Breakfast at Antipodean

The word was familiar. I had seen it used before. But I had not the faintest idea which it meant. Checking my Macbook dictionary, Antipodean generally refers to the inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand. It is commonly used by people of the northern hemisphere. It is from the word "Antipode" which means the direct opposite of something (pole and antipode). To people in Europe and America, the southern countries of Australia and New Zealand are antipodes. Thus the Aussies and Kiwis are Antipodeans.

Antipodean is also a small chic restaurant in the swanky area of Bangsar. It is located along Jalan Telawi 2, which is right in the middle of this KL action scene. We went there for a morning meal at the prompting of SP who liked the breakfasts and coffee there. 

We found the place to be very pleasant. The furnishings were tastefully simple and the staffs were friendly. They have a large counter and kitchen at the back. The dining area was not that big and tables spilled outside to the five-foot walkway. But they very considerately arranged the tables so that there was still a unhindered passage-way for pedestrians. 

They even have a kid play room where they have toys neatly arranged (unreal) and a television set.

We asked for a menu. There wasn't any. Everything they had to offer was chalk written on the wall. Which was kind of inconvenient for we were seated at a table where we could not easily see the wall. We had to get off our seats and stepped back before we could read the long list. And if we needed time to decide on our choice, it imposed additional annoyance not only to ourselves but to other diners in the restaurant.

The choices were aplenty. They had nearly 20 different breakfasts plus some very interesting lunches and dinners like the Kiwi lamb burger (I have never tasted lamb burger before - sure would like to try) and Burmese chicken salad. But we were there for breakfast and it was breakfast we had. 

This was the Big Breakfast. It came with scrambled egg, mushroom, a slice of toasted brown bread, a small piece of hash brown and a choice of bacon or beef sausage. I opted for the bacon. The name given to it - Big Breakfast - was somewhat of a misnomer, for it was not that big. The serving of bacon was definitely inadequate. There were only 3 miserable slices - enough to tease my palate, not enough to sate it. The hash brown was also very meagre. And the toast - only one slice. But the scrambled egg and mushroom was generous; perhaps a little too much. The overall flavor was good. I specially like the scrambled egg. It was excellently prepared - great taste and nice texture. The bacon was delicious. They were lightly fried thick slices of lean meat. More, more!

I think I would had enjoyed this croissant with bacon and scrambled egg more. To start with, the serving of bacon was a lot more generous. And it had some nice fresh salad too.

The All-Day Breakfast was another delightful dish. There were the same scrambled egg and toast, a good serving of baked beans, grilled tomatoes and a choice of pork, beef or chicken sausage. The sausage was really very good. Unless you detest baked beans, I would recommend this to the Big Breakfast.

If you prefer a sweet breakfast, this serving of pancakes would perhaps be great. It was served with some fruits (banana, grapes, strawberries, etc) and a cup of butterscotch. I had a taste of the pancake. It was very well done. It had a nice soft texture and the flavor was excellent.

The Antipodean serves very good coffee. I enjoyed my normal long black. My wife's latte was more elaborately prepared.

They even do kopi-luwak. Luwak is the acclaimed Indonesian coffee that is the most expensive in the world. It is made from un-digested coffee beans extracted from the excrements of civet cats (musang). I have read so much about it but have yet to give it a try. At 40 bucks per shot, perhaps next time.

Breakfast at the Antipodean was good but not a wow. But I think we will return. There are a number of things I saw on the wall that interest me. And the luwak... For this, I will need some inspiration to pamper myself.

Taiping Lang

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

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.