La Gourmet House @ The Curve

Imagine walking around The Curve on a weekday evening, you just finished a work out, you are hungry, and as you walk out of the gym towards the Street, you see Laundry , packed with people, Italiannies the patrons have already emptied their plates, now enjoying their after meal wines, No place to sit, Fridays, packed like Sardines and the food also wont get served quickly, Sushi place packed, Penang place ( lauya wan), Thai place ( swore never to eat there again), then we came to La Gourmet house, very empty....

There was one other table occupied in the restaurant, the smoking section had 2 tables occupied, but they were just having coffee. It looks like a dying restaurant, but had heard from some friends saying this place, serves some nice food.

Plus the waitress was fishing for customers and all la... so we both stepped in. We saw a fridge, and realized this place serves pastries, cakes and sandwiches too.

So it took us awhile to decide what we want. Although friends said this place is nice, no additional info was given to us as to whats nice, and so on and so forth. In the end, sayang ordered her Irish Lamb, while I ordered by Steamed Dory with Rice set.

Sayang did a Water Test on them, by asking if they served plain water. So yes they do, its RM0.50 per glass. On top of that they also serve mocktails, cocktails, beers, fruit juice, gas juice, and coffee/tea.

The service was pretty good, and attentive, as the place was empty. The food came quite fast, and thought the presentation was pretty simple and decent. I took a spoonful and found it quite alright...

My steamed fish on the other hand was quite tasteless, if not for the Prego sauce they poured onto the fish. Presentation wise, I thought the half empty plate could be dribbled with some kinda sauce or something like that. I guess they are just trying to be a Western type restaurant.

Our first experience at dining in La Gourmet house was not a very good one. The fact that every other eatery on that day seemed packed, and this one was empty did not help with our impression either. There must be a reason why it was empty....

My guess is that I should come back and try their duck pasta.

Food is not cheap there, but its not expensive either. Our dished were about RM20 each but came in an below average serving.

La Gourmet House

Lot G-52, Ground Floor, The Curve
Jalan PJU 7/3
Mutiara Damansara
47800 Petaling Jaya

Waisikai - says duck pasta is superb
HoiHoi
UV
Iasnooi
Themamakcorner - this one says duckpasta is superb

Buffet Dinner @ Restoran Seri Melayu, Jalan Conlay

Last November, on Thanksgiving Week just before the Thanksgiving weekend, our American principal dropped by to say hello to us. Along with that, we would usually introduce to him our clients and end users, hoping that he would go back and write a good report about our operations.

It also means we will bring in around KL to savor our local culinary delights. When he asked to eat local food, he really meant local. Day one - we went for Restoran Leong Ya Indah for chinese food, yong tao foo and Paper Wrapped Chicken. So that was for lunch, and for dinner we took him to Satay Kajang Hj Samuri @ Kajang. Although we understand that he wanted to go to Nirvana Maju (his favourite restaurant), we explained to him that the standard has gone down these days. Day Two, I ended up in Sg Wang with him souvenir hunting for his Thanksgiving party, when he returns home. Dinner was at Seri Melayu, and it was to be my first visit there. I have not attended cultural shows in Malaysia before in my life, although I have fallen asleep in many other cultural shows, in other countries..wakakakaka... my own country's show wa tak pernah pigi oh... kekekeke


Anyway, I didn't know what to expect, from this restaurant. When I heard that Seri Melayu has the same owner as Seri Angkasa ( KL Tower) I was beginning to get worried, bad reputation ma, expensive and lousy food all. So when we walked in, we were greeted with a buffet spread meant for kings. Picture gallery here. Round 1, I had from left to right, roast lamb with mint sauce, chinese styled ginger chicken in dark soya sauce, seafood curry (mamak style I think), fish curry, and briyani.

These samples really got my hopes up, all the ingredients were fresh, and the recipes were authentic and everything was well cooked.

Round 2 (L-R), beef rendang, Nasi Kerabu (with rice), Chicken Curry and Chinese Styled Prawn in Hoi sin Sauce and leek. Everything turned out quite good, except for my Nasi Kerabu. I put too much budu, and it became too salty for me. The prawns were fresh, and surprisingly delicious.


