Quickie: Marmalade @ Publika

Since becoming mommy, there's not much of me time unless you count bathroom time as one. And meeal time is always a rush to serve the kids and keeping them entertain while gobbling down the cold food or warm ice cream. Sigh..
So I count this as blessing when I found a place that the kids can eat and have fun, while we adults can enjoy our warm meal at our own leisure pace. Ah......

So far we find the food decent and quite refreshing. I like the surprising burst of taste from cranberries here, sprinkles of almonds there.

I like the balanced proportion of meat and vegetation. I learnt to appreciate the feeling of satisfied but not stuffed.

And as parents, we are glad they take effort to prepare healthier version of food like preservative free sausages and stuff.

And the kids get to enjoy!
And so are the parents..

Gopeng Lai Fun Tou

With smartphone.. I hope I can make a come back. Haha.. (but bare with my spelling mistakes. Fat fingers..)
And my post this time is a revisit by chance.. Coming back from KL for the festive celebration is a real torture. We started off at 4pm and reach Ipoh at 10pm. All rest stops are jammed with cars and people. And most of the famous makan place like rawang steam fish, ulu yam loh mee, bidor duck noodles and kampar claypot rice are jammed packed as well. BUT this is one place that we can still enjoy good food at our own pace and space.
I like it for its simple homemade quality. All things from the rice noodles (lai fun) to the fish pastes (liu) are all freshly made on the spot. I am never a fan of lai fun. I don't like the chewy-unbreakable texture of the normal lai fun. But this one is nicely adjusted to give the smooth surface without the chewy feeling. The soup is clear fish stock without the artificial flavour. The fish pastes are all very solid. It is interesting to find not only spring onion but sesame in the noodles soup. I won't say the food is superb. But I would say they are simply fulfilling.

Most stuff are lapped up by customers within minutes they came out from kitchen. So the window time to visit this place is 8pm to 9.30pm.

Direction: from NSE's Gopeng exit traffic light, take a right turn towards Gopeng town. Turn right on the second traffic light into Taman Gopeng Baru. Go straight through 5 road bumps. Along the way you will pass by residential houses. Turn left to the shophouses after the 5 bumps. You wil find the nameless but pretty famous shop. Have fun!

Quickie: Nasi Kukus Ayam Goreng Berempah

My goodness... The original post was 7/24/08!!! I am extremely sorry. As I looked through my list, I find so many unfinished drafts. Some of the shops had failed (in line with my rating them poor). While some of them remained as popular as ever like this stall in Menara Boustead.

Location: Menara Boustead Food Court, Jalan Raja Chulan
Rating: Good

To be truthful, I can't even remember the dining experience clearly. But I do remember that the food in general is good. Partly because I love rice that is well cooked and I find steamed rice is soft and fluffy to the bite. I like it that they give you lots of sauce (or kuah in malay language).
The chicken is fragrant. It had to as it is fried chicken with spices. Though the chicken itself is nothing to shout about, but the combination of soft fluffy rice with ample sauces and spicy chicken made it a good deal.
If you are looking for a quick lunch, no frills, this is it.

Restoran Selera Kampung

I have been having this draft for the past 1 year. I took some photos on my first visit, but I find them insufficient for me to share with you. Then there was a construction going on in that area, making the visit a bit troublesome. When the construction finally ended, I came back to get my final shots and here's what I have got to share with you.

Location: Behind Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, facing Jalan Raja Laut.
Rating: Good

Review
It's self service here. You come in and line up to indicate what you want. You could choose rice, chapati, or other knick-knacks like samosa or vadai. If you do not indicate what type of accompaniments you want, the server will naturally scoop 2 types onto your plate. For meat, you can choose chicken or mutton (I can't remember if there's beef). But I liked the chicken.This is what I picked on the second time. A piece of chapati, chicken curry and dhal. I learnt my lesson. Why?

The first time I came, I was hungry and greedy (that's always the case, when you're hungry). I thought 1 piece of chapati wouldn't be enough to satisfy my emptiness. Moreover, those other knick knacks look so inviting. I ended up taking an additional piece of vadai and fried vege (in the pic after x2 this).Moral of the story : Control your greediness when you're hungry. Anyway, the food was good. The chapati is freshly made, so it is warm and soft. That coupled with the tenderly cooked chicken curry was good.

I enjoyed this fried vege in batter, but eating them alone with chapati is too much. The sauce is sourish in taste, hence it goes very well with the other heavy stuff. I like to mix this together with the chapati and curry, so that I don't feel too stuffed too soon.
My friend ordered rice instead of chapati. So for those that do not like chapati, you have other options. But even for a non bread fan like me enjoy those chapati, I seriously recommend you try that.

I love this dhal (in actual fact I am not sure if it is dhal). I love the creamy texture that is fragrant with vege and spices.Even the fried cauliflower with long beans tastes really good. Maybe it was my hunger, but I still felt the same on my second visit.And to top it all off, I like to order Nescafe special - fresh cow milk with nescafe. Just look at the tri-coloured creamy+fragrant coffee. What a fulfilling lunch. Ahhh...

What's with Singaporean & thick rice noodles?

