Restoran Robson Heights Seafood, KL

Before we wrap up the Year of the Tiger, a few of us uni friends decided to meet up for a lou sang session- before our rousing welcome for Brother Rabbit...

It was a wet evening, we were hungry and reached the restaurant at 730pm, ready to order the crabs..Alas, we were in for a disappointment, they ran out of crabs! (aint that a tad early??). I'm rather surprised to hear that, the restaurant was not even filled :(

Anyways, we ordered some festive dishes...

Yee Sang (RM38)...

Robson serves a very traditional version- with lots of pickled, dyed vegetables and fruits..

Topped with fried dough bits, lots of peanuts and sticky sweet plum sauce. Was an ok version if you're just innit for the lou.

Steamed har (prawns) RM45 to bring joy and laughter into the new year..

Fresh, sweet and springy flesh. Enjoyable.

The Yat Zhi Guat (a pork dish, RM53) fills up the meat quota...

This was the most popular dish among my friends. They simply love this- the meat was meltingly tender and juicy, the skin had a thin caramel crisp, and slightly tangy- reminiscence of sweet and sour pork. Delicious.

Ah, some fried kailan (RM15)to meet our greens requirements...

Would have preferred a larger portion. Macam tak cukup je...

The Salted Egg squid (RM12)

This I must say, was rather disappointing. Though the salted egg coating was aromatic, it was slightly soggy and the squid texture was rubbery.

And what excellent way to end the meal than a piping hot pot of waxed meat rice (RM45)?

A variety of waxed meat (and sausages) neatly stacked atop fluffy rice. The rice had fully absorbed the essence of the waxed meat, give it a good stir and it's ready to eat. Satisfying, though I secretly wished that the waxed meat were sliced thickly, rather than thin :p

Restoran Robson Heights is located at 10B, Jalan Permai, Off Jalan Syed Putra, KL. Tel 03-22746216.

Food4thot would like to wish all my readers a Happy Chinese New Year! May the Year of the Rabbit be a harmonious, joyful and prosperous year! Gong Hei Fatt Choy!!

Roadtrip- Perak (Part 1)

2010 was coming to an end, I was in my unwind mode when Alicia suggested for a roadtrip to another state.

Lets do a roadtrip before the year ends!

And lucky me, although it was a very last minute plan, my boss approved my leave application without batting an eyelid :p

And after much deliberation, we decided on Perak, a place I've rarely visited and very keen to explore :D

Yik Mun- goodness in a pau?

We started with breakfast at Tanjung Malim- specifically to try it's famous paus. Though there's branches selling Yik Mun pau in KL, we figured the original place would be serving delicious version. Ordered the curry chicken pau and kaya (coconut jam) pau with a hot cuppa hainanese coffee.

So did we find bliss in these babies? Nope. The filling was sparse and mediocre in flavour, the pau was too thick and a tad dry. A rather wasted effort to look for this place.

Since breakfast was unsatisfying, we moved on for brunch at Pun Chun, Bidor for the duck noodles and woo kok..

After having 2 meals in a row without much walking and burning off the calories, we popped by Teluk Intan, to say hi to Alicia's friend.

While waiting for her, we explored the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan.

A quaint little structure, it's still nice to check it out. Though we were very tempted to try the food in Teluk Intan, we were rather pressed for time and decided to move on for a late lunch at...

Sitiawan- Kg Cina's road to seafood temptation?

Maybe it was a Sunday, the trunk road to Sitiawan was a busy one, full off tiongers (my nickname for those irritating tailgaters) yet when we reached Sitiawan, it was awfully quiet.
We found Kg Cina, the road was peppered with many seafood restaurants, but just could not find the one I wanted to try.

Alas, we were famished and tired, so we settled for the next rule of thumb- which restaurant was the most crowded..

And we headed for Restoran Makanan Laut Villa..Quick order and even a faster than expected serving, we were soon having our hot meal.

Fibre to start the meal..Stir fried yau mak. Vegetables was fresh and crisp. Good.
Next up, the fried or-chien.
Hideous looking. But absolutely mind blowing delicious. I had a few versions of good or chien in Penang (the crispy ones) and in KL (crisp with huge or chien), but this version, got first spot in my hall of orchien fame. When they served us this dish, I was wondering why the usual chilli sauce was not provided. One bite into this and I understood why. The egg-flour batter was so well seasoned, it tasted fantastic on its own. The exterior was super crisp yet the inside was fluffy and light, almost souffle like. So darn good, I wished I had the whole plate to myself, but the super generous me obviously shared.hehe.

