An early New Year wish!

As I'm off for a long awaited holiday (will be back mid of next year), here's an early wish to all of you :-)

Have a Blessed and Wonderful New Year!!

Sanbanto, SS2, PJ

Hi guys! How was your Christmas weekend? Had a great time?

Planning for your year end party now? :)

My weekend was fantabulous, as it's not only the long weekend break, I'm also a december baby, so I got loads of makans with my dear friends.

One of my birthday dinner treat ended at Sanbanto, for some porky goodness..

My friends left all the ordering to me- since it's my privilege for the day..hehehe

Ordered some House green salad (RM8) and Pork Belly Salad (RM13) to start the meal..

The bed of salads for both were almost identical, except the pork belly salad was, well, laden with heaps of pork belly. Generous portion, the pork belly was slightly over fried, but ok with the accompanying honey mustard dip. Greens were crisp fresh.

The mains were serve, coincidentally arrived very much like an italian meal...

Primo first?

We got the Sanbanto Pork Bolognese(RM17)..

The thick, flavourful pork bolognese goes well with the homemade pappardelle. There were mixed feelings on this dish though- I liked the texture of the thick pappardelle, which gave a bit more bite and chewiness to the dish. Some of my friends find it a tad hard.

The Short Ribs Spaghetti (RM21) was an unexpected order..

Well, I did not order this dish but my friends attacked it before I could say "it's the wrong order!". Dang 'em wolves! :p Anyways, this dish felt more asian, the sauce was sweetish- akin to teriyaki. Also, the fried lard bits in the pasta malaysianize this dish. The ribs was tender and well marinated, but sweetish pasta may not be everyone's plate of pasta?

The Secondi starts with some attention grabbing meat...

The BBQ ribs (RM38) looks scrumptious..

Tasted as good as it looks, the ribs were fork tender, the fats were meltingly good and the meat was wonderfully basted with sticky BBQ sauce. Delicious indeed.

Alicia requested for a Bacon and cheese burger (RM17)

Quite a substantial portion, I'm happy to see the mountain of chips coz I like anything potato. Excellent chips but the pork patty was a tad salty.

The owner's son recommended the English Roast Pork (RM42- good for 2 to share) which was only available on weekends.

I'm glad I took his advise, this, to me, was the best dish of the day. The slices of roast was juicy, tender and oozing natural sweetness of the pork. The layer of skin, though extremely thin, was so aromatic and flavourful- I had to nibble by small bits so that I can enjoy the skin a bit longer :p. The accompanying wine sauce paired beautifully with the roast- such satisfaction to eat this.

We were stuff, but after much convincing from the owner, we had a plate of Char Siew to share.

Mr Ng explained that this char siew was from a premium cut, but he cant share more that that. I must say, this char siew had a slight difference from the usual melt in mouth types- yes, it was tender, but the pork was very sweet, and light in texture. The exterior was cooked akin to bak kwa, which Francis loves.

The friendly owner told us that the pork served in Sanbanto were direct from their farm in Jemaluang ( Sam pan Tuo in Mandarin- hence Sanbanto), Johor. Their farming and production of pigs products are certified by Moody's and ISO approved- he even showed us the health/ cleanliness level of their pig's meat and liver. We can definitely rest assured that we were fed with premium pork that night :)

My final surprise came in the form of a dolce- on the house :)

The warm choc brownie cake was rich, slightly bitter and filled with lots of walnuts. Such a good way to end the meal. And Sanbanto made this a real memorable meal for me when their whole kitchen staff burst out singing a birthday song for me..So embarrassing (luckily we were the only patrons left), but I'll definitely remember this :D.

Sanbanto is located at 32, SS2/63, Petaling Jaya, 47300 Selangor. Tel 03-78761728. As Sanbanto sells fresh produce at it's front counter, the tables are rather limited. To avoid long waits for a table, you may want to make reservations.

Jonker's other trail, Melaka, Part 2

We tried a few more places at Jonker's but alas, the chicken rice spell could not be broken. We still ended up there.

The long queue at both Hoe Kee and Chung Wah was absolutely ridiculous- patrons were queuing under the hot sun, even under the rain.

