Food4Thot

Pietro Ristorante Italiano, Damansara Heights

2012-01-08T23:23:00.000+08:00

What a year 2011 has been! And in a blink of an eye, we are in 2012 now!

Fantastic how time flies without us noticing it....

Well, I had a good wrap up year end, spending good time and fine meal with a group of entertaining friends..hehe

Mr Chardonnay arranged for us to meet at Pietro, a restaurant the opened its doors not too long ago, to try out it's italian fare.

We read some mixed reviews on this place, but decided to try nonetheless, who knows, we might just like it..

Started off our meal with some Warm Asparagus salad (RM30)

Though this looks simple but it was delish- the warm, young asparagus and the lightly melted shaved parmesan was a great pairing.

The Caprese Salad (RM28) was a more popular dish among my friends..

Fresh, sweet tomatoes neatly arranged with thick cuts of bufallo mozarella, a sprinkling of chopped basil and kalamata olives. A good combination that I cant complain.

The Salmone Pasta (RM32) did not take that long to reach..

Creamy al-dente pasta with generous amount of smoke salmon and a dollop of lumpfish caviar. This was scrumptious, I was glad the sauce was not too thick and enveloped the fettucine perfectly.

The D'antara Pasta (RM33) was not so popular..

Though the penne was cooked al-dente, the sauce was a mixed of tomatoes yet sligthly sweetish, which some find it a mismatch with the slightly salty smoked duck breast slices.

The Lamb Shank (Rm52)

This had a better reception..hahaha..the lambshank was fork tender, served with creamy mash and sides of carrots and cucumbers. It was a decent dish.
But the Quattro Formaggio pizza (RM32) got my crown for deliciousness for that night..

The cheeses was so aromatic (or some may call it pungent :p) that i was salivating just by smelling it. And yes, it did not disappoint at all. The crust was thin, crisp at the edges and the cheese! oh need i say more...the mildly burnt top, the great melting flavours of 4 cheeses (parmesan, mozzarela and i cant recall the other 2 :p) was simply divine!

And the restaurant was sweet to prepare something for my BD..tee hee

Yummy, fudgy chocolate brownie. Thanks Pietro..
We wanted to have other desserts, hence the classic Tiramisu (RM20)

I was glad that it's not too sweet, this dessert was satisfying with the cream cheese and the slight kick from coffee liquer.
Chardonnay loves the Panna Cotta (RM16)..

Smooth, velvety, melt in mouth..
Overall I had a great time dining there, a wonderful was to end 2011 :)

Bangunan ECM Libra, Jalan Damansara Endah, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur.

Peter Hoe, Jalan Hang Lekir

2011-12-28T23:47:00.000+08:00

I first heard of Peter Hoe when my colleague went there. And all I heard was it's expensive, the food was not worth it...

Obviously, I didn't have any urge to go there, until recently, when another colleague convinced me to try it.

Peter Hoe mainly is a shop that sells house decors. And tucked at the corner of the shop, was a few tables, which I assume was the 'restaurant'.

The menu was simple, some daily specials on the board (sans the price) and some cakes and quiches at the counter.

There were some choices of pastas, salads and noodles, but my eyes was set on the quiche.

The quiche looks fresh, thick and yummy. There were a few types to choose from..

SL has the Tomato and Chinese Mushroom quiche with salad (RM25)

While I had the Brocolli and carrot quiche (RM25)

So it may seem pricey, but the quiche was huge, thick, yet fluffy in texture and extremely creamy. Both tasted fantastic, mine was filled with lots of shredded carrots, balancing the eggy cheesy filling perfectly. The crust was mostly soft, with bits of crisp at the edges, which I was fine with.

SL's mushroom, tomato quiche was equally delish, velvety egg filling and aromatic cheese makes this such a rich meal. Luckily the salad was light and fresh, wonderful pairing with the quiche.

I wanted something hot, so I ordered a bowl of mushroom soup (RM16)

It's not the thick, filled with cream types, this was more diluted but had loads of chopped fresh mushroom in it. It was quite tasty I must say, but I found it slightly oily.
I didnt have that bad of an experience actually. In fact, I rather enjoyed my meal there.
So, yes, I would return :).
One word of caution though, do ask for the price of your meal before confirming on the order.

Peter Hoe is located at 2, Jalan Hang Lekir, 50000 KL. It's located above Popular Bookstore, use the side entrance.

The Khukri, Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin

2011-12-18T22:15:00.002+08:00

Nearby my office, there's an area so foreign that I would have thought I'm in another country instead of Malaysia every time I venture over.

It looks, sounds and heck, even smells different.. :p

If you are wondering where I'm talking about- it's Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin.

But in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, I cant help but noticed a number of nepalese restaurants, tempting me to check it out.

It took some time, yet we finally did..

We decided on The Khukri as it seems more established compared to the rest (it's been in business for over a decade)..

Stepping in, we were the 'foreigners' as its customers was Nepalese working in KL..

Ignoring the stares, we took our seats and the waitress was quick to take our order.

We started off with a hot pot of Nepalese tea..

It tastes like ceylon with a hint of herbs. I find it ok, but some of my friends found it "smelly"

John, who didnt want to have rice, decided to order a plate of 'chow mien'.

Basically, it's fried noodles with pork and vegetables. Though it look like any typical fried noodles, The Khukri's version was surprisingly lip smacking. The noodles was full of wok hei and filled with garlicky taste. It was so yummy that I felt bad picking on John's portion :p

There's a number of Nepalese lunch set to choose from, which comes with rice, vegetables and a choice of meat..

JA chose the Khukurako Masu Ra Bhat (RM8)

The set comes in a big metal plate- we get a large serving of rice, nepalese curry chicken, dhal, stir fried spinach and sides of deep fried bitter gourd and potatoes. The curry was quite nice, not as rich as malaysia version, but still good to go with rice. But what got my vote was the vegetables! The greens was simply delicious, though a tad oily, I just love the taste. Wonder what was the secret flavoring it used- so tasty.

I ordered a Sadheko Khasi (RM10)

I only knew it's nepalese mutton- as the description in the menu was "taste of home specially in nepal".

Didnt help much eh?

The mutton was tough and gamey, though smothered with thock tomato based sauce with a squeeze of lime juice, I still find it gamey. Yicky.

SG had the same set as JA, but he chose Pork curry instead.

Here's a shot of the curries..

The pork was absolutely fatty! But SG assured us that the meat was tender and tasty..

Some snacks to go with our lunch..Steamed and deep fried momos..

The steamed momos were filled with juicy mince pork while the deep fried counterpart was filled with mince mutton. Both were good and provided different texture and flavour. The dipping sauce was tangy, which complemented the momos..
And interesting find, we do plan to return to try other stuff in the menu. A note of caution though, if you are in a rush, please dont try this place. It took them quite a while to serve our food even though we were the only customers who ordered at that time.

The Khukri is located at 26, First Floor, Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin, KL. Tel: 03-20720663.

Deli Cafe and Bakery, Kota Damansara

2011-12-05T22:43:00.001+08:00

We were at the mechanic shop as Bollywood Queen need to get something for her car..

While waiting and whiling away our time, I recalled there is a place for bread and drinks around this area..Just not sure where and what it's called..

But no harm asking right? So I tried my best to describe to taukay's wife...

Toast bread, kaya? Erm, name of place starts with D?

Oh, that's just behind our shop!

Man, am I lucky or what? hahaha..should have bought lottery ;p

And so we went to the back- it's passed lunch time but still packed with customers..

We were not keen on any of the nasi goreng/ lemak/ mee goreng etc..Just wanted a drink and bread.

Since they bake their own hainanese bread, we ordered a steamed and toasted kaya butter bread.

The wait was not long...

Steamed bread with kaya and butter..

Super piping hot, it was hard to hold and to take a bite. The bread was soft, yet had a lovely chewy, springy texture to it, giving a more solid feel to the bread rather than the usual airy types. The kaya was creamy and smooth, the amount was just right to go with the bread. Yummeh!

The toasted bread was served soon after..

Browned toast with a nice thick cut of butter. I likey :). The toast had a light crisp exterior and charred flavour. Bread texture was lighter compared to its steamed counterpart, yet still lovely to sink my teeth into. Though I am usually partial to toasted bread, Deli Cafe's steamed version was simply delish and a notch up the crisp brother (my preference la!).

Definitely coming back to try the round kaya butter buns on my next visit :)

Deli Cafe and Bakery is located at 57-G, Jalan Sepah Puteri 5/1B, PJU 5, Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Es Teler 77 Juara Indonesia, Central Market

2011-11-24T22:30:00.001+08:00

I noticed Es Teler 77 when I was over at Central Market a couple of months back. Though I kept reminding myself to try in soon, I never had the time, and when I did, none of my friends were keen to try.

And finally recently, the stars aligned and I went! :p

Unlike the usual Penyet restaurants, Es Teler 77 actually serves non-penyet meals..similar to Bumbu Desa, but in a fast food setting..

With surprisingly rather large selection of food- we only managed to order 2 mains, since the portion does seem huge.

Some Jus Apukat(RM7.80) to quench my thirst..

Different from what I expected- this blended avocado juice was laced with gula melaka, instead of chocolate. I'm fine with that combo if they didnt add in coconut milk/ cream too. The strong coconut flavour totally enveloped avocado's light taste and texture. It felt like I was slurping creamy, blended cendol..

Paket Ikan Goreng (RM11.90 or RM12.90..cant recall :p)...

The 'paket', if you're wondering, refers to the rice- akin to nasi lemak, with tiny fried anchovies premixed into it. The fish was slightly overfried- the meat was a tad dry. The good thing was, the dish was freshly cooked- we could hear them deep frying the fish..hahaha. The sambal was mild and the kicap was plain. A waste.

The Nasi Jelimet..

A generous amount of rice served with barbequed chicken, sweetish gulai and an extremely thin omelette. The gulai was too sweet and santan-y, and the chicken was dry at some parts (some section was ok).
Overall experience was just average, no wow factor. Am not in a rush to return to try other stuff on the menu...

Es Teler 77 Juara Indonesia is located at Kasturi Walk, Pasar Seni, KL.

The Warehouse Cafe Art, Jalan Tun HS Lee

2011-11-13T20:44:00.001+08:00

With the rising popularity of online deals, we do get a myriad of choices of deals, one of them, F&B. That's how I got to know about Cafe Art, which was having an online deal recently- my friend bought a few coupons to be redeemed there.

Cafe Art is located in The Warehouse, an art gallery. The same establishment houses Ril's at the first floor, a steakhouse which only opens for dining.

Located at an old area of town, the gallery is a breath of fresh air to this side of town, not looking odd at all..

It's well lighted, splashed with colourful art pieces adorning the walls, emanating a cheery mood.

Cafe Art serves very simple meal- a choice of coffee/ smoothies/ juices/ tea, yoghurt (wth fruits and muesli) and sandwiches.

For our sandwiches, we had a few types of meat to choose from- chicken, roast beef, tuna, turkey ham etc.

Can you tell which is chicken breast, tuna and beef? We could not at first glance too. I actually thought there's some difference in the sandwiches that we ordered, but I guess not.

The amount of fresh vegetables was commendable, but the side of salad looks exactly like those on the sandwich... So, how was the sandwich? I had the roasted beef- it was tough and extremely chewy. The meat was bland and to top it off, the bread was hard and dry. I did not like my order.

Those who ordered chicken breast was served with chicken sausage and ham instead. Only ok customer was those who ordered tuna.

Our meal includes a cup of Illy Americano....

Overall, it was not a satisfactory meal, I definitely will Not be returning.

I went upstairs to have a peek at Ril's...

No wonder it's not opened for lunch- this place was absolutely scorching! It felt like we were in a furnace, we ran down quickly..

And while we were preparing to leave, the manager enquired about our meal. I honestly shared with her my experience on the tough roast beef, hoping that they will take note to improve. However, my hopes was quickly doused, instead of acknowledging and to improve in future, she just thought I had a tired old cow. It's not funny at all in such situation.

The Warehouse Gallery Cafe is located at 198 Jalan Tun HS Lee, 50000 KL.

Restoran Bak Kut Teh Gabtron, Batu Caves

2011-10-30T22:04:00.000+08:00

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

2011-10-23T12:30:00.002+08:00

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

2011-10-16T22:55:00.000+08:00

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

2011-10-10T22:28:00.002+08:00

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.

Happy Meal, Jalan Tun H S Lee

2011-09-24T16:40:00.002+08:00

I'm always a savoury person...

:-)

What I meant was, when it comes to a person's palate preference, I simply divide the group to 2 kinds- a sweet or a savoury person.

Though I enjoy sweet delicacies, but if I had to choose say, something to snack on, my first choice would always be a savoury one.

Yet recently, I've been treated to sweets that I do admit, it's hard to resist :)

One such gem can be found at Happy Meal.

No, not Ronald's sundae, but a small bakery located at Jalan Tun H S Lee...

Though they serve many kinds of cakes, tarts etc, only One caught my eye..

The durian cream puffs (RM3)..

The cream puff that was filled to almost bursting point with velvety, creamy durian delight..

Each bite was such sinful pleasure, the cream was not too sweet, the aromatic durian flavour burst in my mouth the moment I popped one. You can still taste bit of durian fibre in the cream. Come to mama my baby! :D aherm..

Ah, I see durian cream puffs and me will be fast friends, for many years to come...
If you are around Petaling Street area, do remind to look for this Happy Meal!

Happy Meal is located at 143 (right at cross junction), Jalan Tun H S Lee, KL.

Restaurant Betel Leaf, Lebuh Ampang

2011-09-13T22:44:00.001+08:00

A change in work location allows me to try many new places recently, thanks to my friendly new colleagues and friends who works near this area.

One of the first place that most of them mentioned was Betel Leaf, a place that serves Chettinad cuisine. Lo and behold, I got to visit the place twice in a week...haha

Located right in the heart of busy, boisterous Lebuh Ampang, Betel Leaf is a popular restaurant, fully packed with patrons by 12:30pm..

So if you want to ensure a table, do go early.

The menu is extensive here, I've yet to try most of the food there, but here's what I had on a recent visit..

Mango Lassi to quench our thirst (RM7)

Smooth, rich, thick, slightly sour. Yums.

Chettinad Mutton Chukka (RM13)

Wonderfully aromatic dish, the mutton was tender.The dish was cooked dry, the taste was slightly sweetish and had a faint tomato flavour.

Gobi Manchurian (RM9) is a must order, on all my visits here (request from different group of friends)

Betel Leaf does a slightly different version, the Gobi Manchurian is not heavily tinge with red, it's spiced up with bird's eye chilli and sweet from all the diced onions. Addictive stuff, do order this when you are at Betel Leaf.

The Brinjal Masala (RM6) on the other hand, was a very savoury dish..

Not the usual purple aubergines we see in the market, these were small green ones. Just the right amount of heat to complement the rest of the dishes.
The Fish Curry (RM10) came as a surprise.

It just tasted slightly different from the usual ones that we are accustomed to. More sour? An extra something? We, just ordinary souls, could not guess the secret ingredient. MC didnt really fancy it. I actually thought it was interesting and tasty.

There's a range of carbs to have the dishes with, we opted for Pudhina Paratha and Garlic Naan..(RM5 each)

The mint was rather mild in the Paratha though (my first gripe)

Restaurant Betel Leaf is located at 77/79A, Lebuh Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-20325932.

