SP had more than one reason to celebrate. So he bought us dinner - all 13 of us. And it was one heck of a meal.
Checkers is located at 19 Lorong Setia Bistari 2 in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur. Co-ordinates N3.1444, E101.6562. It is really not difficult to locate. But if you are looking for a name board when you get there, forget it. They don't have one. This is one restaurant that does not publicise itself. You just look for a shop that looks like this...
... and walk in. This place apparently has no name. You have no clue that you are in Checkers until they give you the menu.
Inside, it was a cosy little restaurant, brightly and cheerfully decorated and with lots of memorabilia on the wall. The tables were elegantly clothed but the chairs were plastic. There were not many of them for the space was limited and crammed. I had problem getting in and out of my seat to take pictures and to go to the loo. I kept backing on the people at the next table.
We started our feast with some mini pizzas. There were mushrooms, bacon and herbs in them. They were delicious. A superb starter. They gave us 3 of these to be enough to pass around the 13 hungry mouths. I managed to grab 2 slices.
Next was the mesclun salad. It was an assortment of greens with bacon and lots of sesame. It came in French dressing. It was very pleasing. Again, they served us 3 portions. But unlike the mini pizza, they took a longer time to disappear.
These were bacon wraps. Another fabulous starter. The bacon was so very well done. I think you may almost sniff the aroma from my picture. It was that very good.
This was our final appetiser before we got down to earnest eating. It was baked mushrooms. The mushrooms looked uncooked when they landed on our table. They were really quite pleasant. I didn't know they can make mushrooms like this. My first time.
Our first serious meat was this roast pork loin. It was also the best meat of the meal. The loin was roasted to perfection. It was not overdone and the meat was tender and succulent. It was served with peas, salad, sauerkraut and mashed potato. It was pork at its finest. The crispy skin was simply heavenly - almost something to die for. The dish was served with a sauce of cauliflower. This roast pork loin is going to be a must for my next visit.
The Jamaican chicken looked very overdone. It was 2 grilled drumsticks with an equally over-grilled plantain (banana). It was served with some salad. The plantain tasted quite good - very popular and quickly snapped up. But the chicken was just so-so. To me, the overdone char was a bit of a turn-off.
This roast pork knuckle was a bit of a disappointment. Roast knuckles everywhere else in the world are so much to hype on. I was looking forward to the crispy skin. But it was not to be. The skin was flaccid and the meat was somewhat overdone and hard. I felt the accompaniments tasted better. Like the roast loin, it came with sauerkraut and mashed potato. I particularly liked the mash potato. It was buttery smooth and very delicious.
Our final meat was the Lord of the Ribs (LOTR). As the name implied, this was meant to be the finale. It was a rack of pork ribs, marinated and roasted. It was accompanied by an array of salads, slaw, sauerkraut, chickpeas and mashed potato, and 2 types of sauces. The meat was very well done. But I did not think it matched the roast loin. I felt it was over-marinated and I could not taste the essence of the meat. I actually enjoyed the accompaniments more.
By this time, we were all ohs and ahs with meat. Could we still manage dessert? Not forgetting there was still a cake to cut. But the cendol in this place is renowned. SP went ahead and ordered a few bowls to share. It was absolutely awesome. It was easily the best cendol I had ever tasted. It was cendol in ice-cream and rum. In it were nuts and beans, topped with some almond waffles. The rum gave the cendol a slight bitter aftertaste - a real nice feeling in the mouth. But it was also the most expensive cendol I ever had. At 22 bucks per bowl, it is spoonful by spoonful to relish.
What a meal. We walked out of the restaurant with a normal week's fill of meat. I wish SP has more occasions like this to celebrate.
I ended my Sydney food sojourn in a pizza joint. Peter was my gracious host for the last 4 days of my stay. For my bye-bye dinner, he took me to an Italian place. It was the Sale Pepe Pizzeria on Sydney Road in Seaforth, in the northern suburb of Sydney.
It was a small modest place; but was bright and cheerfully furnished. Like a lot of Aussie restaurants, the kitchen and service counter took up a big part of the shop, leaving a rather limited space for customers dining.
They had a small wood fire oven in which they make their pizza and bread. I guess it has to be wood to give the bread that flavour.