We decided to have Hoe Kee for breakfast the next day, believing that we don't need to queue since we're early. Surprise, surprise, we still needed to queue, about 3 groups of people in front of us. We waited a short while and finally got in. To my disgust, there were plenty of seats available in the inner court yard- I'm not sure why they kept us waiting- to create the illusion that it's so packed even at 10 am??

Ordered minimal, since it was still breakfast time. Not allowed to order all with chicken rice balls, we had to take the normal chicken rice too. The loose chicken rice actually tasted better than the balls, it was more aromatic and less soggy. I feel that the rice balls here fared better than CW's. But the accompanying chilli sauce was not as nice as CW's.

The chicken (RM16) was very smooth, but the flesh lacked the sweetness and springiness of Chung Wah.

Andrew's request for vegetables (RM5)

A rather greasy plate of stir fried cabbage. Was just average.

A slow walk to the adjacent road led us to a purported famed wantan mee shop.

We were rather unsure about this place- it was empty and quiet. Only 2 tables were filled. But, this is the only wantan mee shop on this road, so it should be correct, no?
But we're here and we must try- so we had the wantan mee..

Looks old school, the wantan noodles was slightly bland and had a strong lard flavour. The noodles was slightly sticky and gummy, definitely not everyone's cup of tea. You can mix generous amount of chilli sauce into the wantan noodles to enhance the flavours- supposedly a special way of eating the wantan noodles here. I find the wantan noodles just average though.

Wantans were ok, goes well with the noodles.

Sun May Hiong satay was within acceptable walking distance from Jonker's, we still decided to drive over :p

Dont need much ordering, we just sat down and waited for the sticks of satays to be served..

You dont get much choice, they just plonk what ever cooked satay they have onto your plate and you can eat how much you wanted and ask for top-up when required..

The pork satay was scrumptious- the outer layer was crisp and slightly smokey, the meat was springy and very juicy.

Think their trick was to layer the pork satay- meat, fat, and meat- alternating it creates yummy burning of fats on to the meat. I liked this better than Ming Sate Hut.

Their satay sauce was wonderful too..

Rich and thick, this beautiful blend of peanut, spices, pineapple and starfruit sauce goes perfectly with the yummy pork satay. Delicious!

We tried the intestine, liver and chicken satay and concluded that the pork satay reign supreme!

Sun May Hiong Satay House is located at 50/50A, Jalan Kota Laksamana 1/1, Taman Kota Laksamana, Melaka. Open 11am-6pm. Close on alternate Tuesdays.

Hoe Kee Chicken Rice is located at 4,6,8, Jalan Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka.

Kedai Makanan & Minuman Wantan Mee is located at 40, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Melaka. Open 7:30am- 2:30 pm.

Restoran Wei Kee, KL

When I asked my bro what he'll like for his second belated BD meal, he said he wanted nothing fancy. Just simple chinese food would do.

He then declared that roasted goose was his choice. But there's 3 on the same road, which one should we go for?

He only wanted Wei Kee, since it was also approved by his ex Hongkie boss. Definitely made choices easier :)

We were there brunch time on a weekend, so we still had the luxury to choose our table..

Started the meal with kerabu goose web (RM7)

Sourish and sweet, it complements the springy texture of the webs. Pretty appetising I must say.

Special for the day- braised goose webs (RM1 each)

I prefer the braised version as the webs had absorbed the spices and herb's flavour, while the texture was slightly gelatinous and sticky. Nice....

And the reason we were there..

The Roasted Goose (RM78 for half)

The skin was crisp and aromatic while the meat was juicy and quite tender. We were fairly surprised that their version of goose was not too fatty, which I am glad of. Though there's just the 3 of us sharing this portion- the amount was just sufficient :p. The roasted goose tasted pretty much like those I've tried in HK, albeit without those yummy broth/ sauce they poured over the goose in HK.

The roasted goose was served with chilli sauce or plum sauce. I liked mine all naturel- no sauce dipping required..

The choy sum (RM5) gave us carnivores the much needed fibre..

Very fresh, crunch and sweet choy sum. Delish.

Restoran Wei Kee is located at 50, Lorong Yap Hin, Off Jalan Pasar, Pudu, 55100 KL. Tel: 03-92218428.

Sam Sam Korean Food, The Gardens

When I told Diha about cheap korean food at LG floor at The Gardens, she insisted that it's not as nice compared to the korean stall located at the Food Gardens upstairs.

