Daily Rantings

Melbourne - Laurent Patisserie

2010-02-19T18:40:00.000+08:00

One of the buildings that first caught my eye, when I first walked along Lt Collins St, was this building. Looking from across the street, you could not help but wonder what is situated inside this building. Along the sidewalk, you could see a row of tables, filled with patrons, busy chatting with one another while sipping coffee or a glass of wine. You could also occasionally find a group of street performers, like in this picture, playing their old style of jazz.

One day while we were doing some shopping in the area, I told Sayang and family, if they wanted to try out a nice cafe that seems to serve some nice looking sandwiches. Everyone seemed happy with the idea, so we popped in. It looked like a nice cafe, well lit. The first impression was that this place is busy as you could see a long line of people queing to make an order for their food.
It did take me a while to make up my mind, but in the end I opted for a Ham Baguette. Its a half baguette filled with ham, cheese, cos lettuce and tomatoes. It must have been one of the better sandwiches I've had, I mean a sandwich is a sandwich, correct ? I tell what made the difference. The ingredients were so fresh, I might have mistaken their lettuce and tomatoes to be garden plucked. The bread was fresh, aromatic, had a crispy crust and soft on the inside. All this finished off with a sprinkle of freshly cracked peppers. Unlike most other sandwiches this was not toasted, or pressed. Served cold as is.

Sayang and parents went for the Tuna Focaccia bread. Her parents just love Aussie bread. Focaccia bread isn't exactly our main staple in Malaysia. Its simply just focaccia bread with tuna, butter lettuce, and tomatoes. Sounds simple enough ? But I took a bite of it and would say their bread was nicely baked.

To finish off we ordered a box of six macarons. Unfortunately for us, macarons is one of the hardest pastry to make at home. Theirs had a nice firm crust on the outside, and a bit chewy on the inside. The flavours were just exquisite.

The best thing about this restaurant is that, although it looked like a million dollars, the sandwiches were just about $14 each, the macarons were just about $15 for a box of six. Coffee and tea was nice and decent as well.

For more information about Laurent, please visit their website.

Laurent Boulangerie-Patisserie

306 Lt Collins St,

Melbourne 3000

Melways Ref: 43 H8

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Bernsy @te Melbourne

2009-07-03T21:19:00.002+08:00

Hi guys, haven't been blogging lately but promise to blog more often. While we have moved to Melbourne, we have also started to cook a little more than eating out, so I will post some recipes of the dishes we are trying out on Daily Rantings, and perhaps I could start posting my Cari Makan and Recipe posts on Bernsy @ Melbourne.

http://atemelbourne.blogspot.com

Curry Leaf Restaurant, Seremban

2008-10-15T15:02:00.004+08:00

There is one part about preparing to leave which can be detrimental to my weight problems. Relatives are all so eager to say, come over and visit us la, we''ll do lunch or we'll do dinner. It's obviously a good gesture if you know what I mean, they just wanna sit down and have something to eat with you, chit chat, and catch up that sort of thing.

Come to think of it, no other activity would have been acceptable for the entire family. I was thinking perhaps the whole family could gather up at Cosmic Bowl and say, lets do a farewell Bowling ( its cool but not everyone bowls )...

Anyway this one is with our Seremban relatives. Father in Law's side to be precise. But the trip down there is not to be wasted as our cousin brought us to try our Curry Leaf Restaurant, Jalan Rasah, Seremban.

My cousin was vegetarian that day, and Sayang and Mom-In Law also opted for the more healthy meal, while FIL said, lets get some chicken ( aiya so nice of him, coz he doesn't want me to go vegetarian because everyone else is... so he ordered a chicken for me). Anyway, the first tray came and I saw deep fried bitter gourd, yummy !!!!, not salty and not bitter wan... just the way I liked it...

Some kinda mixed vegetable, which I did not really fancy.

This is the chicken peratal dish that I shared with Appa. Really a nice dish, I totally didn't regret sinking my teeth into this succulent and spicy chicken peratal dish. Again, I like it because the spices were totally infused into the chicken, every bite into it flushes out all the flavours the chicken has absorbed.

Mother in Law's garlic naan. She opted for bread instead of rice.

If you were going for just the basic Vegetarian Banana Leaf set, this is what you get. I mean the waiter came in once started putting vegetables onto the leaf ( 3 at first). He continues with everyone else, then he walks out for awhile. Then he came in and started putting more veges onto my leaf. Whoa.... 6 varieties, very rare to find this even in KL, then he walks out and came back with the rice.

The curries were all hot, and you are given a choice of vegetarian Dal, fish curry or chicken curry. Taste wise, this place is definitely above average. The curries were tasty, what to ask for some more ?

The bill didn't burn a hole in our pockets either. So I am definitely recommending anyone going past Seremban to try this place...

Curry Leaf Restaurant
NO 1274 & 1275, JALAN RASAH,
SEREMBAN
70300 Negeri Sembilan Malaysia

Restoran New Paris @ SS2, PJ.

2008-10-10T14:30:00.000+08:00

One major thing about Malaysian culture is that whenever someone is leaving, they always organise a farewell party in the form of a sit down dinner. If you are chinese like me, you are very likely to end up in many Chinese Restaurants. This is the first of many to come and just two weeks from the day we leave.

Pastor was first to ask us out for dinner. Although we have already had many sessions at our apartment (nye hehehe...), this dinner was with Pastor and family. We were looking for a place in PJ to eat and Pastor asked where do you want to go ? Immediately New Paris came up, and we ended up there.

First dish we got was Stir Fried Vegetables. Very green, and nice. Also a very decent sized serving.
The yam basket was also nice. It has the usual deep fried beehoon base, a small yam basket, but the chicken that came with it was diced in bigger than usual cubes.
This steam fish was cooked just nice.
One of their specialty dishes over at Paris is this one. Watermelon chicken. Sweetish, and sourish, easily mistaken for pork and all. Its a nice dish and is a hit with most visitors at New Paris.
A late addition to whatever he ordered earlier was this Deep Fried Brinjal wedges. That would be how I desribe them. Really very nicely done and not too salty. A recommendation.

You know what really surprises me is how fast the food is served after ordering them. The food usually comes in less than 10 minutes (usually la ! ).

Address
62,64,66 Jalan SS2/72,
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia

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3 meals

OUG Pan Mee Stall

2008-10-06T20:45:00.001+08:00

Sometimes the really nice stuff is hard to find, because they are not always as visible, or appealing for the general public to just walk in and say try their food. This place in OUG, is actually situated at one of those food stalls behind, OUG Parkson ( formerlly known as Yaohan). The stall just looked like just any stall, but as Ben led us through the back alleys of OUG Parkson coming through the main road, that revealed this hawker center in OUG, it didn't look very appealing. But since Ben brought us here, it couldn't be that bad right.
Anyways, the wait would have been quite long if it had not been for Ben sharing with us his interesting experiences, and Sayang catching up with him and all. Both Ben and I went for the dry pan mee, which was recommend. Make no mistake, it is just remotely similar to the dry chilli pan mee, from Kin Kin. But I have to say it was quite nice.
Sayang wanted to be different and went for the standard pan mee soup. I tasted abit of her soup and found the soup very tasty and rich in flavor. That kind of taste you find in real soup which has been boiled for hours.

When the biill came, I think it was just about RM4 per bowl. The price made it even better, and one of those very rare occasions I'd say its Pang Leng Cheng ( Cheap !, Nice ! and Good!)

Restoran Chicken Hot Pot @ Taman Usahawan, Kepong

2008-09-30T09:18:00.000+08:00

Ever since we moved to Kepong, I have been excited about looking for new food to try in Kepong. With Mimi who has already reviewed so many places in Kepong, I definitely can't say, that there is not enough eateries to try, infact the Metro Perdana area has so many eateries mushrooming, we did not know where to start.
So one night we were driving around the area, when we spoted this place. It looked really interesting so we parked our car (parking is usually not a problem), and walked in. This chicken hot pot concept originated from somewhere in China, and it serves chicken, pork ribs and dinosaur ribs, on a hot pot. We also have the choice of eating with a spicy or extra spicy gravy, and served in a claypot with fire underneath it.

We tried the chicken and dinosaur ribs that night.

To sum up it was just very much like a pork rib stew in spicy gravy or a dinosaur rib stewed in spicy gravy. We were both very disappointed, and was looking for something really special, but it wasn't. If you were to take it as a fast food, I guess its not that bad, and if you like the spiciness of the hot pot, you will love it.

Restoran Chicken Hot Pot (Kepong)
11, Jln Metro Perdana Berat 2,
Tmn Usahawan Kepong,
Kepong Utara, 51200 KL

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Restoran Hee Lai Ton @ Shaw Parade

2008-09-29T21:03:00.001+08:00

Our family had many catching up sessions, and this was one of them. At Restoran Hee Lai Ton. I have not heard of this restaurant, but formerly this location was occupied by Six Happiness. Apparently they are famous in Serdang ( formerly known as Sheraton or something like that ), and they also have an outlet in Puchong.

This soup is just crabsmeat chicken soup. I really do not like soups with starch, or sharksfin in it. The soup was just ok, not exactly the kind of start I was looking for, but I never really look forward to the soups anyways.

When the appetizer I was like wow, so big meh the plate. This one had a platter of four different appetizers, and depending on the menu you order, some come in a 5 variety appetizer platter. The food is alright so far, although nothing special came out from this restaurant yet.

The Peking Duck dish came out and we saw the waiter cutting the skin out. We had a room and we constantly had like 2 servers in our room, changing plates, serving our dishes, etc.

Pretty nice thin and crispy pieces of the duck was the result of careful slicing.

I think this dish is called Tiger Prawns in some special sauce... yumms... nice big prawns.

I think it is normal for restaurants to serve up two fish instead of one, if they can not get one big one. This is a Tau Tai Chong - a premium type promfet fish.
Their vegetables are always greener than those we cook at home. I really wonder how they make them this green...

Remember the duck skin we had earlier. The remaining duck meat is stir fried and served with lettuce, and a sprinkle of sun flower seeds. Did not like it a single bit, too salty for my liking.

To finish off the night, this fried rice was full of stuff in it. But it all came in small pieces of shrimp, char siu, vegetables , etc....

Quality of service is not exactly their plus point, but their food is definitely above average. Chinese restaurants like this usually charge about RM488 per set like this, although I have seen more expensive sets that weren't as nice.

3rd Floor, Shaw Parade,
Jalan Changkat Thambi Dollah,
Off Jalan Pudu,
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

For map and other details click here

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Pasar Ramadhan @ Kampung Batu Muda

2008-09-18T15:08:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was a public holiday for Selangor, so Wendy, Sayang and I planned to go to this Pasar Ramadhan to get some food. The main item we went for was the satay at this Pasar Ramadhan. Its actually off Batu5 Jalan Ipoh, and when we turned off, we went on a 5 minute winding road ride, and eventually arrive at an intersection with High Tension wires running over it. Thats Kampung Batu Muda.
So when we arrived, I immediately whisked out the camera and caught them grilling the satays. I was told that these satays were only 50sen each, and they are huge. I mean where to find la 50sen satay nowadays, mostly half the size of what they sell here.

The uncle knows that I was there for the satay and even posed for the camera abit. The marination was quite standard and not too spicy. The peanunt sauce was just nice, and not a wee bit spicy. Should have asked for some Sambal la... since I like them spicy...
This uncle's wife sells cucur udang. When it was smoking hot, I bet those cucur udangs had a nice aroma, crispy and everything I could say to describe, a good cucur udang. Unfortunately, for us, for the courtesy of our fasting friends in the area, we had to tapao them back. By the time we got home, it was soft liao... but the gravy was chun la...

I was looking for some roasted chicken or ayam golek kinda chicken to tapao back. We saw a stall with a huge sign, saying Ayam Dara... whoa ayam dara wo sure nice wan right.... I am not sure how they check whether the chicken is dara or not, but when sayang went over there, she didn't buy it, because of flys buzzing around those chickens, so instead we walked a few stalls down and saw them grilling this chicken. No flys around so we bought this instead.

It was a some kinda sweetish, honey roasted type of chicken, which I likened it with char siu chicken. If you know what I mean.

So after buying most of the stuff we wanted to get, we were just walking around. This murtabak man was showing off his stuff to me, so I obliged and snapped a few shots of him, flipping his murtabaks.
This next picture is quite nice to see. After a full day of fasting these flers are still full of smiles. Happilly posing for pictures all...

Oh ya, we also stopped by this stall to get some Satar. Since I missed the opportunity to eat some satar the last time I was at Cherating, I thought, heh, maybe this one ok gua. Unfortunately the satar wasn't what I expected it to be, although Wendy did mention to us that this is not the best Satar you can find.
Even the kids come out to help during the ramadhan month....
By the time we finished shopping, the sun was setting so we all also rushed back home to eat up stuff we bought....

Banana Leaf Rice @ Sri Nirwana Maju Bangsar

2008-09-15T15:53:00.003+08:00

Talk about wanting to do something and actually doing it only after 1 year. I have always wanted to write about this Sri Nirwana Maju banana leaf restaurant. It has always been regarded as one of the better places to go for Banana Leaf, although I it might not be the cheapest.

This visit is a first for me in 2008, and surprisingly the first ever visit for Sayang to this restaurant. I mean we have dropped by at Saravanan Bhavan but not to this place. So as usual all banana leaf meals begin with, is the standard vegetarian meal. I think it costs RM5 or something like that, with unlimited rice, and vege. The deep fried bitter gourd on the right most, was on top form that night, it tasted totally out of this world, so naturally I asked for more during the meal.

We also asked for Sotong Goreng, which was made just nice. The marinate was aromatic, and forms a thin layer of flavouring onto the squid, which otherwise would have tasted like nothing. This was a great dish, deep fried, squid wasn't hard, and it tasted great.

We also tried their Fried Balos fish, Rm2 for a small piece each. It was quite alright.

Their fried chicken was so so, and nothing really much to shout about.

Overall I found this place to be quite alright, the food is good, service is fast. It can get quite pack during dinner hours, and you might have to wait for a place to seat. Now that can be quite a turn off. However, having said that, the reason why people come in droves is that this place serve some really nice banana leaf rice.

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Sri Nirwana Maju
Address: 43, Jalan Telawi 3,
Bangsar Baru, 59100 KL.

Telephone: 03-2287 8445

Hawker Delicacies @ Champs Bandar Utama

2008-09-08T10:50:00.002+08:00

After trying their most talked about ribs, I had aways wanted to come back and check out their pork noodles. So much so, that one day Adrian was in the Centrepoint area, and asked me, dude, whats nice to eat here, immediately I said, try their pork noodles @ Champs. Although I have never even smelt the noodles before, the recommendation was based on reputation.. hahaha... So our friend came back on Monday morning and told how nice the noodles were and all...

