Ampang Homeland Yong Tau Foo

Ampang Homeland Yong Tau Foo @ Sunway

The old Ampang town, is synonymous with Yong Tau Foo. So for most of us, we just take it for granted that the best YTF must come from Ampang. So I hope this post will make you think differently.

We were on one of our road trips after visiting SisInLaw (was pregnant ) in Sunway, so decided to pop by that area to look for something nice to eat. We saw the main food court near Pyramid...nah no parking .. we saw some Mamaks... nah... also spotted a few small cafes, but one restaurant caught our eye, as we rolled our vehicle down that street. Ampang Homeland YTF !!! So we found a parking spot ( note: Finding a spot to park your car can be tricky )




This place really different. Its brightly lit, its chairs and tables are similar to those you find in those standard kopitiams ( decent la). The menu lain sikit. Here they don't sell you YTF by the piece, like most of them do. It comes in a set of minimum 5 pieces. Of course on the menu they also serve Assam fish, Pandan Chicken, Sui Kao ( soup dumplings) , Lettuce in Oyster Sauce, Pork Leg Vinegar , etc....


Being a mass produced piece of YTF, how good do you think it can get ? The servings are definitely getting smaller and smaller these days. Must be because of inflation, and a million other excuses they can find la. Taste wise I think they are ok. I mean its not bad at all, can pass... The restaurant is nicely decorated, it looks clean, you don have flys bugging your food and the service was quite adequate. I think all in all this place is not bad after all.






They serve pretty big pieces of sui kao. The clear soup has a lot of ajinomoto too. I know some people who loves their dumplings and soup. Hehehhe, I am not one of them.

Our choice for the better YTF is the Jalan Ipoh Yong Tau Foo.

So I assume this Ampang Homeland Branch : Sunway should/ by right taste the same as the others. I am not sure. But all the rest of the bloggers actually made the pilgrimage to Old Town Ampang to taste the real deal. Perhaps I should also go try, hmm !! the last time I ate there was actually some 7-8 years ago. But I recently drove past the place and found the place to have very terrible parking problems, and to get there , you will have to go through a terrific jam.

Other Reviews:

Rasa Rasa.Net
NST GOOD BITES
KY Eats Ampang Yong Tau FOO
A whiff of lemongrass

Oldtown Kopitiam

Everyone's got their own Kopitiam franchise nowadays. Oldtown, those fellas who commercialised Ipoh White Coffee has also jump onto the Kopitiam bandwagon. In my opinion they are doing very very well, and to my knowledge has got the most outlets opened and has a good presence in the Klang Valley.

The general public basically flock to these kopitiams. They serve simple food, in cantonese we call them "siu sik" , Small food to directly translate. The decor is simple, yet nice and warm. The coffee tables are made of marble tops, similar to those I used to find in my grandpa's house.




On their feature wall, they have a wallpaper backdrop of the first OldTown Ipoh Kopitiam street.


We were on our movie pilgrimage, since we couldn't get our tickets from our preffered cinemas, GSC 2Utama (New Wing) and Cineleisure, we headed down to 1Utama TGV to watch our movie. We walked into this Oldtown , right outside of TGV. There were lots of people in this small little kopitiam. Ok, maybe it serves some decent food.



Here's what we ordered.


Thick Toast
Prawn Mee
Lum Mee
and White Coffee and Hazelnut White Coffee.

The thick toast arrived first followed by our coffees respectively. The toast was a pleasant surprise. It comes in a 1 1/2 inch thick toast with a half spread of butter, and the half of Kaya. Then its got condensed milk laid on the toast just before it was served. Special.

The coffee was just standard White Coffee, which everyone simply loves. Their Hazelnut flavour makes their coffee much more aromatic than it already is. Definitely given a thumb's up for their coffee and toast.

So thats the end of the good stuff in Oldtown.

Oldtown Kopitiam serves lousy noodles.

Why did I say that ? My LUM MEE, Beehoon, came out in clear soup, and almost dry. So, when I first saw it I thought it was bloody weird. The first mouthful was then followed by utter dissapointment. I finished the rest of my noodles complaining that this stuff shouldn't be made like this or like that.