It totally slipped my mind, until I walked past the food court during dinner time recently and realised I've not tried the korean stall.. :p

Sam Sam Korean Food is located very near the entrance, you wont miss it.

Even if you did, you wont miss the 'an nyong ha sye yo' greetings by the owners- a cheerful husband and wife team.

The food selection was very simple- just a few dishes to choose from- ranging from bibimbap, grilled meats and soupy concoction.

They recommended the Dolsat Bibimbap (RM13.90) and Bulgogi Set(RM15)..and so our orders were set..

My Beef bibimbap was served with a fried egg, the yolk still runny...

Mix it all up, and I get a good range of vegetables, rice and meat with every spoonful. The hot stone bowl kept my rice hot and flavourful, it was really enjoyable eating the bibimbap. Very nice indeed.

Amy's Bulgogi came boiling hot...

Slightly soupy looking compared to the rest of the bulgogi I've seen, this was a real wholesome, satisfying dish. The gravy was thick but was excellent with white rice, the beef pieces were tender and gamey (which I like :P) and there were generous amount of glass noodles and vegetables.

Sam Sam Korean Food is located at Stall No 12, Food Gardens, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Jonker's other trail, Melaka, Part 1

When one is in Melaka, it's inevitable that you'll end up at Jonker's Street one way or another.

But I was bored of the usual Jonker fare. No more chicken rice. No more long queue for sticky cendol. And brief check in magazines and googling, we got some new places to try, all within or near Jonker, you can easily walk over to..

We popped by Lorong Hang Jebat, just off Jonker, to try some mee sua soup...

We ordered a large bowl of mee sua soup (RM9) to share, since we already had lunch..

The mee sua was smooth and slippery, the soup was light and had the pork sweetness infused into the soup. Main ingredients for this mee sua was pork- we got sliced pork, minced pork, pork liver and intestines. It was pretty satisfying to me, but for those who liks strong flavoured food, you may find this rather bland.

Men being men, how can they be satisfied with just mee sua although they had lunch already right?

Andrew and jeremy insisted we should have some oyster omelette and special pork ribs for snacking..yeah yeah..

We got the oyster omelette and we were like..what the??

No bumpy surface to indicate any presence of oysters. I took a bite and could not detect any oysters. Heck, I think I bit into some egg shells.. :(. After wondering much on the oysters, we realised those crackly bits in the omelette were oysters. It's just so tiny that we didnt realised it's oysters...How tiny? Many the picture can give an indication..

After the disappointing oyster omelette, we got out special pork ribs..

Hey, but this looks like hainanese pork chop! Albeit a huge plate of it. The pork was ok, quite tender and crunchy. The thick sauce was quite tasty though, nicer than Yut Kee's. What I enjoyed most in this dish was the potatoes. Absolutely yummy, the texture was powdery soft.

Jeremy got a call from his mum, a request to buy back some nyonya chang.

My mum wants some nyonya chang..bak chang right? he said.

But why you wanna get bak chang in Melaka when there's nyonya chang?

Aint it the same?

Only then I realised most of them have not tried a nyonya chang before.

Lucky us, just a few shops away, there's a tiny shop selling nyonya dumplings..

They were making it fresh, so we tried the nyonya chang (RM3.80)..

Andrew, whose grandma is a nyonya and makes good nyonya chang, said this was acceptable. I have been eating homemade nyonya chang since I was a kid as my aunt's a nyonya thought this was just ok. Not as nice as homemade ones, this was filled with lots of ingredients- generous amount of diced pork, mushrooms and winter melon, but I find the filling slightly pasty/ powdery and sweet. Overall still acceptable if you do crave for nyonya chang and there's no nyonya relatives preparing it for you :p

A pleasant suprise came in the form of durian cendol..

The cendol shaved ice was topped with lots of durian paste/ sauce, enveloping the whole dessert with it's heady aroma. No complaints here, the sweetness was just perfect, the fibrous durian bits was delicious. Much nicer compared to Jonker 88 and Tan Kim Hock's durian cendol.

Pin Pin Hiong is located at the T junction between Lorong Hang Jebat and Jalan Tukang Besi, 75200 Melaka. Just next to the famed Orang Utan mural.

East & West Rendezvous (durian cendol and nyonya chang) is located at 60, Lorong Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka.