The George and the Dragon, Bangsar

George, George, George of the Jungle, strong as he can be...
:D I just dont know why that song always pops up in my head whenever I think of George and the Dragon

Yes, not even remotely related....I should be thinking of castles, princesses and knights, no? hehehe

G and the D has been in Bangsar for a couple of years and still enjoys a steady stream of customers. I reckon its a good place to hang out after work and on weekends, for some cold beer and greasy pub fare to fill the stomach.

Some deep fried onion rings and calamaris (RM14) while waiting for the mains..

The onion rings were cut thickly and sweet, the calamaris were just so so.

The ubiquitous Fish and Chips(RM20)

Ultra crisp (some parts were hard) beer batter with juicy fish meat. Hearty portion, I liked the thick chips too, well, as usual, I'm a sucker for anything potato. The peas looks artificial green though, have definitely tasted better version.

Shepherd's pie (RM28)..

The filling of ground mutton, carrots, peas and onions were thickish, which served well for the somewhat dry baked mash. Was an ok dish.

Glaced ham with mash and cabbage..

This was tasty; the ham was compact, but texture was springy, the cream sauce goes wonderfully with the mash and cabbage. Slightly rich after a few bites, good to share for a taste, not for the full portion.

The George and Dragon is located at Lot G130, Ground Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, 85 Jalan Maarof, Bukit Bandar Raya.

Miria Restoran, Kota Bharu

Before our trip to Kelantan, Diha checked out new dining places that we could try when we're there. One particular post caught our eye- he wrote about roti chotek. Diha thought it sounded interesting, I thought it sounded vulgar :p. Anyways, we both agreed to look for this special roti when we reached KB.

It took us a while, but we finally did find Miria. It was dinner time, but relatively quiet. I guess it's more popular for supper instead of dinner? Nonetheless, we settled quickly and ordered our rotis.

We decided to try their mee goreng..

Different from what you get in Klang Valley, this version is wetter, the noodles plump, and there were lots and lots of pepper. Taste wise, it's pretty good.

Some tom yam to warm our belly

Nothing to shout about. Dont need to order this.

And our piece de resistance..the Roti Chotek..

I love the colour and look- the yin yang dhall and curry swirl, the small dollop of sambal next to the peeping moon like egg yolk. The person making this roti must have perfected his skills so well that the egg was wrapped inside the thin layer of dough, but managed to cook it to a gorgeous, still runny yolk. Utterly satisfying, a must order.

There were a couple of rotis I'd like to try, but most unfortunately was not available :(.

Miria Restoran is located at 4161-B, Batu 2 Jalan Kuala Krai ( depan Lee Motor), 15150 Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

Teapot Cafe, SS2

When Elaine suggested for afternoon tea, I asked her to choose a place... But she cant think of any place, so I asked if her afternoon tea meant something like Teapot Cafe?

Where's that?
Ok, that settles the venue..

In actual fact, I have not been to Teapot for a few years..so I was really unsure of the quality :p

We reached slightly before 3pm, the place was packed, we managed to snag the last table.

WF just wanted her pot of tea, she had Strawberry& Kiwi Tea, while I shared the Devonshire Teaset (RM19.90) with Elaine.

Our set consists of our choice of tea, a pair of scones, choice of cake and finger sandwiches( egg or tuna).

I had fond memories of the scones served at Teapot and was hoping that it's still nice..

The scones were warm and freshly baked, served with clotted cream and strawberry jam. It's still fluffy as I recalled it. Not for those who preferred crumbly, buttery scones- this version was light, fluffy. Wonderfully settling with a hot cup of tea. We didnt have many choices of cakes, most were finished by the time we ordered, so we took the moist chocolate cake. A decent piece, not a to die for version.

The tuna sandwiches was ok, the ingredients were fresh and mayonaise was kept to bare minimum.

I guess Teapot Cafe will still enjoy a steady stream of customers; the price is affordable and place sufficiently pleasant for a little tete-a-tete.

Teapot Cafe is located at 169, Jalan SS 2/24, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Zawanie Nasi Kukus, Kota Bahru

When we were about to set off to Kota Bahru, I was wondering what we would be doing there.. Ok, eating would be the main itinerary :p, but it's just nasi dagang, nasi kerabu and nasi tumpang, no?

Diha was keeping mum on her plans, we were a lucky bunch, she invited us to her kampung for a makan trip...

Our day 1 lunch was at Zawanie, a place serving local dishes with nasi kukus..

The locals here sure like eating rice- one person portion was large!

I let Diha and Elv choose the dishes, since they were the pro :)

The only dish I can confirmed was a must have was their grilled honey chicken..There were loads of it grilling and the entrance and everyone seems to be eating that..

