Restoran Bak Kut Teh Gabtron, Batu Caves

It has been ages since I've met Vincent, maybe almost a year?

And when we finally arranged for breakfast and Vincent was to suggest a place, it was immediately Bak Kut Teh..hahaha how can I forget Vince who's a huge fan of it?

Since he's the BKT enthusiast, we got him to suggest..

And that's how we ended up at Restoran Bak Kut Teh Gabtron..

Yeah, funny name huh? When I asked Vincent the name of the BKT place, he says it's simply called "Restoran Bak Kut Teh". But upon a closer look at the signage, "Gabtron" was squeezed at a tiny end of the signboard..hahaha

I was told that this place was opened by the grand daughter of the famed "under the bridge" BKT in Klang, which means expect minimal 'extra' ingredients in the BKT..

So we gave our orders and a few minutes later..

Piping hot, smells excellent..

When we were told it's served with just mainly 'bak' (meat), they were not joking..There's no extra condiments like mushrooms, beancurd, bits of veg..heck, there's only 1 type of innards, ie, intestines. And no, there's no yau zhar kwai (fried crullers) too. We felt a void...

But we recovered quickly..hehe..

So, what's left? It's for us to savour the meat, meat, meat and soup!

The verdict? We were there early (before 9 am) and the soup was already thick and sticky (from the gelatine and fat of the porky pork). It's dark based soup, herbally taste was evident and was satisfying to sip it down. The meat- we had different cuts, mainly was quite tender but still gave a nice bite to it. Overall a tasty experience, and yes, other than Klang, there's still some scrumptious BKT out there....

Restoran Bak Kut Teh Gabtron is located at 15 Jalan Sj 1, Taman Selayang Jaya, 68100 Batu Caves, Selangor.

The Coffee Bar, TTDI

WF told me of Coffee Bar recently, her boss told her of the place, purportedly good for coffee and nasi lemak bungkus. But her boss has iffy taste, we were not too certain if we should try. Then again, she went there based on a recommendation of a customer, so maybe the customer's taste was better.hehehe.

Finally popped by on a Sunday morning, very quiet, we were the only customer for the morning. Though it's forte is coffee, none of us seemed to crave for coffee, and settled for teh tarik and milocinno instead..

Teh tarik was fine, not too sweet..

The Milocinno has very little hint of coffee, it was predominantly milo. 

Nothing fancy nor surprising.

We wanted to try the nasi lemak bungkus, but was told that the first batch was fully sold off, we would need to wait as they were still cooking the second batch.

So, we agreed to wait and while waiting, we were recommended to try the Chicken Curry Laksa (RM7.50)

Generously filled with shredded chicken, see ham, tau pok and beancurd, it does look inviting. However, taste wise was mediocre, the curry was not fragrant and had the 'powdery' feel to it.

Finally, we got the piping hot nasi lemak bungkus (RM1.60)

A rather small portion, I was immediately disappointed with the lack of banana leaf with the nasi lemak. I always prefer my nasi lemak bungkus wrapped in banana leaf- the aroma of the leaf permeated into the hot, steamed rice further enhancing the overall nasi lemak experience. The rice itself was ok, the santan's fragrant, slightly wet (i prefer dryer, distinguishable grain type). The sambal was chinese sambal type, with a lot of onions. The accompanying peanuts and fried ikan bilis was undeniably fresh, gives a nice texture to the nasi lemak. 

The Coffee Bar's Address located at 35, Lorong Rahim Kajai 13,Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. They also offer western fare, cakes and pastries. http://thecoffeebar.com.my/

Bistro a Table, Petaling Jaya

As stated in my previous post, I would like to share an unfortunate food incident that occurred a few weeks ago.. Left quite an impression, I must say..

It was Chardonnay's belated BD dinner, and we decided that Bistro a Table seemed a perfect choice- cozy, tucked at a quite area, great for catching up..

This place has been popular in recent months, with many raving reviews, we thought this would serve a good venue for dinner.

Serving french cuisine, we started off the meal with some baked escargot in horny goat weed(RM24)..

Prepared ala mini pie, the pastry was fragrant and the escargot was of firm texture. The weed (herb) was rather light, I cant really taste it except for the olive oil and salt..

Decided to have a side of truffle mash (RM12)

This was delicious! The mash was velvety smooth, with aromatic truffle oil lingering after a mouthful. We were told a lot of effort was put in this mash- the potatoes were not boiled (no H2O involved), it was roasted, then hand mashed and slow mixing of cream and truffle oil. 

