Fatty Frog porridge, Taman OUG

One of the perks of maintaining a food blog, I'd say, is friends introducing food haunts to me :). And I'm lucky to have many foodies friends, always bringing me to try some yummies frequently.

Few days ago, we planned to cook dinner at my place; supposedly buying some wagyu to grill. And within a few minutes of discussion, Gary & Candy suggested for us to have dinner at Taman OUG instead.

Since I'm ok with anything, I let them do the ordering :).

It's always exciting to anticipate what you'll get for dinner right? hehehe

The wait was short and soon, I was presented with this..

Century egg with pork porridge in claypot.

The porridge was velvety and gooey, the century egg was chunky, giving the porridge a range of texture. The sliced pork was Gary's favourite, he said it's tender and very smooth.

The next claypot came soon after- I cant believe I'm having so many pots of porridge that night...

Took a glimpse and hey...not porridge after all..

It's frogs cooked ala kung pou style. Piping hot and lots of gravy, we're suppose to have it with porridge.

The frog's flesh was springy and had absorbed the flavours from it's ingredients. There's plenty of kung pou sauce for you to mix into the porridge- giving the porridge a spicy kick; and with the very hot temperature from the claypot- we were sweating buckets by the time we finished our first bowl. Unlike the usual kung pou, which has it's sauce cooked till dry and clinging to the meat, the kung pou here is more gravy like- hence we could add as much sauce as we like to enhance the flavour of a plain porridge. Very satisfying I'd say, especially on a rainy day.

Gary- lover of fish, cant help but to order a side of steamed fish head..

He ordered the ginger garlic steamed fish. The fish was fresh, the flesh was firm and sweet. One extra recipe in this steamed fish was the addition of chilli padi in it's steamed sauce (not as garnishing, but steamed with). So, when you take a bite of the fish, you'll first enjoy the freshness of the fish meat...and then the heat from the chilli seeps into your taste buds. And you'll wonder why the fish get spicier with each bite, even though it looks so harmless! :p

The bill was RM51 for these 3 dishes- I'm not sure of the breakdown though.

This is the picture of the stall- I dont have the English name of this stall..

The kung pou frog porridge stall is located at 2, Jalan Hujan Rahmat 2, Taman OUG, KL. It's a corner shop, the same row as Steven's Corner.

Frontera, Jaya One

A post that should be up long time ago- but the procrastinator in me just refused to budge- until now :D

Andrew suggested for us to meet at Frontera for makan session and also to celebrate Elaine's BD..Since I dont need to crack my head for suggesting a place to eat- I agreed on the suggestion immediately..hehe

Had a variety of stuff to try..

Top shelf guacamole (RM22.95)

Served with nachos, the guacamole dip's actually pretty addictive. Portion's quite small for that price though.

Frontera Nachos Chicken (RM26.95)

Based was crisp, topped with a nice thick layer of melted cheese and chopped chicken. Quite nice.

Taquitos de Pollo (RM19.95)

Served piping hot, this was a popular dish. The tortillas were extremely crunchy and very hot; goes wonderfully with the spicy eggplant base dip. But there were only 6-7 cigar sized taquitos- rather costly for the portion I'd say.

Chicken ranch salad (RM18.95)

Familiar tasting and looking- was glad that the greens were fresh, and the fried chicken- tender meat and crunchy batter.

We ordered the beef burrito (and also chicken)- RM22.95

The burrito was quite huge and topped with a nice dose of melted cheese. The filling was generous, I prefer the beef version though as the flavours were stronger :p. LH enjoyed the rice, he said the texture and taste were good.

The BBQ Pineapple Chicken (RM26.95)

This was definitely a miss. The chicken was dry and rather tasteless, the accompanying sides were just average.

The Fajita Platters combo (RM33.95)

Thick slices of beef, chicken, onions and capsicums served on hot skillet. Wrap it with warm tortillas, this was satisfying as the ingredients was fresh. Scrumptious.

Our final dish, Frontera BBQ Beef Ribs (RM49.95)

Extremely fork tender beef, very well marinated and smothered with their very spicy sauce. Well, one bite it's ok, but the more you eat, the spicier it gets. Very tasty nonetheless.

Overall, most hits than misses, well, at least you know there's more than just Chilli's,TGIF and Las Carretas for tex-mex food :)

Frontera Bar & Grill is located at 18-G-2, Block L, Jaya One, No 72A, Jalan Universiti, 46200 PJ.