Coconut Grove, Bandar Utama

2011-09-03T14:03:00.002+08:00

How's your Raya break so far?

Hope it's been good :)

Weather's been sweltering recently, makes one yearn for a cool drink or dessert, don't you think?

I stumbled upon a dessert place whilst out and about- it was just so hot that we needed a "chilled" break.

No surprise on what they serve here- coconut jelly.

You can have it plain or with toppings suggested in their menu.

There's coconut jelly with green tea jelly (RM5.50)..

The ultra smooth coconut jelly went well with well chilled green tea jelly. The green tea gave a nice aroma and a light bitter after taste which we enjoyed..

For double cooling action (and perhaps smoother skin?), we tried the Coconut jelly with Aloe Vera (RM5.50)..

The jelly was drizzled with gula melaka and a generous amount of Aloe Vera. The match was surprising tasty. Very nice indeed.

For a bit more texture, Coconut Jelly with Q-Jelly might be a better choice (RM5.50)

The Q jelly had a nice springy texture, a good contrast with the melt-in-mouth jelly..

Coconut Grove also serves other basic thong sui and kuihs.

Coconut Grove is located at Oasis Business Centre, Bandar Utama, PJU 6.

Grand Palace Restaurant, Pavilion

2011-08-23T21:28:00.005+08:00

It was friday, time to unwind and a few of us decided to meet at Pavillion for dinner and drinks.

We cracked our heads for a right place for dinner- WM had some teething issues and her gums were swollen.

Though we were assured repeatedly by WM that she'll be able to find food no matter where we decide, we felt that Grand Palace should be a good bet with some 'soft' food?

The captain, a very considerate staff, immediately started recommending suitable dishes when she found out about our 'requirements'..hehe

So, we had some soup with scallops, melon and shark bone (RM18 per single serve bowl)

Velvety smooth soup, did great things to warm our bellies on a cold, rainy day. It was a satisfying soup, the essence of the ingredients encapsulated in the silky broth.

The perfect dish for WM to go with her rice...

Silken smooth taufoo with crab meat and prawns (RM28)..

Light, yet still tasty, WM was very happy with this since it's a big leap from her 1 week of soup and mushy bread.

For the rest of us, we would still require some solids..hehehe

And we ordered the steamed kampung chicken (RM30)

Large portion but I find the chicken over steamed- some of the meat were too dry.

Some veggies to balance out all the heavy duty protein..

But RM16, the portion was measly.

Another recommendation from the captain, Mongolian style pork trotters (RM28)..

A dish that WM can have bits of, the melting fats from the knuckles dont require chewing..hehe

I find the dish average, the sauce was sweet and sour which would not be my fave choice for braised pork trotters.

Yet, the accompanying pastry bread (RM8) for dipping was simply lip smacking- it was so aromatic with the fried sesame and once soaked with the sauce, it was so divine.

Overall, it was a mix of good and average dishes, but we wont mind returning as it's spacious and gave customers ample privacy from other customers.

Grand Palace Restaurant is located at Lot 6.39, Level 6, Pavilion, KL.

Craft Brews, Mutiara Damansara

2011-08-13T17:14:00.003+08:00

It was a belated BD dinner for Alicia- since it's for her, I asked her to suggest a dinner place instead.

She was missing calamari rings served in a certain restaurant in Mutiara Damansara, so we agreed that should be our dinner venue.

At the beginning, I didn't know where was dinner.

She recalled it's near somewhere-somewhere- yet she could not recall the name of the restaurant. Luck was on our side, we took some turns and Alicia excitedly exclaimed, "This is the place!!".

I see, it's Craft Brews.

Unabashedly direct, the restaurant main draw is, well you guessed it, brews. There's a large variety of ales, beers to choose from, to satiate most drinkers.

The menu was sufficient to please most diners- a good range of snacks and appetizers to pair with the beers and mains for those who are hungry.

Since it's only 2 of us, we cant order too much :(

Complimentary soup which tasted like minestrone..

They've got some cute paper placemat though :)

Alicia's favourite at Craft Brews..

You should see the glint in her eyes when this was served. But it's calamari rings (RM18), what's so special? Well, it was crunchy, the squid rings was springy, and this was tossed with bird's eye chilli, garlic, salt and pepper. Really addictive and went well with beer. It's salty though if you're just snacking on this without beer.

She was craving for the pork burger (RM26) and she got her wish..

No too thick pattie sandwiched between 2 pineapple rings, topped with cheese, fried egg, slices tomatoes and lettuce. Nicely buttered sesame buns complete the picture. I must admit, it's quite tasty, the porkiness was not overly heavy, just nice. Thought it was rather steep in the price though. Alicia did complained that the corn was way too dry.

The Honey Mustard ribs (RM35)

Quite a generous portion, there were 4 pieces of meaty ribs thickly coated with pungent mustard and honey. I rather enjoyed this, for those who never like mustard, please stay away from this! I find it slightly rich meal for 1 person to finish this plate of ribs, better to share. The wedges, though they used the wonderful powdery potato types, had a very salty batter. Again, guess it's to go with beer.

Overall ok meal here, as long as your beverage is beer. Else, I do find it a tad salty.

Craft Brews is located at G3 Podium Ground Floor, Menara Batu Kawan, 1 Jalan PJU 7/6, Mutiara Damansara, 47810 PJ, Selangor.

Durians!

2011-08-09T19:54:00.003+08:00

Have you satiated your durian cravings recently?

We are reaching the tail end of durian season, so if you have not enjoyed the sumptuous king of fruits yet, maybe you should do it soon!

Here's some of the durians I've had this season..just to share :p

(we went to a stall where the owner advised we eat in accordance to his arrangement, in order to savour different types of durians)

X.O (Durian susu)

The name of this durian implies that it gives an 'alcohol' after effect to the taste buds. In cantonese, we'd say it's "fu kam"- a rich bitter but fragrant after taste. This was creamy and very bitter, all of us enjoyed it. Why durian susu then? I was told that if it was described as X.O, some muslim friends wont eat it.

Hong Har (Red Prawn)

The obvious reason for it's name- the red tinge on the durian flesh. The flavour is a mixed of sweet and bitter while the texture is smooth and creamy.

Bamboo ( Jook Giok)

Was purportedly under the 'bitter' category of durians, however, this one was sweetish. Texture wise, it's slightly wet. Think we didnt get a good version of this.

Musang King (Mau San Wong)

One of the most popular range, also one of the costlier. Was told there's different grades of Musang, the one we had here was "A" grade.

What's the difference? This was almost peanut butter thick in texture, so creamy thick that you feel full after eating just one piece. And the seeds are all tiny, the size of 20 sen coins. As for the taste, I didnt find it as captivating as X.O nor Red Prawn. Worth the "A" grade price I paid? Nope.

What's my fave amongst these few? I like the Red Prawn :)

Bumbu Desa, Mid Valley

2011-08-03T21:48:00.005+08:00

I first came across Bumbu Desa when it was first opened at KLCC.

I wanted to try the food, but the queue and wait was long, I was hungry and so I left...

But Bumbu Desa opened it's doors at Mid Valley, and maybe it's still unknown to many, getting a seat was a breeze.

So what's the fuzz with Bumbu Desa?

First thought- no, it's not the same establishment as Ole Ole/ Bumbu Bali/ Waterlily.

Bumbu Desa is purportedly a leading restaurant chain in Indonesia which has finally decided to make it's debut in Malaysia.

Bumbu serves "masakan Sunda", a good variety of Indonesian dishes was either ordered (per menu) or we can choose the dishes directly from the counter.

We had Gado Gado to start the meal..

Fresh crisp vegetables smothered with peanut sauce and generous amount of crunchy emping. Good way to start our meal.

Gepuk (fried beef) was next..

Very small pieces for the portion we order..It was crunchy, yet luckily, the beef was not chewy nor hard. I kinda liked it, but BL said it was tasteless. hmmm.

A fiery looking terung sambal (spicy brinjal)

The soft brinjal paired well with the hot sambal paste- wonderful with white rice.

Cumi Bakar was a disappointment though..

3 tiny squids (maybe 2 inches in length) for RM16. Rubbery and not worth your RM. Try something else.

The Ayam Bakar fared better..

Tender chicken meat with smokey flavour and nice charred bits. The sauce was a tad sweet for my liking though.

Our vote for the best dish of the night was the Gurami Goreng..

Served piping hot, the fish was fresh, crunchy and addictive to bite into. Eat it with the spicy sweet soy sauce, this was absolutely scrumptious.

We had all the dishes with white rice and nasi liwek..

Yes, I ordered wondering what it was. It came in a 'steamed' packet- almost like nasi lemak, with anchovies and the rice had the coconut milk aroma.

Total bill was RM72 for 4 pax (we had 20% discount), which I must admit, was pretty reasonable.

Bumbu Desa is located at Mid Valley Megamall. Same area as Madam Kwan's, just a floor above it. The first branch is located at KLCC, highest floor.

I'm Spicy, Petaling Jaya

2011-07-26T21:15:00.003+08:00

We were on our way to Seksyen 17 to deliver some goods, but it was lunch time, we were darn hungry but not too willing to detour in search of food..

So what's on the way and should be ok (traffic and parking wise).

I recalled I'm Spicy, a place my boss told me 4 months back, but I've yet to try. Like the name suggested, the restaurant serves spicy Thai street food.

Sealed the deal, we were there in a jiffy.

Obviously new to the neighbourhood, the restaurant was rather quiet (no we were not the only customers).

Menu was not too extensive, yet sufficient to satiate Thai food cravings.

We settled for quick set lunches..

Quenched our thirst with their pandan lime concoction.

Cooling and nice.

We decided to try the fried somtum, a variation to the original som tum.

Reminds me of a cross between kakiage and onion rings, the fried som tum was pretty decent when eaten fresh. But after a few more bites, it's just oily. Should have opted for the good old fashioned som tum.

WF had Seafood Padthai..

This I must confess, looks very much like what I've just had in Bangkok. Taste wise, tasted very close to home. Would have tasted even better if it was laden with more crushed peanuts. I figured one flavour was lacking, but for KL standards, this was considered tasty.

AT decided to have the Thai Belacan fried rice..

Not very Thai? Regardless, I thot this was yummy- great wok hei and enjoyable. The mix of ingredients with the rice was very satisfying (Note: a friend tried this dish a week later and said it was just mediocre. No QC?)

I had the Stir Fried Basil Pork with Rice..

Was warned that it's spicy, yet alas, it was just averagely spicy. Still, I cant deny that this was delectable, the basil was aromatic, the juicy mince pork went deliciously well with the fluffy white rice. If only it was spicier...

Would I return? Yes, coz I've yet to try it's ala carte dishes- the curries and pork stuff are next :p

I'm Spicy is located at 1, Jalan 17/45, 46400 Petaling Jaya.

Ben's, Suria KLCC and Pavillion

2011-07-18T21:40:00.007+08:00

I reckon I should blog about Ben's before it got too stale- the photos have been sitting in my album for some time now :p

The first time I noticed Ben's was at KLCC- it took over CPK and refurbished to a 'darkish' corner. Somehow, it didn't pique my interest at all, until Diha told me to check it out- she had a good time there.

And so I did went to have a look.

Went there for dinner (heard lunch's ultra pack), Ben's at KLCC has a relaxed ambiance and jazzy tunes in the background to sooth a hectic day at work. The spacing between diners was at a comfortable distance, compared to Ben's at Pavillion, which had a cosy, cheery concept, diners sitting rather closely to be able to hear next table's gossip..hehe..

I digress, lets get back to the food instead, shall we?

Some mocktails to start...

Muddled Mary and Berry Freeze..

Mary's too spicy to my liking, berry was ok..

We had the soft shell crab salad (RM20.90)..

A lighter version of somtum, they were generous with the soft shell crabs and papaya. Not too sour nor spicy, the salad had a good crunch and eating it with the piping hot crabs does give a nice oomph to this dish.

I always have a soft spot for duck and I zoomed in straight for the Duck Confit Spaghetinni (RM22.90)..

And yes, in case you're wondering why the dish looks so familiar, Ben's owned by the same people who started Delicious. Alas, similar in look does not translate in taste- this was ultra greasy and salty.

The Portobello Mushroom Sandwich (RM22.90) fared much better..

The mushroom was juicy, filled with smoky, woody flavour. The accompanying side kicks were commendable too- the grilled capsicums was juicy, the rocket fresh and nutty and oozing melted cheese completes the picture. Yup, this is a vegetarian dish.

Ben's at Pavi had something that KLCC didn't...

Think it's perfect if you are in the company of introverts and shy people..haha

And the desserts- hits and misses..

The chocolate banana cake

Compact, dry, fudgy. I feel like I was eating Winnie the Pooh, and not in a nice way. Dont like it at all.

Blackforest was way better..

Dark chocolate mousse was fantastic with the moist cake, the meringue bits gave a bit of excitement to the else melting cake.

Not a cake person? Maybe you should try the Banofee Sundae..

Lots of bananas, vanilla ice cream, butterscotch, choc fudge, short cake with chocolate and roasted almond slivers. A delicious combination, what can I say?

I feel that Ben's food was not the main attraction (it's pretty decent, dont get me wrong), but it's the ambiance, target market crowd that draws in the like minded.

There are a few branches around town- Ben's KLCC, Ben's Pavillion and Ben's Bangsar Village 1. I heard that the menu differs slightly between these three branches.

Nara and Taling Pling, Bangkok

2011-07-08T22:00:00.004+08:00

Yes, am back from a short break :)

A fantastic shopping break to be exact, which as usual, I find too short to satisfy me!

Since my main agenda to Bangkok was to unleash the full fledged shopaholic in me ;p, food was not the main quest *gasp*

But there must be some decent eats in malls too right?

Some recommendations by friends gave me a brief reprieve from the maddening shopping crowd while I recharged...

Nara

Gary's friend(who's based in BKK) brought him there for a meal, in which he promptly recommended me. The location was perfect- the main branch is at Erawan and another branch at Central World. Not hard for a pit stop at all :)

Heard that it's a popular spot for lunch where local businessmen go in throngs, so we decided for dinner instead. We were at the Erawan branch, there's a healthy crowd, but manageable.

A good range in the menu...

We started with the appetizer- Sakoo Sai Moo (pork tapioca pearl dumpling)

These dainty dumplings looked so pretty- Nara serves an uppity class version of this street food snack which I rather enjoyed. The minced pork filling was warm, savoury sweetish and paired well with the springy casing and crisp shallots.

The Yum Som-O (Pamelo salad) looks like it has potential..

But alas, failed to shine..The sauce was was too gooey sweet with a hint of coconut aroma, which was just not to my liking. I've had much better versions than this.

Poa Pia Nara..

Well, I guess I dont need to translate this. These cigar thin springrolls was beautifully present and it ends there. Pretty to look at, yet lacks in flavour. It was supposed to be filled with mince meat and vegetables, which we could hardly find any..

Phunim Phad Pong Curry came next..

Wonderful recommendation from Gary. Thai Crab Curry with a twist. It was served with deep fried soft shell crabs instead, which suprising worked quite well with the thick curry too. Have it piping hot with white rice, the combo was alluring- the soft shell crab was crunchy, the curry sauce creamy and thick and the rice soaks up everything.

