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The Penang JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK Trip - Part 2

2008-07-15T00:33:00.019+08:00

Sorry for the delay. This is the official Day 2 of the Penang JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK Trip.

Almost everyone slept like a pig, except poor Kevin who slept on steel bars and ZZ who was clever enough to face the toilet and sleep. Lolz! Everyone woke up early, but some slept back, some played PSP and one person in particular who didn't wake up at all.

*You know who you are..*

At last, at about 10ish, everyone was too hungry and woke up and got ready and off we hunt again! To our surprise, we saw this car with number plate of WLL6255, the combination of Jon's car (WLL1755) and my car (WLL6220). And yes, I can't resist not taking a picture of it.

*YAY!!!*

We headed down to Air Itam for Assam Laksa. Assam Laksa for breakfast. This is a first for me. We went to the very famous stall near the market. You will never miss it, trust me.

*The Laksa stall @ Air Itam market*

*Super yummy Assam Laksa!!!!!!!!!*

The Laksa was so good, people who normally don't fancy Laksa will also say it is nice. This theory is proven by the people in the red car. Lolz! Right in front of the stall, there was this uncle selling fried stuffs. So I curiously order some spring rolls and damn, it was good!

*Yummy spring rolls @ RM1 each*

Since we're there already, we went up to Kek Lok Si and paid the turtles a visit. The penyu was so happy he emitted happy hormones to the turtles there and a pair of the turtles there actually performed "life show" to us. Lolz! I have a video of it if you wanna watch. Just ask me.

*Turtles @ Kek Lok Si*

So happen all 8 of us were Buddist, so we went up to the temple to pray. Kevin had to floor the accelerator as it was too steep. Poor red apple.

*Penang's view from Kek Lok Si temple*

We continued with out voyage after that to Macalister Road. As everybody knows, Penang's city centre has one-way street roads. So Macalister Road was cut half way in the sense that first half has cars travelling from west to east, while the other half, east to west. So we took a real big detour to get to the other side. Sigh... the pain of driving..

At Macalister Road, we went for the famous Sisters Char Kuey Teow. It has some pretty cool signs on its walls about no moving tables etc etc. Lolz. The Char Kuey Teow is indeed really good. I particularly loved it as there was a tinge of spicyness.

*Sisters' Char Kuey Teow*

Another stall that resides inside the restaurant serves pretty good Yam Cake. However, during this trip, we found even better one. Stay tuned for that.

As Char Kuey Teow alone was not enough for us, we proceeded to Lorong Selamat, everyone's favourite place in Penang. Everyone, as in the 8 of us.

*The entrace to the Kopitiam*

This kopitiam is rather busy so you won't miss it when you're there already. Look out for a guy who cooks Char Kuey Teow with goggles and shower cap. Lolz!

*The super good Or Chien*

We also had it's famous Peanut Ice Cream and ABC. Assam Laksa too, but the pictures are missing. I wonder why...but anyhow, the 3 missing items in this post..IS A MUST TRY!!!! MUST MUST MUST! The Assam Laksa stall is located opposite of the kopitiam but you can order it and he'll bring it in.

After our long food adventure for that day, we retreated to our apartment and got ready for the BEACH!!

*Jon with my girlie hairclip*

*I dunno y.. I like this pic*

I was pursuading everyone to ride the banana boat with me as I've never rode on one. WK, TS, WY and Rach layaned me. The others.....hisap. The ride was good, so was the fall. Poor TS got stinged by jelly fish. We fell a total of 3 times and that was it. All of us had to endure the pain from the fall..which lasted a few days. Yokoyoko became out bestfriend.

*YEAH~*

*Idiots trying to act all happy*

*The beautiful sky*

As I previously mentioned, Rachel slept the most throughout the trip and in order to keep her awake, ZZ came out with this phrase "Sleeping is for dead people! You pay so much to come here and sleep ah!" and guess what? This was ZZ's favourite pose/past time throughout the trip.

*Lu Hisap*

For dinner, we wanted to try something un-hawker-ish. So we went down to Air Itam again..to look for this Thai food my bro recommended. But! It was closed for the day. Damn! Upon recommendation of a nice lady, we went to Lorong Abu Siti for dinner at a Thai restaurant named, Maa Roy.

The restaurant is really authentic in the sense that it serves very authentic Thai food like those we normally find in Thailand. They even hanged a portait of the Thai King, as Thais really worship thier King. I heard that it's because he's really a good King. Good for him.

They took real care of us, even the rice also they shaped it into a beautiful star shape!

*Starry starry rice*

Maa Roy has set dinners which are value for money. There are 4 sets to choose from and each set comes with 4 dishes and fit for 4 person. We ordered 2 sets of course and plenty of rice and chinese tea!

*Fried kailan with crispy pork*

*Kerabu Mango* - yummylicious!

*Green curry chicken* - the fastest dish to dissapear

*Tom Yam* - damn spicy and sour! Good stuff!

*Dry Red Curry Chicken* - so spicy everyone's face were all flushed up!

*Fried Mix Vege* - good fibre

*Crispy Pork* - another good stuff!

*Seafood Salad*

*Sambal Pork* - goes real well with rice!

Jon and I had to quickly take pics as everyone was damn hungry. This was how we look like.

*DIG IN!!!*

After that? Everyone was satisfied.

*Notice the flushed faces? Lolz*

The only comment I can give on Maa Roy is: SUPER DAMN GOOD WHOEVER WHO MISS THIS IS MISSING A LOT!!!!!

We continued from Maa Roy to Gurney Drive. Stopped by at Song River Cafe to satisfy my curiosity of Roti Babi. Damn, it was good!

*Sorry, only two pieces left*

Some of us wanted more food and hunted for Char Kuey Teow at Gurney Drive..but the power of Euro Cup (then) was so high that the hawkers closed early.