So fast foward a few weeks later, I mentioned pork noodles again, and I got him fantasizing about Champ's Pork Noodles ( Chu Yoke Fun ), so much so, we ended up at Champs that night.

Surprisingly our friend arrived on time while Sayang and I made it there slightly later. It seems on weekends this place can be preety slow, either that or as I remembered it, it was the day Petrol prices went up to RM2.70.

For a pub, they surprisingly sells drinks like Teh Tarik , Kopi - Ping, Barley ice, etc... I ordered a Tiger for myself, while they ordered their Teh Tariks. Drinks were quite alright, and they have Guiness, and Kilkenny of the tap too...

Starter of the day was, half a dozen chicken wings. Marinated with spices, it is deep fried and served smoking hot. Usually when its smoking hot it tastes the best, especially when you rip the meat off the bones, and you see smoke gushing out, followed by its aroma, definitely a feast for your senses. Unless of course, the next table start blowing cigi smoke over la.. hahahaha...

Sayang ordered her prawn mee, which came in a big white bowl, its broth oozing out with aroma, before they put it on the table and all. It had two pieces of big prawn, lots of chicken and pork slices, and the soup was sweet and bursting with flavours. Spiciness was just nice for Sayang although I might "ka liu" with the additional sambal provided.

Adrian and I both went for the Pork Noodles that we have both heard so much about. In this bowl is a generous serving of bee hoon, lots of choi sum, lots of pork slices, pork liver, eh what do you call chu cheong in English ?, minced pork, and lots of lard...... The soup was so flavourful, and sweet man... this is what I call in Cantonese, lok chuk liao ( the right ingredients, in generous amounts ). The noodles costs about RM18 / bowl I think, and it was all worth every penny. The pork noodles were like freaking awesome....

There shouldn't be a need to call up and reserve, although on weekends, you have a lot of families coming in to dine, and they fill up the pub in no time.

Champ's Bistro

Address: Lot F10, 1st Floor, Centrepoint,
Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama,
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Telephone: 03-7722 5800

Sup Tulang @ Kg Dato Abu Bakar Baginda, Bangi

2008-09-02T17:04:00.002+08:00

I was driving down to Bangi one afternoon, taking an unusual route towards Bangi, via Uniten, calling it the back way la....

I drove past uniten, and then those training centers and the junction into MPOB, I saw a crowd at a very down to earth stall. I instantly told myself, after I finish whatever I am doing I am coming back this way, to see whats in store for me.....

The stall is bawah pokok, hence, it wasn't very hot. I'd normally keep away from hot stalls with zinc roofs, so that I don't perspire to the point where I smell stronger than the food. Anyway as I walked in I looked around to see what those people were having... soup... omigosh.. soups... soups and nasi lemak bungkus (that's weird !!).... Normally people just eat soup and white rice isn't it ?

So what the heck I also ordered myself a bowl of Sup Daging.. and Helped myself to one pack of the Nasi Lemak bungkus.

The bowl of soup was nice. Really full of spices, aromatic, and not too salty. Plus the aunty at the stall gave me a generous helping of meat in my soup. I finished all of it, clean, nothing was left, except for the bones.

The Nasi Lemak was really nothing much to shout about really, and I would have much preferred it if they actually served white rice to go with the soup.

Directions all I can tell you is that from the UPM toll drive towards Bangi, where all those Pusat-pusat Latihan of Public Bank and Maybank is situated in Bangi. Along the road, you should see that water tower, the stall is opposite of that water tower.

Also look out for this Police Station that says Dato Abu Bakar Baginda... thats the Kampung Name I guess, in Bangi. Their sup ayam, sup daging and sup gear box is superb, as I was told.

Thats what I saw, how not to turn back and see whats the fuss all about... hehehe

My Mother's Chicken Rice - Linda Onn

2008-08-27T17:05:00.002+08:00

Was at Shah Alam the other day for a visit to UITM. Its funny and sad at the same time because that school has been getting into the news for the wrong reasons. I think researchers in that school work doubly hard to prove to the world that they are just as good if not better.

Anyways, back to the food. This is Linda Onn's restaurant, although she goes, My Mom's Chicken rice. Wakakaka, just in case the food sucks or anything like that, she can always back out and blame her mom for it.

I mean its not like its a terrible place to eat. To begin with, its quite clean. Its looks like a simple cafe, thats clean , and serves chicken rice.

I asked for a Nasi Ayam Special Set, which came with this nice little plate of drumstick, drenched in Sambal, a bowl of yellow rice, and soup. This was like one of the better plate of chicken rice I have had in a long time. The sambal has everything to do with that statement. Its just nice and simple.

Also check out:

My Mom's Chicken Rice Website

Lot 84, Ground Floor,
Lorong Memanda 1, Batu 4 1/2
Ampang Point, 68000 Ampang,
Selangor, Malaysia.

Tel: 03.4251-1177
email: restaurant_mmcr@yahoo.com

Sorry don't have the address for the Shah Alam branch.

Birthday Dinner @ Rahsia Bistro & Wine Bar

2008-08-19T12:02:00.004+08:00

Last Sunday, Sayang asked me, what would you like to go for your birthday, I said anything also can. You just don't expect this kind of answer from someone who blogs about food ! But, I really have no preference when it comes to food, I literally eat anything under the sun. I am that obedient son who eats anything that is put on the table. So Sayang consulted her friend whom she trusts to have taste, and made the necessary arrangements.
It wasn't much of a secret, although the restaurant is called Rahsia. Being the birthday boy doesn't mean you get chauffeur driven to the restaurant too, so at some point of the day she told me, we are going to 13, Jalan Damai. I googled it and found their website. The design looks delicious too, with much thought put into it.. nice website. Got awards for a few years in a row some more, very impressive.
When we arrived after a long journey ( we were stuck on Tun Razak for like 40 minutes, with the jam starting from within the SMART tunnel), again as the saying goes, Tunnel Smart, Gamen nOT, me less smarter coz I paid TOLL, to get stuck in a massive jam....

To start off, we must first have drinks. We were ecstatic when we saw, FREE Cosmo drink ( yup everyone gets one free Cosmo each), alcoholic drink. Wah this place so nice give free cocktail all. They had a list of cocktails on their real menu, but not put up their website. Sayang ordered an ASMARA (RM 15) top of her Cosmo... and I ordered a house pouring Red Wine ( RM 15 only).
They also served plain water... wah another plus point.
While waiting for our food, we took a little tour of the place. Really neat, nice old bungalow if you ask me. Since it was evening, and we were sat in the backyard of this really ncie old bungalow, mosquito coils were lit up to keep those mozzies out. But you can always seat inside, but the backyard had a better ambience to it, if you ask me...

We had an appetizer and a salad before the main arrived. Malinjo Crackers was an appetizer (RM5 only). Didn't like it a single bit, especially the normal chilli sauce dip. Would have tasted a lot better if it was sweet soy sauce, with chilli and onions, and a squeeze of lime. But this was their secret recipe ma.. so nothing to say.. hahaha.... The thai duck salad though was superb, and out of this world. The usual salad leaves were given and a generous amount of deep fried duck meat with skin ( crispy wan) was served.... Definitely recommend this to anyone.

We ordered a lamb shank to share ( one main only ). 3 pieces for RM55. Over priced and tasted so so, and ok lah. It wasn't superb, but to point out, the meat was tender, juicy and falling off the bone. Some people will really love this dish. My points: so so la, ok lah, bolehlah.

Tiru misu - this is Rahsia's version of a tiramisu. It aint a tiramisu, just lots of cream with wafer biscuits dipped in rum, dribbled with chocolate fudge. Sayang had a chocolate brownie, which we thought was below average.

After dinner we basically fooled around with the camera and ourselves. You know you are growing old when the round wine glass can't hide the roundness of your face anymore. It was a great dinner no doubt, but that was just the beginning of our night really....

I had a few seeds of durian after dinner, which then I threw up 3 times the whole entire night. I suspected that it could be the cheap liquor they gave us. Or it could be the wine. So please stay away from their cheap drinks should anyone wanna go there.

Also read:

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Wendy's @ Sunway Pyramid

2008-08-18T11:52:00.003+08:00

q: What do you call a happy burger ?
a: Bergembira !!

For some reason, that day, we went driving around the Subang area, before lunch to do something. Hearing that Wendy's is back and has got one branch in Sunway Pyramid, I was just waiting for someone to ask, where do you want to eat lunch ? I quickly suggested, why don't we go to Sunway Pyramid and find something to eat. lol!!!
When we reach Wendy's it was already packed, and we quickly got ourselves a place to sit, in this really cramped restaurant. Opposite it was McD's which looked rather empty. I can only vaguely remember Wendy's in the older days, when it was in Sg Wang.

We ordered three types of burger, shrimp, fish and double cheese burgers. All sets came with a soft drink and fries. Their fries were thicker than those McD's fries, which I thought were quite nice. Something different, but McD's fries are generally tastier and crispier (according to me la).

The shrimp and the fish burger look similar, but according to Sayang, she thinks their shrimp and fish burgers tasted so much better than those you find at BK or McDs. As for me, I don't usually take chicken burgers, or fish burgers, because nothing beats the taste of real nice juicy Beef burgers. Actually I don't quite remember what this was, a double patty cheese burger or something lidat. I found the burgers to be quite nice, although I will also say the same about McDonald's, Burger King and even Carl's Junior.

Although Wendy's made a come back after many years absence in the Malaysian market, I find it a bit over priced. I have to agree with what some people think though that some of the stuff they give back to us are of fresher and nicer stuff, as compared with the cheaper burger places.

Also read

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Ljun9

Gurney Drive Restaurant @ The Gardens

2008-08-14T09:55:00.001+08:00

This is perhaps our third visit to this restaurant, but I had only one other post on this place. I remembered the last I came, they just opened up, and apparently they brought these famous cooks from Penang and posted them here in the Gardens ( reconfirmed with one of the waiters).This time around, Sayang and I met up for lunch, and decided to drop by Gurney Drive again. Since Sayang don't get to go to Penang every other month like me ;) so I suggested we go eat some real Penang food @ The Gardens. Something on their menu changed this time around... they reduced their prices....

We usually do not hear of restaurants reducing their prices, this is really a first for me. So we ordered anyways. Sayang got her Char Koay Teow with less chili, hence the color abit more brownish than reddish. Of course I preferred to have it extra spicy but this was Sayang's CKT.... hehehe.. she enjoyed it no doubt.

Mine was a mee goreng mamak. I've had this before, in my previous visit, so I took the same mee goreng again.. It was really nice, not sure why, but the local mee goreng mamaks are either too dark, too salty or two wet. Theirs were fried to perfection. Popiah was just so so, but really no complains.

Surprisingly, as I do my research on other food reviews about this place, I found that others did not enjoy the food at all. Some will come up to a rating of at most, average. This must be whats going on, with this restaurant, which is why their prices dropped big time....

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It's located on the Second Floor of The Gardens, same floor as Flying chillies, Fong Lye and Sushi Zanmai.

Power Rojak in Langkawi

2008-08-08T10:00:00.000+08:00

We were in Langkawi recently for a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of city life. And one of the highlights of the trip, other than boozing all day round, was the fact that you could actually find some really nice food by the road side.

This stall is found next to the airport runway, on the road to Pantai Tengah & Cenang. We usually drive past this stall whenever we make our way into Kuah town. Always noticing a crowd be it, afternoon or evening.
So on the last day there, en route to the airport, we stopped by this stall and found this crowd. Already expectations increased and we were hoping to get some really nice stuff.

Since the sign said, Laksa Power, we definitely ordered a bowl of laksa. It tastes similar to the Asam Laksa's we find in Penang, but it is still distinctively different. Not very fish, and we liked it very much.

Other than laksa, we noticed many bowls of mee rebus on other tables, so I asked for one. The mee rebus had a sweetish and it was also spicy hot. The funny thing was that, they mix the normal yellow noodle with some laksa noodle (rice noodle). Just changed the gravy, and gave us some keropok for the crunch.

We also had one bowl of Cendol, of which was great too. The picture, on the other hand, disappeared into thin air. Must have accidentally deleted it.

The food they served was simply and nice. What more when I asked for the bill, less than RM7 for two bowls of noodles, and a bowl of cendol.

Location,

From the Langkawi airport, take the road towards, Pantai Tengah. You will see a few vans by the roadside selling laksa. Just go for the one with the crowd.

Modesto's Hartamas and their giant Pizza

2008-08-05T10:40:00.003+08:00

I wasn't sure why the both of us were not working that day, but we weren't. Its hard to find the both of us not working on a weekend, much harder to find us like this on a weekday. Anyways, we went to hartamas and started wondering, eh makan apa... we thought why not go check out Burger King. But parking was lousy there, and we spotted free parking for Modesto's customers only.

The next thing we know, we ordered a GIGANTOUS Pizza, and the free appetizer was Pizza Bread. It tasted like chicken biscuit, yummy..... we were both very hungry but had to wait quite some time before our pizza arrived.

When the pizza arrived, we looked at each other, and for only God knows, why we ordered this huge pizza. I saw Modesto asking the waiter, dei who ordered this Pizza la... then I saw the pizza point towards us, before he continued to walk towards our direction. hahahaha... This was the Hawaiian Pizza half, with chicken and pineapples.

We ordered a seafood something pizza for the other half. They had capsicums, squids, shrimps but most annoyingly they also had crap sticks. Since when was crap stick, seafood ?Overall the pizza was huge, you can have a spoon and a tabasco bottle to judge its size. Luckilly we found out that the pizza was 1/2 priced for lunch, so we found really good value at Modesto's. Food wise, I think comparable with Pizza Uno, which wasn't exactly great, but at least it was good value.

Address and contact details:

Address: Lot 46652 off Jalan Bukit Kiara Sri Hartamas 50480 K.L.
Telephone: 603 - 6201 7898
Fax: 603-6201 5779

Also read.

Joe's Visit

Hoo Yee Kee Prawn Mee @ Kepong Baru

2008-07-31T12:39:00.002+08:00

I wonder why I have never blogged about Hoo Yee Kee before although we have been there like at least 10 times last year. KL is definitely not famous for coming up with really good prawn mee, oh well, not as good as the ones you can find @ Burma Rd, Penang, or 3rd Street, or the McAllister Rd Prawn Mee which I rave about so much.

My take on HYK prawn mee, is that, it's a stall that serves up a half decent bowl of Prawn Mee, for people in KL. If a restaurant like Oldtown can serve prawn mee like this in KL, HYK's prawn is like 10 times better.