We tried the Kuay Tiew Rua (Boat noodles)

This was supposed to be very popular in Nara and we had a choice of dry noodles/ with clear or dark broth. We asked for recommendations and dark broth was the choice. The soup was definitely acquired taste, it was rich in spices and herbs flavour that I found too overwhelming. The texture of the noodles was fantastic though, it was springy and I could easily slurp it down.

Some hits and misses at Nara, our total bill was about RM110.

Taling Pling

Jungle Jerry recommended me to pop by the original branch which I didnt have time for, but found that it has 2 branches in the midst of all the malls ( at Siam Paragon and Central World)

It was a rainy day, we were kind of stuck in Central World, so we decided to rest our legs at Taling Pling.

Obviously very popular amongst the locals, it was packed to the brim and we were lucky to get the last table.

Taling Pling serves plenty of local favourites, here's what we tried..

Morning Glory salad

A mixed of fried and cooked morning glory tossed in spicy sour dressing. Great to whet the appetite with a nice range of texture.

Spicy fish cake

Thick slabs of fish cake (compared to those sold at streets) which was lip smacking. The pattie was dense with fish paste (than of flour), have it with fried basil and the accompanying sauce- just wonderful.

The ubiquitous pandan chicken..

This was well executed. The chicken was well marinated and extremely juicy. Very succulent and I really enjoyed this. And the dipping sauce? It's sweet and plumish in flavour, hence having the chicken with the sauce almost convert it to a chinese dish. I prefer sans sauce.

The Duck Curry was a petite version..

The curry was mild, maybe that was scaled down for tourist? I'm not sure. The duck breast was fork tender and a delight to eat. But oh, if just the curry was more fiery.

The piece the resistance (well, at least for me and my friends) was the absolutely plain looking fried chayote..

This vegetable was surprisingly delicious, so good that I cant help taking hefty portions of it and not bothering if my friends had enough. Yes, it makes me greedy :p. The wok hei to this dish was fantastic but what draws me to this dish was the texture of the vegetable- crunchy, not fibrous, hint of sweetness and high in water content. Very very yum-o!

For local faves, Taling Pling seems to hit the right spots for us. Total bill was approx RM95.

Maiu, Damansara Perdana

2011-06-26T16:22:00.007+08:00

A friend spoke of Maiu, a Japanese buffet that's really reasonable, and serves fresh sashimi.

I didnt mind trying and while gathering some friends to try, I realised, there's a handful that still avoids Japanese food because of the recent unfortunate events.

And off we went sometime ago, which to my surprise, was already packed with customers. Luckily we made reservations.

We were promptly seated, and was provided with the menu. Yes, Maiu serves ala carte buffet.

A quick scan and I was rather disappointed with the menu. The choices was rather limited, think there was about 50+ types to choose from, inclusive of appetizers, soups and rice (you can guess how much's left for mains).

Since there's only 3 of us, we cant order everything on the menu :p and here's what we did try..

As I took lots of photos, I'll write less..else this may be a 3 pager post (if printed out)..hehe

Since my kawan said the s

ashimi's fresh, we ordered a few plates..

One of the plates..

Fresh? Yes. Very. Thick slices, fresh springy meat. Best of the lot was the butter fish.

I always enjoy mackerel, hence my Saba Shioyaki..

Fatty, sweet and crisp skin. Just a dash of lemon juice and it's delish.

So far so good.

Grilled Shishamo..

Was fine, but must have it while it's still hot. Once cooled, it's soggy and a tad hard to swallow..

Ebi Nigiri..

This was average. Nothing to shout about.

Spider maki..

Generous amount of spider crab, suprisingly for buffet. Enjoyable.

And yes, we ordered spider crabs too..

Served with mayo. Too greasy for my liking.

Yakitori chicken..

Skewered chicken's that's dry, not well marinated and had the frozen chicken after taste. Save your stomach space for something else.

Chicken karaage..

We should have just ordered either the karaage or the yakitori to realise, the chicken on the menu's not worth ordering.

Bland fried chicken that again, with frozen chicken after taste.

Grilled capsicums..

Slightly under grilled..

Fried tofu...

Again it's oily and greasy. Started to feel nauseous by then. Think the oil used was not fresh :(

Luckily the mushroom soup gave a brief reprieve from oiliness...

Clear, not too salty broth. Piping hot to wash the greasiness away.

I cant recall what's this..

Luckily this was not greasy, the fish paste was actually tasty.

Chawan Mushi..

Hot, smooth, comforting to slurp down..

Tempura mori..

Pretty decent- large prawns, and quite a lot of vegetables per order.

Agedashi tofu..

You can order this too. The dashi/ soy sauce was not too salty, and went well with the silken smooth tofu.

To finish off our meal, we had some green tea ice cream and wasabi ice cream..

The verdict? Although the price was reasonable, about RM42 (with tax) for dinner, I wont return. The menu was basic (there was no unagi, salmon, scallops etc) compared to Tao which has a wide range (though average tasting food). And I still felt nauseous after dinner.

Maiu is located at G-3A, The Place, Jalan PJU 8/5D, Bandar Damansara Perdana, 47820 Petaling Jaya. Tel 03-77290015.

Weissbrau, Pavillion

2011-06-12T18:47:00.006+08:00

We chanced upon Weissbrau while deciding on what to eat at Pavillion. Every where seems crowded, Weissbrau pique our interest and we didnt mind trying it.

German restaurant that it is, it was rather unfortunate that I was in the company of 1 friend who's not too keen on pork, and the other- still stuffed from lunch.

To choose a rather balance eating (ie, less meat) in a German restaurant, we opted for a salad, some sausages and a thin crust pizza.

The Classic Ceasar (RM16.80) to start off our meal...

This salad was ultra fresh, the vegetables was crisp and the bacon bits gave a nice crunch. They were generous in the portion, it was a hearty salad. For those who may find this salad plain (it came with no dressing), there's (multi purpose) sauces on each table- i like mine with a dabble of sour cream garlic sauce :)

The Emmentaler sausages was next (RM38)

We chose 2 sides to serve with the pork sausages- we had rosti and vegetables.

The sausages and sauce were a tad salty, but went well with the rosti. In fact, me being the potato lover, enjoyed their rosti tremendously. It was aromatic and light, very nice indeed.

And finally, our pizza was ready..

The Mushroom pizza (RM24) looks extremely pale, sans the tomato based I guess.

We're not quick to judge, it's the taste that matters right? hehe.

Unlike the norm pizza, this version was filled with woody mushroom fragrance, sweetness from the onions and slathered with cream cheese/ sour cream base. The combination does not remind me of a typical pizza, but as a baked 'bread', it's still tasty nonetheless.

Down the meal with a couple of pints and we're all satiated ;)

Quite a pleasant meal, I dont mind coming back here for porky pork OD next time.

Weissbrau German Bistro and Bar is located at Lot 3, 05, 02 & C3, Level 3, Pavillion KL

Restaurant Andes, Aman Suria Damansara

2011-05-29T21:11:00.006+08:00

To follow up on my promise of more porky post, I've decided to write on Andes.
Andes is located in a spot which I called "cursed" spot.
Why? The same location have been changing restaurant (owners) for many years and when Andes took over and opened it's doors, I felt it may just share the same fate.
The skeptic in me just refuse to try the food..since it always looked quite empty (in the evening). One day, Alicia told me that when she googled "Best pork burger" in Klang Valley, the most talked about place was Andes.
Really? Well, it still didnt motivate me to try it :p
It took another post in the papers and Ho Chiak on it's burger that I finally decided to pop over.
Ordering was prompt, since our main aim was the Pork Burger (RM13.90).
The menu offers mainly pork dishes, with a handful of fish, beef and chooks mains.
We were extremely hungry, but a mistake in ordering by the waitress costs me a 35 mins waiting time for my burger (and we were the first customer to order- a couple came later). :(

What caught my immediate attention was the thickness of the pattie. Almost 2 inches in height, this must be the thickest pork burger pattie I've seen. The shape of the pattie was rather rotund, there was no way I could take all in with one bite..

Have to use the knife and fork to cut it into dainty pieces....

And wahlah, gooey, melting cheese flowed freely and quickly- I hardly had time to snap a picture. So, was the purported 'best pork burger' really that fantastic? Well, I must say that the pattie was extremely juicy- quite a feat since the pattie was so thick. The pork was minced, not too finely, so we still get bits to chew, which I quite enjoyed. The cheese on the other hand, added more richness and flavour to the burger.
I wont say Andes makes the best pork burger- I find the pattie too thick with so much pork that it took quite an effort to finish it (Alicia cant even finish her portion- she said it was very 'jelak').
Will I order again? I doubt it.
But I'll come back and try other dishes which caught my eye..
We ordered dessert to 'cleanse' our palette..
Cookies and Cream cheese cake (RM7.90)
The base was too hard and the cheesecake had too much gelatine in it. Not that good.

Restaurant Andes is located at K-G-11, Jalan PJU 1/43, Aman Suria Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya.

Roadtrip- Perak (Part 3)

2011-05-23T09:01:00.005+08:00

Can you write another post soon? Enough of vegetarian as the main page of your blog.
A friend asked me recently.
Ok, I have to admit, I've been neglecting my blog for sometime now.
Yes, the thought of 'retiring' from food blogging has crossed my mind many times recently and am still seriously comtemplating the decision.
But, I still have a friend reading my blog, and for that, I shall continue to blog. For now.
I'd better wrap up the Perak trip- the final part of it.
The third day of our road trip and we woke up to a rainy, dull morning in Taiping.
Sigh, I guess it garnered the "wettest" town in Peninsular for a reason..
Cold morning means hungry tummies and we promptly made our way in seek of Kaka, my sis-in-law's favourite breakfast place whenever she's back in her hometown.
It was full house at Kaka's, obviously a favourite haunt for the locals.
The owner, sensing we are 'not from Taiping' was very nice and led us to available seats. He recommended some popular choices to us, which we agreed to have.
Nothing beats boiling hot broth warming up the body on a chilly morning. We had a bowl of kuey teow soup noodles each, and shared a bowl of porkballs and fishballs.

The soup was light, yet had a sweetness from the pork bones. The flat noodles was smooth, lovely to just slurp it all down. The accompanying homemade chilli was a popular side 'dish'. Well, I'd rather lable it as side dish as most diners take it by the spoonfuls, dunking into their soup or dipping each noodles mouthful generously with chilli.

The meatball and fishballs were nice, but the braised chicken feet was a choice most patrons preferred, which I didnt get to try as my traveling partner dont take such 'delicacies' (the portion was too large for me alone :( ..).

After our satisfying breakfast at Kaka's, we went for a short walk at Taiping lake, since the rain stopped and this seemed to be our only window of opportunity to pop over :p.

Very trainquil, misty morning, Lake Taiping is picture perfect.

You must pop over to enjoy such serenity.

The walk left us slightly hungry, which led us to Restoran Air Kacang Taiping.
We heard that the popiah here was ultra good and we were here to be convinced :p
Are you a fan of wet popiah?
If Yes, then I concede, this was by far the yummiest wet popiah I've ever tasted. It's extremely good, the sengkuang was well cooked and juicy, the rest of the complimenting ingredients were fresh and delish as well. *thumbs up*
The soya milk (i had mine hot and mixed with tau foo fah) was quite nice, but the tau foo fah was not as smooth as Ipoh's.
Satiated from makan, we left Taiping..making our way back to KL..
The weather turned, it was getting hot as we travelled down south. Alicia suggested a stop over at Kampar- for me to pick up the curry chicken bun and for her to get her ais kacang fix.
The ais kacang place was almost deserted- it was way past lunch time, we were the only patrons.
Hmm, I definitely have my reservations.

Still, we were there and ais kacang we must eat. Alicia happily ordered her own tailor made version of ais kacang- she only wants it with red beans and peanuts.

Mine was the original flavour, ie, all ingredients included.

FMK's version was very old school- the shaved ice was thick and uneven, the evaporated milk and gula melaka was generously drizzled all over the dessert, the cendol, red beans, cincau, agar agar, corn paste all brought back wonderful memories of childhood :). If you are looking for refined version, please skip this.

I went to collect the famed Kampar curry chicken bun.For those who are not aware of Kampar's famed produce, this is a very large bun with curry chicken "parcel" hidden inside the bun.

The taste was ok, the bun was soft and a tad sweet, perfect to mop up the curry gravy. I just feel that they should have provided more gravy- there was just too much bun and too little gravy.

Our final detour was to Lata Kijang, a breathtaking waterfall hidden in the jungles.

Though the heat was sweltering, the air was much cooler then moment we were near the waterfall.

The sound of water gushing, birds chirping and insects twittering does wonders to relax one's soul and I felt so at ease when we walked towards the waterfalls.

We were treated with beautiful scenery, of flowing rivers and rajah brookes (theres more here than I've seen in sarawak!) floating all around us.

But of course, nothing could describe the majestic scene that befell us when we reached the clearing..

Simply breathtaking.

Cool water, musical sounds of nature. Such a precious gift from Mother Nature and I hope this place will be maintained as such for many years to come.

As we head home to KL, I am happy that I get to appreciate what Perak has to offer- and I hope I will get to revisit it soon in the future :)

Loving Hut Cafe, Kota Damansara

2011-05-03T21:06:00.003+08:00

Sick of eating meat, meat and more meat? Well, that was me anyways.
And no, dont want to just have plain old salad?
What about chinese vegetarian instead?

What comes to mind immediately would be chinese vegetarian ala 'chap farn' (mixed rice) or pricey vegetarian restaurants, which with those price, you'd rather eat meat, right? :p

Fret not, Loving Hut seems to fit in nicely..with it's cafe concept and serving some healthy 'fast food' alternatives.

Loving Hut is a simple cafe, which we stumbled upon recently.

A quick glance at the menu may not give us a feel of a vegetarian restaurant- there's a selection of asian ala carte dishes (noodles, rice, snacks) and western food (burgers, chops, salads, finger food). But upon closer inspection of the menu (pictures), yes, we realised these are definitely vegetarian.

We placed our order..and while waiting for our lunch, we were reminded that many Hollywood honchos are vegetarians and vegans too. Ahh, conscious effort to get us to join the stars?

I was starving and went straight for the Basil Delight Rice set(RM10.90).

Served with brown rice, vegetables and corn soup (which was delish, by the way)..here's the 'basil delight'..

Looks suspiciously like stir fried beef slices with basil, I can guarantee you that this is definitely vegetarian. The 'meat' is soy based, wonderfully prepared to have a slight crisp skin and coated with sticky, sweetish basil infused sauce. Went perfectly with the rice.

WF on the other hand, opted for Chao Zhou Rice Noodle soup (RM7.80).

Prepared Teochew style with preserved vegetables, beancurd, taufoo, seaweed, mock fish slices, this was more mild in taste compared to the Basil Rice set.

I ended my meal with a hot cup of Green Tea Latte..

While I was satisfied with my meal, WF still felt "empty"- quite a common behaviour amongst my friends who avoids vegetarian. To them, vegetarian meal just cant fill as much as meat.

What do you think?

Loving Hut Cafe is located at 19 Jalan PJU 5/6, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, PJ, Selangor.