*Gurney Drive*

But I managed to get myself some dessert...

*Tau Foo Fah*

Went back...and....we had our moments of joy and laughter...which should be censored from the web...but certainly..not in our minds

-To be continued-

The Penang JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK trip - Part 1

2008-07-02T16:36:00.025+08:00

Now, let's get the ball rolling on the Penang JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK trip. Yes, this is the DAY 1 post!

As mentioned, there were 2 cars up. We took things for granted (or was it just me? lolz!) and took whatever things that we can think of. We had a set of Jimrami, a set of Mahjong, a PS2 set, a PS2 mini set with screen, a queen sized comforter, a pillow, a laptop, a sleeping bag, 8 travel bags and I don't know what else. And most of the stuffs is stuffed into this Volvo.

*The Volvo with a humongous boot*

We cruised slowly and stoped at Bidor for breakfast. All the guys (including sissy ones) had duck drumstick noodles while the gals had Wantan noodle. Sorry no pic of the noodles itself. We were just too hungry. The food are actually slightly pricey (RM6.80 for a bowl) and this shop can be recognised easily as it's neighbour shop had lots of petai hanging outside.

*Breakkie at Bidor*

We joined back into the North South Highway and in a mere 5 minutes, we stopped at the Tapah rest stop as I wanted some water apples. Wei Keat had his Baskin Robbins (apparently Rachel and Wei Keat made a pack about Wei Keat getting to eat as many ice-creams as he wants with Rachel paying and I don't know what else) with Tee Suan joining on the ice-cream adventure.

*Munch munch munch, chomp chomp chomp, lick lick lick*

At about 2pm, we arrive at our rented apartment, the Sri Sayang Apartment which is directly opposite of Rasa Sayang Resorts. We were just this close away from 5 star treatment. The rental was cheap though, RM108 for a two bedroom apartment. But of coz, you'll need to forgo some quality measures. As we were all pretty hungry, I suggested Nasi Kandar and off we go.

We went to Line Clear Nasi Kandar which is situated in an alley (lorong belakang) off Penang Road near Komtar. It took us quite a few U-turns as none of us knew the roads well and no, there wasn't a single Penangite among us. The food was slightly expensive, but definitely very good. Nasi Briyani is priced at RM6.00 while normal white rice is at RM0.80. I had briyani rice with honey chicken and lady's fingers, topped with lots of fish curry gravy. It cost me RM10.90 but I shared it with Rachel. Yes, the portion was quite huge but the guys manage to finish it all up! (despite the smell, lolz!)

*Nasi Kandar Clear Line @ Penang Road*

To our amusement, Nasi Kandar Kayu was just around the corner. We have a friend who did not come with us who was a Nasi Kandar Kayu freak. Whenever we ask him for mamak session, he will always say "Kayu Original". So here you go, Kim! This one is for you! The original punya original!

*The original punya original Kayu Nasi Kandar @ Penang Road*

We took a "stroll" after the hearty meal to a nearby restaurant which was famous for its ais kacang. And guess what? We saw a Lorong Amoy (Amoy Lane or Girl Lane) and I just had to take a picture of it!

* Me with the Lorong Amoy sign*

Finally, we reach the New World Restaurant (Sin Sie Kei). There's a new complex/bazaar/building which resembles Niu Che Sui in Selangor which is just next to it. The ais kacang was indeed good, so was its cendol. But the rojak was super duper good! With lots of crushed nuts that is!

*Ais kacang @ New World Restaurant*

*The Cendol that everyone was craving for*

*Yummy Rojak with lotsa crushed peanuts @ New World Restaurant*

After that, we walked all the way back to our cars and retreated back to the apartment for shower. Some took naps, but most of us just crapped.

At about 8pm, we ventured out again. This time to Pulau Tikus night market @ Jalan Pasar. Nothing much there, it was a dissapointmend. Tasteless Char Kuey Teow.. really terrible. So we went 2nd round..to New Lane Hawker Junction. We, all 8 of us, highly recommend this place for its barbequed chicken wings! Best ever tasted in our lives!

*Candid camera! Zz says "hmmm, wad should I eat?"

*The okok-only-la Assam Laksa*

*Penang Chee Cheong Fun*

*Pat poh (8 treasures) drink. Supposed to be good for thoart*

*Oh Jien (Fried Oysters)*

*BESTED BEST CHICKEN WINGS!!!!*

*Satay babi, you cannot find this in KL man*

After that, we went back..and this is what happened to us.

*So piggy*

Of course, at the end, everyone didn't get much sleep cause it was too noisy (some people just can't keep his mouth shut) and we forced ourselves to....

..play mahjong and card games at the same time. We are the champions!

**To be continued..

The Penang JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK trip..The Introduction

2008-07-02T10:58:00.007+08:00

Yes, this blog is dead. Lemme revive it with the Penang JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK JIAK trip.

The name itself is self-explanatory. We, the Monashian comprising Tee Suan, Ka Jon (Miao Miao), Weng Yew (Penyu), Wei Keat, Kevin, Zeng Zi (ZZ) and myself as well as an alien from UniSA, Rachel, ate and ate and ate throughout the trip. From Feringghi to Macalister, to Penang Road, to Bayan Lepas, to Balik Pulau, to Air Itam...we practically covered the whole Penang Island except Teluk Bahang. Call us the champions!

The Team. First row from L-R: Tee Suan, Rachel, Me (Pek Mei) and Ka Jon. Second row from L-R: Zeng Zi, Kevin, Wei Keat and Weng Yew.

