Ole Ole Bali, Solaris KL

We planned a lazy Sunday lunch. A girls lunch to catch up on gossips and just yak away :)

I never like venturing to Solaris though, it's always packed, but with the exception of sunday mornings. Parking is almost a breeze :p

Ole Ole serves predominantly balinese food and also a selection of western food. Our focus were solely on the balinese food though.

Amy was pleased that they served Avocado Shake (RM10) here; something that she took aplenty when she was in Bali. Me on the other hand? I decided to have the Ice blended Pulut Hitam (RM9)

Amy's Avocado shake was creamy and smooth. Taste very much like vanilla milk shake with slight hint of avocado. Very nice. My Pulut Hitam tasted like the bubur pulut hitam blended with gula melaka and coconut milk. Lovely too, just a tad sweet.

The new MC decided that she should be adventurous, so she ordered Cucumber with Passion fruit cooler (RM11)

It was way too sour for my liking. MC seems to find it ok. Jun said it tasted like cough syrup :p

The Sop Buntut (RM14) was very rich..

More like beef stew, this balinese version of oxtail soup was very heavy in flavour. The beef was tender, and served with nasi impit- this bowl of soup could easily be a main meal for a light eater.

Our salad was Tipak Cantuk (RM13)

Is that another name for Gado Gado? I'm not sure but the ingredients do seemed very similar. All of us find it mediocre as the peanut sauce was too sweet and reek strong tamarind taste.

We all preferred the second salad better- Grilled squid salad (RM14)

Huge portion, this salad had generous amount of grilled cumi cumi (squids) and greens. The dressing was tangy yet refreshing- hence complemented the sweet vegetables wonderfully. The grilled squids had a subtle smoky aroma that goes well with the salad. My only gripe was the very hard keropok.

We were all captivated by the Ole Ole Trio platter (RM38)

The platter was generous and the colours were so pretty. A combo of sate lilit, cumi cumi goreng and grilled chicken wings. The sate lilit was juicy and well marinated, and goes very well with the sambal and herb sauce. Jun liked with deep fried squids- crunchy batter with softer squids. The grilled chicken was good too; it was smoky and a wee bit dry- tasted like those I had in Bali.

The Nasi Kambing Bumbu (RM26)..

The mutton was served with yellow rice and kangkung. The mutton was cooked dry in their spices and sauce- I liked this too. The slices of capsicums and caramelised onions balanced the meat perfectly. The rice and vegetables were nothing to shout about though.

Overall a satisfying experience at Ole Ole Bali. The food here does remind me of the food I had in Bali- ie, it's more on the dry cooking style, not much gravy and the balinese sambal is readily available. Though the sambal served here was not that fiery. Oh, and they dont serve bebek and babi guling (for obvious reason :p)

Ole Ole Bali is located at J-0G-15 & J0G-16, Soho KL, Solaris Mont Kiara, 2-J, Solaris KL.

Fogal Meat Market, Sri Hartamas, KL

For my birthday last year end, my friends decided that I should have a lot of meat...

Wah, that's the impression they get of me? ._."

Hmmm, ok ok less meat this year :p

Anyways, what's planned and what's eaten was last year, so here's the food ;)

Jeremy was at Fogal's early, so he had some garlic bread first..

Nicely toasted, garlicky and butterish. Good.

We decided to have the platter for 4, but as jeremy dont take beef; he ordered a side of sausages..

He chose pork and lamb sausages with sides of wedges and greens..Both the sausages were juicy and tasty, the wedges were crisp on the outside, but with fluffy potatoes on the inside..

Then came the meat platter..

Gosh, the amount of meat looks rather intimidating..

There's 2 types of sausages, 2 kebabs, pork bacons, lamb burger patty, lamb chops, pork chop, beef steak and served with sides of chips, mash and coleslaw. Quite a mouthful eh?