The waitress recommended the Vietnamese style prawns..
The sauce was just ok, I was not over the moon with it. I cant deny though the prawns very fresh and sweet.
And ended with a large plate of steam lala.. Sweet, sweet, sweet! The soup was very sweet from the natural flavours of the lala.We liked this, wonderful to warm our bellies since the weather was turning dreadful...
Overall a enjoyable meal here that only costs us RM44.
We were so stuffed from lunch that we spent the remaining time in Sitiawan looking for their famed biscuits..Alas, luck was not with us, they were not opened on sunday :(
We looked for James cendol, yet equipped with a bad map, we did not find it.

We did however, ended up at a cendol stall near The Store which turned out delicious too.

Amidst the cold drizzle, guess my senses (or goosebumps) were heightened- this bowl of cendol was ultra cold.hehehe. Not a wasted effort as the cendol was very smooth and melted in my mouth in an instant. Very nice indeed.
We said goodbye to Sitiawan as it rained cats and dogs.....

Detoured to Kellie's Castle, Batu Gajah

Filled with rustic charm, who said it's haunted?? I think it's an interesting place to just walk-about and relax. Ooo, and to check out the number of blushing bride and proud grooms taking their wedding shots there.hahaha.

We finally made our way to Ipoh...
Dinner was a simple affair, we were too bushed for elaborate searching of new, grand food. Ended up at Thong Sui Kai for hawker fair..
Alicia was persistent to seek for her egg in sweet broth. And her wish came true.

Such a happy camper to find her 'treasure'.

I had the mixed fresh fruits with shaved ice..

Cooling on a warm night...

Horhee..

Noodles was smooth, soup was tasty.

Rojak was a tad too sweet..

I could even feel the crunch on sugar in the rojak...
And to wrap up the dinner, a duck parcel (wrap)

So very delicious, how I wish I was not stuffed and could order half a dozen more!

And that wraps up our Day 1 of the roadtrip, a long yet fruitful one...

Yik Mun Tanjung Malim Pau is located at 6043 Jalan Slim River, 35900 Tanjung Malim.

Villa Seafood Restaurant No 384, Kg Cina, 32000, Setiawan, Perak. Handphone 019-574591, 012-4698118.

Thong Sui Kai (Dessert Street) is located opposite of Sam Tet Primary School (opens from noon till late night)

Pork Place, Bandar Puchong Jaya

It was for my belated birthday treat.

A couple of my friends decided to feed me pork, somehow I exuded porkiness and keenness for porcine... haha

And so we trooped over to Pork Place, brought to us by the same owner of Sanbanto.

I expected a rather similar menu per Sanbanto's but nope, not the same at all.

Pork Place seems to focus towards fusion Japanese, which we ordered a few to sample...

The Sliced Pork Belly Salad..

A rather generous portion of greens served with slices of pork belly, ebiko and topped with goma sauce. The goma sauce definitely heightens the otherwise mild flavoured salad. It's enjoyable, but I still prefer Sanbanto's Pork belly salad.

The Grilled Pork belly with linguine (RM24) was served almost immediately with the salad..

Served alfredo with peas, the pasta was pretty decent. I do find it a tad bland, but hey, less salt in our diet is always good, no?

The Breaded Pork with Japanese curry served with spiralini was the least popular..
Sounds adventurous but the flavours just don't gel together. The curry was runny, the breaded pork was a dry and the pasta just cant absorb any of curry sauce to it.

Luckily for us, the Pork Loin steak was the saving grace..

Though it's the most expensive dish on the menu (RM45) the pork was wonderfully prepared- slightly crisp and charred on the inside while the meat remains succulent. It was served with black pepper sauce which I find absolutely redundant as the pork loin was well marinated and tasted lip smacking on its own. The side dishes were tasty too, an added bonus.

We actually had the bacon and cheese burger too, which, for the life of me, could not figure out why I didnt take a picture of. The burger pattie was not the usual coarse ground pork version, but smooth pattie ala pork sausage. It was quite nice, but not as fantastic as others raved about.
If I really had to choose between Sanbanto and Pork Place, I'd go for Sanbanto. Though it paled in ambiance, I prefer Sanbanto's menu.

