Everything Asian

Quickie: Nasi Kukus Ayam Goreng Berempah

2011-01-27T18:34:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-20T01:11:00.003+08:00

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?

2009-05-30T22:29:00.008+08:00

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

2009-04-18T19:17:00.000+08:00

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

2009-04-01T15:53:00.007+08:00

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!

Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh, KK

2009-03-31T13:52:00.002+08:00

We were broght to this place on our last day in KK. Our KK relative told us that this is one of the most popular bat kut teh shop in town. We came around 5.30pm, by the time we finish our meal, all tables were fully occupied.Location : Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu town center
Rating : Fairly good

Review
I think the best part about the bak kut teh here is the variety of cuts and delicate portion, so that it offers patrons choices. The soup is alright, but it made me thirsty after the meal (suspected msg). The rib is well cooked, as in the meat is tender.For those who loves pork trotter, this bowl should not be missed. But then again, it is not like it melts in your mouth. Probably more suitable for those that prefer more substance.

The waiters brought all sorts of meats for us to choose. Because we kept quiet, he kept delivering bowl after bowl of different meats and cuts. Pork intestines are one of the many types they offer.If you like chinese yellow wine in cooking, this may be something interesting for you. Pork liver and stomach in chinese yellow wine. The soup is supposed to be nourishing.

Shame to say that the meat I enjoyed most was actually processed meat - pork balls.

The food in general is fairly good, except for:

the soup makes you thirsty
the owner is stingy with the soup too

Otherwise, it would be interesting to have a bak kut teh meal with variety in texture and taste.

Bai Ling @ Restoran Prima Taiping

2009-03-30T09:34:00.013+08:00

As the Chinese saying goes : Sui Ye Bu Liu Ren (Time never leaves anybody behind). Change is truly the only constance. As much as I would love to maintain some form of tradition, time never allows permanence. We visited Taiping at least once a year during Chinese Cheng Beng Festival (Visit the Departed) and our itinerary has always been dinner at Chai Chi (Vegetable Market), supper at pasar (wet market), breakfast at Chai Chi again, and ends it with lunch at Rex before we leave. This year, when we went back to Chai Chi for dinner, there was nothing much to offer. Most stalls have closed or moved. We were recommended to go to Bai Ling, a relatively new hawker centre in Taiping town centre.
It was actually a combination of 3 shops and Bai Ling is just one of them. 1 shop offer mostly rice dishes, while Bai Ling and its opposite store offered most of the Taiping hawker stuff that we wanted (except popiah or spring rolls).

Location : Along Jalan Kota after Panorama Hotel at your right, Taiping
Rating : Good

Review
My dad spotted this stall straight away, as it advertised "O Bak Pui" (literally Black Meat Rice in Hokkien). No surprise when the rice came with really dark coloured meat. It was actually soy sauce marinated pork with spices. The meat is fragrant and sweet, but nothing special about the rice and egg.
The otak-otak (savoury spiced fish pudding) here is a bit unusual. I have seen most otak-otak use banana leaf (for steamed ones) and pine leaf (for smoked/bbq ones). This one uses a type of big leaf. I am not exactly sure what to call it. Lemme check and post it in the comments later.But in actual fact, taste wise is "ok" only. Maybe because they uses this type of leaf, so the moist is not well retained like a banana leaf would. Moreover, I did not detect any fragrance from the leaf. But then again, my sense of smell has deteriorated since baby delivery. Sigh...

Lobak (braised meat in Hokkien) is of course a must. This spice marinated meat rolls are fresh, compared to most I found in KL (blerk). Usually we love to include lo ning (braised egg in Hokkien) and pei tan (century egg). Oh, by the way, I really really hope to inform those Western readers to educate some their peers that might perceive century egg as hundred years old egg (as shown in Fear Factor few years back). I could still remember how funny it was to see those participants making those faces when they ate those eggs, thinking it was really 100 years old. Century egg is just eggs marinated in ammonia type of chemical. Not heard of anyone died of eating century eggs so far, so don't worry.But what's important to note is that, lobak is only complete when they come with lo jiu (braised sauce) and chili sauce. Otherwise, what is lobak? It is as if eating hamburger without the bread. The sauce has to be sticky, so that when you dip the meat into the sauce, the meat is not soaked but covered with savoury sauce. Experience the richness of the sauce and crunchiness of the meat followed by a waft of the aroma of spices. Ow... (Feel like shouting - MJ style).

There is a small stall setting up right in the middle of all 3 shops. They sell all source of pies and quiches. Love the abundance of filling and fresh-crispy pie crust. A real worth for the $.I think best thing about these 3 shops are their understanding of convenience for customers. How? They do not mind where the food is ordered from. You can sit anywhere you wish and order from any shop. They can deliver to you. Not like many of the shops I encountered, where you are not allowed to order from other shops or stalls, thereby limiting their own business opportunities. Hail the Taiping co-operative spirit!

Eurika! Fishball noodles in KL

2009-03-24T18:42:00.001+08:00

Yup... Yup.... Update your blog please. I know... I know..... Unfortunately, nowadays I have no hand to take photos. PM not only took up my time. She basically took up my everything. Having a baby is no joke man!
Anyway, forget about my ramblings over PM. If you let me, I could go on.. and on.. and on... I got this recommended by Sam Cheong from his weekly article in The Star Newspaper. I love his choices of street food. I love this more because I finally found some resemblance to Ipoh "Yu Dan Fun". YEAY!

Location : Jalan Maharajalela (outside Ho Wah Genting), off Jalan Loke Yew
Rating : Good

Review
What's so good?
Do you stay late and so wake up late in weekends? If yes, they are still open at 2pm.
Do you like yong tau fu (stuffed beancurd) with soup noodles but can't find these in KL? They have mee, meehoon and koay teow. They have soup and kon low (dry).
Do you find it difficult in KL to get the type of chilli sauce illustrated below? They have it.
For those Ipoh mali, this is almost as good as it gets. Ah....... The satisfaction after a bowl of hot noodles with accompaniments of beancurd rolls and fishballs. Yummy!
The fare is simple but when you have tasted the soup, you know that this is no "cincai*" affair. It has fair amount of "tong choi" and lard to enhance the taste and aroma of the soup. At least, better than many soup noodles I have tasted in KL.

Just look at those lovely accompaniments. We find the stuffed aubergines fragrant and soft. The beancurd rolls are also aromatic and strongly flavoured. And for those from Ipoh that find many a times disappointed with the limp fishballs in KL. Try this! The fishballs are springy and crisp.

This stall is not difficult to find. Only thing is its limited parking space. But if you are willing to walk, then parking will not be a problem. Selamat mencuba ya...

*cincai - simply or in jest

Adai's Fish Head Bee Hoon @ Pudu

2008-09-20T17:22:00.000+08:00

Sometimes, it is rather boring to visit food courts that tend to repeat the same type of menus. Pork noodles, wanton noodles, mixed rice, chicken rice, curry mee (not so nice ones), fried koay teow (no standard ones), fried stuff (noodles or rice), etc. It is so contradictory. Kuala Lumpur is such a huge pot of cultural meltdown that anyone can easily lost count on the variety of food available, so how could I say it is boring? So I went surfing on the net and decided to go for fish head noodles in Pudu.

Location: Jalan Landak, opposite Pudu Plaza, same row as 7-11
Rating: Ok-lah..

Review
The store owner came, we asked for 2 fish meat noodles instead of the usual head. He never said anything about fried or non-fried, he only asked if we want fine rice noodles or thick rice noodles. So we requested for 1 fine and the other thick.
The noodles came but I was a bit disappointed as I had expected fried fish meat. Anyway, the good thing would be they do not have strong fishy smell. The meat is fresh and no bones..The fine rice noodles is rather common. But it kind of able to absorb more of the soup's flavour as compared to the thicker version.The thick rice noodles offered a more springy version and provide better chewing experience. Frankly though, what we find interesting is the type of ginger they use. The ginger is spicy and provided very strong aroma to the soup. Hence, we find this place in general ok-lah.

Nostalgic Sin Kheang Aun Restaurant

2008-09-19T20:19:00.003+08:00

This is an evergreen focal point for families to enjoy each others company and tasty food. I said evergreen because the place has remained packed from my kiddy days until today. Dad love this place. He used to take our whole family to this place when we travelled to Penang. Our standard order would be Gulai Assam Hu (Fish in Tamarind Curry), Lor Bak (Marinated Pork Roll), Har Look (Prawn Fritters) and Kerabu Hae (Prawn in sweet sour salad). Mom and dad would try to imitate their Assam Fish, but something is always missing. These are the treasures handed down by the late Mr Ong.

Location : No2, Chulia Lane 10200, Penang (Tel: 04-2614786)
Rating: Superb!

Review
Sitting in the restaurant is like sitting in an era where big families remained close knit, the staff force are all long serving friends and relatives. The system used proved efficient through the years. For instance, I have seen them using this food lift to deliver food directly from the kitchen to the hall upstairs since my kiddie days and they are still using it.

The simple deco and traditional furnitures are unpretentious and original. The environment simply put me at ease.I only went down a short while to snap a few photos around the shop, and the dining hall on the 1st floor was almost filled up.

Sin Kheang Aun as an old timer, the patrons have been loyal throughout the years. The beauty is in the close ties it fosters among the different generations. What I see in most tables are at least 2 generations and most of them enjoy the company ranging from grand kids to great grand parents. What harmony..

Enough about the place. Let's go into the main topic. Nyum nyum... This is the assam fish. According to the cook, it has to be "O Chiu" or the black pomfret. The assam sauce will bring out the sweetness of the meat and tone down the strong fish smell.We simply love to flood our rice with the aromatic sauce. The sour, sweet and salty sauce promotes appetite and don't worry too much about its spiciness. If you ask me, I say it is not spicy at all.

Ah... This is another favourite of mine. The kerabu prawn. They are crunchy, refreshing, appetising and sweet. I have to say, part of the beauty lies in the freshness of the ingredients. Like the assam fish, there is no strong fishy smell because the fish is fresh. The prawns here are sweet and crunchy because they are fresh.I say the food choices here are rather healthy. We had fish, prawns and salads, and now we have stir fry jicama with squid and eggs - Jiu Hu Char. It is such simple and healthy dish. The vege is naturally sweet and the cook made sure he did not overcook it, so they remain crunchy and moist.And we ordered another typical Hainanese dish called - Kiam Hu Bak (Salted Fish Meat). To tell you the truth, I had initially expected a steamed minced meat with salted fish. But this dish came out as quite a surprise. Given the name, you would have expected saltiness, but it is mostly sweet and sour. The meat is not too soft and they maintain the distinction between meat and salted fish. You can taste that the salted fish are of quality. According to the chef, it has to be a specific type.

There you have it! Our complete meal, which I find fulfilling not only gastronomically but psychologically.

Sniffing after banana leaf rice in brickfields

2008-08-25T15:30:00.002+08:00

For those of you who have been looking for the whereabouts of the stalls that was previously in Restoran New Lay Sin (aka Peking Hotel in the olden days when Jalan Tun Sambanthan is still called Jalan Brickfields) that I had posted in New Lay Sin's Wonder , worry no more.

Muahaha.... I have finally traced it back. They have now all moved to a slightly hidden shop, but much much more cleaner and easier to park than the previous haunt.

Direction:

If you are going along Jalan Tun Sambanthan heading from Kuala Lumpur towards Petaling Jaya, you will see a Wisma MAB at your left. This building come after you pass through the KL Sentral Monorail station and row of shops at your left.

The white building shown on the left of the photo below is Wisma MAB.

Right after Wisma MAB, there is a left turning into a car park open for public. Turn into the car park and park you car.

You will see an opening in the car park that leads you to a food court/coffee shop. The shop sells seafood by night (Mayflower Seafood Restaurant) and the stalls previously from New Lay Sin operates by day (Money's Corner Food & Beverage Station).
Don't think you will miss it with all these directions and photos. Good luck!

Yong Tau Foo @ Jalan Imbi

2008-07-19T17:13:00.008+08:00

Talk about yong tau foo (stuffed beancurd), everyone would relate it to Ampang. So does this little stall standing at the open air car park at Jalan Imbi. But if you ask me, I say this stall is the best. Better than the real Ampang version.

Location: Open car park by day, right at the first junction of Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Good

Review
The varieties are pretty standard. Every time I come, I would pick everything. At least 10s of pieces. There are stuffed beancurd, stuffed chili, stuffed bittergourd, stuffed okra, stuffed aubergines, stuffed tau pok (fried beancurd skin), fried fu pei (beancurd roll), fried sui kow (meat dumpling) and soup sui kow. Love them all.What we find good is the soft and silky texture of the beancurd. At the same time it did not lose its fragrance. Many a time, we went to one of those yong tau foo shop and find the beancurd either too hard or failed to retain its soy bean fragrance. Even the soup base is good enough that you can actually eat the beancurd on its own, without the usual chili and sweet sauce.The fried stuff comes in another plate. I usually love to dip them in soup before consumption. Ben likes to take it as it is. The stuffed meat itself is strongly infused with marinates, and when combined with other veges like aubergines or chili, the combination is just beautiful.The soup sui kow is also one of our favourites. The stuffed meat is soft and tasty. Included inside the meat paste are a mixture of scallion, jicama (sengkuang in Malay or sarkok in cantonese) and bits of carrots. There.. my vege supplement fulfilled (heheheh..).Sorry about the photos. It's a bit dark there, so they came out slightly yellowish.

By the way, the financial damage depends on number of pieces you pick. Each cost RM0.80. You do the budget.

So if you are in town and craving for some good yong tau foo, give this place a visit. Because you're worth it (muahaahaaha...).

P/S: Sorry for the slow blogging speed lately, as a new addition to "thamjiak" team is on the way. So many things to prepare and so little time to rest.

Fresh soft bread by Fook Yuen @ Damai Plaza

2008-07-04T13:46:00.003+08:00

Coconut jam and butter bread. What's so special about it? I guess nothing beats the taste of fresh food, and in this case, freshly baked white-fluffy bread.

Location : Damai Plaza, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Rating : Great

Review
I am not really a bread person, but Ben's aunts have been raving about this place. And before our order came, Aunt Har purposely brought me to the back of the shop to see for myself, what makes the bread here so special.

I see that they bake their own bread and ensured their products stayed fresh. There is a dedicated staff that focussed purely on spreading and making the breads. Butter were pre-cut thinly and in a cooler to maintain its freshness and texture. Generous spread of coconut jam and butter to match the thick bread. The simple look to fool any unaware sceptic like myself. Ben, the ever bread lover, was the first to make the move. The coconut jam and butter looked plain. I assume the craze over these bread is exclusive to bread lovers. Not me. That is until I place my fingers on the bread. They were so soft and fluffy that they were simply moulded to touch and yet not losing its springiness. It wasn't the taste but the texture. Soft warm bread that melts in your mouth. Damn! I am hooked too. But that is not all that Damai Plaza offers. I was initially attracted by the stall's location, which is situated right in the middle of the walkway between the rows of shop. And more unusual is that, they actually assign a name for this walkway, as if it is a road or lane. I wonder if I was hungry. The noodle came and I thought it tasted great. Chinese like to say that it is cooked with strong flame, making the noodles fragrant with the "qi" of the wok. Difficult to understand? You need to taste a good fried noodles to understand this. The flame really has got to be very very strong. That's why some stalls (like this one) sell fried noodles using charcoal. Not because they cannot afford gas or outdated, but gas flame is limited to a certain degree. I can't help noticing this lady busy pan frying dumplings. She didn't stop replacing the dumplings in the pan. And then there were so many of them busy wrapping up raw dumplings. I can't help it. Must try this!And I have no regrets. They are good. The aroma of marinated meat is just appropriately portioned that you just want more of it, after each bite.Then there is also pan meen (handmade noodles). The difference from our normal pan meen lies with the noodles itself. They were pre-fried before being cooked in soup. So this is like a combination of yee meen and pan meen. Confusing? Doesn't matter. More important is that if offers aromatic yee meen in pan meen's substance/texture. Still confused? So am I. The tea here is also famous. Why? Beats me. I find it smooth but wouldn't say that it is special. But I have to respect them for their professionalism. The take-away packaging is so well done, that fast food chains are not as considerate as they are. See... No more worries about spilling your drinks.

This is definitely a great place to come back again. Gotta make sure I come with empty stomach to cover all these and more. Nyum.. nyum..

