Seoul Garden

Whenever we talk about Korean food, bbq will definitely come to mind. Well this is not a traditional korean bbq but a buffet bbq-steamboat concept. But they do offer a variety of korean flavours like bulgogi, kim chi & ginseng soup. What I love about this place is the cleanliness. Usually shops that offer bbq are very smoky and stuffy. But this shop is not only airy, the staff's constant changing of the frying plate makes the experience even better.

Rating : Good
Location : Gurney Plaza, Penang

As you can see there are variety of meat (chicken, beef, fish, squid, prawn, etc) available for frying and steamboat. There are also various type of condiments like fishball, sotong (malay for squid) ball and others, but I am not a fan of processed meats.
Price range between RM20 to RM30 per person, depending on choice of weekdays/weekends, soup and drinks.
For vege and dessert lovers, no worries. There are also sufficient choices to spoil your taste bud.

Last but not least, I love these...

East Imperial Chinese & Thai Restaurant

For once I do not have to translate a single word for a restaurant name. But then again this is not something to be amused of, given that this restaurant is situated in Langkawi. A travel destination for many. Ah yes... Let's go somewhere further than the usual. The restaurant operates in the afternoon and night. You won't see much people during the day, but a lot of westerners during the night. To be truthful, this place is caterred more for foreign tourists. But the food was actually very good. And spicy!

Location: Beside Underwater World, Langkawi
Rating: Good for those who love hot and spicy

Review
I love Thai food. I love the fragrant of spices and herbs. And I love the taste of sweet, sour and spicy. Hence I am sorry to say that, although the restaurant offerred Chinese Food as well, I did not spare a single thought on that. Reason? Well Langkawi is very near Thailand. Need I say more?
What I ordered? Khao Phad (Thai language for fried rice), Tom Yum (Thai for Hot Soup) and fried water spinach with belacan (belacan is a local delicacy made of shrimp). A signature Thai fried rice is white in colour. Fragrant of fish sauce and the texture is puffily soft. The fried rice I had here is a bit different. The colour is brown due to some use of soy sauce and chillies (must have been localised). But the rice itself is still soft yet not lumpy. So I was not that disappointed afterall.
The tom yum? Oh... heavenly. I have tried tomyum cooked by Malaysian. Nomatter what, I still find some taste is missing. Just like going to a non mamak stall and ordered roti canai. Somehow, the taste is different. I believe, some herb ingredients is missing. Most probably roots of coriander or some sort. But the tom yum is is rather spicy, so those who can't take spicy may need to take note on this.
Fried water spinach or kang kung in Malay has nothing to boast of. BAsically, overall food was good if you like spicy food.
Ahh... but one thing you have to take note. Since this shop is catered mostly to foreignors, the price is a bit on the high. The total for our food cost RM40, but of course that include our drinks. We ordered Heineken beer. Hey this is afterall Langkawi - a duty free zone, what do ou espect we might drink. Orange juice?

Restoran Bei King

Of all different clans of Malaysian Chinese, Foo Jiu Nen are one of a kind. Fu Zhou in Mandarin, Fook Chow in Cantonese or Hock Chew in Hokkien. The early settlers of Hock Chew clan were clustered mainly in Sitiawan (Peninsular Malaysia) and Borneo (East Malaysia). So that's where we went for some pure Hock Chew dishes - Sitiawan. Well, of course we do not know much about what to order. Luckily we had a colleague who is a Sitiawan Hock Chew and all we have to do is pass the cellphone to the restaurant owner. Hence, I can assure you that the food intorduced below are 100% Hock Chew dishes.

Malay-English translation

Restoran - Restaurant

Chinese-English translation

Bei King - Beijing (Bei - North, Jing - no idea)

Location - Sitiawan, Perak

Rating - Good

Review

What have we ordered (or should I say our friend ordered)? Well we have (clockwise from top left) Hock Chew fried mix vege, salted egg fried chicken, tofu thick soup (tau fu kang), and red wine thread noodles (hong jau min sin).

I can't really make much of a comparison because I have not eaten a lot of Hock Chew dishes. But what I can say is the salted egg fried chicken provides a fragrant and rich aroma. The crispy rich flavours of salted egg coating is nicely blended with the soft succulent chicken meat inside.

I have tasted red wine thread noodles in another restaurant in Sitiawan, but I think this restaurant offers a more aromatic variety compared to the one I had. Usually thread noodles are easily soften, hence not many people like to eat. But I believe they must have some secret process, as the thread noodles here do not get soften easily. In fact they are quite tangy. The red wine is actually made of red rice grains. I have seen a lady made this at home. It seemed that the preparer must maintain serene and peaceful composure while processing the red wine. Otherwise, the wine will come out sour instead of sweet.