The trip took off at 9.15am on 24th June 2008 from Kota Damansara and ended at 1.15am on 28th June 2008. The entourage of 8 was split into 2 cars, a Volvo and a Myvi. Yes, we are very impressed with the Myvi, particularly the driver, for managing the trip in style. As usual, I'm the navigator, holding 2 makan books with very simple maps and another tourist map to locate every nooks and corners in Penang for yummy glorious food. It's not that we're not techie enough to use a GPS, but the GPS failed on us upon reaching Penang.

The Volvo team: Jon (driver), Me (navigator), Tee Suan and Rachel (Ms. Tidur everytime masuk kereta).

The Myvi team: Kevin (Driver), Penyu, ZZ and Wei Keat.

The Myvi team had this funny deal, if anyone of the passengers falls asleep, they'll have to pay all the toll money. If this would be applied to the Volvo team, Ms Rachel would have to pay it all as she slept almost everything she enters the car.

Both cars travelled heavily as the boots were super full. We had waterguns, Gimrami set, Mahjong set, PS2, PS2 mini, my queen sized comforter as well as my bantal busuk and laptop as luggage besides our typical traveling bags. Not to forget, two cartons of beer as well.

-To be continued-

Time for some ice cold, wait..wad did I head? Yogurberry??

2008-04-12T17:32:00.004+08:00

Yogurberry ice-cream parlour @ Sunway Pyramid

My beloved dearie told me about this lovely dessert parlour in Kota Kinabalu called Yogurberry during her 1st year in UMS, KK. And guess what? 1.5years later, Yogurberry stepped foot in the West of Malaysia!

Currently located in Sunway Pyramid, Times Square and The Mines Shopping Mall, Yogurberry is a franchise from Korea. The other dearie and me had our chance at this yogurt-based ice-cream 2 days ago at the Sunway Pyramid outlet.

In order to place an order, you'll need to decide which style of ice-cream you'll want. There're two, 1st being like the pic above, which is just the ice-cream only while the other one comes with ice-shavings at the bottom ala ice kacang. Then, choose whatever toppings you want! Isn't that great! Add on all your favourite toppings which ranges from fruits such as honeydrew, strawberries, mangoes etc to dried toppings such as chocoballs, rice crispies, almonds etc. Do be aware, the more toppings you choose, the more expensive it will be. Next, choose your syrup topping. If you're not a fan of yogurt, remember to ADD on a topping unlike me who prefer it syrupless. The last procedure? Pay of course!

For my first experience here, I chose the honeydew, mango, chocoballs and almonds toppings on double twisters. It cost me RM16++. A little expensive for ice-cream considering it not being premium ice-cream, but oh well, you do have to pay for something different, don't you?

I would say the yogurt taste is very refreshing but not everyone would like it. I love the add-whatever-topping-you-want concept but would love it more if it is cheaper. Oh yeah, one thing they can improve on is the "How to Order" procedure coz it took me quite long to understand (it was easier after a phonecall to KK). They provide games such as Jengga, cards, Unos which is quite good as eating ice-cream alone can be a little boring at times. Oh oh oh, they can also improve on thier ambiance in the sense that they can have some jazz/relaxing music played as background music. Overall, it was a good experience after all.

Price: RM0.55 onwards
Cleanliness: Good
Ambiance: OK

I'm back! Not for long...

2007-08-19T22:43:00.000+08:00

Hello people! I know lots of you are missing me already but I'm really sorry I won't be updating as frequent as last time eventhough I do feel guilty. Assignments, weekly tutorial work and work have been taking it's toll on me. I am physically and mentally tired almost everyday.

Anyhow, lemme do a short post to cheer you guys up!

Two days ago when I was doing my assignment, I let the dog have her "little adventure" a.k.a. run all over the house in search of insects/things to eat. I forgot that the maid left a basket of Duku Langsat at the kitchen floor (not enough surface area, you see) and my very clever little dog....yes...you've guessed it, CURI MAKAN!!

She got caught red-handed! I mean red-pawed as she left the inedible skin everywhere. Very naughty dog indeed. I even have a picture as proove!

*Bad Bobbi! The brownish yellowish Duku is in her mouth*

She does look horrible in this picture. She was being adventurous anyway, so it's ok to look not-so-feminine.

*"I'm sorry, Mommy!" pleads Bobbi*

Hey, don't you think she's an ugly bitch because she is actually a super duper very cute bitch! (she is a bitch what..)

*"Yay!! I'm sitting on the CEO chair! I am Chief Eating Officer!"

*"Mommy's room is my favourite hangout spot! My absolute favourite would be the floormat which I pee on almost every night!"

So..what breed is my dog again?? She is obviously a very hairy dog....well..lemme show you a picture that will give her away instantly.

*"You stupid! I'm a Shihtzu lah!"

There you go. You've heard her loud and clear.

2007-08-11T02:44:00.001+08:00

Sorry people, I'm not as motivated to blog as I used to. Uni works are taking its toll on me and also with work...I hardly have time to myself not to mention the pig. Luckily he is way busier than me, if not he'll definitely blow his top off.

Do drop by every now and then, you'll be surprised if I was happy enough to blog about food again.

Till then....XOXO

Kokok kok kok~ Let's go to Kokok Restaurant!

2007-07-15T00:42:00.000+08:00

Supper is consider as a staple meal for most KL-lites. For some, it is even the first meal of then day! Yes, we KL people have wierd hours due to work, or just plain..for fun!

As most of you would know by now, I am one of those draculas who love to be under the moonlight. Of course, my favourite pass time is looking for food at that particular hour and mind you, the food must be good!

If you are familiar with the Pudu (Yes, near the old jail) area, you will definitely notice a row of shoplots that sell Chicken Rice till the wee hours of the morning. One is Hor Por Chicken Rice Restaurant while the other is Kokok Restaurant. I'm actually a fan of Kokok's because the service there is pretty good and best of all, you can just park by the roadside like it belongs to your grandfather. (Wee hours of the morning, remember? No traffic. ^_^)

It's signature dish is its Roasted Chicken but somehow, I don't find it that good. I actually enjoy other dishes that they serve such as its Curry Pork Ribs, Spicy and Sour Vegetables and Claypot Braised Pork.