This time we came over with Steve, who also knows this place very well. He ordered this bowl of Prawn Mee, Koay Teo , add Pork. If not mistaken this bowl is for RM9. Its a generous serving of extra pork there, and this stall also don't seem to stinge on giving noodles.

Sayang and I both opted for bee hoon, with extra Clams. Yummy.

To sum up, this place serves a decent prawn mee. A standard bowl of prawn mee costs, RM4.50, and should you want to customize and add more stuff like extra ribs, extra prawns, seafood, etc you can do so.

They also serve other types of noodles like lum mee, curry mee, etc.

Also read:

Kuanfoodfetish - got pictures of the place during the day.
JoanChew @ Aman Puri their new restaurant.

Gerai 7A, Jalan 29,Kepong Baru,
52100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : +6019 - 318 1533
Operation Hours: 24HRS

Lunch At All Star Cafe, MidValley

2008-07-28T09:58:00.000+08:00

Remember the last time we went to All Star Cafe ? We complained about lauya service ? Armed with that in hand, we went back one more time to have lunch, after all, the variety available in Mid Valley can be quite expensive.

Sayang ordered this TomYam Fried Rice, served with one piece of fried chicken, cashew nuts and some fried egg. The rice although formed like a bowl, it was quite a generous portion. I liked the taste, although I thought the serving of the fried chicken could be a little bigger. But Sayang didn't complain.

I ordered this chicken kebab rice. This two sticks of sate had a lot of meat in it, and I totally liked it because it was marinated with quite a bit of lemongrass. Mmm... tasty !!!

The meal was quite affordable, only came up to less than RM40 for both of us plus drinks. The service may have improved a wee bit, but don't expect too much. Food's quite nice there.

Phone : 603 - 9368 3885
Fax : 603 - 9368 3882

Address :
Lot E11, Ground Floor
Mid Valley
59200 Mid Valley City
Wilayah Persekutuan

Operating Hours :
Mon - Sun, 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.

Restoran Nasi Beriani Gam Johor

2008-07-23T12:25:00.002+08:00

I have written about this restaurant before, but this branch is located in Bangi. This is also the same nasi beriani I was hunting high and low for, when I was in JB. I was just driving around Serdang when I bumped into this place, eh... very familiar sign...
Do read about my previous post on their Bangi branch here..
I ordered a Ayam Merah, with their standard beriani power, with papadam, mixed vegetables, and a bowl of dalchar. It was only RM5 for my serving and Rm1.50 for my Sirap Bandung. It tasted very nice, and I thought it was value for money meal. Great stuff...

2008-07-14T11:26:00.003+08:00

Sometimes when you drive pass a restaurant, if it is packed, you always wonder why. Food good meh ? Is it expensive ? and other stuff that goes on. We drive past DeFoodLand quite a bit, and usually on the weekends, this place is full to the brim, 2 floors of a corner shop lot in Manjalara. I know one thing for sure after doing some research, they are famous for CRABS.

Our first visit, we only ordered one vege, and one serving of their signature, Butter Crab, which I found rather disappointing. The crab was good but cooking was not.

Anyways, since it was Mom in Law's birthday, instead of going to the usual Fullwealth, I suggested why don't we go try D Foodland. So we ordered this 4 heavenly kings, which I thought was different. Its cooked with little dried shrimps and garlic, minus the chilli.

Instead of rice, we ordered long noodles which symbolizes longevity.

This is Samsi Taufu, which is Tofu served with 3 thin slices of pork, mushroom and squid. I thought both the mushroom and squid enhances the flavor of this dish tremendously. This dish was great....

We also ordered this sweet and sour crab, which I thought came out a disappointment. The crabs were fresh, but the way they cook it, really can be improved. Even thought the crabs were fresh, I have had better crabs than theirs.

So much for a reputed Crab Specialist
Anyways, the fried mantau was good, and we ate with the sweet and sour gravy which came with the crab dish.

In the end I found this place rather disappointing when it comes to crabs. I am not sure if it was the expectation or it is just me. I thought the vegetables and the tofu dish were nice, they cooked it well.

The prices here are slightly higher than most eateries in Kepong, taste wise, I find it just so so. Ok la.... but their crabs were a disappointment. Order anything but their crabs if I were to return.

Also read:

Masak-masak
BabeKL
MeiYen
KampungBoyCityGal
Lyrical Lemongrass (no more whiffle, lol)

Briyani @ Restoran Mahbub, Bangsar

2008-07-10T11:31:00.003+08:00

I was given a task to tapau sandwich for Sayang one of those afternoons, but as I drove over to meet her, I thought it was quite easy to find a place where I can buy some sandwich. I remember most Shell Petrol Stations sell them, but I did not come by.

I was quite sure, that cafe in Lucky Garden sells them sandwich, and while I ordered the sandwich to go, I took a 2 min walk and I saw Mahbub. I was curious to see what people were eating, because it did not give me the vibes of "just another mamak". Most people do briyani here, so I also ordered one briyani, bungkus, and ordered Ayam Madu (since I missed out on Zabrullah's ayam madu).

I found that their Ayam Madu was nice, crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. Very nice, sweetish. The briyani is also served with two side vegetables, and gravy of your choice.

The downside though, was that pack of rice cost me 10 bucks. Abit high for some honey laden chicken rice, if you know what I mean, otherwise I thought the food was quite good.

Also read

juliansi
RasaRasa

Map: Wikimapia
Address: 17, Lorong Ara Kiri Satu,
Lucky Garden,
59100 Kuala Lumpu

Tony Roma's @ The Gardens, MidValley

2008-07-07T10:30:00.000+08:00

After being absent for so long (this will explain why), I am finally back. After a much needed one week break at Langkawi ( my virgin trip ), came back, recharged, and ready to work. This is actually the prompt revisit of Tony Roma after the Pavillion experience. We went back in a jiffy, as Sayang wasn't quite happy with her previous salad bowl, tuna one, too fishy and too our for her.

This time round, she went for a Salad with Grilled Chicken. The usual salad leaves were given in abundance, a beautiful and delicious piece of chicken grilled, and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, thats what I call a perfect salad. But of course, if they could do it, I'd prefer it with a few pieces of bacon too, but since its in Malaysia, you can only wish la... The serving was huge and just as Sayang would say, its a Salad meal, not a starter, lol...

I wanted to try something different but did not want to over stuff myself, so I asked for a Blue Cheese Burger. It came with onions, pickles, insufficient lettuce leaves, two strips of beef bacon , and a huge beef patty wrapped in blue cheese ( kinda reminding me of Ramli Burger's Spesial burger, only difference is that the wrap is blue cheese, not egg).

One big warning though, this burger is really not for everyone. The cheese is so pungent, from smelling it, the smells hits your nose even more once you put them in your mouth. I gotta say, I am not a real blue cheese guy, but its nice to eat it once in a while to remind me how durian smells like to the gwai lous... wakakaka....

I believe we will be coming back to TR's soon for more salads, because I believe its worth it. Should you go in after lunch and before dinner, Tony Roma now has a 50cents promo for coffee and hot chocolate drinks.

The salad's about RM20 and the burger is also about RM20. The bill came below RM50 for both of us, and I think its good value for really good food, although I might sound like I am patronizing them, it really was a good meal.

Also read:

A Tale of Two Superheroes
Lustfor Life

Nyonya Colors @ The Gardens, MidValley

2008-06-23T13:24:00.000+08:00

I have not heard of Nyonya Colors, until it opened at The Gardens, near the connecting bridge from Gardens to Mid Valley. But of course when one, googles Nyonya Colors, the results come back with a lot of Nyonya Colors 1 Utama hits, and links to very prominent floggers too.

It was just one of those evenings, you walk around Mid Valley, trying to decide what to eat. Nyonya Colors, as I saw it, gave me the impression of just another Kopitiam in an up market area like The Gardens. Anyways, we walked in one evening, and ordered this Pandan Nasi Lemak bungkus. I immediately loved the taste of this little packet of Pandan Nasi Lemak. The rice is aromatic, and doesn't stick to each other. Each packet is neatly wrapped in banana leaf and waxed paper, is served with ikan bilis, fried nuts and boiled egg. Their sambal was very nice, but believe me, they give you a different sambal when you order the Big Plate Nasi Lemak.

This yellow curry noodles, was what I really liked. It came with yellow curry, a little bit of sambal by the side, and the usual curry noodles ingredients, chicken, tofu pok, taugeh, etc. This one, I really recommend, very tasty bowl.

We also ordered Chendol, from Nyonya Colors. I believe this is how chendol is eaten in Melaka. Shaved ice, chendol, two tablespoons of gula melaka and two scoops of santan milk.

Gardens, Level LG Food court area.

also read:

Masak Masak ( 1U)
KLppl KLFood ( 1U)
Kampungboycitygal ( 1U)

J CO Donuts @ The Pavillion, finally....

2008-06-20T09:15:00.000+08:00

On the same day we went to Tony Roma's, one of the first shops we walked past was J CO. We got seated at Tony Roma's, then I told Sayang, eh, why don't i go line up and try tapau some JCO back.....

The line was long, I had to wait 15 minutes before the guy came over and help me with my order. I took me another 10 minutes to line up to pay. Overall, we had to wait a total 20 odd minutes.

I remember reading a comparison review from either Malaysian Today, or Yellow Post, of the three main donut players in Malaysia, JCO, Big Apple and Dunkin.

So after finally having gone through the Q, after tapauing for myself, I think J CO really does make the better donuts, as compared with Big Apple. ( I think Dunkin Donutz simply aint in the same league as these two now).

I find their pastry fluffier and lasts longer at the same time, while their chocolate tastes more kao than Big Apples'. I feel that Big Apple after opening up so many branches are facing some consistency issues here. Some branches actually make better donuts than others...

:D So finally did the Q up thingy and worth every minute of the wait...

Also read:

Prev JCO eatz
Big Apple Review

Tony Roma's @ The Pavillion

2008-06-17T09:25:00.001+08:00

I remembered when I read the first flogger's post on an eatery at the Pavillion, hundreds or perhaps thousands have followed since. Upon reading them food reviews, I couldn't really motivate myself to make the trip down to KL, especially to that area, where traffic jams, are a norm.

Sayang works Saturdays, and first halves of the Sunday is dedicated to church, and the later half is dedicated to buying stuff for the new house and all, time is definitely not on our side. Luckilly for us, we somehow managed to make a few changes to our usual schedule, and squeezed a little time out to do a family lunch... @ the Pavillion.

Upon arriving at the Pavillion we were pleasantly surprised to find that traffic was not that bad after all, and we did not have to circle the car park for 20 minutes before getting into a space which is very common at places like the Curve, 1U, MidValley, and I believe parking spaces are scarce even at places like Leisure Mall.

He headed down to the basement where the famous Food Republic was, and we decided to go try out Tony Roma's. MIL and FIL both have not tried Tony Roma's before, so they agreed to try out. This bowl of soup was just great, as it had lots of ingredients in it. It has every feel of a home cooked soup, in every spoonful of soup you put in your mouth.

This appetizer, seems to appear in everyone's blog for some reason. My theory is that, the Onion Rings were being sold excessively by Roma's staff. On one hand I thought its a good appetizer, on the other hand, its just simple onion cut in rings, dipped in batter and dip(pardon my American spelling) fried. Cannot be simpler than this. Needed more seasoning, so when it arrived I took one onion ring neat, then the rest I dipped into chilli sauce... yummy !!

Sayang as usual was on her weight loss diet. She was going to have salad, and looking into the menu, the most ideal salad to have (if you are thinking about weight loss) was this Salmon or Tuna(grilled), Salad, that comes with the standard leaves, onions, I think they sprinkled a little bit of mozarella (kedekutnye), tortilla chips. The salad's tossed in a mix of Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a squeeze of lemon juice. As a filler, two pieces of pita bread is also put at the side (capatee looking bread).
FIL, pulak ordered this grilled chicken, which comes with a generous portion of grilled chicken meat, a large scoop of chunky mash potatoes, coleslaw with honey mustard dressing. I think both mother and father in laws had the same dish.

Since no one eats beefy in the family I only get to eat them outside. Surely I will order my favourite item, burger. This is the Roma's Burger, it comes with beef patty cooked to well done, and wrapped in two slices of cheddar. On the side, half a plate of freshly fried french fries. I am seriously not going to compare this burger with Carl's, Burger King, Wendy's or McDs. This one is a real burger with real fries, and the best accompanied with a mug of cold beer, not soft drinks.

To cap of a wonderful lunch outing, I added this last minute order after everyone was waiting for the food to settle, I asked for the Avalanche. We were already stuffed by then, but the avalanche just looked so irresistible. Althought it was just two scoops of Vanilla ice cream, with a brownie on top, the chocolate syrup they put on it, completed this amazingly simple and delicious dessert.

Directions:
Goto LG level where the food republic is
Walk around, sure can find wan... wakaakakaka

Also read:

My Sydney TR visit
Joe's visit at The Gardens
Vkeong

Marco Polo Part 2 of 2

2008-06-12T09:31:00.000+08:00

I remember when I was a small kid, my grandpa used to his birthday dinner at Marco Polo. Without fail, he will book a room with two tables, and have everyone come down to town in the middle of the famous Chulan Jam (nope its not a Les Mill special, you really get stuck in Raja Chulan for 30 mins without moving).

Marco Polo has since renovated its premises, to try and get back to its glory days. 20 years ago, and now, I think they are finding the competition a bit stiffer than those days. But I do really think they still have what it takes to survive, not just by merely making the restaurant look good with a facelift....
After all these years, Marco Polo still retains the same phone and fax number, although it has changed from 6 digits, 7 digits and now the 8 digit number. I remember the 2233....

In the past 3 months, it has been a monthly affair, the coming down to KL to have dinner at Marco Polo, thing. For one, the promotion makes it very worth it to have dinner before having to get stuck in the jam outside before going home. The promo goes like this 68 ++ for 4 dishes, 18++ for additional ones.

First up was a herbal chicken soup. Nice, the soup was boiled sufficiently long enough for the chicken stock to bond with herbs.

Pineapple Pork Ribs, were succulent and juicy. The vegetables were crunchy and fresh, ribs tender. Its a small portion, with about 6-7 pieces of 2.5 inches ribs, stirfried with sweet and sour sauce, and crunchy vegetables.

Fried fish paste with garlic and ginger. This dish had a generous serving of fish paste. A bit too salty for my liking that night, really have to tell the captain to ask the cooks to take it easy on the salt.