Quickie : Fairy Hotel at Kundasang

2008-06-28T13:37:00.001+08:00

Staying in Kundasang is great. The fresh cool air and quiet evenings. But looking for some decent food might be a bit troublesome if you are not familiar with the place. The first time I went with Ben, we made do with our own cooking and simple lunch/dinner. But this round, we brought his parents, sister, cousin and aunt. All women except for his dad. So you can imagine how standards of food has to be heightened to suit these ladies. Luckily, the restaurant beneath Fairy Hotel offered us some comfort.

Location: Less than 2km outside Kinabalu Park, Kundasang
Rating: Fair

Review
The food we ordered or actually they offered are simple home dishes. But it was fair to say that they all looked good and taste alright.
We had lime chicken. They looked good, but I couldn't really feel the texture of the chicken meat. A bit too much flour and lil' substance of meat, maybe.

The mixed vege is good. Good in the sense that they are fresh and colourful. You know how dietitian kept promoting eat veges with variety of colours is good for our vitamins/minerals needs.

The stir fry wild mushroom was ordinary to me. I can't say they taste great as I feel that they lack mushroom-y aroma.

Lastly, we had deep fried tofu in minced meat sauce. I had imagined something more colourful, but taste wise it was fair.

Well.. Like I said, at least something decent. You haven't heard the amount of complaints I get on the first night's dinner. All I can say is that, I am glad we found this restaurant.

Port View in Kota Kinabalu (Part II)

2008-06-27T13:44:00.003+08:00

Been to my previous post on Port View (Kota Kinabalu) at Port View Seafood Village? Well this is Part 2, as I went to Port View again. And yes, this is again courtesy of Ben's relative. It's really generous and kind of them to bring us to such high end makan (Malay for eating) place.

So for this round, it is not so much of rating or review but more of introducing some other seafood that they offer.

Steamed Kampung Chicken The taste of the meat is tender with substance, and comes with a tinge of saltiness. A very Cantonese like dish. Ok, ok... I know, this is not seafood. Next then..

Buttered Egg Prawn
There were no big-fresh sea/salt water prawns that day, so Ben's relative ordered buttered egg tiger prawns. These are cultured prawns, so the taste may not be as sweet and the texture not as "teeth-bouncing" (according to Ben). That's why it is ok to cook them in some stronger gravy/taste. Nevertheless, to me, they taste just as great.

Sashimi Giant Sea Asparagus (a.k.a. Elephant Trunk Molusk)

Everyone said the taste is sweet and the texture really nice to chew, but I have no idea as I am not allowed to take raw food due to my pregnancy (oops... I've spilt it out).

Steamed Flower Face Garoupa in Soy Sauce

According to Ben's relative, this is a rare type of Garoupa. The meat is sweet and very packed in texture. A great dish, and the price, just as great :P

Jung Jai Qi (Little Pot of Shark Fins)

Wou... This is no ordinary shark fins soup. The little pot is loaded with dried scallop. Sweet...

Steamed Oyster with Garlic

Thank goodness they decided to have the oyster steamed, or I would not be able to try this dish too, if they were to have it raw. I love the texture and natural salty/sweet taste of the oyster. Garlic and a squeeze of lime brought out the seafood's natural aroma. Exquisite!

Just a snapshot of the many many type of seafood you can choose from the stairs of tanks. Care for some culinary adventure? You might find something you have not seen before.

Quickie : The Steamboat

2008-06-20T00:11:00.001+08:00

Following http://masak-masak.blogspot.com blog on The Steamboat, so the last time I was in Ikano Power Centre, I thought it might be a good idea since I was alone and I love steamboat. I thought the simple concept is marketable. What's better is that they do cater for individuals, so you could always have steamboat even if you are alone, or you can choose stuff you like.Of course I did not miss the chance to try its chili sauce. They have a variety of green chili paste and sambal chili paste. Can't really call them sauce, as they are really rather pasty. The chilis are ok. Not to say very good, but acceptable.I ordered a basic set. Quite a standard fare of fish pastes/balls, fu chuk (soybean sheets), a lil' bit of fresh fish and prawns. You could also order fresh meat set (which look more appetising in the menu). The clear soup is normal.

Overall, I would say if you are alone and craving for steamboat, this place is ok-lah!

One way to Sang Kee @ Pandan Jaya

2008-06-05T19:02:00.000+08:00

I am one of those sleepy pig. I could sleep whole day and night, probably waking only for food and toilet breaks. That's why it is important for me to find a place I could go for breakfast at 1-2pm in the afternoon. And I found one that fits my taste just fine.

Location: Facing Jalan Pandan, Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Good

Review
If it is not bad enough to find a place for breakfast in the afternoon, it is even more difficult to find a good Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun (steamed flat rice noodles HK style). I found it here. Even some of those good dim sum shop I frequented can't compare.
It looks simple enough. Laying a thin layer of liquid flour over steaming hot cloth. Add in the filling and voila!
But mind you, I say "thin". That isn't easy. Many shops I frequented couldn't offer me this simple pleasure. It is important because it gives you substance when you bite into the noodles, while not making you feel stuffed. My favourite is a mix of fresh prawns and char siew (bbq pork). I like the pork being chopped finely, spreading its aroma more evenly in the noodles. I like the prawns whole, providing crunchiness to the noodles.

All I could say is that every mouthful is simply fulfilling...Then there is this pork noodle, which is rather popular among the patrons of Sang Kee. Not me though. The food is ok, but I do not like the attitude of the sellers. They always forget and they argue among themselves a lot. For me, I decided that I want to be happy and I do not like people affecting my "aura", especially my meal time. Sitting down for food is a theraphy for me. So this stall is a no-no for me. But Ben is more forgiving.

The koay teow (flat rice noodles) are smooth and not too oily. The combination of soy sauce, meat sauce and lard is just right.

A complete set comes in pork balls, pork sausage, fried pork intestines and minced pork sauce. It is a real porky experience.Another favourite of mine is the pan meen (home made noodles). I am no big fan of pan meen until I ordered her hand torn pan meen. It was from her that I got hooked on pan meen. What's better, you see hubby-wife and son helping during busy times. No noise (arguments)... haha I like!

Dry pan meen comes in generous helping of minced meat, mushroom, wood fungus, anchovies, vege and fu chok (soy bean strips). For chili lovers like us, we'll pour in the sourish sambal (prawn paste chili sauce).

Ah... Saving the best for last. I love the hand torn pan meen. Some may call it mi hun kueh (Pahang state people lah). They are the same.

Similarly, they are generously laced with accompaniments.

Most important for me is the thinness of the noodles. Like I said earlier, noodles too thick makes you feel like biting into floury paste :P. But the noodles aunty made is thin enough, so that it absorbs the taste of the soup and blends well with other accompaniments. After typing this, I think I wanna visit Sang Kee again tomorrow.

Tong Ki Coffee Shop - Ipoh's standard "Yu Dan Fun"

2008-06-03T18:22:00.006+08:00

Anyone that has tried Ipoh's Yu Dan Fun (fish ball noodles) would definitely come back for more. These are actually simple dishes that we had for breakfast or lunch or dinner or supper, if we decided not to have heavy stuff like rice. One of Ben's family's favourite haunt would be this shop - Tong Ki.

Location: Ipoh old town, Perak (Opens in morning, but don't be too late though)
Rating: Very good for sentiment's sake, but generally people find it good!

Review
What's different from KL and Penang? The accompaniments (fish balls, tofu/bean curds, meatballs and fried soybean sheets) are separately served. You can pick and choose what type of accompaniments you like.
Noodles come in many forms. You can mix and match or choose mee (yellow noodles), beehoon (rice vermicelli), koay teow (flat rice noodles), low shi fun (short tubed rice noodles) and lye fun (long tubed rice noodles).In addition, you can choose to have either soup or dry (mixture of soy sauce and cooked vege oil). Some places also offer soup curry and dry curry, but not this place-lah.

Don't expect great soup of mixture of many many condiments. Noodles usually comes with beansprouts and some spring onions. That's all.This combination looks simple, but somehow, once you have tried it, you will crave for it. It could be due to the simplicity and yet fresh and tasty accompaniments. But for me, the noodles mixed with these ginger+chili sauce (as shown below) would be sufficient.

So far, I have yet to find these type of chili sauce outside Ipoh and I am missing it now.

Chee Cheong Fun @ Pulau Tikus, Penang

2008-05-12T19:10:00.007+08:00

They posed as great partners. Some may think old couples should be enjoying their retirement now but they look so sweet togather. If you like Penang Chee Cheong Fun (flat rice noodles with prawn paste gravy), then you must come and try out this place.

They are not difficult to find. If you know where the Pulau Tikus morning market is, they are just around the corner.

Location: Pulau Tikus, Penang

Rating: Good (if you like prawn paste)

Review

I had them take-away. I took my own sweet time to photograph the dish and I love them. The noodles itseld are pretty standard. Not too thick.

Do not expect elaborate preparation. This is a very simple affair.

It is the gravy that is really strong with prawn paste aroma/taste. For those that are not that into prawn paste, you may find this stall's Chee Cheong Fun rather overpowering. But for those who like them, they are good.

They are open from morning to afternoon. Do visit its morning market. You may find many more delicious stuff there.

Quickie : Ubi Food Court @ Fettes Park

2008-04-26T18:18:00.000+08:00

Di mana lagi boleh ku dapat menikmati nasi lemak yang sesedap ini? (Where else can I get to enjoy coconut milk rice as tasty as this?)

As you go along Jalan Tanjong Tokong towards Feringhi beach, you will pass by Penang Plaza at Fettes Park. Right after the traffic light junction at Penang Plaza, you will find Ubi Food Court on your right. I don't know what else is nice there, but I can assure you, you will love this nasi lemak.

The stall is operated by a Malay family, but most of the patrons are non-Malays. Love the creamy and fragrant rice. They manage to maintain its dryness (some nasi lemak became too moist, in order to increase its creaminess). The choices of dishes/accomponiments are fairly varied. Love the fried chicken as they are moist enough and not overly fried.

Simple food, satisfaction aplenty.

My bread, an utter

2008-04-25T19:27:00.000+08:00

Remember Mount Erskine? If you were to go there later than 3pm, some of those stalls I have posted earlier may have closed. But I want to tell you about this hawker on bike.10 years ago, when I was staying in Mount Erskine and studying for my Diploma, this uncle's bread was my staple diet of luxury. I was controlling my expenses to RM5 per day (including transports and meals). After deducting my bus fares to TAR College in town (yes, back then it was still a shoplot in Transfer Road), all I have left is only enough for bread (I am pretty sure, this is the reason I dreaded eating bread nowadays). And this uncle offerred me affordable bread loaded with good taste and aroma. I would buy 2 pieces, 1 for lunch and another for dinner.What is so nice about the bread? They are soft and warm. A layer of warm aromatic gravy will be spread inside the bread before mixing in the dried meat and meat floss. If you eat it straight, the warmth and softness envelopes you. That's my luxury meal.Back then, I was renting a room from a landlady that used a terrace house to bake cakes for her cake shop. Everyday, I made rounds within the housing vicinity (hoping she might asked me to be her white mice and try her new recipe). Sometimes, if I am lucky, I get to try pastas, pizzas and cakes that she was testing for her catering business. If no such luck, it would be back to instant noodles and the wonderful bread above. Ah.... Those were the days.

Be thankful for what you have for there are many that is deprived of simplest necessities.

When quality says a thousand words..

2008-04-04T18:45:00.002+08:00

Can you believe this? This shop has been here for so long, and yet no name is required. When the whole world makes a big hoo-haa over branding, this shop teach a very simple concept - Quality!

Location: Burmah Road, Pulau Tikus, Penang
Rating: Good

Review
The stall is pretty simple. You can order fried mee or mee rebus (with gravy). You can speak Hokkien to the uncle. He is truly a Malaysian!The fried mee comes with halved calamansi lime (pretty standard stuff). The noodles are moist and strongly frangrant with gravy. Something special about its fried mee is the marinated squid. It provides a strong seafood aroma to the noodles. The mee rebus was not much difference in ingredients except that it is much soupier. Other than that, the different condiments taste more clearly than the fired ones. It provides more contrast.If I were to choose, I think I would pick the fried mee because the additional fragrance of fried eggs gave an additional "umph!" to the meal.

Ming Kee Char Siew

2008-04-01T13:43:00.001+08:00

When talk about Jalan Alor, many people have already known about this infamous BBQ Pork Rice. I have heard, seen (on tv) and read (in books/papers) about it. And I finally get to try this place purely by coincidence. One of my boss took me and my colleague to this place for lunch. Was it unforgettable? Nah... It is not like something that superb, but it is undoubtedly good.

Location: Tengkat Tongshin, Behind Jalan Alor, Bukit Bintang Area, KL
Rating: Good

Review
My tastebud for chicken rice may have been spoilt by an uncle in Ipoh 20 years ago. The smell and taste of his chicken rice were truly unforgettable. That's why I find many KL chicken rice rather bland. And this shop has also slightly overcooked it. The Char Siew (BBQ pork) came in rather hefty portion. What's good about it is that the portion of fat and lean meat is quite balanced. The chef has also managed to cook the fats to soft and creamy texture, yet still maintaining the tenderness of the lean meat. The taste of the meat is rather sweet and fragrant. It was a good idea not to cut the meat into smaller pieces but as they are shown in the picture below, because it is at this portion that you will be able to experience the melting texture of the fats.We also ordered steamed chicken. Ermm... Nothing interesting though. The only thing I like is the plate they are using. So nostalgic!For those of you that think this is too much meat. Maybe you may want to order some beansprouts. Not as fat and juicy as Ipoh's, but still better than KLs. Is it cheap? Not really. But it is not very expensive either. I supposed it is quite ok for KL standard. This complete set below cost us less than RM30.

You might say that, since I did not really praise much of the food except the BBQ pork, how can I rate it as good. But then again, the shop has already indicated to you their specialty. Char Siew!So they are not wrong you know.

E.T. ? Steam boat?

2008-03-24T18:37:00.007+08:00

I love steamboat. Love it so much that even though I have limited time in Penang to take in all the street food, I couldn't resist when my sis suggested steamboat. Anyway, this shop has been in Penang for at least 10 years now. How I know? I used to visit this shop when I was still studying in Penang.

Location : No 4, Rangoon Road (cross between Burma Road and Macalister Road)
Tel 04-2266025
Rating : Above average

Review
Besides the normal steamboat stuff, you can also order some side dishes like lor bak (marinated pork roll). Love lor bak all over Penang for its freshness. KL's kind are miserably lumpy :PYou can also order Tu Kar Shui (sour pork leg). This is more suitable for eating with rice. Ah... If you think they do not offer rice in steamboat restaurant, you are wrong. They offer rice for you to go with steamboat, not necessarily got to be noodles (like KL).And most lovely of all, every single dishes are free for you to pick and choose. It is not like KL where most are fixed with mostly fish paste products, and any additional dish are quite expensive (around RM8). The dishes here cost about RM4. And there are more fresh products including meats and seafood. I would prefer picking things I like than not having choices.If you plan to go, I suggest you take fried fish head. Even if you may not know how to eat fish head, throw everything into the soup as base. They include a few pieces of ginger. Throw them all in. You'll find the soup really fragrant and unique.

Also make sure you don't go on Thursday - Tutup*.

* Malay for Closed.

Quickie : Restoran Foon Lock

2008-03-06T22:03:00.003+08:00

I read so much about this place. I decided one weekend that I mustx10 go no matter what, and that of course is at the expense of Ben's energy in entertaining my wish by driving me around searching for this place. We came down from Genting and took the wrong turn. We drove all the way into Janda Baik village. If you don't know how is that, it took us 2 hours drive. When I had almost given up hope of finding this place, it turned out right at the end of our journey before turning back into highway. So it wasn't at Janda Baik, but at the entrance to Janda Baik. What a joke!

Location : 84, Kampung Bukit Tinggi, Bentong, Pahang

Rating : Good

Review

The first dish I requested was ginger wine frog in mee suah (thread noodles). The owner told me they are out of frog and mee suah. So we had to make do with chicken and rice vermicelli. It turned out a very strong ginger dish. But for a cold weather, the ginger and hot soup sure feels good.