We decided to have the chorizo and some lamb+pork sausage. The chorizo (the darker reddish one) was yummy; juicy and spicy, the meat was springy. I find the other sausage too salty though. Lamb burger patty was tasty; tender and moist, cooked just right. The pork bacon was just so so. Beef steak was overcooked and rather hard. Same for pork chop, I find it rather dry and hard at some parts. Need to douse it with apple sauce.. Both the lamb and pork kebabs were fine, quite tender but nothing to shout about. As for the lamb chops, so parts were just nice, while other parts were rather hard.. Sides were average too.

Phew. So much meat.

I guess it's better to order the specific type of meat you want at Fogal's than to have the platter. Somehow I get the impression that all the meat were dunked at the griller and cooked together. But each meat needs to be given different cooking time and attention to get the optimum texture and flavour, no?

Fogal Meat Market is located at N-1-4, Plaza Damas, No. 60, Jalan Sri Hartamas, Sri Hartamas, 50480, Kuala Lumpur.

Bo Tung Xeo, Ho Chi Minh

Jeffrey, being the good host that he is, gave us the choice of having dinner on a river cruise (mediocre food) or eating a popular local fare; grilled food, but will end up smelling of smoke and food..

Not such a hard choice, we chose the popular fare over popular cruise..haha..pigs that we are..

He brought us to Bo Tung Xeo, a restaurant famed for grilled meats; and as suggested by the restaurant name; grilled beef.

The menu was in Vietnamese and English, which was good; still we left Jeffrey to do the ordering.

Surprisingly, he didn't order grilled beef, he thought we should try other dishes that's different..

So we had the sauteed pumpkin flower with garlic..I like this dish immensely, it was sweet, refreshing, had a nice bite to it. Not much salt to it, hence we could just chomp it down without any rice as accompaniment.

Next was sauteed deer's tendon (luk kan) with spinach. I've tried cow tendon (ngau kan) in Malaysia many times, but deer's was a first. The texture was very different compared to cow's. Deer tendon texture is very similar to jelly fish; had the QQ (springy) texture. It is a tad bland, hence sauteed with some vegs and sauces is does justice to this dish perfectly.

The whole reason we came to Bo Tung Xeo; Jeffrey's favourite; grilled goat's breast. Yeah, that's how it was written in the menu. After some probing, it's actually grilled goat udders..Interesting, though Dragongirl, who is not into such food, took one piece and that's that. I must say that it's tasty, the marination was delicious, the meat was a tad chewy, very much like chewing calamari. There is a gamey aftertaste, for those who hates gamey lamb/ mutton dish may wanna skip this. To be eaten with with their special sauce, mix of chili, fermented beancurd (fu yu), fish sauce; which is also tasty (unless you don't like fu yu)

I saw some exotic food stuff that involves balls and poles, decided to skip that; but I could not pass the chance of having some fried scorpions.

I was thinking that I'll be serve some pop sized scorpions..just pop in mouth..crunch crunch and swallow. Imagine my surprise when I saw this...
The length of one scorpion was about 15cm.

I started with the claws, which was rather hard and erm, prickly? Tasted like fish crackers, but coarser in texture. I decided to eat the back abdomen first as the glistening eyes looks sorta creepy. The abdomen was not crunchy, heck it was slightly pasty. And it had bitter after taste. I did not like this. Jeffrey finished the remaining scorpions..thanks dude ;p

The grilled saba (mackerel) was good though..Crispy skin, juicy meat..yums

We ended with a bowl of very fresh steamed clams..Really sweet and fresh; goes well with the sauces too..

We decided to have our food fast, hence we ordered our grills from the cook. For those who prefer grilling your own food, well, you get to do that too :)

Oh, do wear thin clothing; obviously this restaurant is not with aircon..And no perfume required..You'll leave with the restaurant's home brand perfume..haha

Bu Tong Xeo is located at 31, Ly Tu Trong, P.Ben Nghe, Q1. Ho Chi Minh

Cao Cao Lamb and wanton noodles, Jalan Kuchai Lama

Sometimes, eating certain food would bring back wonderful memories of the past..Have you had that experience before?