The roast duck was excellent. The skin was cripsy , and duck meat juicy. Again, another fast food item available in Marco Polo. Although they are not famous for char siu or siu yoke, after testing their duck and chicken roasts, I think their kung fu for roasted meat (siu lap) can be quite good.
Their ginger steamed telapia was a disappointment. Nothing wrong with the way they cooked it, but the fish was quite horrible. We will never order this fish again, but for Rm18++ its blardy cheap to have in Marco Polo.

This one is Chicken cubes fried with mixed vegetables. The gravy, was sweetish, and had a taste that I could not put a nail on. Looks like a sweet version of the kung po chicken dish, and its called Polo Chicken ( to be read out in cantonese, heh)
Finally some greens. This is fried asparagus, with dried shrimp, and chilli. This was one of the best dishes we had that night, lovely.

I guess Marco Polo has a lot of history for me. As a kid, my dad used to bring me to Wisma Lim Foo Yoong quite abit. The Public Bank used to be a Fitzpatrick Supermarket, where we used to get our groceries. I also remember those days when it took us 30 minutes to reach the Weld, after dad picked us up from school...

Anyways, it is just ironic, now we have also chosen to have our Wedding dinner at this place.

Map Here

Marco Polo @ Jln Raja Chulan Part 1

2008-06-09T09:03:00.001+08:00

6 months ago, when we got married, we had no idea where our dinner will be held, in fact, if we could have it our way, we would have opted to have the Wedding Dinner function, maybe in about a year or two.

Parents will always parents, they insisted that we organize the wedding dinner ASAP. Actually they already had something in mind, and when they say that we should organize, it meant they will do the stuff.

As such, we have been going to Marco Polo very often these past few months, and in this review, we had this like 2 months ago.

Marco Polo is having a very attractive promotion right now, and it has been running since February (after CNY). A set dinner of 4 dishes, for 4 pax, goes for 68++. Additional dishes come at Rm18 ++ each. Tidbits, towels, are additional of course.

The sharksfin soup is not in the promo, but we ordered to try out how they make them. I am not a sharksfin soup person, but parents say, if don't have sharksfin very paiseh... but to tell you the truth, I have already been bombarded by a few friends who are shark friendly....

The second dish was quite a nice dish. The stirfried vegetables, comes a surprisingly special dish for me. The vegetables came out very green, and very crispy. How la, at home cook also can't do like dat wo...

Their steamed fish was so so only, since it was a promotion, they probably gave us some kind of Patin Sangkar. It was just a steamed fish, with soy sauce....

Their sweet and sour pork was nice. Just like most hotels, their "gu lou yuk" is stir fried with the usual capsicums, tomato, pineapples, and stawberries. Yumm... nice, sweetish and sourish. Plus the pork they use, are of pretty good quality ones, its tender, juicy on the inside, and crispy on the outside.

Their roast chicken tasted quite nice and crispy, although I suspect that their roast chicken is a fast food item. Ready cooked, just chop and serve type of dish. The skin is cripsy, and meat moist.

Marco Polo Restaurant Sdn. Bhd.
1st Floor, Wisma Lim Foo Yong
Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: (+603) 2142 5595, (+603) 2141 2233

Also read:

Siu V - dinner very "tai sek"
HairyBerry's Dim sum review

Restoran Seremban Favourites Revisit

2008-06-06T09:50:00.001+08:00

Uncle Bill's char siu is regarded as one of the best in Klang Valley, and I suspect amongst the top ten in Malaysia. I don't mean to sound too patronizing and all, but his char siu, really does almost melts in your mouth....

This is a good sign that says, my Char Siu is good. It is so good, most people who come here, must order a plate of them, and some like me, usually ta pau some for our family back home who did not get to eat it. Being the thoughtful Uncle Bill, he will usually cut those char sius in strips (not sliced up) so that the moisture of the meat can be retain when you eat them later....

This time around, we wanted to try different stuff. Like this teochew fishballs. Very springy, and tasted like pretty good fishballs. No complains.

This was what I ordered. Teochew fishball noodles, which I thought was rather simple. Its clear soup is simple, not heavily laden by MSG, plus he puts in that little bit of sea weed to add that little kick into the clear soup. The fishballs were springy, making it a pretty good eating experience. Otherwise, its just another bowl of beehoon soup, with springy fishballs, and seaweed.
Everyone else, MIL and FIL went for Char siu chicken rice, and this Plate of charsiu was ordered extra for Sayang and I..... simply the best.....

Also read

My prev visit

Address:

Famous Seremban Favourites Restaurant
No. 80-1 (Ground Floor), Jalan PJU 1/3B,
Sunway Mas Commercial Centre,
47301 Petaling Jaya

Tel: 017-279 8582 (Uncle Bill)

Operating hours: 7.30am - 4.30pm daily

Closed Tuesdays.

Note: Uncle Bill keep telling me to go try Meng Kee's CharSiu , he said its good also.. but I have yet to try... really must make it a point to go wallop that charsiu...

Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa, Kg Baru

2008-06-05T09:53:00.000+08:00

One of those places, which I always think of when someone mentions "Nasi Lemak", its gotta be this stall in Kg Baru. The stall has not changed locations albeit a major renovation to the entrance of this Kg Baru food enclave.

Its located a shorts drive past the pintu gerbang at Kampung Baru, and since the renovation, there has been plenty of new car park spaces,.
I do not have the exact information as to how long this stall been around, but the first time I was brought to this stall in 1993, it was already famous.

This stall only sells a fix firm favourite when it comes to their lauks. The usual fried eggs, chicken rendang, sambal sotong, beef rendang, chicken curry, and deep fried lungs (paru is lungs right ?)

If you do not want to eat rice, they sell fried beehon, and fried noodles.

Sayang and I will usually eat here while driving around town looking for a place to eat. She normally goes for a small amount of rice, some sotong sambal which to her is nice, and a little bit of their sambal.

For me I usually go for either Chicken or beef rendang, and the paru goreng, is a must have. I think some people don like the idea of eating the paru , but its nice. If you think thats weird, some of these tom yam stalls around Kg Baru actually sells, lidah goreng.... now thats something you don't get to eat everyday.

Why I like this stall ? It has a limited number of dishes, which means they get to control the quality of food as well as their supplier of ingredients. Their taste of their sambal is just out of this world, something I would use as a benchmark to compare other nasi lemak with.

The stall is now an icon, in Kg Baru. But their prices are still down to earth if you ask me. Their nasi lemak should not be compared with those at Sakura, Imbi or Madam Kwans which is priced differently hence, different ingredients used.

Also read:

Rasa Rasa Malaysia

Petrol Hike announcement causes rush for gas...

2008-06-04T23:42:00.004+08:00

By 6pm, my phone had already been flooded by SMS from concerned friends and family of the bloody increase in petrol. At 4, I was still living in denial, not believing that the price of petrol can actually increase to about 2.70.

So at 6 something I dropped by the next Shell Station I could see, and filled up an empty tank with VPower... after why not, its time to give the car a little treat which might not come by anytime soon after such drastic price increases.

By brother had already smsed me that the news has confirmed the price increase. So I picked up Sayang had dinner, and traffic was unusually bad tonight. Jams caused by inconsiderate drivers wanting to fill up RM20 of their already full tank. Additionally, Klang Valley experienced some heavy downpours, causing flash floods , here there and everywhere ....

We left MidValley and had to crawl through this congestion... and for what ????

Because everyone's gonna fill up their tanks, last minute.

Everyone petrol station we passed by had a line. The queue was long but most people were just waiting for their turn to fill up. After all, we get to save RM50 - RM60 per full tank once....

Even lorries, did not want to miss out. This scene almost reminds me of a rave party.. everyone's want to have some...

Although our government will always tell us, our Petrol price is still one of the lowest in the world, we ought to also remind ourselves we also earn the least amount of money. Just look at our neighbours, Singapore.... petrol price increase but still no feel only....

Mahai, surely now we have to change our lifestyles jo... From RM1.92 to Rm2.70.... Maybe more people will set up blogs and write shit stuff about the government....

Chilling Out @ Alexis, The Gardens MidValley

2008-06-03T10:19:00.005+08:00

Sayang and I was walking around at the Gardens one evening, can't recall if we actually had already watched a movie or we were just shopping that evening. As we were jalan jalaning, she asked me, if you had a chance to go on a first date with me again, where will you bring me....

Alexis was just around the corner, and I immediately said, Alexis !! Lets go for a date. Sayang was on her salad diet, and she ordered some salad on the menu. It was for about RM20 or something like that, pictures came out blurry because of my shaky hands and low light environment. The salad did not impress her at all....

We also shared a pizza. It was a large half and half thin crust pizza. Again it did not impress very much, it was for Rm28++. However, it must have gone down to the decision of ordering some pizza with lots of olives. It had quite abit of olives, a thin layer of tomato base, shrimps and oysters. Ingredients were no doubt fresh, the cheese was nice, but we didn't really liked it.

On a special note, I thought their thin crust tastes like bread cracker. Nice and crunchy.

Alexis is definitely a place to chill out. As a student, we used to hang out at Alexis,Bangsar. Remembering those Absolute Bottles that used to be placed behind a glass panel, with light shone from behind, the effect was just so cool. That was then la....

Alexis is also a place to go for cakes. Lovely place to hang out, and listen to Jazz...

Lot f209 1st Floor
The Gardens
Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
T +603 2287 2281
For more info visit Alexis' Website

Also read:

SoleWhat
AwhiffofLemongrass

Tanjung Tualang Seafood

2008-06-02T09:49:00.000+08:00

This was my first visit to Tanjung Tualang , located on the outskirts of Ipoh. We went back MIL's hometown to do the annual ching ming thingy, so I tagged along. Everything finished by 11am and we went back to Sayang's uncle punya rumah to rest abit before they brought us to Tanjung Tualang to have seafood.

There are so many Seafood restaurant at Tanjung Tualang, we actually went to the one, situated below a Persatuan Hokkien.

Tanjung Tualang is a small town but when it comes to their La La, there is nothing small about it. The Fried lala came and I dugged in, everything in there fresh and doesn't smell funny. That's like a plus point for anyone who loves lala. Most of their lala are cooked and is open.

This is a version of their Fried tofu, which was quite simple. Crispy on the outside, and soft and white on the inside.

A vegetarian curry pot, with fresh crunchy vegs.

Kangkung belacan..

Fried Lai liu Har.... and their sweet and sourish dip.

Their Signature Steamed Fresh Water Prawns.

The lunch was very nice. We had a lot to eat, the servings were very very generous. The seafood was all super fresh as if, just caught and cooked on the spot. The lala was clean, no smell, the prawns were tangy and fresh.

Even the vegetables were nicer than those found locally here in KL.

So after lunch we drove back to KL via the coastal road, which took us an additional 2 hours to get back. Very tiring to drive, but the little towns we passed provided much needed entertainment during the drive.

Restoran Taktaz @ South City Area, Serdang

2008-05-28T09:55:00.000+08:00

Recently I have had the pleasure of taking out some Arab friends to lunch. They can be very choosy as to what kind of food they eat. Rice is definitely not one of their favourites, although they are open to our local delicacies as long as they are branded halal.

So to save me the trouble of choosing where to eat, in the Serdang area, I asked them to bring me go eat Arab food. To my delight, and to theirs as well, I was brought to this row of shop lots, opposite South City Plaza, to this Restoran Taktaz.

As you walk in, you can't help but feel their sense of camaraderie amongst the Arab world, and their many types of people, as they speak the same language. My friend identifies them easily, this is from UAE, he is from Egypt, Iraq, and so on and so forth, while I was clueless as to how he knows.
We ordered a pitcher of Yogurt with mint. I believe its called Doogh, a kind of yogurt drink which is very popular in the Middle East. My friend, was telling me, they can drink these stuff all day back home, especially when its really hot and dry, Doogh, helps to keep them hydrated.
It wasn't to my taste, as it is watered down Moru, with salt and dried mint.

I ordered myself a Lamb Kebab with Rice dish. Its very different from what I am used to eating. This dish is served with a rack of lamb meatballs (similar to pork ball noodles ) but they call them lamb kebab, heavily marinated with black pepper and mint. I think it is fried then put in the oven before it is served with long grained rice on top, with just a touch of spice on top. A grilled tomato on the side, and single serving of salted butter as condiment to the white rice.

I finished the lamb kebabs which I thought was quite enjoyable, although I know a lot of chinese who will never touch lamb. I found the rice a tad too bland as I added only a little bit of the butter given (fat ma....)

My two friends went for this chicken curry thingy. They both enjoyed it so much. They finished everything including the hill of rice. The only difference with their rice is that it has raisins on top.

I couldn't resist the idea of ordering a non alcoholic beer that day, which tasted nothing like beer. Never try it again... and neither will I recommend it to anyone....Their prices are quite reasonable, main dishes are from Rm 8 - Rm25.

Restoran Taktaz
No B-G-3, Block B, Persiaran Serdang Perdana,
Taman Serdang Perdana,
43300 Seri Kembangan
Tel - 8941 3364

Tea at Ka Fei Tiam, NZX Ara Damansara

2008-05-26T09:53:00.000+08:00

The first time I heard about Niu Ze Xui, I really thought someone was telling me that the bull was pulling my water. What bull bring water all ? My cousin was telling its a new place in Ara Damansara where you its great for shopping, jalan - jalan, flea market style shopping mall, and you can find lots of great food.
My friend brought me to this Ka Fei Tiam, always packed, and supposedly serves great food and coffee. So ok la, we sat down, and I ordered this Kopi Ais with Herbal Jelly... which actually was quite refreshing.

The waitress recommended me this Sambal Fried Rice. They put in a generous amount of ingredients, like chicken, dried shrimps and lots of sambal belacan. I found it to be ok la.... but definitely didn't make it to my, whoa so nice list....

I also ordered a Ka fei Tiam Curry with bun. I thought I actually enjoyed this item more than the fried rice. The curry was pretty thick, and had a nice aroma to it. Those buns, are just normal buns, the curry was great.

At the end of the day, I thought this coffee shop is just another kopi tiam with a nice interior. I still am clueless as to why, this place is packed all the time .... after all I find the food, rather just average, service was quite attentive, and the prices are all above average (Oldtown kopitiam type of prices).

Address:
Google niu ze xui (its one of the most blogged about shopping mall)

Restoran Yik Kee @ Karak

2008-05-21T16:08:00.003+08:00

While most people find themselves visiting Yik Kee, en route to Genting Highlands, I found myself in Karak one afternoon, while on my way home from Kuantan. It is probably the same Restoran Yik Kee which is famous for their durian bombs and such.

I'd planned immaculately the timing, how much time I should spend with the client, who to see, what to say, how fast to drive, so on and so forth, that I'd be in Karak in time for lunch. Hahaha...