42 East, TTDI

2011-04-24T20:56:00.006+08:00

It's was one of our gatherings and inexplicably, we'll end up somewhere porky- it's just hard to skew sometimes :p

We decided to try 42 East, another porky place that sprouted at the TTDI neighbourhood. It was about 730pm when we reached, it was not too packed, but the dining tables were fully taken. Late diners would have to settle for bar stools and high tables I guess. Not too crowded, it was, surprisingly, a family place where most diners were with their children/ teenage kids..

The pigs in blanket (RM14)seems to be a hit here, I noticed nearly all the tables had a plate of it.

In the bandwagon we jumped and it was luckily, a right call :)

The bacon was slightly crisp, while the sausages was piping hot and well seasoned. Good with mustard, we cleared this in a minute.

The spicy crispy bacon (RM14) didnt turned out as crispy as I would like..

Some parts were crispy, while some ends were a tad hard/ chewy. Average.

Mussel Pot (RM16)came next, a good way to warm our bellies..

I expected mussel in white wine sort of combo, but nope, it was cooked in onions and the broth was just clear and sweet. I do feel that the broth was too light for the bread, I could just drink the broth without the need of bread to mop up or balance out the flavours.

The Fettuccine Carbonara (RM20)

I thought this was bad. The fettuccine was a tad hard and the cream sauce was salty.

The Ratatouille (RM18) on the other hand, was a stark contrast to the mild flavoured mussel.

It was rich and thick with tomatoes, in fact, I find too much tomatoes to the extend that the rest of the vegetables were smothered by it's flavour.

And then the big guns....the ribs...

There were 3 flavours- we decided to order all 3 to try (half slabs- RM36 each)

The Wasabi Ribs was up first..

Ok, this was not how I imagined it to be. Yes, they were generous- half slab feels really large, but the ribs, with wasabi paste smeared all over- looks rather moldy. Haha. The ribs was covered with a rather thick layer of paste, which clung on from the grill. The meat was slightly dry, the wasabi hits me straight, but didnt leave any lingering flavour while the marinade tasted rather localised (reminds me of rendang paste). The ribs was served with sides of vegetables, mash and more wasabi paste, for those who wants more kick.

The spicy Ribs was next..

Lo and behold, this looks similar to the Wasabi Ribs, minus the 'mold' :p. So, instead of Wasabi, this was coated with salsa sambal sort of sauce. The meat was more tender on this slab, but I'm still not a fan of it due to the thickish 'rendang' paste coating.

The last of the ribs trilogy, the Connor Stout ribs..

We were told this was the most popular of the 3...and with one look, we knew why too. This was nicely charred, and I noticed the pastie marinade was not there. A different marinade was used, the ribs was sweetish- caramelised from the marinade and had a wonderful smoky aroma. The accompanying stout sauce went well with the ribs too.

Yup, I will only order the Connor's if I revisit.

42 East is located at 42, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, TTDI, KL.

Halia, Singapore Botanical Gardens

2011-04-19T08:44:00.005+08:00

Ahh, I'm back from a hiatus..taking a break, making a short trip to visit a friend who has recently relocated to Singapore. We had good time catching up, doing things at a relaxed pace..and enjoyed the Lion King musical (do watch if you have the opportunity to!).

I thought I should see a different side of Singapore this time around- well, there's more than just sales and shopping arcades right?

And so we did a lazy sunday outing- we went to Botanical Gardens, to take pleasure in what nature had to offer :)

But of course, it is Singapore, even the Botanical Gardens was crowded. Full of tourists and locals. Sigh.

Though I'm not too impressed with certain parts of the garden, there were a few areas that was certainly picturesque..

And all the strolling left us hungry, and we made our way to Halia restaurant, located right in the middle of the ginger garden within the Botanical Gardens.

There was a choice of indoors or outdoors dining- we chose the former, as we were all sticky and sweaty from all that walk! :p

I felt like I was eating in a greenhouse, which provided a wonderful reprieve from the sweltering heat.

We were seated quickly, the service was attentive yet not suffocating.

Though the brunch menu had a good range to choose from, all of us opted for sandwiches.

I've worked up a hearty appetite by then, so I decided on the Grilled Steak Sandwich (SGD22)..

This is certainly a generous portion, the steak was sufficient (not too thick), served on ciabatta with sauteed brown mushrooms, onion marmalade, roasted tomatoes and a side of salad. The steak was juicy, paired will with the rest of the ingredients.

Jun, who's still in the breakfastie mood, went for the Poached egg on brioche (SGD22)Served with crisp bacon, roasted tomatoes, mushroom, spinach and dill hollandaise, this was quite a mouthful, but satisfying so.

Amy on the other had, decided on the Chef's brunch special (SGD23)- the list of ingredients was so long that I cant even recall..only a few things stuck on my mind- it had truffle, ham, cheese, tomatoes.... And this is how it looks like..She was a tad disappointed with her portion after seeing ours, but the combination of flavours and texture was excellent. The bread was crisp and warm, the filling- almost pate like, had a discerning rich flavour which was satisfying. The virgin bloody mary provided on the side was to cleanse our palate with every bite of the sandwich, so that we can enjoy the playing of flavours of this combo. And yes, it does fill you up although the portion is genteel :p

Halia Restaurant is located at 1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden (enter via Tyersall Avenue, Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Aria, Bukit Damansara

2011-04-04T21:41:00.007+08:00

It was not my intention to eat at Aria at the beginning. We were at Bukit Damansara during one of those packed festive season and could not get a place to eat. We settled for some pub grub, which left me sorely disappointed..

But didn't you try Aria? The food's pretty good.. My friend told me the next day when I complained.. Actually, I didn't really notice Aria, as it was at the quiet end of the block. Keeping that in mind, I decided that I should try it the next time I'm over at Bukit Damansara. A couple of months later, I did managed to made my way there. Aria's a cozy little place, service was just ok. We started the meal with Black Mussel with White Wine sauce (RM22) This was a fantastic starter, the mussels were thick and fresh, the sauce was thick, aromatic with white wine and very sweet. The crisp bread were perfect to mop up all those yummy sauce..

The Grilled Portobello mushrooms Salad (RM22)Came out rather skimpy. When they meant mushrooms (plural), it means 2 pieces. And it's the smallest portobello I've set my eyes on. Well, to be fair, the mushrooms were grilled to juicy perfection, with crisp cheesy top. Just that its so very little to satiate me.

The Seafood Zuppa (RM25) was next..

The amount of seafood stacked on the bowl was generous- but we were not impressed by the seafood, it was the flavour of the soup that got our votes. It was light, not heavy with tomato flavour, filled with sweetness from the seafood and a hint of smokiness in the soup. Very satisfying.

The pastas were next.. Linguine Aglio Olio Smoked Duck (RM28)

Though the pasta was cooked al-dente, the pasta was a tad too oily and salty. Eat it with smoked duck and olives added to the saltiness. Only order if you like your food salty.

Spaghetti Alla Opus (RM32) was next. And yes, if you find the name familiar, Aria is run by the same management as Opus, hence some similarity in dishes..

Though this dish scored low for finesse (seems like they just dumped the whole thing on the plate), again they scored high on the flavours. Fantastically addictive, sweet sauce, seafood fresh and springy, the pasta nicely al-dente. Delish.

And lastly, our meat for the night..

Pecorino Lamb Cutlet (RM55)

This dish didn't leave me impressed. The lamb rack was deep fried and the crust tasted suspiciously akin to KFC batter. The lamb was fully cooked, while I prefer ed mine still pinkish and juicy.

Of the dishes I've had, I feel that Aria does well in seafood dishes but average on the rest. I'll definitely pop by again, there's still a number of dishes which caught my eye, but didn't have the stomach space to try it this time ;).

Aria is located at 44G&44M, Plaza Damansara, Jalan Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, KL. Tel: 03-20950016.

Roadtrip- Perak (Part 2)

2011-03-28T22:21:00.012+08:00

Ahh, took me a long time to post the second part of my road trip to Perak- what's with the Year of the Rabbit?

Ever since we've leapt into this new year, I've been so very busy and neglecting my blog. Pictures are stacking up but just no time for a post!

And so we're back to my day 2 in perak..woke up to a cheery morning, all hungry as we make our way to the all famous Foh San for dimsum.

Since it's a weekday, the crowd was manageable and we got our table immediately. For those who are still unaware, Foh San is now a large dimsum house, double storey and looking very grand.

But what about the dimsum?

Maybe I didn't have their dimsum for many years.

Everything was just average, though luckily, none tasted bad. The only dimsum we ordered that I rather enjoyed was the steamed scallop dimsum.

After stuffing ourselves with dimsum, we took a short walk around the nearby streets..and took a rest and dessert stop at Funny Mountain Soya Bean.

Next, Alicia wanted to buy her egg biscuits from Chin Han Guan while I went to pick up the meatfloss biscuits.

If you have the meatfloss biscuits fresh, it's undeniably delicious. There's a few types of meatfloss biscuits- meatfloss+lotus, meatfloss+pandan, meatfloss+salted egg+pandan/lotus. I do find the combo with salted egg too decadent- the meatfloss with just the lotuspaste was delicious enough for me. Not cheap though, was RM21 per box (for those with salted egg) and RM15.60 (for those without).

Time flies quickly and before we know it, it's tea time! hehe.

We decide to have white coffee at Sin Yoon Loong..

But before that, Alicia's friend recommended us to try the egg tarts and char siew puffs at Nam Heong just opposite of Sin Yoon Loong..

Though it seems highly popular, both were not to my liking..

The char siew puffs were slightly salty with a tad of sweetness and had a aftertaste that I didnt like (I cant describe it, but something like flavouring). Yicky.

The eggtarts on the otherhand..

Had thick, floury pastry and dry egg custard. Not enjoyable too .

Luckily the white coffee was satisfying

Thick, rich and had the kick.

The toasted kaya butter bread was just a filler. No complaints though.

We took a walk around the Ipoh railway station before we left..

Nice structures for picture taking and well maintained.

After saying goodbye to Ipoh, we made our way to Taiping...one of the wettest town in Perak (and Peninsular perhaps?).

It was drizzling when we reached and everything just looked so dull...

Not letting the weather doused our high spirits, we checked in to our hotel and quickly made our way out to town for another snack :p (time is the essence here coz we're here overnight and some eateries were only opened at specific hours..hehe).

My sis-in-law, who is from Taiping, reminded me to pop over to Larut Matang foodcourt, to try her favourite 'wet' char keoy teow. This Teo Cheow styled fried CKT was definitely different from any I've tried before- it's with sauce, laden with fishcakes, fishballs and char siew. It's delicious nonetheless, and eating it on such a cold weather really satisfy me.

The kuih stall was purported famous..

And we had a couple. And left unimpressed.

Only when I was back in KL later that I realised we tried the wrong kuihs..they were popular for their kuih talam/ seri muka :(

Alicia, who's intent on trying every popiah as long as the eatery serves it got her wish..

Very wet and mediocre though..

Wash it all down with their signature drink in Taiping....

Do-re-Mi- which is a mix of nescafe and barley. First sip was of barley fragrance and ends with coffee taste lingering in the mouth. Acquired taste, I rather enjoyed it, while Alicia just finds the combo darn weird.

We snacked on later at night, but not worth mentioning as it rained harder when night falls and we were not able to try some food that we initially planned to. :(

Chin Han Guan Biscuit shop is located at 145 Jalan Sultan Iskandar, 30000 Ipoh, Perak. Tel 05-254-5126 (it's better to call one day in advance to order the meatfloss biscuits to avoid disappointment, esp on weekends)

Larut Matang Food Court is located at Jalan Panggung, Taiping, Perak.

Arisu, Kota Damansara

2011-03-21T22:34:00.005+08:00

Lots of birthday eats recently...
Getting really remorseful with the additional food but still with the lack of exercise :p
And yes, this is one of those BD post, a belated one in fact.

I thought Arisu would be fitting, since she's a hallyu fanatic :D, she'll take korean overdose anytime. And we got korean food, korean setting, korean MTV and korean staff serving us. Happy happy joy joy for SL. hehe.

We had some marinated beef ribs BBQ (RM48)

Sizzling rolled up ribs...

Unroll it and we got juicy slabs of ribs with nice fat marbling..Well marinated beef ribs, each piece was scrumptious, especially eaten tightly wrapped with fresh lettuce, garlic slice, spicy beanpaste..delish!
The banchan (side dishes) were sufficient, but nothing too interesting that pique my interest..

The stir fry pork with kimchi (RM25)

This was an interesting dish. The pork was piping hot and salty with the kimchi, but paired with the cold, compact taufoo, the combo was excellent. The pork portion was too much, by the time we were done with the taufoo, there was still plenty of pork..which was too salty to eat it on it's own.

And here's the Nam Meon (cold noodles, RM20)

I always liked korean cold noodles and this was no exception. The noodles had a wonderful springy yet slightly chewy texture, which went well with the very spicy sauce. Served with a few slices of beef, sliced vege and boiled egg. Simple yet satisfying.

We had a good time of OD-ing on korean at Arisu, will be back again, soon.

Arisu is located at 32/3, Jalan 5/16, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, 47810 PJ. The restaurant is located at the second floor, corner shoplot.

Ice Room @ The Strand

2011-03-13T21:26:00.002+08:00

We were having dinner at Kota Damansara, when my sweet tooth kicked in.

The dessert selection was almost non existence in the restaurant we were dining in, hence we popped by Ice Room for a quick fix.

Ice Room, as it's names suggested, serves snow ice desserts. If that's not your cup of tea, there's still a range of desserts, mains and snacks to choose from.

Both of us wanted snow ice..

There's the Tropical Mix Snow Ice (RM9.90)

Topped with a mixture of local fruits (and some non local ones), the vanilla based snow ice was drizzled with pureed fruit and syrup. The combination of the tangy puree, sweet fruits and chill from the fine ice makes each mouthful enjoyable.

The Durian Snow Ice (RM8.90) was a surprise..

I expected durian flavoured snow ice, but the real durian fruit pureed smothering this dessert catapulted it's aroma many notches up. The basil seeds added a slight crunch to this tasty treat. Yums.

Ice Room is located at 27, Jalan PJU 5/20E, PJU5, The Strand, Kota Damansara, 47810 PJ, Selangor.

Bone and Pot Steamboat, PJ

2011-03-06T20:56:00.006+08:00

When Bone and Pot opened it's doors last year at SS25, one could not help noticing it while driving along LDP at night.

While I did notice it, but was never really drawn to check it out..

Dragongirl however, did suggest for us to try it one fine (and rainy) night..we thought it would be a perfect timing to. And guess everyone else thought so too..it was packed and we had to wait for a table.

We ordered while we were waiting- a blessing as we got our food rather promptly after we were seated..

The condiments for the steamboat..

Btw, if you are a fan of steamboat sets- you'll be sorely disappointed..

You'll have to pick your choice of broth, fresh ingredients, vegetables, noodles etc...And pricing were also charge per broth and dish, which obviously costs much more...

Our broth was a mix of Corn&Pork Ribs, and Century eggs & coriander (RM16). I had a nagging suspicion that the base were identical- just that they popped corn n ribs in one side, while the other - with century eggs and coriander. I took a sip and I was right. I felt cheated already.

Saving grace though, was the fresh ingredients..

Enoki bacon roll

Enoki was fresh and had a wonderful texture against the bacon.

Beef slices..

This was just ok. A tad fatty and stringy..