My brother has been wanting me to have this wanton noodles at Jalan Kuchai Lama for ages, saying that there's something about the wanton mee...

We did finally managed to make or way there, took our seats (be careful, the hawkers are rather territorial there) and ordered the wanton mee...

The noodles was served with some very ordinary char siew which was not worth mentioning. I took a bite of the wanton noodles and my brother waited for my response..

It's definitely not the noodles; the noodles was ordinary, but the sauce..the smoky, soy sesame induced sauce that warps me back to my childhood days..Days when I was a kid..my parents bringing us to have supper at our fave wanton noodles after a visit at grandma's. Tastes like That wanton noodles eh? my bro said, eyes glinting...

I was glad he brought me. The meat wantan was delicious, mince pork was well marinated and the wanton skin was smooth..yums We had side orders of sui kows, which was equally tasty too..

Other than the wanton noodles, the grilled lamb was purported famous too; how could we not order?

I must say, the grilled lamb was tasty; slightly crispy on the outside, while the meat retained it's sweet juices..Lovely..We also ordered taufoo bakar (grilled taufoo) which turned out rather dry. Guess the QC was not that good; my brother said it tasted better the last he tried..

The grilled lamb stall is called Cao Cao; I didnt see any name at the wanton noodles stall. These stalls are located at Jalan Kuchai Lama, off Jalan Kelang Lama. The same road you take to Restoran Talipon. The hawker stalls are facing Wisma FGA.

New Langsam Cafe, Bali

Jimbaran is famous for it's fresh seafood, beautiful sunset and perfect ambience for the romantic night out..Or so I was told by my friends before I went..

But I had the same warning told repeatedly, by my concerned friends, Be prepared to pay

We were recommended to go to New Langsam Cafe as the restaurant I wanted to go was destroyed by tsunami (or so I was told).

New Langsam Cafe does have a nice ambience, very cozy and romantic. But I went there with 3 other girlfriends, romance was not that important that night..hehe

Got the menu and scanned the price, the price was somewhat like Malaysia's, but their live lobsters and some fish were more expensive than Msia.

We had grilled garoupa..

Flesh was sweet, but I feel that the spices and marination was just too strong, after a few bites, I could hardly taste the fish..

The grilled squid was next.. ..It was fine, springy texture, had the smoky flavour. Though at times can be a tad chewy..

The grilled chicken was too dry and well, burnt..
The veg was normal...

But the worst dish of the night goes to the crabs!!! WF and Bollywood Q took the trouble to pick live crabs, and knowing it's fresh, wanted it to be steamed..

The cooks insisted that we have grilled, but we still wanted steamed. We were really curious on the cook's insistent.. And we finally understood why. The crab's flesh was soft, to the brink of mushy. Lots of ginger and spices to cover the fishy smell. We were very sure they did not serve us the live crabs we chose. These are definitely dead crabs, not even fresh.

We did not enjoy our meal and with the price of RM180 (total bill), I will kiss their @$$ if I ever return to this place. If you really wanna try this place (ambience over food?), it's located at Kedonganan Bay, Bali. Note: One of my friend ate at ths restaurant 4 years ago and said that the seafood as really fresh. Guess either the food's detiorarated or we were just plain unlucky..

Ikan Bakar Pak Awang, Cherating

Yes, am still not done with Cherating/ Kemaman ;p

Being at Cherating, having seafood is almost a must, and we decided to have ikan bakar (grilled fish) instead for our dinner one night. I have previously searched on the net for recommendations of ikan bakar in Cherating and a traveller was raving about ikan bakar at Pak Awang's. Hence started our search for the elusive stall...

