Gesumin has been pulling in Como's crowds since 1976 with temptations like potato gnocchi with cheese fondue and black truffles - a perfect lunchtime treat before or after cruising the lake.
With a founder and a chef who are both Hainanese, the Hainanese chicken chop, Hainanese lamb stew and Hainanese fried noodles form the ideal introduction to The Heritage, which seeks to highlight the Malaysian Hainanese community's colonial-era culinary legacy. The chicken chop, prepared grilled or fried, offers nostalgic comfort, completed with roast potatoes and mixed boiled vegetables, rounded out by an onion gravy (RM23). It's a filling portion, so we passed this time on the lamb stew, which sounds even heartier, a three-generation-old recipe thickened with white radish, water chestnuts, ginger, fu chok, black fungus, fermented bean curd, goji berries and red dates. While cocktails might not be linked to the Hainanese, The Heritage offers some engaging choices with Malaysian inflections. Butter Her Gin (RM28; butterfly pea and bunga kantan-infused gin, lychee liqueur, kaffir lime leaves, egg white) and Koko Kau Kau (RM31; dark rum, house-made coffee liqueur, Milo, frangelic...
From the first slurp of the spoon to the final swoop of the chopsticks, a ramen meal at Okinii seeks to soothe and satiate. The effort poured into the Chicken Miso Ramen is exemplary, with eight hours of boiling for the chicken broth, laced with red miso and loaded with no lack of noodles, plus a kitchen-roasted chicken thigh roll (a substitute for porcine chashu, since Okinii shuns the swine), marinated kampung egg, scallions and a nori sheet. At RM18, it's ramen worth relishing, though it's more of a Malaysian Chinese interpretation, with broth that's poultry-sweet rather than umami-resonant. Other ramen varieties include seafood (with prawns and mussels) and even a vegan one (with carrots, bok choi and deep-fried ginger in a sesame broth). Rice bowls are also offered, with oyakodon and gyudon beckoning from the menu, as well as tofu or torched salmon salads; sashimi is also expected to eventually be available. And after supping up the ramen, customers can sip on coffee ...
With a population of fewer than 15,000, the hill village of Testour promises an engaging peek into rural Tunisian life. Its local fare is worth exploring too - buy some bread to pair with the traditional cheese, with wild-picked berries and fresh pomegranate juice for a satisfying refreshment.
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