We made our selection and then settled down to sip red wine and nibble on pickled olives.
There wasn't a lot of crowd. Still we had to wait for quite a long while. That was because they had a lot of delivery and takeaway business. The waitress sensing our unease came over to apologise. Later she brought us a plate of focaccia - compliments of the house - as compensation. It was a very nice gesture indeed.
The focaccia was superb. There were sprinklings of herbs on the top. Freshly baked, it tasted absolutely wonderful. Before we could finish the bread, our dishes started to arrive. First on the table was the rocket salad. In the rocket were slices of pear with crushed walnuts and shaved parmesan. It was served in a lemon and olive oil dressing. I enjoyed the aromatic rocket. The walnuts made it particularly good.
We shared a plate of pasta. It was penne, stir fried in olive oil with prawns and zucchini, and a sprinkling of fresh herbs. The flavour, to me, was just so-so. It did not wow me. But the penne had a very nice springy texture.
Peter ordered 2 large pizzas. The first was the napoletana. It had prawn, squid and zucchini, in a rich tomato sauce topped with fresh rockets. The bread was a delicious thin crust. The flavour was excellent. I liked the taste of the fresh rocket with the pizza.
Next was the meat lover. Indeed it was totally meat. It had beef pepperoni, bacon and minced meat in a tomato and mozzarella sauce - on the same crusty bread. It was awesome. The flavour and aroma of the bacon complemented the pizza beautifully.
It was a hefty and fulfilling meal for the four of us. The Italian essence in this small Aussie joint was very authentic. I enjoyed my final evening in Sydney. Next day, I boarded a MAS airplane and returned home.
We did end up at a Vietnamese restaurant. Somehow I always do whenever I am in Australia. A lot of times, I go for the pho bo - the Vietnamese beef noodles. This time, Sam brought us to this shop for the goi cuon - the Vietnamese rice paper rolls.
The place he took us was Bun Bo Hue Gia Hoi, located on Chapel Road South in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown. It is about 15 minutes from Sam's place. Bankstown has a sizeable Asian population and a number of Vietnamese and Chinese eateries. Bun Bo Hue Gia Hoi is one of the smaller ones. It was brightly lit and appeared to be popular with the local folks.
Bun Bo Hue is the spicy Vietnamese beef noodle. And Gia Hoi must be the name of the shop. Since they put the 2 together, I guess this shop specialises in this spicy noodle. As we walked into the shop, I did noticed a number of people having it. Unfortunately none of us opted for it.
Sam ordered a large portion of goi cuon (Vietnamese rice paper rolls) for the 7 hungry stomachs. The ingredients for the rolls came in a large plate. There were a variety of meats - beef, chicken, fish cake, and I think there was pork as well. Some were weirdly red. There were also various vegetables - taugeh (bean sprouts), fresh basel, lettuce, carrot strips, mint leaves, etc. And generous portions of soft rice vermicelli or 'bun' in Vietnamese. And these were served with various types of sauces.
An unlimited amount of stiff rice papers were provided. They were accompanied with bowls of water.
We wetted the hard rice paper with the water. It was quite intriguing to see how the stiff rice paper became soft and malleable in a jiffy. I guess it takes some practice to wrap the ingredients into a decent roll. Amateurs like us had to be contented with this performance.
The goi cuon was okay - not a wow. The ingredients were plentiful but did not taste fantastic. Perhaps I did not use the right sauces.
This was a plate of fried koay teow. There was generous amount of meat, fish cake, mushroom and vegetables. The koay teow, like those in Katoomba, were fat and thick. I guess for this type of frying, the thick koay teow are okay.
This plate of fried mee is definitely not okay. I think it was Alan who opted for it. The noodles were deep fried and turned out hard and wiry. The ingredients were pork and seafood. There was simply not enough gravy to soak in the noodles to make them soft and more edible.
My choice, as always, was the beef noodles. I have never been to Vietnam - but someone in the course of the meal mentioned that the Vietnamese beef noodles in Australia are better than those in found in the native country; the reason being the much superior quality of beef in Australia. The bowl of noodles served to me was huge. For the first time ever, I could not finish the bowl. Perhaps it was because of the goi cuon I had. The taste of the noodles was okay. The soup was clear and sweet. But all in all, it definitely could not match the ones I tasted it Melbourne.