Sayang ordered her prawn mee. When it arrived , after taking one look at it, I said, aiyah, their recipe tak menjadi la. I mean to say, Penang flers out there , no matter how desperate you are, just don't bother eating their Prawn Mee. Its served with the correct ingredients, please refer to the picture below, but the soup is made out of the same Ching Tong (clear soup) added with Sambal.

Prawn MEE

Lum Mee Bee Hoon

Other reviews that sang lots of praises about their food. I was the unlucky one who have tried their lousy serves.

KampungBoy Citigal - Ipoh Food Guide
MalaysiaBest.Net
YummyCorner

I recommend you go for their Hazelnut WhiteCoffee. its definitely much better than any of your Dome's or Starbucks and it costs you about half the price. Their toasts are toasts la, I won't hoo haa over their toasts, but I wont'complain about Oldtowns choice of serving them.

Miracle O7

I was pretty much doing what I did in Miracle 06, I did a lot but I was not there to work out. This time my excuse was I had back pain, cannot jump. It was a Saturday, I had just come back from Pahang.... the terrible long drive gave me back pain ( however some other people might come up with their stories as to how I might have gotten my back pains).

Sayang took a half day off, so that she could attend this special launch, charity and get together with the body combat guys. I of course just like last year came by because she was there.

Service with a Smile (FF staff on the left, helping with registration)

By the time we arrived, the place Cineleisure was already packed with people. Not so much from Fitness First members, staff, etc, but the complex had other plans of their own. We went straight down to the LG floor to register Sayang and buy those tickets.


On the way down, we saw many familiar faces, especially CLM members whom I missed dearly. Since I wasnt gonna work , I might as well walk around and start taking pictures, to remember this event by. I got to say hello to my Body Attack gang, Body Combat Gang, and my RPM gang was there too (also just standing around ).

After watching the BC launch from the side, I found that I have either become less interested in BC or those choreographers at Les Mills are running out of ideas. Songs, becoming more and more rock like. On the bright side, I loved the Queen Song.

Back to just the launch, and looking at the 6 instructors on stage, at least this time around, they were each given a track to present. Unlike the last time, where only one fella , (eh Rene right ) presented the entire launch.

Its nice to see 3 other instructors up on stage for cool down as well.

THE REST OF THE PICS and One Video Right at the bottom

Combat Challenge Group from Cheras Leisure Mall (whats the group's name again ?) - Leader Jason , right most

Combat Challenge Group from - Leader Leslie (holding guitar)

Combat Challenge Group from Axis I think () - Leader Michelle left most, and The two Combat Instructor Trainees, Weng and Darkside

Also managed to get Body Attack Challenge Group, Pentium 5 see their hands ... they werent trying to grab me, just showing us 5

Before the launch, Shades getting his hair sprayed with color

The males instructors getting ready , putting on make up

Later that day: before the launch started, I went horsing around outside Cineleisure

Rings on FCI's head, angel ? hmm...

Ok the whole launch team including the three instructors who participated in the Body Combat Challenge thing.

Signing off ,

Shades and his presentation for , eh which track already ah?

Raub, Chinese Tarts and Pastries

It 's time to go back to Merapoh again. Stopping by at Raub purposely to go back to this unmarked Kopitiam in the heart of Raub. I previously had stumbled upon this Kopitiam , keyword "stumbled" after I had lunch at Ratha Curry house, "Famous Curry Fish Head Restaurant". Unfortunately for me, it was only famous, I wished it was delicious too.



So the story begin after we had lunch at Ratha's. While walking back to our car, we were talking about how you can be famous , yet your food sucks. How come in the heart of Raub town we couldn't find some nice chinese food to sample wan ? Just as that thought came by, we saw a Chinese Kopitiam, really traditional koptiam la. Inside I saw a lot of people queing up to buy something, that attracted my attention.



What were the signs of a succesful restaurant, or a place that sells good food. Firstly, you must see a crowd. Secondly there have newspaper clippings of their establishment published in various news papers. Thirdly, if their business is unmarked, and yet you find so many people in the koptiam... I concluded, this place I must try....



I contributed to the long que myself. I took my place behind a line of 6 persons. Since they were people infront of me, I got a lot of time to do my research on what they have to offer. Kaya Puff, Curry Puff, Egg Tarts, Siew Pau, Chee Cheong Fun.

