Bahulu Classiq @ Kampung Jawa, Hulu Langat

Some parts of my work I really enjoy, and its not the getting dirty part. It brings me to places, I never imagine of ever making an effort to go to. This is one of those examples, whereby, we took a drive to Hulu Langat area, this place is where we can find Bahulu Classiq .
What looks like just another house in a Kampung area, my friend had waved for me to stop in front of that house. Nak beli Kuih Bahulu, bini suka makan... oh... So I pulled over and walked in. A group who was there earlier was leaving, what a relieve, as their retail area would not have fitted all of us.

It didn't take long for me to realize that this is the real Industri Kampung in action. And soon I also realized how popular this brand of bahulu can be. I think if not mistaken their best selling Bahulu is the Bahulu Pandan with Chocolate Chip in it. It was made almost to perfection. The skin is crispy on the outside, and the cake is soft on the inside.

I noticed that the operator actually wears a glove when packing these Bahulus into the container.

People usually mass order their Bahulus from all over Malaysia.

Their awards, and so on and so forth...

I bought two boxes of these bahulus, although they also pack and sell other types of snacks, but when I was there, most of the time our attention was on the Bahulu.

How to contact them:

Bahulu Classiq
Jalan Hj Othman,
Kampung Jawa,
Batu 18 Hulu Langat.
Tel: 019 3554 939



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Recipe from Kuali
Bahulu Recipe from Kuali

Restoran Yi Kee @ Tmn Connaught, Cheras

After reading Kiasu's post about Yi Kee, I couldn't wait till the day I eat their roast goose. After all, goose meat, is not the type of meat you can find easily in KL. It is quite frustrating because this place is only open for lunch. By 5pm, should you drive past it, surely you will see them cleaning up.

I think it was one of those days we took off, and we were wondering, what to eat while we were in Cheras. (Ding! Light bulb ), we won't have that many chances to eat at Yi Kee, since our lunch is always a rush. So we ordered a Quarter Goose ( RM26), that's the minimum order by the way, a plate of Roast Pork (Siu Yoke) and a bowl of double boiled peanut soup.

I didn't think the siu yoke was very special, although it wasn't bad. The skin is a little crispy but some parts of the siu yoke was too salty. My too salty can be just nice for some people, though... The Goose however deserves special mention, as the skin was crispy, meat was moist, and aromatic. It wasn't very oily and the goose dip gravy is served separately.

We didn't like the soup, too salty and too much MSG in it.

Should you have time for lunch, do drop by on a weekend to savour their Roast Goose. But for a less packed restaurant come by during weekdays, their Roast Goose is not to be missed.

Address....
223, Jalan Sarjana, Taman Connaught,
Cheras, 56000 Kuala Lumpur.

Mother Porridge @ Pandan Perdana

My mom always to occasionally have a meal with porridge once in a while. She loves it everytime we have porridge, and that's probably because she is a Teochew. So one day we drove past this place and noticed the sign board, Mother Porridge. The name of this place is supposed to be quite catchy in Chinese, Ma Zhi Juk.


Their specialty is their Claypot Porridge. We usually would order plain porridge just as we would order plain rice when we order at a chinese restaurant. The only difference is that their porridge is actually flavoured, not too salty and not too bland (like those Teochew porridge). This style is actually a version of the Cantonese porridge, where the porridge is boiled down to little pieces and is quite thick.

That night we ordered this fried beancurd with fish paste. More widely known as the "Signature TaoFoo" (Jiu Pai Tao Foo). Not sure why they call it the signature taofoo, because nowadays everyone cooks this type of taofoo. It came hot and very crispy.

What is suprising to me was that, all their dishes come in a little claypot, except for their taofoo. I thought that was quite cool. The next dish is Ginger Onion Frog. I thought this was a brilliant dish as the frogs were very fresh and tangy. Good stuff.
Next up is a Kung Po Escargot Claypot dish. This one came as a spicy and salty dish. The main reason was probably because the escargot had no real taste to its meat. My parents loved it, but for me I thought it was a little too close to rubber meat. Didn't enjoy the escargots, but liked the gravy.


We also ordered a Claypot Ginger Onion Fish Slice ( Yee Pin), but the pics came out too blurry to make out what it was. Too bad, because I thought that dish was the best, the one I enjoyed the most.

