The big Honchos, Kota Bahru

When one is in Kota Bahru, there's 2 restaurants purportedly so famous that if you didn't try the food there, your trip was deemed incomplete. Or so I was told.
Diha, being the efficient hostess that she was, managed to slot in both Hover and Yati's to ensure we didn't miss the local favourites.
We tried Hover first, for an extremely late lunch..

Hover was buzzing with activities- waiters running about with plates of dishes, rice or drinks. I was interested with the array of dishes placed at the entrance, and wanted to start ordering but the waiter kept insisted that we should Duduk, duduk, duduk! (sit!)

Erm, okay...

And so we sat. It took them about 10 mins to start serving...and serving they did. Hover's style was to place as much dishes they could on our tables until we had to stop them. And they were not bothered if we wanted the dish or not. If we didn't eat it, then it's considered not sold. Hmmm, means I've got recycled dishes brought over from other tables?? ._."

The must try was the ayam kampung while the rest are nasi sumatra dishes. The chicken was too salty and sligthly dry, so it was not fantastic. The daging dendeng was mediocre, while the gulai ikan tongkol was too fishy. The pickled whole garlic was interesting, but not good enough draw to make Hover a fantastic meal. Overall was an average experience.

Yati was our last lunch before we left Kelantan..I only had one aim- to try the ayam percik. Diha can choose whatever she like for me to try :). There's no way you could miss Yati, the whole road looked foggy- came from the smoke while grilling the ayam percik.

We got some ikan sumbat (stuffed fish) and salted eggs..

Really cute way of preparing ikan sumbat, they didnt really stuff the fish- the fish was minced and mixed with desiccated coconut and herbs before reshaping it to fish shape and deep fried. Quite tasty, the flavour reminds me of satar.
The itik serati was a first for meNever had a Malay duck dish before, this dish was a pleasant surprise. Rich in spices, the duck was tender and had soaked in the flavours of the spices; this goes very nicely with white rice.

Diha loved the clams in sweet spicy sauce. It reminds me of typical chinese style cooking, a thick sauce version.

The piece de resistance..

Although the chicken was grilled until it's slightly smoky and dried, but the meat was very juicy, fork tender and well marinated. The creamy, sweetish coconut sauce was a delicious complement to the nicely charred chicken. Yati got my vote :p

Restoran Hover is located at 1963-A, Jalan Dato Pati, Kota Bharu, Kelantan
Yati Ayam Percik is located at 847, Jalan Long Yunus, 15200 Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

Las Vacas, SS5

Jun was very sweet to remember us when she tried some yummy steaks at Las Vacas recently and promptly arranged a lunch gathering to share her lovely experience.
Las Vacas is a butchery/ meat shop serving many variations of beef cuts which later included some tables in their premise and doubles as a restaurant too. The place is clean, well lighted but dont expected great ambiance as that's not Las Vacas's focus. It's the moo that they gave their top priority.

There are a good range of beef cuts here- rib eye, tenderloin, striploin, sirloin etc- grain fed/ grass fed. There's also a choice of wagyu and angus, which we find the charges reasonable.

Both Jun and I had the rib eye (RM56, 300gm)..

Both of us had the steak done medium rare and it was superb. The meat was cook perfectly- though it was thick and huge in portion, the meat was juicy and sweet while the exterior was grilled tender and aromatic. You dont need any sauces as the natural flavour of the beef was so delicious and fresh.

Amy wanted variety, so she ordered the all day breakfast (Rm28)

She was happy with her choice which has a mix of lamb chop, steak, beef bacon, sausage, egg and salad- but comparing her cuts with ours, Amy did admit that the quality differs.

MC had Lamb Chop (RM25.20, depending on weight)

Thick cuts of lamb which I thought was very reasonably priced. The chef did an excellent job of cooking the lamb, the centre was pink and juicy whilst the exterior was charred beautifully. I loved it too, especially the slightly crisp fatty parts :p

Vince and Steph had Lamb Chump (RM23, depending on weight)

They were not too happy though, the cuts were slightly over cooked. But it was still decent.

Andrew who ordered angus steak tucked into his portion with such gusto that I didnt dare to take a picture of :p. He gave the thumbs up to his meal.

I'll definitely pop by again, got my eyes on some nice beef patties, lamb cuts and turkey meat for sale that I'd get on my next visit.

Las Vacas is located at 23, Jalan SS5A/ 11, Kelana Jaya, Selangor.

Russian cuisine, Haerbin, China

As Haerbin's relatively close to Russia, it's no surprise that Haerbin has a heavy Russian influence. It's relatively easy to locate a russian restaurant in the city centre and we went to a couple during our stay in Haerbin..

The first was Hua Mei western restaurant, an extremely popular place for locals and tourists alike- patrons were willing to queue even though the weather was freezing. Obviously we had to see what the fuss was about right?

Started off with some soup and russian caviar..

They called this red caviar which was actually salmon roe..served with butter cups and diced onions. The combo was artery clogging material and it tasted oily and fishy. I didnt like it. Alfred said it tasted like a huge, oily spoon of cod liver oil. I figured the people here liked greasy, fatty stuff to keep their bodies warm in winter.

Ordered a mixture of stuff to share..

The russian ham was a tad salty but tasted like any other ham. The meatballs were oozing with juice and was meltingly tender. Pretty good. The brocolli was bad as they scattered some deep fried crumbs which made the dish freakingly oily. The waitress recommended the pan fried mahi fish- again came out oily. The flesh of the fish was fragrant, slightly salty but coarse. Was a decent dish.