*Curry Pork Ribs*

The Curry Pork Ribs which is an unusual find is cooked until the ribs are tender but not dry. As you can see from the picture, it is rather creamy and yes, it has a wonderful coconut milk aroma that makes you salivate with just a sniff.

*Spicy and Sour Vegetables*

A sucker for anything spicy and sour, the Spicy and Sour Vegetables is a must have for me. I even made the pig to takeaway just this particular dish for me on a few midnight cravings session. The vegetables are boiled till extremely soft like baby's food and the gravy, mmmm...sweet, sour, and spicy! To some of it, this dish may be rather unhealthy as the vegetable is overly boiled but this is how this dish is suppose to be. In the old days, this dish is cooked during winter with whatever leftovers the family has. A good way to "recycle" and keep the tummy and body warm.

*Claypot Braised Pork*

The wonderful Claypot Braised Pork is a definite must have. Its gravy itself is good enough for me to have two bowls of rice! (I hate rice, rememeber?) The meat, braised till soft with the flavour infused into it. It also has the correct amount of fat and lean meat. This particular dish has earned praises from everyone that I have brought them over. Seriously, it is that yummy!

Besides the above mentioned dishes, the restaurant also serves Roasted Pork (Siu Yuk), Grilled Pork (Char Siew) and Steamed White Chicken (Bak Gai) like any other Chicken Rice stall/restaurant/shop. In order to cater to everyone, they even had noodles dishes which I can't read as all of them was in Chinese and in extremely tiny writing for my not-so-good eyes.

Do give it a try especially if you need good food at wierd hours of the day!

Location: The restaurant is located along Jalan Pudu in shoplot opposite of Farmland Restaurant and Caltex Petrol Station. In fact, it is exactly opposite of a car dealer. Yes, it is extremely near the famour Pudu Wai Sek Kai.

Cleanliness: OK. Expect some "pets".

Price: Reasonable for that cuisine at that kind of hours.

Opening hours: 6.00pm till 4.30am

Eggy tarts that didn't turn out well...sigh

2007-07-14T01:24:00.000+08:00

My first ever unsuccessful baking happened when I tried my hands at making Portugese eggtarts. Sigh... it was such a dissapointment because I was craving for it there and then. All I have to say is that, serves me right for being such a cheapo and turn myself to local pastry skin by Kawan (less than RM4) instead of using Pampas (RM12+)!

*Before baking*

As you can see from the picture above, the pastry skin does seems to look rather ugly. I wonder what happen to it. Is it the way that I stored it? (Kept it in the pig's house's fridge instead of mine) Or I wasn't patient enough to wait for it to refrost properly? Can someone please tell me what went wrong?

*While baking*

It did look alright while it was in the oven. But somehow, then the custard has set, the pastry was still...soft and chewy. I added a few more minutes of baking, yet it was the same result.

*End result*

See..it is ugly. I hate it. The only part edible is the egg custart which was yummy, btw. Pls pls pls pls pls tell me where I've gone wrong, PLEASE~

It's getting HOT in here! Let's have some ICE-CREAM!

2007-07-12T01:05:00.000+08:00

Is it me or is KL's temperatue rising? I've been sweating non-stop for the past few days eventhough I am just sitting at home! Hmmm...maybe it's time for a dip in the pool, or even better...eat more ICE-CREAM!!! *I DO need to eat more ice-cream, I'm low in calcium and the doc said I should take more dairy products. Ice-cream counts*

For mum's birthday 2 weeks ago, I made her an ice-cream cake, upon request. So I went to Baskin Robbins on May 31st to get hold of the 31% discount and took home a pint of Very Berry Strawberry. To my dismay, a pint was not enough for the recipe, hence I had to top the remaining with Raspberry Ripple from Nestle. BooHoo.

*Yes, I know this pic looks ugly. Wait for the next one*

*There, I told you it's not that ugly and it was yummy too!*

Since I was in the midst of exam, I made an extremely easy (more like cheat's way) ice-cream cake. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
Appoximately 200g sponge fingers (I used about a packet and a half)
A pint of Baskin Robbin's Very Berry Strawberry Ice-cream (you can substitute this with any sorbet or ice-cream)
1/2 pint of Nestle Raspberry Ripple Ice-cream (same goes here)
90 ml dark rum (I omitted this)
180ml of fresh orange juice, seived (I used slightly over 200ml for this to make up for the rum)

Methods:
1) Remove sorbet/ice-creams from fr4erezer for 30-40 minutes until putty-soft.
2) Combine rum and orange juice in a shallow bowl. Dip a few sponge fingers into the liquid until it softens. Do mind not to make them overly soft like paste, just soft enough to have a hearthy feel inside.
3) Place the soften sponge fingers around a 22cm loaf tin with its sugared side down. Then line the sides as well with the sponge fingers standing.
4) Spoon the Very Berry Strawberries Ice-cream into the the tin. Press with a spoon to release any air bubbles. This layer of ice cream should take about 3/4 of the loaf's height.
5) Repeat with Raspberry Ripple until the loaf is full.
6) Saw off the tops of the biscuit if there is any bulding out.
7) Cover with cling film and freeze for an least an hour prior to serving.
8) Run a knife through hot water before running it around the edge of the mould. Then, turn the cake over and place it on a plate.
9) Serve in slices and if you wish, decorate accordingly.

The cake was delicious and the soaked sponge fingers was great and I could taste the orange juice in it! I believe the rum version would be better. Do give it a try.

I know somehow my cake looks different from the recipe, but hey! Recipe is dead, our hands and thoughts aren't. So be creative and change them accordingly.