For the third round, I got myself a bowl of Laksa Johor. Its fun to go for this type of buffets, because , you can learn to make those laksas yourself. Its a DIY type stall, where you cook the noodles in hot soup. and pour in the laksa gravy onto your noodles. Also at the side are all the extra condiments meant for a laksa bowl.

Their satay was nice, definitely made from tip top ingredients. The peanut sauce was a little bit on the sweet side, but I must say, thats how a satay sauce should taste like.

I helped myself to a big bowl of ulam and salads, before I settled with Keledek Kukus with pengat sauce. Pengat is normally done by Baba's and Nyonya on special occasions. It is reduced coconut milk, with gula melaka and durian paste. I took two pieces of keledek for myself and a full plate of keledek and pengat for my American friend. He just loves durians.

Come to about 8.30pm the cultural show starts with the liveband providing diners with some traditional music.

After that they have various dances, which I saw for the first time.

This so called Chinese Fan Dance performed by Malay girls. Tell you the truth, I saw this fan dance in Korea too. So I am not sure if that was Korean or chinese.

Then you have Classical Indian dance.


And more hip swaying by some chicks.

The quality of the cultural performance, reminded me why I never attend these shows. Tourists might just go home and forget about it, but as a local, I can only ponder if these people can be good dancers and be more authentic. Later I found out, my American friend has already been to Saloma four times previously, and experienced the same type of cultural dances 4 times before. Luckily we took him somewhere else. Different place but same food and dance.

He never complains about food, so his only answer was, "...it was really good, I enjoyed it !" I thought the food was good, the spread was enormous, it had really authentic Malay Kampung food(minus the house flies when we eat at stalls), authentic chinese, and authentic Indian food. They always have a roast lamb or two at their western corner, plus, for dessert, you can always go for fresh fruits (local), stuff like Leng Chi Kang, Ice Kacang, and the usual disappointing Wall's Ice Cream.

Restoran Seri Melayu
1 Jalan Conlay
03 2145 1833
Wikimapia

January 2008 - Buffet Lunch 35++, Dinner 70++
But I am sure we paid a little bit more, in Nov last year.

Check out their website for the latest promotions and info.

Ribs @ Champs Centerpoint, Bandar Utama

It was one Sunday when we decided, hey why don't we go to Champs at Centerpoint. Want to try their ribs. Actually, what really caught our attention was that when we were at Bernard's which happens to one level below Champs, you can see a big banner that says, The much talked about Ribs in town....


I really haven't been to Champs for food, so this is really the first time. Some time back, we used to come here for a beer or two, but thats all. Nevertheless, when you walk into this outlet, you should be able to find many framed newspaper writeups about their food, and about the restaurant. Whats interesting is that, this restaurant is actually named after his St Bernard, call Champ...

Our only focus today was to try their ribs. Two persons, two mugs of beer and one rib. Sayang is doing her Kilkenny, while I just ordered my Tiger. Their tiger mugs are frosted leh, a little gimmick there, but I do not believe it has made the beer any better....


The ribs really did take a while to cook. This fella here cooking our ribs, as we were the only ones here that day. Still early la, we arrived at about 6 something, but by 7 people began to pour in , and they come in families who all seem to be regulars. So here's a hint: if you are in a hurry, don't order them ribs. Or if you are hungry, perhaps you should consider ordering some starters.

After 25 minutes, the cook is making some finishing touches before it was presented out.


So this is it, their PORK RIBS. Served with broccoli, one whole corn and some pickled vegetables. To tell you the truth, its a huge serving of ribs, and my Sayang was stuffed after eating 3 and a half pieces of the ribs. I personally found it quite tasteful, succulent and rather tender.

For the sake of comparing right, their ribs really kick ass if you want to compare with Cagayan's ribs (Centerpoint new wing), but we still prefer Tony Roma's Ribs. Tony Roma's still serve the better ribs. I am not sure what to say about Checker's ribs, but they are abit different.


