gila makan

Taiping Lang

2012-02-08T13:15:00.067+08:00

I will try my level best to be as objective as possible in this blog posting. For the subject belongs to the family of a very dear friend. Joyce and Alan live with their wonderful family in Geelong, Australia. Joyce has her roots in Taiping. Her sister Sun and husband Seng run a restaurant in Puchong appropriately named Taiping Lang. Lang in Hokkein means "people".

"Taiping People" is located on Jalan Kenari 18B in Bandar Puchong Jaya. It is in a corner shop opposite a car park. The place has a charming rustic aura. On display are many old and almost antiquated artifacts and utensils that brought back much memories of my small-town childhood. I felt so very at home there.

They have an out-door dining area which is quiet and away from the crowd.

And a play area where the kids can do their social thing while the adults do theirs.

The restaurant serves home style Hokkein dishes, very heavily inclined to the nyonya way. The culinary brain behind this restaurant is Joyce's mum - known as Ah Mah to everybody. She single-handedly came up with the menu for the restaurant and until today is still actively involved in the kitchen. She apparently is like the executive chef, supervising and ensuring that the cooking is done just right and that the best ingredients are used. This is Joyce and her mum.

They take inspiration from Ah Mah's mother (Joyce's granny) who taught Ah Mah everything she knew.

Alan, Joyce and family were back for the CNY. We met up for a dinner. What better place than the Taiping Lang? Joining us was Eddy (also back from Melbourne), Gan and wife Daphne.

The restaurant has a comprehensive menu, with a variety of set meals on different days of the week. The menu is in their website. The dishes are named in Hokkein - rightly so. I really cannot remember all the names of the dishes we had. We were too occupied chit-chatting and catching on old times, and I forgot to take note.

Dinner started with a clear herbal soup. It was served individually in mid-size bowls. The soup was good. It was adequately boiled. In Cantonese, we say it is 够火.

Then it was acar for starter. Acar is the very popular Malaysian spicy pickled vege dish. The acar here was good though not exceptional. There was a pickled cucumber, long bean, cabbage, carrot, etc in a spicy sauce and a generous sprinkling of sesame.

The other starter was the salivating sambal served with raw cucumber, cabbage and okra (ladies finger). It's been a long long time since I ate sambal in this manner. My only complaint about this dish was the type of lime they provided. They used the small lime variety. I prefer the big green ones.

The Kali Kay (chicken curry) was rich in its curry flavor. It obviously was cooked with a good curry mix and adequate santan (coconut milk). I liked it.

The Bangkuang Cha (shredded jicama with cuttle-fish) looked small in portion. But it was very adequate. It was served and eaten wrapped in green salad (butterheads). Surprisingly missing was the sambal with which it is normally taken.

I think it was the Nyonya Che Kay (nyonya fried chicken). It was like the inchi kabin chicken. It was aromatic and well marinated. Very appetizing.

The next dish was probably the Buah Butai Hae. It was petai (smelly beans) cooked with prawns in assam curry. I liked this dish. Petai is one of my favorite nyonya food. The curry was strong and delicious. However the prawns were over-cooked. They are a bit hard.

I also liked the otak otak or Hu Pau. It was a fish paste in santan (coconut milk), flavored with basel leaves. The flavor was rich and tasty. Ah Mah makes really good otak otak.

I am not sure what this dish is called. Maybe it was the Bee Ba Special. It was braised pork in a rich soy sauce. The meat was tender, perhaps a bit too soft for my liking. I prefer pork with a bit more texture. But the flavor was wonderful.

Again, I have to guess the name of the next dish. I think it was the Ba Kian. It was a deep fried meat spring roll. Yummy and very appetizing.

The Eu Chai was a blanched butterhead lettuce. It was soaked with a nice soy sauce with plenty of deep fried garlic.

This last dish has me stumped. I have no idea what it was. I did asked during the meal and was told it was chicken. But I cannot relate it to any the chicken dishes in the website menu. It was a semi-spicy fried something. Tasting it, I could not tell that it was chicken. But it was delicious. Whatever it was, it was an ingenious recipe.

At the end of the meal, a plate of dip rojak was brought out. What a pleasant surprise. It normally would had been a starter. But it was a great ending for our meal. It also reminded me of the simple things I miss from our small towns days. There was jicama, cucumber and pineapple. The sauce was great. Small things, big joy.

For dessert, I opted for a hot bowl of bubur cha cha. It was superb. The bubur was richly santan. The flavor was most satisfying. I truly enjoyed it.

Someone brought out a tub of kueh kapit. It certainly added to the CNY mood.

What a dinner it was. Great and nostalgic food. And great and nostalgic company. The chit chat went into closing time. We were the last table to leave. And even though I am not a Taiping lang, I miss this small town feeling.

Kechara "New Age" Vegetarian

2012-02-06T12:51:00.003+08:00

Kechara is a Tsem Tulku Buddhist organization. I know very little about this religious group. You can read about it from the links that I have provided. Their network appears to be very extensive and impressive - running soup kitchen, animal sanctuary, shops, publications, travel agency, peace centers, care centers, shops, restaurants, etc... The Kechara Oasis New Age Vegetarian Cuisine is part of their very large operations.

They have 2 outlets of this restaurant. One is in Jalan Loke Yew in KL. The place we visited is in Jaya One, Jalan Universiti, PJ. Jaya One is an odd shopping centre. There are hardly any shops. Most of them are makan places. Even then, there are not many. We walked around the complex and it was mostly dark and deserted. They did not even switch on the lights in the common areas. How to attract people? Kechara Oasis is located in the lower ground car park of the shopping centre. It's main entrance is from the car park. So are a number of other eating outlets. Kind of strange - having restaurants in the car park.

The restaurant is quite small. But it is very nicely furnished. The decor is contemporary. And it has the soft ambiance for a quiet relaxing meal.

They have a cozy corner with a sofa set surrounded by some nice artifacts and Buddhist publications. There were more artifacts around the entrance. I found them very intriguing. I think they were brought in from Tibet or somewhere around that part of the world.

We were attended to by a grumpy man who apparently was the honcho there. He was barking at his staff. He did not sound too friendly initially, but as the evening went on, he turned out to be quite helpful. We asked him for recommendations from the menu. But he wasn't much of a help. In the end, I don't think we made very good choices.

Our first dish was the butter mushroom. It was deep fried mushrooms cooked in a butter sauce. It was very delicious. I liked it. The mushrooms were crispy and the butter flavor was distinct and very pleasant.

This was the Momos - the Tibetan version of the gyoza. It was pan fried and served with a chili sauce. It did not taste very different from the normal gyoza. I guess gyozas around the world are all the same - whatever names they call it.

And the Kechara Treasure Pot. It was a potpourri of round momos (gyoza), mushrooms, carrot, baby corns, lettuce and other stuffs in a Tibetan miso soup. It came out piping hot in a clay pot. The taste was so-so. We shouldn't had ordered 2 momo dishes. Like I mentioned, our selection could had been better.

The curry fish was not nice. It was actually a vegetable curry, with a few slices of white pseudo fish on top. The curry flavor was quite crude. It was like curry powder stirred into a soup. We should had ordered something else.

This plate of vegetarian char siew was also a lousy choice. It was an added-on. The previous few dishes were not quite enough. We were at a loss on what to further order. Mr Grumpy was again not much of a help. So we hastily asked for the char siew. It was served with some fresh zucchini. The dish was very ordinary. I have tasted better char siew in some coffee-shop vegetarian stalls.

We shared 2 desserts. The first was the banana red bean roll. The 2 ingredients were rolled in small crepes and over them were caramel and pistachios. They were not nice. The combinations were rather odd. Biting onto the banana with red beans was a strange sensation.

The second dessert was more conventional and tasted much better. It was cold longan and sea coconut.

While we were having the desserts, they served the Tibetan butter tea. I ordered it totally out of curiosity. I have seen this on television but this was my first time. There are some food or drinks that do not taste good at first try but we acquire the taste and start to enjoy them; like beer or other alcohols to some people. To me, this was the total opposite. At the first few sips, I liked it. The tea was smooth and had a strong and distinct butter taste. It was not sweet. Instead, salt was used for flavor. After one small cup, the strong butter flavor started to get on me. It began to taste surfeiting. I could not finish my second cup. My wife too did not like it. Neither did Crystal. The tea was served in a small thermos. In the end, I think we drank less than half of it.

Dinner at the Kechara was not a great experience. I wonder if it would had made a difference if Mr Grumpy was more helpful on our menu selection. The service was also not great. The dishes arrived too far apart. They served us the first 2 dishes and then time stood still. We waited and waited, nibbling at and conserving our rice for the other dishes. But we did not have to complain. Mr Grumpy saw our unease and barked at his staff to check on the kitchen. That and the not so modest bill make it hard for us to want to return.

Pao Xiang BKT

2012-01-29T21:52:00.000+08:00

A lot of people cook their meat tied in strings. It is mainly done for roasts. I have not heard of anybody boiling their meat this manner. Except a Bak Kut Teh chain of restaurants. We chanced upon this place in Glenmarie, Shah Alam. We have been frequenting this area for food recently. The area hosts many makan outlets - coffee shops, noodle houses, famous Meng Kee char siew from Jalan Alor, and many more. We had tried a noodle shop there and quite liked the place. On a Sunday morning, we decided to revisit it. But the place was closed. So we kicked in plan B, and walked next door into the Pao Xiang (宝香) Bak Kut Teh Restautrant.

The restaurant is located on Jalan Jurureka U1/40, Section U1 in Glenmarie, Shah Alam (N03* 04.874' E101* 34.936'). It is off the Glenmarie main road, Persiaran Kerjaya; on the left hand side if you drive from the Subang Airport road towards Batu Tiga and the Shah Alam stadium. But if you cannot find this place, no worries. For there are nearly 20 Pao Xiang outlets in the Klang Valley, Penang and even Singapore. Visit their website to find one nearest to you.

The place in Glenmarie was tastefully set up - with a contemporary Chinese aura. A very friendly man took our orders. And as we considered the various choices of meat for our breakfast, he went on to explain why they tie the meat with strings. Apparently, tying the meat prevents the inner sections of the meat from "dissolving" into the soup and that in turn retains its flavor and makes it firmer in texture. I am no expert in string-tie cooking. I guess it is plausible.

They serve 2 types of BKT - Klang style and Teochew style. The Klang style is in thick dark gravy while the Teochew is in light clear soup. The BKT were very nicely presented. They came in nice porcelain bowls on a matching porcelain stand that housed a small wax flame. This kept the BKT nice and hot.

Our first bowl was the lean meat. It was Klang style. The meat was not extraordinary in spite of the strings and what not. I did not detect any enhanced flavor nor the texture any better. But the gravy was very good. It was almost like the BKT we had under the Klang bridge. I think they come quite close to the "original". As we tucked in, it certainly reminded me of the bridge experience.

The same was true of the knuckles. This bowl had a lot more fat in it. It was in the same Klang style gravy. Again the meat was good but not extraordinary. I enjoyed the soup more.

This was a bowl of pork ligaments. I like the texture. I don't think they could tie these ligaments.

We didn't like the straw mushrooms. They tasted kind of stale. I didn't think they were entirely fresh.

Four bowls seemed like a lot for 3 people. But we didn't have enough. It wasn't that we were very hungry. The bowls were just very shallow. There was not very much BKT in each. We decided to add on another bowl. We opted for the Teochew style. It was a much bigger bowl of mixed stuffs. In it was ribs, meat, tofu and button mushrooms. The Teochew was much lighter that the Klang. The taste wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed it. But I preferred the Klang style.

The thing I like best in Pao Xiang was their yew char kueh (油炸鬼). For BKT, yew char kueh is a must. Pao Xiang make their own YCK. The YCKs were short and stubby. And they were freshly fried when served. They were crispy yet soft inside. Truly great stuff. We had 2 servings of it.

Finally, we had this plate of choy sum (菜心) to accompany all the meats.

The Pao Xiang is worth a visit wherever you are. But be prepared to dig into your pocket a little. For they are not cheap. Like I mentioned, the bowls are small. You may have to order a few more. And they are pricey. Our damage that morning was nearly a hundred bucks. My wife was somewhat amused when I paid the bill. It was the first time she saw me use my credit card for a breakfast.

Basin Food & Vertical Chicken in LYJ

2012-01-22T00:31:00.000+08:00

盆菜, pronounced 'poon choy' is literally translated as basin food. It is believed to be Hakka in origin, where they apparently cook a potpourri of various foods in big wash basins, to be shared by large groups of people. Wikipedia has a different story of its origin. According to its write-up, it originated in Guangdong province, where the locals gathered all their best food to serve their fleeing emperor from invading Mongols in the late Song Dynasty. They apparently did so in basins for lack of proper containers and dishes.