What I like about this place is that the fact that it is very unique. You can order rice to go with the dishes, or you could also go for plain porridge, or porridge with salted egg. The dishes looked very shiny in the pictures, because they are all very starchy and thick. Sayang didn't like it, but it did not really bother me very much. Because I use the porridge to dilute the gravy...

Its really something different, as it is not like a stall that sells just fish porridge or chicken porridge.

Directions:

If you are coming from Bandar Tasik Selatan going towards the direction of Ampang on the MRR2, take a left after you drive past Econsave. You should see Mother Porridge facing the main road on your left. Turn left at the junction where the Driving range is situated. Its next to a Proton Dealer ( I am sure you can't miss that)

Address:

Somewhere on Jalan Perdana 6/4


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La Porchetta @ Melbourne

My cousin came back from Melbourne for a visit, and he reminded me, to post a review of La Porchetta. Hmm, right, I did miss out this restaurant, a rather important one too, because I'd list this place a must visit whenever I go back.

The funny thing is before I started writing about La Porchetta, I did not know that this was a succesful franchise, with a lot of outlets in Australia and NZ.

Anyways, it was our last day in Melbourne, and after a visit to Victoria Market, we took a short drive and arrived at La Porchetta. Oh so my cousin is bringing to eat Pizza, its not like we didn't eat pizza already at Bimbos. You see, my cousin has this thing of bringing us around to see a Story brigde driving up and down, that bridge, and highlighting it everytime we got lost, when we were in Melbourne. Wakakaka... so whenever I got lost, I showed him Motorola brigde at Federal Highway...lol..

The setting of this restaurant is simple, its a restaurant that sits probably at least 80-100 if full. Since it was our last day in Melbourne, we were gonna try eat at a few places, you know like in Malaysia we'd drop by one foodcourt and order abit here and order abit there. The only difference with Melbourne is that, we had to drive he there and everywhere to sample this nice lovely foods.


Of course when we walk into La Porchetta, we must try their pizza. This is a large thin crust pizza, and they allowed us to go for a half and half. One half Pizza Marinara, and another half, chicken peperroni or something like that.


This pizza is just such a joy to photograph, because all the ingredients look so fresh, and plentiful. The shrimps were just so fat and juicy, olives were thrown onto pizza like it costs, nothing to make them. On the left side of the pizza you could see the pepperonis covering up most of the surface of the pizza, if not for the little bits of bacon sprawled across in the little spaces left by the pepperonies.

I think photos of their pizza came out much better here, comparing with their website pics.

Every bite into the pizza is returned by a sinful array of tastes, flavours and aromas. I was like ,ey , this is very good shit man... very good.


The pasta was quite alright la, standard pasta, with tomato base, basil and so on and so forth. Still tastes quite nice though, if you know what I mean, after, I only had restaurants like Pizza Uno, Pizza Hut and Pizza Venezia to compare with ma..... really no fight man our local pastas....

I am not sure what cake this is but it surely had lots of chocolate on it. Nice...


Oh well, I was lucky enough to meet the Legend himself, he's Rocky, the founder of La Porchetta. When we walked into the store, you could see him making em pizzas.... really, it was an honour to meat meet the man himself.... he was friendly and obliged with posing for a pic with me.....

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minastra

His restaurant is probably just a few streets away from Victoria Market in Melbourne, but he's so famous, I am sure you can ask a few bystanders, and someone should be able to guide you there.

Korea Kyung Joo Restaurant @ Mid Valley

Since one of our fellow blogger Nipples Joe, decided to post a review on Korean food, I also thought, why not dig up, pictures of this Korean Kyung Joo Restaurant and post about it too. I keep loosing the receipt of this restaurant, we've visited this place for about three times already.

Its one of those restaurants that has a very odd or peculiar location. Its situated on the third floor, at MidValley Megamall. Some restaurants are actually located some sort of like a one floor up from the Third Floor space @ Mid Valley, some sort like CODO. To be exact, its right next to Carl's Jr, just take the stairs up.

Like most traditional Korean restaurant, they always give you some standard side dishes. In Korea, they normally just give us 3 types, two types of kim chi, and a local variant of taugeh. Over here, maybe because they charge us more, Korean restaurants will give us minimum 5, side dishes, and its very worth it, because those side dishes, can refill wan....

Although the side dishes do not consists of traditional side dishes, the standard ones, found in Korea, but it just customary for them to offer their patrons a few plates of stuff to munch on, much like dim sum.

One thinig I noticed about this place is that they offer a wide range of Korean BBQ and non BBQ dishes. The picture above shows the waitress cutting up slices of pork for a BBQ pork dish (not sure what its called).

Sayang ordered this Hot Pot Bee Bim Bab, some sort of a hot variation of the Bee Bim Bab, theirs does not contain beef, which is why I don't quite like it. This pot comes with chicken... not so nice jo, but its Sayang's favourite dish there now.

For me I usually prefer something hot and spicy. All these dishes have a Korean name to it, which I couldn't bother to try to remember or pronounce them. I call this a Spicy Prawn Noodle soup, its served with some Korean noodles, a few prawns, pork, and very very spicy soup. I recall sweating buckets after I finished the bowl.

Prices here are quite reasonable, the meal for two including side dishes, and drinks came up to about RM35, and of course it could come up to more, if you ordered So Ju (rice wine) and stuff. Love that shit, and as a wine, it doesn't smell much and its easy on the throat. After a bottle of SOjU you are most certain to pass a breathalyser test.


Korea Kyung Joo Restaurant
Tian Cheng Di Ji Restaurant SB
3rd Flr, MidValley Megamall.

Opposite Brewball, next to Carl's Jr.
For reservations call Woo Wai Ming (016 598 7897)
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Ipoh Rd Yong Tao Foo

I think the names gives it away, that Ipoh Rd YTF is somewhere along Jalan Ipoh. Its true some years back, but it has since moved from somewhere along 3rd Mile Jln Ipoh into this new Segambut bungalow which they have spent quite a bit of monies refurbishing, a few years ago. Hence, a change in location but the name stays.

It was a Sunday afternoon and the entire family was wandering around Kepong searching for a suitable place to have lunch. My in Laws are small eaters and has very healthy eating habits. They usually don't take a lot of red meat, and would like to eat in places that do not add a lot of MSG into their food.

Therefore, we eat at home quite abit... because it can be really difficult to find low MSG food in cafes, and restaurants nowadays, that still tastes good.

Surprisingly, one of those restaurant that they do not mind going to is this Ipoh Road Yong Tao Foo. I wouldn't exactly say their YTF does not contain MSG, but it does contain a lot of Soya, Vegetable and lots of fish.

One of the main attraction about this Ipoh Rd YTF is that everything comes out FAST. Just tick down the items you want to add to your YTF bowl, the food normally comes in within 7 minutes.

You know the part about the MSG and stuff, I think this place has begun putting in more MSG into their YTF, and I find it very tasty. I don't know how to explain it, but this place makes Ampang Rd YTF, just like any other YTF seller. Their food is quite good, although the way they make their fish paste ( YTF filling ) differs from Ampang's, some may still prefer the original recipe. The recipe can differ in terms of how much fish to meat ratio you mix into your paste, as well as what herbs, and seasoning is used.

I noticed that at Ipoh Rd, they now also sell Paper Wrapped Chicken ( Chi Pau Kai). Made famous originally by Sungai Besi's Yong Tao Foo sellers like Leong Ya, Ipoh Rd also put this item on their menu. Curious how it would taste, we ordered two pieces. My recommendation, if you wanna taste a real good paper wrapped chicken go to Leong Ya, or Leong Ya Indah @ Sungai Besi.

Also read my other posts on Yong Foo Taos,

Restoran Yap - Pudu Ulu
Cosy Corner - Yulek
Orchard View Ampang Old Town
Bkt Mertajam - Penang version YTF
Sg Besi Leong Ya Indah
Ampang Homeland YTF- Franchise

Other ppl's views:

DiehardX
KYEatz - Kelana Jaya Branch Ipoh Rd YTF

Gurney Drive Transported to The Gardens MidValley

This post has taken a long time to reach here, as we have been busy with work, church and preparation for our wedding dinner coming June. So much so, it has somewhat affected my blogging habits. Whats a more fitting time though, that I have just recently come back from a Penang trip last week ( food reviews to be posted in time), memory still fresh to compare the food in Penang and at this Gurney Drive place in The Gardens.

