AMPERSAND BY CULINARY REBELS- DINING & DIVE BAR @ UPTOWN, DAMANSARA UTAMA






Ampersand by Culinary Rebels………….

The name itself is already enough to arouse my curiosity to dig in further the stories behind this humble, quaint café that is unexplainably drawing to me. Rebranded from the previous Ecole P, the founder has since graduated from the alma mater and is now embarking on a more adventurous culinary bandwagon to stimulate your ever discerning palate further with its unostentatious presentation but embodying a greater depth of gustative acumen that surely bewilders you.




But why am&ersand?

It’s the Endless Possibilities!
That’s the spirit embraced by the team behind Ampersand where passion for food knows no boundaries over here, but instead solely depends how far your inner zest leads you to, as the manifested imaginations is simply infinite.


 


The gastro-café interior is kept simple and understated with ornaments of whatnots potpourri set within a  casual and airy environment during day time, while warm lighting ambiance emerges as twilight falls, turning it into a perfect place to chilax especially towards the late evening.






Expect scrumptious choice of hot dishes and coffee during the day and alcohol (Carlsberg, Erdinger Dunkel, Hoegaarden, Kronenbourg Blanc, Asahi or Savanna) with ingenious desserts when night falls, hehe.





Although Ampersand is more food centric essentially, a decent array of drinks such as coffee is also available from the counter too.



  
FLAT WHITE (MYR 8)
Aromatic cuppa from the blend of Brazil and Columbia.




Embarked unorthodoxly 2 weeks ago during our visit with the bold reconceptualization of the local fares, the team behind Ampersand creatively serves up a rather interesting rebel (as aptly touted) that nicely merges different culinary world into a singular presentation that coalesces well entirely.




Breakfast and brunch perfect venue of playfully but tastefully fusing our favorite Asian cuisines that we so familiarly grown up with. And as such, we are instantly excited upon seeing what’s dished up in front of us for the special Brunch Menu that uses Banana Leaves, and no, it’s not your usual flooding banana leaf curry rice but rather a much better and healthier option I would say.

These XXXL Breakfast and Chicken Feast are only available during the weekend and ideally caters for 2 pax each. Of course, the portion could always be tailored to your needs where the usual serving is up to 4 pax.




XXXL BREAKFAST (MYR 58 – 4 pax)
Generous portion of scrambled eggs, crispy grilled bacon, tomato relish, grilled mixed mushroom of Portobello, button and shimeji, jumbo grilled bratwursts to down with mildly toasted buttered herbed roti (a.k.a buttered chapati)




My palate is definitely astonished with all the good quality ingredients as part of the feast. The tomato relish is tremendously alluring with its sweet sourness that used fresh cherry tomatoes blending in with special recipes, that pairs really well with the rest of the breakfast components. Smooth scrambled eggs, fragrantly stir-fried assorted mushrooms (my fave), chunky huge brats, crispy buttered toasties and chapatti with the superb zesty sauce, it certainly makes up a perfect breakie selection to me.




The tomato dipping is one brilliant ones that got me so addictive that can’t help but to relish more in it- even on its own is already really good enough. I must say that their homemade dippings are executed exceedingly well and they are really good at this, especially the luscious pate(coming up next) that is so convincingly appealing to someone like me who usually not so keen on innards chucks. Truly thumbs up!


CHICKEN FEAST (MYR 36- half bird, MYR 64- full bird)
Brined for 24 hours with signature ingredients and roasted to tenderness, this dish is served with braised phoenix claws, seared chicken necks and gizzards before spiced up with pickled herbed purple cabbage, carrots, daikon, carrots, onion jam and creamy liver a pate accompanied with lightly toasted bread slices.




Juicy and tender chicken meat that is grilled and pan seared before roasted, doused with freshly chopped chives for added aroma. I enjoy the saporously flavoured poultry meat by itself, even without any sauces but its natural sweetness.




As the food is only prepared ala minute upon order, a waiting time of 30 minutes are needed.
Two types of homemade relish are served here, the chicken liver pate and sweet caramelized onions. The pate was an all rounder- entices your palate with the suave richness, where the ferric taste that usually occurs in any liver serving, got handled very well by whisky that helps to iron that tricky part out smoothly with some subtle sweetness entails behind.




For some nibbles, some healthy fibre intake perhaps?

SWEET POTATO (MYR 6.50)
Sweet potato, cucumber and ulam.
The sauce using the yogurt as the base, before mixed with chopped julienned cucumber and other greens, making it so intensely refreshing  that nearly tricks me into thinking it as mint sauce (=




For ribs lovers, you surely would like to check these out!

FENNEL RIBS BY THE BUTCHER
Fennel and paprika spice rub pork ribs served with special spiced tomato sauce and house pickled vegetables.





MISO GCJ RIBS BY THE MAGICIAN
12 hours miso gochujang marinated pork ribs with miso gochujang glaze and apple chutney and my fave kimchi! Daebak!!




SAMBAL RIBS BY RAYMAN
Equally thoroughly marinated for 12 hours, this Indonesian-inspired sambal marinated pork ribs has been added with some interesting Asian twist- Kelantanese budu sauce and served with winged bean salad.




After Chocolate Burger encounter (which I thought it’s already provocatively on the extreme side), now we have Chocs & Ribs!
  