My wife told me about this restaurant in Sungei Buloh that serves very good 'poon choy'. I had never tried this strange cooking before. So we invited SP, his wife and Van to our home and went to Sungei Buloh to tar pau (打包 - take away) the 'poon choy' back. The restaurant that serves this dish (or basin) is the Restoran LYJ, located on Jalan Perkhidmatan in Sungei Buloh New Village. It is not an easy place to find. So here are the co-ordinates - N 03* 11.817' E 101* 34.147'.

They sell 2 versions of 'poon choy'. The normal basin is priced at RM288, while the more expensive one is at a whopping RM550. I asked the boss lady on the differences between the two. Apparently the 550 basin comes with additional abalone, shark fin, fresh scallops and other goodies. I wasn't that rich and generous and opted for the 288. If you take it away, they charge a deposit of RM30 for the container which is refundable. It is recommended that you make advance reservation (at least 1 day ahead) for your 'poon choy'. Apparently the restaurant sells a lot of it. The boss lady told me they dispose more than 300 basins on Chinese New Year eve. Wow!

The food actually is not served in a basin. Rather, it is in a large tray. When you tar pau (take away), they wrap the food in metal foils and in plastics with specific instructions to unwrap the foils as soon as you reach home. The tray was piping hot. A worker help carry it to our car. We hastily drove home, eager and curious to find out what we were in for.

Below the metal foils was a sight to behold. On the surface were half a free-range chicken, half a roast duck, about a dozen large prawns, a baked fish and some broccoli and cauliflower. They provided 3 different type of sauces. We supplemented the tray with some vegetables and a soup and sat down for the feast.

Under the top layer were a lot more goodies. There was braised pork and knuckle, fish maw, dried oyster, 2 types of mushrooms, clams, chicken feet, chestnut, dried scallops (conpoy) and perhaps other stuffs that I cannot remember or get to taste. The flavor was very good. There was a lot of gravy in the bottom layer. It was not salty nor too strong in flavor. I felt the taste was soothing and just right. With so much meat, it was naturally rather too oily.

The tray was good for 10 people. And there was a lot more food in it than we thought. There were only 6 of us, including 4 small eating ladies. So however hard we tried, we could not even finish half of it. There was plenty of leftovers. A week later, it was time for us to return the tray and reclaim our RM30. The tray, although of good quality, was so stained and scratched that it was not worth 30 bucks to keep. In any case, we wanted to have dinner in the restaurant.

There was this chicken that I saw a week earlier when I picked up the 'poon choy' that captured my curiosity and wanted to try. When we got to the restaurant, it was packed. There were people waiting outside. We got a queue number and waited a short while for our table.

Our table was outside the restaurant, which was good as it was away from the noisy crowd inside. The place we dined in was the older part of the restaurant. A few doors away is a newer section, which the boss lady told me was exclusively for 'poon choy' diners.

They proudly display pictures and newspapers cutting on their entrances. Among the faces I recognized were food critics and badminton stars.

The chicken that I wanted to try was the vertical chicken (栋笃鸡). I had never seen anything like this. It was a whole chicken mounted vertically on a metal pole that was attached to a plate. It looked so very appetizing.

They provided a pair of scissors to snip at the meat. The meat that came off was superb. The skin was absolutely crispy and the meat was soft and succulent. The flavor was exquisite. It was chicken done to perfection. Crystal said it was the best chicken ever. I couldn't tell if it was roasted or deep fried. So again I consulted the boss lady. She said it was 70% roasted and then deep fried to get the crispy skin. That was the secret for the succulent meat and crispy skin?

In the end, the scissors was of no use, and we had to extract the meat with our fingers. For that, they very considerately provided gloves by the box.

The chicken was the highlight of our dinner that evening. The other dishes - a vege and a fish soup - were totally over-shadowed. Just as well, for they were very ordinary.

LYJ is an easy name to remember. But getting there is not so simple. I looked at Google Maps and it was a bit hazy. You will need a GPS. This is one place you will need to visit at least twice - first for the 'poon choy' and then for the vertical chicken. For the 'poon choy', remember to bring along a crowd. Whatever efforts it takes to get there... believe me, it is all going to worth your while.

Uno Pizza

2012-01-14T15:32:00.000+08:00

We were itching for some pizzas one weekend evening. Pizza Hut and Domino were too mundane. So we drove to Centre Point in Bandar Utama and revisited a place that we had not been for quite a long time.

Uno Pizza is Malaysian "chain" of restaurants offering Italian meals. I inverted comma "chain" because they only have 3 restaurants - all in the Klang Valley. We have visited 2 of them - the one at Centre point and another in USJ Taipan, Subang Jaya. Their 3rd outlet is in Bandar Puteri Puchong. Our last experience was probably about 5 years ago. I remembered Uno as a simple and relatively inexpensive place that offered good pizza, nice fried chicken and a fabulous tiramisu. But I think things have changed. Well, at least the prices did.

The Uno outlet in Centre Point is on the ground floor, facing the main entrance. It is quaint small place, with tables spilling to the corridor walkway. The decor was red and rather drab. But it was comfortable although a bit squeezed for room.

It was the fasting month. When we arrived, the place was almost packed. Some already had food on their tables waiting for Maghrib. The service was friendly and efficient. A number of their staff were obviously Muslim, but they continued to actively serve the customers even after the fasting hours, apparently making sure that the customers had their food first before they eat.

The menu was typically Italian. They had antipasti (appetizers), salads, soups, lasagnas, pastas, meat dishes, seafoods and of course pizzas. Interestingly, they also had some Spanish tapas and paella.

We started our meal sharing a Caesar salad. It was embellished with some beef bacon, eggs and croutons. I didn't know beef bacon can be so crispy and nice. But the serving was not that big. They were a bit stingy on the greens. For 16 bucks, surely they could add in a few more leaves.

These were the golden cheese balls with a napolitana sauce. They had some chicken ham inside. They were not bad but I wasn't crazy about them. Too dry for my liking.

These garlic bread was very nice. Superbly toasted with some fresh rosemary.

Our first entree was the Boscaiola. It was spaghetti in a cream sauce with mushrooms. The pasta was very well done and the sauce was great. Simple yet so very nice.

I remembered the very nice deep fried chicken we used to enjoy in Uno. So we ordered it again. Our chicken was a thigh with some french fries, salad, in a garlic sauce. It was pretty good. The chicken was very nicely fried. The skin was a crisp. But somehow it did not taste the same. Something was different. I cannot say what it was. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

And finally the pizza. We had the Uno Special. It had chicken ham, mushrooms, olives, pineapple and roasted cherry tomatoes. The pizza was delicious. The cheese was generous. This place lived up to its pizza name.

Dessert was their hallmark tiramisu and a nice cup of coffee. The tiramisu remained fabulously unchanged. It was cup shaped and deliciously soft and creamy with a generous sprinkling of chocolate and a tinge of rum.

My wife took this picture. It was the iced lemon tea. She put her i-phone beside it for comparison. It was so miserly small. And no, it wasn't bottomless. And not even full. Like the salad, they were so stingy over small things.

All in all, we enjoyed our meal at Uno. In spite of a few peculiarities, I found the place revisitable. The food was good and the service friendly. The next time we have a hunger for Italian, Uno would probably be it.

Chong Thoong Kee Taugeh Chicken

2012-01-08T15:37:00.000+08:00

My quest for good taugeh chicken (芽菜雞) is still on-going. Somehow, Hainanese chicken rice and taugeh (bean sprouts) appeal to me. My previous experiences at the Ipoh Lou Wong and Jalan Gasing were not the greatest. There is this place in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) in Kuala Lumpur that serves a credible chicken rice. I rate it a lot better than Ipoh Lou Wong and Jalan Gasing. It may not be the holy grail, but has not fail to sate me each time I am there.

The name of this place is Restoran Chong Thoong Kee. It is located along Jalan Wan Kadir 1, directly opposite the TTDI wet market car park. It is along the row of shops where Dewan Bandaraya KL has some offices. Parking is the area can be a problem in spite of its proximity to the wet market car park. DBKL has some designated parking lots along the road which are most times empty. I usually curi-curi and park in these lots while I nip in for a quick meal. I know one day I am going to be caught and slammed with a summon or something...

The place is modest and basic. Furnishings comprise of simple tables and plastic chairs. At the front is the chicken rice stall and at the back is where they prepare the drinks. The menu is equally basic - chicken, taugeh (bean sprouts), prawn wantan (生蝦雲吞) and Ipoh sar for fun (沙河粉). The chicken they serve is the genuine Hainanese pak cham kai (白斬雞) - they don't have the so-called roast chicken that you find in coffee shop chicken rice stalls.

The chicken they serve is smooth and tender. It is so very pleasant to the palate. It is not often I come across such delicious pak cham kai. It is covered in a rich oyster based sauce. However, I do find the oyster part of the sauce a little too heavy. I would prefer a milder sauce. But it is not a big complaint. With this style of chicken, small glitches are easily forgotten.

The taugeh (bean sprouts) are fat and stubby - just like those we find in Ipoh. We seldom get this type of taugeh in KL and PJ. I wonder if they get their supply from the north. They are lightly blanched and served with a light soy sauce and sprinkling of fried shallot and spring onion. Good taugeh.

The prawn wanton (生蝦雲吞) is delicious. The portions of prawn in the wanton is generous. And the soup is rich and sweet.

And so is the sar hor fun (沙河粉). It is prepared Ipoh style. The noodles are fine and smooth. The soup (same as that in prawn wanton) is rich and sweet. I usually opt for this noodle whenever I am there.

It does imply that the rice is any push-over. In fact the rice is quite genuinely Hainanese - unlike the greasy yellowish so-called Hainanese chicken rice we get in coffee shops. It has a mild chicken rice flavor. Good enough for me.

My favorite drink in this shop is the boiled sugar cane juice. I like its genuineness. And it is not too sweet. Taken cold, it is very refreshing.

Up to now, Chong Thoong Kee is my favorite place for Hainanese chicken rice and taugeh. I think it is one notch above Ipoh Lou Wong and Jalan Gasing. However I have been told that there is another chicken rice place in Ampang where the chicken is so good that "it melts in the mouth". It is rather far from my place, but I will make a pilgrimage there. The search for the ultimate continues...

The Kura at One World

2012-01-01T00:32:00.000+08:00

This was Crystal's belated birthday dinner. And as usual being a Japan freak, she chose to go Jap. She had wanted to go to a Japanese buffet place, but my wife convinced her to try this restaurant. And was I glad that she agreed for it turned out to be a most pleasant meal.

The Kura is in the One World Hotel in Bandar Utama, PJ. Its name means "Treasure House" in Japanese and is meant to reflect the treasured Japanese delicacies that they serve.

The restaurant spans quite a big area on the 1st floor of the hotel. It has different dining areas, each compartmentalized to offer privacy and exclusiveness to the diners. They include a sushi bar, an area overlooking the PJ skyline and an unique room with a glass flooring. The whole place is very elegantly furnished with soft lightings and an very posh aura.

There was a good selection in the menu. It had full visuals and everything looked so good. We decided to have a set meal each and some side dishes to supplement.

My wife opted for the Collagen Kaki Kimuchi Nabe - a real mouthful of a name. It was kind of a sukiyaki thing. Fresh oysters and vegetables in kimuchi soup, in a "collagen" hot pot. I tried to make sense on the name of this dish. I googled "kimuchi" and I think it is the Japanese version of the Korean kimchi. Collagen hot pot? I have no idea what it was. The pot of vegetables, mushrooms and tofu was served on a hot stove. A plate of fresh oysters and soba (buckwheat noodles) was served separately. I had a taste of the oyster. It was superb - so very fresh and pleasant in the mouth.

Crystal had the Teppanyaki Zen. It was a teppanyaki beef and vegetable set. Included in the set was a bowl of garlic fried rice, a cup of chawan mushi and a bowl of miso soup. Crystal offered me pieces of the stir fried beef. They were very tender and delicious.

My selection was the Sashimi Yakizakana Zen. It was a total fish meal. I had a nice piece of grilled mackerel, a plate of assorted sashimi (salmon, tuna and saba), a cup of chawan mushi, a bowl of miso soup, a bowl of white rice and some fruits for dessert. The grilled mackerel was fabulous. It was so deliciously done. The skin was crispy and the meat was soft and succulent. I have tried making fish this way, but have not been successful. The sashimi (raw fish) was absolutely fresh. The quality of the sashimi was impeccable.

We ordered a few side dishes. The first was the delightful fried salmon skin. It looked like the miniature version of our Malaysian keropok, but the flavor was totally different. The salmon skin sprinkled with a dash of teriyaki sauce. It was crispy and delicious. A real good appetizer.

The Aburi Hotate was a sushi dish. It was half boiled scallop on sushi rice. The scallop was very fresh. Real quality stuff.

This was the cream croquette - fried creamy mashed potato. It wasn't spectacular.

Finally, this was the Autumn Roll. It was salmon, omelet and crabmeat rolled in sushi rice. It was topped with slices of avocado and salmon roe. I believe the description is salivating enough. And indeed, it was very nice. The avocado complemented the roll well. Again, it was the freshness that really made the difference.

It was a big meal for the 3 of us. Perhaps we over-ordered. But we enjoyed every morsel of it. We cleaned up every plate. Still we had a little more room for a small dessert. It was our favorite Japanese green tea ice cream with red bean paste. The serving was tiny. But enough.

The biggest plus at the Kura was the quality and freshness of its food. The fish and seafood in particular were pristinely fresh. Every dish was authentically Japanese. And it was was not that horribly expensive. The set meals that we had was RM30 to RM45 each. The salmon skin and cream croquette was RM12 each. The autumn roll was more expensive at RM22. Considering that it was in a hotel and with the ambiance of the place, I did not think we paid too much for the meal. Of course it is not a "everyday" sort of place. For an occasional celebration, I think it is not a bad place to pamper ourselves.

Charcoal Steamboat

2011-12-25T20:55:00.000+08:00

I remember this place to be a western style restaurant and pub. We frequently passed by the area. It did not interest us then - until recently when I realized that it had changed to a steamboat restaurant.

Charcoal World Steamboat Restaurant is located at the busy junction between Lebuh Bandar Utama and the Sprint Highway in Petaling Jaya. It is actually at the corner of Kampung Sungei Kayu Ara in PJU 6. If you drive from the Centre Point in Bandar Utama in the direction away from 1Utama, you won't miss it. It is at your left side as you drive down into the Sprint Highway.

It is a big restaurant, occupying a whole big building. Parking was ample. They even have a basement from where we conveniently walked from our car straight up into the restaurant.

There were several dining areas on different levels. And they were all brightly lighted. There were air-conditioned rooms on the main and lower levels. However on the weekend evening that we were there, the rooms were mainly empty. Most people dined in the open terraces which were cool and breezy - ventilated with large air outlets at various locations.

As its name suggested, the place specializes in charcoal steamboat. It was the charcoal that attracted us to this place. Most steamboat places use gas. We wanted to experience charcoal like the good old days - to see if it is any different from gas.

This was the room where they keep their charcoal and light the fires.

The restaurant serves fresh seafood for their steamboats. In fact, most items in their menu were seafood. They even offer live creatures from their aquarium, if you are willing to pay for them.

We had some non-steamboat starters before our meal. First was the cheese fish cake. It was 6 pieces of deep fried fish cakes with cheese in it. It had a pleasant flavor and a good appetizer.

The fresh oysters were absolutely fabulous. They were totally fresh. I don't know how they keep it so fresh because they must had imported them from somewhere. They were good size too - much bigger than most fresh oysters that I have eaten. Taken with squeezed lemon and tabasco, they were simply marvelous. I think these oysters were the highlight of the meal - not the steamboat. But they were expensive - at a whopping 8 bucks per slurp. Crystal said they were worth it. I wasn't too sure because I had to pay the bill.

We had the herbal soup for our steamboat. The soup was good - sweet and aromatic. I detect a strong flavor of dong quai (當歸 - angelica sinensis). I liked it. It made the soup very pleasant.

The various dishes we had for the steamboat were all very fresh. We like the good quality of their food. Like these lamb slices that we took trouble not to over cook. They were delicious.

The sotong (squid) balls were fresh and springy to the bite.

These fresh scallops were somewhat over-rated and expensive. They may look pretty but I didn't find them extra-ordinary for the price (RM15) I paid.

The jellyfish was very nice and crunchy. I liked the texture.

The prawn sui kow (水饺) were ordinary. I didn't think they were well made for they quickly became soggy in the soup.

The tofu puffs were stuffed with prawns and some chicken. Like the sui kow, they were not great.

This plate was labelled "Homemade Chicken" in the menu. I don't how they make chicken in the home. I thought we all buy our chicken in the market. Anyway, they were ordinary.

The fish slices were very very fresh. Again, we did not overcook them. I enjoyed the freshness.

For greens, we had tong ho (唐蒿 - garland chrysanthemum), spinach and needle mushroom.

There was 4 different sauces for our food. Three were chili based while the fourth was a fu yee sauce (腐乳 or fermented tofu paste). All the sauces were good, but I was partial to the fu yee. I liked the flavor especially with the lamb slices.

Now, how does charcoal compare to a gas or electric steamboat? Food taste-wise, I really could not tell the difference. They were the same. However, we found the charcoal fire painfully slow. I am not sure if it was because they did not give us enough charcoal or if our equipment was not good. It took a long time for the steamboat to come to a boil. There simply was not enough heat. Towards the end of the meal, it took a long time (maybe 2 to 3 minutes) just to cook a piece of sliced fish. There was a sign on the table warning against touching the hot pot. I put my fingers on it and did not feel a thing.

Ciao Italia

2011-12-16T12:50:00.000+08:00

Perth is apparently famed for its Italian food. I did not know that until I learnt about it in a promo video on the MAS aircraft as we were approaching to land into Perth. In Perth, my nephew KG recommended 2 Italian joints - Ciao Italia and Little Caesars. We couldn't possibility patronize both during our short stay. We did however, manage to eat at the restaurant near to where we stayed - the Ciao Italia.

Ciao Italia is a very popular restaurant on Mill Point Road in southern Perth. It is not a very big place and does not accommodate a lot of tables. And there is always a long queue. On weekends, according to KG, the wait can be as long as 2 hours. To queue 2 hours for a table - the food must be good. We passed by the place a number of times before we finally went there to eat. The queue was typically like this...

We were there on a Thursday evening. We were a bit kiasu and arrived there very early - about 5.00 pm. I have never been for dinner so darn early. But we were not willing to queue. We were in fact the first in the restaurant that day. We were greeted by a friendly Italian guy. He apparently had been in Indonesia for some years and spoke passable Bahasa. When we told him that we were still waiting for someone (KG, who could only join us after his work), he was reluctant to give us a table. But after some small talks with him in Bahasa, he relented and showed us a nice table for 6. He later even posed for me and gave me free rein take pictures of the restaurant.

The restaurant is modestly furnished. There is a large counter and enclosure in the middle. And an even larger kitchen at the back. I thought they could had better utilized the space to create more room for dining tables since they are so very popular.

We settled into our table, but held back ordering of food while waiting for KG. When he finally arrived, the waiter gave him a "ma-ma-mia" as we were actually hoarding value table time. As we waited, the restaurant started to fill up rapidly. In no time, there was a queue outside.

We started the meal sharing a tiramisu. Most out of the ordinary. It was Kathy's (Crystal's Aussie friend) dining oddity. She likes to start her meals with something sweet. The tiramisu was absolutely fabulous. It was soft, creamy and the flavor was superb. Like I mentioned in my previous posting, the Aussies make great cakes and pastries. This was better than great.

Then the serious eating began. The first to arrive on our table was the pizza. We had the Toscana. It had Italian sausage, grilled capsicum, sun-dried tomato and the normal Mozzarella cheese. The pizza was simply beyond words. Perhaps the best pizza I ever had. Take a look at the visual. You can see the delicious-ness. This was the first time I had sun-dried tomato. Never even heard of it before. The desiccated tomato was so very nice. It was slightly chewy but the texture and flavor was marvelous.

Did the Caesar Salad originate from Italy? Julius was definitely Italian - i.e. if at all this salad was named after him. In any case, the Caesar Salad at Ciao Italia was excellent. It was a very fresh plate of salad with croutons, anchovies, a generous amount of Parmesan cheese, flavored with olive oil, wine vinegar and a nice (I don't know what) white sauce. It was a most genuine plate of salad.

We also shared a Bistecca Alla Trevi. It was a steak, cooked medium rare, served with bacon, mushroom and mixed vegetables in a creamy black pepper sauce. The dish was heavenly. The meat was tender and the sauce was creamy and absolutely delicious. It was easily one of the best steak I ever had. It is meat like this that makes people want to queue for 2 hours. Total unconditional compliments to the chef.

The next dish was a little behind the rest. It was Gnocchi ala Bolognese. It was a dumpling-like pasta cooked in a tomato based sauce with minced beef. This was another first-timer for me. I had never tasted gnocchi, and I didn't quite like the texture. I found the pasta rather starchy. The bolognese, compared to all the other good dishes we had, was rather ordinary.

The next pasta we had was a totally different story. It was the Fettuccine Ciao Italia. It was the signature pasta dish of the restaurant and apparent also the most popular. And I could see why. It was served in a rich creamy sauce, with strips of chicken (free range, according to the menu) and sun-dried tomato. The fettuccine was great. The texture was perfect. I have never been able to cook pasta to this kind of texture. I wonder what the secret is.

For dessert we revisited the tiramisu and a bowl of strawberry ice cream. These together with a nice cup of long black coffee, ended a most gratifying meal.

It was just turning dark when we finished our dinner. As we walked away from the restaurant, I could not resist taking a parting shot of the people who were still waiting for a table.

I don't know how long they had to wait. But I didn't feel sorry for them; for just as the best part of our evening was over, theirs was yet to come.

Food we ate in Perth

2011-12-09T13:40:00.000+08:00

We have just returned from a week's holiday in Perth. The place is so very quiet and laid back. Shops close at 5 and the city is practically dead in the evenings and during weekends. My nephew KG lives there. And he likes the place and the pace. The city is beautiful and we enjoyed the easygoing holiday.

Food was an important element of our holiday. But they were expensive - easily 3 times the prices in Malaysia. Still we did not stinge. We had our fill of Perth food. A number of times, my wife and I looked at the menus, the prices and then at each other. But what the heck. We were on holidays. We proceeded to order.

On the first evening of our arrival, KG drove us to a popular Vietnamese restaurant in pursuit of the famed beef soup noodles. Australia has a large Vietnamese population and I have found their pho bo (Vietnamese for beef soup noodles) to be very authentic and good. I was hoping to get some noodles that would be just as good as those in Melbourne.

But the pho bo at the Tra Vinh Noodle House on Brisbane Street, Northbridge, did not quite measure up. The noodles were served with generous portions of beef, tripe and ligament. And a plate of raw bean sprouts and mint leaves. The beef was "medium rare" - still somewhat reddish. It was tender and succulent. However the soup was not a wow. I think the shops in St Albans, Melbourne did a better job.

My wife does not like beef. She had chicken instead.

And while we were there, we also had some Vietnamese "popiah" and stuffed chicken wings. Both were nothing to shout about.

On the second evening, we were at the Windsor Hotel on Mill Point Road in South Perth for some Aussie food. The Windsor Hotel is actually more of a drinking place. I don't know if they do have rooms for hire. On that Sunday evening, the place was jollily packed. The bar was doing a roaring business. We found a quiet table. There was no waiters or waitresses. I had to look around for a menu myself. And then ordered our food with the bar tender.

The place is apparently known for its Wagyu beef burger. Wagyu (a.k.a Kobe beef) is the Japanese meat that is famed for its fine quality and high prices. It is relished for its superb marbled texture. So it seemed sacrilege to mince it up and make it into patties. The Wagyu burger at the Windsor did not taste exceptional. The meat was indeed a little finer and tastier, but since it was all minced and meshed up it was not heck of a difference. And surprisingly, it was not that expensive. At about 29 Aussie dollars, it was not more expensive than the other burgers and sandwiches.

I opted for the Angus steak sandwich. The meat was tender and succulent. It was a fine piece of grilled meat. The taste was enhanced by nice pieces of bacon. There was no doubt that this actually tasted better than the Wagyu burger.

My beef-detesting wife had this chicken burger and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

Crystal went out with her friend Kathy on the 3rd day. So my wife and I drove to Fremantle. It is the port city about 30 minutes south of Perth. It is a charming coastal town. We headed to the E-shed Market which was by the harbor. Unfortunately it was closed. It apparently only opens during weekends. We then drove around and ended at the Waterfront for lunch.

We shared a seafood platter. In it were fish, shrimps, squids and a shellfish (not sure what it was) - all battered and deep fried. There was of course, french fries and a small bowl of mussels. It was a huge plate. We even added a tub of coleslaw. Still we managed to clean it up. The mussels were rather small - not much larger than 10 sen coins. The food was so-so. Deep fried battered seafood. How good can it get? But everything was absolutely fresh. It was a most relaxing meal, sitting alfresco at the edge of the water. That was life.

As we finished our meal, my wife saw a guy walking pass carrying a different plate of seafood - with a lobster in it. "How come ours do not have lobster?" she asked. We then realized that the adjacent outlet served a better seafood platter. Too late to regret. But we told ourselves we would be back for the lobster. And we did...

Two days later, we went back to Fremantle - this time with Crystal. It was already late afternoon - about 3 pm - way past lunch time. But we were determined to have the lobster seafood platter. I headed straight to Kailis' Fish Market and ordered it. No regrets coming all the way back. This seafood platter was infinitely better than the last. The only hitch was that we got only half a lobster. Not the whole animal. The seafood in the plate were not deep fried in batter. They were grilled. The lobster was fresh, succulent and marvelous. There were 4 fresh oyster (yummy), grilled fish in skewers, boiled prawns, grilled squids, french fries and a small bowl of salad. The squids were particularly good. They were grilled to a crisp. The whole plate costed us 67 bucks Aussie - i.e. about RM210. Damn bloody expensive. But like I mentioned - what the heck, we were on holidays.

I also ordered a bowl of seafood chowder. Another marvel. The soup was creamy and delicious. There were chunks of fish, shrimps and squids. It had been a long time since I had a nice bowl of chowder like this.

We visited the aquarium at Hillary's Bay Harbour. It is about 30 minutes drive north of Perth. The aquarium is not great. But they do have a long underwater glass tunnel where we enjoyed the sea lives on a moving conveyor.

We had lunch in the aquarium cafeteria. I know it was an odd choice. But it turned out to be pretty good. I have a roast pork roll. It was thick slices of roast pork in a large sesame bread roll. The roast meat was fabulous. It was juicy and tasty. And the bread was vey nice too. I wish I had flipped open the sandwich and taken a picture to show you the meat.

Crystal had this meat pie. It was actually a pastry over a bowl of beef stew. They call it a pie. Anyway, it was delicious. I had a taste of it and I liked it very much. Still I thought my roast pork roll was the better choice. The "pie" was served with some potato salad. It was very good too.

My wife's choice was this chicken croissant. I did not have a taste of it. I think she enjoyed it.

On our last day, we took a day trip to Rottnest Island. It was a 2 hour boat ride from Perth - down the beautiful Swan River to Fremantle and out into the sea. Rottnest is a charming idyllic island where there are no cars and everybody moves around on bicycles. It is so well conserved. We spent the morning in a fast boat sightseeing round the island.

For lunch, we went to the Aristos seafood restaurant. It was a most pleasant dining place. At that time of the day, it was busy with the lunchtime crowd. We picked a table near the waterfront. Very considerately, they installed a netting around the restaurant to keep the seagulls away. But it did nothing to the pesky flies that were so numerous in the summer heat.

Lunch was quite ordinary. We shared a salad with slices of chicken and sprinklings of bacon. The salad was mediocre. I didn't particularly enjoy it. I had a craving for chicken that day and wanted the grilled free-range chicken Greek style. The girl told us that it was a whole chicken and we backed off for fear of too much food. In the end the dishes were not that big and we could had easily handled the Greek chicken. Regrets, regrets.

The shrimp and fish plate was miserable. One piece of deep fried fish, two meagre shrimps and fries. For 20 Aussies, they surely could had done better.

We had a kilo of spicy mussels. Another one of the "what the heck, we are on holiday" indulgences. It was very expensive - about 35 Aussies - over RM110. The mussels were very fresh. They were very well prepared. The sauce was wonderful. However most of our kilogram were shells. Like those we had in Fremantle, the mussels were small. I had had much better mussels than these. I remember Alan bought some real big mussels when we were in Geelong last year. Perhaps this was not mussel season.

The Aussies make some awesome cakes and pastries. I do not have a sweet tooth and generally do not care for sweet things. But I enjoyed some really nice pastries and desserts while I was in Perth. Below are visuals of some cakes we had in a cafe that KG brought us before he drove us to the airport for our flight home.

The food in Perth was generally very good. Besides the above, we also had some dim sum (点心) and Italian food. I will write more about those later.

TGIF

2011-12-03T08:50:00.000+08:00

T.G.I. Friday's has been around for some time. I had never bothered about this place and it was only recently that we popped in to have a meal. I had this craving for some western. And since we had not been there before, we thought it was a good idea to give it a try.

I have always thought T.G.I.F. stood for Thank God It's Friday. But they have the ('s) after Friday. So I am somewhat doubtful now. "Thank God It's Friday's" makes no sense. Anyway, it is really not important. Their website boasts of more than 1000 restaurants in 58 countries, out of which 13 are in Malaysia and the majority of these are in the Klang Valley. We went to the outlet nearest to us - in Subang Parade, Subang Jaya.

The place was pretty empty and quiet when we were there. And it was a Saturday evening. I wondered how a Friday would be like. A friendly waitress greeted us and led us to a table. She introduced herself and told us she would be our waitress that evening. And then we did not see her again.

They tried to have an American feeling in the restaurant. The lights were dim. They had old pictures and gramophone record covers on the wall. They also had some old memorabilia on display. But the ambiance they tried to establish was lacking. It was too quiet. It did not have the life and boisterousness of the yuppy joint they aspired to be.

As usual, we ordered a few dishes to share. The first on our table was the stuffed mushroom. There were 3 large baked mushrooms stuffed with minced beef and mozzarella cheese. It was served with some bruschetta sauce and a sprinkling of fresh herbs. The taste was alright. Th mushrooms were quite tasty and the stuffed beef was generous in portion.

The second appetizer was the fried mozzarella. The cheese was coated with bread crusts and deep fried. It was served with a marinara sauce. I found the mozzarella rather bland. It was not as rich and flavorful as I expected it to be.

The chili and garlic shrimp was one of our main meals. It was sauteed shrimps served with linguine. The sauce was rich and cheesy. The linguine was not spectacular.

The other main course was the sizzling chicken fajitas. I love fajitas. Used to enjoy them in Seattle where a restaurant named the Red Rooster served an awesome fajitas. The fajitas here comprised grilled strips of chicken breast in a hot plate, served with tortillas and a combo plate of condiments - guacamole (an avocado sauce), pico de gallo (a Mexican salsa), sour cream and Colby cheese. I particularly liked the tortillas which was not unlike our local chapatti. The grilled chicken was eaten wrapped in the tortillas with the various condiments. This fajitas did not wow me. It was like "did we order the right thing?"

The eggplant rollatini was our last dish. It was a last-minute added on. It was slices of eggplant (brinjal) rolled over a cheese stuffing and then grilled. It was served the same bruschetta sauce used in the stuffed mushrooms. I did not find this dish good at all. If only the eggplant were slices of bacon!

Desserts were the minis. There were 5 mini desserts to choose from. We opted for the mocha latte, snickers treat and tropical delight. They came in 3 tiny glasses. They did not taste great. Good thing they came in tiny glasses or we would have to waste them. Of the 3, only the mocha latte was just OK.

This iced lemon tea was bottomless. I had 3 glasses of it. Greedy me.

TGIF is not a fantastic place. It used to be the "in" place for an American meal. But now I think it is a "has been". It is best summed up when my wife saw me updating my blog and asked me what my subject was. When I told her it was the TGIF, her reaction was "Chet (Cantonese expression of disapproval).. why bother blogging about that place!".

Lot 10 Hutong

2011-11-25T10:04:00.002+08:00

I have heard about this food court at Lot 10 shopping complex in KL. It is known as Lot 10 Hutong (十号胡同). They apparently picked the best street foods in Kuala Lumpur and brought them together in this one place. And apparently they are quite renown. They even have the endorsement of Hongkong celebrity food critic, Chua Lam. With such apparent credentials, who could resist a visit?

Crystal wanted to go to the Sungei Wang Plaza to get something one Saturday. We took this opportunity to go try out the place. Fortunately the drive to KL that morning was smooth. We parked our car at the Sungei Wang, took the pedestrian bridge across to Lot 10. We were inside Isetan. We walked down to the lowest floor (I think it was like the basement) and we were there - Lot 10 Hutong.

In terms of ambiance and environment, this food court was perhaps one of the best I have experienced. It was cozy and comfortable. The lights were soft. The seating was not mess-like rows of tables and chairs. Instead, there were small isolated groupings of tables and chair between food stalls. With this arrangement, we didn't get the crowded feeling.

The food stalls were all bright and cheerful. The food they displayed all looked very good and tempting. I walked around surveying what they had to offer and had a hard time deciding what to eat.

Here are more visuals of the place...

We finally settled down to some food. As starters I got some yew char kueh (油炸鬼). I realized it was hardly the stuff for an appetizer. But heck, who cared. I liked it.

The best Hokkein fat noodles in KL was apparently brought to this place. So we had to try it. It was not bad. I don't know if it was the best. It had sufficient wok-hei (镬气). It is hard to define wok-hei. It is a Cantonese concept. In simple terms, it means they had used a sufficient strong flame to fry the noodles. There was also ample chu yaw char (猪油渣) in the noodles. This actually is a very important ingredient in Hokkein fat noodles.

The 2 pieces of popiah looked pathetic. But they were really not bad. There were adequate crunchy stuffs in it.

This plate of hor chien (蚵煎 - oyster omelet) was not good. The omelet was rather dry. The egg was actually separate from the flour. Again, the white bulging oysters looked like eggs of some lizards to me. And that really put me off. I have to remember to stop ordering hor chien again.

I wanted some soup. Beef soup sounded like a good idea. So I went around looking for it. I asked the wan tan mee stall. They said "yeah sure, we have beef soup". But it did not turn up to be my expectation. It was not the type of beef soup I was looking for. The soup was very MSG. The beef portion was meagre and did not taste good. And it was very expensive. They charged me about RM9.00 for this silly bowl. Ridiculous.

I also wanted more noodles. And I found the char koay teow (炒粿條) at a remote corner of the food court. It was good but certainly not the best. It was Penang style - with a couple of large prawn, Chinese sausage, and of course see-hum (鲜蚶 - cockles). But the taugeh (bean sprouts) were way over done.

This very sweet bowl was peanut flavored shaved iced. I do not know what exactly was in it. I took a taste. It was very sweet and I didn't go further. There was lots of ground peanuts and I believe there was also some sago. I don't know what else...

Lot 10 Hutong is perhaps a little over rated. The foods there are certainly not the best in KL. The choices are OK. They apparently have 26 stalls. And each stall is unique in what they offer. No two stalls sell the same food. But they are bloody expensive. The Hokkein fat noodles for example, was RM15 and the char koay teow was nearly RM10. With that sort of prices, we could eat in a hotel.

Kapar Batu 8 Seafood

2011-11-18T09:32:00.002+08:00

I do not know exactly where we went for this seafood dinner. It was a Saturday evening. We drove to Seong's place in Klang and from there, we followed him blindly. Blindly because it was so dark and I didn't know the territory. We drove through some very quiet roads that did not have any distinguishable landmark. We finally arrived at the place which was the brightest spot in a dark quiet stretch of road.

The name of the place was Restoran Batu 8 Kapar Seafood. Going by the name, I believe the place is located on the 8th mile (or is it 8th km?) along Jalan Kapar in Klang. I do not have the exact address and even if I do, I doubt I would be able to go back, without guidance, to this place again. So I whipped out my Garmin and took the reading. The co-ordinates were N03 06.234 E101 21.957.

The place is a big shed that accommodates about 30 tables. It was brightly lighted and had plenty of fans to keep cool. It was clean and was actually very pleasant to be there for a meal.

I believe it is a family business. Beside the restaurant is a house which I believe to be that of the proprietor. A very convenient setup.

I explored the place a little. Behind was a huge kitchen. It seemed reasonably clean. There were also some tanks of live fish, mantis prawns and clams. I was comforted with the assurance of some fresh seafood.

And fresh it was. Our first dish was the hor chien (蚵煎 - fresh oyster omelet). It came in a hot plate. The omelet was thick with plenty of small oysters. It wasn't my favorite food. Still I had a taste of it. I found it to be good. It was actually surprisingly delicious.

The mantis prawn was wonderful. It was steamed in egg white, with some ginger, tomato, spring onion and fried shallot. The prawns were obviously just out of the live tank and they could not be fresher. I peeled off the bottom shell and had a good size slab of sweet mantis meat. The gravy was also sweet and delightful.

So was the steamed fish. It was one huge plate of fish head and meat. The fish was cut into bite-size pieces. It was steamed with lots of ginger and garlic. The gravy was a little oily. But so very delicious to sip on. I believe the fish was a grouper. It was very fresh. Such a delight.

The la-la (clams) was cooked in a "superior soup" (上汤). I felt it was wee bit over-done. The flesh was slightly hard. The soup was indeed superior - very sweet.

This was a plate of baby squid. It was sweet, crunchy and very nice to the bite. It was deep fried and then cooked in a sweet sauce, with a good sprinkling of sesame. Would be great with some beers.

Every meal has to have some greens. Ours that night, was the humble choy sum (菜心).

The crabs took awhile to arrive. Perhaps they were still catching them. In any case, we had crabs in 2 styles. The first was sweet and sour. The crab was very fresh. But they were not very big. I wished they were. And I did not find the sauce good at all. It was starchy and rather bland.

We ordered some buns to dip in the sauce. The buns were really very nice, with a thin crispy skin. And since the sauce was a failure, I had it (like the Gardenia jingle) on its own.

The other plate of crab was cooked kam heong (金香). It was better. The taste was strong. And it was oily. I was very full by then. I think I would had enjoy it more had it been served earlier.

I so badly wanted some toddy. Klang restaurants (especially seafood places) serve fresh toddy. It is very sweet and refreshing. Klang folks have the peculiar taste of mixing it with Guinness Stout. I prefer as it is. In any case, there was no other drinker in the table. And I could not possibly finish a whole big bottle. So I had to give it a skip. This picture was taken from a nearby table where a few half intoxicated guys welcomed me to take the shots.