Sakura, such a pretty name

2007-07-10T18:42:00.000+08:00

Sakura or Cherry Blossom is a symbol for feminity or even beauty. It is indeed a very beautiful flower. Most KL-lites will remember Sakura as a upper class restaurant located along Jalan Imbi. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was a good place to be and a plate of Nasi Lemak cost RM12.90 at that time, which is rather ridiculous. However, people still come in flocks as their food may be costly, but the quality is certainly quaranteed.

Some has said that the main chef in Sakura has went to Madam Kwan's, hence the familiarity in taste and style. I believe so too, after tasting the same dishes from both restaurants.

Besides Nasi Lemak, its Nasi Bojari is also a must have. As I was with my family this time, we had a la cartes instead of per plate meals. We did order thier famous Fish Head Curry. It was very good, not too much coconut milk and not too spicy. Somehow, I prefer the Indian style fish head curry as they use more herbs compared to this Nyonya style.

*Fish Head Curry with plenty of vegetables*

We also had a pot of Assam Seafood Curry which was absolutely wonderful. The blend of coconut milk, chilli and tamarind was so fabulous that I kept sipping on the sauce even when there's nothing more in the pot. It is more flavourful compared to the Curry Fish Head maybe because it had more seafood such as prawns, squids and fish. Do remember not to order both Curry Fish Head and Assam Seafood Curry as they do taste almost the same and a medium pot is so huge that it took up so much table space. The fish/seafood servings weren't too much but the vegetables that comes with it was extremely generous.

*Assam Seafood Curry*

Besides that, we also had a bowl of Acar and a hotplate of tofu. The Acar was really good as it is spicy, sour and absolutely full of nuts. I went all nutty over this dish and left only a little to the others. Oppsie~ The Hotplate Tofu (which isn't on the menu) was also very good as they had used some salted fish. Eventhough the tofu amount was little, the minched meat gravy was generously laid on it.

*Acar and Sizzling Tofu*

A great dinner with the family at a not-so-average price. Hey, pay more for better quality, remember? Hehe

Location: Along Jalan Imbi, opposite of Rasa Sayang Shark's Fin Restaurant.

Cleanliness: OK. Good ambience.

Price: OKlah for its quality. This meal costed us less than RM300 including drinks and rice.

Hot! HOt! HOT!!! Kin Kin's Chilli Pan Mee

2007-07-10T01:13:00.000+08:00

Aaron and I had dinner the other day as both of our homes did not cater for that particular night. He took me to this Pan Mee restaurant in Chow Kit that he's been raving for oh-so-long which serves Chilli Pan Mee. When we reach there, I was "Cheh....Kin Kin is it.." He sounded surprised coz previously when he asked me I didn't know of this place. Eh, common lah, I'm a food blogger ok.

Kin Kin's Chilli Pan Mee is so good that there's a few restaurants nearby that serves the same thing. Competition nearby so that dumb dumb people will go into thier resturants instead, ei? Oh well.... so people don't be fooled, just get into a shop lot that looks like a kopitiam ok, not the air-con one.

*The man behind with the short pants is the cook*

A typical bowl of Pan Mee at RM4.80 comes with blanched noodles, minched pork, mushroom stripes, anchovies and a poached egg. You have to add the chilli paste (the chilli residue from chilli oil) to your noodles to achieve the chilli Pan Mee version. Of course this is a good way as you can adjust it according to your taste. However, the portion is a little too small to be considered as a meal.

*Kin Kin's Chilli Pan Mee*

According to The Star Guide to Malaysian Street Food, the restaurant do serve normal Pan Mee in anchovies broth too. The best way to enjoy this bowl of noodle would be to break the poached egg and let the yolk run and coat the noodles first before putting in the chilli paste and mix everything together.

Personally, I think that Aaron's rave (sorry!) is too much lah. You haven't try even spicier stuff before. Next time I bawa you for the ultra spicy fix ok? Do check this place out and do becareful with your belongings as the security in this area is not that good (you know I know lah).

Location: 20, Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1, off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

Directions: Along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, keep left after the Shell station. Turn left before Pizza Hut and turn left again. The restaurant would be located in one of the shoplots on your right.

Cleanliness: Kopitiam style.

Price: RM4.80 per bowl, Herbal tea at RM1.00. Not too sure about soft drinks.

Opening hours: 7.30am-8.30pm (Mon-Fri), 7.30am-4.30pm (Sat & Sun). Closed on last Sunday of the month.

That's HOT! and SPICY too!

2007-07-08T00:43:00.000+08:00

Hey there! I've been absent for almost a week as I was on holiday. Yupyup, a good beach holiday I must say and yes, I did enjoy myself.

But somehow...I was still craving for spicy food. So in this particular post, I'll like to share with you Steamboat restaurant, buffet style in Sunway Mentari.

Chong Qing, the name of this restaurant, is actually the name of the birthplace of good Ma La (Peppery Spicy) steamboat in China. The recipe was so good that a particular restaurant manage to open branches all over China. Yes, ALL over that huge chicken look-a-like country on the world map.

This restaurant have 4 types of broths for you to choose from which is Ma La (Peppery Spicy), Suan Cai (Sour Vegetable), Tomyam and Herbal. On this occasion, we had the Ma La and Suan Cai broths.

*Ma La and Suan Cai broths*

Ma La, like its name suggest, is HOT from the peppery taste and SPICY from the chillies. It does have a layer of oil on top but if you manage to scrape it off and taste the broth, it is, of course, HOT & SPICY! Suan Cai was nothing to praise about except that it is a new taste for steamboat broths. It tasted like "Zha Cai" (preserved salted vegetable) boiled all over and over again and the vegetables in the soup is very very soft, just the way I like it and also the extremely unhealthy cookign style for vegetables.

