CHASING FOOD DREAMS: Opika Organic Market, One Utama: Think Out of the Shell NutriPlus Egg Degustation Lunch!

November 9, 2012

Opika Organic Market, One Utama: Think Out of the Shell NutriPlus Egg Degustation Lunch!

An Egg-stasy Degustation Lunch by NutriPlus Think Out of the Shell Cookbook Launch!

After the recent event of Think Out of the Shell Cookbook II Launch, we headed over to Opika Organic Market for the NutriPlus Egg Degustation lunch by Chef Ryan Khang and Opika Organic kitchen team. Thanks to Quay Po Cooks for the delicious invite!

My first time visiting Opika Organic Market and I didn’t realize how big the market cum restaurant is! Housed in one of the busiest malls in Petaling Jaya, One Utama, Opika Organics is set to make a healthier difference in today’s lifestyle by selling and serving organic ingredients. There are huge racks after racks of organic vegetables, meat, dry goods and even household products for everyone’s perusal. I was immediately attracted by the cozy and warm ambience in the restaurant section of the place while I kept checking out all the items for sale!

If choices are your thing, Opika Organics Market has it all! The amount of organic household products is pretty decent while the organic ingredients are even more impressive. Stock up on organic grains, nuts, oils and more for a healthier diet… J

It was a glorious lunch! Not only was the ambience and food great, I really got to know quite a few new friends that day…nice to meet you Fan, Treedson, Shannon, Kelly, and more. Of course, it was fun catching up with Veronica and Kevin that day too!!

We sipped Iced Lemongrass drink while we wait for the meal to start. Nice hint of lemongrass… I lost count of how many I enjoyed this drink that day.

Our first course of NutriPlus Canapés consisted of three items. Two items were NutriPlus chicken nuggets and the third was a stuffed chicken wing. The first one from the bottom is Stacked Chicken Nugget with cucumber, lime aioli and poached vannamei shrimp. A creative combination to jazz up the nugget with a citrus creamy sauce, flying fish roes, heirloom tomato jelly and served with mint cream summed up the first one.

The second one was New York Style Buffalo Nugget echoing the flavors of a slightly piquant tangy and heat from the sauce. My favorite was the third Stuffed Chicken Wings with red quinoa, four angled bean, vannamei shrimp and Balinese sambal. Preciously deboned and stuffed, the filling was light and filled with assorted textures from the ingredients. Juicy and succulent, the wing was seriously good!

It’s all about Deconstruction! We savored a Caesar Salad Deconstruct for our next course. Here, the classic Caesar is beautifully set as individual instead of tossed up. Romaine lettuce, NutriPlus Smoked Chicken Frank, parmesan nest, omega-3 dressing and a lovely poached egg painted a lovely picture of deconstruction. Meld them all together and you get a crisp and creamy Caesar salad with a nice hint savory flavor. Kudos for the parmesan nest as it really makes a nice touch to the salad!

I love soup, any kinds of soup. I was happy to see the Pumpkin Soup. The soup was comforting and sufficiently pleasant with its organic Japanese pumpkin and chicken broth. A light touch of cream and sea salt concluded the soup to counter the sweetness of the root vegetable.

The next dish was a crowd favorite! The dish was inspired by Quay Po Cooks and the recipe is available here. A giant Ravioli and Black Truffle sits in a pool of clear consommé. Stuffed with ricotta cheese, black truffle, spinach and round up with an omega-3 egg yolk and bits of walnut, the ravioli was surprisingly light and comforting.

The Egg-stasy of the meal was when the golden yolk spill over and coat everything in the dish! I thoroughly enjoyed this dish to its max because of its luscious flavors and textures. Silky and luscious, the pasta was splendid with the soft egg yolk and ricotta. The bits of aromatic earthy truffles were an added bonus!

Our main course arrived and had all of us curious with Confit of Chicken Leg in Percik Sauce. Gorgeous in colors, the flavors was as bold as the colors. I was told that the drumstick was slowly cooked or confit in red palm oil till melt-in-the-mouth tender. What makes this dish stand out was the spicy Percik sauce. Tinted with spices, the sauce was delicious with hints of heat, sweetness, savory, creamy and nutty. Particularly worthy was the creamy root mash with the sauce… I wiped my plate clean for this one!

Dessert was just so pretty at sight! Inspired by Italian, Millefoglie alla Crème di Limone featured layers of crisp puff pastry sandwiched with citrus Napolean cream and served with lemon sorbet with pieces of citrus fruit in lemongrass syrup. Definitely a mouthful but the sweet and sour flavors were simply refreshing to counter the puff pastry. I adored the lemon sorbet for the vibrant flavor to cleanse up my palate after so many courses. What a lovely lunch!