But when I reached Yik Kee, I didn't know what to eat, because I was alone. In the end I ordered myself a plate of Roast Duck Rice, which tastes very different from the usual roast ducks we get from KL. The meat is tender, and is served with a layer of dark, sweetish soya sauce, and sprinkled with spring onions. I thought the rice could be better, but its really not bad.

Yik Kee is actually famous for their pastries. They are probably the pioneers in making durian tarts, but I don't really understand why their tarts are so over rated. Below is a picture of one Durian Tart ( something like an egg tart, except that it is filled with durian paste and not egg paste), and the right hand side, its a durian bomb ( lau lin KOK).
The durian tart's pastry was sticky and had not much texture to it. Although I didn't mind the taste of the tart, I was rather reluctant to finish up the rest of the crust. The durian bomb was nothing to shout about either. Nothing explosive came out of it, maybe just a sore throat after you eat these pastries.

I like the taste, as in the filling only. I wish they could improve on the quality of their pastries, ie, make them more crispy, and also less sticky to the teeth. It will help a lot too, if their durian tarts weren't falling apart when I tried to pick it up from the plate.

For comparison's sake, try A1 Crispy Puffs (better stuff there). But so far, I still have not found anyone else who makes those Durian Pies and Durian Cakes that Yik Kee makes.

Also read

BabeKL
Everything Asian
CatsnDogs
Small Kuching

note: took this from Babe's Post...
Yik Kee Restaurant
HQ:
29 Jalan Besar
28600 Karak
Pahang
Tel: 609-231 1240

Gohtong Jaya Branch:
22 & 23 Jalan Jati 1
Gohtong Jaya
69000 Genting Highlands
Pahang
Tel: 603-6100 3240

Restaurant Sri Karak, Petaling Jaya Branch
17 Jalan 52/8
Section 52
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 603-7958 3240

Family Dinner @ Oversea Restaurant Jaya 1 PJ

2008-05-20T10:28:00.004+08:00

This post has taken a bit of time to get posted, but better late than never. During Chinese New Year, our family , aka the uncles and aunties, usually takes turn to belanja makan. So all those eating cramped into a space of 15 days, one can become jelak, if there is repetition.

One phone call from my aunt, and we were summoned to Restoran Oversea's Jaya 1 outlet. It was packed that night, and the service was slow, and the restaurant just was too noisy. We have to raise our voices to talk to each other in the restaurant.

In spirit of the Chinese New Year festivities, we had this Yee Sang as an appetizer. The presentation wasn't exactly great, but most of the ingredients were fresh, added texture, and taste to the collective as a whole. Of course nowadays, Yee Sang is served mostly with the freshest salmon slices, and as I remembered correctly, Overseas had a strict policy on serving food with the freshest ingredients.

In our set dinner, a shark's fin soup was also included. It came in a starchy broth, filled with lots of shark's fin, and crab meat in it. Tasted quite good, and as we went on, so far, 2 out 2 dishes that came out pretty much impressed my tastebuds. Sayang who seated next to me, approves as well.

This blurry picture of this Chandon bottle, probably plays a role as to why were enjoying the meal as well as the company. It was a great bottle, but shared amongst quite a few relatives, we wished we brought a second bottle.

This dish is an assorted vegetables dish with mushroom and macadamia nuts. I am a sucker for this dish especially at Overseas. Everything came crunchy and fresh. No hint of fibre in those celery sticks on that dish. It was prepared very well.
This steamed Red Garoupa, came with out much presentation. But it was huge, meaty, juicy and very very sweet.

This is a broccoli with abalone, mushroom and sea cucumber.

Perhaps had too much bubbly, picture of the plate of prawns which I finished half off. LOL.... Nice big juicy prawns.

To finish off, the dessert came with one Tong Sui, and a Lin Kou (sticky rice cake). Everything was appetizing, generous serving for all dishes. I had no complains about, fish not cooked enough la, the prawns smelt funny la, vegetable a bit over cooked... everything was alright.

I really enjoyed every bite that went into my mouth, although they could improve on the food presentation. It was like everything cooked in a jiffy, dumped from wok to serving plate, wipe off the edges, and then served.

Service was a big let down. Why ? Because I had to go to the pantry to refill my tea, and collect more ice.

If you are looking at a quiet restaurant where you can chat or catch up with friends/relatives, this is not the place for it. On the other hand, if you wanted to just eat some good food, I recommend this place.

Price : I don't think that meal was cheap, but Uncle Belanja, bes !

Call Oversea @ Jaya 1
Sam Chow : 03 7956 9911

or visit their own website for details of the other outlets

Emperor Garden @ Gold Hill Club, Bdr Manjalara

2008-05-16T09:50:00.000+08:00

I think when someone mention Kepong, each one of us will have a different image related to the place. For me, its a place I willl soon be moving to, and thus going to be spending a bit more time at. Its also a good place to hunt for good food, especially if you like street fares, and semi formal restaurants.

Of late though, Kepong has sprung up with two new "above average" chinese restaurants, like Regal House and Emperor Garden. I tried to look for my Regal House review, which I didn't write so the link is to Nic's review.

The first impression I got when I walked up the stairs leading to Emperor Garden, wah blardy grand wo this place. Air conditioning powering away full blast and all, and the usual chatting and high noise level of a chinese restaurant ( very evident in restuarants like Fullwealth, Tai Thong, Oversea, etc).
The first dish that came was tofu and some vege. I know what its called in cantonese, but have no idea what the vege is called in English.

My parents love this dish, the four heavenly kings. I still have no idea why they call this dish that. Does any of these vegetables resemble Aaron Kwow, Leon Lai, Andy Lau or Jacky Cheung ? ...
We ordered a serving of Pork ribs too. Looks like it was deep fried first, before it was put into a marmity type of gravy, which is sweet, aromatic, and salty. Yumm... if I remember correctly, you could see Sayang's face smiling while biting into those ribs....

I thought this dish was quite nice. Some kinda deep fried fish pieces cooked with buttered garlic bits. Lovely, the fish was fresh, and tangy, and the buttered garlic definitely gave it the extra kick this dish needed. I think there is also lots of lard in the garlic too...

Their roast chicken was nice. Skin was crispy but I think some parts like the breast was a bit too dry. I had no problem with the food here.

To summise, everything seems ok, food is alright, service can be improved. Pricing leh, its higher than Regal House and Fullwealth. The environment here is best, with a nicer looking entrance, seats, the whole works.

Emperor Garden Restaurant
Gold Hill Club
No18 Jalan 7A/62A,
Bandar Manjalara,
52200 Kuala Lumpur

Also read :

Waisikmiao

Kampung Attap Fish Head Curry @ Gerai Zabrullah

2008-05-12T09:00:00.000+08:00

This is perhaps one of the most talked about Fish Head curry in town. For one, it is located right smack in the middle of town, but not exactly a very visible or a well known place. Kg Attap is not exactly a place most "out of towners" would like to go wandering about, because there really isn't much to see there except for this Gerai Zabrullah.

It must have been until quite recently that this Gerai Zabrullah, was a little stall, that operated under one of those huge trees, in one of the corners of Kg Attap. They have since moved to a new Corner Shop right next to their original location. People are still wondering if this shop is from the same proprietor or this is another case of a COPYKAT restaurant... ITS the same one....
We ordered quite a few dishes since they were seven of us. I really dislike these restaurants because of their long rectangular tables, synonymous to most non-Chinese eateries. It you eat in a group of more than 5 persons, you have to order 2 servings. Like lets say you got 6 flers eating with you, you go for 3 and 3.

Anyway back to our Kari "Kepala Ikan Merah", I mean it wasn't bad. The fish head was huge and yet the meat / skin is not tough. Bau hanyir pun tak ada. It must be due to the generous amount of spices, and curry powder they use to cook this curry. Now unlike chicken or smaller fish, these huge ones can't be overcook, otherwise it gets too tough. Their curry I categorize them under sour and spicy, and not too HOT. Its nice, plus the fish is neither smelly nor tough.
I didn't know this ayam goreng is called the ayam goreng madu, as I read from Joe's blog. But looking at the amount of ayam they were gorenging all the time, its a good sign that, thats a hot item there, so ordered only. To say the least, the chicken came smoking and vaporing. It was crispy, aromatic, juicy and moist. Most importantly, it was thoroughly cooked. No bloody stains on their bones...
This Cili Bawang is a must have. Its a mixture of green chillies, onions, sweet soya sauce and lime. A superb combination to have when eating fried / roasted stuff.

When it comes to recommendations, this Squid Curry dish, is no exception. Of course, you don't have to makan hidang like this, because you can always go for a single serving of dishes like in Mixed Rice stalls.

This place serves up some seriously good food. The pricing can be quite expensive when you go for a Fish Head. But I think a serving of fish head comes at a minimum of Rm25 for two persons. The rest can be quite reasonable.

Joe's Cravings
Masak-Masak
KY Eatz There also

Gerai Zabrullah
Jalan Kampung Attap, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012 329 8515
012 9040 100
012 220 2041

Sushi Zanmai @ The Gardens, MidValley

2008-05-08T23:05:00.003+08:00

I am definitely no connoisseur when it comes to Japanese food. I usually find them either too raw, too pretentious, two pricey and three don't know what the food is all about. Don't have the interest to find out either. Fortunately, I have a Sayang who loves her Japanese Food, whereby once in a while she will drag my reluctant ass into a nice restaurant.

I mean all these genki sushi, sushi king, edo sushi restaurants have given me the impression that there is no hope for Japanese food.

Here's how she dragged me into this one, a new place which is quite nice. Your uncle's been here many times and he recommends this place. My eye brow raised abit and I was like, ok la... can la... I thought wa, this place look quite attractive also wo...

As usual, you are bombarded by a whole lot of greeting in Japanese by local people. "Sushi ma zen !!!" one of them greets, I go, Hello !..... another waiter walks past and goes Tsim Sha Tsui zen... and I go Hello! again.... I actually wish they could just speak English to me instead...

I have no idea why, I've been here twice now and we've been seated at the same spot twice. I bet Sayang's been there more often than I have. Anyways, I wasn't into picking plates of the conveyer belt so when the waiter came, this was how I ordered

I looked at him sheepishly and go, can I have this Beef Noodle Soup in Maggi mee type noodles. What do you call those again ?
Waiter : That would be Ramen sir.
Me: ok, ....thanks... Hot Tea pls...

Sayang ordered her Chicken Chop noodles, in soup. I think it was a Soba...

When my noodle arrived, I was suprised that the noodles were straight and not curly like Maggi Mee.. kekekeke. I put a piece of the beef into my mouth first, followed by some soup. Good man, this bowl of noodles. I mean the beef was juicy and tender. The soup wasn't very MSG laden either. Great stuff. Wanted to share with Sayang, but she don't take beef...
Sayang's noodles came steaming hot, and it was those really fat ones. I thought, mana boleh. Makan Mee Kosong Soup meh... But then the chicken chop came shortly.

Sayang was nice enough (actually its her plan to make me FAT) to pass over a few pieces of her chicken to me. I find it to be very tasty ( abit like if it was marinated with fermented beancurd ), although it was a tad salty. But then it was suppose to accompany a bowl of soup noodles ma, so I guess salty is alright. By the side, they give you some salad, and am still wondering what the lemon was for....

Sushi Zanmai is located on the third floor of The Gardens, and is located in between Fong Lye and Flying Chillies. I remember now, one plus point about this Japanese Eatery is that, it doesn't play old fashion Japanese songs, instead they just played simple Hit songs...

The meal came up to about 30 bucks, which I thought was quite reasonable considering it was pretty good Jap food, and its in The Gardens.

Also read:

KampungBoyCityGal
Dinner is Served
Ai Wei
Simon Says

Nam Heong Chicken Rice @ Petaling Street

2008-05-05T11:47:00.003+08:00

It can be quite fun if you can afford the time to go back to the origin of Nam Heong Chicken rice. It felt like it was some kinda pilgrimage of some sort. It can be quite nostalgic if you know what I mean. After so many years of eating their chicken rice at that particular stall, they suddenly turned themselves around, over the last few years, and opened up so many branches, now you can eat Nam Heong, in your favorite shopping Mall, like MV, Sg Wang, etc....

We were in Petaling Street, and decided to pop by this shop. After all its, Sayang's fav chicken rice place. So we walked, and realized, every thing has changed. Its facade is consistent with its new branding and image. I remember it used to be dark, no air conditioning and such.
When I come to Nam Heong, I always thought their main attraction are their sauces, Chili and Ginger. To me thats a classic sauce, original to the max. Not many restaurants make them better than the way they do it.

We ordered a plate of Chari Siu , Siu Yoke to share. Hoping that it was world class, it was not. Just like any other plate of Char Siu , Siu Yoke, which is quite average. The best char siu in Klang Valley still goes to Uncle Bill's.
Sayang ordered her Roast Chicken while I opted for Hainanese White chicken. When I was a lot younger as a kid, I hated the taste of White Chicken. If not prepared well, the smell of the chicken can be unbearable. Which is why, the chili sauce is made of chili, garlic, vinegar, lime and sugar. It helps take away the smell of the chicken.

Fortunately the smell that I mentioned earlier is not found on their white chicken. So I happilly gobbled up my portion. Sayang, on the other hand prefers Roast chicken anytime.

Any good meal should be accompanied by some fibre. We ordered this old time favourite, Cabbage in Onion Oil.

To sum up, we had a fabulous lunch, in a nostalgic trip back to the first Nam Heong branch. I found it difficult to diffrentiate the taste between this outlet with the one in Mid Valley (which we recently went to).

Nam Heong Chicken Rice
56, Jalan Sultan
56000 Kuala Lumpur

WaiSikKai
MalaysiaFoodMostWanted
KIMMONG
GodBlesz

Ah Yat Abalone Forum @ Avenue K , Jalan Ampang

2008-05-02T16:57:00.005+08:00

It is really not everyday that we should eat like this, but it is definitely nice to know that there are restaurants such as Ah Yat Abalone Forum. From what I understand, their restaurant here in Avenue K, which is opposite of KLCC, was the same outlet which used to be in Swiss Inn, Jalan Pudu.

We were there to celebrate my Dad's birthday and we selected one of their set Menus, which went for about 140/pax.

Ok first dish up was a plate of Taugeh.. with no heads or tails.. HUH ?

No kidding, that was what they put on the table, I didn't know what to do with it, after taking that picture. Later I asked the Captain, hallo, whats this taugeh for ? She replied, for the sharksfin soup wan......

Ah Yat's sharksfin soup is definitely very fragrant. I definitely like theirs as it is not served in a thick starchy style. I liked it, and the sharksfin are served in chunks...

