes.
French fries gentrified with a drizzle of truffle oil.
Honey mustard dip to go with the lamb, and fries, if you like.
My dessert was this Semi Frozen Lemon Tart paired with a Honey Charcoal Gelato.
I like many black coloured foods, you know..., charcoal burger, charcoal pizza, squid ink pasta, so this is no exception. Like everything in ONE63, this charcoal gelato was proudly house made in their own kitchen.
This Semi Frozen Lemon Tart is a ladys' favourite though it was sour enough to make me cringed a little, at first bite. Once my taste buds woke up to the sourness, I merrily ate more than half of the block :D
To go with the cold dessert, I had a pot of Tea Forté, Swiss Apple Cinnamon blend.
ONE63 European Bistro & Bar is the only place in Johor Bahru you can enjoy this premium gourmet tea. There are many different luxury tea blends.
Each order (RM18++) is served in an individual, elegant personalised teapot set.
The Swiss Apple Cinnamon tea has a nice, calming therapeutic fragrance. I enjoyed it.
I saw this chalk board signage as I stepped out, after our scrumptious lunch.
For Mother's Day (9 - 11 May), for spending above RM400, ONE63 is giving away a set of 2 adult and 2 child tickets to Singapore's River Safari. (I estimate that that's worth nearly RM200 in value.)
For Father's Day (13 - 15 Jun), every RM100 spend is rewarded a RM45 set lunch voucher - that's actually a hefty 45% discount, wow.
Besides the great food, I think these very good parents' day deals should make everything even sweeter :D
Restaurant name: ONE63 European Bistro & Bar
Address: 163, Jalan Ngee Heng, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/lg22W
GPS: 1.465643,103.760075
Hours: 11:00am to 12:00 midnight daily
No pork, no lard, alcohol served
Date visited: 28 Jun 2013, 28 Dec 2013, 2 May 2014
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Adelyn from ONE63 European Bistro and Bar invited me to preview their New Year's Eve Menu. The 7 course dinner comes with free flow of Italian house wines and bubblies costs RM388++ per person.
This special menu is the creation of Executive Chef Kelvin Lee. Kelvin is a passionate chef with the vision to share European fine dining with Johoreans. Read more about Kevin in my post about my earlier visit to ONE63 European Bistro.
French dinners are whole night long affairs, taking time to appreciate the food and enjoy the company with free flowing wine and good music.
Kelvin has created a menu of French and Italian specialities with a creative local twist at the end :D Each course was a delight and left me eagerly anticipating the next. At the end, my stomach was full but left me craving and hungry to come back again to enjoy Kelvin's artistry.
Follow me in reliving my fine dining experience at ONE63. Warning: Bear with me, this post will be long and self indulgent as a good European dinner on New Year's eve should be :D
While waiting for the first course, we nibbled at this old school buttery Yorkshire pudding. Humble, basic and yet, it's the first signal that tonight's dinner will be an experience to remember.
We started with this large and succulent fresh American oyster with escargot caviar and sun dried tomatoes. It sounds cliché but it really did felt like I could "taste the sea". I love the flavour and the creamy tender mouth feel of top grade oysters. The escargot caviar and dried tomatoes made it even more interesting.
Second course, duck egg bon-bon. The poached duck egg is enjoyed with duck consommé (broth). Lovely duck egg flavour. The execution of this seemingly simple dish and the beautiful plating left me in awe of Kevin's obsessive artistry.
Third course. Kevin's risotto is the best that I have ever tasted.
Hey, don't take my word for it. Kevin's risotto was voted the best risotto in Southeast Asia by HungryGoWhere readers in 2010.
The thick sauce was robustly savoury and the rice grains had a nice nutty bite. I want to come back to ONE63 for this, definitely.
The risotto was served with a deep sea Spanish Carbinaros prawn. The Spanish Carbinaros prawn with capsicum caviar was creamy, savoury and refreshing in the mouth. Just one, so I took my time to savour it :D
What is this strange but crunchy looking red alien? Not an alien, but the taste was indeed, out of this world. It's the Carbinaros prawn's head. Can you see it's brain?
Course four, grilled ox tongue with asparagus, tomato fondue and truffle jus.
The thin slice of grilled ox tongue was wrapped around a stalk of boiled American asparagus. The tongue was soft but chewy. I like the slight beefy flavour and the tongue's leathery yet tender texture.
Fifth course was a large chunk of roasted cod fish with green pea puree and vegetable à la grecque. It looks beautifully black because it was coated with charcoal butter.
The thick chunk of snowy cod was tender and juicy with a refreshing natural sweetness. The outer butter charcoal layer gives it a subtle savouriness.
Sixth course, the roasted lamb loin served with wine leaves, filo pastry, caramelised beetroot, eggplant caviar and natural jus.
Done medium rare, the lamb was juicy and tender with a mild lamb flavour which I like.
The eggplant caviar was a blend of egg plant pulp and caviar.
The final course, pineapple ravioli dessert. It's an original Kevin Lee creation which is a fusion of Southeast Asian and European.