The meal at Batu 8 was a very nice experience. The forte in this place was the freshness of the seafood. In spite of the distance, I think it was worth the visit. I am glad I had presence of mind to take down the co-ordinates. I may want to go back again.

Dae Jang Gum Korean Restaurant

2011-11-11T12:15:00.000+08:00

This restaurant is named after a Korean television drama series. Dae Jang Geum (大長今) is a popular Korean TV series based on a true story of a woman physician in the Korean royal court who managed to cure the King of his many ailments with her cooking and medicine. The TV drama was apparently so popular that they have a theme park in Korea dedicated to it.

Dae Jang Gum Korean BBQ Restaurant (the name is spelled slightly differently but the Chinese characters 大長今 are the same) is located on Jalan USJ 10/1F in the Tai-pan area of Subang Jaya. It is not far from and along the same road as the Public Bank in USJ 10. I googled "Dae Jang Geum Korean Restaurant" and apparently Dae Jang Geum is a very popular name for Korean restaurants throughout the world. They include 2 similarly named restaurants in Section 14, PJ and in Malacca. I have no idea if all these DJGs are related.

We were greeted by a large portrait Lee Young Ae (the Korean actress who played the leading role in the television drama) as we entered the restaurant in USJ 10. She continued to haunt us on the menu before we even ordered our food.

The restaurant is rather small. The shop lots on USJ 10/1F are not that big and wide. Still they managed to squeeze into 2 dining areas - a tatami sit-on-the-floor platform and some normal tables and chairs at the side. The furnishings appeared old and well-used. But the place was pleasant and comfortable.

We settled down, ignored Ms Lee and perused the menu. We ordered 2 meats to barbeque and 2 soup dishes to supplement. Then things began to quickly arrive on our table. They started with our eating utensils and sauces..

And the small appetizer dishes typical of Korean restaurants. I found it delightful picking up the delicious morsels before the main meal. The variety offered here was many.

And of course kimchi. No Korean food is complete without this.

Our first meat was the Sam Gyoub Sal or pork belly slices. They had substantial fat on them. Rather sinful but (what the heck) nice. The grilled outcome was soft, succulent and delicious. Delightful when wrapped in fresh salad and the sambal-like Korean sauce.

The Yang Nyum Gal Bi or marinated beef rib was not so tender. But equally delicious. The flavor was more pronounced because of the marinade. I tackled the rib bone, attempting to get the meat off it. But it was just too tough.

I found the Sam Gye Tang (chicken broth with ginseng) rather bland. It was a milky soup that did not taste very flavorful. I think we have to stop ordering this dish the next time we go to a Korean place. It is getting to be very boring.

In contrast, the Yuk Gye Jang (spicy soup with glass noodles, vegetable and rice) was too strong and spicy. Looked like we had the ying and yang of the soups. I did not particularly like the spiciness. But my wife seemed to enjoy it.

Dessert was pieces of water melon and a bowl of sikhye. Sikhye is a sweet Korean drink brewed from barley malt powder (yeotkiereum) and rice. It was served cold. I found it very refreshing. Perhaps it is not so suitable as a dessert. On a hot thirsty day, it would be fantastic.

DJG is a typical Korean BBQ restaurant. It did not stand out from its counterparts that we have visited. Neither is it any less. Very honestly, I find most Korean restaurants to be about the same. It is like visit one and you have visited all. Perhaps my Korean taste buds are not yet that discerning.

Chyniis @ SStwo Mall

2011-11-04T13:54:00.000+08:00

The SStwo Mall is perhaps the evidence of too many shopping complexes in PJ and Subang Jaya. In the recent months, a number of other new shopping centres have popped up in the area - Tropicana City, Giza Sunway, Empire Gallery and Chitta Mall. The SStwo opened some months ago along Jalan SS2/72. Till today it remains quiet and most times deserted. Majority of the shop-lots are still empty.

It does have a number of makan places of which, perhaps the most successful and well patronized is the Chyniis. The Chyniis is located right at the front entrance of the shopping mall. The external frontage is impressive and the internal decor even more so.

It is really quite a swanky place. The restaurant, like the mall, is pretty new. The furnishing is tastefully contemporary. They do not have red table clothes or gaudy lanterns and draperies. The decor is bright and comfortable, and a very refreshing departure from the traditional Chinese restaurant set-up.

The proprietors of the place are apparently related to the Green View in Section 19, PJ. We know Ah Lian from Green View. She is perhaps one of the proprietors of this new place. She was there to help us on the menu selection.

Our first dish was the claypot mutton. It was kind of a stew, with some deep fried fu chuk (腐竹) over it. The meat was very nice and gamey. It was just at the right texture - not too soft. The sauce was thick and rich. For us, meat lovers, it was spot on.

Next was the "home-made" tofu with a pumpkin sauce. Pumpkin is getting popular in Chinese restaurants. I love its flavor and smooth texture. The tofu was lightly fried. Over it was some braised pumpkin and some deep fried rice noodles. The tofu was soft and the pumpkin creamy. Very nice indeed.

The deep fried chicken was served in a sweet and gingery sauce. Over the meat were some crispy deep fried ginger slices. The meat was delicious. It maintained its crispiness in spite of the sauce.

I found the smoked duck far too smokey. This was the first time I tasted anything smoked in a Chinese restaurant. Smoking food is not a normal Chinese preparation. I have eaten smoked fish and meat done the western way. Their smoked flavor is more subtle and I prefer it that way. The smoked duck here was rather overdone. And I think it overwhelmed the flavor of the meat.

The vege dish was pak choy (白菜) with yam. The first time I had this combination was in Richwell. And I thought it tasted better there. Perhaps it was because Richwell cooked it in a claypot. Or perhaps that was my very first experience of this dish.

Last was the crab. It was steamed with a generous amount of shredded ginger and thick egg white. The crab was very fresh. The meat was firm and delicious. They were good sized - just 2 crabs for the six of us and they were more than enough. I particularly like the top shell. They kept the "I-don't-want-to-know-what" inside the shell. After it was steamed, the "I-don't-want-to-know-what" was very nice and creamy. I didn't know that normally thrown away part of the crab can taste so good.

We had a pumpkin and yam paste for dessert. We already had the two in our meal. But heck, it tasted good when combined into a sweet brew.

Ah Lian served us each a small container of additional dessert. It was compliment of the house. It tasted very much like the normal jelly with a lime flavor. It was not fantastic - sweet and sourish. But it wasn't bad at all. She later asked us how we liked it and told us that it was made from fish scales. She said they were experimenting with the stuff and may offer it as a dessert in the restaurant. What an innovation.

Our meal at the Chyniis was very satisfying. It was a bit expensive but worthwhile. We enjoyed the innovation and refreshing cooking style. It was not to be our last visit there. Hardly a month later, we were back to celebrate a birthday.

Again, Ah Lian was there to help us on the selection. We decided not to order the same food and went for different dishes to sample the variety.

Our opening dish at this second meal was the salted egg deep fried pumpkin. The pumpkin was cut into strips like french fries. They were then covered with salted egg and deep fried with lots of curry leaves. The outcome was fabulous. Top marks for innovation.

It was followed by another innovative preparation. It was a combination of fish meat and fish skin cooked "hoong siew" (红烧) style in a clay pot. The fish skin was fresh and very unique. I had not eaten fresh fish skin like that before. It was thick and almost like sea cucumber (海参), only a little tougher. I liked the texture. But the fish meat was not entirely fresh. In the pot were some tofu, roast pork and different types of vegetables.

The green plate was a simple choy sum with garlic.

Then the supposedly braised pork ribs. But there were no ribs. Instead it was pork belly meat, with considerable amount of sinful fats. The meat was tenderly braised in soy and oyster sauces, with some blanched lettuce. I didn't mind not having the ribs for the belly meat was really very nice. The dish was served with some fried bread rolls. The bread rolls were hot and delicious. They broke up in layers, much like croissants.

I found the deep fried salted chicken marvelous. It was a mid-size ayam kampong (菜园鸡 or free range chicken), salted and then fried to a crisp. The meat was deliciously salty. It was a bit dry, but I didn't mind it at all. It was aromatic and flavorful. I really would like to learn to make this.

Finally it was the wine crab in a clay pot. The crab was cooked in Chinese rice wine with plenty of straw mushrooms, mok yee (木耳) and ginger. The crab was good size. The meat was fresh and firm. The wine soup was delicious and kept hot for a long time in the clay pot.

Dessert was simple - a refreshing plate of assorted fruits.

Our 2 experiences in Chyniis were refreshing. The dishes were not the normal Chinese stereo-types. The chefs were very innovative and had apparently put in a lot of thoughts into their cookings. The Chinese food business is so very competitive. It is for this reason that they constantly evolve. They cannot afford to stagnate. They need to innovate (like the smoked ducked, salted egg pumpkin fries and fish scale jelly) to stay ahead. I believe the Chyniis is a part of this competitive evolution.

Loong Foong at Paramount Garden

2011-10-29T23:30:00.000+08:00

It was a family get together for no particular reason. Just a makan makan and to catch up. The place was selected by SP, and since it was my first time there I thought it would be a good subject for another blog posting. Loong Foong Seafood Restaurant is located at the cross junction between Jalan 20/13 and 20/14 in Paramount Gardens, PJ.

There are 2 Loong Foongs in Petaling Jaya. The other is in Taman Mayang beside the St. Ignatius Catholic church. I do not know if they are related. In any case, this Loong Foong appeared to have a makeover not too long ago. It has a large nice air conditioned dining hall and a equally large but more humble unconditioned area outside. I have passed by the place many times and noted that it was always very busily packed. That night was no exception.

The restaurant is apparently famous for its roast duck. They have a stall outside with 2 or 3 workers busily chopping up the birds. As I took their pictures, I saw quite a numbers of customers ordering and waiting to tar pau (打包 - take away) the ducks.

So the duck was naturally in our order. And it turn out to be very good. We had half a bird. It was freshly roasted and for this reason, the meat was soft and succulent. The skin was nice and crispy. The half bird was not much to go around the 7 of us. I was not sated and nearly ordered another half but resisted.

The duck stall also had some boxes of Chinese acar meant to be taken away. I am a great fan of this spicy pickled vegetable mixture, and could resist picking up a couple of boxes to eat there and take home. But sadly, it did not turn out to be nice. Chinese acar is flavored with generous sprinklings of grounded peanuts. The problem with this acar was that they pre-mixed this grounded nuts into the vegetables. And they became soft and soggy. The sauce was also not great.

This was an uniquely silly seafood dish. It was braised seafood in a pumpkin. In it were generous portions of fresh and dried scallops, fish maw, clams, sea cucumber, mushroom, etc. I do not know why they put everything into the pumpkin. The flavor of the seafood was quite ordinary. I do not mean that it did not taste good. Just that I did not think the pumpkin added any additional flavor to the dish. Also, I disliked the way they wrote the number 28 on the skin of the pumpkin with a whiteboard marker. Not that we would eat the skin of the pumpkin. But it was still food. To me, the possibility of marker ink permeating into the seafood was a real turn-off.

The yam ring (佛砵 or fatt put) was very ordinary. I cannot think of any thing good or bad to write about it. It had a number stir fried ingredients (chicken, prawn, mushroom, etc) and some crunchy cashew nuts in it.

This was the claypot tofu. It was the local tofu with an assortment of vegetables and some pork in a thick gravy. Again, it was ordinary. Nothing noteworthy. Another yawn.

The vege dish we had was a stir fried "chen long choy" (青龙菜). It is a new type of green that is popping up at restaurants recently. I quite liked the texture and enjoyed this simple dish.

The final dish was the steamed fish. It was a "leen fish" (鲶鱼). This is a fresh water fish that is becoming popular in restaurants. It is also expensive. The fish was split into 2 halves and steamed in a simple light soy sauce. I did not find it fantastic. There were too much fine bones and eating it was a chore.

The meal was mediocre. Except perhaps the roast duck, none of the other dishes had any wow factor. It was ok for a simple dinner but the cost was not that simple. At the end of it, Peter got up and quickly went to the cashier to pay the bill. We got a shock when we asked him about the damage. It was nearly RM350 for such a mediocrity. The fish was at an unreal RM120. We very strongly suspected that because Peter is mat-salleh (white), they had jacked up the price. Because of this, I do not think we will return. Good bye Loong Foong.

Ichiban Boshi

2011-10-23T13:27:00.000+08:00

Ichiban Boshi is apparently a part of a Japanese chain that started in Singapore. Besides Malaysia, they have outlets in Vietnam and (curiously) Russia. In Malaysia, they are found in the Pavilion in Bukit Bintang in KL and the Sunway Giza Mall in PJ. They also have a sister restaurant, the Kuriya at the Bangsar Shopping Complex in KL.