Pork Place is located at 31, IOI Boulevard, Jalan Kenari 5, Bandar Puchong Jaya.

Erawan, Kota Damansara

When I heard of Erawan last year, I've tried to arrange for a makan session there. However, it was a busy period for me and my friends, plans were delayed, further delayed and perpetually delayed.

It took Mr Chardonnay to remind me of Erawan, he and MC wanted to buy me a belated birthday meal and the venue? You guessed it...

We had preordered our food- it was recommended to ensure that the dish was available and that the waiting time would be shorter..

First up, drinks to quench our thirst..

Interesting name like Black Rose and Trilingual, but the flavours were less surprising.

Started our meal with their Pomelo salad..

Large chunks of sweet pomelo topped with condiments (peanuts, dried shrimps, shallots, desiccated coconut etc) and drizzled with their homemade sauce. The burst of flavours were refreshing- the juicy, sweet pomelo coiled with tangy spicy sauce and ended with the crunch of the peanuts. Tremendously enjoyable, do order this if you're in Erawan.

Up next, the seafood tomyum..

Served in a dainty bowl, we chose a level 1 spiciness, as we were forewarned that Erawan's spiciness level was rather severe. Although our tolerance for spicy food was fine, we decided not to risk it and were so glad we stuck at level 1 (they have 5 levels). Even at 1, the soup was so very pedas that we started sweating heaps after a few sips. We all loved the tubular Chiangmai mushrooms in the soup, gave a nice bite while we're slurping down the soup.

We were ready to eat as the soup has opened our taste buds- and were served with the Fish and Salted Egg green curry.

A rather uncommon green curry dish, this was beautifully presented and tastes as good as it looks. The fishball was made from tenggiri fish, with a lovely bouncy texture when I bit into it. But what I love most was the creamy, velvety green curry sauce- the fragrance was enchanting and perfect with white rice.
The Steam seabass with lime sauce looks very fresh..

While Chardonnay finds this delicious, I enjoyed this, but not to the extend of gobsmacked for words. The fish went well with the spicy, sour sauce- which soaked right into the fish flesh. The more we ate, the spicier it gets, but hey, no complaints here :p

The kailan with salted fish gave our need for greens..

Simple dish, no faults to pick. Tasty.

To end our meal, we decided to try some of their desserts. Most unfortunately, the choice of dessert that we wanted was not available, so we settled for coconut ice cream and red ruby dessert.

The coconut ice cream was different from those I've sampled- there's no cream involved- just thick coconut juice frozen and mixed with julienned coconut flesh. Very enjoyable version. The red ruby on the other had, was forgettable.

Erawan serves fine Thai cuisine, the food was obviously prepared with care and patience. Overall, it was a great dining experience, I'll definitely come by again. Oh, do note, the pricing is towards the steep side, our meal for 3 pax costs RM200.

Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion is located at 22-1,Jalan PJU 5/16, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya.Tel: 03-6141 2393.

Old duck Vs Popular Duck, Beijing

When one is in Beijing, the first meal that comes to mind would be Peking Duck.

But Peking duck is served everywhere in Beijing, almost every other tourist friendly street has a 'kao ya' (roasted duck) restaurant.

So where to go?

Googled a little and led me to 2 places,

Bian Yi Fang

This is the oldest Peking duck brand in Beijing, with over 100 years of history.

I didn't find my way to their first branch, but there's a branch fairly near my hotel, hence this was my first dinner in Beijing.

Almost packed to the the brim, we were still rather lucky to get a seat. It was 730pm and we had just missed the peak hour for dinner (yes, Beijingers have their dinner early). We ordered their special Peking Duck, which cost about RM140 per duck. We were warned that we had to wait for almost an hour for the duck, I guess to keep us anticipating and maybe the duck would taste way better than it should :p

Other dishes stave us from hunger, there were some hits and some misses..

Started off with a cold and warm appetizer..

I once had an excellent version of cold beancurd and ear wood fungus in Shanghai, so I ordered it. Alas, it was just mediocre as the five spice powder flavour was just too strong in this.
The warm, sweet lotus stuff with glutinous rice was also rather disappointing as the rice and the lotus root was a tad hard. A rather unrefined version of this dish.

Luckily for us, we hit jackpot with the stir fried fresh bamboo shoots with mushrooms. The wok hei was perfect, making this dish a delicious one.