Then I ordered some kind of fried talapia that I read about so much. The guy looked at me, as if I was from Mars. He said no such thing (I suspect he is a newbie :P). But he suggested another noodle dish called Fa Lam Sang Meen (mixed fat and lean pork with fresh noodles). I thought what the heck, we'll just have to make do. But this turned out good. The meat is crispy and fragrant of wine, soy sauce and fats. The noodles kind off soak in the fragrance too.
And we had another meat dish. Venison fried with ginger and spring onion. I don't know what's gotten into me. Maybe I expected the venison to be freshly caught from the Pahang hills surrounding the area. Whatever it is, the dish was ok.
So there you have it! An adventure or misadventure? A good find or over statement? I am afraid it might be distorted by my mixed feelings that day. It was with high hopes (search) that gradually faded (lost), then shot up again (found) only to be slapped down (out of stock/no such thing) and again compensated with other good food. One thing for sure - an experience..

600CC

2008-03-03T22:29:00.002+08:00

600cc? What's that supposed to mean? Milk lah... my friend. Taiwan twenty years ago, was famous for papaya milk blend. And this shop brought it over to Malaysia, together with some of those sumptuous food that I can't miss whenever I am in Penang.It is a chain store in Penang. My dad used to bring us there when they open their first ever shop in Komtar. But now due to the sad withering of Komtar, 600cc has diversified and it turned out well for them.

Location: Prangin Mall + Gurney Plaza + Tesco, Penang
Rating: Good

Review
Ben like to order beef noodles here. I can understand why. The soup is warmly thick with tender beef cubes.And the noodles are elastic yet crisp. There are mixture of vege and type of meat, making the meal more enjoyable.My favourite will be the Ma La Fun (Numbing Hot Rice) with fried fish. Don't belittle the small portion of chili gravy you saw at the top of the picture below. Mixing it all in one shot will cause you 2-3 glasses of water. I can eat really hot stuff, but even I myself can't stand it.What I like is again the variety of condiments. There are meat floss (sweet), stewed minced meat (salty), chili gravy (spicy) and pickled vege (sour). The combination is superb.Another favourite of mine will be the Ja Jiang Mien (mixed sauce noodles). Love it for its abundance of vege and meat gravy. But I can't resist the thrill of ma la fun, so I just have to sacrifice ja jiang mien.Drinks wise, of course you should order some kind of milk blended drinks. But don't get those boring stuff like melon or yam that you can get from pasar malam (night market). I suggest you either get papaya milk or peanut milk (as the one below). Erm.. sorry for the photo below. I enjoyed the drink so much I forgot to take its photos until it is 2/3 gone :PIf you like eating peanut butter straight from the jar, you are gonna like this. It feels like drinking peanut butter less the stickiness. Ow.... I wanna go back Penang now...

Assam Laksa @ Gottlieb Road

2008-03-01T18:20:00.000+08:00

Assam laksa is really a local delicacy. But like spaghetti in squid ink (I know there is a better name to this, but might as well make it clear), it is really an acquired taste. I recall the expression of an Australian friend who tried the dish. His face practically looked like a prune - all wrinkled up. He said it was too fishy for him. Anyway, assam laksa is a Northern/Nyonya delicacy. Its soups main ingredients are tamarind juice, fish meat, daun kesum (local herb), and other spices. The noodles are made of mung beans. And you mixed all these with a lot of veges - lettuce, cucumber, onion, chili and bunga kantan (ginger flower).
The all time famous Penang assam laksa is the one in Air Hitam, near Kek Lok Si Temple. But many people find this shop better.

Location: Opposite Penang Chinese Girl School, Gottlieb Road, Penang
Rating: Good

Review
One thing I love about this place is the plentiful vege they included in a bowl. The usual laksa you find abundant in Penang are rather stingy with vege, causing less depth in the texture of food. Moreover, if you look at the soup, they are very thick with fish meat. The taste is generally sweet due to the hefty amount of fish meat.I personally don't prefer the clear and cylinder shaped laksa noodles that are kind of chewy. Some people tend to overcook and the noodles became too limp and soft. But I would say this shop is ok. The mixture of ingredients to make the noodles is quite right, so that it is easy to chew and yet not too soft. What is better about this place is that you can order some other snacks. My favourite is the fried popiah (spring rolls) and chai kueh (vegetable dumpling in clear skin). The popiah is crunchy and some people like to dip it into the laksa soup (just to soak in the flavours of laksa).I love the chai kueh. The skin is thin and soft. And the filling is simple and fragrant. I have tasted some that mixed is dried prawns and what nots in the filling, but the taste just got too mixed up. I like the simple sweet taste of vege and the soft feeling in my mouth. Yummy!If you would like to try out this place, please remember to go somewhere between 1-3.30pm. Not too late or you get nothing.

Raja Burger Malaysia

2008-02-18T19:48:00.002+08:00

Who doesn't know about Penang Gurney Drive. It's such a famous hawker food haunt (though I wouldn't say the food there is good). My sis discovered this very interesting combination of East meets West innovation. The owner, Mr Azlan Shah and Ibrahim runs the stall here. You can find many many types of burgers and kebabs from Super Burger, Royal Deluxe Burger, Prawn Burger to all types of Kebabs from Tuekey Kebabs, Mutton Kebabs to Shammi Kebabs.

Location : Gurney Drive, Penang (5pm-12am)
Rating : Interesting

Review

My sister ordered a Minced Meat Dosai and a Royal Deluxe Burger. The sheer size of both the burgers already sent a shock to me. It's almost 18cm in diameter, and you can see how thick it is in the photo below. Luckily, they are considerate enough to cut it into 4 pieces or I believe we are going to have hell of a problem trying to hold everything togather.

How does it taste like? All I can say is that it tastes like a murtabak with the skin made of bun. What's more, the meat is also added with cashew nuts, raisins and spices that reminded me of briyani rice. It is truly a combination by a western mamak.

But taste wise, it really depends on your personal preference. I don't really fancy it for being too heavily laced with spices. And I feel that the spices do not really blend in that well. Nevertheless, it is an interesting find. What do you think?

Village Park @ Damansara Utama

2008-02-02T13:30:00.000+08:00

Bring me to P.J. or Damansara and I am as blind as a bat. Blind because I am a total idiot of my whereabouts here. Luckily Ben knows a bit about this place and he brought me to this wonderful shop. I love nasi lemak (coconut milk rice). Being a truly Malaysian, I love my nasi lemak full cream with hefty serving of sambal (thick chili gravy). And this shop sure knows my taste.

Location: Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya (Tel: 03-7710 7860, in case you are as blur as I am)

Rating: Very good

Review
I decided I want to test rendang daging (beef cooked in thick coconut & chili gravy with loads of spices). So I had a nasi lemak with rendang daging. The rice is fluffy and fully fragrant. The sambal is slightly sweet and not very spicy (to my standard). And the beef... ooh... I am missing it already. The meat is so tender and fully infused with the fragrance of spices, coconut milk and lil bit of chili. I just can't get that feeling/taste/texture out of my head. I must go there again.Ben ordered nasi lemak with rendang chicken. The meat is just as tender, but the aroma not as strong as beef. There are other delicious food but I did not manage to take. My dad tried the nasi dagang with fish curry. They are just as great, and very filling. I have not tried any of the noodles though. Heh heh.. I am very much what the Chinese call "Fan Thong", which literally means rice bucket. I love rice and I can't stay long without rice. Afterall, I am just another Asian.
Anyway, drinks are rather normal. I ordered a tropical blend and Ben ordered a white coffee. Nothing much to say, but the food you must try!

p/s: Sorry for the long disappearing act. Kinda got caught up with many many happenings in life.

Quickie : Mee Rebus Ramli

2008-01-29T19:55:00.000+08:00

This shop that is currently situated in Tasek and has a branch opposite Jubilee Park in Ipoh town holds really nostalgic value for me. You see, I used to visit a wooden stall in Kampung Tawas beside the pasar (market) for this addictive mee rebus (literally blanched noodles, but it was actually noodles in thick sweet potato gravy with spices). The humble stall was manned by a young man (a Malay guy) with his second man (a Singh). That was at least 15 years ago. The owner has since grown his business from a humble start to where he is now. So Malaysians, have faith in yourself, no matter what business you are in. What's important is your wholeheartedness and determination.The soup was thick and creamy. You can taste the fragrance of sweet potato with meat stock and spices. And the combination with noodles and fritters were heavenly. But that was last time. Sad to say that the last 2 times I visited both the Tasek and town establishment, I found the quality of soup overwhelmed with the taste of chili sauce. I wished you had tried the original noodles to know how good it was. Now, my only hope is that the owner will realise of his mistake before it is too late.

Quickie : Pork Noodle off Jalan Raja Chulan

2008-01-25T19:58:00.000+08:00

I love to have hot clear soup early in the morning to warm my stomach. And whenever I am around Jalan Raja Chulan area, I would definitely come by to this shop that is situated one lane behind Wisma Boustead. If you are going there during lunch hour, you won't be able to miss it. There will be lots of people in the shop and some waiting for seats. So you know how famous this place is among the office workers.What's good? Fresh meat, sweet soup, generous amount of meats and veges. Usually when you go for pork noodle, they only serve standard few strands of choy sum (sawi in Malay, or Chinese mustard green in English). But this shop includes iceberg cabbage as well. In addition, every bowl comes with a spoonful of fried garlic and shallots that enhances the fragrance and sweetness of the soup.
Sometimes, if you are not feeling good, try having something warm and soupy. The warmth in your stomach helps alleviate your mood. It works for me :)

Kung Fu Pan Meen

2008-01-20T01:22:00.002+08:00

I saw the photos in Boolicious page and I can't forget the voluptious looking pan meen. It looks so enticing that I kept going back to that page long after it has been replaced with many other updates. And the day that Ben has the mood to explore, I took up the chance and led him to this place. The result? No regrets.

Location: 28 Jalan Sri Sentosa 9A, Off Old Klang Road, K.L. (u'll need a map)
Rating: Good

Review
As usual, while waiting for our orders to come, I will take whatever they offer on the table. I love the fact that they gave us the freedom to choose how sour we want for our noodles. There are cut limes kept in a container for you to squeeze to your heart's content.The sambal belacan (prawn paste chili sauce) is fragrant and thick. Ben ordered a dry thin pan meen (hand made noodles). The portion is quite small, but the noodles looks good. The noodles are springy and the owner is quite generous with the toppings of anchovies, vege and minced meat.When my kung fu pan meen came, it looked quite normal. The portion is again small.But when all ingredients (including chili and lime) were mixed togather. Just look at how shiny and inviting the noodle look.I never liked thick noodles, but I would make an exception for this. The noodles are slightly springy and you can still taste the original noodles taste despite all the seasonings.

The hungry wolves that we are, we decided to order 2 additional side dishes. The first one is the original pandan chicken. Pandan refers to screwpine leaves and it is famous for its fragrance and health value. Anyway, nothing healthy about this dish. The deboned meat is thick yet tender. The taste is slightly sweet and fragrant. One piece is nice. More than 1 may be a bit too tiring for the jaws.The second one is my favourite. Otak-otak (literally brain in malay) here is really something. Normal otak-otak are made of fish meat with spices. But the otak-otak here is made of fish, squid and prawn meat. So you san imagine how sweet and fragrant the otak-otak is. The additional spices only add to the fragrant combination. I can't stop scooping one spoonful after another. It's good to eat when it is still hot, or it will turn slightly fishy when it is cold.Not an easy place to find, but worth revisiting. Something different yet familiar.

Heun Kee Claypot Chicken Rice

2008-01-01T16:53:00.000+08:00

We kept saying must try out this shop every time we passes by, but we just never did. I guess we are very much creatures of habit. Once we have found a good place, we would keep going back. This has reduce our chances to venture into something new. But we finally decided it is time to try out this place. What attracts me there is the traditional way of preparing "Nga Pou Gai Fan" (claypot chicken rice), as in they cook using charcoal fire.

Say whatever you want, it may be difficult to control the fire when cooking with charcoal, but if you have learnt to manage it, food cooked using charcoal gives an additional aroma to the food.Location : Jalan Yew, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

Rating : Good

Review
The ingredients looked pretty simple. Some marinated chicken, raw rice, some Chinese sausage, salted fish and sauces to taste.

Our pot of rice came and I got curious. See they set the salted fish aside in a smaller sauce dish. Are they testing us? "If you fail to move the dish, you can't eat this!" (ahaha... just my brain malfunctioning and dreaming those words out. The rice is fragrant enough. And best of all, when mixing and dishing them out, we notice that they do not stick to the pot. Hey... this is really some cooking skill. All I can say is that the rice is fluffy and fragrant. The chicken is tender and the whole mixture is simply aromatic.

In addition to claypot chicken rice, they also offer soups and other side dishes. There are watercress soup and pork stomach soup. We ordered watercress as it has cooling function. Just to balance out with the food that is heaty in nature.

And just to make sure we had a balanced diet of meat and vege, we ordered scaled siu bak choy (or westerners call it bok choy) with oyster sauce. We didn't expect much from this dish, but it turn out to be quite good. The sauce is sweet and salty. The vege is crunchy and crisp. Amazingly that I enjoy vege.

Finally just to top it off, we had Chinese tea to wash down our food. It feels real good when the warmth travel down from your mouth through your throat into your stomach. What a peaceful closure to a hearty meal..Say if you are interested to try this place, you don't have to limit yourself to our choices as blow. They also offer fried seafood beancurd and fried chicken wings that are supposed to be famous. It is just that our stomach couldn't hold so much.

My favourite popiah @ Mount Erskine

2007-12-31T17:17:00.000+08:00

I know I mentioned popiah and yet I featured crabs, right? Well that's the thing! I love the popiah here for its crab fillings. And in addition to this, there are so many more great food here that I would not miss it every single time I visited Penang. This is Mount Erskine. Years back when I was still a fresh college student, I used to stay in Mount Erskine. This place was my main station. In order to limit my spending to RM5 per day, I used to buy buns here and keep for my daily consumption. But the popiah stall didn't start until 2-3 years back. This stall used to be located at the old Rex Cinema along Jalan Burma. It was already famous then (at least to me and my friends).
Now Mount Erskine has since flourished with even more variety of stalls. You can find mixed nyonya rice, chicken rice, fried rice, porridge, clear soup noodles, curry noodles, Indian noodles, snacks, desserts, fruits and the list goes on. Amazing right?

Location: Mount Erskine, Penang
Rating: Great

Review
Like I said before, I have visited this shop from Jalan Burma till now. And I can assure you, you can't find this elsewhere.I love the soft and moist popiah wrapping that envelopes the fragrant crab meat and crab eggs. The crab meat portion looks little compared to the vege, but believe me the balance is just perfect. I don't want an overpowering seafood roll, I would have gone for seafood if I want that. You can taste a hint of sauce and again it is just enough to add flavour and not overpowering. Oh I miss it already.Then there is this dry koay teow (flat rice noodles). They come complete with a variety of fish paste.

And the owner. Oh man, can he talk.. He is one of the sweetest talker I have ever met. But you have to respect his spirit. Who wouldn't love a chirpy cook? I know he looked kinda serious in the pic (I suspect he is trying to act cool :P)

But his talks aside. You have to give it to him that his dry koay teow is really good. Especially when mixed with his sambal belacan (prawn paste chili). The sambal is so strongly fragrant and spicy. I can feel the kick.The koay teow is also really smooth. What's beautiful is the fact that it is not oily, yet very smooth and blended well with the sauce. I practically had to kick Ben to stop in order for me to take this photo. He was happily slurping away without a care.Ah.. Fried koay teow. Ben awarded this place best fried koay teow! I have to say the koay teow here is good.

The noodles is crispy and dry (not oily or lumpy). It is strongly fragrant with what Cantonese people call "wok hei", basically means enough heat to bring out the flavours and concentrate the juice into the food. If the above koay teow gives me a kick, this gives me an "umph". And then there is Che Hu (Hokkien for fresh fish). Or some call it Chinese pasembur.The sweet potato sauce is thick and creamy. The fritters are rather normal though. But at least it has fresh jelly fish as a che hu should have.

With all the fiery stuff we had, this is just the best thing to douse the fire within. This is coconut sea with honey. They used to have a special which includes rambutan+pineapple mix. But the last time I tried to order, this newbie do not understand me. So you'll just have to make do with this.But do not underestimate this sweet little thing. The fragrance of honey and coolness of sea coconut is simply refreshing.

To be truthful, I hate to recommend this place. It is one of my fave and I selfishly want to keep it for myself. ngiat ngiat ngiat...

Medan Selera Sri Weld

2007-12-31T16:00:00.000+08:00

It is not a very old establishment, but some shops here are worth mentioning. What's more, parking is rather convenient. There is a small lane at the left of this photo above. Turn in and you'll find parking at the side and back of this food court.