Oh I thought this next dish up was brilliant. It was a Triple Play dish, consisting of a mushroom, an abalone and a goose paddle. To be frank the goose paddle didn't look very appetising, but since everything was drenched in Ah Yat's massroom and abalone sauce , goose feet sure taste nice lo.... hehehe... actually it was quite nice... definitely tasted better than it looked.
This one was a fish and mushroom combo. Not sure why , but this restaurant loves combine mushroom with abalone/ fish. The fish was nice, but the serving was too small for my liking. I like my fish huge, juicy and fresh....

Their vegetables were shiny, green and crunchy. Really cooked to perfection, the gravy was abalone sauce.... Vegetables in abalone sauce...

Hor Yip Fan, Leaf Wrapped Rice was a filler dish. As every other thing came in a small serving, I was beginning to wonder, if the 145/pax price tag for whatever we were eating was gonna be worth it..... Normally when at a wedding dinner by the time this rice comes out, I'd be stuffed already, however so, I was gladly eating it up...

This is killer. Its the first time I ever had, Bird's Nest Egg Tart. We all got served one each, again, it came in a little piece of egg tart which was only 2" in diameter. Take my word for it, the Tong Kee egg tart tasted much better at RM 1.10 each. The Birds nest was probably just a feel good factor, its like eating a gold leaf or something like that.

Then the dessert came. It was some kinda red bean soup with Glutinouse Rice Ball(Tong Yuen) in it.

The meal was very pricey, but I thought the quality was high. Service was superb and the environment was great. It is not noisy, not like the usual Tai Thongs, Six Happiness, Overseas kind of crowd.... it really felt like Chinese Dining at its finest....

My main complain was to come only after we finished. The MSG after effect kicked in while driving home. Hmm.. we are now wondering, how come they need so much MSG, if all those gravy had abalone sauce in it....

Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant
M6-8 Mezzanine Floor
Avenue K, No.156, Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Also Read

FBB's Visit
Memoirs of the Heart
Life Pursuer

Bahulu Classiq @ Kampung Jawa, Hulu Langat

2008-04-30T13:37:00.003+08:00

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

Also read:
Masak-masak

Recipe from Kuali
Bahulu Recipe from Kuali

Restoran Yi Kee @ Tmn Connaught, Cheras

2008-04-28T11:23:00.004+08:00

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

2008-04-23T00:43:00.002+08:00

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

Also read:

FoodZee

La Porchetta @ Melbourne

2008-04-20T23:20:00.000+08:00

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.....

Also read:

Used2be1
HungryHamster
FredrickTang
3point8 - thinks its the best restaurant he's been too...
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

2008-04-16T17:15:00.002+08:00

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)
Also Read:

Food Cookies

Ipoh Rd Yong Tao Foo

2008-04-15T10:52:00.005+08:00

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

2008-04-13T21:37:00.003+08:00

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

Also Read:

YowWazzup
Sabrinachan
MalaysianFoodBlog

Kluang Station @ Desa Park City

2008-04-10T01:09:00.002+08:00

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....

Also read:

Shaolins- Weatethis
CarimakaninPj
Jys Yummy

Seefood Dinner @ Cherating

2008-04-04T09:26:00.000+08:00

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

2008-04-01T23:07:00.005+08:00

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.)

Also read:
Masak Masak
Wantan Productions
FoodPOI
My other review at cafes around Fong LYe:
Little Taiwan
Flying Chillies

Pizza Hut Italiano Paradiso

2008-03-30T22:04:00.000+08:00

First before you continue please watch this advertisment first. Before you jump to conclusions, no I am not trying to sell you Pizza Hut's food.... just thought this advertisment is so funny !!

end of video

So pretty cool advertisment isn't it ? To me this is one of those misleading ones. It's tag line is go for original right.....

So our visit to Pizza Hut was prompted by Sayang's mom, who wanted to eat some pizza, because that night, didn't feel like cooking. Usually I'd vote for Dominoes anytime , that has delivery to the house, but, to be fair, her folks really like the food at Pizza Hut.

One of the reasons why its really nice to dine-in at Pizza Hut, is because, you can order a Salad Bowl for only Rm6. You can put in as much salad as you can, on a little 5inch shallow bowl.

Then there is this really cool Italian Paradiso advertisment I hear everyday on Radio, and they even put it up on the net for us to see... whoa... have to order la, original Italian Paradiso wo...
So we ordered a set which comprises of 1 regular Italian Paradiso Pizza (chicken), 1 Bruschetta, 2 Bowls of mushroom soup, and 2 glasses of 7Up REvive... all for only RM32. Its a set meal.

For the four of us, we decided to add, that bowl of Salad, and one Brushcetta, and one more Cheestix.

The soup arrived, really hot, I think its the standard mushroom soup they put in that big black pot. Not sure if you can see from the picture but there was almost no cream in the soup. Its watery, no starch, no creamy, and there was only a little hint of mushroom flavour in it. If not because of the tiny shreds of button mushrooms that was floating on the soup, I wouldn't have gotten any hint that it was a mushroom soup. Oh you can see those little mushrooms, shreds, strips, floating on the picture above.

Cheese stix had little cheese, but did leave a cheese aftertaste...

We ordered two Bruschettas and one came to us cold, the other hot. In case some Pizza Hut manager reads about this, its from the Kepong branch la.... go send your auditors and audit their service.

Pizza Hut should not take pride in what they serve, because the only thing original about their food is that its Pizza done Malaysian style. They short change you in terms of quality of the ingredients, and the quantity of the ingredients. For instance, if there is a term for watered down cheese, thats what their cheese tastes like.

Now this is Pizza Hut's Italiano Paradiso Pizza. Its made out of a few chunks of tomatoes, capsicum, and a few pieces of chicken meat, a thin layer of watered down cheese, all in all, not a very good pizza to begin with.

They short change us on the cheese, plus I think this recipe does not contain tomato paste at all. To sum up, I think the pizza was more to fill up our tummy's ( I'd give an A+ for that if I were grading them), taste wise, fail.

This visit has not changed my views about Pizza Hut, their pizzas are a half past six in taste, and in quality. I am only bitching about this because they are much better pizzas to have then to waste your money at Pizza Hut, for instance,

try Dominoes
try Canadian 2 for 1
try Pizza Venezia

Also read other reviews on Italiano Paradiso...

Rubygurl
Ceritabosan
JY Yummy

ps how can pasta come in a laksa, how come mona lisa become mona ali... aiyooooo....

Why MCA by Comedy Court

2008-03-28T10:02:00.000+08:00

Please take a listen to this song, Why MCA, by comedycourt.com.my

Really hilarious and I thought Allan and Indi, these two fellas are massive....

JCO Donut, Tapau from The Pavillion

2008-03-25T22:03:00.001+08:00

One fine day, after a tiresome day at work, I got home and to my delight, I saw three boxes of JCO on the dining table. After having heard so much about JCO being the original Indonesian Donut Chain. Big Apple being the copykat.

Mom and dad, said the line was very long but they were determined to bring some donuts back home....

If you can only see the resemblance in how they make it, the colors they provide, and the flavours. The only difference I can make out is the pastry, or the donut itself. I find Big Apple's pastry a little big more fluffier / and softer as compared to J CO's Donuts.

So after you leave these donuts overnight, I think the J Co has better staying power than the Big Apple donuts. J CO's donuts has better staying power, and tastes close to its original form, after being reheated in the microwave.

Big Apple's just become too soft.... So if you're going to eat your donuts fresh and warm, Big Apple definitely nicer. But if you want to tapau and leave those donuts overnight, the JCO ones are definitely better.

Whatever said and done, Big Apple is now easier to get than J Co's. Big Apple has opened at The Gardens, Tesco Cheras, and soon, in Desa Park City too....

J. Co Donuts & Coffee
Lot 1.05.00
First Floor
The Pavilion
Kuala Lumpur

Also read:

teckiee
Narrowband
KYate @ J CO also
Masak-masak

One Noodle @ Desa Park City

2008-03-24T01:15:00.002+08:00

Its really amazing at how much Desa Park City has developed since we first heard about it some few years back. We were on our way home from Pahang, when the few of us who has heard about Desa Park City said why not drop by and check this place out, we haven't had a chance to see it, after hearing a lot about it...

So we headed off to The Waterfront, Desa Park City's Commercial area, and One Noodle was spotted, and we decided to go in there for some makan. That night makan was on me anyways, after a succesful installation in Pahang, we were to celebrate la...

I recommended them the Seafood La Mian, and the two guys ordered exactly that. No complains about the noodles really, tastes just as nice as their HQ, in Kepong. Its basically a Seafood Soup Noodles with lots and lots of seafood in it, fish, clams, huge prawns, squid, and much more stuff.
Since I have already been here like, a few times this year, I decided to try something else. These came with Teochew braised pork and noodles. This dish was really appetizing, because of the full flavoured teochew braised pork.... Very hoi wai , thats how the cantonese would have said it... YummY!!!

We ordered some appetizers that took too long to arrive, so it sort of like became our dessert. Really nice, grilled dumplings, made simple, just pork and prawns in it. One warning to you though, becareful not to burn your lips or tongue while eating this stuff...
Seasonal Vegetables to complete this meal with some good fibre.

Total bill came up to about 98 bucks for three persons. A bit on the expensive side, but it was really good food. The noodles, seafood, and my braised pork were served in generous portions. The taste seems to be the same, really can give a thumbs up, but I do hope their service improves though..... My grilled dumplings took 40 mins to arrive......

This Desa Park City branch has got a nice interior decor in it, the kind that gives you that, "expensive restaurant" feeling.... I think the food is alright , ok, but service must improve tremendously....

Also check out

DailyRantings previous visit

Weatethis
Aries Affairs
SlowCatchupKuan
Mimid3vils
IpohWav3

Haipeng Kopitiam @ Kemaman, Terengganu

2008-03-21T10:36:00.000+08:00

I was on a business trip up to Kuantan, and while driving up to Kuantan, my colleague and I had 3 hourse to decide, stay in Kuantan town or Cherating ? After almost reaching Gambang, we impulsively decided, Cherating la.. cheaper seafood there... hohoho....

We reached Cherating after dark, and at night, we mostly drove around in dimly lit streets around Cherating Beach, looking for a nice place that serves Seefood, something that is appropriate for my diet, see food diet... and also bought a whole bunch of Ikan Satay and Keropok ikan and udang from those road side stalls along the highway, from Cherating to Chukai.

I must have been to the Kuantan branch before, but my colleague who was a bit blur blur, told me, in Chukai town got one Kopitiam very nice wan... so I asked, is it Hai Peng ? He said dunno wo... so we drove to Chukai town lo.... upon reaching Chukai town in the district of Kemaman, you can't miss this collosal sign that says, Kedai Kopi Hai Peng... and upon seeing that sign, I immediately recognize this building from Anneh's Blog , ah... this must be it, we have reached our destination..

As we walked in, I had to scout and see what other people are eating. Most people there look like they work around the area, and come here for their breakfast before punching in for work.

The most impressive item I ordered that morning was their toast. Its toast with majerine, and kaya , almost like any other toast served by any other kopitiams we can find in KL, except.... that their bread is not made of air..... its a piece of solid Hainanese bread the way it should be served...
I also had to try their Nasi Lemak which look absolutely delicious.. .....

Thats their Nasi Dagang, some sort of glutinous rice, served with Ikan Tongkol (really fresh ones), and a simple packet of fried bee hoon for breakfast. The Nasi Dagang was out of this world, because of the freshness of its fish, otherwise, its just a delicious packet of rice. Their beehoon was nothing to shout about, but still packs in a little oomph because of their special sambal used.

I really thought , this place is cool. It gives you a real old school kopitiam feel when you are sitting inside, its like reliving the good old Grandfather story days la.... Their coffee is like extra kau one, but taste wise, it can be very subjective. I brought back half a kilo of their coffee powder and found out that it stains my coffee plunger much more than the normal gourmet coffee and white coffee, and is less aromatic, slightly more oily than the normal AIk Cheong Kopi O, and definitely not very sourish....

Red Mummy
Food4Thot
Headsteadi
Masak-Masak

SangHarMee @ Souled Out, Hartamas

2008-03-17T10:00:00.001+08:00

After that disappointing visit to the Apartment, we were going to meet up with Yew Meng again. This time around, he decided to take matters into his own hands, he called up and said, eh.. we meet up at Souled Out this time la... can eat and drink with the rest of them... so immediately said, wokay la...

By the time we arrived, most of them has already finished their food. Already started their beer and jollying session. Its really different nowadays, because I remember we used to really just hang out at Pool Bars, or SkyVenture till 5am in the morning drinking and playing snooker. Now, the conversations revolve around their kids, golf, and generally about the state of Malaysian politics.

Okay, so I ordered my Sang Har Noodles, and it came out like a tower... I was immediately impressed. The vapour from the gravy invaded my nose with a spectrum of pleasant aromas, the various herbs, and the prawn paste was strongly evident.

This plate of noodles really tastes quite authentic, and surprisingly delicious. The noodles were crunchy, and the gravy vapoury hot, and the prawns were fresh.... What more does one ask for when you order a Sang Har Noodles ? My verdict : This was flawless

SOuled Out at Sri Hartamas actually has an extensive menu of Western and Local Dishes, and I categorise them as Cafe Prices (affordable). And overall so far their food is quite alright, from average to good...

Other reviews:-

JulianSi - compare his bad review of the SangHar Noodles with mind...
Minded Vian
Yuki
KampungBoyCityGal
JOe's Craving

The Apartment @ The Curve

2008-03-14T11:41:00.000+08:00

When you have a friend coming home to visit from another country, you just want to share with the new places to eat, and at the same time catch up with him, and also try out a new place, at a chic, and trendy place. Thats why we suggested, let's try The Apartment at the Curve.

We always walk past this place, and before they opened for business, I thought, IKEA decided to open a mini showroom over on this side of the Curve.

The start off we had our starter. Some kinda mushroom with herbs and garlic pieces on it. Forgot how much this costs us, but at the end of the review, I will reveal the total bill. You can see that the mushroom is blanched first, then put in a pan , fried and tossed with olive oil, together with their blended herbs. Maybe the MAT salleh will like it, but I didn't. Sayang condemned the food, so I actually had to finish it up all by myself..... expensive la the starter, don't waste...

After we started, it never stopped. When my main arrived, I ordered a Cheese Baked Fish (forgot which kind also). It came with some baked potatoes, and that herb (which I found too pungent for my liking)..... The fish was ok though, simply baked, and drenched with cheese.... but still, for presentation wise, looks very normal, and they didn't put much thought into dressing the dish, plus the taste was just very normal......

Sayang ordered her Lamb Curry, served with bread. Those powdery stuff on the bread is actually sugar. I looked at the dish, and then I turned my attention to Sayang, I saw a face of disgust..... Do you know how the lamb curry tasted like ????