Above: A very nice hard cover menu, that holds the menu, quite a substantial menu full of Penang's Hawker Favourites.
Below: Nice traditional sign board, gives you that very traditional rustic kinda feel. But the restaurant is of course nicely air conditioned, the seats and tables are spacious and comfortable. As we walked in, a nicely dressed customer service personnel will usher us to our seats. The restaurant setting is made like hawker stalls in a modern food court, but you do not order at the individual stalls. The entire restaurant is actually a restaurant, with table service....

This restaurant claims to serve authentic Penang Hawker food, but I am sure a lot of Penangnites who is willing to part with Rm15 - 20 for a plate of their favourite hawker fare, will probably tell you, nah... KL Penang food is never as good as the real one.

We ordered some drinks, but the stuff that stands out are these two, Penang Road Cendol, and Penang Ice Kacang. I just had two helpings of the Penang Road stall recently, and hmm... I thought at The Gardens, it did taste quite good. Maybe or perhaps they get it direct from the same Penang Rd proprietor who also has stalls in Subang.

I gotta, say though that their Ice Kacang was not as good as I like them to be.


We ordered two of the most Eaten hawker foods in Penang. Their Prawn Mee and the Asam Laksa. As far as I remember, I thought their Prawn Mee was quite nice. The soup base was quite rich, had nice big prawns, came with some pig intestines (not standard ingredient in Penang though), and a generous serving of bee hoon in it. Try la toptaste Prawn MEe at McAllister Rd, thats my favourite...

The Asam Laksa was done quite, well. The soup base again, very rich, and served with a spoon of Prawn Paste, just liek they would at Penang. Hmm... yummmy.......but my number 1, still try the Air Itam market's Asam Laksa (Kek Lok Si Temple), very tasty but also very dirty.
Now, their Char Koay Teo didn't disappoint at all. I thought it tasted quite good, but of course when you pay so much for a plate of something you can get for only Rm6 at Lrg Selamat, but it tastes quite nice. Much better than a lot of CKT you find in KL/Pj.

My dad ordered this Mee Goreng Mamak, on the menu I think it says RM18. Immediately when I saw it coming, it put my palm on my forehead. Alamak why you go and order mee goreng pulak. I normally don't like to order them because its usually salty, and too spicy hot.

I grabbed a fork and pinched some, and it was a pleasant surprise. Very very good mee goreng mamak. It is a must try...

O Chien , RM18, lousy....

I have very mixed feelings about this restaurant. I mean the seating and table arrangement will instantly give you the impression that its an expensive restaurant, but the stuff they offer on menu are hawker stall favourites from Penang. Its definitely a good place to bring your foreign friends to go try our local food, if they are afraid of eating at dirty stalls, at Jalan Burma, or Penang Road. Ok, prices were from 15 - 20 bucks for each plate of hawker favourite. Drinks were from 6 - 10 bucks each... wah damn pricey.... but the food here is definitely quite good, better than most of what KL can offer anyways..

When you go try their food here, try to ignore the price, and evaluate their food based on taste only.. If you ask me, definitely serves better quality food than the Little Penang Cafes....

Gurney Drive,
Lot T-201, The Gardens,
Mid Valley

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Kluang Station @ Desa Park City

I must admit, that, we have to been visiting this Waterfront place at Desa Park City quite abit in recent times. And one of those, places that we have been visiting quite often is Kluang Station at Waterfront.

Sayang will always go for the simple toast, Roti Kahwin la to supplement her Teh Tarik.

This place serves some decent Kopi C Ping. Its quite Kao, quite aromatic, and not served too sweet.
Oh ya one of those really nice things to snack on while you are at Kluang Station is to try their Chicken Wings. Its more like a Roasted Chicken Wing, and a wee bit dry, not exactly like those wings you find sold by WAW, Jln Alor. Those are still the best thus far.

This Chicken Chop at Kluang Station is really a great find for me. This chicken chop is served with a deep fried chicken drumstick, baked beans, sliced mushroom, green peas, and gravy made from the baked beans , and I suspect a substantial amount of worchestershire sauce (just a guess). Its unique and obviously different from the standard mushroom sauce type chicken chop we usually get from the Hainanese style coffee shops.

