My (Thai) Elephant

We were in this little Thai restaurant for dinner one weekend. The place was recommended by my brother who wanted us to be there early for fear of a long wait for a table. Sure enough, arriving shortly after 7 pm, the place was already packed, but we were lucky to get a table after only a short wait.

The place we went to was My Elephant in Section 17 PJ. It is located at the bottom of a block of flats at Happy Mansion in Jalan 17/13. It is incidentally in the same vicinity as Choon Yien char siew place which I had blogged earlier.

The place was small and humble but nicely furnished with soft lights that offer a very cozy dining environment. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a fine little place in the rather old apartment block.

The menu was distinctly Thai. The dishes had Thai names but were clearly translated in English. Their website provides a full list of their servings.

The drinks arrived first. There were 2 refreshing drinks that merit my mention. One was a Pandan Cooler. It was a simple iced drink  made with our local popular pandan leaves. A most unique drink which I had never tried before. The other was KraChiap Cooler, also an iced drink from Thai roselle. Both were very refreshing.

We started our dinner with a "teaser" - an 'myElephant Platter'. It had an assortment of fresh and fried Thai popiah, fish cake, prawn wanton and one other kind. The platter was pleasant and I enjoyed it.

Next was 'Gaeng Keow Wan' - green curry chicken. It was rich and thick - obviously with a generous amount of santan (coconut milk). It wasn't too spicy and was delicious. The serving was not very big, but you don't need a lot of it to enjoy its rich flavor with rice.

The 'Snow Fish' was baked in salt with basil leaves, lemon grass and other herbs and spices stuffed in its belly. Surprisingly, it was not too salty. The skin of the fish was sliced off revealing a beautifully baked fish that tasted very fresh and yummy.

The seafood tom yam soup was rather spicy for me. It looked very appetizing, topped with some coriander and fresh basil leaves. It had very strong flavors. Tom yam lovers will definitely love this soup.

Next was 'Gai Phad Grapow' - a minced chicken dish cooked in "Thai holy basil". It was a generous portion of minced chicken cooked with various diced vegetables and herbs. It was rather spicy but tasted good.

For greens, we had the 'Jungle Vegetable of the Day', which happened to be sayor paku. Paku is a popular local vege. It was fried with sambal, and looked and tasted great.

And of course, the rice which I have to mention. It was a mixture of jasmine (Hom Malee in Thai) and brown rice. It was fabulous. The mixture was really done right. Like the pandan cooler, this was another first timer for me.

This Thai meal was very sumptuous indeed. The dishes we ordered would generally be too much for 5 people. But we cleaned up the lot.

Our dinner ended at about 9.30 pm. As we walked out, I was astonished to find a large number of people outside still waiting for their tables. The popularity of this little Thai place bear testimony to the good food they dish out.

I am generally no big fan of Thai cuisines. I find Thai cooking too spicy and strong. I would normally only opt for Thai if I am devoid of ideas on what to eat.  However My Elephant would perhaps make me want to make exceptions.

Kemaman comes to PJ

You do not have to drive all the way to Terengganu to get some nice east coast makan. Tucked in a corner at the end of a row of shops on Jalan SS21/60 in Uptown, Damansara Utama PJ, is a small cafe known as Kopitiam Kemaman. The place serves a nasi dagang that we have gone back for, over and over again.

The place is just next to the Uptown police station, separated by a small lane. It is small and cozy. And like a lot of makan places nowadays, they have 2 sections - cool (air conditioned) and warm,  the later for their smoking customers.

As their name indicates, they serve east coast food. And they are pretty good at that. Their signature has to be their nasi dagang. I saw a lot of their customers going for that. For good reasons, because their nasi dagang is quite authentic and good. The rice is aromatic and of a nice texture. It comes with a generous portion of tuna fish, some nice curry and pieces of keropok. They got the combination just right. But the portion is rather small. If you are a good eater, one may not be enough.