*Buffet style*

As it is buffet style here. you can just grab whatever you want from the buffet table. Bear in mind that they charge RM5 per pax for extreme food wastage.

Eventhough they serve a lot of processed food, it is still OK because they serve thier meats on top of the freezer which means that the food is still being refridgerated in a way. I love the fact that they serve enoki mushrooms and abalone mushrooms here and I had so much that my tummy was about to explode.

As usual, there is a freezer filled with commercial brand ice-cream for customers. The plus point of this place would be the fact that drinks such as iced tea, cincau etc are included. Of course, if you were to order beer, you'll have to pay for them seperately.

For just RM19.80 per person, this place is definitely a steal! Bring all your friends over and have a good makan time together!

Location: Behind Projet petrol station, there is two blocks of shoplots. The first lot is where Batavia (previous post) is located. Chong Qing is located on the next block facing the old shoplots oppossite the road.

Cleanliness: OK

Price: RM19.80 per person. Pretty reasonable, ei?

Batavia..

2007-07-02T01:01:00.000+08:00

Batavia, another place where the uni pals and I went to in our food hunting expedition. Located at Sunway Mentari in a shoplot exactly behind the Projet Station, it is a relatively new spot for food. As the name suggest, it serves Indonesian food. I was shock to see the dish, "Internet", on its menu but according to my lovely Indonesian friend, Internet = Indomie + Telor (Egg) + something that I forgot and it was hillarious at first thought!

We ordered some very Indonesian drinks, concentrated juices imported from Indonesia added with water and ice. They were all lovely as one of them is orange, another passion fruit while the red coloured one was some wierd named drink and yes, it tasted wierd too.

*Traffic light drinks!*

Our dearest friend was craving for Kuey Teow Goreng Sapi (Fried Kuey Teow with beef) so she had her dosage and I did had a mouthful of them and yes, it was very very yummy!!

*Kuey Teow Goreng Sapi*

This particular restaurant is actually famed for its Soto Betawi so the Wengster had the chicken version while I had the beef version. The meat for the beef version was too chewy and yes, I ommitted the meat after a few tries. Soup wise, absolutely divine! The sambal that came with it was even more spectaculor! Yes, the Indonesian type of sambal that BURST your nostrils each time you have some. Sambal, I love you!

*Soto Betawi*

All in all, good food at good price with good company. What can I say more?

Price: Reasonable

Cleanliness: OK

Location: The shoplot directly behind Projet Petrol Station in Sunway Mentari.

Loi Loi Krathong...opps! I mean Thai food!

2007-06-29T11:01:00.000+08:00

My unimate and I had one of our many lunch hunting adventures a few weeks back before our finals. She wanted to take me to this Indonesian restaurant but as it was closed, we ended up at Sunway Pyramid for some Thai food. Sitting at the end of the Boulevard which is currently having contructions, Actually Thai is one of the few Thai restaurants in the premise.

I adore thier open bar concept for thier beverage area eventhough thier beverage menu is very limited. It is an open eye to see that they actually have equipments for serving wine.

My dearest friend ordered thier Thai Tea which is tea with milk and more milk plus a thick layer of brown sugar. It does look pretty in this picture but taste wise, a little wierd to our tastebuds. Plus it was too sweet. Like, TOO sweet.

*Thai Tea*

I had thier Tom Yam Meehoon Soup which was spicy but too creamy. Too much coconut milk. I didn't like the fishballs that was served as I believe that Tom Yam should be served with fresh seafood, especially in Thai restaurants. It is acceptable if I was dining in some Kopitiam but not in a Thai specialty restaurant! How can they make such a mistake?

*Tom Yam Meehoon Soup*

My dear friend had Pineapple Fried Rice at my recommendation as I had this dish before in thier sister company, Just Thai, in OneUtama and it was absolutely delicious! Too bad, this time around this particular chef has added too much salt in this dish. It was so salty that you can taste the salt, not the aromatic rice. Tsk tsk. We did complain and the manager even wanted to change a new plate for us but as my friend was too hungry she didn't want to wait anymore. So yeah..

*SALTY Pineapple Fried Rice that didn't came with a pineapple*

I guess the manager was a bit 'pai seh' so he gae both of us free dessert. It is one of the few desserts that they serve there which is the Water chestnut one. Coloured bits of water chestnuts were found in the coconut milk ala cendol style dessert with some jackfruit strips. It was surprisingly good.

*Complimentary dessert*

Service was bad that day as our food took really long to come due to technical glintches. Maybe that's why our food turned out bad, the cehf was probably under pressure to cook fast. But the server said that the cook just came back from a holiday, maybe that's why he has lost his skill in a way. Ish...whatever. Will not come back here anymore....but...will come back IF I am broke and crave for Thai food. Why? Because college students in Subang gets 20% off on ala carte items! Weee!

Price: Reasonable

Cleanliness: Ok

Location: Boulevard, Sunway Pyramid.

Contact number: 03-74919428

It's time for some Chicken Rice!!!

2007-06-28T01:45:00.000+08:00

Normally when I don't know what to eat on the pig's day offs, we'll end up dining at Nam Heong Restaurant. Yes, the typical chicken rice place which is on the higher end compared to its counterparts. Our so-called favourite Nam Heong Restaurant would be the one on Level 1, Endah Parade in Sri Petaling due to its location and we have this particular favourite aunty who serves us with a smiley face everytime.

This particular visit, the pig had a big appetite and so was I. We ended up orering 4 dishes and 3 bowls of rice (I normally have 1/2 bowl, so the remaining are the pig's) and of course, 2 glasses of refillable chinese tea.

Famed for its Roasted Chicken, it is almost a must order item on most tables. I would have to say that the chicken rice stall by the road serves better roasted chicken than them, maybe because it was cold. Oh well... taste wise, extremely normal.