My other rib posts:
Cagayan
Checkers
Tony Roma's

Also read what other bloggers say about Champ's
KampungBoyCityGal
FOODPOI

Champ's Bistro

Lot F10, 1st Floor, Centrepoint,
Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama,
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
03-7722 5800
Open from 10:00am to 12:00am daily

Bernard's @ Centrepoint Bandar Utama

This Bernard's Pub & Cafe, has indeed been around for ages, and I mean, its been around for more than 10 years. I came to know about this place after Bernard took over this outlet from the then very hot Java ( some kinda place we used to go clubbing, then). It was then made into a pub and cafe, laid back , with their TV screens showing mostly sports programs, and at times, Music Videos. We used to come by on weekends, to have our dinner, and watch football with friends, on special occasions. They used to have the biggest screen in Bandar Utama, before the crowd went to Phileo Damansara.

Today Bernard's is still the same laid back pub, where Happy Hours is for regulars to gather and chit chat. For me, its a good place to have nice chicken rice, and superbly nice nasi lemak.


As you flip through their menu, which is quite mature, you will find that not only do they serve you foreign beers on Tap, hard liquor by the bottles, they also have a range of cocktails they serve, and categorised in medium and strong...... What caught our eyes on the menu were, Pussy Juice and Sperm Shot.

I have no idea why the Pussy Juice comes with one little cherry in it, and it tasted like ribena with some other kinda liquor, and the alcohol content was not very strong, hence you could find, Pussy Juice in the medium section of cocktails and is served in a Guinness Half Pint Glass. Sayang ordered a sperm shot, and it was abit too strong for her, so in the end, we swapped drinks. Bernard's Sperm shots does indeed come in a shot glass....


Our main focus that day was to try these two items. Bernard's Chicken Rice and his Nasi Lemak. Bernard's Chicken Rice Set comes with a Quarter Chicken, chopped up and served on a plate of cucumbers, and light soya sauce. A plate of bean sprouts, poured over with their mix of sesame oil and light soya sauce, a bowl of rice, and the peanut soup.

While eating their chicken rice, you will realize one thing, their serving is huge, their chicken is moist, shiny, slippery, and tender. The sauce mix is nice and tasty, but still can't meet up with Ipoh's chicken rice. I'd consider this to be the better chicken rice we can find in KL. For chicken rice lovers, you will love their chili paste, again one of ze best in KL.

Sayang's usual order is the Nasi Lemak. Bernard's Nasi Lemak comes with a huge piece of fried chicken, a bowl of santanized rice, one whole boiled egg, tasty sambal, acar nyonya, and a few slices of cucumber.

While you are eating, drinking or whatevering, Mr DJ spins up some 80s easy listening rock songs for your pleasure. On weekends, you should be able to see less of the Happy Hour crowd and more of the family crowd coming here for their food.


The following weekend we brought Sayang's Parents to come sample their food. I have also decided to try other things, like Seafood Spaghetti (which has some other name ), Appa went for his fish and chips, and Mom, tried their Prawn Mee. Sayang leh, Nasi Lemak again.




Sad to say, their other food we tried was all so so only. Do not wish to elaborate, but, Sayang's Nasi Lemak was still the best served food on the table that evening. The fish and chips was well tasted like fried fish fillet and chips, with a special kinda salsa, which tasted abit sourish.

The prawn mee could improve but still just on the average side. It has got two huge prawns in it. In the end, my recommendation is still to go and try their Nasi Lemak ( Rm12), Chicken Rice (RM12) , don't try their Pussy Juice its not that nice,unless you really want that cherry. Try Bernard's Sperm Shot.. it just looks quite nice, and its quite a strong drink.


Address:
G9A-14, Centrepoint,
Jalan Leboh Bandar Utama,
47800 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel:03-7710 3188

Also read:

KYEATS
Memoirs of a Chocoholic

Little Taiwan @ MidValley City, 3rd Floor

Ever walked around in MidValley, wondering what to eat ? On top of that, you have about 40 minutes to eat your dinner, before the show starts ? After buying tickets to watch a movie, gosh I forgot which one it was, Sayang and I would ask each other what do you want to eat.... So we walked past Carl's Jr, we aren't going in again after our first visit. Burger king is at the basement, so we walked around..... and saw this little Taiwan place.... ok lets try...

