Durians!

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 :)

Durian Layer Cake, Golden Bake

During a recent department makan session, Diha brought durian layer cake.

When she mentioned it a few days before, all of us had doubts.

What if the cake tasted of artificial flavouring instead?

Well, when we saw the durian layer cake (RM52, 1kg), it does looked plain...

Sorry that I didnt have the picture of the cake before it was cut..my colleagues were way too excited and cut it immediately..before we managed to take a look at it's pristine stage. :p

The durian cake was surprisingly good, much to our delight.

Akin to pandan or yam layer cake, the eggy sponge cake was layered with thick durian paste- not durian flesh type- but the same texture as pandan layer cake. Nonetheless, the durian fragrance and the creamy smoothness was still distinct. Obviously, this cake was a hit among those who enjoys the king of fruits. Have it really chilled- it's like having durian ice cream. Lip smacking :)

Golden Bake is located at 31, Jalan SS2/67, 47300 Petaling Jaya. Tel 03-78766417. You'll need to call 1 day in advance to order this durian layer cake..

Durians @ Balik Pulau, Penang

Back to my Penang post, now it's time for a post that totally disappoints all of us..

Balik Pulau is famed for it's lip smacking varieties of creamy, rich, breathtaking durians and I just cant wait to sink my teeth into these luscious babies..

Most unfortunately, it has been raining every day when we were in Penang and it's not really the durian season yet....we still decided to risk it and went up the hills of Balik Pulau.

We drove by many shacks, all still empty and abandoned as there were not many fruits yet..After a rather long drive uphill (and it was raining rather heavily too), we managed to see a shack with a few durians. The person manning the shack said that fresh durians were just loaded further up in the hills and they are coming down with the picks.

So we waited and waited..

Finally...Durians!!! Some categories of 604 and 38? I took one bite and sigh...Looks good but taste bad. It was that bad :(. It was bland and watery, I really didnt want to continue after the first one. But we could not believe it and we got 2 more durians..Still disappointing.

Ryan and Lily were really disappointed as they have been here for the durians before and it was really awesome at that time.

Maybe it was the rainy season? Diluted the durian flesh? Could that be it?

Oh, and I climbed up a durian tree to takes some of the shots of durians and durian flowers for readers who have never seen durian trees before.. Hehe, just joking! These durian trees were growing at the slope next to the roads..so the fruiting parts were at my height :p

Would I want to try the durians in Balik Pulau again? Though with this bad experience, if I do pop over one day, yes, I will still try it...Just one more chance.. :)