It's been 13 years since I last stepped foot on Singapore. A China friend asked me why wouldn't I visit Singapore more often, since I am so near to the country. Erm... Let me see;
Do I like shopping? No.
Do I like Singapore food? What to love? I am all confused.

I am staying at the southern side of Singapore for business convenience. Food wise, there is nothing much to offer except chain stores and stuff. I walked to Tanjong Pagar Exchange and saw this "Ampang Yong Tau Fu". I know it's stupid. What do I expect by ordering food originated from my place at a foreign country? But I didn't expect this bad...I had to swallow all the pieces of beancurd and rolls that're fried to charcoals.Then the flat rice noodles I expected, came out to be thick rice noodles. The usual sauce of chili and sweet sauce became pork sauce. I was so confused! One thing for sure was that I had no idea what I was eating.

On day 2, I learnt my lesson. Let's go to more common food court to explore some local stuff. I went to Tanjong Pagar food court. The signboard has a TV host recommendation plastered on it. How bad can it go, right? Neh....

There is this Hokkien Prawn Noodle. Now, if a Westerner travelled from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, then to Singapore, he would be one confused man just like me.
Hokkien Mee in Penang is in essence noodles in prawn flavoured soup. As you go down south, they call it Prawn Mee in Kuala Lumpur. But they are still prawn soup noodles. But at the extreme south in Singapore, The Prawn Noodle Specialist @ Tanjong Pagar said it is fried noodles.

And if that is not bad enough, it is AGAIN using thick rice noodles. What's with thick rice noodles? Anyway, I am fine with that. But just take a look at this plate of.... thing. Colourless and meatless. The look of it already made feel hopeless.

Luckily they provide some chili and kalamansi to be added to the noodles. Otherwise, I would have added tasteless to the list.

Jalan Ipoh Yong Tau Foo aka Jalan Segambut Yong Tau Foo

Confusing? Not my fault. The bungalow turned shop is situated at Jalan Segambut, but the name of the shop is called Jalan Ipoh Yong Tau Foo. Aw... Let's not be so critical shall we, it is just like buying Seremban Siew Pow at Midvalley.

Location: Jalan Segambut, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Fair for food. Terrible for parking.

Review
It is really a matter of luck if we can get proper parking and seating space during lunch hour, as the whole place will be packed. I love to sit inside the building, as I get to enjoy the architecture of yester-years. At times, I feel it is a waste for such beautiful building to turn into commercial lot, but at least this is better than turning into some sleazy noght clubs like many in Penang. That is really a shame.
Ah that aside, let's talk food. What's nice here is not only the yong tau foo itself. There are tauhu bakar (bbq beancurd), paper-wrapped chicken, rojak (fruit salad in prawn paste sauce) and desserts of various tarts and puffs.
The ji pau gai (literally paper-wrapped chicken) comes in quite generous portion.

The beauty lies in its ability to maintain the moisture, aroma and flavours in the meat. But one tiny little shortcoming is the skin tends to stick to the paper. It is kind of a letdown since skin is one of the most fragrant part of the meat.
The tauhu bakar is crispy and stuffed with ample veges. Taking them with the prawn paste sauce and peanuts are great.

We also ordered fried sui kow (dumplings) and beancurd rolls. They are freshly fried and not oily. I could wolf down a couple of this effortlessly. Crunchy and fragrant.

Ben preferred soupy stuff. I am a bit cautious over this as I do not like the strong fishy smell in many of the fish pastes. After one bite, I am satisfied that there is no fishy taste in the fish paste (ironic eh). We ended up ordering more.

Something different here is that the sui kow's stuffing is not pork (the usual practice) but fish paste as well. And for those who dislike fishy smell, no worries, I have verified and approved. haha..

We ended up bringing our family here for makan, when they do come down to KL for visits. If all else fails, the variety should compensate for any other possible shortcomings.

For the love of Mee

It was a touching story I read in EatingAsia's Mee, With Love. It gives me the warm fuzzy optimism that love really conquers all. Well at least, the love of wanton mee really conquers all obstacles of long distance and obscurity of PJ to Ben. It is always difficult to drag Ben to any place further than 10km radius from home. But the mention of good wanton mee, he agreed without even a whim.

Location : 616 Jalan 17/10, Petaling Jaya.
Tel. 012-754-1287/012-756-1214.
Rating : Good
Review

I don't really how to describe the texture of the noodles. They are crisp yet adequately chewy so that you get a fuller experience and taste of the noodles. The roast pork sweet and salty variety are both engaging. The meal is good enough that Ben recommended for future visits.Oh yeah, what adds to the aroma is the tiny-crispy lard that is added last after the noodles are mixed with sauces and all.In addition, we also ordered wanton (dumplings) and sui kow (bigger dumplings) to complement our meal.

The wanton is mild in taste so that sweetness of pork is preserved.

To satisfy our appetite (greed), sui kow offers a more mouthful pleasure of sweetly flavoured meat.In addition to pork meat, there are also prawns in the sui kow to increase crunchiness and sweetness to the dumplings.

A simple meal it is, but sufficiently satisfying and attractive that makes us long to visit the shop again soon.I know you have seen enough, but seriously, for the love of mee..I can't help it!