Since it's winter during my visit to Haerbin, I thought hotpots sounded scrumptious..

We ordered the lamb and beef hot pot. Looks the same? :p Left's the lamb and right's the beef. Both were lovely- ultra soft, moist meat served piping hot and warmed our tummies immediately. If I had to choose, I'd go for the lamb with those strong, tasty, gamey flavours.

Our greed got into us when we saw next table having a baked dish..we decided to order it too :p

It was baked cod fish in potato and cream sauce. Yes, by now, we've come to realise that most of the food was fatty, oily or sinful..hehe. I could only take 3 spoonfuls of this- the cod was coarse, dry- i believe it's the treated salted cod fish (bacalhau). The sauce was very creamy, cheesy and having it with thick, mash potatoes was just, well, too much for me to stomach.

We took a break from russian food for a few days and finally ate at Madieer restaurant before we left Haerbin..

Madieer serves Russian, French and Chinese cuisine and was a poshier place compared to Hua Mei. The price surprisingly, was just slightly higher compared to Hua Mei's.

Madieer has a richer history, as it's also a hotel which has been in operation for almost a century. During it's heydays, Madieer's patrons includes Sun Yat Sen and Pu Yi (China's last emperor).

Since Madieer boasts that it serves 'modern' coffee, we decided to try some..

Alfred had the expresso, I had the hazel coffee and Irene had this coffee liquer drink that came in burning blueish flame. The coffee was pretty decent, but not fantastic. We felt rather like a tzar royalty having our drinks served in the eleborate cup and saucer though..hehe

Started off with some salad..

The asparagus salad was fresh, the vegetables retained the crisp and its sweetness. The dressing had this yellow tinge after we tossed it.. I had a strange feeling that it was tumeric..

I cant recalled the name of this dish, but it was beef stew with onions, potatoes and peas..

A comfort food, the beef slices was ultra tender and smooth, while the thick onion ring cuts gave sweetness to the thickish tomato broth.

The grilled chicken hot place came in a miserly size..

The chicken was rather dry, the garlic bits scattered all over the chicken was yummy though.

Alfred had a sudden craving for fried rice and well, he got what he wished for..

Most unfortunately, it didnt taste that good as it had a weird combo of ingredients in it..but he gobbled it down nonetheless..

My fave dish?

Shrimps in hotpot. Very delicious, fat prawns served piping hot in tomato based sauce. Excellent dish.

Hua Mei western restaurant is located at 112, Zhong Yang Street, Daoli District, Haerbin, China.

Madieer Modern coffee and restaurant is located at 89, Zhong Yang Street, Daoli District, Haerbin, China.

Restaurant Kong Sai, Taman Paramount

Back from a rejuvenating trip at Mulu, shall update on that soon.

For now, I'll write about Kong Sai, a popular eatery in Paramount Garden, for it's home style cooking. Years back, Kong Sai operates from a shack just across it's current shoplot. Guess the business has been steady and they relocate to a cleaner, brighter environment a few years back. Funny that I never wrote about Kong Sai, and during this visit, I finally remembered to bring along my camera :p

Started off the meal with pig's stomach soup..

Fantastic way to start the meal, the soup's piping hot, buzzing with pepper spiciness and the thick stomach slices had a nice, chewy texture.

My first taste of Kong Sai was their famed yellow (steamed) chicken- springy, sweet flesh that goes amazingly well with their secret dipping sauce. Power dipping sauce I tell ya, it enhances the overall flavour of the chicken. Leaves such lasting impression that I had to order this everytime I'm here.

The homely looking stuffed beancurd..

Generously filled with mince meat, take a bite and the light, still warm broth explodes inside my mouth. Simple, yet satisfying.

We need our greens right?

Decent but miserly sized yau mak.

This recent meal, I noticed though, was heavily laced with MSG.

Restaurant Kong Sai is located at 39, Jalan 20/22, Taman Paramount, PJ.

Food and Tea, Tropicana City

Whenever I'm over at Tropicana City, I'm usually stumped on where to eat. There's a couple of decent food places, but hey, one does get bored after a few visits.

Food and Tea offers Hong Kong char chan teng cuisine, almost similar fares as Kim Gary and Wong Kok CCT. Not the first branch in KL, Food and Tea has quite a number of branches already (including Johor and PG). But it's still the first in PJ area, so it's still considered new to me :p

Alicia the sweet tooth cant resist the glutinous rice balls with dried longan and ginger soup..

She seemed to enjoy it, though she did say that the glutinous rice though was rather thick. Sesame seed filling was nice though.

I have some Passion fruit blend with strawberry and yoghurt..

It was an ok drink, the slightly sourish passion fruit sauce makes the drink quite refreshing.

Alicia's Pork Chop bun

Though the chop was a rather thin slice, it was very well marinated. She liked it as it was juicy , with bits of grease that the buns mopped up, and medium sized portion (she was not hungry). But I thought the fries were sad looking.

My Cheese Baked rice with Pork Chop that took forever to reach..

I agreed with Alicia, the pork chop was very well marinated. There were light hints of fermented beancurd in the pork, which paired nicely with the egg fried rice at the base and the lighter cheese sauce smothering the pork chop. I guess there will be comparisons with the rest of the char chan teng- well marinated but thin slice of pork chop vs thick, but not fragrant meat. Light, cheese, bechamel like sauce vs rich, saltier, cheesier versions.

I came back for a second visit, there were some hits and misses with other dishes. Like any other char chan teng in KL I guess. :(

Food and Tea is located at Lot L1 – 15, First Floor , Tropicana City Mall, No 3, Jalan SS20/27, 47400, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.