We chanced into their outlet in the Sunway Giza Mall. We actually drove to Tropicana for Korean to satisfy my wife's craving for her favorite foreign food. But the place was closed - perhaps permanently in spite of their signboard that still hung lighted outside. Then I remembered a friend told me about a Korean place in nearby Kota Damansara that according to him was very good. It turned out to be a Daorae which we have tried a number of times and were not too eager to revisit. So we drove into the Sunway Giza Mall to look for a Korean. There wasn't any, and Japanese in the Ichiban Boshi was the next best alternative.

There was a long queue when we got there. Normally we would had moved on but for some reason, my family was willing to wait. And so we did. We were attended to by a very pleasant waitress who politely asked us for the number of diners and assured us a table in a short while. Still we waited for about 15 minutes. They should have some chairs outside to make waiting a little more bearable.

We finally got a nice table with a view of the outside mall. I would had preferred one next to their conveyor-belt sushi bar. But it was OK. I didn't mind. We were just hungry. We browsed the menu and made our orders.

While waiting for our food, I moved around to get some pictures. The place wasn't big. It had a nice contemporary decor. But soon the same pleasant waitress came to me to tell me that they did not allow photography in the restaurant. I wondered why. I wasn't using a flash and I wasn't disturbing anybody. And it was not as if they were a high security place that had anything to hide. By then I had enough shots of the restaurant and later ignored her instructions to take shots of our food.

My wife had this sukiyaki gozen. It was a set meal. She opted for chicken over the beef. It was served with rice, a mushroom appetizer, some udon noddles, a raw egg, water melon as dessert and curiously a bowl of miso soup. I wondered why they bothered with the miso since the sukiyaki is already a soup. They could had given something else. Perhaps a cawan mushi would had been more appropriate.

My set was a soba & teridon gozen. I opted for the green tea soba, and it was served with the same mushroom appetizer, a bowl of chicken terriyaki rice and water melon dessert. I enjoyed the green tea soba. The noddle was very nice dipped into the soy sauce. The portion of soba was generous and adequate.

Crystal had this bowl of white soup half udon. It was udon in a milky soup. I wondered why they call it "half udon". I had a taste of the soup and to me it was rather odd. Yet Crystal seemed to enjoy it.

We ordered a number of side dishes. This is a salmon tataki. It was half grilled salmon in a soy sauce. It was good. Only the serving was rather small. Not quite enough to sate our craving.

This unagi juice roll was very good. It was eel rolled with sushi rice and in it were egg, crab stick and cucumber. The roll was generously covered with a mayo sauce. The unagi was delicious and combined very well with the other ingredients in the roll. Yummy.

This was a cream croquette. It was a deep fried croquette with cheese and crab meat. It was not OK. The taste was rather flat and I was not too crazy about it.

The gyoza was deep fried and served in a hot plate. Curious. This is the rarely seen in a Japanese restaurant. The Japs normally do not deep fried their gyoza. In any case, it was quite good. The skin of the gyoza was crispy which I like.

Dessert was tempura ice cream. It was vanilla ice cream deep fried inside a batter and topped with a strawberry sauce. I found the batter rather thick - in fact so thick that there wasn't very much ice cream in it. It was for this reason that I did not find it to be good. I have tasted fried ice creams that were a lot better.

Overall, the Ichiban Boshi is not a bad place at all for a Japanese meal. It is quite authentic and the prices are also reasonable. The positive reasons for wanting to go back outnumber the negative. So I think my family will be gunning for more of this place.

Ole Ole Bali

2011-10-16T23:56:00.000+08:00

The Empire Gallery shopping centre in Subang Jaya is apparently not a great shopping place. But I really cannot tell for I dislike shopping. The idea of walking the whole day into shops after shops does not at all appeal to me. My department is food. I know the Empire Gallery offers a good selection of it. And we have been eating there a lot. We were there again not long ago before it went boom. The place we randomly popped into was a Indonesian place called Ole Ole Bali.

We didn't realize it then, but we had eaten the food there before - although not in the same restaurant. Had we been aware of it, we probably would had gone somewhere else.

The place was very nicely furnished. The atmosphere was elegant, elaborate and distinctly Balinese with numerous artifacts that authenticated this aura.

Particularly impressive was a huge painting that was so intricately and artistically done.

They have 2 dining areas - a comfortable conventional indoor place...

And a relaxing alfresco (outdoor) area for smokers.

It was when we browsed the menu that deja vu crept in. Crystal commented that the menu was the same as that at the Waterlily. The listed food certainly looked the same. But we doubtful. That was Waterlily. This was Ole Ole. Could they be the same? We asked the waitress who took our orders. She confirmed that we were indeed in the same restaurant chain.

Somewhat disappointed because I wanted to taste a different Balinese place, we made sure not to order the same dishes we had at the Waterlily. Our first was the "Sop Buntut" - the oxtail soup. The soup was light. The beef (tail) in it was adequate. There were some nasi impit (rice cake). It was served with a piece of garlic bread, some deep fried shallots, fresh coriander and a slice of lime. I had tried "soup buntut" in Jakarta and I had liked its rich and spicy flavor. The soup here paled in comparison.

The next dish we shared was the "Tipat Cantuk". It was like the Indonesian gado-gado (a salad) with some veges, tofu, boiled egg and a piece of grilled chicken. It was served with a peanut sauce. It was pleasant. The sauce was very nice. But I would prefer a little more veges.

Lastly, we had a plate of chicken and fish combo. Both the meats were grilled. It was served with half a cob of corn and a bowl of slaw. The gravy was thick and peppery which was quite good. The essence of this dish was really the gravy.

I really cannot pin point the reasons but somehow the experience here was not as good as that in Waterlily. Perhaps it was the disappointment that this was the same restaurant and not being able to try something different. And when we scanned the menu again for dessert, we were not in the mood to remain there and decided to go elsewhere.

We moved one floor up to this place named 'T forty two'. It is a combined boutique and a tea/coffee place. They offered a tantalizing selection of over-priced cakes and pastries. We made our orders and proceeded to their sitting area outside the shop.

Their sitting area in a barricaded foyer of the first floor is rather chic. It had elegant furniture. But because they were so over-priced, the place was largely vacant - save the 3 of us.

The coffee was served in quaint small cups and saucers...

So were the macarons and tiramisu that Crystal picked...

Fanciful place and crockery alright. And so was the money we had to pay....

At the time of this blog posting, the Empire Galley is still recovering from the boom. They have not yet re-opened. When they do, I wonder if the place would be the same. The boom was quite devastating. And I am sure there would be major make-overs in some of the places. I am looking forward to go back there again. Not for the shopping - but for the food.

Restoran Nyonya

2011-10-08T23:04:00.000+08:00

This nyonya restaurant has been around for a long long time. Simply named Restoran Nyonya, it is located on Jalan SS2/24, in the heart of Petaling Jaya. They claim to be have started business in 1974. That makes them well over 30 years old - approaching 40.

I remembered eating there many times and was there again recently. What I did not remember was its new decor. It did not look the same. I later found out from their website that they are a makeover in 2007. So it must had been at least 4 years since I last ate there. The place now looks bright and cheerful. It used to be rather drab.

Our meal started with the ikan assam pedas. I could not tell what kind of fish we were served. I think it was either pieces of a snapper or a grouper. Whatever it was, the fish was fresh. The assam gravy was very savory, with pieces of okra (ladies' fingers) topped with mint, basil and chopped lemon grass (serai).

Next was the sambal prawns with petai. Petai (parkia speciosa), the strong stinky seeds that are gathered from the forest, is one of my favorite idiosyncratic delicacies. It makes the mouth stink, the breath foul and the toilet unbearable. Yet unexplainably, like a lot of other Malaysians, I love it. The sambal prawn petai in Nyonya was not the best. There wasn't enough petai. It was also a little too oily. But I enjoyed it nevertheless.

I believe sayur paku is a nyonya vegetable. So appropriately, we ordered it. This vegetable which is a fern, used to be very cheap. I believed they used to be gathered from the wild. It is best fried with sambal, which was exactly how we had it. It was good. I think Nyonya did a good job with this humble green. The sambal and some pieces of prawns made the paku very delicious.

The inchi kabin is a nyonya deep fried chicken. It was very well done - crispy and well marinated. I liked the aroma. My only complaint was the serving was too small. There was hardly enough to go round the table. Chicken like this - there should be at least 2 pieces per person.

This gado-gado, a kind of rojak that originated from Indonesia, should had been our starter. But it arrived at our table in the middle of the meal. It was various veges, tofu, boiled egg, etc, blanketed with a peanut sauce. The flavor of this dish is totally in the sauce. And it was not great. I felt it was too sweet. And I would prefer more crushed peanuts in it.

I do not know why nyonya folks are so crazy about their perut ikan (fish stomach or air bladder). This was our final dish. It was a meshed-up, soggy potpourri of various veges. And in it was supposedly some fresh fish maw (or air bladder). It tasted spicy and sour with a weird kind of fishy taste. I could not find any fish maw in it - they had been so thoroughly cooked that they had dissolved into the mess. I did not find it good at all - not then and not at all previous occasions that I had perut ikan.

And then we enjoyed our desserts. My wife had this bowl of ABC (ais batu campur). It looked very nice. The taste certainly did not disappoint. It had a good mixture of what ABC should be. I tasted it and I agreed with her choice.

I did not try this cendol though. It did not look as good as the ABC.

My hot bowl of bubur cha cha was the jewel of the dessert crown. It was one of the best bubur cha cha I had. There were 2 different types of sweet potatoes, yam, cendol, jelly and beans. The santan broth was rich and so very creamy. The taste was fantastic.

The tag line of this restaurant is "Yesterday's taste. Today". After more than 4 years since my last visit, it is impossible to tell if they had maintained their "yesterday's" consistency. But going by our latest experience, their "today's" taste is definitely good enough to go there again when we next have our craving for nyonya food.

Ipoh hawkers under the big trees

2011-10-02T11:50:00.004+08:00

We departed Penang early for home to avoid the post festive traffic. It was the Friday of the Merdeka Raya week. We picked that day to drive home reasoning that it would not be the day that people would go home from their holidays. Our reason was only partly valid for the traffic was still heavy albeit not a standstill. Perhaps others think like us too. In any case, it took us about 3 hours to reach Ipoh. And when we did, we headed straight to Pasir Pinji for some hawker food under the big tree.

大树下 or under a big tree is a small hawker area very near to Tuck Kee Restaurant where YF bought us lunch on our way to Sungei Petani. It is located on Jalan King in Pasir Pinji. It is a combination of several sheds under, not one but several big trees. It did not look very impressive but in it was a surprising hive of activities.

There were many food stalls selling all sorts of delightful things - beverages, noodles, porridge, popiah, chicken rice, fried radish cake, yong tau foo, etc, etc. There were tables all over the place. People jammed it in. It was like an organized disorderly hustle and bustle of serious eating.

There was an open area that even in the midst of a hot afternoon, was cool and comfortable below the shades of the big trees.

The place is famed for the yong tau foo (釀豆腐). Apparently this YTF stall started the whole hawker place. I was told they were the first to set up business here. It became so very popular that other food stalls joined in and the whole place became what it is today.

The YTF remains the most popular stall. There was a long queue of people selecting from a large variety of fish stuffed tofu, fu chuk (腐竹), brinjal (egg plant), bitter gourd, long beans, chili, fish balls of various types, etc. They all looked so very good.

This YTF stall also sells noodles - curry, clear soup and kon lo (干捞 or dry). After selecting your YTF, if you want the noodles, you tell it to a lady at the end of the queue. She writes your noodle preference and table number on a piece of paper and stick it to your bowl. You then wait for it to be delivered to you. On that apparently normal day, the queue for noodles was this long....

Another stall worth mentioning was the beverage. Its specialty is blended drinks - red beans, green tea, fruits, etc. The red bean and green tea are particularly good.

Our lunch that day started with yong tau foo. We had to have this of course, having drove all the way here. And it did not disappoint. They were good. Both the fried and non-fried stuffs were delicious. The fish paste was springy and very nice on the bite. Small wonder why it is so very popular.

The popiah was very nice. Lots of crunchy stuff inside. We seldom get such crunchy popiah interior in the Klang valley. In Ipoh, it is the norm.

The bowl of chu chap chok (猪杂粥 or pork innards porridge) was also very tasty. The porridge was smooth. There was a generous portion of innards. Best of all was the crispy deep fried pork intestine. And the yew char kueh (油炸鬼).

From the same stall, we ordered this bowl of pork noodles. Most delightful. We cannot get pork noodles like this in KL or PJ. The soup was heavenly.

This plate of fried radish cake was so-so. It was wasn't bad. I guess it was over-shadowed by the other good dishes. Still, like all the others we ordered, it was cleaned out.

It was a lot of food for 4 of us. But we were hungry and everything was so good. This place under the big trees will probably be our regular pit stop every time we pass Ipoh on our way to and from the in-laws'. And I am looking forward to the next trip.