On special occasions, they also sell Lou Por Biscuit (wife Biscuit).

So I ordered, Kaya Puffs, Siew Pau, Egg Tart (sold out), Lou Por Biscuit. Their kaya puffs were simply better than the normal ones. Their pastry smells nice, crispy and yet moist. Their kaya fillings are thick, and had a rich santan smell to it (definitely home made kaya). Their siew pau, tasted very sweet, not from sugar, but from the lard and pork they put into it. I must say those were some of the better tasting siew paus I have had.




Okay , so how do you get to this kopitiam ? I remembered if you were standing at the Raub Bus Station, looking across the street, this place is at the Kim Fah Hotel, opposite of the bus station on the Right Hand Side. It is just simply called, Kedai Kopi. Nama apa ? They didn't mention. On the outlook it just looked like a simple kopitiam, if not for the crowd they had inside there, I wouldn't have ventured into the coffee shop at all. I really Stumbled ( Pak Chong ) into this place this time.




Today I made the trip to go down to this Kedai Kopi again. This time I managed to sit down and ordered some drinks. I ordered a Teh C Ping. Chee Cheong Fun. It took a while for them to serve the drinks, and then the food. While waiting, I helped myself to one egg tart (which was sold out previously), Kaya Puff and one Siew Pau. The quality of their pastries, I just reconfirmed today are of excellent quality. I wouldn't say its the best, but for this price range, I must say they come in at the Top 3.

So the tea finally arrived after waiting for 5 minutes, abit too long for my liking. I took a sip. If you liked Uncle Lim's Teh C, this kedai kopi serves much better Teh C. Their Chee Cheong Fun, is also slightly different from the usual ones we eat in KL. The Cheong Fun is standard, the sauce is just nice, not too sweet and not too salty. Their chili sauce is standard, the usual chee cheong fun chili sauce, but they do add a tea spoon of sambal cooked with small shrimps (hmm... har mai sambal ). That probably made their chee cheong fun, a lot different and a bit better than the usual ones we get in KL. Their Fu Chook is rolled up, like a Fu Quin . Overall they also served some of the better tasting Chee Cheong Fun. There is another thing to this. They sell Chee Cheong Fun not in pieces, but by servings.

So after eating all that up, I was feeling full. More patrons came in and ordered different types of food. One of them that interests me is their empty thick toast, served with Chicken Curry. Will definitely come back to try this the next time.

So the next time you come down to Raub, do stop by and ta pao some pastries back to KL. They will obviously be better than a lot of pastries you've had.

Goodbye Loganathan Arumugam

ric

I was quite shocked to hear two days ago that Loga , one of the icons of Malaysian music was hospitalized. Sayang must have read some place that he was suffering from cancer. And then in a short time, she had read on some blog that he has passed away.

Although I was not a hardcore fan who knew the lyrics to all their songs, I have time and time again, confessed to how much I like their music. Although I have never bought their albums, I have always been able to walk into a pub where they were playing their songs.



The most recent gig they did was at a Pub in TheCurve, Damansara. Or was it Hotel Royalle Bintang. That picture was taken in Dec 16 2006. We never suspected how come Loga got replaced. Bands always change members, but in this picture Loga was replaced by someone of similar built. The only thing missing was the ball of hair on his head.

Anyways, thank you Mr Loga, for all the nice hits, you have given us.

Kuala Lipis - Hakka Mee

It was supposed to be another routine morning where we wake up early in the morning, go to our usual Malay stall and have our usual nasi lemak or nasi kerabu. We are however fast becoming bored with the usual kind of food we can eat in Lipis. Our choices limited largely due to the fact we have a malay colleague tagging along most of the time.

Kuala Lipis is a small town, even if you combine the all the Taman Taman perumahans ( can count them all with fingers on one hand) and the actual Center of town itself. Luckilly for us, our colleague doesn't eat breakfast. So we are free to roam and eat whatever we want to .

So we ventured off into the center of Kuala Lipis town. Where we heard (rumours-la) that in Kuala Lipis, one stall is very famous for their Hakka Mee. I am not very sure when was the last time I had hakka mee, or how is actually taste like. So off we went.