Durian Layer Cake, Golden Bake

During a recent department makan session, Diha brought durian layer cake.

When she mentioned it a few days before, all of us had doubts.

What if the cake tasted of artificial flavouring instead?

Well, when we saw the durian layer cake (RM52, 1kg), it does looked plain...

Sorry that I didnt have the picture of the cake before it was cut..my colleagues were way too excited and cut it immediately..before we managed to take a look at it's pristine stage. :p

The durian cake was surprisingly good, much to our delight.

Akin to pandan or yam layer cake, the eggy sponge cake was layered with thick durian paste- not durian flesh type- but the same texture as pandan layer cake. Nonetheless, the durian fragrance and the creamy smoothness was still distinct. Obviously, this cake was a hit among those who enjoys the king of fruits. Have it really chilled- it's like having durian ice cream. Lip smacking :)

Golden Bake is located at 31, Jalan SS2/67, 47300 Petaling Jaya. Tel 03-78766417. You'll need to call 1 day in advance to order this durian layer cake..

Sun Yin Loong, Kota Damansara

How was your sunday?

Mine was relaxing, started off with late breakfast at Sun Yin Loong with Jane.

And why there?

Jane wanted something close to home (town), and Sun Yin Loong has the ipoh white coffee which was very similar to those she can get back in Ipoh.

I ordered a cuppa for myself..

It was thick and aromatic, every sip was delicious. No wonder Jane's dad approves the coffee here.

The half boiled egg on toast..

Loved how it glistened under the sun light. Too bad the yolk was hidden, would have looked perfect if the yolk peeked out a little :p.

Add dash of pepper, drizzle some soy sauce and break the yolk...

Served on buttered, thick toast (hainanese bread)- the broken yolk was absorbed into the toast almost immediately. Yummy.

I had the pork noodles..

Supposedly from a famous stall in Ipoh Road..guess it didnt live up to the fame? It was very average. The sauce was too sweet, think they overloaded on the MSG.

Jane's char kuay teow fared better..

As per most kopitiam, you need to wait rather long for the CKT.. coz it's usually a popular order. Though the order was quite long, Jane got her's in ok time. Quite a lot of ingredients and had some wok hei. Jane was happy with it, said that it's not too salty and the noodles were thinner and smoother. (she guessed it might be from ipoh too :p)

Sun Yin Loong is located at 2A-1 & 2-1 (GF), Jalan PJU 5/7, PJU 5, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya.

Pasta Zanmai, 1 Utama

Sunday mornings are quite predictable for me- I'd either sleep in :p/ take a morning swim/go for morning walks or morning movies.

Yes, sometimes it's morning movies with my gal friends :)

And after movies would be lunch- to just goss, or discuss on the movies we just watched.

Seeing Pasta Zanmai was nearby, we decided to pop over. Though the restaurant was rather packed, we got our seats quickly. Ordering took some time, but we finally settled for..

Salmon Sashimi salad (RM18)..

Fresh slices of salmon over a bed of fresh vegetables. Great way to start the meal, I liked the dressing which was sesame based- though rather rich, but aromatic with the salad.

Our pizza with a twist..the Unagi Onsen Pizza (RM28)

Plump unagi chunks arranged to 8 portions, drizzled with teriyaki/ mayo combo and a huge soft boiled yolk in the centre. As funky as it sounds, this matching of ingredients actually works- nothing weird about the flavours which complemented each other nicely. This got our fave votes.

The Ebi Ika Pasta (RM23)..

Some of us liked it, some didnt. Cooked ala aglio olio style, it was spicy with chilli padi. Jun and I thought this fusion was acceptable, in fact, rather tasty. The amount of seafood and mushrooms were rather generous. MC and HL thought it tasted weird though.

The last dish was Chicken Gratin (RM20)

One word.

Horrible.

Though the grilled chicken teriyaki was ok, the gratin was extremely salty, filled with dried breadcrumbs- making this dish very dry too. Ugghh. Dont order this.

Pasta Zanmai is located at G2108, Ground Floor Promenade, 1 Utama, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama Damansara, 47800 PJ.

JM Bariani House, Aman Suria

JM Bariani House opened it's doors a couple of months back at Aman Suria. And me who's staying nearby took my time..and finally decided to pop over.