Malay-English Translation
Medan Selera - Food Court

Location : Lebuh Penang, Georgetown, Penang
Rating : Good for some, below average for some

Review
I'll start off with the good ones. First we have Ali Nasi Lemak (coconut milk rice with chili/curry). It is a simple affair. 3 types of nasi lemak - eggs+anchovies, fish, or prawn, all readily packed.We picked eggs and anchovies, the conventional ones. The lovely green banana leaves serve as wrap, and it enhances the aroma of the rice. Don't worry abut its freshness. Although they are prepacked, the owner is just behind the stalls preparing them.Sorry if my hands kinda shaky. I just can't wait to grab a spoon and dig my way into that inviting pile of nasi lemak. Taste wise it is just lovely. The rice is fragrant and adequate sambal (chili sauce) is provided. Sambal is slightly sweet. The warm rice coupled with the sambal and aroma of banana leaf - fantastico!Next we ordered dried koay teow (flat rice noodles) and fresh beef slices + beef balls soup. This is the 2nd generation/branch from the original shop somewhere around Weld Quay. My dad used to visit the original shop and ordered a beef noodle special. How special you asked? That bowl of noodles cost RM15. The soup is made of Chinese herb called "Sip Chuan" or literally 10 herbs. And they included all parts of beef (I seriously mean all parts). But we did not order that. I am not sure if they still have that. But our koay teow came. Unassumingly clear in colour. I had expected dark soy sauce mix. Nevertheless, the koay teow is fragrant on its own right and smooth. I guess this way makes mixing the koay teow with the soup remain beefy, as dark soy sauce may have spoil the taste of the soup.Again, I did not expect the meat's colour to look so dark. Normally fresh beef slices are pinkish in colour. I thought the meat will be very tough then. Again I was wrong. The meat was just as tender. It is very juicy too. The beef ball is bouncy. Love the clear soup - fragrant yet not overpowering.

Now comes the below average stuff. It is not that they are bad, but when compared with their other counterparts around Penang, they are just below average.
I had Chie Hu (literally means fresh fish), a form of Chinese pasembur. Pasembur is a mamak (Indian Muslim) food with fried fritters mix with fresh vege doused with chili peanut sauce. Back to this Chie Hu. It usually has fresh jelly fish strips and the sauce is orangey thick (made of sweet potato). This one came with thin sauce and no fresh jelly fish. Feels like a pirated Chie Hu.Then we have popiah (spring rolls). I love Northern popiah as they do not have those hard crunchy stuff that hurts your mouth ceiling and gums.. I like my popiah soft and juicy. The one we had here is a bit dry and tasteless. Although Northern popiah does not have crunchy stuff, they have wither eggs or beancurds or other forms of soft accompaniments to go with the vege. This stall has none. Again feels like a pirated popiah.

So there you have it. 2 good and 2 below average. If you are asking then where to find a good popiah and chie hu? Coming on my next post. Till then, tata..

Time warp in Yong Sing

2007-12-29T22:43:00.000+08:00

Long long time ago, we used to follow our dad to Penang for his collections. After collecting cheques from his clients, he would go to Beach Street to do banking. That's when we would stop by this shop for breakfast. My childhood memory on this place is quite a blur. In fact, most of my childhood is a blur. Anyway, I revisited this place during the Christmas holidays and I find the quality is still there.

Location: Lebuh Union (Off Beach Street), Pengkalan Weld, Penang
Rating: Yummy!

Review
On the day that I went, there were only 3 stalls open. But all 3 proved to be worthy contender of the time game. The first stall offers duck meat koay teow soup (flat rice noodles) since 1965. Although the runner now is replaced by the younger generation, but quality wise isn't compromised. The noodles came with multiple meat choices doused with flavoured black soy sauce.

The koay teow is smooth and the aromatic sauce blended well into the noodle. What's nice is that you don't taste the normal soy sauce in the noodles but fragrant of duck meat.Then there is this fried koay teow. I seldom eat fried koay teow in Kuala Lumpur. They are just not appetising. In order to fried a good koay teow, the fire must be strong enough to create a crisp and dry koay teow. Another important step is to make sure the noodles are well separated as shown below. This is to ensure that each strand of koay teow is thoroughly flavoured and fried.

The colour of char koay teow (fried flat rice noodles) here is just beautiful. As simple as this dish looks, experience and skills are needed to make a real good one.And some western influenced snacks of Penang. Egg pancake with banana and raisins. Yes, you can find this in the "Kedai Kopi New Cathay" I have posted earlier. And this is the other place you get this fragrant pancake.Girls who like sweet stuff will like this. The natural sweetness of banana and raisins coupled with fragrance of egg and salted margarine. Toss a handful of sesame seeds and voila - a great unity of the east and west.

Note : I believe lunch hour will be quite packed, and parking may be a problem.

Quickie : Beef Noodles at Ngau Kee

2007-12-28T19:11:00.000+08:00

I think it is fair to say that this used to be a famous beef noodles stall around Jalan Alor. Nowadays, the place seemed a bit empty. Kinda expected it. Went there few years back and found the noodles over cooked and the soup+meat nothing special. Since a colleague from Borneo hasn't tried it before, I decided to accompany her and revisit this place.

The chilli is the vinegar and ginger type.

My friend ordered dry noodles. Plenty of minced beef sauce, yet still look unappetising to me.

The noodles came with a bowl of beef balls and meats. So little to offer.

But when my bowl of Koay Teow Soup (flat rice noodles) came, I thought it was quite alright. Though the soup is a bit dark, but it suits me well. I wouldn't mind coming back for the koay teow.

Kedai Kopi New Cathay @ Pulau Tikus

2007-12-26T19:52:00.000+08:00

As you drive along Jalan Burma in Penang, you can't miss this shop. I love coming here for breakfast. Many good food here. It took me multiple visits to collect photos of various food here. Yet I still miss out some of them.

Location: Jalan Burma, Pulau Tikus, Penang
Rating: Good

Review

If you travel by bus, you can take buses that pass by Midland's One Stop. Request to stop at the Convent or Church. I believe most of the buses going to Tanjong Tokong, Tanjong Bungah or Mount Erskine will pass by Pulau Tikus. Or you can just drive (but traffic in Penang is bad).

Forget about the traffic. We're here about food. I am not a big fan of Wan Ton Mee (dumpling noodles), but not in Penang. I love Penang's Wan Ton Mee with sambal belacan (prawn paste chili sauce). Not all stalls in Penang have it, but this shop has.What's better is the noodles were the transparent springy type. The drawbacks here are (1) overcooked noodles (lost a bit of the springiness), and (2) the sambal belacan is not spicy at all (no kick). But I supposed it could fit into general expectation.Next special on my list is Koay Chiap. This you really can't find in many place. It's duck soup with flat square rice noodles. A bowl of Koay Chiap offers beancurd, egg, duck meat and innards.

Penang is not only famous for fried koay teow and prawn noodles you know?If you worry that the soup may be affected by the innards, no worries there. The soup has strong herbal aroma, not very far different from bak kut teh herbs. It is basically quite like a noodle version of bak kut teh. Very good to warm the stomach.Next on the list is the curry noodles. Heck, you don't expect me to miss this do you? Even the curry noodles here is slightly different. The squid used here has been fried with chili paste before serving on the bowl. This enhances the fragrance and attracts non-squid-lover like me.Oh, you don't see the blood jelly here. Nah.. Not my cup of blood :P But I love the tau pok (fried hollow beancurd). The type here is more soft and moist as compared to its KL cousins that are hard and hard. If you like spicy, just get more sambal (chili paste) from the owner. But be warn that its price is not as cheap as its other counterparts in Penang.

For desserts, you can always order pancakes. There is a Chinese pancake in the coffee shop, or you can order the Indian pancake right outside the coffee shop. It's a family business. We call it Apom. And this lovely egg apom sells at RM2 for 5 pieces. Fragrant cakes that are soft at the inside and crunchy at the outside. Both sides offered different level of fragrance. You can eat it togather or separately. There are more stuff that I wanted to share, but I have not got the photos. You should try its Lam Mee (clear soup noodles) with sambal belacan. The Chinese pancake with banana and raisins are also great. There is a plain fried noodles stall (chai fun) that includes tau kee (deep fried beancurd sticks) - Northen style. So much more. A good place to have almost everything.

Restoran Noor - Lunch Express (Mamak Style)

2007-12-11T15:24:00.000+08:00

As I followed my colleague cutting through roads, lanes and buildings to get to this place, I wonder how others manage to discover this eatery? For those that are not sure how to come to this place, just walk along the up-river from Masjid Jamek LRT station. You'll find it.. eventually :P

Location: Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Good

Review
This is a hot spot for office workers during lunch hour. Nomatter where I turn, there are rows of long tables occupied with patrons busy digging into their curried rice. Not to be outdone. We ordered our fair share of dishes. There are (clockwise sambal chicken, curry fish, rice with a standard vege, and fried chicken).

The sambal chicken (chicken with thick spicy sauce) is strongly flavoured with spices. The meat is tender and fragrant, but tend to be too rich with rice. Not recommended for those with small appetite.

The curry fish is also heavy laiden with spice and sourish in taste. Mixing the sauce with white rice is mouth-watering. It is also less rich and healthier, hence making it a rather famous choice for the health conscious groupie. The fried chicken is tender and well flavoured. The meat is tender but may be a bit too dry. No worries though, as all rice are accompanied with a small plate of fish curry.

The vege dish that comes with the rice is standard and choices depends on the owner. It could be cabbage, bitter gourd, etc.

It is a rather simple affair, but a complete meal that's fast and uncomplicated.

Fun Taipei

2007-12-09T19:03:00.000+08:00

If you watch Taiwan variety show, I am sure you have come across many interesting food outlets introduced. I loved those shows and they always made me yearning to go to Taiwan. Then an ex-colleague introduced me to this place. I wouldn't say it is very authentic Taiwan food. To be truthful, I think the food is good enough to make me ignore its authencity.

Location: Changkat Thambi Dollah, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Good

Review
The favoured drink here is the red bubble milk tea. This is not the teh tarik type, but stronger fragrant of red tea. There are many more choices, but everytime I am there, I can't help ordering the same thing.Food wise, I like to order its set. They come with a rice (as shown below) doused with stewed sauce. The sauce is very fragrant and sufficiently flavoured to make you savour the rice just like that.The set comes with many choices of main dish. I have chosen the well known San Pei Ji (三杯雞literally mean 3 cups chicken in mandarin). Why it is called 3 cups chicken, is because the chicken is marinated with 3 main types of ingredients - (1) Sesame oil, (2) rice wine and (3) soy sauce. The dish is also heavily laced with basil leaves, make its aroma very rich.In addition to the set is a vegetable dish. This is usually the lighter accompaniments to draw our tastebuds back to neutral before venturing into the next mouthful of flavours. But take note that vege dishes are not fixed, so do not expect to get the same vege te next day.A protein dish will also be included. This is mostly tofu (beancurd). I am lucky enough that they offered mapo tofu that day, because again this is dish is not fixed in the menu. I like the mapo tofu because its aroma and taste is not too overpowered with tauchoo (or salted soy bean paste). The mix between the sauce and the tofu is just right. The only drawback is that it is not hot enough.The other set that we ordered has all the same side dish. Theonly difference is that the main dish here is fried pork ribs with stewed sauce. The pork has earlier been marinated and fried with flavoured flour. This makes the meat itself already very fragrant, but added with the stewed sauce is even better. And don't worry as the ribs has been de-boned (fit our laziness just right).

The meal is completed with a bowl of soup and a dessert of jelly or nata de coco.

I simply like the completeness of all these.

Thai Chicken Rice at Penang Road

2007-12-09T18:48:00.000+08:00

It's a shop with no name and I can't figure out the sign in Thai. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to find. If you take public bus to Penang Road/Komtar (Komtar's just right opposite), you'll find it.

I was first introduced to this place by my sis, who's since become Penangites. For outsiders, going to Penang means Char Koay Teow (fried flat rice noodles), Hare Mee (prawn noodles), Chee Cheung Fun (flat rice noodles with prawn paste), Koay Chiap (flat rice noodles with duck), Assam Laksa (tubed rice noodles with tamarind soup), Cendol (dessert) and Lor Bak (fried meats with special dipping sauce). For Penangites, it will be quite boring if every shop you visit offered almost the same thing. So this is an alternative that we went.

Big pots of steamy hot rice

I enjoyed sitting in the midst of the hall, observing people bustling about. Feels good to see activity in an old structure.

Location: Penang Road, Penang

Rating: Above average

Review
My usual order will be fried chicken and Siu Cheong (BBQ Chinese sausage).

The chicken is crispy on the outside, but not that tender on the inside. But the crispy skin does offer a specific aroma that makes chewing satisfying.

Now the siu cheong. If you can't stand fat, it is not advisable for you to order this. Just look at the pix below, it is 90% fat. Anyway for those who don't mind trying, the sausage/siu cheong is not soft. It is chewy and fragrant of Chinese wine. The only problem I have is that I can't stand taking too much of these, or I feel unsettling (in the stomach that is).

As this is a Thai chicken rice, the dipping sauce will not be the the normal garlic+ginger+red chili kinda thing. This is a mixture of green chili+garlic+coriander+fish sauce (more of a guessing than a statement).Even the rice is slightly different. Instead of normal oily rice, the rice here is softer with a little hint of herbs.

Overall, I can't say that it is very good. But it is an alternative or something interesting if you feel like diverting to, other food other than the usual Penang stuff.

Al Nafourah at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur

2007-12-09T17:37:00.000+08:00

A participant of KL International Gourmet Food Festival 2005. Lebanese cuisine with contemporary Arabian concept. Wou... All the reviews about this place. I can't wait to attend the luncheon appointment in Al-Nafourah.
Location: Le Meridien Hotel, KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Er... Not my cuppa tea

Review
Now the ambience in actual fact is really grand. Beautiful deco, variety of seating arrangements, delicate dinerwares, green view and good service. But when comes to food..
We were served various starters to go with bread. There is hummus (chickpeas puree with spices). I find the taste a bit bland.I believe this is falafel (broad bean + chickpeas puree). I find very slight hint of bean fragrance. So slight that I feel it lean towards the bland side.I have no idea what is this. The texture is like fish cake but I taste no fragrant except salty.

This paste taste like liver paste. The texture is also similar to that, but I find it nothing but salty.

Even this salad is salty. I thought my tastebuds have gone wrong, but I see my table mates are suffering the same fate as me.

During the meal, we were given a small glass of tamarind juice. Although this drink is quite bland, but it was actually good. I like the aroma of tamarind and yet not too sourish or sweet.

The main dish is poached chicken on top of cous cous. Er... chicken is dry and cous cous is kinda tasteless. All of us could not clear our plates.

The dessert looked good. Dates and nuts pastry laced with raspberry jam. I find it kinda dry. Not very fragrant too.

Sigh... Maybe my taste pallet has been spoilt by strong Malaysian flavours. I really didn't enjoy much of the meal. I hope I could try the real deal at Middle East some day. Maybe my idea of Lebanese food might change. Some day!

Quickie : Pan Mee @ Kin Kin

2007-12-09T07:16:00.000+08:00

This is quite a famous pan mee in Kuala Lumpur. But to be truthful, I just can't appreciate it. I find this shop situated facing along Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1, off Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, rather overrated.

I find the noodles thick and the taste very much like Cintan Mee. It is famous for its chili, but not much fragrance offered. Pure spicy.

Yet, the shop is always full during lunch hour and you gotta wait patiently if you want to try it out. I wouldn't say I recommend a visit, but try at your own risk as over spicy gives you stomach ache.

Quickie : Venusitas - The Sweet Home

2007-12-08T16:08:00.000+08:00

I know Deepavali is over and all but since I am around New Lay Sin in my last post, I thought might as well let you know about this place. The shop is at the other far end of New Lay Sin facing Jalan Tun Sambanthan. What's interesting? All sorts of Indian desserts and snacks. If you like sweet stuff or crackers to go with your movies, this might just be the place.

I bought one of this ladhu.

Then there are many many colours and types of ... er... I forgot.

Darn.. I forgot all the names. But I think this roundish doughnut look-a-like is called Athirasam.This is called Jangri. Exactly what it is? I can't remember lah. Well just go there and try for yourself. hahaha...

All I remember is that this is made of ghee and milk.This is no brick wall. It is coconut candy. I think??