The ravioli is a "pineapple tart filling" in the middle, wrapped with two thin slices of pineapple. The ravioli were topped with pineapple sauce and Campari Espuma.
With this beautiful and unique dessert, the dinner ended on a sweet and refreshing note.
Personally, this scrumptious dinner made me very happy. Happy because since I started to blog about Johor food two years ago, I found the Johor food scene more interesting each year. With this dinner at ONE63, I am confidently optimistic that there will be more great things to come in the Johor food scene in 2014.
We can have our New Year's eve dinner at the Liquid Room at the ground level.
At the Dining Room upstairs.
Or, the private room which seats 10 people comfortably.
One63 European Bistro and Bar is located at the northern end of historic Jalan Trus. It is steps away from Tropical Inn hotel.
Customers can park their cars at the nearby Tropical Inn. After 8:00pm, parking is free at Tropical Inn :D
Johor Kaki takes this opportunity to wish readers, Happy New Year and a great year ahead in 2014.
Restaurant name: ONE63 European Bistro & Bar
Address: 163, Jalan Ngee Heng, Johor Bahru (beside Tropical Inn)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/lg22W
GPS: 1.465643,103.760075
Hours: 11:00am to 12:00 midnight daily
No pork, no lard, alcohol served
Date visited: 28 Jun 2013, 28 Dec 2013
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I was thrilled when Mandy from ONE63 European Bistro & Bar invited me to visit as I am happy to see more and more higher end restaurants enter the increasingly exciting Johor food scene. So, soon after ONE63 opened for business, I popped by for a simple lunch.
ONE63 bistro is located in a pair of refurbished heritage shop houses along the historic Jalan Ngee Heng.
Singaporean foodies would be happy to note that ONE63 is just 5-7 minutes walk from City Square Mall - just head north along Jalan Wong Ah Fook, once you exited City Square. ONE63 bistro is easy to locate as it is right next to the prominent Hotel Tropical Inn building.
Inside, ONE63 is well appointed though neither lavish nor pretentious - contemporary European chic, I would say. This is the drinks section on the ground floor. Also on the ground floor, ONE63 has an al fresco dining area. Upstairs, ONE63 has a large dining room as well as an alcova (sheltered balcony) area.
ONE63 bistro also has a cosy private dining room that comfortably seats 10 people.
ONE63 European Bistro & Bar specialises in Italian and French cuisine.
Smoked Duck Salad Appetiser RM23
As I an a fan of smoked duck, I asked for this Smoked Duck Salad appetiser. Tossed with slices of house smoked duck, mix mesclun (leafy greens) salad, caramelised shallot rings, marinated cherry tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar.
ONE63 bistro is the only restaurant in Johor I know that house smoked their ducks. The thin slices of smoked duck were tender, smooth and savoury. The savoury smooth duck blends well with the refreshing greens bathed in tangy balsamic vinegar.
Squid Ink Vongole RM28
I wanted something interesting and yet not too heavy, so I picked Squid Ink Vongole. This a popular spaghetti dish made with linguine pasta, fresh squid ink, white wine reduction sauce, little neck clams, chili, and parsley
Ahh.. I love those al dente spaghetti enveloped in that exquisitely savoury squid ink and clam gravy. Delicious, delicious. hehehe.... I order squid ink spaghetti whenever a restaurant offers this dish :)
Tiramisu RM16.30
To wrap up the simple lunch, I had ONE63 bistro's tiramisu for dessert. I was expecting the usual frumpy, chunky slice of cake but was pleasantly surprised that ONE63 serves the classic dessert creatively in an elegant cocktail glass. Made with Italian mascarpone cream and coffee, and lightly blanketed with cocoa powder. Sweet and lovely as good tiramisu should be, and Mandy confirmed that it is alcohol free :)
Sangria Smooth RM13
For drinks, I had this Sangria Smooth suggested by Mandy. It's a pulpy, icy blend of blueberry, strawberry, orange juice, apple juice, and lime with finely crushed ice. I love it.
After lunch, Mandy introduced me to ONE63 bistro's Executive Chef Kelvin Lee. Beneath Kelvin's friendly and warm demeanour is an eye popping résumé.
Kelvin, originally from Kuala Lumpur, has experience in not one but two 3 Michelin Star restaurants in France. They are Le Jardin Des Sens in Montpellier and Michel Bra in Laguiole. Kelvin was also the Group Executive Chef / Chef Consultant of Gusttimo World and was the Head Chef of San Marco at The Lighthouse, Fullerton Hotel, Singapore before coming to Johor Bahru.
Kelvin graciously made me a dessert :)
Food? Art? Food artistry by Executive Chef Kelvin Lee.
Delectable chocolate mousse with house made ice cream. Oh my, since when did I developed a sweet tooth?!
hehe I already made appointments with Mandy to come back for ONE63's set lunch and dinner :)
Restaurant name: ONE63 European Bistro & Bar
Address: 163, Jalan Ngee Heng, Johor bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/lg22W
GPS: 1.465643,103.760075
Hours: 11:00am to 12:00 midnight daily
No pork, no lard, alcohol served
Date visited: 28 Jun 2013
Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