Their nasi lemak looked rather.... sparse and basic. That was partly because at that serving, our daughter opted to have it without sambal. You have a choice of rendangs - chicken, mutton or beef. The rice is quite aromatic and lemak. Tastes good.

The keropok lekor is another reason to want to go back there. Freshly fried to crispy golden brown and served piping hot, it is so very good. They serve it with a chili sauce but I prefer to eat it without any garnish. And it is very addictive - you want to go on and on. Like the nasi dagang, one serving may not be enough.

Beside the Terengganu fares, the cafe also serves some not so east-coastal cooking. You could get a bowl of curry noodles, laksa and even prawn noodles. Their prawn noodle looks kinda messy. The soup taste OK but it is not the same. There is not enough fried shallots and flavouring to give it the oomph. I would rather stick with their east coast specialties.

Like all kopitiams, they also serve the usual toasts, half-boiled eggs and beverages.

All in all, this is not a bad place to have a simple meal. In spite of being in busy busy Uptown, this place is really quite laid-back. Perhaps it is the Terengganu vibe. It is definitely worth a visit.

Curry puffs and kaya puffs...

... are 2 of Malaysia's favorite stuffed pastries. Today we venture to get the best of both puffs.

First stop - to SS2 in PJ. This is where we get one of the nicest curry puffs that I can find. We head to Hock Seng Two coffee shop. The shop is located at the corner of Jalan SS 2/66 and SS 2/67. It is a busy makan place, specked in the middle of the hectic SS2 commercial area.

At the front of this coffee shop is a stall that does a roaring business just on curry puffs.

And it is easy to see why.  One look at the puff and you know it is a winner. The puffs look so very good. They are fried there at the stall and are done to a crisp golden brown.

 

And they taste delicious too. The skin is crisp and flaky and it stays crispy for a very long time. It does not go soft even after several hours exposed to our humidity. The crispy golden skin is definitely a contributor to the goodness of the puff.

The stuffing is equally delicious. It is a nice, rich and aromatic curry of chicken and potato. Most curry puffs we eat are just potatoes. In this puff, we get generous bits of chicken meat.

The puffs are quite big in size, measuring about 13 cm long. At RM 1.20 per piece, I think it is quite good value for money.

Next we go get some kaya puffs. For this we head north, some 200 km away to one of my favorite Malaysian cities - Ipoh. The name of the shop selling the really nice kaya pastries is Sing Eng Heong. The shop is located on Jalan Mustapha Al-bakri, off Jalan Raja Ekran.

It is a biscuit shop, selling all kinds of freshly made Malaysian cookies.

But its specialty is kaya puff. The kaya puffs in this shop is very popular. Be prepared to be disappointed because if you do not make prior reservation, you will very probably find yourself in a long waiting queue or may not even be able to get them at all. It is advisable to call in to book your puffs at least a day ahead. The number to call is 05-2439659.

The puffs are sold in boxes of 10 or packets of 5. By kaya puffs standard, they are quite small - measuring only about 8 cm.

The skin is nice and fluffy. The kaya stuffing is thick, rich and sweet. They both combine to make the puff a really nice snack. But they are best eaten fresh, preferably within the day. If kept too long, the puff loses its fluffiness and becomes quite ordinary.

While in Ipoh, we might as well have some tau fu fah (豆腐花) at Funny Mountain and perhaps even some chicken and taugeh (芽菜雞) at Lou Wong because they are both within walking vicinity from the kaya puff shop.

Organic vegetarian

This place is a mini-market, grocery store, chup fun (杂饭) stall and cafe - all in one. And it is vegetarian and organic. For the health die-hard, this place seems like a paradise.

The paradise is known as Organic Vegetarian Fresh Market & Restaurant on Jalan SS 18/1B in Subang Jaya. The place occupies 2 shop lots - one for retailing organic vegetarian products, and the the other is a small cafe.