Finally, this was a plate of crocodile meat that Leonard had. It was stir fried in a chilli sauce with onion and served with rice and salad. I sampled a piece of the meat. It was like a cross between chicken and pork. It was not bad - all lean, soft and tender. This was my first taste of crocodile. Talk about food exoticism. Asia is supposed to be the leader. Looks like Australia is not very far behind with kangaroo and crocodile and god knows what else.
It was a mediocre meal. The servings were large. I think this was a quantity rather than a quality sort of place.
I definitely enjoyed the company more.
Our visit to the Blue Mountains was sweltering. Except for the better humidity, the weather was no different from home. The sun was blazing. The sky was hazy. Still the sight was spectacular. We had our share of exercise that day. We walked down to the Three Sisters. Walking down was not a problem. Walking back up was. At our age, the steps can be very exhausting.
At the end of our small adventure, we were dying a long cold drink and a nice cool place to sit down. Our stomachs were starting to grumble too. We drove to the nearby Katoomba town looking for relief. We had Vietnamese in our mind. Our target was a nice bowl of beef noodles. We walked the main street, hoping against hope to find a Vietnamese place.
We didn't find one. We started to look for alternatives. At this time, any cafe would suffice. "Let's go for some pies", Sam said. Then we saw this place - Unique Patisserie. Looked very ordinarily Aussie. Not particularly interesting....
Until we read the "small prints" on their display boards. "Malaysian cuisine. Penang style. Asam laksa. Nasi lemak..."
Inside, Mr Khoo greeted us. He spoke to us in Penang Hokkein. Made us feel absolutely at home.
Mr Khoo runs his small restaurant with his wife. His young son helps out. He hails from Penang. He said he has been in Katoomba for more than 20 years. But he started this business just a few months back.
His restaurant is apparently gaining popularity in Katoomba - not for the Malaysian food, but for his cakes and pastries. Khoo is a pastry chef. He had a good selection of his creations on display.
But cakes were not our immediately priority. We perused the menu. Eddy wanted char koay teow. It wasn't in the menu! What Penang restaurant worth its salt does not have char koay teow? Khoo explained that because of Katoomba's remoteness, supply of koay teow is inconsistent. He then called his son, "Ask Mummy if there is koay teow in the kitchen." His son came with an affirmative. "OK, no problem. We make char koay teow for you."
The char koay teow was as good as it could be. Of course there was no see hum (鲜蚶 - cockles). There were some nice good-size prawns instead. The koay teow was rather fat and thick. But this was Katoomba. We could not expect the works. Even though it wasn't the same, we enjoyed it nevertheless.
The nasi lemak was more authentic - served in a porcelain banana leaf. The rice was aromatic. There was a good serving of rendang chicken. And some real nice acar. The peanuts were not the same, and I missed the crunchy ikan bilis. All in all, it was a good plate of Malaysian nasi lemak.
The curry laksa looked yellowish and odd. But the taste was really quite good. The curry was rich in santan and flavourful. There were pieces of chicken and dry tofu with a sprinkle of deep fried shallots.
Sam had his pie. It was nice. But in the midst of what we were eating, it was rather out of place.
The Malaysian dishes were apparently all prepared by Mrs Khoo. As we near the end of our meal, she came out of the kitchen to chat with us. She was a very pleasant lady. Again, it was all in Penang Hokkein. "Why don't you try our assam laksa?" she said, "It is very nice." OK. Bring it on. We shall have a bowl of assam laksa.
In a short while, she returned with a big bowl of assam laksa. I took a spoonful of the soup. It blew me over. It was absolutely one of the best assam laksa I had ever tasted. It is no over-statement that I say that there is no assam laksa in KL, PJ and the Klang Valley that matches this one. The taste was authentically Penang. The spiciness and the sourness was just perfect. Mrs Khoo said she used a mix of tuna and mackerel to make her laksa soup. It was awesome. We talked about this bowl of assam laksa days afterwards.
Unique Patiserrie... We were so very glad we did not find any Vietnamese in Katoomba that day.