I ordered a braised pork rice, while Sayang wanted to eat lite, and then go for popcorn in the movies later so she had soup in a bread. I think my braised pork rice is about Rm9, while her soup was only about RM5. I am not really sure how much they are, but, it wasn't very expensive.
There's nothing much to shout about, and I haven't got any complains about this place either. The food is average, just so so only. The soup in bread however, really does look abit funny. They put in mixed vegetables (frozen) add some onions, a few pieces of chicken served with Campbell Mushroom soup.

It right next to Carl's Junior, if you wonder where it is, where their bubble tea stall is most visible. I used to think this space sells only bubble tea.. hahaha..... I would go back there, to go for some of their other pork dishes. And the only reason why I'd go is because they serve pork in the middle of 3rd Flr MidValley.... plus the food came quite fast too... so we had no problems catching a few advertisments for the movie that day.

Waisikmao
Leymond Cha

Flying Chillies Restaurant @ The Gardens, Midvalley

We must be in the mood for some back to back action , because here we are posting a review on another Thai Restaurant. To tell you the truth, we were here early December but never got the chance to write about this place.


The Gardens is a new shopping complex, connected to MidValley on the 2nd floor via a bridge and the basement. Every time a new shopping complex opens up for business, eateries will surely mushroom. For instance, Pavilion has already got lots of reviews on other blogs.

If I remembered correctly, I got mixed up between North Point (also Mid Valley) and The Gardens. We were looking for Red Ginger. We walked the basement, toured it, no Red Ginger. Took a lift up to the 3rd floor, saw Flying Chillies, and we said, ok la, we give up, lets try this Thai place.

This restaurant is obviously new, judging from its simple paper menu. Can't help but think of their super tag line, Simply Thailicious..... niama, I wonder who came out with it... and look at the menu, it has got flying colors meter for you.... one chili for spicy and two chillies for explosive.........

After browsing through their simple menu, I decided to take this bowl of Duck Soup Noodles. Its like wantan mee in a light broth (obviously Thai style), cooked with Duck Meat, topped with lots of vegetables. It wasn't spicy at all, but I had to eat my noodles with lots of chili padi to get the sweat, which was what I enjoyed the most. The duck soup, really smelled very ducky, which can put off some people. There is a reason why in Bidor, Pun Chun cook their duck soup with lots of herbs....


Sayang will go for her Tomyam Noodles (beehoon). It has two chillies on the meter, so it was really hot. If you enjoy sweating while eating even in a very cool environment, this is the bowl of noodles you should get. It was a nice sweetish, very sourish, and very spicyish tom yam, with little hint of the soup being made by some sort of Tom Yam paste. Have you had tom yam which is reddish ? Those are the celup ones, over here, it looks quite authentic.

To be frank, the food is not cheap and yet its not too expensive. Price wise, I believe we spent about RM50 on this meal with two drinks and a dessert. To be fair, this restaurant is nicely decorated, has got good service, the staff are always doing the Thai Hospitality thing to you, if you know what I mean..... always smiling and bowing at you....

I recommend this restaurant, for nice ambiance, good service and fairly authentic food.

Flying Chillies,
T219, Third Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2287-7708 Fax: 03-2287-7710

Also Read:
Polytikus
Piggy's Talk

Mrs. BH's first birthday...dinner 3 @ Sri Ayutthaya, Damansara

After 2 massive dinners, BH still wanted to take me out..spend time with his sayang ( an excuse to eat). The original plan was some restaurant near the Loft, KL...but I felt like Thai, so we ended up in Sri Ayuthaya, Medan Damansara. Had not been there since my maiden visit, a few years back, was pretty impressed, so dragged BH there..heh.

When we ordered, we went crazy, unable to decide what was good, we pretty much ordered one of every course..for appetizers..scallops, cook thai style.

The scallops were HUGE, juicy and the tinge of mayo used delicately to flavour them..6 scallops for 30 plus bucks...not too bad.

Next came our Glass noodle Kerabu (Rm12.90)...BH will tell you I'm no fan of Kerabu, but this one, was yummy! Just the right amount of sourness, and it wasn't hot, so...thumbs up from me!