Now the other times when we there, we found that the Nasi Ayam Merah and their Nasi Lemak was just so so. The Ayam masak merah's gravy needs a little redo, just tastes too salty. Their Nasi Lemak sambal too needs to be reworked to make it better... can be done better, but I am sure it appeals to quite a lot of people already....

Their coffee is from RM2.20 to RM2.80, while their main dishes goes from Rm7.80 - Rm12.90 if not mistaken. So really, they serve some really simple yet delicious food in that cafe. Also check out Kluang Station at Ikano Power cEnter, and at 1 Utama....


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Seefood Dinner @ Cherating

It was that night before we headed off to Haipeng Kopitiam, that we arrived at Cherating. Having been a real spoilt brat, a city boy, you often take things for granted. For example,

1) we do not need to book hotel wan, sure got room la.

2) be gung ho abit , nevermind wan, find hotel first baru cari makan

To cut the story short, we couldn't get a room at our prefered Hotel (fully booked during Monsoon season), and everything was closing down, including the Satar stall that my colleague brought me to. Ceh !!

So we dropped by at this Najwa Stall, which was along the main road of Cherating - Chukai.

First item that caught my eye was a huge ice counter, one that looked like a fruit vendor's box in KL. The only difference was that this box contained lots of ice and fresh fish in it. So I ordered a medium sized Ikan Merah to be masaked, stim.

Then I headed off to the back of the restaurant where I could find a counter which had the usual traditional malay cooking in it. Hmm... I actually get to try some authentic Masakan Pantai Timur, but dunno why la, when you are in Cherating you will surely be tempted to try their Seefood. Have you ever seen any stalls in KL offering only fish on their first two levels ? I counted 11 types of fish in frame in that picture above. Behind all the baskets of Ulam, are more vegetable dishes, meat, chicken and one that caught my eye, was this crab.Crab cooked in chili paste. So I picked one crab up, some squid (kerabu style) and waited for our Ikan masak stim to come.

The taste of the food was not great, amateurish at best, and did not appeal to my senses whatsoever. However, the seefood was extremely fresh. The crab would have tasted much better if they'd just season it with salt and pepper and had it steamed. The squid did not feel like chewing gum. The fish was extremely fresh, and tasted as if it was just delivered from the fisherman's boat. But the way they cook it... aiyooo....It was ikan merah masak stim. Fish was good the cooking spoilt it.

Despite all the negatives, I'd come back to Cherating to hunt for more fresh seafood. I mean to say, they must be someone in Cherating who knows how to cook them right ? After all , the ingredients are fresh.

Okay the total bill came up to 43, my rice with squid and crab was Rm12, Fish was Rm25 (cheap), my colleague's rice was Rm5, and drinks the rest.

I am not even going to put up their contact details, just avoid this stall if you happen to stumble onto it. Drive another mile or two, you are bound to find some other stalls that could be open after 9pm. Most stalls are either dimly lit, no patrons, or closed. -Off SEASON ma....

Fong Lye Taiwan Restauran @ The Gardens, Mid Valley

There was a few times we walked past this Taiwanese restaurant at The Gardens, noticed it but went on to patronize another restaurant. Everytime you walk past this place, it is always packed. Surely it will make you wonder, Taiwanese food so nice meh... so Sayang and I walked in one day lo...


To be frank, I am not sure how much all the dishes cost us, but as a reference from Boo's review of this, she calls this place, Not Cheap, and she also mentioned that their good taste made up for the expensive prices.

I ordered this bowl of Fried Noodles with Prawns. To me I thought they put in some pretty good stuff. I mean, I am not very familiar with Taiwan cuisine, but it sure does taste a lot better than the Little Taiwan experience I had , at MidValley. It came out pretty ok, the prawns were fresh, and we did not have to wait too long for the food to come.


Sayang had her set meal. I think it is Taiwanese Pork Chop meal set or something like that. It came in some fancy square type of bowl and a semi circle porcelain plate for its sides. The pork chop was alright, but I don't Sayang really enjoyed eating those sides.


I think it is really a nice place to dine, its bright, service is attentive, and the food is not bad. I just thought it could be a bit pricey, but for comparisons sake, it taste much better than Little Taiwan (their taiwanese counterpart on the Megamall side.)

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My other review at cafes around Fong LYe:
Little Taiwan
Flying Chillies