So we parked out car, and walked to the Chinese Foodcourt Lane. Its a lane where you can find chinese hawker food in Kuala Lipis town. If you get lost, mmy directions for you is, stop at the Kuala Lipis train station and ask where you can find chinese food. This lane is divided into two sections, this review is on the Hakka Mee stall, on the Upper Half section of this lane. There is another hakka mee stall in the lower half of this lane.


Ok, one look at the pic above, we could tell the noodles are home made. Personally for me, I don't like to eat mee, I am a mee hoon and kwai teo person. But this home made noodles are not yellow (means they din't put in any egg yolks, and it looks quite dry (still got flour wan) means not so oily. *light bulb* Healthy Noodles.

So what is so nice about the noodles ? When the bowl first arrived on my table I thought they made a mistake. I asked for kon lou , means dry. My noodles were clear and drenched in half a bowl of soup. They put in lots of minced pork, 3 fish balls and a pinch of spring onions.

The boss said, memang like that one hakka mee. If you want the dark noodles with dark sauce also can. Oh, if like that one , I will be very happy to try it.

Frankly speaking, its not bad. No big deal. But the noodles feels nice when you bite into it. The soup is standard ching tong soup. The noodles.. wa, I can really go on and on and on about it.



Some people might argue the best Hakka Mee is in Sarawak ( its like Kolo Mee ) or the best one is in Ipoh (everywhere u go u find hakka mee in ipoh). In Kuala Lipis they serve you a decent portion, the place looks clean, you won't get flys plunging into your noodles. The pricing is very decent also.

Taman Negara - Ikan Kelah

Its back to the jungle again , after that horrendous time I had in the hospital. Some one called me the Little Prick... Victim !! Work stalled while I was away, and I was anxious to start the ball rolling again at work. One more site to install , Taman Negara, clean clean waters, and lots of ikan kelah !!!

So work took us right to the brigde where the 4 day journey to Gunung Tahan begins. I was at Gunung Tahan's base camp. Make not mistake, this is Tmn Negara , Merapoh, not Kuala Tahan. You won't find 5 star accomodations, restaurants, lots of tourists here. Instead you find crystal clear waters, cool, quiet and peaceful camp site.

Trekking up to Gunung Tahan

This is also the site where they have the Kelah Sanctuary. The ikan kelah is the most sought after fresh water fish locally. So much sought after that it is now almost extinct. When you enter the park gates and register yourself to enter this park at the ranger's office, you would have walked past their aquariums where they have Kelah's that weigh up to 8kg. You can't miss it.... over here you get to see the Kelah swimming in the wild.


Next stop was the observation tower where in the background is the Gunung Tahan peak. Unfortunately for us , most wildlife was already sleeping or resting in the heat of noon. According to Park Ranger Azmi, most wildlife wake up early in the morning , rest by Noon, or wake up close to sunset and play until late morning.




From this platform, we should be able to hear them hunting, eating , doing their wild activities, etc. We managed to see Elephant treks along the road we were travelling on. The river we were allowed to install our sensors is one of the spots the elephants play. I was quite surprised to find out that we rarely spot elephants during the day. They are mostly nocturnal animals. hmm.... what about those elephants in the zoo ?

I was told that once in a blue moon, some fisherman will be able to catch the Kelah, but really its really like striking gold when you try to find this fish outside of the National Park. This fish is fussy when it comes to water cleanliness. The current market rate is about RM120 per kg. Not sure if you can find them in restaurants, but I am sure it will cost even more. Hope to get some one day....

Choc Chip Cookies, & Crab Curry

CCC , and CC will be served for CC's potluck dinner.

We began at about 130pm after lunch. We started by beating the butter until it becomes fluffy, then we put in the egg. Thats where all the hard work is actually. I was doing it for a good 20 minutes, when the mix is well done, we put in the dough mix. Wah, I am already having a good workout. It took us another about 10-15 minutes before the dough is wrapped.

By now the dough is choclately sticky. The blend was quite sweet I thought. Next time will definitely try to make own dough and will remember to make it less sweet. Sayang thought it was too sweet , Sayang's dad thought it should be the way it is.