BD boy had the Lamb Rack (RM85)

Juicy and pink on the inside, we all agreed that the lamb was cooked well. But there was no surprise to the palatte, the sauce tasted familiar per other western fare.

MC had the NZ King Salmon (RM58)

This was quite an eleborate main compared to ours, the salmon was wrapped in baking paper ala calzone shape, it was cut open before us..then a small sauce pan of champagne sauce was poured over it and topped with a spoonful of herbs. The salmon was fresh and sweet, the sauce not too rich, complemented the fish nicely.

WM and I decided to go for the Rabbit Stew (RM58)

The rabbit, which was cooked in red wine, came out rather coarse in texture. The sauce, Chardonnay commented, was too sour. I find the sauce ok, akin to the sauce for coq au vin. The potatoes cooked with duck fat was yummy though.

Desserts were Gauva Tart Tatin (RM19)

The warm tart was served with balsamic ice cream, which paired well in terms of texture and flavours. I liked it though it had mixed feelings from the rest.

Chocolate Fondant (RM18)

A safe and hard to go wrong choice, the cake was moist and slight crisp on the outside while the chocolate lava was thick and slightly bitter. Enjoyable.

Hmm, things sound find, right? So, what was the dreaded incident?

At 430am, I woke up with a start and started a series of severe vomiting and purging. It was horrendous and I was also worried that my friends suffered the same. Two were find, while Chardonnay, who ate a portion of my main, suffered light diarrhea. Yes, we pinpointed the source- it was definitely the dreaded rabbit.

And my food poisoning developed into a traveller diarrhea, which took me almost 2 weeks to recuperate. 

So, would I return? I really dont know. It was also unfortunate that we were seated near the kitchen, we could hear the chef screaming at her staff- rather disturbing for us. She came out a few times, looking angsty and sulky, maybe she had a bad day. I'm not sure. 

Bistro a Table is located at No 6, Jalan 17/54, 46400 Petaling Jaya. Tel 03-79312831. Reservations recommended.

Restoran Kuala Lipis Noodles, Sunwaymas

Aaahhh, finally I can muster some energy to write....hahaha

Ok, being a drama queen here- guess I was darn lazy after a bout of food poisoning and now still on antibiotics, to start blogging again.

I shall share that disastrous makan experience in another post, for today, it shall be a simple, short and sweet post.

I once got a comment from a friend, saying that I only write about makan places near where I'm staying. But hey, if the food is nice, even if it's just a stone's throw away from my home, I should share right?

So after that statement, I held on to this place- didnt want to share since it's ' close to home ' and potentially very boring.

Yet, I do enjoy it's food and I feel my other readers would really appreciate this... :p

Opened a couple of months back, Restoran Kuala Lipis Noodles serves very basic stuff- home made noodles, roast pork, char siew and poached chicken. Oh, you can have it with rice too. 

We were told that their home made noodles was without alkaline and a must try.

Comes only in dry version, the noodles looks like a cross between laksa and egg noodles..

Topped with a concoction of mince meat paste, give the noodles a good toss and....wait....
Forgotten about the 'special' sambal...

We were supposed to mix a generous amount into the noodles to make sure it's tasty..

I took a bite pre-sambal, the noodles was firm with a slight chewy texture, the mince was fragrant, enveloping the noodles lightly. 

Adding in the sambal changes the taste of the noodles quite drastically- it's not as spicy as it looks, I could taste some sweetness and flavour of tomato, making this a ' sweet and spicy ' noodles.

We ordered a mix platter of char siew and roast pork..

The char siew was average, the meat was firm, solid, cut into thin slices. It's not melt in mouth type, this was old school char siew I used to eat in kampung when I was a child. The sauce was too sticky-sweet to my liking. Anyway,char siew was the side kick.

The bomb was actually the roasted pork!

I was taken by surprise- the roasted pork was served warm, the fat was melting when you take a bite, the skin was crackling goodness that matched fantastically with the juicy layered pork. Every mouthful was bliss, I can finally stop hankering for the famous roasted pork in Pudu. This was on par. (and the people running it are way friendlier!)

Am definitely returning for the roasted pork, once the germs in my stomach clears! Cant wait :)

Restoran Kuala Lipis Noodles is located 26-1, Block B, Jalan PJU 1/3B, Sunwaymas Commercial Center, 47301 PJ. Oh do note, they are only open for breakfast until tea time if I'm not wrong. Roast pork are served much later, 11am or 12noon.