We were, nonetheless, very satisfied with the cheese ball, prawn balls and pork balls..

Not your usual run of the mill freezer ready balls, these babies were freshly made from fish/ prawns/ pork base. It's fantastically springy, luscious to bite into. Only thing not so luscious was the price...each plate costs us between 6.90 - 8.90, rather steep for the portion (and size).

The yam, which we waited donkey years for (ok my exaggeration)- they were still frying it when I ordered- was so very scrumptious!
Aromatic, powdery soft and melt in mouth, this yam was worth the wait.

And of course we had our fill of vegetables and noodles.

Overall, I enjoyed the fresh ingredients they serve at Bone &Pot, but for 2 pax, we paid RM90 for our meal. Rather steep for some, I guess.

Bone & Pot Steamboat is located at 7, Jalan SS25/12, 47301 PJ, Selangor. Do note, there's a few Bone & Pot branches in PJ.

Fat Spoon, Damansara Utama

2011-02-23T21:39:00.006+08:00

What's new? Let's go somewhere new.

WF requested after our yoga class.

I was bushed, hungry and cant wait too long for my lunch. Too lazy to think of somewhere far to try exotic food, I thought of Damansara Utama, just a stone's throw away from my place and plenty of eateries that I can bet WF have never tried yet.

I chose Fat Spoon, and I hit jackpot, she didn't even realised it's existence..

Fat Spoon's entrance was easy to miss- the rustic look makes it hidden amongst the loud coloured counterparts.

The interior was an even interesting, slightly quintessential with different pieces of furniture that somehow fit well together.

We were warped back to 70s, but comfortably so.

Our menu was presented in the form of children books, which I thought was cute, but WF beg to differ. She'd rather look at the large board for the menu instead. Oh well.

Fat Spoon serves a selection of local dishes, with a mix of nyonya dishes and western snacks too. It was easy peasy choice for me- I went straight for Ulam Fried rice (RM11.90).

And I am glad I did. The rice was simply aromatic with the fresh herbs, rice was fluffy and encased with wok hei. I felt that the fried kunyit chicken was rather unnecessary (which incidentally was rather bland), the rice itself (and the sambal) was sufficient to satisfy me.

WF, who wanted noodles and something soupy, opted for Fat Spoon Noodles (RM8.90)

Not exactly the way we envisioned it to be, but WF enjoyed it nonetheless. The flat noodles were smooth, the broth sweet and it's generously laden with mince meat and prawns. Though she liked this dish, we both felt that the Ulam fried rice was nicer :p

Ended lunch with red velvet cake (RM9.90)

The cake was moist, the cream cheese was silky smooth- I wished there was more of those cheese frosting! Wonderful way to end the meal :)

Feeling smug that I managed to solve lunch in such a short and sweet way, WF brought me back to reality with " Where's next week's lunch? ". darn.

Fat Spoon is located at 73, Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya.

Edo Ichi, Solaris Dutamas

2011-02-11T21:47:00.005+08:00

Gong Hei Fatt Choy!
We're are already half way through the Lunar New Year, brother Hare definitely took a giant leap into this brand new year :)

While most of us are feasting one yee sang after another, there's also another group whose so overdosed with chinese cuisine that they're seeking solace with another cuisine to whet their appetite.

What?! Another cuisine but you still want to lou?

Well, think Japanese would be a good alternative then.

Although I didn't order the Sashimi yee sang served at Edo Ichi, we did went ahead for our Japanese meal.

We started with the Gyu Niku Amayaki, RM18 (or more like they served this dish first, was not the order i was hoping for..haha).

Thinly sliced beef grilled so beautifully, I had to remind myself that this was to be shared. The beef was tender, the edges- slightly burnt, giving a lovely smoky flavour and crisp texture. The sweet sauce grilled with the beef was a good match to it.

The Shake Harasu (salmon belly) Sashimi, RM38.

Absolutely divine. Extremely fresh, springy slivers of salmon belly that glides down the throat.

After 2 smashing dishes, we were looking forward to the Unagi Cheese Roll, RM28.

Maybe my expectations was a tad high, this roll just tasted fine. It was nice, but not superb.

And the salad finally made it's appearance..our Salmon Skin Salad(RM18)..

Refreshing with the tangy dressing, sweetness from the vegetables and crunchiness of the salmon skin. One of the more enjoyable salmon skin- this was really skinned down to, well, the skin :p. No bits of salmon meat sticking to it, which I'm glad.

The only pizza in the menu, the Edo Ichi Pizza (RM30)..

And what's the diff? It's rice based pizza, a rather pleasant twist to this italian favourite. The rice was compressed, deep fried and topped with salmon and unagi. A scrumptious combination of flavours and texture, I liked the feel of the soft, sticky rice when I sink my teeth into its crunchy coat.

Stuffed but hey, there's still one more dish!

Kaisen Saikoro Don (RM38)..
Obviously an enjoyable dish as all the mix of sashimi were very fresh. Yums.

Edo Ichi gets rather packed, do try to make reservations.

Edo Ichi Japanese Restaurant is located at A4-G-1, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-6205 5228

Restoran Robson Heights Seafood, KL

2011-01-31T23:19:00.009+08:00

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)

2011-01-25T21:01:00.007+08:00

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

2011-01-18T21:28:00.006+08:00

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

2011-01-09T18:10:00.001+08:00

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

2011-01-03T21:14:00.003+08:00

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!!

2011-01-01T16:54:00.005+08:00

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!

Sup Pedas Kajang, Puchong

2010-12-22T19:52:00.003+08:00

December, December, December!
So much to do, to rush for before the year ends!
And with all the hustle and bustle, I had, inevitably neglected my blog ;p

Finally managed to squeeze in time for an update, and it shall be a continuation of the rainy day series..

We were in Bandar Puteri and heard there's a new shop in town..
Up for something spicy, we made our way there in hope for some great grubs.
Ordering was prompt, we wanted to try their 'sup pedas', ie, their hot and spicy soup..

If you were thinking it's somewhat like the peppery pig stomach soup, then you'll be sorely disappointed. This pot of soup is thick with pepper, slices of ginger and loads of choy poh (preserved vegetables). There's slices of pork, pork stomach and chicken to sweeten the soup, but it's just not my cup of tea. I find the soup chokingly sweet and saltish, I'd go for simple pepperish pig stomach soup anytime.

We tried the 18K Hot Hot Pork, which sounds menacingly fiery..

Turns out very similar to the dry style bak kut teh, sans the lady's fingers. The thick sauce was perfect with rice, the pork slices itself was less impressive as it was rather tough. Better than the soup though.

Got some Houliao seafood roll..

Mediocre seafood rolled in beancurd.

The spinach that we ordered was too old..
Way too fibrous.
Overall a less than stellar experience, doubt I'll pop over again, unless I had no other option.

Sup Pedas Kajang is located at 16G, Jalan Puteri 2/4, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong.

Xin Chun Seafood Steamboat, Kota Damansara

2010-12-05T19:27:00.003+08:00

The rain has been relentless for the past few weeks..
It's cold, wet and dull, I guess it's a tropical country's version of 'winter'?

Though there's many who would lament about the rain, I for one, secretly enjoy the rain. I love the smell of rain, the sound of it pelting against my window pane and magnificent lightning that strikes just before a storm begins. That is, if I'm nice and dry indoors..hahaha.

And when it rains, most of us would seek some sort of comfort food..

In my case, steamboat tops the list to warm me up on a rainy day :).

I first heard of Xin Chun from SL. We were on our way to try it but a most unfortunate incident happened and we had to cancel. Year end came and most of us were busy going for hols and clearing last minute work, we just didn't thought of Xin Chun again.

When WF was hanging out at my place recently, it was another wet evening and we were both craving for something to warm us up. Xin Chun came to my mind.

It was freakishly packed when we arrive, but luck was with us, we got a table soon after.

Like any typical steamboat joint, Xin Chun offers 'ching thong' (clear soup base) or 'yin yiong" (mixed of 2 soup, the other being tim yam). Since it's our first try, we opted for yin yiong.

There were 2 sets to choose from - Ketam set (RM13.50) and Seafood set(RM24.50).

It was a minimum order or 2 pax per set, so we could only try one type. We went for the Ketam set. Quite substantial serving for 2, we decided not to order extra ingredients. The set also comes with the typical yee mee and vermicelli, with eggs.

I assumed that their ching thong was basically herb based, to my surprise, it was not. I cant tell what's the ingredients for the clear soup, it was a very familiar, seafood taste. WF said it might be shark bones, which may be the case as the soup was murky, and usually boiling fish/ fish bones brings such effect. I was actually enjoying this soup very much, it's rather satisfying slurping it down. Yums. The ingredients for the steamboat was very fresh too, which added to the sweetness of the soup.

As for the tom yam, both of us didn't like it. It was very spicy yet sweet. Just didn't enjoy it.

Xinchun serves dishes other than steamboat too. Dishes such as lala vermicelli, crabs (in different sauces) and pork ribs, to fill us up while waiting for the food to cook.

Xin Chun Seafood Steamboat is located at No 15, Jln PJU 5/3, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara , 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Vivo American Pizza & Panini, Tropicana City Mall

2010-12-03T09:00:00.001+08:00

I can be very bias sometimes..

I tend to make a hasty decision for not dining at a place with it's outlook. That does not mean that the restaurant is dirty, smelly etc..its just a 'feel' that I get. No chemistry I guess, hah. Weird, eh?

Sadly, Vivo was one of such restaurant. When I saw it opening its doors at The Curve a couple of years back, I never had the urge to want to try it.

But recently, Vivo opened a branch at Tropicana City. I was there to catch a movie and while cracking my head on what to have for dinner, I recalled Ms. D persistent effort to convince me to try the food in Vivo some time ago.

Hmmm, why so insistent?

Curiosity got the best of me, we went to Vivo without much hesitation..

Power juices seemed to be popular..

We tried a couple..

Cant remember the names of these, but one was thirst quenching while another was a tad too sour..

The Green Tea latte was a nice way to warm the belly in preparation of the food..The slightly bitter green tea (powder) was balanced by the tame milk.

Ms D said the baked seafood pasta was worth trying..

And so I did.

The pasta was tongue scorching hot when it was served. The top layer of cheese was wonderfully burnt and melted, clinging on to the spaghetti underneath. The tomato cream sauce, - rich and gooey complemented the mild flavour dory fish slices and pasta. A rather satisfying dish, you should give it a try if you prefer creamy based pasta.

The pizza, on the other hand, came with some quirky flavours..

SH wanted to try the Funghi (Mushroom) pizza, and so we ordered one.

You get to choose to have it thin crust or the normal pizza base. Ours was thin.

I was surprised that Vivo was very generous with their ingredients. Loads of mushrooms accompanied with a scattering of feta cheese and almond slices. So far, it sounds normal right? The quirkiness came with the sauce used for the base of the pizza. Rather than the usual tomato base, they opted for pesto. Not that it's bad (the worst base I've tried was caramelised ginger sauce base for a duck pizza..ewww), it's just acquired taste. So this pizza got a mixed vote, some of us enjoyed it, while others don't.

Amy opted for a more norm pizza..

Topped with salami, chicken slices and lots of vegetables. Pretty decent, I liked the fact that the capsicums are bursting with juices when I bit into it.

I've tried their chicken tenders too (which I didn't take a picture of, sorry!), which is great to snack on. It's like a cross between A&W fried chicken batter with Chilli's chicken crisper.

I must admit, there were some items in Vivo that I did enjoy. Vivo is has almost similar clientele akin to Pizza hut's. But if I had to choose between these 2, I'd rather do Vivo.

Vivo American Pizza & Panini is located at Tropicana City Mall, L1-55, First Floor, Tropicana City Mall, No. 3, Jln SS 20/27, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Fun Taipei Tea Cafe, Kota Damansara

2010-11-25T11:38:00.004+08:00

We were on our way to another destination, but it was lunch time, we were famished and Fun Taipei had just opened it's doors at Kota Damansara. Parking was relatively easy, we decided to give it a try..

The restaurant was decorated with large wall posters of famed taiwan tourist attractions and snack street pictures, clearly indicating their main food focus. There were quite a number of set meals to choose from (other than ala carte), with very decent prices.

Choosing our meals didnt take that long..

WF had oyster mee sua..

I was rather surprise with her order, since she had just returned from Taipei a couple of weeks ago and I assumed she ate this many,many times when she was there. It's was a mediocre dish though, the sauce tasted rather quirky, not like the norm oyster mee sua. The accompanying deep fried tofu was quite nice, if eaten together with the pickled cucumber.

I had the san bei (3 cups) chicken..

Was a decent version, not too bad. Sadly, the chicken was not well marinated and did not absorb much of the sauces flavours. The mince pork rice (lu rou farn) had too much star anise aroma in it, which I didnt like. Also, insufficient gelatine in the sauce to

Amy decided to have the braised set..

So her's looks the plainest of the lot :p. Braised egg and tofu served with braised mince pork rice. The base sauce was the same for all the dishes, so everything tasted rather similar. Average tasting set..

We all agreed that Elaine's set was the best..

Her chicken chop set..

Humongous deep fried chicken chop, lightly dusted with chilli powder. The batter was crunchy while the chicken fillet remained juicy and well marinated. Very yummy indeed.

Overall, we find the food average, but all of us really enjoyed their bubble tea (which I didnt take any picture of :p). I guess I will come back for the bubble tea and maybe to try some of the snacks..

Fun Taipei Tea Cafe is located at No. 16-1, Jalan PJU 5/15, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, Selangor. There are a few other branches located around Klang Valley.

Evolving popiah?

2010-11-21T22:22:00.005+08:00

I guess I've not taken popiah (spring rolls) for a while now, so to my surprise, it has evolved to a new range of popiah when I was not even noticing..

When I was at Sun Yin Loong recently, I saw someone ordering a plate of 'sushi'. But sushi at a kopitiam just dont seem to fit well- I looked around and noted that there's a stall selling popiah with a twist..literally twisted and rolled with seaweed.

Curiosity got the best of me, I ordered a portion.

Outer layer was crisp seaweed, the second layer was popiah skin and the filling was mostly raw vegetables ( a mix of turnips, carrots, bean sprouts and cucumber), the center was filled with mayo, chicken floss and some fried crunchy bits of flavoured flour.

The taste? Funnily enough, this combo works- tasted like sushi (those crabstick mayo flavour), without the rice and wasabi. The only hint that it was ever a popiah was the skin.

I was told that some pasar malams are also selling this 'popiah' as hand roll versions, sans popiah skin and includes other combo of vegetables like cabbage and sweet corn bits.

Brilliant Beijing!

2010-11-15T09:26:00.006+08:00

My dear, dear readers!

First and foremost, a thousand apologies for not updating my blog for the longest time!

Hope you guys didnt get the impression that I've stopped blogging for good :p

I've been busy for almost a month and when it was time for updates, well, I decided to procrastinate instead..hehehe.

Well, the title of my blog post gave it all away.. yes, I was off for a nice holiday in Beijing (and Xi'an) recently, to pay homage to mother of all walls :p, the Great Wall..There were 3 main gates to the Great Wall, we went to the JuYongGuan Wall, in which our driver declared, was the nicest of the 3 gates (I cant verify since this was the only one we went for :p). We were blessed with wonderful weather and beautiful autumn colours during our time there, I was so pleasantly surprise! The climb was ardous, but we defintely had loads of fun :D.