Those who have travelled to Cherating would know that the road at Cherating is long, not very well lighted and sorta tight. And to look for Pak Awang's restaurant near sunset was almost impossible, but with a lil determination and good look out from Bubbly Alicia, we found the place...

Quite a large restaurant/shop, this place was rather quiet with only a few patrons..Since we were there and our tummies have started protesting, we went to the seafood counter and chose our dinner..

Blur butterfly wanted pari (stingray) and she chose the largest she could lay her hands on...Though the flesh is sweet, I thought the marination was insuffucient and the skin would have tasted better if it was grilled a tad longer..Looks kinda raw and uncooked (though it was) from my picture hor?

As i like sotong (squids) tremendously, we decided to have 2 types of cooking style, ie, grilled sotong and deep fried sotong. The grilled sotong was rather disappointing; again, I find the marination insufficient, making this a rather bland dish..

The deep fried version of the squid was much better...Crunchy batter, springy squids..

Rather than having all our dishes grilled, we had the ikan masak tiga rasa (fish cooked in 3 flavours).

Oh, sweet and sour ya? i asked.

Takde dik, 3 rasa, pedas, manis dan masam! (No, 3 flavours, spicy, sweet and sour!) the makcik replied.. And this was our dish of fish..Tasted exactly like sweet and sour fish (pedas? mana pedas?!?), the fish was fresh, so this was pretty decent..

Lastly, we had stir fried kailan with salted fish.. I've always like the malay version of this.Somehow, it's more pungent than the chinese version...and i like.. hehe. Pak Awang's version is wicked, very tasty, one of the best I've tried, loved the salted fish they used, really yummy..Total bill was RM52.

What Julianne thinks?

Ordinary, not sure what all the rave was about.. (though by the time we left, this place was quite pack!)

Ikan Bakar Pak Awang is located along the long road towards kemaman/kuala terengganu. After driving pass Club Med (on your right) for approximately 5 mins, this shop, with very small sign board, is on your left.

Gerai Seri Melaka, Jalan Bellamy

Ah, yes, the famous ikan bakar (grilled fish) at Jalan Bellamy which some sworn that it's the best in Klang Valley. That right?

Some said it's over hype, while others find it sedap giler..Whatever it is, since I was there recently, decided to write about this place for the benefit of those who have not heard/ tried the ikan bakar. There's a row of ikan bakar stalls there and I'll go to the one in the middle, called Gerai Seri Melaka...

We had ikan keli (catfish), ikan pari (stingray) and sotong (squid). Each of us took our own rice, extra dishes (the stall owner cooked many dishes to go with the grilled fish) and the hot grilled fish was served almost immediately..

Ikan pari came in beautifully, nicely marinated, crispy on the outside, but juicy, sweet and tender on the inside. Still yumz after not eating for a couple of years :)

And nothing, absolutely nothing can stop me from ordering my favourite ikan keli..hehehehe.I was first introduced to ikan keli at this stall and years later, I am still a big fan of ikan keli. Although there's lots of grilled fish stalls that serves ikan keli, I still find thatGerai Seri Melaka serves the most yummy kelis..slurp! The marination is fantastic, crispy skin, fatty, oily, juicy flesh that practically glides down your throat and leave you (well at least for me) begging for more! Have it with their homemade chilli sauce, the combination sure is a killer!

The piping hot sotong was served with jejangut (tentacles) which was quite a large plate for 1 sotong.The texture was springy, but not chewy. Fresh and sweet, this dish was 'cleared' pretty fast. We paid approximately RM39 for the grilled food, rice, extra dishes of a few types of veg and drinks for four people.

What Julianne thinks?