BH has to have his fish, so we ordered siakap, thai style (RM32 for a small fishy)..I don't like fish, especailly river ones, and I found this very "fishy"...but BH loved it and basically finished up the whole thing! This thai styled steam fish came very close to the Teochew Style Steam Fish, except that this had a lot more lime juice in it, and with no buah asam in it. Very sourish and spicy.

Tom Yum Thalay(RM9.90)...though it looks red and menacing, it wasn't as spicy as I imagined. This was very tasty and had I not been stuffed by the food already, would have gladly drank up the soup. Also presented with a little hint of sweetiness in here.

Chicken green curry(RM12.90)...another yummy one...I had most of this as BH does'nt fancy green curry. The santan was just enough and I loved the taste..again, if my tummy had more space, would have finished this up too!On the right, the pineapple fried rice (RM12.90)..we shared one, in a bid to control our diet...this was lovely as well, a lot of cashews put in, served in half a pineapple and very fragrant.
Sambal petai prawn (RM18.90)...this one, tummy full or not, I sure finish! The reserve tummy ( normally only for desert) was utilised...the petai was just right, not overcooked and not too raw. Also, they weren't too old, so they weren't too hard, still nice and succulent. The prawns and the sambal were great too! Definitely both our favourites!

And finally...a very happy BH...taking his sayang out, before the sweating started..the food was that good! But I think, we ordered too much..no thanks to the waiter who said "no, just enough for two persons"...right!

Will definitely return, again for the food, and lovely ambience.

Restoran Sri Ayutthaya
3 Jalan Setiapuspa, Medan Damansara,
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2094 2333

Also Read

Memoirs of a Chocoholic review
Choub's Pics

AMBP Gathering @ Starbucks. The Gardens, MidValley

It was supposed to be another lazy Saturday morning, but I kept reading about this aMBP's Gathering, I was very tempted to swing by and see how a blogger's gathering was like. So I woke up early, sent Sayang to work and I was amongst one of the first few guys to arrive.


I quickly registered for the event, and saw Danny Foo already sitting down in one corner already busy with his notebook, whilst James was fondling around with Danny's Iphone. Should it come to our shores, I have a funny feeling we will call it, Ifon. wakakakaa., just kidding...

Not long after, Platinum Girl, and Albert were both registering their blogs at the AMBP site. Looking on was Redzuan. It didn't take long before the aMBP guys from the Star, started giving out coffee vouchers , complimentary from today's sponsor, Starbucks.
Since I was already feeling a little bit hungry, I ordered a Blueberry Cheese Muffin to accompany my Caramel Machiato. The muffin didn't really taste very nice to be honest. It was just a piece of muffin, with a few blueberrys and no hint of cheese whatsoever. Its RM5.60 not well spent here.
Their coffee on the other hand was superb. A Venti sized coffee meant 3 shots of espresso, topped up with Steamed milk, a little foam and dribbled with caramel. Gees, the coffee, needless to say was very satisfying.....

It didn't take long for ice to break and everyone's quick to their ownselves to each other. Albert here of course seen checking a Nikon D300, really a nice piece of equipment. I noticed something in this gathering though, we have more Sony Alpha's in here, as compared to the more common Nikon & Canons.

Andy here seen taking lots of pics for his blog.
Kiro and Lun, was spotted coming in late. I couldn't resist, because Lun was so cute. Not only that, he veli pandai posing for the camera too.

This is the scene before 12pm. Everyone was here, oh well not everyone, but almost. Amongst some of the people I actually recognize for being famous either by their blogs or I have seen them on TV kinda fame was Suanie, Smashpop, Raj The guy from Cornetto Love Game Show, yvonnefong, erm. I guess thats it. kekeke

The special moment for was meeting PeterTan. Really nice guy, down to earth, and according to his blog he is "an Advocate for an inclusive and accessible Malaysia." To me he really is the cyber Anthony Thanayasan (oops hope I spelt Anthony's name right)....

Lots of cam whoring, lots of cameras clicking but this group photo is really priceless.


Of course, many thanks to AMBP aka TheStar for organising this gathering, and Starbucks for sponsoring the gathering.