The grand Forbidden City was too humongous for me to absorb all it's rich history..

Overview of the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

The calm moat surrounding the walls of Forbidden City

Sadly, this place was my least favourite..

And being so near Forbidden City, how can we miss Tiananmen (and Tiananmen Square)..

Zhengyang Gate at the front, leading us to Tiananmen Square and Chairman Mao Masoleum

Crowded with locals and tourists (on a weekday! dont the locals work??), forming a long queue to visit Chairman Mao.

The Temple of Heaven was lovely though..

It was packed with activities, there were lots (and I do mean freaking truck loads of them!) of locals exercising, dancing and singing in the rose garden and cyprus park. Ironically for me, it still feels tranquil amongst all the bustling.

Summer Palace was a hit among us..

We love the slow stroll, the cooling weather, the breathtaking scenery, the lush greeneries...Time really did seem to slow down there.

And for a structure build during our time, we popped by to the Olympic Park..

The Birdnest was the most popular landmark here. We were told that the oblong shape stadium represents the Heaven (and Yang and male element) while the Rectangle shaped stadium(The Cube) across the Birdnest represents the Earth (and Ying and female element). It's all about Fengshui, baby!

There were plenty of parks in Beijing, we dropped by to Beihai Park..

I had an awesome time there, it was relaxing to stroll under autumn trees, watching the sun set..

We popped by to Yonghe Temple..

It's the largest Llama Temple in Beijing and the structure seems very similar to chinese temples. I guess the only tell tale sign that it's llama temple was the scattering of spinning prayer wheels around the temple.

And how can we miss the infamous Wangfujing Street where there's a stretch of street (fear factor) food for everyone to indulge in?

There's other places that we've visited (Beijing is way too huge), but I wont wanna bored all of you, would I? Overall an extremely tiring trip (I've never walked so much daily for a long while now), but thanks to the fantastic company, I had plenty of fun! :)

Yogood crunchy muesli

2010-10-19T22:51:00.003+08:00

Last year, when I was contacted by the people from Pristine to try their gourmet muesli, I got a pleasant surprise on how good their muesli was.

Since then, they have been passing me their other products to sample- their chocolate coated muesli bars, breakfast toppings etc. But I was not obliged to write about their products, they were just appreciative of comments to improve on their products.

So, when Pristine contacted me recently to sample some of their new launches, I was so enticed by it's packaging and deliciousness of the muesli that I just had to share ;)

Pristine gave 2 new products to me-

Yogood Fruit & Nut Crunchy muesli and Yogood Chocolate & Nut Crunchy Muesli..

One look at the packaging and I've already made up my mind that the chocolate version would taste way better than the other flavour :p

Tried the chocolate crunchy muesli first..I've always preferred crunchy muesli- the crunchiness would mask the slightly card-board texture of the muesli :p. Give the package a good shake- all the nuts were at the bottom of the pack. The chocolate flavour was just perfect-not too sweet with a slight tinge of bitterness. The milk gets cloudy and chocolaty after a while, I felt like I was eating an adult (albeit a healthier) version of Kokocrunch. Loved the assortment of nuts- hazel, almond, brazil and pecan- all fresh and paired wonderfully with this muesli.

I had my reservations to try the second pack of Yogood crunchy muesli..Why? I dislike dry/ dessicated coconut in my food. And the packaging describes that it has coconut. Ermmm. Anyways, I have to try it and I got such a good surprise. I think the ratio of raisins, dried banana, apple, coconut and nuts were the same as the muesli. Look at the amount of ingredients..yums yums.. I didn't even feel that I was eating muesli.Hehehe. And yes, I could hardly taste the coconut- so all is good. So good that I have a hard choice of deciding which is my favourite....the chocolate or fruit&nut???

I still cant decide..though I'm happily munching away..:p

Yogood Crunchy muesli range is available in all leading supermarkets/ hypermarkets.

The Uma Balinese Restaurant, Kota Damansara

2010-10-13T08:23:00.003+08:00

When we speak of Balinese cuisine, many of us (especially those in Klang Valley) would think of Ole Ole Bali, Bumbu Bali or Waterlily. But there's more than just that famous chain, right?

A few months ago, we decided to pop over to Uma, which serves non halal Balinese cuisine.

I thought we could finally have babi guling, alas, when I checked with the owners, it was not in their plan to serve babi guling. Nonetheless, there's still lots of porky selection to satisfy our porcine cravings..

The menu's quite extensive, but was told that it will be expanded further with more pork dishes (by now, with my delayed posting, am rather certain that the new menu is ready)..

We started with some pork satay..

Juicy pork satay which was very well marinated. Smoky in flavour, the meat had a slight chewiness to it, but was still nice.

The rest of the pictures will look the same as all of us ordered the rice set- with the same side dishes, but a different main (meat)..

The side dishes served in Uma were way better compared to Ole ole/Waterlily..

There were deep fried potato bits- spicy and very good, the vegetables were crunchy and fresh, the shredded chicken was well-spiced and goes wonderfully with the rice while the condiments- onion/ shallot sauce and the chilli sauce was excellent.

Here's my order..

Deep fried duck..

Yummy, reminds me of the bebek (duck) I had in Bali (only that this was larger in size). The duck was juicy, the skin was crisp and aromatic. My only small gripe was the slightly salty skin.

The curry lamb and curry pork dish looks the same..

The only difference was that one was served in yellow rice while the other was white. Was told that different flavours of rice enhances the overall taste of the dish. Both curries were delicious, but if I had to choose, I'd take the lamb.

Jem decided to have the Babi masak kicap (pork cook in soy)
Melt in mouth pork served in a rather chinese tasting sauce. Tasty nonetheless.

Andrew, who seemed to crave for pork satay had his rice served with pork satay. What can I say? I think he OD on porkiness..

Hmm, seems like everything sounds good and scrumptious? Not really actually. I didnt like the satay lilit here, find it too mushy. Some of my friends did mentioned that its rather pricy for its portion.

But these are small flaws that I'm willing to overlook- will definitely return when I feel like having Balinese food again :)

The Uma Balinese Restaurant is located at The Strand, Kota Damansara, 7-G & 7-1 Jalan PJU5/21, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor - Tel 03-6142-2771.

Ultimo, Solaris Mont' Kiara

2010-10-04T09:55:00.001+08:00

We were there for MC's birthday dinner- WS suggested to try Ultimo for dinner..

Ultimo's a cosy restaurant, the warm coloured furniture and dim lights gave it a relaxing environment.

I was told that it's fine dining, but one look at the menu got me puzzled- it's not fine dining, it's a mixed selection of European food- tapas, Italian, fusion. Then I recalled that ground floor serves a less formal cuisine, while fine dining was held at the first floor. Seems like someone read my mind, before I could check with the waiter, another patron asked to move to first floor and the waiter mentioned that it's closed. Hmmm, fine dining no more?

So we settled for the meal, ordered some tapas..

Some prawn and mango spring roll..

Seems like what we can get in dim sum, this was mediocre.

A localised tapas, the pork satay..

This was a big hit- the well marinated pork was tender and succulent, the peanut sauce was thick and went perfectly with the skewered pork..

Deep fried risotto mushroom balls..

I had my reservations when we ordered that. I've tried deep fried spaghetti balls in Milan before and it was pretty bad. Fingers crossed, I took a bite. And it was delicious :). The exterior was wonderfully crisp while the risotto inside remains creamy, soft and piping hot. The mushroom bits gave further texture to this tasty tapas.

WS's pasta was served first..

He ordered the tuna and bacon angel hair pasta. The portion was surprising large, given that the price was only RM12. And we thought that the pasta tasted fantastic. The sauce tasted slightly different from the usual tomato based pasta, i wonder what's the secret.

Jacq's risotto with peas and ham..

Just mediocre as the risotto's too mushy.

MC had the seared salmon with gazpacho..

Ok, this was one dish I didn't like at all. The seared salmon was slightly over cooked- it was a tad dry. And the gazpacho was way too sweet. It's not natural sweetness from the vegetables stock- it was sugar sweet. Icky.

And me, who's forever behaving like I'm deprived of pork dishes, decided to order the braised pork belly..

This was a weird fusion combo for me. The pork belly, though served in a western looking presentation, tasted very similar to chinese braised pork. The first 2 layers of the pork were nice and tender, but the bottom layer of meat (the darker coloured one), was dry and chewy. The mash was good with the mushrooms while the vegetables- tasted akin to chinese stir fry vegetables with garlic.

Amy's Prosciutto wrapped pork too the longest to arrive...

Thick slab of pork served atop a bed of vegetables and potatoes. I find this dish way too porky, there were different types of pork rolled into one and the flavours just didn't work for me.

Overall, was an ok experience, I'll come back to try more of it's tapas (there's quite an extensive range of tapas) over a glass of sangria..

Ultimo is located at 13A, Jalan Solaris 4, Solaris Mont' Kiara, KL.

Axian Dim Sum, Taipan

2010-09-28T08:38:00.002+08:00

Decided to pop by to Axian's a few weekends ago, as we were on our way to Taipan area. Since Axian is such a famous food presenter, his restaurant should serve ok food, right?

Parking was quite a breeze, the restaurant is located at the quiet end of Taipan. We were quickly ushered to our seats...

There were only a few special items to be ordered, the rest were served direct from trays/ steam trolleys.

We had quite a number of dim sums, think it's best for me to summarised per below....

The Good

Of that many dim sums I had here, sad to say, there were only a couple which I find were nice..

Bacon and mince pork roll

Smoky flavoured bacon were rolled and filled with juicy mince pork, pan fried with sweet sauce. The combination was wonderful and complementing, we all enjoyed this.

The lau sar bun..

A rather common dim sum dish now, Axian's version was rather decent. The filling was runny, yet thick- went well with the light, spongy bun. My mum did complain that it was too rich for her liking.

Steamed pork balls in chinese herbs..

I didn't take individual shots of this dim sum as my parents were hungry and I didn't want them to wait. But I think you could guess which one's the pork balls. The mince pork was very fresh and sweet, Axian boast of using high quality, organic pork which presumably gives a more intense flavour to the dish. The bitterish herbs went well to balance with the pork, I really enjoyed this dish.

The average Joes

Following the same picture above, the bean curd roll- it was good, but I find the thai sauce did overpower the light aroma of this dim sum.

The fried carrot cake was quite nice, the charred sides added bits of crunchiness to the soft carrot cake.

The deep fried yam puff..

One of my must order. Axian's version was decent- the yam wrap was quite thin, the filling was generous and not too salty.

The deep fried prawn roll

Just a tad too oily for me. Else, it's quite a tasty treat as the prawns were springy.

The century egg and shredded pork porridge

Well, I didn't try this, my dad had did. I asked how was it and his only reply was "Ok". So I categorise this as average :p

Steamed char siew buns

The filling was nice (skewing towards the sweet side), but sparse. The buns were soft, but just too thick.

The Bad

Chee Cheong Fun

Was served cold. The Chee Cheong Fun was thick.

Stuffed bitter gourd..

Just tasted artificial to me. Weird. Over fried? Too dry? Maybe.

Both the steamed pork ribs and steamed chicken feet (in my earlier picture) tasted bad to me too. The pork ribs were chewy and bland while the chicken feet, again tasted artificial to me. Ugh.

Will I be back? No unless I really had to.

Axian Dim Sum (Taipan Branch) is located at 32 Jalan USJ 9/5n, UEP Subang Jaya, Selangor.

Fei Fei Crab, Kepong

2010-09-19T21:24:00.005+08:00

We were told that Fei Fei's attraction was the super cheap crabs served there.

Wondering how cheap was cheap, we decided to pop over recently. It's not too packed, since it's a weekday. We sat down and were given some confusing looking menu- which looks like advertisement write ups, some pictorial menu etc. Since the crabs were the star here, we decided to ordered 3 types to try. Unbeknown to us, there's actually 2 types of crabs, one is a fixed plate of RM18 crabs (we cant choose the amount of crabs we want) and the second type would be the RM50/kilo crabs. Since we were here because of cheap crabs, we decided to order the former.

Dishes were served relatively fast..
We were recommended the 2 flavoured mantis prawns..

The yellowish sauce was called the italian sauce mantis prawns. Not well received, most of my friends comments were that it tasted funny. To me, it tasted somewhat like junk food- twisties/ chacos cheese flavoured mantis prawns. The other flavour, mantis prawns ala thai was more common, but not a fantastic version. Glad that we could at least taste the mantis prawns flesh, it was not overfried crunchy batter.

New to the menu, was the Coconut curry shark meat..

Some of my friends were keen to try this since they have never tasted shark meat before. I've been avoiding shark meat for years, I used to eat it quite frequently during my schooling days (part of catered food menu), and now that I know that the meat has high mercury level, I avoid eating it. My friends really enjoyed it though, I must say, the curry gravy was nice, rich yet not cloying. Goes well with rice.

The Four Heavenly Kings was well executed though..

The vegetables was fresh, sweet and crisp, the sambal had the right level of spiciness and the anchovies added that little crunch for an excellent overall texture.

And the wait was over..our first set of crabs

Crabs in Honey Lemon sauce

The crabs were so tiny!!! Now I know why it's RM18 per plate- the shells were no larger than my palm..sigh..The flavour was decent though, it was sweetish and crunchy- the accompanying sauce was sourish, I guess that's the lemon. Quite nice, but with such tiny crabs, its hard to enjoy.

The next one was also a house specialty, Crabs in Sweet Corn and Buttermilk sauce..

Think you can guess the size of these small crabs by comparing the size of the corns bits with it. The sauce was delicious though, thick, rich cheesy taste, with hints of sweetness from the corn. Mop it up with deep fried man tau (they were extremely generous with the sauce, unlike Wong Poh), excellent stuff. The crabs? Well, again, too small to comment.

Taking a break from the crabs, the long ribs was served..

This was similar to char siew, just that it's served in the form of long ribs. The fatty layers were springy, the meat tender, coated with slightly sticky sauce, it was paired well with their homemade chili. Pretty tasty.

The last order of crabs arrived- Crabs in Kam Heong Buttermilk..

Yes, Fei Fei certainly has some interesting sauces to cook their crabs in. Looks like curry crabs, but it was distinctly creamy buttermilk cooked in spices. I thought the sauce was excellent with mantou but somewhat masks the sweetness of the crabs. Mixed reviews on this, it was my least favourite but MC thought this was the best amongst the 3 flavours.

Overall, I cant complain about the flavours of the dishes here, it's all decent. But guess the smallish crabs was not worth it though. Total bill was RM182 for 7 pax.

Restoran Fei Fei Crab is located at No 7-A Jalan Desa 2/7, Desa Aman Puri, Kepong, 52100 KL.

Chinese Food, Harbin

2010-09-07T14:43:00.002+08:00

Recently, I've received an email from a reader, requesting for me to share some of the food I've tried in Harbin as he is planning to visit Harbin early next year. Since I did write about the Russian foodI've tried there, I guess it's only fair to share on some of the local food I've had too..

We managed to try a range of Chinese food in Harbin even though we were there in the middle of a very frosty winter.