This was gorgeous stuff. The meat was lusciously juicy and springy. The slightly charred, smoky skin was delicious and reminded me of char siew.

Daging Kerutup was a common dish in Kelantan..

Zawanie's version was meltingly tender, the spices was strong and as any typical Kelantanese dish, this skewed towards a sweetish flavour rather than savoury.
The brinjal was the only dish I didnt like..

Way too sweet. Sugary in fact. Dont like.

Gulai Ikan Merah was a hit..

All of us simply lurrve the gulai. It was light, aromatic and goes extremely well with white rice. The fish was fresh, a great combination with this gulai.
Overall a very satisfying meal, will definitely pop by Zawanie if I'm back to KB in the future :)

Zawanie Nasi Kukus is located at 359, Jalan Sultanah Zainab, 15050 Kota Bahru, Kelantan. Only open for lunch.

Gu Yue Tian, Chulan Square

We wanted to have dinner in KL after work and everyone agreed that Gu Yue Tian's the place. On the quiet side in the heart of KL, we wanted some decent chinese fare and had easy access to. GYT seems perfect.

The individual set menu(RM99 per person) was the choice as we wanted different dishes from the menu..

For cold dish, we tried parma ham with rock melon and smoked salmon with onion crab meat. Both were dainty in size but delicious to start the meal with. For hot dish, it was the soft boiled egg with foie gras and crispy oyster with chilli sweet potato, salsa and vinegar glaze. Both were good, the egg was velvety, bits of foie gras gave richness to the egg. The crisp oyster was juicy, tangy sauce pared down the slightly oily crust of the oyster.

As for soups, we had 3 choices of sharksfins- double boiled with pig's stomach, double boiled with chinese ham and cabbage or braised. We ordered all 3 to try.

Of the lot, I liked the braised version. Smooth and simple flavours of the soup. I do like the one with pig's stomach- but the flavour of the pepper was so intense that it masked the sharkfin's. I might as well just order pig stomach soup sans sharksfin.

Under the seafood selection, we had the grilled unagi with avocado mousse and deep fried soft shell crabs with mousseline pumpkin.

The grilled unagi was delicious- it was smoky but the flesh was still fatty and juicy. The avocado mousse, slightly tangy but airy, complemented this dish wonderfully- a surprise to me as I assumed that the mousse would be rather tasteless. The soft shell crab was a tad too oily, and the puree makes this an even richer dish.

We were given 3 choices of meat..MC likes lamb, so that seemed like the obvious choice for her..

Wok charred rack of lamb..Smoky, slightly crisp exterior with melt in mouth meat. Only gripe from her was the overly sweet marination. I took a small morsel of it and thought it was very tasty :p
Sliced sirloin with marinated oriental spice The meat was tender though lacking in beefy aroma. The thickish mushroom sauce was scrumptious nonetheless.
I had the pan fried black pig with wasabi and butter shoyu sauce..The pork was extremely tender and sweet, while the contrasting wasabi sauce gave a wonderful array of flavours to pair with the fork tender meat.

I guess the chef's plan was to end the meal with a 'filler'- just in case the earlier portions were too small for hearty diners :D.. We had the Hainan Noodles , Rice with seafood, and Braised Abalone with Rice & Assorted Meat. All 3 dishes had contrasting flavours, which was really delightful. I liked the Hainan Noodles, it's like a fusion of loh mee and assam laksa (toppings). It's tangy but light, which I thought was awesome. The seafood rice was the plainest of the lot; with subtle sweetness of the broth enveloping the rice gave a nice satisfying feel though. The most decadent was the braised abalone with rice; the sauce was aromatic and thick, serving it with the egg fried rice was a stunner. Yum yum yum!

And what better way to end the meal with a sweet note? The more popular was the mango pudding with grass jelly cubes; pleasant to the throat as it was not too sweet. The avocado moose was so thick and rich that my friends could not finish it. I had the bitter gourd pudding served with chilled coconut milk. No, it was no fear factor product- quite nice actually, but it does end with a hint of bitterness.

Gu Yue Tien is located at Lot B5-A, Chulan Square, 92, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur.Tel: 03-2148 0808.

Shanghainese Cuisine, Shanghai

With that many days in Shanghai, I would be able to savour some delicious Shanghainese cuisine, no? Surprisingly, I only ate 2 proper Shanghainese meals, the rest were other chinese cuisine or even international fare. 2 good meals nonetheless :)

Shanghai Spring ( Xiao Nan Guo)

Perfect place to have dinner after Pearl Tower and good shopping at Super Brand Mall, Shanghai Spring serves a large array of chinese food, mainly Shanghainese. Ambience, other than the naturally noisy chatter in chinese restaurant, was comfortable and we get an excellent view of the Bund at night.

