La Porchetta @ Melbourne

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also read my other posts on Yong Foo Taos,

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

Other ppl's views:

DiehardX
KYEatz - Kelana Jaya Branch Ipoh Rd YTF

Gurney Drive Transported to The Gardens MidValley

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

O Chien , RM18, lousy....

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

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

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

Also Read:

YowWazzup
Sabrinachan
MalaysianFoodBlog

Kluang Station @ Desa Park City

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

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

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

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

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

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


Also read:

Shaolins- Weatethis
CarimakaninPj
Jys Yummy

Seefood Dinner @ Cherating

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fong Lye Taiwan Restauran @ The Gardens, Mid Valley

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


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

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


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


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

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

Pizza Hut Italiano Paradiso

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

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

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

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teckiee
Narrowband
KYate @ J CO also
Masak-masak

One Noodle @ Desa Park City

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

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