Tua Chiu Kah Revisited

2011-09-25T22:38:00.001+08:00

That evening in Penang, we decided to have dinner at the Weld Quay (Tree Shade) Seafood Restaurant or better known as Tua Chiu Kah (大树脚). I have been to this popular makan place a number of times and this is the second time I am blogging about it. Revisiting the place this time around, I managed to capture the charm of the place with my camera. In this posting, I intend to focus more on the place than on the food.

I actually began to appreciate the charm of the place. I did not look at Tua Chiu Kah the way I see it now. To me it was an old and dilapidated restaurant where the food is good and cheap. But as I looked deeper, I began to appreciate it as a heritage of sort. I feel it is a place worth preserving not just for the food it offers but its rustic appeal that is so fast-disappearing in busy cities like Penang.

As mentioned in my previous blog posting, Tua Chiu Kah has 2 wings - an old and a new. The kitchen is located at the front of the old wing. They display all the food they offer. They include fish, various seafood, vegetables, meats, etc. You pick the food and tell them how you want them cooked. The kitchen team is super efficient. They remember everything you want and the dishes arrive at your table even before you have time to settle down.

The old wing is rather ordinary. It appears to be the remnant of an old coffee shop (Sin Chew Cafe).

It is the new wing that exudes the rustic charm. The new wing is a long shop-lot that is divided into 2 sections. The outer section is comparatively new and "modern". It has proper painted walls and a proper roof. It is brightly lighted and there are even some attempts on decorations with some framed pictures and red lanterns.

The inner section of the new wing is like another world. The walls are bare bricks. The rear end of this section is without a roof but is charmingly shaded by trees with overgrown roots down the walls.

This is like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. What a refreshing sight indeed.

There is a narrow side passage in the inner section. It is disused, but appealing. This is a view from the outside.

And a view from the inside.

Here are some visuals of this old world. This is a koi aquarium.

A nice quiet corner.

And an entrance to the disused side passage.

An non-voluntary denizen.

Our dinner crowd was the extended in-law family. More than 20 of us - split into 2 tables. Our meal was simple but delicious. The dishes were similar to those in my previous posting. So I need not elaborate on them.

This was the kung pau (宫保) mantis prawns.

Stuffed yew char kueh (油炸鬼) with a mayo sauce.

A deep fried black pomfret in a soya sauce.

Braised pork knuckle. Yummy.

The kapar (a kind of thick shell la-la) prepared kam heong (金香) style.

The ever green kangkong belacan (马来风光).

The popular fu yong omelet.

And finally this stuffed duck. This last dish was an added on. It did not look appetizing - with the ugly head and all. I do not know what they stuffed into the duck. But it was really very delicious.

It was another most satisfying meal at Tua Chiu Kah. These happy faces said it all.

Certainly will not be our last.

Paddington House of Pancakes

2011-09-19T08:52:00.001+08:00

From Sungei Petani, we decided to spend a day in Penang before heading home. We left SP shortly after noon and took about 30 minutes to reach the island. By then we were hungry. As before, we took a left turn after the bridge and headed towards the Queensbay Mall to look for food and to walk around. I suggested a simple fast food lunch like A&W or KFC. I was scorned at for the mundane choice. Somebody suggested the Paddington House of Pancakes. Pancakes for lunch? It was my turn to scorn. But I was assured that they did serve decent meals. So, Paddington it was.

I had heard of the PHOP, but I had never been into one. One good reason was because I never really fancied pancakes. I have always considered them 3rd choice food. Their outlet at the Queensbay is quite big. They have tables inside their store and they also occupy a large area outside it. I wondered why they needed such a big area. Are pancakes really that popular and are they really that good? In any case, most of the tables inside and out, were vacant at the time of our visit.

I perused the menu to look for a decent meal. Item 210 was "Lebanese chicken burger with spicy potato wedges". That looked decent enough. Quite in line with my original A&W or KFC suggestion.

It turned out looking anything but a burger. They was a piece of chicken sitting on top of 2 pieces of mini pancakes. Were the pancakes supposed to be the bun for the burger? But if that was so, why was the chicken on top of the pancakes and not between them? Anyway, the chicken was not bad. It had a herby alien taste. I guess that is Lebanese. But the pancakes were nonsense. The juices or perhaps sauce of the chicken made them so soggy that they were hardly edible. Thumbs down for the whole hare-brain concoction.

Crystal's choice was the "Mini pile of dollars". It was to be a salad dish with dollar (coin) size pancakes, mini franks, bacon bits, cherry tomatoes, capsicum and sun dried tomato dip.

But the dish turned out looking totally different. Maybe they brought her the wrong dish. I wonder if Crystal enjoyed it.

My two nephews ordered sweet pancakes. The first was with mango puree, strawberry ice-cream and nuts. This was a decent pancake. I think they got the right combination here. I believe this is how pancakes should to be eaten - with ice cream and syrup or puree. Not with chicken or salad.

The other sweet dish was a overdose of chocolate. It was the "3 oreos with melting marshmallows, fresh strawberries and choco sauce". It was served with some maple syrup. I had a taste of it and found to be to excessively sweet.

When it came to choice of drinks, all of us opted for the ice lemon tea. The friendly waiter suggested that instead of ordering individual glasses, why not order a jug? He said the jug would serve 4 to 5 persons. OK, give us a jug. Enough for 5 persons? Hardly. Each of us ended up with a tiny cup. Another jug please!

Besides the Queensbay in Penang, I believe the PHOP also have outlets in The Curve, 1Utama and The Gardens at Mid Valley in KL. But after this experience... they can have outlets in a million places. I would still prefer the A&W or KFC.

Ren Ci Vegetarian

2011-09-13T10:03:00.002+08:00

I want to write about this vegetarian place - not so much of their food but the whole concept of it. Ren Ci Global Village is found in Sungei Petani (SP). It is one of 3 vegetarian outlets managed by Ren Ci Holdings Sdn. Bhd. (仁慈之家) - a NGO in northern Peninsular promoting peace and (apparently) vegetarianism. Their other two outlets are in Alor Star and Butterworth.

Their SP branch is located on Jalan Mutiara 1 in Taman Mutiara Indah. On first look it is like any other restaurant. But its concept is refreshingly different.

The place provides simple vegetarian food. There is no service in this place. You serve yourself. The food is available in a food counter. You scoop your own rice and serve yourself to the various vegetable dishes. You take as much as you can eat. But the golden rule is that there should be no wastage.

The food is simple, yet delicious. The dishes are all unpretentious. There are no pseudo meat and no wannabees - all simple vegetables cooked in various manners. There are not much choices, but whatever they have look very fresh and appetizing. I enjoyed the simple yet delicious cooking.

They also have a beverage counter where you can help yourself to water, tea and coffee.

They even have dessert. On the day we were there, it was pumpkin bubur cha-cha.

After your meal, you are expected to wash your own cutlery. They have a long wash basin complete with washing liquid.

And you have to wipe clean your plates, cups, etc, and return them to the proper places. You are also expected to wipe your table before you leave.

All these expectations are really not unreasonable, considering that you do not need to pay for your food. Yes, indeed you can eat for free in this makan place. You need not pay a single sen. However if you want to, you can make a donation. There is a collection box, and it is entirely up to you whether or not or how much you want to give. I saw people walking off after their meal without paying. I also saw people inserting red notes into the box.

Is this place a soup kitchen of sort? That was my initial impression. But as we stayed there longer, I realized it was not. The people who patronized here certainly did not look like they needed to go to a soup kitchen for a meal. Some came in nice cars. Some dropped in more money into the donation box than the value of their meal. I believe most came there just for the simple vegetarian food.

Ren Ci Global is a very nice and amiable place. It is very clean and obviously very well kept and maintained. Apparently the workers there are all volunteers and they are cordial and friendly. And as far as I could see, the patrons co-operate very well too. They do not waste food, and they clean up after their meals in a orderly manner to keep the place neat and tidy. The whole concept is so very refreshing. Why can't meat eaters do the same? I can't wait for Ren Ci to come to KL or PJ.

Tuck Kee in Ipoh

2011-09-07T09:16:00.001+08:00

It was the Merdeka Raya festive week. And we decided to drive up north to see the in-laws. Before we left, I made arrangements to meet up with YF in Ipoh. He is an old classmate and a very good friend. He drove all the way from Teluk Intan to meet us. Ipoh is almost his second hometown. He knows every nook and corner of the city - especially places to have some good makan. We met him at a petrol station just after we exited the expressway and followed him towards Pasir Pinji. The restaurant he chose was Tuck Kee.

Tuck Kee is located at the junction of Persiaran Tokong and Jalan King in Pasir Pinji. This part of town is apparently also known as Taman Hoover. It is accessible either from Jalan Raja Permaisuri Bainun or from Jalan Pasir Puteh. It is a typical Chinese restaurant - brightly decorated and has a very pleasant Chinese ambiance. It is big, occupying 2 shop lots and 2 floors of dining area. We arrived around noon and the place was almost pack. As we progressed into our meal, the crowd grew even bigger.

The restaurant is apparently famous for its barbequed meats - char siew (叉烧), siew yuk (燒肉) and roast duck. They have a take-away counter for the meats. Throughout our meal, there was a constant queue at the counter. Very considerately, they even provide fans for the take-away patrons.

Quite naturally, the barbequed meats topped our orders that day. YF had mentioned their meats to me on several occasions. We order a combo of all 3 meats. I honestly did not find the meats to be fantastic. They were not bad but I wouldn't go ga-ga over them. The siew yuk (燒肉) had a crispy skin as most roast pork do. The roast duck was ordinary. And the char siew (叉烧) did not match up to those we find in KL and PJ.

Next was the (I hope I got name correct) chen long choy (青龙菜 or green dragon vegetable). It is a "new" vege that is gaining popularity in Chinese restaurants. It was simply cooked and topped with some crispy deep fried small fish (not ikan bilis). The crispy fish complemented the vege very nicely. It was a good vege dish.

The fish dish was very nicely done. It was slices of grouper stir fried with ginger and spring onions (姜葱鱼片) in a light sauce. The fish and spring onions were cooked just right - not at all over done. We enjoyed the freshness of the fish.

The combination of the next dish was very unusual, yet delicious. It was tofu cooked in a pumpkin sauce. In it were some carrots, peas, shrimps and others. The pumpkin flavor was distinct but not overpowering. It was a good subtle base for the smooth mildly fried tofu. A superb innovation.

The braised pork (东坡肉 - tung por yuk) was another great dish. It was half lean pork braised in a thick soy sauce with some siew pak choy (小白菜). It was served with a bun. The meat had a bit of sinful fat on it. It was soft and succulent and very pleasing. The bun was deep fried and had a kind of vege stuffing topped with sesame seeds. It was really nice dipped into the sauce.

The lunch was most enjoyable - perhaps a little too heavy. It was not only because of the good food but also the good company. YF did not allow me to pay - apparently his territory. After the meal, we walked over to a nearby hawker place - "under a big tree" (大树下) for red bean dessert. I will write about this hawker place on our way home....

Yishensu Vegetarian

2011-08-31T15:24:00.003+08:00

Our first encounter with Yishensu vegetarian restaurant was when we went there to tar pau (打包 or take away) lunch for Crystal's grandma who was on a vegetarian diet during the Chinese 9th Emperor God (九皇爺) festival. We packed the vegetarian claypot chicken rice for her and apparently it was very good. So we went back for a meal.

Yishensu (一心素 - I think it is translated to mean "vegetarian at heart") is located on the ground floor (Lot G207) of the old wing of 1-Utama shopping complex. Besides 1-U, they have outlets in Klang, Ipoh and Kampar.

The outlet at 1-U is very nicely and tastefully furnished. It appears bright and friendly. There is a very comfortable sitting lounge at the entrance - for patrons waiting for their tables.

On display were some works or art that were up for sale.

Our lunch started with a nice pot of "tei guanyin" (铁觀音). This is our favorite tea.

The first dish on our table was the curry mutton. It was very nice. The curry was rich with a full curry flavor. The vege mutton, apparently made from stumps of dried Chinese mushrooms, tasted authentic with the flavor and texture of real mutton. There were potato and some veges in the curry. It complemented our rice very well.

This was the potato salad with mayo sauce. It was not fantastic but I had no complaint.

And this was the clay chicken rice that granny ate. Having heard how good it was, we naturally had to try. And it did not disappoint. Grandma was right. It was delicious. It was the sauce in the piping hot rice that made it so very good. The chicken, being vegetarian, was nothing much to shout about.

I have never tried egg plant (brinjal) fried with salted fish - vegetarian or otherwise. The pseudo salted fish were in big chunks. Had it been the real thing, the whole dish would had been too salty. The so-called salted fish was like any vegetarian fish. It was actually quite pleasant.

Finally we had a plate of black pepper udon. This noodle dish was Crystal's picking. It had some minced meat (vege of course) and mushroom over it. The sauce was light and had a nice black peppery flavor. But I wasn't crazy about it. I found it just so-so.

The prices at Yishensu were rather high. These wannabes are actually more expensive than the real stuffs. Still, the lunch was very pleasant. It was the subsequent shopping and walking that was not.