Lao Chang Chun Bing (Laochang Spring Pancake)
This was our first meal in Harbin. We were freezing and was travelling out for the night Ice Sculpture Exhibition and our driver insisted that we must have a hearty meal, else we wont be able to withstand the night temperature outdoors (it was reaching -35 by night). We didn't know where to go and he dropped us at a large shopping arcade. Looked around and saw this place was packed- a good indication of decent food..

As the name suggest, the main meal here was the spring cake. Well, to me, it was somewhat like a cross between popiah skin and roti canai..

We'll just need to order the spring cake, get some dishes as our wrap's filling and wahlah, absolutely tasty meal. We were given a bowl of congee like stuff made of beans- which was absolutely bland. Locals seems to like it though. Just like popiah, we spreaded some bean sauce and onions before topping it with the dishes we like.

Clockwise frm top left- Smoked pork, scrambled eggs, stir fried pork strips with dried chili, stir fried potato strips.

We ordered a number of dishes as our spring cake 'filling'. The smoked pork was served warm and it was very tender. The pork had a light smokey flavour, luckily it was not salty at all. Nice. The scrambled eggs was normal to me, but Alfred said that we should be glad they served us real eggs. Apparently, some restaurants serves 'fake eggs'- don't ask me what it's made of. The stir fried potato strips were refreshing- it was slightly crunchy, unlike the potatoes I've taste. Great as a base compared to the ubiquitous sengkuang (jicama) in Msia. My fave was the pork strips with dried chili. The pork was extremely fragrant from the spices and the dried chili was deep fried to crunchy bits. So very good!

We snacked on stir fried small ribs with salt and pepper..

Good stuff to go with the local Harbin Beer. The beer? Quite light and crisp flavour. Excellent to warm up the body on a cold winter night I guess :p

Dong Fang Jiao Zhi Wang (Eastern Dumpling King)

The bad breakfast served in our hotel led us to venture out for our breakfast..

No, we're not having noodles/ congee/ rice- we decided to have plates and plates of dumplings. Boiled, steamed, pan fried ones- dumplings filled with mince pork, with mince pork&cabbage, preserve cabbage with shrimps, mutton etc. Don't think I've ever eaten so many dumplings at one go. Quite decent dumplings, the skin was smooth (though a tad thick) and the filling was freshly wrapped upon ordering . The dipping sauce of vinegar and hot sauce complemented the dumplings well.

I read something funny in the menu- Hand Pulled chicken.

Curious and wondered how it would be, we ordered a portion. Here's the dish...

And you know why it's called Hand Pulled Chicken? Literally, the chef used his bare had to break the chicken parts, instead of using a cleaver to chop the chicken to smaller pieces. Hahahaha. Taste wise, well, it's a cold dish- feels like eating smoked, salted chicken that was just removed from the fridge.

Xiang Chun Xiao Yuan

We decided to get the driver, a local of Harbin, to recommend us our last meal in Harbin before we left. He asked if we have any preference- we just wanted dishes, at a reasonable price.

He led us to a restaurant tucked at a more quiet end of the town, but when we entered, it was extremely noisy and crowded. We seemed to be the only foreigners, the locals very boisterous and yakking away in their dialect which I could not understand. We were led near the kitchen to order and we led upstairs for our meal. One stark contrast I noted here was that the waiters were wearing the communist uniform. Alfred explained that these were government owned restaurants- hence it'll be cheaper, but yes, you will see them in such uniforms.

When we got our first dish, we knew immediately we have over ordered. The portions here were humongous!

Our chicken stir fried with wood ear fungus. Although the ingredients were chopped into an unrefined portion, the flavour was still good. I really liked their fresh wood ear fungus, every bite had a little spring and gave great texture to the dish. The sauce was a tad salty though.

The Mah Lat Beef..

It looks like a portion for 10 pax. Crazy. And the amount of peppers in this dish? Irrational. Too spicy (even for a winter day), too numbing, we could only finish a quarter of this portion.

Their Savoury Homemade Taufoo was excellent though..

The steamed Taufoo was served in a cute bucket and you can mix your own condiments into the taufoo. Smooth and utterly belly warming dish.

Our Omelette seems to have more vegetables than eggs..

Yes, by now, I realise that eggs are quite scarce (and expensive) in China :p. Wonderful dish, the vegetables were fresh and sweet, again, I really like their wood ear fungus :).

One of the more common sweet dish here- Stir fried dates with yam, apple and sweet potato slices. Though it looks like a cooled dish, it actually retained very high temperature. I burnt my tongue eating this. The sugar coating had hardened and crystallised, hence we get a nice crunch while biting into the hot warm centre of the fruits. Delicious!

And while we're eating, the waiters were all gung ho and went up the stage to entertain us with their local songs and one even recited poem...

Lao Chang Chun Bing (Laochang Spring Pancake)
No.180, Zhong Yang Da Jie, Dao Li District, Harbin, China.

Dongfang Jiaozi Wang (Eastern Dumpling King)
No 39, Zhongyang Dajie, Harbin, China.

Xiang Chun Xiao Yuan

No 2, Da Shun Jie, Harbin, China.

Sun Yin Loong, Sunway Mas

2010-09-01T22:08:00.004+08:00

In PJ, there's 2 Sun Yin Loong that's located within a rather close vicinity..one at Sunway Mas Commercial Centre, and the other at Kota Damansara. Both branches enjoys good business, it's always packed especially on weekends.

But both SYL sells different hawker fare, and the branch in Sunway Mas, even though is a smaller outlet, does draw it's crowd with some popular hawker grubs.

The most popular dish, I'd say, is the curry laksa.

Nearly every table has a bowl, you can see the patrons in deep concentration, slurping their noodles :p. I'm never a big fan of curry noodles/ curry laksa, but I must admit that the curry laksa here is pretty tasty. I'm not fond of thick, santan rich curry soup base, and this version is rather light, yet managed to retain the nice aroma of curry. Not the best, but decent ;)

The yam cake and pan fried carrot cake for in between nibbles. The yam cake was nice, it had huge chunks of yam in it, tasted good with the fried condiments. I didnt like the pan fried carrot cake though.

The pan mee...

Was just average. The noodles were rather thick and slightly chewy. Very generous with ingredients though. Not sure if the soup version would fare better, though I did hear from a friend that the soup version is good as they use good quality stock.

Sun Yin Loong is located at Jalan PJU 1/3G (corner shop), Sunway Mas Commercial Centre, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Bukit Tinggi BBQ, Bentong

2010-08-29T20:52:00.007+08:00

When Gary mentioned of a quaint restaurant in Bentong, he was referring to the interesting way the bill was written and not the food. The food, Gary assured us, is delicious.

It was a warm day to have lunch at Bukit Tinggi BBQ..The restaurant was open air and walls were in fact, made of arranged beer and wine bottles. The zinc roof was ultra hot and patrons who visited left their umbrellas as souvenirs hanging at the ceiling, which was also use to absorb the heat. Luckily the restaurant did some sprinkling system above the roof when it gets too hot, to cool down the place.

We were here for 2 main dishes, the rest of the dishes- well, we got them to recommend..

First up, to whet our appetite, some grilled green chili..

I was worried that it's be ultra spicy, but this grilled chili was fresh, crunchy and sweet. The light sauce coating the chili works well to tone down the spiciness (not all of the chili was hot :p). Do try it if you're here. Pretty yummy.

We wanted to have white rice to go with our dishes, but the waiter recommended their 'special rice'..

It's mun fan (braised rice), liberally braised in multi coloured fresh vegetables. I'm quite sure I've absorbed the required vitamins for the day from this plate of rice.

One of the dish that we came for...The seafood pot..

The large pot of clams, lala, prawns, crabs was served as simply as possible and I do applaud them for that. The natural, wonderful flavours of the seafood was retained, the texture of the seafood was heavenly. Gorgeous dish.

They didn't waste any part of the seafood pot- the essence of the seafood- the sweet juices, dripped to the bottom layer of the pot was cooked with the vegetables they harvested for the day. Wonderfully belly warming and satisfying.

We were also recommended to try their Mm Hou Sek Gai (directly translated as Bad Tasting Chicken in Cantonese)..But why should we order that?? The waiter laughed and took that order for us..

Here's our chicken dish. Looks decent, taste wise, it's quite good- feels like a cross between salt baked chicken with roasted chicken, with small hints of herbs. Ah, so it's not Bad Tasting chicken, it's actually, Mmmm Hou Sek Gai ( means Mmmm, delicious chicken! in Cantonese).

And finally, the dish that I've been waiting for..Their grilled Rack of Lamb..When Gary raved about it before we came, I was wondering what was all the fuss about. Now I finally understood. This was the best rack of lamb I've ever sunk my teeth into and I'm so very glad I made my way here to try it. The lamb was tender, ultra juicy and so fresh with the gamey flavour I love. But nothing can compare to the ultra crisp lamb skin. The aroma wafting from the skin was a killer and the taste, omg, was simply divine! It was akin to biting into a piece of crunchy butter, the flavour was mouth-watering thick and beautiful. Too rich for your liking? Have it with their freshly made mint and lime concoction, lightens the flavour- still tasty nonetheless.

Overall, it was a very good meal, though the pricing was not that cheap (given it's location).

Can you take a guess what's what in my bill? :p

Here's the address and map of Bukit Tinggi BBQ.

Restoran De' Champion Duck, Bandar Menjalara

2010-08-18T20:24:00.003+08:00

When Jane told me about the drunken duck, I was very keen to try it within the same week. But she said we need to order the duck in advance, walk-in was just too risky, since De' Champion only prepare a limited number of drunken ducks per day. Never did I expect that it took us almost 5 months to finally arrange to eat at De' Champion...

De' Champion restaurant serves 3 types of duck, De' Champion Roast Duck, Drunken Duck and Herbal duck.

Since there was only 3 of us, we only managed to try 2 of the 3..

We obviously had the piece de resistance, the Drunken Duck (RM52 for whole duck)

As the name suggested, this duck was marinated and served with chinese wine. The skin was thin and crisp, while the duck meat was tender and wonderfully infused with light, herbal flavour. The base of the plate was filled with the aromatic alcohol and we were each given a small serve of the sauce too. The alcohol tasted very much like brandy, but the lady boss confirmed that it's actually a wine ordered from China. Very addictive (even if you're not a drinker :p), this dish does get a tad overwhelmingly rich at times, the sides of cucumber serves well to clear the palette.

De' Champion Roast Duck (RM16 for quarter) was recommended by the lady boss.

Since this was their popular dish, we had to try. The duck was plump, but the skin, compared to it's drunken counterpart, was not crisp at all. The sauce was slightly herbalish, skewing towards sweetish aftertaste. My vote still goes to the drunken duck.

WF, who absolutely loves char siew, had to order a small portion of Honey Char Siew (RM16)

The fatty char siew was rather divine- the fats melt in my mouth almost immediately while the meat was extremely tender too. The coating of the char siew was pretty sweet, since it is, after all, Honey char siew.

Overall, an enjoyable brunch, I'll definitely pop by again.

Restoran De' Champion Duck is located at 10, Jalan 3/62D, Medan Putra Business Centre, Bandar Menjalara, KL.

Albion, Changkat Bukit Bintang

2010-08-12T22:38:00.010+08:00

I first read about Albion when I was googling for some travel facts on another country. I was scouting for info in Tripadvisor and I could not help but to notice a particular one liner in the website- Best restaurants in KL. Curious on what tourists would rate as the best restaurant in KL, I clicked on the link and out pop Albion - ranking no 1.

Obviously curiosity got the best of me, I was there by end of the week..

Albion's a cozy, relaxed placed to catch up with family and friends- the ambiance certainly got us in the mood. The staff were friendly and not overbearing, which I was very glad of.

Some warm rolls served in cute baskets to start off our meal..

Fluffy bread goes well with butter or tomato anchovies salsa..

The Blue Cheese Pear salad was next..

The refreshing crunch and sweetness of the pear paired pleasantly with the pungent blue cheese, caramelised walnuts and fresh vegetables.

We went cheese crazed and proceeded to order the Twice Baked Cheese Souffle..

Smallish portion but the souffle was light, though it did not lack in strong goat cheese flavour. The slightly salty souffle were balanced with a spicy sweet tomato jam artfully spread across the plate.

The braised baby octopus was somehow disappointing..

The sauce tasted similar to the tomato anchovies spread we had with our rolls earlier. And it's salty.

I didnt have a hard time choosing what I wanted. While I was waitng for my friends to arrive, I noticed many plates of roasted pork were brought out to the diners. Must be a popular mains, no?

Here's my Slow Roast Belly Pork..

Pleasing to the eyes, the pork was meltingly good. The layer of fat and meat-rolled into a tight medallion, was cooked, i suspect, for many hours and it melted so quickly in my mouth. The skin on the other hand, was crackling good. The accompanying apple sauce and potato bake did great in toning down the richness of the pork. Really wonderful dish.

Jun had the Pan fried seabass..

A simple, honest way to celebrate the freshness of the fish. Lightly salted, the seabass was panfried until it's skin was crisp while the meat remains moist. Scrumptious stuff, though she did mention that the sides (broad beans and cured pork cheek) were rather forgettable.

Kenneth decided to be plain and safe, so he ordered Ballotine of Chicken..

It's actually stuffed chicken thigh with pork and bacon stuffing. He said it was nice and tender, though he was not wax lyrical about it.

MC had the Lamb Hotpot, since she's a big fan of lamb..

The lamb was fork tender, and not too gamey. The sauce was light, which I liked though some friends did comment it was slightly bland.

Amy had the Confit of Duck..

The duck thigh was rather tiny I thought :p. It was panfried to a nice crisp exterior, but some parts of the meat was slightly dry. The braised reb cabbage was excellent though, sweetish and tart- went well with the duck.
Mr Chardonnay, decided to be adventurous and had the Char-grilled South African Ostrich

He declared this was the worst ostrich dish he had ever tasted. The meat was tough, hard to chew and served with bland polenta, well, it didnt earn more brownie points with this pairing. Mr Chardonnay declared he would never come here again, the food was not worth the effort. Hmmmm.

We skipped desserts (though it looked tempting) as we had a nice cake for some celebrations. darn :p

Overall, most of our dishes (I liked mine!) was pretty decent. But when there's misses (like Mr Chardonnay's), it can be a big miss..hehehe.

Does it really live up to the best restaurant in KL? For now, I wont agree. Enjoyable but needs more polishing for some of its dishes..

Albion is located at 31, Jalan Berangan, Changkat Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603-2141 9282. You can check out the menu at Albion HERE

Jin Man Noodle House, Shah Alam

2010-08-03T22:34:00.003+08:00

Was supposed to have lunch at 1pm at Bangsar, but we were way hungrier than expected and was already running late , so we detoured for a quick brunch before our lunch :p

Jin Man seems to be a more popular joint among the residents within it's vicinity, enjoying brisk business. The food here is simple, fish cakes, fishballs with your choice of noodles..

The homemade fish cakes..

Served piping hot, the fishcake was crisp, springy and flavourful with fish taste. Enjoyable even without the chilli sauce.

The fishballs were excellent stuff..

Very bouncy, each bite was springy and delicious. Didn't try to see how high this fish ball would bounce, but I'm guessing a fair bit of height :p

We had the fishballs with wantan noodles..

Good textured noodles, the wantan mee was cooked to the QQ texture that I like.

Overall a quick, satisfying meal, I'll definitely pop by if I'm around this area in the future.