*Roasted Chicken*

We have been rather curious about this dish on thier menu. So for once, we tried it since I wanted something spicy. A tiny little fish like this one below cost RM4.50 before tax but it tasted alrght. Although the Assam sauce did not get infused into the flesh as well as I wanted, the sauce was still good enough got me to give them my approval.

*Assam Fish*

Eventhough Nam Heong's signature dish is chicken, thier 'Kau Yuk' or braised pork is our favourite dish of all time here. The fatty meat is cooked almost to perfection and its sauce...oh so yummy! Definitely a must have!

*Kau Yuk a.k.a. Braised Pork*

Vegetable is a must for all our meals. This is a rule that I've set since the beginning so this time around, we had thier spicy and sour vegetable (Suen Coi). As always, this dish is consistently spicy, sour and sweet at the same time leaving me wanting for more. Yes, I'm a sucker for dishes like this. Eventhough my favourite suen coi would be the one that my mum cooks (which I have inherited), this dish at this particular restaurant is second on my list. Yes,, it is that good!

*Spicy and sour vegetables*

Nam Heong is definitely a family's favourite place to dine in as it caters to different tastebuds. Best of all, it has so many branches around Klang Valley! So if you are craving for some chicken rice, do pop by your nearest mall and perhaps, you'll find Nam Heong there.

Price: Reasonable.

Cleanliness: Ok.

Location: 1st Floor, Endah Parade. It's HQ is in Jalan Sultan while it has many branches in Klang Valley including MidValley.

Isthmus KL @ North Point MidValley City

2007-06-26T22:37:00.000+08:00

Remember the Klue Magazine's event last month at Ninja Jones? I was suppose to be there and got really excited about it as the pig manage to get his day off on a FRIDAY!! BUT...his very irresponsible co-worker decided to play games and the story goes on and on and...he had to have his day off 2 days earlier instead. What a bummer! He was looking forward to the event as well and got really upset for his day off change. End up, we tried to visit Ninja Jones on our own but due to our usual late-ness, Ninja Jones was closed by the time we got there. Another bummer! Nvm.......we walk across and head on to Isthmus!

I'll have to say, I am very impress with this place. Simple deco, nice surroundings and best of all, it has a mezzanine floor! Too bad we couldn't have out table there as Mont Blanc was having an event there.

As it was cocktails day, I ordered a Lynchburg Lemonade @ RM 18 which has Jack Daniels in it. It was surprisingly refreshing and I wonder why other places don't put this cocktail into thier menu. Hmmm..

*Lynchburg Lemonade @ RM 18*

The pig was rather amazed that they had Draught Guinness Stout and of course, he just had to have a glass. Taste wise? Draught is always better than bottled.

*Draught Guinness Stout @ RM 15*

To start our meal, we had a dinner platter which consist of Oyster Shooters (with vodka!), Blue Lotus Dumplings, spring rolls and another deep fried thing which I have forgotten but was delicious. The Oyster Shooters was an open eye for me. I have not seen or eaten anything like that before and it didn't taste that bad after all eventhough I'm not a fan of raw food. The Blue Lotus Dumplings' skin was like the nyonya kueh, Ang Koo Kueh,'s skin. Don't leave it too long on the plate as the skin dries up pretty quickly leaving a hard to eat texture. It was a very special dish which taste absolutely divine. Thier springrolls were filled with generous filling not like other restaurants and of course, very crispy!

*Dinner platter @ RM52*

As I had a curry craving, I ordered one of thier set lunch which was the lamb curry. It was served with acar, papadam and briyani rice. The curry was very aromatic as the cook has used lots of herbs particularly cardamoms and the gravy was very thick as well. Too bad the baby potatoes were not soft enough and a little bit on the raw side. I'll have to say that I had the best ever briyani rice here. It was so good that I finish all the rice by myself and if you know me well, you would know how much I dislike eating rice and it is absolute pain to ask me to have another spoon of rice on normal days.

*Lamb curry with rice lunch set @ RM 28. A cup of tea is also included*

*Spring Chicken Medina @ RM 29*

The pig had Spring Chicken Medina which came with lots of baked baby potatoes (well cooked this time). It may look not so pretty in the picture above, but the dish itself receive praises from both of us. I wonder what sauce did they use to marinade it..yes, it was that yummy!

To end our meal, we shared a Nashi Pear Spiced Wine Reduction, served with Black Sesame Ice-cream. I don't really fancy this dish as I don't like the texture of the pear whihch was soft, something like baked apple. The black sesame ice cream was good though. Hehe.

Nashi Pear Spiced Wine Reduction, served with Black Sesame Ice-cream @ RM15

To wash things down, the pig had a glass of Riesling while I had a cup of tea. Yes, how lady like.

*Jacob's Creek Reserve Riesling @ RM18 per glass*

*Hmmm...hot tea!*

All in all, it was a great lunch of fusion food at it's best. Our bill came to RM201.25 after tax and yes, it was money well spent. Will definitely come back for more!

Price: Reasonable. Slightly on the high end for some.

Cleanliness: Great. Have not seen the kitchen though.

Location: B-G-3, Ground Floor, Northpoint MidValley City, No 1, Medan Syed Putra Utara, 59200 Kuala Lumpur

Contact number: 03-2282 8112

Other post(s): Lim Mei Yen, KampungboyCitygal, Limited Editions, Masak-masak, Daring food and wine matching brings many surprises, The Isthmus test

Bubur Gandum a.k.a. 'Mak Juk'

2007-06-26T18:31:00.000+08:00

Hello people! Yes, I'm done with my exams and to celebrate, here's a recipe for "Mak Juk" or better known as Bubur Gandum or a loosely translated English name for it, Wheat Broth, specially for Tina as promised. Took this off the "Famous Street Food of Peang - A guide & cook book"by the Star publications.