Huh.. Luckily I remembered to take the photo of the tag as well.Hahaha... Still can't remember a single name here.Here's all the keropok (crackers) with spices or not. Pick to your heart's content. But remember to drink lots of water after that.I am so sorry, but I really can't remember all the names. But one thing for sure is that you have got to have real sweet tooth to love these stuff. I can't finish a single candy I bought here. We thought of using them to sweeten our coffee, but found that the coffee became a bit oily and thick. There goes our experiment.

New Lay Sin's wonder

2007-12-06T15:51:00.000+08:00

I first read about this in Eating Asia (http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2007/09/you-can-go-home.html). I have not personally been to that place, but I introduced the place to my friends and their feedback was good. haha... It's not that I sent them over as white mice, but I just never had the chance. Then, I decided it is time to stop procrastinating. So we went. It wasn't hard to find, the shop is facing Jalan Tun Sambanthan directly.

Location: Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Good + Good

Review - Week 1
I see that uncle has given himself an English name - Peter Pork Mee. hehe... Sounds kinda cute. Try repeating it this way "peter pork, peter pork, peter pork.." hahaha.. reminds me of Porky Pig. Whops.. Forgive the kiddy in me. Lost myself there for a while.
Right! Back to the noodles. From the moment I stepped in, I knew this is the stall. Rows of noodles waiting in-line to be delivered to many tables. I didn't waste time. I ordered a kuey teow (Ben's fave flat rice noodles) and bee hoon (rice vermicelli). I saw many tables had pork noodles with an egg. The egg with its exposed half cooked yolk sat seductively in the bowl. I regretted not requesting to have an extra egg to go with the noodles.Hah! Turned out I didn't have to worry about that. All noodles come with an egg. Phew! Otherwise I am sure Ben would be staring grudgingly at me.The first thing we did was to scoop up a spoonful of soup. Hm.. the slightly murky soup is sweet and savoury. We started diggin' in and found the meat fresh (frozen pork tastes terrible). There are pork strips, minced pork, intestines and liver. Now I am no big fan of internal organs, but if you want a good soup, I suggest you do not ask the cook to take out the internal organs. It is things like pork liver that makes the soup thick and sweet. You do not have to eat it if you don't like it, but don't take it out from the cooking.And that egg. Try mixing a bit of the yolk to the soup. Also try mixing the white to the soup. Man, it's like tasting different type of sweetness and fragrance. The whole experience felt like an experiment. A fun and tasty experiment.
Review - Week 2
While waiting for my pork noodles in week 1, I can't tear my eyes away from this Indian Rice stall. I can't help noticing pieces after pieces of banana leaves were laid on tables for its patrons. And the fish pieces they offered were so thick and looked so good. So here I am again, 2 weekends in a row at New Lay Sin. I came a bit late today. Signalled banana leaf for 2 and the motion started. There were a few of them. The lady came with the leaves and laid them in front of us. Then another lady came with the rice. You have to ask them to stop or they will continue filling the space with rice. Then came the tray of 3 vegetables. There are gourd dhal, potatoes and pineapple+cucumber salad. Love them all.

I usually take my banana leaf rice with chicken curry, but they are already out of stock. So we got fish curry instead. I thought to myself that this might impair my opinion on the food. How wrong was I. Anyway, by the time all was laid out, the sight was kinda intimidating. I wasn't sure if we could finish all these. Again, how wrong was I? Ah yes, we ordered an additional chicken rendang (rendang in Malay means stewed meat in thick coconut spiced sauce until it is dry). This rendang is different from Malay rendang as it is heavily laced with spices and herbs. I find this quite the normal mamak (Malay language for Indian turn Muslim) standard.The fish! This is the main attraction that made me resolved to come the following week. Big-thick pieces of fish that everyone ordered and the soft-hot white meat is screaming "take me". Okay, I know I over dramatised this. But for a non-fish-lover like me, I really don't know why it attracts me so much.One thing for sure, it is really highlight of my meal. The meat is soft and fragrant. The taste not too overpowered by spices. In fact the entire meal is very nicely fused. The fish gravy which I thought might be too strong and sourish with spices, came out fragrant and pleasant. The veges all mixed really well with the meat and the gravy. It was like you can taste all the original fragrance of the food with slight tingle of spices. Yummy! Wish I am there now.

Some cultural tips: If you like what you have eaten, you fold your banana leaf from top down. This is to indicate that you would come again in future. If you fold them from bottom up, it means the food was bad and you would not come again. But then again these are old custom.

Note: Parking is not a problem. There is a left turning right after the row of shop where New Lay Sin is. A parking area for the responsible driver.

Quickie : Kai Kee Min Ka

2007-12-02T22:02:00.000+08:00

Sometimes I am quite sure age is catching up. I used to dislike clear hot soup and tasteless kuey teow (flat rice noodles). Nowadays, I crave for some hot soup to start off my day, and I still crave for clear hot soup to end a tiring day. Darn... As Chinese would say it "Sui Yue Pu Liu Ren" - Flowing Time Does Not Wait For People.
That aside... I found a place that I can go no matter how late I work and the standard isn't that far away from Ipoh's Beansprout Chicken.

Cantonese-English Translation
Kai - Chicken
Kee - Record or story
Min - Mee or noodles
Ka - House

Location: Jalan Loke Yew, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Above average

Review
Everytime I am there I will have a bowl of kuey teow soup. I like mixing in some chopped small chilies and some soy sauce from the chopped chicken. I know it is kinda extreme, maybe I wasn't that mellowed after all. heh heh.. The kuey teow is quite smooth. Not as smooth as Ipoh's, but good enough. Soup wise it is less fragrant compared to Ipoh.

I think the taugeh (beansprout in Hokkien/Malay) was ok. At least it is quite fat and juicy.The chicken is good. Soft and tender to the bite. Skin may not be as crispy or springy, but clean and not too fat or chewy.Among other things you can order include rice, pork ball, chicken organ, and all sorts of noodles. We had four extra pork balls. The texture has more substance but not sure if the "springiness" is due to fresh meat being used or due to citric acid. Anyway, you can taste that it is lesser here.

There is a shop nearby that seems quite famous for Fried Hokkien Mee. Unfortunately we are not a fan of thick yellow noodles, so we have not been to this shop so far. Someday...

Ikan Bakar Gerai Seri Melaka at Jalan Bellamy

2007-12-01T21:44:00.000+08:00

My cravings for ikan bakar (grilled fish) kicked in and I can't think of any place except Jalan Bellamy. You have seen my previous posting http://everythingasian.blogspot.com/2007/07/ikan-bakar-at-jalan-bellamy.html . But this is another shop just 1 door away. And I have to say this is a better ikan bakar place.

Location: Jallan Bellamy, behind King's Palace, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Good

Review
The variety and freshness is average. There is a choice of flowery crab, talapia, stingray, keli, kembong, cockles, squids and prawns. I stick to my usual stingray. The cook dip the fish in a personally prepared sauce and transfer it straight onto the hot pan.
While waiting, I looked around the place and noticed that this shop is rather famous with more than 10 years of experience. But I suspect the night operators are different with the day operators, so I withhold my expectation.

When the fish came, I thought it wasn't bad. But they only serve sambal without the air assam (tamarind juice mixed with chili and shallots).

Mixing the fish with a hearty dollop of sambal, I quickly had a mouthful (haha... forgive my recklessness). I was quite surprised to find the skin crispy and fragrant, while the meat still soft and moist. And the sambal is also good. Now I know why there is no air assam. It has been mixed together with the sambal belacan. Straightaway I knew I will be back again and again and again. hehehe..In addition to ikan bakar, we also ordered mixed tom yum (Thai hot and sour soup). Many ingredients are used including chicken, fish, prawns and squids. But I find the soup isn't as fragrant as the actual Thais. What I am glad is that the soup base didn't come from the cubed flavourings. At least they are from fresh spices and herbs.

The hungry ogre in us decided to order more. We asked for telur dadar (omelet) and fried kangkung (water spinach). All these are, in my opinion, great combination with steaming hot white rice. I love all the dishes served in small sizes. And they are very economical. The entire meal cost about Rm25-ish. I say that's fair!

Restoran Berputar Seri Angkasa (Revolving Restaurant) on KL Tower

2007-11-19T15:27:00.001+08:00

From the first time I heard about the revolving restaurant at the top of KL Tower, I have always imagined a classy and romantic settings. Two people sitting at a table, holding hands, face towards the high window, eyes overseeing the lights in the city with fragrant of wine lingering at the tip of the tongue. Zip!

That's the sound of my wandering mind came back to reality. The restaurant's target market are businessmen and tourists. Buffet with a spread of some asian and some western food. Long squarish or big roundish table for at least 6. Sigh... Does reality always has to be so hard to swallow?!

Location: K.L. Tower, Off Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Average

Review
I don't normally assess the ambience because food is my main concern. Sometimes best food can be sitting next to a large sewerage drain for all we know. An exception here because this is... "Da Revolving Restaurant". Rumours that bookings for this place lined up to the next year. Well that's why they are called rumours.The settings were generally simple but slightly crowded and narrow, as there is limited space for the restaurant to utilise. I would suggest diners to come earlier in the evening so that you can witness the darkening skyline. It is more interesting to experience the twilight than pure night lights.

Now about the food. They have 3 stations. The one below is solely Malaysian fare. Rice, meats, veges, kerabus (mixed local salad), and some roti (bread). Taste wise, nothing to shout about.

The second station is more international mix of asian and western. You've got sushis, pastas, roast lamb, fresh salads, fresh oysters, and appetisers.The sushi rice was too moist and pressed too hard, making the rice lost its texture. Too lumpy for my liking.The variety of appetisers are ok. Average taste.These are supposed to be fresh oysters, but I smell a little not-so-fresh. Just a little, but enough to make me stay away. Anyway, I have decided to stay away as I realised I am eating something live and raw. When I think bout it, it's kinda cruel.

The last station is for desserts. A variety of western and local desserts, including pengat durian (cooked durian fruit with coconut milk and palm sugar).

What I find delightful is the way they decorate the desserts. It is quite beautifully done.There are also a number of chocolate cakes, all for the ladies.

Then there are mini chocolate tarts and mini rum ball (minus the rum, as this place is halal).

Even more mini chocolate and vanilla cakes and rolls.

The local fruits are also attractively displayed. I would say the effort is quite commendable at this station.I can't say this is the best buffet spread, but the effort is there. Business wise, this might actually work better than the dreamy restaurant I imagined. But taste wise they are just average.

Quickie: Uncle Yeong's Curry Puff

2007-11-19T14:18:00.000+08:00

Last time, when I was working in Wisma Sime Darby, I used to love Mondays and Fridays. I know you would say "Fridays I can understand, but Mondays???". Haha... These are the days that Uncle Yeong would come at about 11am and sell his infamous curry puffs and doughnuts. That is until I found out where is his port. That's when Mondays became less meaningful.

Location: Off Jalan Tun HS Lee & Jalan Tun Perak, Masjid Jamek Area, Kuala Lumpur

Rating: Very good

Review
By looking at this chart you should be able to deduce that Uncle Yeong is quite a curry puff expert.I have bought myself a big fat curry puff with egg that cost me only RM1. The beauty of this is the generosity of Uncle Yeong. hehe... You can find chicken meat and half an egg in each of these curry puff. The curry aroma is not too overpowering but spicy enough. It is hot and the skin is not too thick. I know there are some curry puffs sold at Rm1.50 to RM2.50 because of its size and very thick and crunchy skin. I know being able to make a crunchy layered skin is an art. But I am not willing to pay that much for a thick skin curry puff with tasteless (and substance-less) fillings. I prefer this. Substance counts..

Hainanese Dried Curry Noodles @ Kedai Kopi Yee Fatt

2007-11-19T14:05:00.000+08:00

Since we talked about Ipoh-Hainanese dried curry noodles in my previous post, so I thought I better show you the real deal. Can you see that the curry topping is thicker? We'll analyse further under "review".

Kedai Kopi Yee Fatt is situated at the Kampar Road round-about, somewhere opposite Methodist Girl School and near Tow Boo Keong Temple.Now, about this shop. It has been in business for at least 3 generations. How I know? When I was a kid, I witness handling over of the business from the grandpa to his sons. And the last time I visited, the grandson is already there learning the trades. Last time when we made orders, they would write it down, shout out the orders to the back kitchen for drinks and the cook for the noodles. And every time, there are bound to be one order made wrong. hehehe... Knowing that they have really put in the effort to take down the orders and all, what else can you blame them? The latest practice is for the waiter to take down the orders and the cook will again write down on his own booklet to match with the waiter. Sigh... Aren't they a cute family?

Location: Round-about at Jalan Kampar, Ipoh, Perak

Rating: Good

Review
The standard order by most people would be their dried curry noodles. There are choices of bee hoon (rice vermicelli), mee (yellow noodles), hor fun/koay teow (flat rice noodles) and loh shu fun (tubed rice noodles). Garnishes would include beansprouts and mint leaves. Toppings include curry chicken with potatoes, as well as bbq pork. What's makes it good? The topping curry has to be thick and fragrant. But prior to that, the noodles must be tossed well with the dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and cooked oil. The combination has to be perfect where the curry can complement the mixed noodles. Although it is called dried curry noodles, it must not be too dry. This is what makes this shop good.

For those that do not fancy spicy food in the morning, you can also order clear soup. But I can't guarantee you anything, as I have never tried it before. Not even when I was young.

Another famous food here is their glutinous chicken rice. Why is it famous? Purely because of its freshness. The rice are cooked but remained individually solid, so that when you sink in your chopsticks, it breaks easily. A simple dish.A Chinese saying that "It's hard to start a business, it is even harder to maintain a business". It feels good to see that some business remained viable even at its third generation (as far as I know lah).

Restoran Sin Hoy How - Dry Curry Mee & White Coffee

2007-11-01T22:53:00.000+08:00

This is pretty Ipoh-Hainanese style of dried curry noodles. What with its famous white coffee. A potential for Ipoh-ans to quench their cravings for dried curry noodles. The place is quite easy to find. It is along the

Location: Jalan Tun H.S Lee, Masjid Jamek Area, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Above average

Review
There are curry noodles too, but its standard would be average to below average if my review is on the curry noodles. The dry curry noodles is at least better.
Now, how is this a typical Ipoh-Hainanese dried curry, you might ask. Well the noodles will usually be doused with thin curry soup and then topped with another layer of thick curry chicken sauce. Other accompaniments usually include bbq pork and some beansprouts. Are they good? Well, I would say above average when compared to most Kuala Lumpur stalls/shops. The curry is quite fragrant. But other than that, the remaining ingredients are rather average.
Its white coffee is very famous among its patrons. It is fragrant and smooth. I find it a bit strong and sweet too. But at least it is not 3 in 1 white coffee.
The thick coffee coupled with the thick froth forms part of the pull factor. Did you notice something on the surface of the coffees? These are not created by us. Work of art by the "taukeh" (boss/owner) maybe?Note: Although they open on Saturdays, the quality is somewhat lower. Suggest you go during weekdays.

Gai Wor Pau by Clan Restaurant

2007-11-01T22:28:00.000+08:00

At 2am in the morning, my dad bought this "gai wor pau" (cantonese literally translated as chicken nest bun) for us to try. I kept the box with me, thinking of visiting the place some day. That some day came when my ex-colleagues called for breakfast reunion.

Location: Jalan Radin Anum, Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Average

Review
The address pointed to the back door of the shop. When we walked in, we were greeted with stacks of gai wor pau. This pau must really be in demand. So without further ado we ordered 2 gai wor pau. It is quite interesting, really. You have steamed buns pre cooked, then stuff cooked glutinous rice with bbq meat and wine chicken. Then they are put in the rattan tray for another round of steaming. When served on table, the buns were cut into sixes.

The glutinous rice filling is very moist and fragrant. One thing I found interesting is that they included fried large onions in there as well. I supposed it help improve fragrance, sweetness and moisture of the fillings. Other than that, the remaining ingredients are quite standard of "lo mai kai" (glutinous rice with wine chicken).

Another type of pau called "wor jai pau" or "kai wor jai" I can't recall. Basically it is smaller in size and has a topping similar of steamed brown sugar cake for topping. The brown sugar steam cakes are also called "ma lai kou" (malay cakes).