It tasted like a can of YEO's Canned Mutton Curry...... alamak. Rm20 or more leh that dish.

Our friend ordered this Pasta dish, and as I read from Meiyen's blog, this came from the Pride of Apartment. I took a bite, and thought it shouldn't be the pride of anything at all, because it tasted like a Fried Pasta very bland tasting fried pasta....

Sayang and myself have vowed never to eat in the Apartment ever again...

The bill came up to Rm99 something , totally not worth a single sen man !!!!

Masak-Masak
Life's Gr8
MeiYen
SimpleAsC

Kam's Kitchen @ Cheras Revisited

2008-03-12T13:16:00.000+08:00

Kam's kitchen has since taken over as our neighbourhood favourite Tai Chow Restaurant for our family. The last time I reviewed this particular restaurant , they had just moved to their new premise here (that was in August 2007). Today they consistently fill up their restaurants, and I was about to find out why....

It was just another family dinner, except that my brother felt like he wanted to drink abit. The captain, recommended us FRESH todi, just made early in the morning, so since we haven't been driving to Pandamaran or anywhere near Klang for our Todi fixes, ok la why not, we try one bottle, contained in a 1.5l Seamaster water bottle, I looked at it and thought, it was barley... hehehehe.... My first time drinking todi, and found it quite enjoyable, and I believe we add stout to it so that it gives the extra kick, and also to make it less cooling.... Todi , RM10 only, Guiness, standard coffee shop rates.

We ordered a fish, steamed with just light soy sauce and some garlic oil on it. RM12 only, as it states on the receipt. The fish that they serve you are usually fresh here, I have not had any bad complains with their fish ever. They now have an aquarium where they keep their fish alive until it is cooked.

My mom's favourite, Claypot Pumpkin chicken. The pumpkin is actually the main ingredient, as it is mushy, sweetish, with the mix of some Oyster sauce, the smaller chunks mixes with the chicken making it sweet. The bigger ones are cooked longer to make it soft and easy to bite in. Very appetising this dish.... Thats a huge serving for RM20.

For me , this Indonesian Style Prawns is the star tonight. Really very appetising, as it incorporates, really fresh king prawns, extra large in size, with "indonesian styled" curry. Not sure how to explain it, but its really nice. RM50.

Nai Yau Pork Ribs, with sesame. This is a dry dish, as the deep fried pork ribs, is glazed with the Nai Yau gravy. Another very appetising dish, from Kam's. RM15 only.

I actually have no idea what this vegetable is... RM15 only.

The entire bill came up to RM160. Very economical, considering we were having todi and lots of stout that night. Kam's Kitchen is slowly becoming a very famous restaurant for serving really good and economical food in the Cheras area.

Address:
Restoran Kam's Kitchen
No 6 Jalan 18, Kampung Cheras Baru
Tel: 012 290 5623, 017 677 3997
( better bring the phone number in case you need directions)

99 Steaks & Chops @ Tmn Tun

2008-03-11T12:40:00.000+08:00

We were both driving around Tmn Tun one day and we drove past 99 Steaks & Chops. It had this banner hanging out in the front, with a really korny tag line, "Now everyone can eat !". To me thats like curi'ing Air Asia's tagline all.. wakakaka.. nevertheless, it did enough to get the both of us to walk in and try their food.

We ordered a soup, which surprisingly came with a piece of bread already dunked inside, and a swirl of cheese really gave it the extra body the soup needed. Quite brilliant (talking about the cheese) because it really gave a good oomph to the soup which otherwise could have just been another bowl of soup.

Sayang's inability to digest beef (not sure what you call it) always has her ordering her favourite lamb chops. I gotta say, this place does serve up some really nice lamb chops, and it came together with a scoop of coleslaw, mash potatoes, and some blanched vegetables (nice !!).

Since this place also offers free WIFI, you can see the notebook out on the table.

My usual quick beef fix is always satisfied by a simple burger. I didn't know what to expect really, so when the burger arrived, it really does look huge, for a Rm10(don't remember how much jo) something burger. They didn't ask me how I like my burger done, so it just came well done. The sesame seed bun that comes with the burger, is huge. Really makes the burger look a lot taller and a generous sized patty (larger than a quarter pound and somewhere less than a 1/2 pound ). Again for me the cheese really made the difference, and I enjoyed my burger that night.

So with this post, it ends, our journey into trying cheap Western Food joints like this. I really think this place serves some decent western food, at a very economical price. Just compare with my previous post on MamaChops ( haven't really got any good stuff to say about that place except for Cheap only).

Also try 6 to 10 Grill for some great pork chops, at an economical price, and also try their Nasi Lemak too. Cagayan at BU new wing, also should be categorised under economy western food, but, top two economy Western food should go to 6 to 10 and 99 Steaks & Chops.
Other reviews

Jules Eating Guide
Chefspiration
Small Kuching

99 Steak & Chops
12, Persiaran Zaaba
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
60000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-7726 5327

MamaChops Papa Grill @ Amansuria PJ

2008-03-07T17:40:00.000+08:00

We were just wondering what to eat after we finished a fitting session at Keith Kee's Boutique. We got to our car, and was driving to Amansuria, when we drove past, MamaChops and Papa GRill. To tell you the truth, no one have been to this place, and why not try out this place right ?

Thats how we always try food la, and so we walked right into the mamachops and papa grill outlet in Amansuria. It took awhile for the waitress to come take our order, as suddenly there was two more tables that arrived, just before us. Since they only had one girl working in front, we had to wait to get our orders taken.

After ordering, our sidedish was quickly served. This was a basket of garlic buns. Just KFC Hotbuns, spread with garlic Butter, grilled and served in a little basket.

Sayang's mom ordered her Mushroom Chicken Chop. She thought, it was just ok la. For me, it looked like it was styled towards the Hainanese Chicken Chop style of cooking. I took a piece and thought, ok la, it was really nothing special.

I wanted to have my beef, so I ordered this Grilled Ribeye Steak. I asked for Medium, but I got Medium Well. The rib eye was served with coleslaw, ala KFC style. But their fries were nice, and luckilly it wasn't served KFC style also. hahaha.....

Sayang also abit short on her Red Meat, opted for Mint Lamb Chops. Grilled a bit too dry for my liking, but she loved the lamb. Again the lamb, was not of the better ingredient, but in the end, our meal costed below RM50, so no complains la.

My complains with this place would be just two things, SERVICE, and they served me a 90% cooked Ribeye, when I asked for Medium. I wanted a bloody piece of meat, but they gave me a dry one, no hint of blood, and so on and so forth ( I like my meat Juicy !!! ) heh !!!

Other bloggers review:

There She goes Again

Pros: Really Cheap for a Western Restaurant. Huge Drinks
Cons: Don't know how to cook steak wan.

Public Bank's Customer Service Department

2008-03-04T16:17:00.006+08:00

In case you were wondering how come I have not been blogging as much as before, here is one reason why. I tried to call Public Bank's Hire Purchase Department's number after I have settled my car loan with them. So on the settlement receipt, our nice Public Bank staff nicely chopped their phone number so that I could come and collect the release letter some time later.

Ok la, so I called this number: 03 2272 3833 ( their so called Hunting Line). I wonder what the f$%k they hunt, because it just rings and rings and rings. You are very welcome to try it yourselves, if you don't believe. No one picks up this number, some more someone told me, its their hunting line......

So I called their Hire Purchase number - 1 800 88 1319. Very promptly some guy picked up. I told him what I wanted to do, he apologised and said,

PB HP: different branch sir, this one Jalan Ampang.
ME: OK. so what number I call sir ?
PB HP: You can call their hunting line...
ME: But I called the blardy number whole f@#$ing day liao....
PB HP : oh actually that number got some problem with their PABX System, so why not like this MR Wong, you call this number, 03 2273 9866 / 03 2272 6366, its the direct line to their manager's office.
ME: ok thank you, you are so helpful.

SO I called 2273 9866 - after a few tries, of 1 minute ringing someone picks up.

PBHP Manager's Direct Line: HarLO , Publick Bank!!
Me: Oh pubic bank hire purchase ah ?
PBHP Manager's Direct Line: Yes......
ME: I am looking for Ms.****** who handled my settlement la, so I want to know if my release letter is ready or not, so I called this number whole blardy day and no one picks up.
PBHP Manager's Direct Line: Aiyoh sir, this one ah, is Manager's Direct Line la sir. She is across from the other hall la, I can't pass the line from here. Like this la sir, why don't you leave a message I pass it to her. (FYI: its 130pm, I have already tried half a f$#king day trying to reach this lady).
ME: ok I am Mr Wong, I need to know if my letter is ready. Call me back at 012- XXX 6769.
PBHP Manager's Direct Line: Why don't you also give me your account number sir, so she can do something before she calls you.
Me: ok, my account number is ..................
PBHP Manager's Direct Line: OK thank you sir. She will call you back in perhaps about 15 minutes...
Me: Thanks I will be waiting...

330 pm : Sayang reminded me to call Pubic Bank...

Ok so I called back that number 03 2272 3833 for a few times got fed up and used the manager's direct line again. The lady didnt call me back, not sure if the message was passed or not. This time around, another person answered and told me its the manager's direct line, but then, I have to use that because so far , those numbers are the only ones that reaches someone in that building. Nia sing....... so this other person told me, to reach Ms ***** you have to call these numbers.... 03 2274 5031/ 5026 / 5042... whoa niama, 3 numbers wo... ok lo.

I called 5031 with my handphone, and 5026 with my office phone. Nobody fu%^ing answers the phone around here. PABX spoiled, an image of the telephonist, knitting sweater, appeared in head.... mahems....

After 4 tries, I called the Manager's Direct Line and complained. Someone offered to pass the message again, as they can't pass the line from where they are (the question is, why the F&^K can't they pass the line ?) . I repeat the story again, told him I settled, need release letter.

So I wanted to complain to someone, then I looked up Pubick Bank's website again. Found this number. 1 800 88 8318, it says there, Public Bank Customer Service Department.

Surely make you vomit blood wan. You listen to the call above and you will know what I mean..
Want to complain oso kenot... cis !!

But in the end, by 430 I got a call from 2274 5031 and the lady told me to come collect my release letter. So remember, this, Public Bank's service is probably just as bad as Maybanks... so choose your banks wisely.....

Canadian 2 for 1 Pizzas @ Tmn Tun

2008-02-26T11:15:00.000+08:00

If you were looking for a quick bite, don't mind eating sinful food, and want to catch up with a buddy and chit chat all, you should drop by at one of the Canadian 2for1 Pizza outlets. This particular stall is the TTDI branch.

We have always wanted to try out this place, because everytime we go to Saravana Bhavan in Bangsar, you can see their sign.

It must have been a Tuesday, after Shades class. By the way, congratulations to Darth Shader for winning the best cross-dressed for FF's annual dinner. Going back to the pizza place again.

It was just the three of us, in the restaurant. This either gives a clear indication that this pizza joint does mostly Deliveries or they are not doing very well. As the name of this restaurant goes, its a 2for1 pizza place, which means when you order 2 or more pizzas , you get the least priced pizza for free.

So we ordered a Chicken Tandoori (L) as above and a Chicken Fajitas Pizza (L) as per below.

Its a bit different from joints like pizza hut all, but it was our mistake that we did not request for thin crust pizzas, which I personally prefer la. Shades enjoyed it very much and he did us all a favour by finishing up most of it.

I thought the meal was cheap, because you normally can't find 2 large pizzas for 35bucks. But tastewise, not sure what to say about it, but it definitely did not imprint a lasting impression on me, neither did I get a withdrawal syndrome from not eating the pizza for a few months now. So in short, it wasn't that good, but the company was superb.

RM34.90, Mineral Water RM1.50 each.

Also congratulations to Shades, and LazyMelody on their big step towards a new era in their relationship.

Their Locations:

TAMAN TUN DR ISMAIL
No. 30, Pesiaran Zaaba, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur

HARTAMAS
Block G-0-4 Plaza Damas, Jalan Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur

BANGSAR
54-1 (1st Floor) Jalan Maarof Bangsar 59000 Kuala Lumpur

SUBANG JAYA
No. 16, SS 15/4D, Subang Jaya 47500 Petaling Jaya

Bukit Mertajam Food Crawl - Penang Dec 07

2008-02-20T18:05:00.000+08:00

Now this post has been postponed once before, because, I lost my camera on one of those trips, Tamiya actually took me around hunting for food. Now back with a bigger camera, Tamiya, Rinoa and Ranjeet(dats me) partied up and wandered around the streets of Bukit Mertajam.

The idea of this food hunt @ Bukit Mertajam was quite far fetched until I spoke to our lawyers who happened to be from this area too. He was describing to me how from the Highway you drive past Pacific Mall, bla bla bla. I asked Tamiya one day and he said, sure we should go round here.

The first stop is Sunrise Coffee Shop. Its one coffee shop out of like thousands of coffee shops here along this Jalan Raja Uda. The main attraction of Sunrise Coffee Shop is of course its Char Koay Teo. The uncle who mans the shop has been frying this koay teo, since don't know when, even he lost count himself. He is also secretive and abit cautious to tell me things when he saw me taking pictures of his stall. He said don't write so terror-terror about my stall, scared of IRB going after him all.

After a bit of persuasion, our friend said, ok la, you take my back side. From the picture below, you can see our friend actually uses Coal Powered stove to fry the good stuff.

Tamiya and myself, we both ordered a plate each. Its only Rm 2.80 for biasa, and Rm 3.30 for a large serving. Of course one of the reasons why Tamiya recommended this place is because, its just outside his house, and its cheap.

Now this is the second time I have been back to this stall in as many visits to Penang. I believe this stall is actually frying up one of the best Penang CKT in town. Since most of us prefer to eat around the Penang Island, most of us will overlook completely about eating in these parts of Penang.

What I like about this CKT is that, you can get the "enough fire" (suppose to say in Cantonese) hope someone can help me out with the England. He did not over taruk the lard into his CKT, the sambal is hot enough, although it doesn't exude the redness in color. He actually put in a few pieces of medium sized prawns (Lrg Selamat being large), a few pieces of the waxed sausage, and a generous portion of koay teo and beansprouts. For RM 3.30, thats a hill of Char Koay Teo being served there.

Rinoa, ordered a bowl of fish porridge. It was quite good and tasty.

Then I looked around and saw the Satay stall. I asked the tauke, ada Satay Babi ka ? She said got. So I ordered 10 pcs, and found the satay to be very tasty. Its definitely marinated with some kunyit, salt, pepper, lemongrass (quite strong) and sugar. The peanut sauce was quite kau also. Even Tamiya did not know this stall actually sells Satay Babi....