We left the ordering to Irene and Alfred, since they have been in Shanghai a couple of years- they should know what's the famous dishes to order here :p

Started off the meal with some cold and hot appetizers..

The pickled cucumber, sweet sour small ribs (tangcu xiao pai), Shanghai drunken chicken and Shanghai tofu were absolutely scrumptious. It's even hard to point out a favourite from these 4 as each had it's charm..The pickle cucumber was extremely crunchy, sourish and spicy, great to whet my appetite. The ribs were delicate yet tasty, the shaoxing wine used for the chicken was so aromatic that the fragrance lingers while the tofu was very flavourful.

Lion head's (Shi Zhi Tou) meatball was another famed Shanghainese dish

Here, we had it cooked with crab roe and egg sauce rather than the conventional braised. Not a good picture though, cant see the huge meatballs. The meatballs were succulent and tender; you wont feel too overwhelmed with a lot of mince meat, while the thickish crab roe sauce complemented it very well.

The stewed pork with knotted beancurd was stacked high..
I love this dish, especially the beancurd which had soaked in the aromatic sauce.
The bamboo shoots stir fried with dou miao came as a surprise..

The dou miao was super huge! How can it be called miao (young sprouts) when it's the size of choy sum? Bamboo shoots were acquired taste, so this dish was not so popular.

When in a Shanghainese restaurant, it's inevitable we ended up with some xiao long baos..

Pretty decent XLBs, the soup was tasty and the skin was not too thick. But I prefered the pan fried dumplings. The base was crisp - I took one bite and all the juices squirted out! Yummy stuff :)

I find the beancurd with crab roe/ meat a delicate dish..

My friends thought it was ma poh tofu, but was immediately aware it was not after a mouthful- the flavours were so mild, so this dish was not a big hit. I actually liked it though, the crab roe sweetness was very subtle, and pairing it with the velvety smooth tofu was perfect. Adding the vinegar changes the flavour dramatically, which I enjoyed too.

The final filler for the night (sans desserts) was the stir fried rice cake..

Find it sticky to teeth, too doughy and plain. Didnt like it.
We were stuffed but how could we leave without a taste of the desserts? :p

Tried 3 types - the 8 treasures sweet rice, glutinous rice balls with fermented rice and gui hwa, and pumpkin pancake. I liked the 8 treasures the best- the rice was warm, not too sweet and the red bean filling was a wonderful match with the rest of the ingredients. The glutinous rice balls was just were too fragrant with gui hwa- I felt i was drinking perfume. The pumpkin pancake was bland.

XinJishi (Pudong Restaurant)

This place was our last meal before we left Shanghai- it was near where we stayed, but located in the middle of the financial district.
Some appetizers to start the meal

We had vinegared jelly fish, stir fried rice cake and stuffed red dates. All 3 was different and delicious in its own way. The jelly fish was thick and ultra crunchy, unlike those puny, skinny ones we have in Msia. The vinegarish sauce whetted our appetite for the rest of the dishes. The stir fried rice cake (more like cubes) was extremely delicious- it was stir fried with chopped peanuts, mushrooms, peas, carrots, prawns- in a sweetish tangy sauce. Very addictive. The stuffed dates with warm glutinous rice flour coated with syrup was comfort food- simple yet scrumptious.

The 'popiah' was just average..

Think the veg was too rough to be wrapped as popiah filling- also, it was a tad dry..

The fried chicken in dried chillies came in a menacingly large basket..

All I could see was chillies. Glad to say, the chicken was not spicy, but juicy with very crisp skin. Good beer food :)
We braced ourselves for the surprise to the night, which came in the form of...

Can you guess what this is??

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No, not deep fried grass :p. I called it crouching tiger hidden dragon..hahaha. Alfred said its called Opium fish. Not sure if that's the correct name. It's actually fish head- I guess it was baked/ smoked under this huge stack of deep fried spring onions. Very smooth, rich textured fish head- we all liked it. Extremely oily though, I had to drink a lot of chinese tea..

Shanhai Spring is located at Level 9, West Zone 0203, Superbrand Mall, 168, Lujiazui Xi Lu near Fucheng Lu, Pudong, Shanghai. Across the road from Pearl Tower.

Xin Ji Shi is located at Pudong, 2/F 166 Lujiazhui Dong Lu near Pudong Nan Lu, Shanghai. There are also other branches at (main branch) Jin Shi Jiu Jia, 41,Tianping Lu and New Jesse Restaurant, 9 Xintiandi Complex, North Block, Taicang Road, Shanghai.