My favourite of all is the tau fu kang. I remembered when I was 8, my dad brought us to Teluk Batik for picnic. On our way back, my dad brought us to a Hock Chew restaurant. I am extremely bad at recalling my childhood memories, but the one thing I remeber most about the trip was tau fu kang. The soup is thick without a hint of smoke on top, but be careful there. It is because the soup is sooo hot that there isn't any smoke. But that aside, the clear soup taste of seafood and smell of tofu. I just love it!

What I like about Hock Chew dish are the fact they they are all aromatic and fragrant but not overwhelmingly strong. The taste may not linger in your mouth, but it certainly lingers in your heart.

Kedai Makanan May King

In my previous post, I have mentioned that it is difficult to find good curry noodles, let alone with accompaniments like fish balls, tofu and soy bean rolls. Well, thousand apologies... I just manage to find one in Pudu, K.L. Not to say the greatest curry and not a lot of variety of accompaniments, but the taste is good. At least, I dare say the best that I have tasted in K.L. so far.

Malay-English Translation
Kedai - Shop
Makanan - Food

Cantonese-English Translation
May - Beauty
King - Scenery

Venue - Around Pasar Pudu, Kuala Lumpur
Rating - Good

Review
As you all know, I am a big fan of curry/spicy. In KL, the standard of curry noodles you find are just not to the par. Then I found this shop. It was introduced to me by a colleague. The Lum Mee he introduced to me is similar to Loh Mee in Penang. But it is the dry curry noodles that caught my attention. It reminded me of the santan version of Ipoh dry curry noodles. The only different is that it still comes with cut chicken pieces (very KL style), but you can request to change them to chicken floss and prawn (ah... more Ipoh style here). I think what makes the dry curry noodles here good is the generous usage of curry spices, herbs and santan. Sometimes you just can't be stingy in this.

I especially like the accompaniments namely tofu, fishballs and soy bean rolls. If you like the taste of what Ipohan calls "fei yuen" (literally "flying balls" ahahahahaha), you will definitely like the accompaniments here. They all have similar ingredients of fish paste and dried squid bits. The dried squid bits provide you a pungent aroma. It is an acquired taste, but those who have tasted them before will find these aromatic indulgent.


The food here may be a bit pricy. Each plate of noodles are priced around RM5 and each piece of accompaniements costs around 80 cents. Of course you can't compare this with KLCC and neither can you compare with the normal noodle stalls. But I would say the price is worth the taste.

Kedai Kopi Kwong Hong

"Liu Fan" or literally means noodles with accompaniments. You must have heard fishball noodles but fishball alone cannot encapsulate the true colours of liu fan. I have not able to find this anywhere else except Ipoh. I grew up having this for breakfast during the weekends, supper, lunch or even tea time. It is basically plain noodles cooked in soup, curry, dry or dry curry. You can choose a variety of mee, koay teow, lye fun, lou shi fun, and mee hoon. In addition to the noodles, you can pick any sort of accompaniments ranging from tofu, fishballs, fish rolls, vegetable rolls, fish cakes, meat balls and oh so many more. Price is calculated based on number of accompaniments and noodles will be charged a basic price ranging from 80 cents to RM1.50. I find some friends of mine actually do not know about liu fan, but those who have tried it will never miss it again when they are back in Ipoh. That's why I would like to introduce you to Kedai Kopi Kwong Hong. You will be overwhelmed by the variety of accompaniments they offer. Most importantly the chilli sauce provided for dipping is also darn spicy (very mush to my liking :P).

Malay-English Translation
Kedai - Shop
Kopi - Coffee

Chinese-English Translation
Kwong Hong - haha... unfortunately I am still looking for someone to help me translate this!

Location: Gunung Rapat, Ipoh, Perak
Food rating: Very good!

Review

I love all sorts of styles for my noodles. Nomatter it being soup or curry. Even plain dry (noodles mixed with soy sauce and onion oil) or dry curry (the former with additional helping of curry gravy). This shop offer all the variety above with with standard. The curry may not be the best, but they are not bad. But the greatest part here is the awesome variety of accompaniments. Sigh... I just do not know how to say it. I might as well let the picture here do all the talking. Adios till the next post.

Restoran Ketam Steamboat Seafood

Whoops.. I am soo very sorry. I have such serious deadlines that I could not even spare some time during meals to write about my favourite topic. But alas.. a breather. And what would I like to share? Steamboat!
I am sure you've seen it somewhere (ie Hong Kong triad gang movie? No?). But the way people of different culture and family upbringing would result in differring methods of enjoying this meal. I have seen "gwei lou" (caucasions lah*) throwing everything into the boiling soup including noodles, eggs and all. Er... My sister suggest you eat instant noodles better than wasting the wonders of steamboat. I have also seen some families that throw in the noodles first, and eat the meat and veges later (kinda spoils the soup, don't you think?). Anyway, I am not teaching you how to eat, just sharing my thoughts about how people eat. But let's talk about Restoran Ketam Steamboat Seafood.