The filling is just normal bbq meat. Something different, yes... but the mix doesn't really match. I don't taste the fragrant of the meat or the pau or the cake. The combination didn't really cause a synergy. As Malaysian would say it - so so lah.. Next in line is the black pepper meat pau. Well this is quite good. The meat is fragrant enough, but not too over powering.Of course there are many more choices of dim sum as shown on the trays below.Our standard order of siew mai (pork dumpling) was just average. Not especialy fresh or tasty or bad. Really average.Even the "har mai" (prawn dumpling) is so average. The filling isn't like Ipoh's dim sum filled with fresh whole sweet prawns. More like mince meat wrap around 1 prawn per mai. Nothing special.Sigh... verdict same as the mai's above. We also ordered porridge. The look itself is just disappointing. No garnishes and limited ingredients. More suitable to be taken when sick. As a last resort, we ordered chee cheong fun (white rice noodles rolled with pork/prawns). The noodles weren't hot enough. The sauce is too little. How can things go so downhill?
As a conclusion, I can only say the shop offers something different that are not bad. But other stuff are just so average.

Quickie: Yik Mun - The famous pau from Tanjung Malim

2007-11-01T22:22:00.000+08:00

20 over years ago.. Whenever my family followed my dad on his business travels to Kuala Lumpur, I would bug my dad to stop at Tanjung Malim along the north-south trunk road. The steamed curry chicken pau (bun) used to be my favourite. Was it really that long ago?

Location: Tanjung Malim
Rating: Poor

Review
The pau's skin is crusty, hard and dry. Even the filling is dry and not fragrant except salty. Where did that soft and sweet skin, plus fragrant filling went?
The coffee is thick alright. But that's all it is. No fragrance and not even smooth.
It was very disappointing. A reputation that was built since pre-independence era (1926) was all destroyed. What went wrong? Was it the mass production that loss the human touch or was it that the later generation did not really care anymore. It is just too wasteful..

Restoran Soong Kee - Beef Ball Mee

2007-11-01T22:04:00.000+08:00

As you can see from the signage, the shop offers beef ball mee. This shop has the right to claim it because they really produce their own noodles and beef balls. Something rare nowadays, as most shops just get their ready made supply instead.
The shop is situated between the intersection of Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin (Silang) and Jalan Tun HS Lee. The owner (Mr Siew) is the 3rd generation running this store since 1945. Even the cook (Mr Chan) has been working with the shop for forty over years. What it says here is about quality and experience.

Location: 3 Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin (fka Jalan Silang), Masjid Jamek area, Kuala Lumpur
Rating: Good

Review
Although most people ordered mee (yellow noodles), I actually prefer their loh shu fun (rice noodles shaped in short tubes). The yellow noodles may sometimes be over cooked and become less springy. You can't find the same loh shu fun here anywhere else. The texture has more substance and less chemicals. When compared to the normal fare, you'll find the loh shu fun here less springy but also less transparent.
Another attraction here is the minced meat laid on top of the noodles. The aroma is balanced between the sauce and the strong smell of beef.
Although I do eat beef meats and parts, I prefer to order beef balls and fresh meats here. Long time ago when the wet market was still situated in central market area, the beef that is used to prepare the meals in Soong Kee were fresher. Fresh meats spells springier and better texture beef balls and meats on the table. Nevertheless, the cook's experience help overcome the shortcoming by deciding how much salt to add for which part of meat, how long to cook for older or younger meat, and how long should the meat be pounded to ensure the springing texture is obtained. So coming here, you are assured of beef balls that can bounced off the table hihi..
A simple meal like this cost you about RM5. The owner has tried to maintain its price at affordable level. Can you feel his passion?
By the way, another reason why I love coming here is to enjoy lyrical whistling/singing by the cook/owner. They sing or whistle with vibrant tones while cooking us tasty meals. Some people say you have to maintain a peaceful and blissful heart if you want to cook a good meal. Maybe there is some truth to it after all.
This won't be my blog if I do not try its chili sauce. Now this is the Cantonese style chili sauce made with vinegar. Mixing it with the noodles or the meat brings out the flavour and appetite. Yum yum.. If you plan to go there, please note that there is limited parking space around that area and the shop opens from 11am till night. Bon appetit!

Quickie: Durian desserts @ Yik Kee Restaurant

2007-10-21T23:33:00.000+08:00

Now... you don't really have to love durian. I am one of those that are indifferent to durian. Still, I enjoyed the desserts very much. In fact, I think I have overdosed on this indulgence during my stay in Genting.

Cantonese-English Translation
Yik - benefit
Kee - record or story

Location: Gohtong Jaya, Pahang
Rating: Very good

Review
For durian lover, the "bomb" will be their favourite. The skin is fragrant and slightly crispy with a soft hint of spice. Despite the fragrant skin, the inner filling carried the pungent aroma of durian. It is not too sweet or soft. You can savor substance in them.

The next famous dessert is the durian tart. It looks like the egg tart with crusty skin. The filling has less substance and more creamy. The tart is less pungent compared to da bomb. Fair.. Again it is not too sweet.For those of you that find Genting becoming less and less cool, the durian ice-cream may help to soothe the heat. This has least durian aroma and of course even much more creamier.The best part is that the owner is wise enough to use local durian that offers more fragrance and fuller taste. As much as I don't fancy durian, I find the desserts interesting. Definitely something to try if you are in Gohtong Jaya.

The Buns Strabe @ Awana Genting

2007-10-21T22:51:00.000+08:00

We reached Gohtong Jaya late in the evening. It was raining, so we know that the skyway will be closed. It was too early for dinner and too late for lunch, so we decided to have something less heavy. The receptionist suggested Buns Strabe.

German-English Translation
Buns - buns
Strabe - street

Location: Awana Genting Resort, Gohtong Jaya, Pahang
Rating: Below average

Review
The setting was actually quite pleasing to the eye. It is just a small joint at the corner of Awana Resort's main entrance.
The only thing German are the beer and bratwurst sausage. Since we are not in the mood for a beer, so we decided to have the teh tarik (milk+tea) to go with the sausage. The tea was good. Fragrant and not too sweet. It glides smoothly throughout. Just nice!
Unfortunately, that's the only thing good we had.
We ordered orange cheese cake. The cake looked like it has spent quite some time in the fridge. The taste is just average. Not creamy or fragrant enough. Just average.

When the sausage came, it was obvious that it is not Bratwurst. Simply a hot dog. Worst, the staff do not even know the difference and insist that it is Bratwurst Sausage. Bad management!
Moreover, the food simply taste and feel like bar food. Sigh...

I truly believe that Awana needs to improve. I can't even rate the resort as 4 star. The entire experience is just bad. Too bad..

Bak Kut Teh @ Restoran T.T.K

2007-10-20T11:28:00.000+08:00

Klang Bak Kut Teh?? Nope. I don't think anyone can fight this. TTK Restaurant's signature dish is double boiled bak kut teh with additional herbs. Unless you say Klang's dry bak kut teh, otherwise TTK's soupy bak kut teh is the best so far.

If you do recall in my previous post Teluk Pulai Bak Kut Teh, there are 2 versions of bak kut teh. The Hokkiens and the Teochews. This is definitely a Hokkien bak kut teh. The soup base is darker and they also offered yam rice. Simply superb!

Location : Jalan Pandan 8, Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur
Rating : Best

Review
Eating bak kut teh, I like either rice mixed with fried shallots or white rice, so that the rice can compliment the soup. But I can't resist the yam rice here. It is rich with yam and hay bee (Hokkien for dried prawns). One bowl is just not enough.Like I said before, the beauty here is that the owner is generous in the ingredients. You'll love the sensation of soft rice coupled with softer yam combined with the rich aroma of hay bee and yam.Ah.. Let's go on to the bak kut teh itself. The shop actually offers the normal direct-boiled soup or the double boiled soup. I suggest you choose the double boiled soup. It may be slightly more expensive than the normal boiled soup, but you will not regret it. The soup is so thick and sweet with strong herbal aroma. The meat is soft and fragrant. I couldn't stop scooping up spoonful after spoonful of soup. You can be assured of the ingredients used are of quality. Just look at the thickness mushroom. Yummy!Then we have the usual yau char kwai (crullers) and tau fu pok (fried bean curd) to complete the meal. Oopss... No vege?? Hehe... They do offer vege, just the carnivorous us didn't order. Heh heh..

Restoran Lin Yuan Steamboat Kitchen

2007-10-19T19:20:00.000+08:00

Coming back from Raya holidays, we find quite a number of shops were still closed from operation. It is during this time that it came to my mind, we had earlier wanted to visit this shop, but never really got to go. Moreover, it was quite a chilly evening after a heavy rain. Ah... a hot steamy steamboat will help to warm us up.
Steamboat or hot pot were said to originate from Mongolia, while some said it was widely spread during the Tang Dynasty of China. Whatever you call it, it is simply dipping raw food into a pot of boiling soup and consume when the food is cooked. Nowadays, there are extremely wide varieties of steamboat. We have soup base ranging from clear soup, tom yum (thai spicy soup), ma la (szechuan numbing hot soup), curry, satay sauce (peanut sauce), porridge, to pumpkin broth. And the list goes on and on.. Some may say unhygienic (coz everyone dip their chopsticks into the same pot), some say it is healthy or unhealthy. Steamboat remained a popular choice as you can see from the photo below.
Location : Jalan Peel, between Pudu and Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
Rating : Good service, Above average food

Review
In Malaysia, many feels that dipping sauce is the most important factor when considering a steamboat success. I suppose this shop didn't let its patrons down. The sauce is fragrant with belacan (shrimp paste), chilli padi and sourish lime. We requested for a double pot, so that we could try out both the clear soup and the tom yum. The clear soup was normal. The tom yum is from the maggi cube, so there is really nothing much to shout about here.The raw provisions were fresh. They were quite standard with fresh prawns, fish paste, fish wanton, sui kow (pork dumpling), fishballs, foo chok (beancurd skins), tofu and veges.Probably what's worth mentioning is that the vege portion is slightly more. There are also 2 types of vege instead of the standard 1 type. the tofu is also very soft and smooth.One of the main attraction to us is the availability of thinly cut fresh meats. We took sliced beef. As you can see it is very thinly sliced, about 1mm width. This is best eaten by dipping it quickly into the hot pot and pick it out straight after the colour has changed. Mixed it with the chili sauce and pop the whole thing in. Voila! Love the freshness of meat and aroma of soup+sauce.

Right.. This is not the way to eat steamboat (throwing everything into the pot at 1 go). But we were just hungry animals, can't wait for the food to cook 1 by 1. But seriously, the best way to eat steamboat is to dip whatever you want to eat, one after another. The purpose is to enjoy the food when it is just cooked and still piping hot. That's why hungry people can't make a good taster.Lastly, the noodles and eggs are to fill in any remaining space in your stomach. Like I said before, noodles should come last so that it won't spoil the soup or your appetite. And if you like half cooked eggs, let me teach you how to cook it using hot pot. (1) lower the heat to simmering level, (2) crack open the egg and pour the content into the pot without breaking the yolk, (3) wait for 1-2 minutes without stirring the egg, & (4) use the ladle provided to scoop out the egg slowly. The egg white will be cooked and the yolk partly cooked so be careful not to spill it. Just add a pinch of pepper and a drop of soy sauce to enjoy the soup flavoured egg. You'll love it!

Restoran Jai Hind

2007-10-17T14:44:00.000+08:00

Having shared with you my experience of South Indian food from the previous blog, I now share with you my experiance of North Indian food, also somewhere in Masjid Jamek area. I reckon it's not surprising as this is Little India of Kuala Lumpur.

The chef is preparing one of the specialty - chappathi.

Among the many choices of accompaniments (curries, veges, meats, etc)

Location: Jalan Melayu, near Masjid Jamek, Kuala Lumpur

Rating: Good

Review
The chapatthi here is softer and more chewy. Chapatthi wise, this place is better then Sangeetha.

Another famous choice of rothi (bread) is the "naan". I love the texture of crunchy at the outside and soft+chewy in the inside. The rothi is very fragrant. Best eaten when warm. Yummy!

Best of all, you have the freedom to choose the type of accompaniments that you like. You can have simple chutney with dhal and green peas sauce.

Or even healthier choice of pickled vege (though the combination is a bit odd :P)

By the look of it, you would know this is my choice of accompaniments. It goes to show how hungry I am. The chicken meat is very tender and fragrant with spices. The tofu is sweet and tasty. Mixing the raitha (yogurt with pickled vege) with rothi (breads be it chapatthi or naan) is good. Find peace with peas.. hahaha.... Can't explain why, everytime I am there, this peas dish tend to induce me to take it.Noted many people like to take this vege too. I wouldn't say it is something special, but I guess it is a healthier choice.And the most famous among my friends is this - "Chicken Parattal". Again the meat is very tender and the spices used is just right, not too overpowering.Haha... And mu usual lassi. This time it is mango lassi. Love the thick and creamy lassi.

Sangeetha Vegetarian Restaurant

2007-10-16T14:50:00.000+08:00

I realised I have not put up much about Indian food. And dare I talk about everythingasian. Sorry... My bad. Deepavali is coming, so I guess it is quite the right time to share some makan (Malay for eating) place with you.

This shop serves mostly Southern Indian food with some extension on Punjabi (Northen Indian)food. I find it interesting that the way the restaurant develop its menu is very much affected by the ethnic composition. You see, majority of Malaysian Indians are Tamils, Malayalese from South India, Ceylonese from Sri Lanka and the minorities include Punjabis, Gujeratis, Bengalis, Sindhis and etc mostly from North India.

Location: Lebuh Ampang, near Masjid Jamek, Kuala Lumpur
Review: Very good

Review
I've been to few Indian restaurants that have good ambiance (eg Madras, Annalakshmi, etc). This shop is another that offers you comfortable eating environment.

I don't really know where to start. How about drinks first. We ordered tea and pineapple lassi (yogurt drink). I supposed the tea is a nice complement to a hearty meal. I chose lassi because I believe lassi drinks served from Indian restaurants are more natural than the usually chemically processed yogurt drinks from the supermarkets.

I was rather hungry, so I ordered Sangeetha Special Thali (meals are generally called Thali in Indian language) that comes with a starter. We had difficulty identifying the ingredients of this soup. All I can say is that it is a vegetable soup garnished with 3 toasted bread. Not a very strong soup, but nice enough, especially with the bread.

Then it came... I didn't know my selection came with 1 bowl of rice and 1 piece of chappathi. The main dishes were accompanied by 10 other wet accompaniments (kuruma, kootu, potato masala, rassam, veges, dhal, sweets, etc) and 2 dry snacks (poppadum and dried salty chili).

I love the rice. It came hot and soft. Mixing it with all the gravies just enhances the impression. Love the overall mix.

Another friend ordered a Punjabi Thali that came with Naan, Pulao Rice and Pappad. The main dishes are also accompanied by Punjabi accompaniments like Raitha, Palak, Dhal and etc. The rice is more fragrant than briyani rice. Maybe because the rice mix in a lot of veges that increases the aroma and reduces the heaviness (I know this sounds stupid, but I can't recall the right word to encapsulate the effect). The drawback is that the naan was not hot, but it still has that chewiness texture.
The food looks so appetising, but I do not think I will be able to finish the whole set by myself. The menu actually requested that we do not share the set. What a waste.

My other friends ordered the Chennai Thali. This basically means South Indian/Tamil meals, as Chennai is a capital of the Indian State (formerly known as Madras). Anyway, the Chennai Thali comes with a choice of either chappathi made from atta flour (whole grain durum wheat) or white rice. The remaining accompaniments are quite similar with the Sangeetha Thali ( I have a feeling I have been duped to pay extra RM3 for Sangeethe Special Thali, heh heh).

Another friend ordered something more different. This is called onion rava dosai or masala or something. argh... the names are confusing me now. All I can say is that the dish looks appetising enough to induce me to come again an try it.

After all the hearty meals, just down a glass of sky juice and you can feel the bread and rice expanding. Extremely filling.

Quickie : Winter Warmers @ The Curve

2007-10-12T17:49:00.000+08:00

Ya.. I know. Not being a mainstream follower, I actually put this up. But I had a really good time last weekend. We were walking around aimlessly waiting for a brother, and bumped to this place. I thought this is a real good alternative to coffees. Although the place was crowded, the ambiance was very much compensated by the live band that sings beautiful oldies.We ordered a set for 2 that includes some snacks and tea for 2. We upgraded the tea to a pot of Lemon Verbena and another pot of mixed floral tea called Blue Moon or something (mixture of rosebuds, marigold, lavender, blue mallow). The snacks came first. There were scones, cakes, sandwiches, cookies and fruits. I thought it was quite pleasant. The Lemon Verbena is said to help ease digestion. I thought the strong lemon fragrance was quite refreshing. Girls may not like this as much (as proven by my sister).I do like the look of the leaves as they are quite huge. Normally the larger the leaves, the more expensive are the tea leaves. But this applies to Chinese Tea. Am not sure if it is the same for English Tea.The other tea is more of a lady's tea. Strong floral fragrant, especially lavender.It offers a strong aroma when you sip in the tea. I do not think it is so suitable to use transparent tea pot for this tea, as the floral mixture looked quite a mess. Unless they tie the flowers into a bouquet.Lastly we had a Four Red Fruit Freeze Tea. Very refreshing. And of all the teas we have tasted, amazingly this is the one that leaves a strong fruity aftertaste. Overall experience : Pleasant!