The shop is tremendously popular. As you enter the place, you see shelves and shelves of vegetarian organics products. They look very interesting. The variety is unbelievable. I was initially skeptical if they were all organic. I took a closer look and indeed they were all labeled organic and vegetarian. I have never seen so many types of organic vegetarian products in one place.

At the back of the store is a cold room. In it are fresh vegetables and fruits - all organic or supposedly so.

The cashiers are located between the 2 shop lots. There were 2 of them. In the time we were there, I could see them working non-stop. The business is that very good. I didn't know there are so many organic vegetarians or health enthusiasts in Subang Jaya.

Pass the cashiers, you are in the restaurant. There is a chup fun (杂饭) counter opposite the cashiers. The selection is reasonably good. There are vegetables, pseudo meats, noodles, curries, tofu, spring rolls and even some sushis. All organic of course. It is self service, Malaysian style. An Indonesian girl sums up your helpings and gives a slip with which you pay after your meal.

The restaurant section is tastefully decorated. Simple and nice.

If you do not want the chup fun, you could order from a menu. It is quite a comprehensive menu. You can get the various types of noodles, udon, fried rice, rojak, sushi, soups, etc. There is even vegetarian bak kut teh. One item that is quite popular is the lui cha (擂茶). We ordered the lui cha and opted to select our meal from the chup fun counter.

The lui cha (擂茶) is a Hakka concoction. It is a mixture of vegetables, nuts and herbs, served with a bowl of thick green tea heavily flavored with mint and more herbs. You mix the two together into a kind of half salad, half broth.

I did not quite like the lui cha. Perhaps it is an acquired taste. I should had tried the BKT instead. The servings from the chup fun counter did not taste that great as well. They were rather bland. Still the place is always packed.

Like they say, good stuffs do not normally taste great. And if you looking for a place to get wholesome and healthy organic vegetarian meals and products, you have got it.

黄酒鸡

I like this wonderful ginger and wine chicken. In Chinese, it is known as 黄酒鸡 - translated as yellow wine chicken. I have tasted it in many Chinese makan places in the Klang Valley and decided to try my hand to cook it up. It turned out pretty good.

The ingredients are:

1. Chicken. For my small family, I used half an ayam kampung (free range chicken or 菜园鸡). The chicken was chopped to bite size.

2. About 100 gms of ginger, skinned and cut into strips. Do not cut too fine. I prefer thick strips.

3. Wood fungus (木耳) - also cut into sizable strips.

4. About 400 cc of glutinous rice wine (糯米酒). Getting the wine was rather tricky for me. I couldn't find it in any shop in PJ and Subang Jaya. I finally got it from a Chinese mini market in Taman Megah, PJ. It was "home brewed", unbranded and apparently illicit. The mini market fellow was rather cautious when he sold me the bottle. It came wrapped in a newspaper. I could not find any branded glutinous rice wine beside this.

5. Sesame oil. 

5. Sugar and salt

A clay pot is preferred to cook the wine chicken. You can serve the chicken directly from the clay pot. It keeps the chicken and soup hot for a long time.

The next few pictures are rather yellowish due to the lights above my stove.

I heated 4 tablespoons of sesame oil in the clay pot and threw in the ginger. I fried the ginger in the sesame oil for awhile.

When the ginger was aromatic, I put in the chicken.

I stir fried the chicken and then added in the wood fungus.

I stir fried it further and progressively added in about a cup of water.

I added in one tablespoon of sugar and some salt to taste. I then covered the chicken and allowed it to boil over a small flame for a few minutes until the chicken is fully cooked.

Just before serving, I added in the glutinous rice wine, allowing it to come to a boil and then immediately cut off the fire. Do not over boil the wine. I used 400 cc of the wine. The quantity really depends on you. If you like it stronger, you could use more. To me 400 cc was just nice.

The wine chicken is best eaten directly from the pot. To show you how it looks like, I scooped out a bowl for this picture.

It was delicious. The soup was somewhat sweet with a superb aroma of the combined wine, sesame oil and ginger. The flavor of the chicken was very pleasant. Yum.