Fuss free and delicious

Gerai Seri Melaka is located at Jalan Bellamy ( behind Istana Negara). Drive pass Alice International School (on your left), for about 5 mins, you'll see the stalls on your left. Operating hours: 10am-3 pm, 6pm- 12 midnight. Close on Sundays. Tel: 019-2892501

Bangkok Food

I wont be introducing on a particular restaurant/eatery in this post, but on the food I have managed to eat when I was in Bangkok. Some are really good, make sure you try too! Beef noodles- you can pratically find this dish everywhere in thailand. Very popular, what you get is thick beef stock, noodles of your choice and "types" of beef. Not my favourite, i find the stock too salty and sweet at the same time. Prefer Vietnam's version Duck noodles- you can find this quite easily too. my favourite noodles coz i really love duck. Same method as the beef noodles, served with duck broth, your choice of noodles and 'types' of duck (parts). yummy. I have taken duck rice too previously and it's also good :). different frm Msia's version. Mixed pork part noodles- actually i dont think i find this in many places. but the BBQ pork looked so good (it was glistening under the lights, beckoning me to order it.. i swear!), could not resist having it. I chose egg noodles (which is different frm Msia's version). Very 'airy' sort of noodles, soaks up the sweet spicy sauce well. But need to eat it fast,coz it tends to get soggy (thats when its icky!). I had this at MBK food court, near Siam BTS. Thai mixed rice- Yup, thai's version of chap fan. As thai people loves pork, most of their dishes are pork dishes. You can try mixed rice almost everywhere in Thailand, at foodcourts, shops etc. As you can see, i had pork, pork and pork. freaking carnivour. but this is good stuff, do try. Pork patty and sweet sour bacon/pork thingy. Had their aubergine and veg too. fantastic. Fried kuay teow (flat noodles)- Looks very similar to Msia's version. You do find small stalls that does fried kuay teow along the road side. I had mine at Robinson's foodcourt while taking a break frm shopping. Dont ever try that stall. Sucks. Big time.

Pad thai- Another ubiquituous dish that you can get in Thailand, a must try. Sweet, spicy, sour all rolled into one, gives full satisfaction if you get a good cook preparing this :p. I had a really nice one at a restaurant (popular amongst the locals) along Menam Chao Phraya, near the new bridge (sorry mates, didnt take down the restaurant name). Or jien- Or I think its called or jien in Thailand too.. That's how we ordered it anyways. Exactly the same version as Msia's. But was served without any sauce (?!?), so not as satisfying as Msia's. Grilled bananas- Not to be mistaken as the famous air dried honey soak banana frm Chiangmai, those we get from Bangkok were grilled dried and drizzled with honey. Very different, but not my fave. Do give it a try though. Green Mango and sweet fish sauce- I am not sure why I never knew about this snack of that many times I've been to thailand. Well, better late than never! Thanks SL for introducing this really fantabulous snack to me. You can get it from most of the fruit stalls, foodcourts, etc.. this is really really yummy. Sliced, crunchy green mango dipped in the fish sauce-palm sugar laden dip. Though my tolerance level for sour food is extremely low, this green mango is so good, I can't stop eating it! Chopped chillies and dried shrimp for the final perfect touch to this snack. Must try!

I didnt take pictures of these, but I did try...

Mango and sweet sticky rice- Too famous. Dont need more explanation. Must have when in Thailand! Better than those served in Msia anytime. Prefer with mangoes than durians

Grilled squids- Can get this along the road, these squids are grilled so nicely, so sweet, springy and dont have the "fishy" smell. Have it with their spicy greenish chilli sauce, OMG! shiok!

Grilled sausages- Not so good since the last time i had it in bangkok. basically this is mince meat with chopped shallots & coriander, made into sausages and grilled. Eat with the same sauce as the grilled squid.

Grilled meat slices- Ok, this snack look so unappetising that you may not want to try. It's cut into strips like fries and thread together using some leafy twiggy thing (else it's skewered with bamboo stick). You choose which "string" you want and the stall owner will grill it for you, on the spot. Absolutely scrumptious, this tops my list of grilled street food. Well marinated, taste like char siew, but different.

Hope you'll try some of these dishes/snacks when you do visit thailand as I did! Bon appetite :)