Kedai Kopi Hilltop

2007-09-20T20:28:00.000+08:00

I read about this from a beautiful site - http://eatingasia.typepad.com/. I have fallen in love with their photos, writings and ventures. Knowing I will be going to Kota Kinabalu, I took the chance to check out their blogs for info. This is one of the shop they went. There were no address given, just a telephone number for me to call. When I called up, the "tauke nio" (lady boss) could not give me a full address. She kept giving me some names and landmarks that I (not being a Sabahan) do not know. The only name that she kept repeating was Jalan Lintas (Lintas Road). Equipped with a map of KK, we cruised along Jalan Lintas and all other related roads for 3 times. Now Lintas Road is one of the major roads, so it is not a short distance. It took us 1 hour and yet we still failed to find the place. After numerous calls and getting very late (about 11+pm), we gave up and turned to Jalan Bunga Ulam Raja to head back to town centre. And there it was - Kedai Kopi Hilltop!

Location : Kolam Centre, Jalan Bunga Ulam Raja, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Rating : Quite Good

Review
The first thing we ordered and came was the grilled stingray. The fish is marinated and grilled with spices mixed with little bit of curry powder. How do I find this? Maybe I had too high hopes, it turned out to be ok. Quite good, but I find the spices tasted slightly funny. Then we had grilled sotong (squid) in curry sauce. The squid is really fresh and the curry does not over power the meat. But you have to eat them all (squid+sauce) in 1 scoop in order to get the oomph. Because we were so hungry after such a long search, we ordered a fried seafood bee hoon (rice vermicelli). I noted that bee hoon in KK are slightly thicker. The dish looks normal, but it was actually quite tasty. The bee hoon was cooked with enough heat that makes the noodles absorbed the fragrance of seafood. This is the "sign" that we had been looking for the whole 1 hour!With all these info, hope your search will be less tricky :)

Port View Seafood Village

2007-09-19T23:30:00.000+08:00

How can I not go for seafood when I am in Kota Kinabalu? I am sure if you tell anyone about going to KK, they will definitely tell you where to go for seafood. For us, we have the advantage of having locals to bring us. This wasn't what I am used to, as I do not like to owe favours but they weren't really my relatives and I can't really say no either. So I just have to go with the flow.
It was a really grand feast, which made me felt really indebted to this family. They made the orders, and I had the shock of my life when the dishes came one after another.

Location : The Water Front, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Rating : Good

Review
The first dish was 10 inches sea tiger prawns cooked in spiced butter. You may not know how huge is the prawn. Maybe the picture below will give you a clue.

The prawns were so huge and they are so fresh that the meat is sweet and springy. I think the cook managed to ensure that the sauce did not over power the fresh taste of the prawns, which was good.

The second dish was also 10 inches sea tiger prawns. This time, it is fried with soy sauce. Sorry, I can't help it but show off how huge the prawn is.
I love fresh sea prawns being cooked this way as it usually retains the sweetness of the meat. Unfortunately, the cook had poured in a bit too much soy sauce. The dish was slightly too salty. It was still good though. One thing about eating huge seafood is that the meat will be quite chewy, but this was ok.

Next we had some rather exotic food. There is this shark's lower jaw's soft bone stewed in clear sauce. Such a long name, even longer jaw.

By the way, this has to be quite a huge shark. Personally, I do not agree in shark killing but since it has been served, I might as well tell you how it tastes. The texture is rather chewy and jelly like. The bones itself is rather tasteless (at least it has no fishy smell). It took hours of stewing to soften the bones and the cook blend it with clear sauce of mushrooms, garlics and corianders to fused the traces of freshness in them. It seems that this is a delicacy favoured by Hongkies, as it offers medicinal values. Shark bones are rather well known among in chinese medicine as good for bones, spines and joints.

Next we have fresh abalone steamed with garlic topping. If you like garlic, this dish is great as garlic draws out the fresh seafood taste.

I felt that the cook has slightly overcooked this dish. It would have been better if the meat wasn't that chewy.

Then came the fresh sea flower crabs. It is difficult to get live flower crab. The dead ones that are sold in the market are the worst type of seafood as the meat would have disintegrated and bacteria would have spread.

I remember a funny quote by a relative: "The crabs are lining up to go into your stomach". Hehehe... she is such a cute and funny person.

That's why I think it was a great idea to order sea flower crab and it was even greater idea to have it steamed with eggs. Simple yes, but the taste of fresh sea enveloped within your mouth was heavenly!

Finally came an unassuming stew. Now this may look small and simple dish to you, but it is actually the fin lining of a 200kg fish they call it "long dun". "Long dun" is a term for fishes that has lived longer than 10 years and grew so huge that man should swim away and leave it alone. Again, I do not condone killing or eating them. But since it is served... The texture is slightly like beef tendons but tasted very strongly of sea blood. Seafood lovers will love the powerful fragrant and tastes.

Our grand feast was wrapped up with 2 coconut fill of pudding made of coconut meat and juice, blended and frozen. The pudding is naturally sweet and fragrant of coconut. This is a great finale to seal off the feast.

Conclusion

What is good - The cook knows how not to over power the naturally fresh taste of seafood. All dishes are mildly dressed.
What is not such a good idea - Extinction of certain species.
A note of heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Ben's relatives for such a grand feast.

Quickie : The Rainforest at Poring Hot Spring

2007-09-19T17:39:00.000+08:00

It was 5pm after we finished climbing hill to walk on the canopy hanging bridge and soaking our feet in Poring Hot Spring. As usual, I was yowling for food again. So the best place to go (actually, the only place to go) is The Rainforest.

We ordered local coffee, hot & cold. Fragrant enough to soothe our thirst.Hungry me ordered "The Rainforest Fried Rice". Nothing to shout about, but decent enough. The chilli here isn't hot, but extremely sour. But mixing with the rice was actually quite nice.

Ben ordered mixed sandwich. Nothing much, the usual fare. What I like? The environment. Quite a suitable name for the restaurant as we were surrounded by greens. The waitress was polite and friendly. The food overall was nice. It left me with a good feeling to end the Poring Hot Spring journey with a relax mind and a full stomache (hehe..).

Quickie : Nasi Lemak at Kafe Kundasang

2007-09-19T12:42:00.000+08:00

It was already noon and we were still in Kundasang. I supposed it was the cold weather. I have been shouting "hungry" all the time since I was up on Kinabalu Park area. We have just checked out so I can't cook something to soothe my hunger pang. Looking around Kundasang, there were no place to eat. The shops are mostly closed and we were no willing to eat in a hotel. Finally we came to Kafe Kundasang. It is a simple coffee shop. I saw a lady diligently wrapping up nasi lemak (Malay for coconut milk rice) to sell for Muslim to break fast in the evening. I asked for a packet and ordered a steamy local coffee to with it.

It looks like any normal nasi lemak, but the rice actually tastes different. You see, they use cinnamon and cloves to cook the rice. I might say this is a healthier choice as they use less santan (coconut milk). But the taste somehow reminded me of Chinese steamed glutinous rice. Maybe it is because of the spices they use.
Anyway, I can't give you a fair verdict if the nasi lemak is good. Reason being (1) I was hungry, (2) This is a different method of nasi lemak.

But no regrets, as I get to taste the localised food.

Quickie : Fruits from Borneo Sabah

2007-09-18T18:39:00.000+08:00

It is amazing that I took the initiative to buy fruits, what with my carnivorous appetite. But I promised myself that I must try all things foreign in Borneo Sabah. And so, I went to the fruit stall in Kundasang and started pointing at all the fruits I have not seen or tasted before. The result:
The first thing we tried was manggis hutan (wild mangosteen). It actually looked like a ballooned duku/langsat. Even tasted slightly like one, but the look and texture is very similar to manggis (mangosteen).

The next we took was pulasan. Well of course I have tried pulasan, but I found another type which is dark purple. The seller said it is called pulasan hitam (doesn't sound convincing to me). They tasted very much like rambutan, but the red pulasan is more juicy. I find the pulasan hitam softer and fragrant more towards lychee.

The last and biggest fruit I have pointed is called bambangan (if I spelt it right). Very easy to peel. When I first bit into the flesh, it tasted very much like mango, but with slightly more fibre. But the after taste that dwells in my tongue after I swallowed the fruit smelled like nangka (jackfruit).

Interesting fruits that you should try if you were there. And no, I did not suffer any stomach ache, so no worries :)

Sabah's Ngiu Chap

2007-09-18T10:36:00.000+08:00

Ah... Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I went, I see and the chilli sauce conquered me. Phew.... I thought I can take hot and spicy until I dip a piece of meat into this unassuming sauce.

I wouldn't say the sauce taste great, cause it taste nothing except extreme spicy. Oh my goodness! I have to "tabik" Kadazan people. BUT... This is not a blog about the chilli sauces. It is about a good beef brisket noodles shop in KK - Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap!

Location : Kolam Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Rating : Great

Review
We have ordered the usual beef brisket with flat rice noodles. And a KK usual of bee hoon (rice vermicelli).

We found the clear soup very very fragrant minus the usual lot of msg. Included in the soup are some spices that warms the stomach (great for us coz we have just touched down from KL with empty stomach).

The rice vermicelli is slightly different as they are thicker than the usual but very smooth. The meat are soft and springy to the bite. I have to say, it is even better than those I have tried in KL so far.

It is not hard to find the shop, with its signature yellow and red sign.

In case you still can't find it, look for the sign below, which is right off the main road - Jln Likas/Jln Lintas.

Besides burning our tongues with KK's chillis, we manage to scuttle around Sabah for a few days. You might find our journey log in - http://travellogging.blogspot.com/2007/09/to-land-below-wind.html

A whole meal soup at Pudu

2007-09-14T20:40:00.000+08:00

This is not a decorated shop, nor is this a hyped bistro. Simple family affair. Simple dishes. Extravagant flavour and assortment. The place is directly opposite Shaw Parade along Cangkat Thambi Dollah. Simply lovely!

Location : Cangkat Thambi Dollah, Pudu
Rating : Great

I read an article some time back that double-boiled soup offers enhanced health value. Even fats from double-boiled soup has its nutritional values. We ordered tien chat (notoginseng root) soup shown on top and coconut chicken soup. Tien chat are good for blood circulation. While the bottom coconut chicken soup is good for nourishing the organs.

In addition, we have ordered additional dishes to go with white rice. The chicken legs were not as soft as I expected, but the mushrooms were extremely big.

But one of our favourite is mui choy khau yuk (salted mustard with pork belly). Since young, I never liked animal fats until I tried this. It was really fragrant when eaten with rice and mui choy and meat.

There is another favourite of ours - curry pork (wild boar), but too much just spoil the purpose of drinking some healthy soup.

If you don't mind going for street food, this is one of the must. Economical and tasty. What more can I ask?

Quickie: Ah Pek's Dau Foo Fa at Menglembu, Perak

2007-09-13T13:36:00.000+08:00

Dau foo fa or dou hwa in mandarin or dau hway in hokkien all refers to beancurd dessert doused with ginger syrup. Among the few variation you find are salty or spicy dou hwa from Szechuan China, or Malaysian's gula melaka syrup (palm sugar), or Taiwan's mix with soya drink.

Beancurd originated from China and dou hwa are consumed all year round, summer with ice and winter warm syrup.

This uncle has been selling dau foo fa (Ipoh are full of cantonese) and dau jing (soya bean milk) for years. He used to stand all day without sitting. Nowadays, as age catch up, he has brought along a foldable chair to sit when thre are no customers.

What is a good dau fo fa? For me, it has got to be smooth, fragrant of bean and ginger from the syrup must not be overpowering. I found all this from Ah Pek's dau foo fa.

Wan Ton Mee Sg Besi

2007-09-11T21:37:00.000+08:00

I am not really a fan of wan ton mee. I have tried them in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and even Indonesia. Don't ask me why I tried them at so many places, yet I don't like them. It was more of by chance than by choice. Anyway, I have always found the noodles too soft or too elastic. The wan ton mee in Hong Kong was sooo.. dry and hard to chew (I can't forget them even after 20 years). But I find this place not bad, as in I won't dread going for it again and again.
The shop offers many varities of wan ton mee, from dumplings to roast meat, from stewed meat to fried meat. Hahaha... all meats.

Location : Sg Besi, Kuala Lumpur (Near Jln Chan Sow Lin)
Rating : Good

Review

What I like about here is the noodles (which I normally dislike). The usual fare are either too soft or too elastic, but this one is springy yet easy to chew. My favourite is with pork curry (wild boar meat). I think the combination of spicy and salty meat with the sweet noodles is good.Ben ordered duck meat noodles. Is it nice? Well the meat was rather normal. Luckily the noodles are good.In addition to the ala carte noodles, you can always order side dishes like wan ton (dumpling), sui kow (bigger dumpling) and foo chok (soy bean rolls).

Are they good? Well I would say above average.

Plan to go there this weekend? Look for the shop shown below:

Note: Come in the evening.

Spaghetti at Restoran Jalan Tanjung Dua

2007-09-06T23:08:00.000+08:00

Western food??? Hello, we are Malaysian lah!
I know.... That's why... Eh, Malaysian offers greatest variety of traditional and fusion food. Don't you think so? Like the spaghetti here, it is fried with cili padi (small chillies) and onion before served with the sauce. Is it nice? I think so.

Location: Bandar Sri Menjalara, Kepong, Selangor
Rating: Good

Review
I think normal spaghetti lack the "umph" element. Or maybe it is just me, who loves a hint of spice/y. Anyway, the fried noodles provides fragrant. That added with the sweet and sour tomato sauce was good.
Another reason I like the spaghetti here is because the noodles are not too thick. They are slightly thinner than normal spaghetti, but thicker than angel's hair (the thinner version of spaghetti, which I prefer and usually cook).

Best of all is that you can order the noodles with a variety of accompaniments. You can have it with sausage and egg, bacon and egg, chicken chop, steak or even fish steak.

The price here is very reasonable. A set of spaghetti with fish/chicken cost around RM8, and if it is with bacon and egg or sausage and egg it is around RM4-RM5. Seldom can you find western food this reasonable.

Or you can just order normal western food. Chicken shop is ok too. I like it grilled this way, rather than deep fried. You can taste a hint of fragrance from the chicken skin, instead of fried bread crumbs.

A little history about pasta

While many believe that spaghetti (pasta) originated in China, some now assert that the reading of a lost Marco Polo manuscript which lead to this belief, was in fact an inaccurate Latin translation. Historically people in Italy ate pasta in the form of gnocchi-like dumplings - 'pasta fresca' eaten as soon as it was prepared. It has now been asserted that the Arabs who populated Southern Italy (around the 12th Century) were the first to develop the innovation of working pasta from grain into thin long forms, capable of being dried out and stored for months or years prior to consumption (see Peter Robb's Midnight in Sicily pp 94-96 for details).

The romantic myth that Marco Polo brought pasta on his return from China has long been debunked. Our friend, Marco, returned in 1295 after twenty-odd years of travel away from Italy. In 1279, however, a Genoese soldier listed in the inventory of his estate a basket of dried pasta ('una bariscella plena de macaronis'). The Chinese are known to have been eating a "noodle-like food" as early as 3000 BC. Marco Polo describes a starchy product made from breadfruit - hardly durum wheat.

The first mention of a recipe is in the book "De arte Coquinaria per vermicelli e maccaroni siciliani" (The Art of Cooking Sicilian macaroni and Vermicelli). This was recorded by the chef to the Patriarch of Acquileia. The first historical references to dried pasta made in proportions large enough to be offered for sale are found in the city of Palermo.

Dried pasta became popular through the 14th and 15th Centuries, as it could be easily stored on ships, among them ones setting out to explore the New World. Various types of pasta, including long hollow tubes, are mentioned in the 15th Century records of Italian and Dominican monasteries. By the 17th Century, pasta had become part of the daily diet throughout Italy because it was economical, readily available and versatile.