Yes, you heard it right. Choco-infused ribs! Welcome onboard (=


CACAO RIBS BY RAYMAN
Varlhona Cacao and chili spice rub with balsamic chocolate glaze and pickled vegetables.




Varlhona Cacao and chili spice rub with balsamic chocolate glaze giving it a light crispy coat, acompanied by pickled vegetables and ulam. Meat is tender and thoroughly marinated. Fret not as it won’t be a sweet, chocolaty ribs but a cleverly fluxed hint of savory-sweet aftertaste. Splendidly smart as a whip teaser! I’ll certainly be back for this again (=

All the ribs have been marinated for 24 hours before cooked sous vide way for another 12 hours in order to lock up all the juice.




Each tantalizing ribs are served at MYR 26 for half or if you have a bigger appetite then a full rack of ribs at MYR 48 is just perfect!

Wondering is there any pasta? Yes, you want it, you got it!

SPAGHETTI AGLIO OLIO (MYR 9.90)
Spaghetti stir fried with shallots and garlic and chili flakes. For added taste, simply top up with bacon and mixed mushrooms at only MYR 3.50 and MYR 6.90 each. Love the peppery taste and homey to my heart. It might appear simple but the lingering scrumptiousness of it is suffice to left me yearning for more, awesome!





CREAMY KIM (MYR 10.90)
Creamy Kimchi Pasta that is served fuss-free but tasted stellar!
An honest treat with a blend from the Hallyu region fusing spaghetti, kimchi and cumin cream in this enticing East and West marriage. Aju masshisosoyo, joah!




Some snacks do sound good, don’t it? =)

WINGS PLATTER (MYR 45- 10 PCS)
5 flavours in a service! 2 pieces of each flavor with mystery sides!
Choose from Thom Thom Wing, Devil Wing, CCB Wing, Siracha Buttermilk Wing and Sinful Wings.




THOM THOM WING
Stickly glazed with garlic sauce and drizzled with garlic chips and pegaga.

DEVIL WING
Spiced up with charred scallions, lemons and topped with Szechuan pepper oil before garnished with Szechuan peppercorn on the crispy skin

CCB WING
Chicken Coated with Belacan! ^_^
Belacan, shrimp paste, palm sugar marinated wings with pegaga.

SIRACHA BUTTERMILK WING
Brined wings with buttermilk, mustard, served with sriracha sauce and pegaga.

SINFUL WINGS
Spiced wings, nestum sprinkled, crispy pork lard and pegaga.


Some optional suggestion; CCB and Garlic wing to go with lime and Devil with lemon.




New dessert creations in the house!

Expect not the usual effortlessly liquid molten lava but also with a textured body as it comes with different dimension too, wow!


Saw it? Some Tom Yam crumbles and kaffir lime leaves- curious what are they doing here? ^^



KILLING ME SOFTLY (MYR 20)
Varlhona peanut butter molten lava cake served with chocolate sand, Kapiti vanilla ice cream and crispy bacon!



 


LOLITA’S REVENGE (MYR 20)
Lemon scented white chocolate molten lava cake inventively crafted with Thai herbs infused lime panna cotta, spicy sand and Kapiti Vanilla ice cream.


 With the impatient foodie with a knife behind, indeed living up to its name, "Lolita's Revenge"! Haha........



Both lava indulgences also comes with a buttery and light squarish stroopwafel that is already a joy even by itself, yum!


Well, those dessert creations are just a tip of the iceberg for you could expect more inventive recipes to surprise you during your every visit! One of them is this beautiful salted egg dessert that we are able to try earlier during the R&D stage. But for now, deconstructed lava confectioneries are there to tickle your taste buds first (=





For added indulgence, savoured your scoop of molten lava together with the salted-egg infused white sauce that wrapped it up with a bang.


 

And right now, even before my first dining experience has been imprinted in my Carpe Diem blog, I’ve returned to the captivating enclave to fix my craving again, hehe. And they’re none other than Cacao Ribs and Chicken Wings, slurps! Now you know what my personal favourites are (=







 

So head over here soon to whet your palate with the fascinating array of earnest repast that this enthusiastic squad got to offer and I already unfeignedly looking forward to more enthralling dishes and what’s coming up next in the pipeline of this imaginative establishment. Kudos to the team again!

Am.&er.sand
“Imperfection of a broken infinity is what makes it perfect”


Cheers for now and follow us at Carpe Diem for more ‘food-ful’ discoveries!  ℒℴѵ






Location: 19A, SS21/37 (1st floor), Uptown, Damansara Utama
Contact: +603 7732 9711
Business Hours: Mon - Fri: 11 am - 11 pm
   Sat & Sun: 10 am - 3 pm & 5pm - 12 pm



*¨ ..:* *.:*¨.*¨ ..:* *.:*¨.*¨ ..:* *.:

To stay updated, 
Like & Follow Carpe Diem for more sharing of what’s in vogue and happening in town.

You can also follow me on Instagram (
@lwinwenli) and Twitter (@lwinlee) for more photo sharing or just to say Hi. 

*¨ ..:* *.:*¨.*¨ ..:* *.:*¨.*¨ ..:* *.:





Comments

Popular Posts