Chai Leng Park

In my previous visit over here,we tried to come here but it was closed. This hawker center is located in an old abandoned cinema in Chai Leng park. So this time around we swung by and it was open.Ayam goreng belacan. This ayam goreng is superb. I first kena a dose of this ayam goreng belacan when I was walking around Kimberly St, in Penang Island. Ever since then, whenever I spot a stall selling this, I sure go for piece minimum. Thats RM2 bucks, and it tastes really nice. It smells like it has belacan, but when you bite into the chicken, you get the aroma of the fried chicken, with just a little hint of the belacan.

First stall was to to get the Asam Laksa... but found the laksa too watery, the fish chunks werent enough, but the gravy still tastes like it has tissue paper in it.
Standard, penang Asam Laksa ( tissue papery texture to its soup). This stall, I will pass the next time, unless you are hard up for Asam Laksa. Thats a plate of RM3 Asam Laksa for you. If you ask me, I'd still drive all the way to Air Itam market or to Balik Pulau for the better tasting Asam Laksa. Verdict: Nah!! just not as good as the island ones..... or maybe I just didn't know where to find the good ones

Then we ordered Penang Yong Tao Foo. Its cheap and the fish paste is white color wan. Definitely taste different from what we are used to in KL. Their YTF comes attached to pure fish paste. Otherwise it wouldn't be so white right ?

Their yong Tao Foo comes with additional vegetables also. Unlike in KL, where we only get chives, this flers get real vegetables that comes with their YTF. However so, when it comes to taste, the KL YTF definitely better.

I won't say so much as that the food on the Island is no good. But at least over here, the prices are still cheap, and servings still big compared to those on the Island. A plus point for me is that, these coffee shops have not started charging us 50 cents for sitting in their shop or something like in Lrg Selamat. I thought these two places is huge, Chai Leng Park area and The Food Stalls along the entire Raja Uda area... its just massive la....

Amy Yip Big Pau @ Onn Kee , Taman Connaught

2008-02-18T10:03:00.001+08:00

Recently, the HK movie industry has been embroiled in another Sex Scandal, involving one male artiste and many other Celibaties. Believe me you in time to come, people will start serving up food named after celebrities.

Hahaha.. can you imagine eating Edisen Banana Splits ? At least Gillian Chung, and the likes of Cecillia Cheung doesn't have to. wakakaka.. Word has it, Maggie Q is also apart of the scandal.

Lets not get bothered with this scandal, we rewind back to the 80s, if anyone remembers Amy Yip. She is regarded as the Dolly Parton of the East. Huge tits, and small little waist, and they both claim to be natural.

In Taman Connaught, there is one stall that specializes in selling Paus, and dim sum. Amy Yips Big Paus its called. Its really amazing, so I decided to put this Pau on a weighing scale.

It weighs 660grams, 1.1 katis. Thats like really huge for a Pau.

Putting it down and taking a picture of it, it looks like a mountain of dough.

Just to illustrate the size of this thing, I tried to cover it up with my hands. Its about the size of a size 4 football (futsal size ball), oh well half of it anyway. Still big for a pau.

After having all the fun with it, we decided to eat it. Haha, I know thats Amy Yip's big paus, but I bought it to eat them. Lol..... The filling's made of chicken, although I'd actually expected it to be pork. It looks like those Sang Yuk pau kind of filling except that its made of chicken. Not as sweet and rather bland.

To summise, this fler, looks big only. Taste wise, I'd go for a small little Char Siew Pau anytime. Even Pau Ahmad's Beef Pau is made better than this. My mom thinks its difficult to make a pau hold itself together if its too big. One of these big paus, costs about Rm4. Along with these paus, the stall also sells all kinds of dim sums, and pastries.

Let me warn you though, most other blogs think or imply that these pau is great, a favorite or something like that, my summary will be :

Nice To See,
Nice To Hold,
YOu can Gawk at it,
but it ain't nice to eat.

(even Sayang was like, whoa... so big one ah.... , my reply was, yeah thats what most people say about Amy Yip's assets. )

Other reviews:

KLpplKLfood
RasaRasa

Revisit Nasi Kandar Kudu @ Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman

2008-02-13T11:00:00.000+08:00

There must be something about this Nasi Kandar stall, but everytime I come by, it won't disappoint me unless they are closed la. It was just that I had brought a client over to check out this place, since they can't accompany me to eat at Kin Kin, I sold him the idea of eating at Kudu's.

I remember the last time I posted a review about this place, I was assured by someone , that the food is priced reasonably. After my experience at Pelita KLCC, Rm110 for an unedible Fish head, I am scared liao. Anyways, not to be side tracked, I picked up a Duck Varuval dish, one fried fish and some bean sprouts and some lady's finger. As usual I'd drench my rice with mixed gravy.

My friend on the other hand, went for a squid Curry, a fish and some lady's fingers.

Its nice, and its a must try place. I once asked my colleagues, if they'd walk past the restaurant one day, not knowing of its reputation, are they brave enough to try the food there ? 3 of them said, no... but after I brought them over, they were all amazed at how good the food tasted.

For map and address click here

Creampuffs @ Beardpapa , MidValley

2008-02-06T11:03:00.000+08:00

My first ever experience of eating Beard Papa's was some time back, and thought they were quite delicious to say the least. My instant reaction was, " This is good shit man !!", language wise, totally unappropriate, but the expression was.
Since I did not suffer from emotional setbacks, hormonal unbalance that causes be to crave for Sweet stuff, it took me about one year later from that incident to actually walk up to their outlet @ Mid Valley, and very blurly went, eh , Beard Papa's is here leh... My sayang's face went =.=
"Its been here for ages la... "

I remembered the cream puffs were great. Some more they claim to be the world's best. We bought one cream puff to share, and was duely rewarded for it. Its really nice, as it has the crispy crunch on the outside and the moist and softness of its pastry on the inside. The puff will bring you to another place when you sink your teeth in, the cream flooding your tastebuds and all. ( not sure where it will take you but when I opened my eyes, I was still in MidValley !!) wakakaka....

I find their moist chocolate cake, not sure if it is the real name to be much better shit ( excuse my language) than their cream puffs. It doesn't have the crunchy exterior but the richness of its molten chocolate on the inside, fuah... reminds me of Fatboy's Chocolate cakes... yummy !!

A few of the many posts I found:

EatinOut
Masak-masak
Babe in the City
Chingling

Waroeng Penyet @ The Curve

2008-02-01T13:40:00.000+08:00

Eateries at the Curve come and go. And as I was walking towards the Ikano link bridge on the second floor of The Street, I came across Waroeng Penyet. The font for their signage also abit cartoonish. Quite striking la I must say, so I got detoured and stuck my nose at the glass. Found out that this is an Indonesian restaurant.. then got TV play Indon Rock MTVs.. so nice..

So we planned to try out their food one day, and we did find the time to drop by.

I had no idea what penyet means until I came here. It means flattened. So The dish above is the Ayam Penyet (RM7.90), which means the fried chicken was flattened with a roller first before it was fried. Apparently this makes the fried chicken more tender and moist. Which we found to be very true.

You see those crispy batter , whoa , those are so delicious they are to die for. I remember as a kid in my primary school, our chicken rice stall used to serve only Fried Chicken rice. And sure enough we used to ask the uncle to add the crispy batter... Obviously good stuff like that is bad for your health, go figure la..

The ikan bakar (Rm9.90) came out looking very presentable although I was hoping the fish to be alittle bit bigger. Its a small size Telapia which is grilled on an open fire. Hence, it tastes a bit like a smoked fish. The little saucer there contains the secret to making this dish superb, its the kicap cili, bawang and garlic mix for grilled stuff.

This next one is called the Pete Udang Berlado(RM7.90), better known as Sambal Petai Udang. I give this an A+ and seriously their sambal petai is superb. The petai was fresh and very aromatic, plus the chili looks like it was fresh out of the pestle & mortar.

This is the first time I have tried their Jus Jeruk limau which I thought tastes like , Kam Kat drink, which you can find in the normal chinese kopitiam. Really nice, cooling and refreshing drink after a meal full of chilis.

Of course this is their only outlet in KL, but hope they could open up more outlets.

Weatethis

Imperfectly me
Eiling
masak masak
Allaboutyum
to eat or to live

Lot 132 , 1st Floor The Curve
No 6 Jalan PJU 7/3, Mutiara Damansara,
47800 PJ

017 2003 988
waroengpenyet.com

La Gourmet House @ The Curve

2008-01-29T11:00:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-28T12:08:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-24T11:10:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-23T11:08:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-18T09:40:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-17T08:50:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-14T09:20:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-12T16:44:00.000+08:00

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.

Banana Leaf @Rest oran Sri Grand City, Sek11 PJ

2008-01-10T11:06:00.000+08:00

I am finally going to post a review of this place. Sayang and I , have been patronising this place very often. Sometimes, as often as twice a week, but generally you can say, that this is the restaurant we frequent, meaning regulars la.

My first attempt at taking photos of food here, was about a year ago. I was using a VGA cam on my Nokia ("flashbag" of my old pics), results, the WB was totally out. Then I upgraded into a 3MP Pentax Optio S and then a Ricoh and the results werent that good also, until I landed this "not so new" Olympus.

The pictures finally turned out quite decent , under those lighting conditions.
Anyway, this is SC's favorite restaurant whenever it comes to southern Indian food. And I can see why. Her usual fare at this place will be a banana leaf set, which consists of a generous helping of briyani (bottomless, literally speaking of course), and an unlimited supply of vegetables, curries, and sambars. Even though the unlimited does not apply to us, because she usually takes only a small serving.

Their briyani comes in a light color, which I personally also like. This is because they do not dump in loads of ghee which to some people, the aroma is a wee bit pungent. Its a vegetarian briyani hence you don't see chunks of chicken or beef in the rice. To add to that, rasam, payasam and thairu's are given free here, unlike at Raju's.

On that day I opted to eat a piece of capati, and asked for extra vegetables. I would either order capati or a Onion Rava Masala Thosai or just a Rava Thosai with potatoes... hehehe.. their thosai is done just nice, or should I say, fresh. Because their thosais are usually not very sourish... and can be done crispy if requested. Just by doing a little check, you will see that their kitchen is separated from the dining area by a see thru glass kinda counter. That is indeed very encouraging for any restaurant.

Their Ayam goreng, although not freshly fried, and vaporing hot like Raju's, you can tell a lot of thought has been put into their marinade. Although I must say, it is unusual that we order a fried chicken when we come over here. We normally order other types of lauk like, chicken varuval, mutton curry, and/or mutton masala.

Should you come at about 3pm(especially on Sat and Sun) , you will be able to try their vaporing hot curry puffs, and vadirs. Make no mistake, the puffs and vadirs are little cheap crunchy snacks which you can enjoy while enjoying a cup of Masala Tea. And they charge you only about 0.80 sen each. A freshly fried vadir can be very satisfying, if you know what I mean.

This is SC's favourite place for Indian Food, and let's recap why. The food is good, and reasonably priced. For me, the air conditioning is a plus point, as I do not have sweat so much when eating my curries or when I munch on those dried chillies. The waiters over there are very attentive although service can be a bit sloggish during peak hours, ie tea time Sundays. It is also a superb place to source out various Indian Desserts, authentic Mixed Nuts (my mom in law calls them Madras Mix), and yes, they also serve Idly (, as well as fresh and crunchy puffed up balls.

Price wise, I suspect the food is priced a little bit higher than places like Sri Paandi (which is next to Grand City at Sek11. Although, I can't confirm with you for sure, that they are cheaper than Raju/Kanna outlets, I can fairly say I prefer GrandCity more.

Also Read:

KampungBoyCityGal's Visit

My other banana leaf reviews:
Brickfields - Sri Kortumalai
Gasing - Raju's

Banana Leaf Meal @ Restoran Raju, PJ

2008-01-08T08:56:00.000+08:00

Raju's Curry House, that Indian Restaurant just off of Jalan Gasing, is indeed an icon for me. Because for me, they are one of the first banana leaf meals that was introduced to me, that I truly. As I recalled, my first time ever eating a banana leaf meal was at New Lay Sin restaurant @ Brickfields, when our school magazine outings during highschool brought us to Brickfields, thus New Lay Sin. Fast forward a few years later, we were introduced to Raju.

We arrived in the afternoon at about 1.30pm and found the lunch crowd still around. Although a lot of them has already gone back, the crowd was still quite substantial.

One of the things why I like to eat here is because, they offer a pick and choose station of your favorite meats and fish. All pre marinated and placed in a tray as shown in the picture above. What came as a surprise to me is, that they now post one fler to pick the stuff up for you, just in case you don't want your hands to smell like fish. hehehe. I guess he stands there to swap flies too.

After you pick em, just pass it to the fler here, and he will deep fry them for you. Your stuff will then come steaming hot with vapour flying out of your fish or meat. My plus point about this is that, at least they cook it fresh for you, I "think" its cleaner.

Many reasons why I like to come here. The restaurant is situated under a huge asam tree. Its cooling and it adds leaves to your meal (as you eat, gerenti you, sure one small leaf will drop onto your banana leaf). Secondly all their staff are neatly dressed, and ever ready to pose for your camera. Can you see the uniform they are wearing ? Neat isn't it ? Even their moustache is the same....wakakakaka....

That day I had a general vegetarian set with two pieces of Deep Fried Ikan Balos. My favorite fish, because its so deeply fried, you can even eat their bones. Again, my rice has to be drenched with a mix of sambar, chicken and fish curry.

Not sure who started this dim sum style of carrying extra dishes to the customer's table. This to me is new, although I heard that Kanna Curry House also practice the same thing. In the picture above, they were trying to sell those big prawns to us. As usual, I'd decline, must be very expensive wan. Last time, they'd just leave them in a stall and if you wanted them you take a saucer and pick up the extra dishes you want.

Rasam in most restaurants are given free compliments from the eatery, but at Raju's they have begun the practice of charging you 50sen for a small glass of rasam. I was surprised, but nevertheless had to pay for them.
This is the first time in my life, I see this being sold. Non Alcoholic Beer. WTF ? I think those drinks must be a can of training beer to make it easier for young kids to later graduate into real beer(like training bras). Wakakakaka..... Anyone tried those before, meant those beers?

To summise, they do serve really nice authentic indian food. Although they have increased their pricing recently, their food is still quite good. No complains on the food, but why charge for rasam , why sell non alcoholic beer (jees, that freaking lame man), and the dim sum style serving really just don't make sense.

Raju Restaurant
Jalan Chantek 5/13 (off Jalan Gasing),
Petaling Jaya

Also read:

Eating Asia
BSG
Simple Life
Masak-mAsak