Moral of the story: Maybe not everything comes from Asia afterall. hehe

3U Restoran

2007-08-12T23:20:00.000+08:00

I heard and read a lot about this restaurant. It was said that the owners pride themselves for the quality of soup they offer. When I reached the place, it was packed with people. The 3 main types of noodles they offer are prawn noodle, beef noodle and chicken slices with hor fun (cantonese for flat rice noodle). You'll find they play around this 3 variety in the menu.We decided to order a braised beef brisket noodle, a beansprout chicken hor fun and a bowl of wanton (cantonese for prawn dumpling). While waiting, I managed to take some picture of the food they put up on the wall. Not very clear but just to give you a flavour of the other types of noodles available.

Location : Taynton View, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

Rating : Big ups and downs

The first thing that came was prawn wanton. The soup was really great.

The wanton was alright. Prawn meat isn't very chunky or crunchy, but at least they are quite fresh.

The next to arrive was the beansprout chicken hor fun. Again the soup was really good, but the hor fun was not hot enough. The beansprout was normal (maybe slightly fatter than the usual lot, but Ipoh's beansprout are fatter). The chicken was smooth and soft, but we found the skin not properly cleaned.

Finally is the braised beef brisket noodle. Soup was again superb, but we found the meat too big a piece and no evidence of sufficiently braised, as the meat is quite hard to chew.I believe they cut the meat at the wrong direction. This resulted in big chunk of meat and tendon, when it should be inter-layered thinly.

I feel bad that I gave such verdict when many people applauded the place, but I was really disappointed too. Food industry isn't easy. To focus at 1 specific area is good, but other aspects shouldn't be neglected. Sigh... I do not mean to be philosophical, but when comes to quality I wouldn't have it otherwise. Or else, no point blogging.

De Foodland Seafood Restaurant

2007-08-12T22:32:00.001+08:00

It was my dad's birthday. So I have decided to bring him on a feast on crabs. Some might find this cheap, but for us, feasting on crabs has a meaning of its own. We used to be so poor that my dad has to skip his lunch so that I could have mine. Our diet very much consist of instant noodles and its kin. During those hard times, having crabs was a luxury to us. And it has remained so ever since.

Anyway, back to the topic of food. I have receive a brochure from this restaurant depicting very many types of crab dish, from fried to steam and bake. So that's where we went hunting for crabs.

Review
Among other food we ordered were saute celery with squid, fried fish slices with spring onion and ginger, fried udon noodles with black pepper and the restaurant's specialty - fried beehoon (rice vermicelli) and tanghoon (glass noodle) mix. The food are ok. I won't say very good, but standard wise, it was above average.

Ah... the main topic - crabs. We ordered 2 types. We had fried salted eggs with crab (as shown right after this paragraph), and sweet and spicy crab with fried mantou (steamed bun). The salted egg crab is very fragrant. The strong odour of salted eggs were complimented by the curry leaves and little bit of dried chilli. The mix is just right. The chef is able to bring out the fragrant but at the same time do not over cook the crabs. Some inexperienced chef tend to over cook the crabs. The meat would end up dry and sticking to the shell. But not here. Moreover, the crabs were quite huge in size. This.. This is our all time favourite. Sweet and spicy crabs. It is usually cooked with ginger, tomato sauce, vinegar and shallots. The chicken eggs were added last to thicken the sauce and sweeten the taste. We love to dip baked bread or fried mantou into the sauce. I know some European find the way we eat bread "differently" (I recall telling a European couple that we love to take bread with ice-cream, and their reactions were to cringe in disgust). But there are some things that yu just have to try them. Then you would really understand what joy you have missed out in life. hahaha...For benefit of those who might not know how to get there:

Restoran Chen Chen Hong Kong BBQ Goose & Duck

2007-08-12T12:27:00.000+08:00

Ah... When come to Chinese roasted meat, what could be more famous than the Hong Kong roasted goose. And the "tauke" here assured us that his is the real thing. At least that is what his shop name profess.
Cantonese-English Translation
Chen - Real/True
Chen Chen - Really/Truly

Hokkien-English Translation
Tauke - Boss

Location : Pudu, Kuala Lumpur (behind the row of shop opposite the pudu market and chinese temple)
Rating : Above average

Review
We ordered roasted goose, chicken and char siew (sweet bbq pork). We also had some sour vege and pork ball soup. We were also given condiments to be taken with the roasted goose.
When the rice came I was quite impressed. They are fragrant and not too soft/lumpy.
The char siew has nothing much to offer. The meat is dry and hard. And there were limited fragrant as expected from a proper char siew meat.

But the roasted goose is better. Maybe just slightly better. The skin wasn't crispy, but at least the meat is not hard or chewy.

Unexpectedly, the best was the roasted chicken. Crispy skin with soft and tender meat. Pleasant to eat. Best of all, when mixing the chicken with the condiments (a little bit of spring onion and a little bit of the cured plump sauce), the taste was amazing. Strong plump and wine fragrance surrounded my tastebuds. This is really good.
The vege is just normal, but at least it is sourish enough. And the pork ball was also good, because they have substance. When chewing them, you can feel that they have less flour than what we mostly get in the market. In case you do not understand what I mean, try cutting a piece of pork ball into half with a blunt object (ie spoon). If it parts clearly means there are more flour. If it parts with zig-zagging texture broken in between, then there are more meat.
Basically the meal was quite good and not costly. It is just that, I have not found the right shop.

Low Yau Kee's fresh fish fillet porridge

2007-08-10T20:48:00.000+08:00

Many thought porridge is easy to cook. Just throw in rice and water to boil. But to cook a smooth and thick porridge isn't easy. If you have tried it, you will know what I mean. It could either be too watery or too thick that it became lumpy (yuck.. that's for babies). Some over cooked and the hint of rice texture is gone. Some are "under cooked" and you can still count every grain of rice in there. That is ok if you are eating Teo Chew porridge, but if it is Cantonese porridge, blek :P

Cantonese-English Translation
Low - Old
Yau - Friend
Kee - Record/Remember

Location : Jalan Tun Perak, near Masjid Jamek, Kuala Lumpur
Rating : Very x3 good!

Review
I am a porridge lover, but I am very critical about a good porridge, be it Teo Chew or Cantonese. This place's porridge is "Da Best" man! You see most places throw the fish in to cook togather with the porridge. Supposedly to add flavour to the porridge, but it actually spoils the texture of the fish. Fishes are easily cooked, and anything beyond that is rough to the tongue. What Low Yau Kee did was to slice the fish thinly, marinate it with sesame oil and serve them raw to you. Just throw in all the meat togather with the generous garnishings into the porridge and witness it turn ripe. Now this can only be done with an extremely hot porridge served. I don't know how the boss is able to maintain the porridge at boilling point, and yet not burning them???
Now don't worry. By the time the meat is cooked, the heat from the porridge has been transferred to the meat and balanced the whole bowl. And by the time you scoop them into your mouth, the temperature is just right.
What I like about the porridge is that the flavour kind of explode in your mouth. I love the smooth porridge, but with substance. I love the even smoother and silkier fish meat.
And if you like to to order some extras, I guess the chicken is quite good too.
Aa... Don't be mistaken. I am not the big eater this time (haha..). A kind and friendly lady happen to share table with me. She is kind enough to let me photograph her chicken drumstick before enjoying her meal. Thanks KSH, and it's a pleasure to have made your acquaintance.

And for those of you who might still get lost around Masjid Jamek area, hope this photo help.

p/s: Come at evening.

Restoran Three Up at Menglembu, Perak

2007-08-09T21:52:00.000+08:00

Chee Cheong Fun (literally translated as pig intestine noodles, in actual it is just flat rice noodles) in Ipoh and Taiping is different with Chee Cheong Fun in Penang and Chee Cheong Fun in Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur style is more like yong tau fu to me, whilst Penang ones are mixed with otak udang (prawn paste). You also have Hongkies' "fun cheong", which is another version of chee cheong fun. Now, why is it called pig intestine noodles? You see, cheong in cantonese could mean any food with long round shape like sausages. It happens that this noodle is flat and rolled into such a shape. Taht is why it is called "fun cheong". But in Malaysia, we usually add lard (which used to be a delicacy) to smoothen the noodles. Hence "Chee Cheomg Fun".
Anyway, this is just a normal coffee shop at a housing area in Menglembu. Funny name right? Well if spoken in Cantonese, it sounded slightly like auspicious goodness.

Location: Menglembu new town, Perak
Rating: Average

Review
The Chee Cheong Fun I ordered is with curry fried pork skin. KL people do not know how to cook pork skin. I have yet to taste a good one in KL. If you have never tasted the good ones, it should be crisp+tender+slightly soft. In KL, it is either a soggy lump or hard rubber. The down side is that the noodles are cold. Some food are meant to be eaten cold, but not this.
We also ordered some fish paste accompaniments from another stall. Alamak... I have not tasted this for so long... Well I can't vouch if this taste good or not because the taste is exactly the same as those I had near my hometown during my childhood days. These are simply my sweet memories.

Then we have IPOH WHITE COFFEE. The ready made 3 in 1 can never fight this.

Note: CSG, I know you don't eat beef, so this post is an addition for your reading pleasure.

Ngau Lam Fun at Chong Seng Rice & Noodle House

2007-08-09T19:48:00.000+08:00

If you do recall in my previous blog about a ngau lam fun (beef brisket noodle) in Penang, which has thick broth as the soup base. I am introducing you to a clear soup base here in Kuala Lumpur. Don't be mistaken. The standard isn't any lower, just a different way of cooking. Besides the ngau lam fun, they also serve various type of roasted meat rice/noodle. The best is roasted rib. Nyum nyum!

Cantonese-English Translation
Chong - Middle
Seng - City

Location: Taman Maluri, Kuala Lumpur (not the Kepong Maluri, again)
Rating: Good

Review
I am sure you have tried beef noodles at Jalan Alor or near Masjid Jamek, among the famous few. But noodle wise, both the shops lack elasticity. Now I don't mean eating rubber band. I hate that too. What I mean was the brusque feeling when you bite into noodles, rather than soft lame noodles. Hope you get what I mean.
Now, about the beef brisket noodles. I like the soup, the beef balls and the white turnip. The koay teow (flat rice noodle) was quite smooth too. The meat itself is slightly hard and very big piece. If you want to taste the "wilderness" in beef, maybe this could be it. Not for me. I like gentle beef :P
The dried beef noodles here offered thick noodles, which is kinda hard to find in KL. Now even the minced beef sauce here have big piece of meat. I don't know if the cook did this on purpose or he is just a rough/tough guy, but it actually worked well. It is like little moment of surprises when you chewed a small piece of meat with the noodles.
Besides beef balls, I strongly suggest you try ordering fresh beef slices. They normally call it "sang yuk". Beef is best eaten when it is just cooked, not a second longer. Otherwise, it feels like chewing a bigger piece of rubber. These meat are usually crisp and tender. Hmm nyum nyum...

Suhairi Majid Satay at Restoran Queen's

2007-08-01T22:43:00.000+08:00

One of the proud product of Malaysian food is the satay. Rather than describing one particular dish, the term satay (also known as sate, satae) actually refers to a method of cooking, in which thin strips of marinated meat are threaded onto skewers and grilled. The skewers (bamboo or metal) spread the meat effectively for cooking and make it easy-to-handle, for both grilling and eating.
Some brilliant English again believe that the word "satay" comes from a corruption of the English word 'steak', because Asians tend to have trouble pronouncing consonants together, particularly the letters 's' and 't'. Amazing. Anything doesn't come from the West?
Some believe that satay was invented by Chinese immigrants who sold the skewered bbq meat on the street. Their argument is that the word satay means "triple stacked" (三疊) in Hokkien dialect, and indeed, satay is often made with three flat lozenges of meat. It is also possible that it was invented by Malay or Javaneses street vendors influenced by the Arabian kebab. The explanation draws on the fact that satay only became popular after the early 19th Century, also the time of the arrival of a major influx Arab immigrants in the region. The satay meats popularly used by Indonesians and Malaysians, mutton and beef, are also traditionally favoured by Arabs and are not as popular in China as are pork and chicken. So now you know, it doesn't come from China either.
But good satay isn't easy to find. I found one in KL. Best so far...

Location : Jalan Peel, Kuala Lumpur
Rating : Good!

Review
What I love about this stall's satay is:
1. Traditional nasi himpit (pressed rice cake)
2. Thick succulent meat
3. Generous serving of hot peanut sauce
There are many satay stalls, but very few offered traditional nasi himpit that uses coconut leaves as the rice wrapper. With technology comes lazy invention of nasi himpit with plastic bag - no taste, no health.
In addition, many satays that I have tried are thin dry meat. As the meat is thin and easily cooked, they tend to burn them. There are some that tried plucking in more meat, but the meat either hardly cooked or overcooked hard. Hence I respect this cook's control over the fire.Then there are those stingy with the kuah (sauce).
That's why I said this is the best stall so far. The only low is the peanut sauce. Not thick and creamy enough. Also not fragrant or spicy enough. Just normal. At least it is hot :)

In case you do not know where is the shop, here's a picture:
Note: There are other stalls that offered interesting food at and around this shop. Will tell you more next time.

Quickie: A whiff of cheese from Indonesia

2007-08-01T22:33:00.000+08:00

Apa kabar dong? Gua baik-baik saja. (Indonesian for : How are you? I am fine.)
Every time my dad's friends from Indonesia come to visit, they will bring along salak fruits and cakes. We used to get layered cakes, which is well known among us in Malaysia. This round, they bring along this cheese cake. Oh my goodness! My first impression was that it's just a normal swiss roll, probably replacement of the usual cake roll with cheese cake. Until I cut them into smaller pieces for my family. Then I thought: "Oh, it is the inner layer that is made of cheese cake!".
Well not really. I find out the truth on my first bite.
The inner layers are all pure cheese. There are shredded ones and one big chunk wrapped within a butter cake. No one in my family can take more than one piece. It is just so cheeeezz.I would say it is something interesting, but I can't say it is something very delicious. An interesting gift, nevertheless. Thank you for the very thoughtful friend!

Restoran Yap Chong

2007-07-18T23:09:00.000+08:00

I believe this is a Hakka restaurant (thanks to http://bernsy.blogspot.com/ comment). The pronunciation of the name of the shop tells me so (i initially thought it was teo chew, forgot that hakka's pronunciation is more accurate). You know how every clan pronounces the same chinese words differently. That is how we can know if a chinese is from which clan by reading their chinese surname spelled in English. Like Tan could be a hokkien, which is also what a cantonese will call Chan. But this distinction is diminishing, as all the clans have mix and match the pronunciation.
Back to the food. This place is very well known for family dinner. One word of advise, if you can't wait, don't go there on weekends. They actually serves a space of 3 shoplots. We waited for almost an hour for a simple family dinner.

Chinese-English Translation
Yap - Leaf
Chong - Invite

Location: Opposite PGRM, Maluri, Kuala Lumpur (not the Kepong Maluri)
Rating: Food ok and quite cheap

Review
We ordered steam fish with ginger. If you want to know if your fish is fresh or not, steam 'em. If they are not fresh, once you steam them, all the fishy smell will knock you off your knees. But as you all know, commercially cultivated fishes tend to acquire smell of mud. Therefore, we had the fish steamed with ginger to overthrow the muddy smell. The fishes here are always steamed well (not overcooked or uncooked) and the mélange is tastefully done. Then we have the ever popular sweet sour pork (gu lou yok). Not anything special. Just a very normal dish. At least the meat is not too soft or hard.
Ah.. and this is something reallllly interesting. They call it Amy Yip beancurd (Yip Chi Mei Taufu). If you do not know who Amy Yip is, she was a well known sex symbol in Hong Kong films during the 90's with her disproportionately "upper front torso". Malaysian seemed to love her with many food named after her ie Yip Chi Mei Dai Bau. Anyway, the beancurd was quite good when eaten in combination with the condiments like deep fried small prawns (har mai in cantonese) and garlic. The beancurd itself is nothing special. Not specially soft, or smooth, or fragrant. But definitely looks big.

And as usual, the best thing to wash down all the heavy food is a good cup of tea. At normal restaurant like this, it is hard to order a good quality type of chinese tea. Nevertheless, it has improved significantly. We ordered Char Wong (King of Tea in cantonese). The taste stays longer and more fragrant. It is slightly more expensive, but well worth it. Nothing about the teapot below. Just that I like the shape of the teapot. Very cute!