Malay-English Translation
Restoran - Restaurant
Ketam - Crab

Location: Bukit Menjalara, Kepong, Selangor
Food rating: Good!

Review
Now, first of all.. Do not be mistaken that you boil crab in the steamboat. You can do that, but it is very difficult to eat it while it is piping hot from the pot. Ketam here refers to a place called Pulau Ketam, which is an island well known for its fishing village and seeaaaffooooddd.
That aside, steamboat alone cannot attract customers. You will need sauce. Specifically, chilli sauce. Good chilli sauce enhance the steamboat experience. Close your eyes and try imagine this. You are at a very cold place. Your hands and body are cold. Then there is this hot pot with soup and all sorts of vege and meat. You pick one up (probably a thin slice of beef that is just cooked perfectly) and you dip it into the creamy aromatic sauce and slurp them all in, meat and sauce and let the aroma weld up in your mouth. Oh heaven!
Anyway, back to this steamboat thingy, the concept is quite similar to fondue. But instead of thick sauce like chocolate or cheese, we have clear soup as base. And in Hong Kong it is usually clear soup and Taiwan/China you may have "ma la" which literally means numbing spicy. We have everything here in Malaysia. We have clear soup, herbal soup, tom yum (thai spicy soup), "ma la", and evern creamy satay sauce (which they call "celup"). This restoran ketam offers you clear or tom yum soup, you can have both (half soup and half tom yum separated like the photo above.
If you have good chilli sauce like this shop does is usually good enough, but if you coupled that with good soup, then the steamboat will be superb. Unfortunately it is kinda difficult to find such great combination. Some shop do not even have that both. For this Restoran Ketam, the sauce is really fragrant and spicy. Though the soup is just ok, the sauce help make up the rest.
The veges and meats given is also fresh, but I still prefer more fresh meats than process emats like this restaurant does. But overall it is fairly good ler...

Red Hot Curry Noodles - Kedai Makan Chuan Fatt

Spicy! Some say a must in their meals, some say never in their lifetime and some say love it but can't live with it. It can either be a love or hate relationship, or it can be love+hate relationship. I am featuring one famous dish that can be spicy, mildly spicy or extremly spicy - curry mee/noodles!
Curry was introduced by Indians meaning spiced gravy. But I remember reading somewhere that the English claimed the word "curry" came from them. ("Yeah sure, in actual fact, the pyramids were built by the English too. Don't you know that? You poor soul, so lost!") Well, whatever it is, I thank the inventor of curries, because without them, we won't be able to experience such complicated relationship other than "love" :P
Anyway, curry mee in Malaysia has so many different variation that I can't seem to determine which is the best. They are all my favourites! But of course, I think best curry mee is from Ipoh. Amongst the different variation of curry mee (we have coconut milk curry with chicken and "Tau Hu Pok" - KL style; or curry minus the milk with "Char Siew", "Siew Yok" and prawns - one of Ipoh style, or dry curry with "Char Siew" & chicken - two of Ipoh style; or coconut milk curry with prawns, "sotong", "kerang" and "Huik" - Penang style, etc etc etc) this is one that I suggest you don't miss if you like spicy and fried chicken.

Malay-English Translation
Sotong - Squid (yellowish type, not calamari)
Kerang - Cockles
Kedai - Shop
Makan - Eat/Eatery

Cantonese-English Translation
Tau Fu Pok - Fried beancurd with hollow fillings (Hokkien called it Tau Hu Pok)
Char Siew - sweet bbq pork (literally forked/skewered burn/bbq)
Siew Yok - crispy skinned bbq pork (literally burn/bbq meat)

Hokkien-English Translation
Huik - Blood hardened to jelly like (not my cup of blood, if u know what I mean)

Location : Pasir Puteh, Ipoh, Perak.
Food rating : Nyum X 2!

Review
This shop is another evolution of Hainanese coffee shop in Ipoh. They have been operating this curry mee joint since the past 3 generations (at least), and we are the 2nd generation still loyally going back for more everytime we are in Ipoh. What do they offer? Curry mee (the coconut milk type, but more spicy than usual) whether in soup or dry (mix of dark & light soy sauce and little bit of curry), with accompaniments of fragrantly fried chicken/pork. In actual fact, they also have sourish dry curry chicken as accompaniments, but I still like the fried chicken the best.

This round, I ordered dry curry "Lou Shee Fun" (short-translucent rice noodles). The best part about this is that, even the dry curry is spicy and fragrant. It is not like those you find in other places. The noodles itself is nothing special. For this shop, it is simply the curry. They belong to thick coconut milk curry (but spicier version).
And another thing, I find soaking the fried chicken with the curry gravy is...heavenly! Try it.

Note: Nyum Nyum is just my way of saying tasty