Before I was in Beijing, one friend reminded me to try Beijing's version of sweet and sour meatball..

I obviously heeded his recommendation, I just wanted to know what's so special about a meatball? And gosh, these balls were absolutely lip smacking! Smaller than the average meatballs, it was moist, slight crisp on the exterior and coated with sticky, tangy sauce. Very addictive and wonderful with white rice.

The prawns were delicious too, but a tad miserly on the serving (they halved the prawns to make it looked like a whole prawn!*shakes head*). Deep fried and coated with sour plumish- spicy sauce, this was another hit amongst my friends.

The mutton was to me, very delicious as it was extremely gamey :p. Juicy, tender meat that went well with their chili powder. Tofu on the other hand, was forgettable...

And the piece the resistance after almost an hour's wait..

Hmmm, they actually serve the skin with duck meat. With different methods of cut. The meat was well marinated and tender- very succulent indeed. The skin, crisp- had a thin layer of fat which melts when you bite into it. Was it good? Yes. Did it blew me away with it's flavours and texture? No.

And to differentiate themselves with the rest of the kao ya dian, they do not serve the duck with sauces. They proudly told us that the duck is tasty on its own. So we had it plain with the pancake and bunsn (which did not score any brownie points from some of my friends)

Quanjude

Now, this is a restaurant that you can find at most of the famous tourist spot. Only 9 years younger than Bianyifang, Quanjude also shared over a 100 years of history in Peking duck making.

But their selling point was their open oven roasting (compared to the rest which are closed oven) using fire from lychee tree branches.

We went to the branch at Houhai Lake, which was an excellent location for dinner (be early though if you don't have reservations).

While we had to wait a long time for the duck in Bianyifang, Peking duck (RM100) in Quanjude was readily available and soon enough, the master carver was already serving us parts of the cuts.
Wangfujing was different, we were served with a piece (each) of the fattest part of the skin (sans the meat). Just dip a bit of salt to savour the fragrance of the skin.

I was, admittedly, taken aback by the texture. The skin was so fatty, it almost felt like I was biting into a sachet of crunchy oil! Lard lovers, you will fall deeply in love with this piece of baby :p.

The duck itself however, was rather bland, though still juicy. I guess that's why we were given plates of thick sauce to eat with the duck and pancake wrap.

The rest of the dishes came trailing in right after we devoured the duck..
The beef rack grilled with black pepper was a supremely top notch dish. Marinated until tender, it had hints of japanese teriyaki, smokiness and black pepper all rolled into one. Each piece was so moist and melting- we had to fight for these few pieces :p. The chicken with cashew nut was also a delicious one, tangy chicken bites coated with a generous amount of crunchy cashews. The pork with knotted beancurd was rather popular among my friends. I thought it was nice (as I've tried a very good version in Shanghai), nothing to shout about though.

The remaining non meat dishes were very tasty...

The fried lily bulbs with ginko and mix vegetables were light, filled with sweet flavours and fresh, crisp texture. The fresh bamboo shoots were also good, though some of my friends do not enjoy the flavour (or smell) emitted from the bamboo shoots. And as some of my friends have never been to China before, I ordered the ever popular apple toffee- something that needs to e devoured immediately as once it's cooled, it will be stuck rock hard on the plate.

If I do have to choose between these 2 restaurants, I would have chose Quanjude for an overall enjoyable meal. Most of the dishes were well executed. But please take note, each Wangfujing branches serves different variety of dishes- I've tried another branch which was not as good. Go for the one at Houhai or the main branch.

As for the duck? If you want to enjoy a more flavourful meat, Bianyifang is the place.

If you want to savour the duck skin, do Quanjude for the lardy, fatty but scrumptious skin.

There's a 3rd place popular for ducks, it's called Dadong, which most unfortunately, I did not have the time to try :(.

Oh, and do note, the Peking duck in Beijing is served as 1 dish, unlike in Malaysia, where after carving, they will cook another dish from the remains of the carved duck.

Bianyifang and Quanjude has quite a number of branches around Beijing city, just google for the one nearest to your hotel/ tourists attraction you plan to visit. Overall meal is not cheap, but hey, its Peking duck in Peking!

Happy New Year 2011!!

May the dawning of this New Year, fill your heart with new hopes, open up new horizons and bring for you promises of brighter tomorrows (with lots of scrumptious food thrown in of course! :p). May you have an awesome New Year!