Park Village, Klang

2011-08-25T10:19:00.001+08:00

We were summoned to dinner one Sunday evening. Edwin was buying. I had no idea what the occasion was. I did ask him. He said it was just an ordinary dinner. But the meal turned out to be anything but ordinary.

The restaurant he picked is in Klang. It is known as the Park Village Restaurant. Its Chinese name 百里香 (translated literally as Hundred Inside Fragrant) does not match its English name and does not sense to me either. Anyway, it is located on Jalan Batai Laut at Taman Intan, in the outskirts of Klang. It is not far from Kuala Pulai Bak Kut Teh shop that was featured in an earlier posting.

The restaurant was rather ordinary. It was bright and pleasant, and not horribly crowded. Good place to catch up with the folks. On that night, for most of us, it was particularly nice to meet Eugene's girlfriend for the very first time. Perhaps that was the reason for the dinner.

Dinner started with the tofu soup (豆腐羹). It was a very pleasant thick soup, with crab meat and other good stuffs in it. The tofu made it smooth. And it was sweet and tasted very nice with a dash of black vinegar.

When the next dish was served, I had no idea that it was mantis prawn. It was pieces of mantis meat, deep fried and then stir fried in a thick and sweet soy sauce. I did not particularly find it great. I could not tell that it was mantis prawn even when I bit on it. I think the original flavor and texture of the mantis was killed in the deep frying.

Then it was tofu with minced meat. The tofu was lightly fried and the minced pork that accompanied it was cooked in a nice rich sauce. The combination was very nice and tasty.

The deep fried pork knuckle was most enjoyable but immensely sinful. Nice things are never good - sad but true. It was fried to a delightful crispy skin and the meat below was tender and succulent. It was served with some nice chili sauce. I don't think there was anybody in the table who did not enjoy it.

The chicken was cooked in 2 different ways. One half was steamed with some Chinese herbs. I detected wolfberries (枸杞) and dong quai (當歸 or angelica sinensis) in it. It was simple and pleasant, and a nice departure from the rich and oily stuffs.

The other half was deep fried, which was quite ordinary. It was served with some keropok (crackers) and the same chili sauce that came with the pork knuckle.

The fish was steamed assam style. It was half the head of a good size grouper. The assam sauce was rich and spicy - with some okra (ladies finger), long beans and curiously, slices of lotus root. The fish was, most importantly, fresh.

There were 2 vege dishes. The first was a stir fried mixture of vegetables (celery, carrot, beans, lotus root, fungus, etc) and macadamia nuts. I particularly like the nuts which was crunchy and delicious.

Second and final was a dish of mushrooms and broccoli in a thick oyster sauce. There were 2 types of mushrooms in it - the normal Chinese mushroom and other is beyond me. I don't know what it is called. The dish was simple and good.

Dessert was a fried sesame ball filled with lotus bean paste. Sweet ending to a wonderful "ordinary" dinner.

Thanks Edwin. But what was the celebration?

Kuala Selangor

2011-08-18T10:29:00.002+08:00

I can think of 2 reasons why city folks would want to go to Kuala Selangor - to taste the very reasonably priced sea food and to buy some real fresh fish. We went there for both. Well, perhaps there is a 3rd reason - the fireflies. But then, I am talking about food....

Kuala Selangor is located near the mouth of the Sungei Selangor (Selangor River). We drove to Shah Alam and there joined the Guthrie Corridor Expressway. Exiting the expressway, we turned right into Jalan Kuala Selangor. We passed Ijok. I heard there are some good eating places in Ijok, so we must make a stop there one day.

Soon we arrived into Kuala Selangor town. We drove pass it and crossed the Sungei Selangor bridge.

Immediately after that, we made a left turn into the fishing village of Pasir Penambang. Just after the Pasir Penambang wet market, we made another left turn into a small country path and that led us to a fishing settlement by the Selangor river that had apparently transformed itself into a makan haven - perhaps to cater for city folks like us. There are many seafood places in this settlement - all built on stilts along the river bank. They are really very pleasant and make great photography too.

The restaurant we picked was the first in this row of eateries. The name of the place is Restaurant Kuan Hwa, along Jalan Bagan Sungai Yu, Pasir Penambang, Kuala Selangor. You may need satellite assistance to get there. The co-ordinates are N03 21.108, E101 14.956.

The restaurant is big, spacious and typically Chinese. It had a very relaxing and laid-back aura.

At one corner, there were tanks of live fish, shells, mantis prawns and other sea creatures that you can select for your meal.

We took a table at the edge overlooking the river. It was most conducive for a Sunday afternoon lunch. The Selangor river is very clean. There was not a trace of trash in the river and its banks. Compliments to the folks in this area. It made our meal a lot more pleasant.

We started our meal with the deep fried sotong (squid). It was done in a batter spiced with a curry flavor. Being the first to be served, it was a hot favorite and was quickly snapped up. The sotong was very fresh. It was very well done and the rapid emptying of the plate was justice to its very good flavor.

I liked the second serving very much. It was a clam soup - ala Chinese style. The clam was kind of like la la - only with a much thicker shell. The locals there call it kapar. It was cooked in a tasty soup (上汤). The soup was delicious, spiced with some chili padi and Chinese wolf berries (枸杞). The clams were, as expected, absolutely fresh - probably live from the tanks.

The mantis prawns were another delight. It was perfectly steamed - not at all over done - and the meat was succulently at the right texture. They were of good sizes too. They were done in a light soy sauce and some ginger strips. I remember when we were small, mantis prawns were not at all popular for apparent lack of meat. But that really is not true for when the belly shells of the mantis prawns were peeled off, thick slabs of juicy meat revealed themselves. Absolutely wonderful especially when they were so very fresh.

Sting ray is one of my favorite fish. But it has to be really fresh. Needless to mention, the ray we were served was exactly that. It was cooked in an assam sauce, which I did not find to be great. It was like an over spiced and over-soured tomato ketchup. But never mind the "small" hitch. The ray was great. Rarely do we find sting ray this fresh. Everything else is forgiven.

The fish we had steamed was a snapper. It was done in the same soy sauce as in the mantis prawns. Again, we enjoyed the freshness of the fish.

For vege, we had the sei tai theen wong (四大天王). It was a combo of 4 vegetables - okra (ladies' finger), long beans, brinjal and four-angled beans (aka wing beans) - fried in a sambal.

The last dish would perhaps be best taken at the start of the meal. It was a thick tofu soup (豆腐羹). But it did not arrive until we had finished our meal. Perhaps they forgot. So we had to have it as "dessert". And it turned out to be a disaster of sort. This thick soup is usually taken with some black vinegar. And so we did. The soup wasn't bad at all. It was sweet and rich and in it were generous bits of prawns and other seafood. When we were almost done, my sharp eyed nephew noticed some foreign objects in the bottle of vinegar. They were some tiny maggots that were barely visible to the naked eyes. By then it was too late for me. I had already downed my bowl of the soup with a good dose of the vinegar. We summoned the head waitress. She apologized profusely and waved the price of the soup. Fortunately nothing happened to me. I became the living proof that vinegar pickled maggots are ok for human consumption.

This is the cap of the vinegar bottle. If your eye sight is as good as my nephew, you can see a couple of the yucky vermin.

After makan, we headed off to buy some fresh fish. We came prepared with our ice boxes. Just next to the restaurant is a fish monger.

I found the place very worthwhile. The fish they vend were all fresh from the boats and they were very reasonably priced.

They also sell frozen seafood and various dried stuffs.

They even clean the fish for you.

We filled our ice boxes and headed to the Pasir Penambang wet market to browse further.

There, the choices were more. But the prices were considerably higher and I do not think the fish here were as fresh as the ones we bought earlier. Still we added into our ice boxes and headed contentedly home.

It was a fantastic Sunday outing. There was our second trip to a coastal small town for seafood makan and fresh fish. The previous was to Sekinchan. Of the two, I most definitely prefer Kuala Selangor. To start with, it is nearer. And the choice of restaurants is a lot more. I told myself I would be back. And indeed I was....

Dave's Bistro

2011-08-11T22:34:00.000+08:00

I have been to this bistro a couple of time and I like it very much. The last visit was for the annual commemoration of my existence - a belated one. I was offered the choice of restaurants and I opted for lunch at the Dave's Bistro Bar & Grill. The place is located on the ground floor of the 1-Utama shopping complex in PJ - at Lot G-209 in the old wing.

I particularly like the sandwiches there. My wife used to tar pau (打包 or take away) their sandwiches back when her office was nearby. They were so very good. On our earlier visit there for dinner, I wanted the sandwich badly but sadly, they only do sandwiches during lunch. So this time around, we returned for the sandwich.

The bistro is divided into 2 different section. The front is a very nice dining area with a glassed-off kitchen where you can see your meal prepared.

Walk pass the diner, at the back is a full blown pub and bar - complete with LCD TVs and dart boards. It is also very nicely adorned.

Our meal that day was simple. We started with the Caesar salad which was very very nice. It was butterhead lettuce generously covered with grated parmesan cheese and lots of crispy fried bacon and crunchy croutons. The Caesar salad is apparently very popular there. I saw it on almost every table.

We also shared a pizza. We selected the Dave's signature honey cured ham with mayonnaise. The pizza was awesome. It had ham, pineapple and of course cheese. The crust was thin and very good. The mayo in the pizza made it particularly tasty. It was big too. The 3 of us could not finish it. But nothing went to waste. It was 打包ed (packed home).

Finally the sandwich we came for. The sandwiches in Dave's are normally served in foccacia loaves. But the waiter apologetically told us that they did not have foccacia that day. I was rather disappointed. Their foccacia make their sandwiches so very good. We had to settle for the normal toasted bread. We opted for the classic BLT (I have no idea what the initials stand for) which had bacon strips, cheese, butterheads, tomato, capers (a pickle) and mustard in it. It was served with some potato chips. Despite the absence of the foccacia, the sandwich tasted very good. I particularly liked the bacon strips.

I have to mention about the strawberry lassi. I had it on both occasions that I was there. It was rich and satisfying. I believe they use fresh strawberries. It certainly tasted like it. Wonderful drink.

The Dave's is also good for other western fares - roast pork belly, gourmet sausages, roast rack of lamb, German style crispy pork knuckle, and pasta cooked in various manners. Check out their menu...

Dave's merits my return and more. It has western authenticity. For the drinkers, a meal and some beers at the back would be a perfect night out.

Several weeks after our visit to Dave, my wife was in 1-U one day and tar pau this sandwich back for lunch.

Yep. No doubt about it. The sandwich definitely tastes better with the foccacia bread.

Dragon-i at 1-U

2011-08-05T09:57:00.001+08:00

We had complimentary tickets to catch a movie at the 1-Utama in PJ - the comic book fantasy The Green Lantern. And before the show, we went hunting for dinner. We were actually spoilt for choices for the 1-U is really quite a food haven. Somehow, the choice turned out to be the Dragon-i.

We had been to the Dragon-i a number of times. Our previous experience was at the Queensbay Mall in Penang where we had a rather expensive and fanciful abalone set dinner. This time around, we opted for more humble dishes that were not so painful to the pocket.

The Dragon-i at 1-U is located on the 3rd floor of the new wing. It has a very nice and comfortable ambiance, and a good crowd even on a weekday evening. The setting was similar to Queensbay Mall - same furniture, similar decor and even the same terracotta figurines.

The similarity did not end there. Our first dish was the 小笼包 or steamed meat dumpling. The appearance and taste of the dumplings were the same as those we had in Penang. They oozed the same soup when bitten on. They were delicious. Such a delicacy.

The next dish is my favorite at the Dragon-i. It was the smoked pork shank. This was a cold dish, meant to be an appetizer. It was served with some pickled jelly fish. The texture of the meat was soft and succulent. The layer of fat was very nice and sinful - literally food to die for.

The steamed rice at the Dragon-i is apparently very popular. We had the chicken rice - steamed with mushrooms and Chinese sausage, and served with a small stalk of choy sum (菜心). The chicken was very tender and the rice was soft and fluffy. The sauce made it super nice. Feasting on it, we could see why it is so popular.

For greens, we ordered the stir fried string beans with minced pork. In the midst of the other good food, this dish was just so-so. I found the beans rather over done. The portion was surprisingly generous.

Finally, there was the crispy duck. By it self, the duck was rather dry. But it was served with crepes (Chinese style), strips of cucumber and celery, and a sweet sauce. It was eaten Pekinese duck style - wrapped in the crepe with the veges and sauce. I enjoyed the wraps thoroughly. The duck came in a big serving - half a bird. But the accompaniments including the crepe was inadequate. We ate the rest of the meat neat and, as I mentioned, it was dry.

The Dragon-i serves great Shanghainese, Szechuan and Beijing foods. There is a lot more variety that looked so good in the menu. But our stomachs could only accommodate so much. So we just had to wait for the next visit. They also have a sister restaurant chain - the Canton-i. I need not guess that this chain offers more southern tastes. I will definitely be there one day and will tell you about it.