Jin Man Noodle House is located at 17, Jalan M31/M, Kota Kemuning Sek 31, 40460 Shah Alam.

Bayu Timor, Taman Megah

2010-08-01T22:23:00.004+08:00

I'm craving for fruit rojak, LastoftheDragon exclaimed after our not so strenuous morning swim.

I named a couple of stalls where we could do takeaway fruit rojak but she seemed to have something in mind.

What about Bayu Timor?

Nothing in the deep recesses of my mind could recall that Bayu Timor serves delicious rojak. Since I have not been there for years, why not pop by and rekindle my faded memories of Bayu?

It was a late sunday lunch but the restaurant was still fairly packed.

We chose to seat at a mix of bench and rattan chairs, surrounded by decors and carvings- for the uninitiated, most of the furniture, decor items are for sale in Bayu Timor. So if you like the chair that you sat on, you can actually buy it too :p

Food came surprisingly fast.

The Rojak (RM6.50) serving was super huge..

After my first bite, I finally understood why LastoftheDragon was craving for this particular rojak. The ingredients were very fresh- chopped fruits and vegetables were juicy and sweet (sour for those mangoes :p). The crunchy condiments- fish keropok, fried yau char kuay- were crackling good. Doused with thick, spicy prawn paste and liberal amount of peanuts- I must admit, this was one superb rojak. Excellent value for money too.

I ordered the Indonesian Fried rice (RM19.90 for set meal), since it was only available on weekends.

Again, I was happy with this choice too.

The fried rice had sufficient wok hei, the grains of rice was nicely separated, wrapped in wonderful aroma of the greens and herbs. The sambal was delicious and the chicken was tender and well marinated.

My set was served with some kuihs..Which was the only disappointment in this meal...both kuihs were dry.
Bayu Timor Restoran&Kafe is located at13&15, Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 78042962.

Bangsar Fish Head Corner, Lucky Garden, Bangsar

2010-07-25T18:32:00.003+08:00

Working at an area filled with Malay food has it's pros and cons.

Yes, I get to enjoy delicious Malay dishes year in year out (except during bulan ramadan), but come weekend, I'll try my best to avoid curries and sambals.

It took quite a number of months before I finally did join Gary for a fish head curry meal. It was over 2pm when we reached and I thought there will be no food left. I was so, so wrong. The place was ultra crowded, the staffs were busy scooping dishes, deep frying chicken, squids with great efficiency.

We left the ordering to Gary, though I was rather cautious- never let a hungry man order food..

Here's our fish head curry, for 4 of us. Humongous red snapper fish head- the head was larger than mine! The curry was thick and rich, predominantly sourish as I could see loads of tomatoes in our curry. Very appetising, the curry goes perfectly with white rice. The fish was fresh, the snowy white flesh was sweet and the tangy curry complemented the meat prettily.

We had some thick, fat squids..

Springy flesh, slight crisp with the flavourful batter..A good side order to accompany the curry.

End the meal with fat, juicy deep fried chicken..

Super huge chicken, I was wondering if it is really chicken? The sheer size of it seems like a cross of chicken and turkey. Hehehe. Have it when it's fresh off the hot fryer, how can it go wrong right?

Extremely stuffed by end of our meal, it costs us RM80 (inclusive of rice, vegetables and many, many cups of cold drinks- it was a very warm day). Rather reasonable, I must say.

Bangsar Fish Head Corner is located at Lorong Ara Kiri 3, Lucky Garden, Bangsar.

Jaya One Foodcrawl, Part 2

2010-07-11T16:51:00.005+08:00

Continuation from Part 1..
After sampling a range of wines from Divino, we trooped over to Kinnaree Thai Restaurant for our first mains for the night...
The staff were already waiting for us, we were delayed from Divino and we were quickly seated..
The Yam Som O (Pamelo salad) was served soon after..

I've tried this in Thailand before and Kinnaree's version was a tad different from what I've tried. The tangy pamelo works well to balance the richness of the sauce, which was akin to red curry. The cashews and prawns gave a nice mix of texture and flavours, whetting our appetite for the next dish..

The Pla Sam Rod (Deep fried boneless fish with tamarind sauce) was quite a sight to behold...

We had the garupa (RM60) which was deep fried and smothered with spicy sweet thai sauce. The fish was cut into thick slices and deep fried to golden brown. The meat was sweet and firm, while the crunchy coating soaked up the tasty sauce perfectly. We all enjoyed this dish.

The 3rd dish was Ser Rong Nain (Grilled Aust ribeye with Spicy Thai sauce)..

Our's was overcooked. Tough to chew meat, I didnt enjoy this.

Round 2 of Mains: Muse Italian Restaurant.Bar.Club

We were treated to 3 mains..

4 season pizza

This was one of Muse's signature dish which was as described by them as "the ultimate pizza with 4 different toppings". 4 quarts with different ingredients of seafood, chicken, lamb and tomato&cheese. I rather enjoyed this, the crust was thin and crisp, it was pleasurable to eat it while the toppings were still hot and melting..

The Angel Hair seafood Aglio Olio..

This dish had mixed opinions. Some liked it as it was spicy and laden with seafood. Those with low tolerance to spicy food found this dish too fiery and skipped sampling it.

The last mains we had, which we waited forever, was Grilled Lamb with Herbs...

I love lamb and was eagerly waiting for it :p. Alas, my portion was overcooked, the meat was tough and chewy. Flavour wise, it was actually pretty good. Some of the floggers were luckier, their lamb was pink and juicy.

We were finally done with all the eating and moved on to Brussels Beer Cafe to quench our thirst..

We were given free reign to select any beer in Brussels and here's some that we ordered...

I had the Hoegarden white- light, refreshing beer to cool me down on a warm night. WMW's Blacktorn Cider tasted like an alcoholic version of apple cider. Rather interesting, I must say.

And with that, our foodcrawl finally ended..everyone left jolly and happy (the alcohol certainly helped :p). Thanks again to Ramesh for the invite, it was good fun (though rather rushed) to try many food and to meet so many floggers in one night. Definitely a night to remember.

Kinnaree Thai Restaurant

12-1, Palm Square, Jaya One

MUSE Italian Restaurant.Bar.Club

16-G, Palm Square, Jaya One.

Brussels Beer Cafe

20-G, Palm Square, Jaya One.

Xiao Fei Yang, Damansara Utama

2010-07-06T21:38:00.005+08:00

Been a few months since Xiao Fei Yang opened it's doors to the PJ clientele, and it's business has never been better. Main branch is in KL which has been popular for years..

Specializing in steamboat, the main choices of soup were Mah Lat (spicy) and herbal..

Just order the raw ingredients you'd like to add to your steam boat and wahlah, you'll get piping hot food, readily soothing a hungry belly on a rainy day.

There's quite a range of fresh ingredients to choose from..

We did of course, ordered some sliced mutton, since the restaurant is named after some fat lamb, no? :p

Most unfortunately, I ordered the thick, sliced mutton which turned out extremely gamey and I really dont like it..

Thinly sliced beef fared way better..

Just dip into the boiling soup for a few seconds and it's good to eat.

The herbal soup served in Xiao Fei Yang was thick and strong , which can be rather heavy for some diners. Overall, I left the place rather unimpressed; the food was mediocre, the soup was just ok and pricing wise- quite steep. Not sure if I'll revisit.

Xiao Fei Yang is located at Damansara Utama, PJ, Selangor (main road, where 7 Eleven is).

Hon Kee Porridge, Damansara Utama

2010-07-01T08:20:00.002+08:00

Been ages since I met Jo, and when we decided to meet for a meal, light dinner in PJ sounds doable, and Hon Kee seemed like good place for this.
We ordered the sliced fish porridge and pork ribs&oysters porridge to share..

The porridge was served piping hot, especially for the fish slices- we opt to let it 'cook' in the porridge rather than having it sashimi style..

Hon Kee's version of porridge is the smooth, non grainy type. Hong Kong style congee. Though it was rather velvety, I cant but help to notice some starchiness after a few mouthfuls. Maybe they added some constarch to thicken this porridge? The fish was fresh and blends in well with the porridge.

The pork ribs and oysters on the other hand came heaped with ingredients..

I was rather surprised to see 5-6 big chunks of ribs/ meat and a couple of oysters. The porridge tasted rather plain, which I presume the ingredients were cooked separately and added into the porridge before serving. Though the pork ribs were boiled until it's meltingly tender, the flavour and sweetness of the meat was retained.
Some compulsory yau zhar guai for my porridge..

If it was crunchy, would have enhanced my porridge experience. Nonetheless, soaking the YZG into the porridge is still a lovely treat that can easily please me.

Maybe QC is harder to maintain at branches? Felt that the original branch fared way better.

Hon Kee is located at No 71, Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya.

Curry Noodles, Segambut

2010-06-22T22:44:00.005+08:00

Jane told me that there's a very popular curry noodles in Taman Sri Sinar and one unexpectedly visit to a friend staying nearby led us to this place.

The shop just opened for dinner- it does dinner only and I was rather surprised that at 5 plus in the afternoon and there were patrons already. Yes, we were passing by and it's way too early for dinner, but since this was recommended, I might as well try it :p

Ordering was easy, I had the curry noodles though there were other noodles available too (such as clear soup and prawn noodles)

The piping hot bowl of noodles was served in a matter of minutes..

Their curry noodles was served in a thin curry soup and topped with a few spoons of thick curry 'sauce'. Stir in a generous amount of sambal and the curry noodles was very addictive. The bowl was laden with bean curd puffs, fish cakes, bloodied cockles, fishballs and beansprouts. The ingredients were very fresh and complemented the curry soup well.

Honestly, I thought I wont enjoy the curry noodles; it was such a hot day, the ventilation in the shop was not that good and it was stuffy sitting in there. And the idea of slurping down spicy, hot curry noodles dont really add to a happy eating experience. Although this curry noodles was not mind blowingly good, it somehow was able to satiate and please us.

There's no sign board to this shop, this is how it looks like..

The best landmark I could find was this Wisma located just a few shops away..

Curry noodles shop is located at Jalan 20/38A, Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut, KL.

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles, Taman Danau Desa

2010-06-17T21:49:00.004+08:00

Gary and Candy has been, for the longest time, trying to get me to try the fish head noodles at Woo Pin. Somehow, I was very busy for many, many weekends...and finally the sun, stars and moon aligned and wahlah, here I am at Woo Pin :p

It was saturday brunch time and Woo Pin was packed, packed, packed! The number of people waiting for tables was rather intimidating, but surprisingly, we got our tables quite quickly. But since it was so crowded, we had to wait a while for our hot bowls of goodness..

And 30 mins later, here's my fish head noodles..

When it comes to fish head noodles, what the pull factor for you? The soup, the fish or the type of noodles used? For me, it's the soup, and I definitely feel that this was Woo Pin's selling point. There's subtle differences to fish head noodles soup; some are skewed towards sourness, some strong with wine and others, extremely milky. Woo Pin's version was milky- no wonder the kids were slurping down the soup like there's no tomorrow. The milkiness was very aromatic, the distinct flavour of milk gave a lingering fragrance in the mouth. The noodles were served with 4 large chunks of fish(head) meat which Candy said was much less as they used to served about 6 pieces of fish meat.

We shared a bowl of yut wat with spinach..

Quite nice but rather fishy. Mask it with the ultra yummy chilli sauce if you cant stand the fishiness. The yut wat (fish paste) was compact and full of fish flavour, gives a good bite.

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles is located at A37, Plaza Danau 2, Jalan 109F, Taman Danau Desa, 58100 KL. This is how it looks like, dont be confused with all the sign boards, Woo Pin's signboard is the green banner. Available from 730am- 10 pm. Closed on Mondays.

International Cuisine, Shanghai, Part 1

2010-06-13T21:07:00.008+08:00

Shanghai, being one of the regional hubs for Asia, has it's fair share of tempting international cuisine and Alfred (our host) recommended some of his favourites to us...

Japanese: Kagen teppanyaki

I believe Kagen played a Big part in contributing to Alfred's 10kg in weight gain since he came to Shanghai to work :p. This was our first dinner in Shanghai, which was unexpected- I was thinking of Chinese food throughout my stay there..

Kagen is tucked in a quiet, chic area of Shanghai, reminiscence of Bangsar. What's their specialty? Teppanyaki buffet.

We were ushered to a room, seats about 10 customers per room, facing the teppanyaki table. Just get the menu and order away. Only one item were limited to one plate per table- the sashimi- other than that, we were given free reign to order anything under the teppanyaki menu..

Some starters..The sashimi was very fresh. Shishamo was pickled, so it was sourish and sweet, a first for me to try such a method of cooking for shishamo, but lovely nonetheless. The unagi on cucumber was nice and the deep fried baby octopus tentacles was delicious.

For RM110, I must say that this buffet was good value for money..

We had multiple orders of plump scallops, juicy jumbo tiger prawns and sirloins..Cooked to perfection, each item was oozing with juices. Absolutely lurved the scallops and prawns. Simply divine.

The teppanyaki chicken came unexpected scrumptious, crisp skin and tender, luscious meat. The Saba fish was delish as it was browned just to my liking :). The beef wrap was wonderful too, we had it with enoki wrapped or foie gras. And some tricks to entertain the guest, the teppanyaki master asked us to sit back and suddenly the stacked onions on the teppanyaki table were set on fire in our darkened room. Huge ball of fire rose up to the ceiling. Such drama..

End the meal with endless cups of cold and hot sake..Bliss :)

Modern European: M on the Bund
Reading mixed reviews of M on the Bund, I was on the fence on this one. Finally did pop by in the end, we were at the Bund anyways, so heck, might as well have a meal here. We were there for lunch and well, menu was not so extensive, we only had the choice of a healthy, light lunch set or a full, heavy lunch set. As we had a heavy breakfast, all of us decided to have the light lunch..

Started off with a pretty glass of carrot, lemon and parsley juice..

Refreshing and good way to whet our appetite..

Freshly baked bread with creamy butter.

For starters, there's a choice of chicken broth with fresh herbs or a salad of roasted eggplants and tomatoes flavoured with cumin and coriander finished with yogurt. Both had very contrasting flavours- the former was mild and gentle on the palate, very much flavoured liken to chinese chicken soup while the latter was robust and strong and woke up my tastebuds immediately :p. I preferred the latter.
Mains was a choice of :

1) Char grilled baby squid with pilaf of brown rice, marjoram and tomato with lemon wedges..Slightly too charred, the burnt flavour fell into the rice, there were hints of bitterness in some bites. The warm, slight gooey rice was a welcoming sight on a cold winter day. Quite a nice main, but not to shout about.

2) Kuku Ye Sabri- or to simply put it, an iranian herb frittata..Looks pretty, but lacking in flavours. Though it was described to be filled with feta cheese and olives, it just tasted rather bland.

We finished our meal with an extremely moist carrot cake..Good portion to end the meal with a sweet note.

Our lunch costs us approx RM50 per pax- I guess it's real good value for money for the service and the breathtaking view that we got from M of the Huangpu River and Pudong (new shanghai). Food wise, it's just ok.

Kagen Teppanyaki: 28D, Taojiang Lu, Near Heng Shan lu, Shanghai, China.

M on the Bund: 7F, No 5, The Bund (corner of Guangdong Lu), Shanghai, China.