Then we put the cookie dough into the baking tray. Lined with baking paper. Heated the oven up to 180C and we put in the cookies to bake for 10 minutes. After 6 minutes we could see the cookies beginning to flatten. When we took the cookie trays to turn them around , I had the idea of putting M&Ms on top of them.



Not knowing whether the M&M's will turn out nice , we only put in a few. That also because we put it in, while the cookies were getting baked. So everything turned out quite nice, except that sayang was complaining it was too sweet.


The crab curry was later. The raw ingredients, were, fish curry paste, all the different spices, and fresh crabs. Hmm this dish was cooked by Sayang's mom, I was there to take pictures and curi makan sahaja. So here are the before pics.



The spices are being fried before the curry paste and chili mix was put into the pot.



After the chili mix and spices are cooked, we put in the watery santan and the crabs to cook. It was simmered for about 10 minutes .

After about 15 minutes, of simmering, and moving the crabs around to ensure that the crabs are cooked evenly. Sayang's mom, took out the finishing ingredient. Santan Kelapa kao kao.

After she put it in, the lid was closed and left to simmer for another 10 minutes in low fire.



The final result was superb. By the time the stove was switched off, fresh crab curry aroma filled the entire house. Lovely aroma, and the taste is of course quite superb.

Here are the recipes :

Choclate Chip Cookies
Crab Curry

Damansara Seafood Village

Sayang and I had the pleasure of trying out Patrick's Steamboat place somewhere in Kampung Kayu Ara. Its Damansara Seafood Village. Coincidentally, in today's Sunday Mag, this place was featured in the food section of the publication. I must say I did see the pictures from their website, the restaurant looked really classy, picturesque is more like the word to use here.

I was there for the first time, and it looked like any other steamboat restaurants you can find in Manjalara, or in Cheras Business Center. The only difference is that, is has got huts in and around the place, other wise it is open air dining.

We went early, reached at about 7pm, to beat the crowd. I snapped a few pictures of the restaurant. It came out really nice, I mean, the pictures make the place look a lot nicer than in real life.






Al Fresco dining was the words Patrick used to describe this setting. This place is lacking in air conditioning, or fans around the place. If they had vapour fans all over the place, then it would have been a lot more enjoyable to eat. I basically began to sweat the moment we sat down, to the moment we left.



The usual stuff can be found on the table, Chili Sauce, Onion Oil, and Ginger Chili mix. So when we sat down, a nice fella came over to take our orders. He placed two nicely laminated menu for us to look at. Took our drinks order and left us alone to go through the menu. When he came back, he suggested we try their seafood set, for 2 pax.. RM59.90 nett. In this set you get 1 person standard serving, 200gms of prawns, Clams, and 2 flower crabs. They boast of serving only swimming seafood over here, and I must say their seafood is quite fresh. I was okay with most stuff except for their clams. Make sure you cook them for 3 minutes in boiling water minimum. Smelly wan !!





The dining experience was the usual steamboat one. Nothing special over here. You don't get Patrick dancing for you or singing or anything like that. However, I did notice, how brisk business was. By 730pm, the restaurant was full already. By 745 pm, you already have a 30 minute waiting list. I ordered lemon lime, while sayang was slowly korek-ing her coconut after she had enough to eat.




By 8pm, quite a number of kids could be spotted at the fountain near the entrance. I was wondering if they were actually fishing for their food. Oh, longkang fishing really did keep the kids occupied. My friend down there had the biggest catch of the day.



When you come over to this place, you have to try the different types of seafood stuff they offer. Don't just order the normal steamboat stuff. Why ? You will find it pricey and not special. If you tried their seafood set, at least the money you pay, you get to eat some real seafood, freshly cooked in front of you.

Oh ya one more thing, parking can be a hassle here, plus, If you want to come late, please make reservations.

1067, Jalan Jenjarum,
Kg. Sg. Kayu Ara,
off Jalan SS23/10, 47400 Petaling Jaya.
Open for Dinner 7 nights a week.
Reservations: Tel: 03 7803 1832

They have a blog too: Damansara Seafood Village

Also read the following reviews

KYeats
UV Musings
Stephen Lim