I've heard of it's branches elsewhere, but never did try. Famed for it's johor briyani, JM Bariani House has gained quite a number of fans thorughout the years in business. Since it now came so near to me, I should try at least once right? :p hehehe

Popped by for lunch with dragon girl, we ordered the nasi briyani ayam..

Sorry it looked like a mess, the rice was piled on the chicken. The rice was quite tasty- the long grains were quite fragrant and fluffy. Not the best I've had, but definitely acceptable. The chicken was excellent though- extremely tender, very well marinated with the sauces.

I went back the second time soon after, as I wanted to try the briyani gam (only available on wednesday and saturday)- however, I was told that briyani gam was not available during bulan ramadan. :(

We had some taufu bakar for appetizers..

Very mediocre. In fact, slightly dry and coarse.

This time round, we had plain briyani and ordered separate bowls of meat.

The rice tasted the same to me, though WF felt cheated as it does not looked like how it was presented in the menu. Where's the raisins and cashews?

She wanted Ayam Masak Merah

Very thickish gravy, the Ayam Masak Merah was just above average. I cant say it was good as some parts of the chicken was over fried- hence tough to chew on. The sauce was tasty nonetheless- not the typical masak merah sauce, but sorta mixed with rendang flavour.

The daging bariani..

Fork tender, melting yet with pinkish center. The gravy was well balanced with the right sweet, salty and spiciness. Mixed generously with the rice, it's very addictive indeed. Weirdly for me though, this daging bariani left a beef stew aftertaste. Well, not that I'm complaining :p

But my fave would be the Kambing bariani..

Absolutely gamey- I enjoyed the thick gravy full of mutton aroma and flavour. Lip smacking indeed to have it with briyani rice. I liked this better than the beef bariani. The mutton was also fork tender.

The dalca that was served with the rice went unoticed, until Andrew realised it's presence and flooded his briyani with it. :p

Overall, the meat dishes were cooked beautifully, the rice was just an accompaniment (sadly so- especially for a briyani). My only gripe? The gravy was so, so oily! We had to scoop out the layer of oil before we started tucking in.

JM Bariani House, B-G-12, Jalan PJU 1/43, Aman Suria Damansara, Petaling Jaya - 47300. Selangor

Ah Wang Bak Kut Teh, Old Klang Road

On the way back from my kampung recently, we decided to stop for dinner before returning to our respective homes..

I'm craving for braised pork trotter in vinegar my brother exclaimed. Hmm, I thought females would crave for sour stuff, not males?

Anyways, he already had somewhere in mind, so I just let him drive to where ever we may be going..

We ended at a side off a main road, right next to a flyover.

But looking at the crowd, I'm quite assured that food should be at least, mediocre in taste.

There's no sign board indicating the name of this place, but I soon found out it's Ah Wang BKT. Which I assume we'll at least have a claypot of BKT.

Surprisingly, my brother only ordered the pork trotter vinegar and steamed fish head...

The BKT's just so-so.. the other dishes are better..

I took a look around, one thing's for sure- every table had a plate of steamed fish head.

It was still very early for dinner actually, and since we're still full, we decided to have only 2 dishes. Meat and meat. Freaking carnivores :p

My brother's pork trotter in vinegar(RM8)..

Ah Wang's version was pretty satisfying. It was sour, yet had a wonderful lingering aroma of vinegar. It lacked the fragrance of gula melaka (I dont think they added that), but for a pure black vinegar trotter with sugar- this was a tasty dish. The meat's rather solid, I would have preferred it softer. Leave this dish a tad longer (and cooler) and the vinegar seeps further into the meat which was better.

The steamed fish head (RM21)..

The steamed soong fish head was extremely fresh. Steaming time was perfect, hence the fish flesh was smooth, and the fish fats were meltingly good. The fish belly area was absolutely scrumptious- there was no muddy taste as it was fresh and the fats were so springy yet dissolved quickly when it's in my mouth. Delicious. I liked the fact that the fish was not drowned in ginger paste- I could easily savour the sweetness of the fish which paired nicely with the just sufficient sauce. There's also other sauces to choose from- with soy/ plain steamed / assam.

Ah Wang BKT is located at Batu 4 1/2, Jalan Kelang Lama, KL. If you drive past Pearl Point( on your right, opposite road), drive a further 200- 300 metres and you'll see Ah Wang on your left. Across the road from Ah Wang is a chinese school. I cant recall the school name though.