Bubur Gandum
Ingredients:
- 300g wheat pearls (gandum)
- 2.5 litres water
- 2 pandan leaves, knotted
- 80g white glutinous rice
- 200-250g sugar (add more if you like)
- 1/2 tsp salt (depending on taste, this can be added more or lessen)
- 200ml coconut milk
Methods:
1) Firstly, wash the wheat pearls and soak them for an hour.
2) Drain the wheat pearls and place them in a pot together with water and the knotted pandan leaves. Bring it to a boil.
3) After about 20 minutes or half way through cooking, add the glutinous rice.
4) Continue to cook until rice and wheat are soft. If the broth gets too thick, add in more water.
5) Stir occasionally and more often when the broth rhickens.
6) Add sugar and salt to taste, then add in the coconut milk just before turning off heat.
7) Best serve warm with a drizzle of coconut cream topping. You may want to add a scoop of steamed glutinous rice ala the Mamak-style.

For the coconut cream topping:
Simmer 50ml of thick coconut milk and a pinch of salt for 5 minutes and brint it to boil then turn off heat. *It is optional to cook the coconut milk but the heat prevents it from turning sour too quickly*

For the steamed white glutinous rice:
Ingredients:
- 300g white glutinous rice
- 2 pandan leaves, knotted
- 50ml thick coconut milk
- 100ml water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
Methods:
1) Wash and soak the rice for at least an hour, then drain.
2) Place the drained rice and pandan leaves in a steaming tray and steam over high heat for 25 minutes, or until just cooked but still firm to bite. When done, turn off the heat.
3) Mix the coconut milk, water, sugar and salt then stir into the cooked rice gradually until well absorbed.
4) Allow to cool and firm slightly before serving the the broths.
*I bet this steamed white glutinous rice works well for other broths too such as bubur pulut hitam. Somehow I have a feeling it is also like the rice in the Thai Mango Rice dish.*

Sorry, I do not have a picture of this dish since I haven't try it yet. Have fun experimenting this dish, Tina!

Wrong information on travel show

2007-06-03T19:48:00.000+08:00

I believe there are a lot of people who depend on travel shows on determining where to go holiday and where in particular to visit or which particular restaurant/cafe that should not be missed. It was very dissapointing when I realise that this particular show that I was watching has given out wrong information. This is a screen shot of what I have written as a feedback/dissapointment mail. I wonder why I was this bitchy...blame it on stress due to exams.

Dim Sum...dim sum...and MORE DIM SUM!!

2007-06-02T14:02:00.000+08:00

I'm not exactly a dimsum lover but the pig is. In our many midnite supper adventure we opted for something near my house which is usually, yes, dimsum!

It's amazing how these dimsum restaurants operates till wee hours and yet have customers flocking in at almost every hour. More like we should be amazed at Malaysian's appetite for food even at wierd hours. I for one is an extremely typical Malaysian at that. Hehehe!

The New Million Restaurant is one of the dimsum restaurants that operates along Batu 3, Jalan Ipoh. It may not have the long history like Mee Bon, which is a few doors away, but it do serve considerably well dimsums. This place is operated by the son of Million Restaurant, a Chinese-Hokkien restaurant that's in that area which serves very good porridge.

Running round the clock, they serve both steamed and fried items. On this particular day that we were there, they pig ordered Prawn Dumplings (Har Gau), Siu Mai and Dai Har Mai (loosely translated as Big Prawn Siu Mai). All the above items are of average quality, in my opinion, but I'll have to give them a big thumb's up for thier innovative approach as they did come out with new ideas to differentiate thier product (dimsums) even further.

*Clockwise from left: Dai Har Gau, Siu Mai and Har Gau.

For fried items, we had Deep fried beancurd (Fu Chuk) roll. The meat is made out of prawn and fish which is really yummy. One of my favourite dish at this place. It is, of course, served with mayonaise.

*Deep fried beancurd roll*

We also tried one of thier new items, deep fried fish balls/cakes. Nothing special about this dish. More like I do not like it even a bit. Haha

*Deep fried fish balls/cakes*

If you come before midnight, there is a little dessert stall selling tong sui near this restaurant. Its dessert selection differs from day to day. The seller is actually the son of the dessert stall that operates outside HSBC bank near that area which serves really good desserts. I would say he is still young and have not inherited everything that his mother (the cook) has in terms of cooking skills. He also sells them at a higher price than his parents'. I had his "Mak Juk" also known as Wheat Porridge. It would have taste better if the cook has boiled it longer as the wheat has not broken up good enough.

*Mak Juk @ RM1.50*

The New Million Restaurant is really a good place to satisfy your late night cravings. Do try thier other items which are items that you don't normally see at other dimsum places.

Price: Reasonable

Cleanliness: Ok.

Location: Located off the main road of Batu 3, Jalan Ipoh. If you need a landmark, then perhaps the KFC restaurant would be a good one as it is located at the row of shops next to it.

Cupcakes~ Cupcakes~

2007-05-31T21:01:00.000+08:00

Wendy's advance birthday bash was a hit! Lotsa people were there and her house was almost full to the brim. There was not enough space for everybody and not enough seats to the point that we had to stand outside. Haha! It was good fun anyway laughing at the boys and thier nonsensical jokes.

I made Wendy a box of cupcakes as I don't know what to get her. The icing colour were really pretty, very Wendy-ish. But then I didn't have time to experiment with decoration using icing. Oh well.....next time lah~

Oh yea, updates will be less frequent as the finals are around the corner. Eventhough I've hardly study for the past few weeks, I'll need to brush up real soon. Till then, adios!

We are kuli, so we need Bak Kut Teh!

2007-05-27T21:26:00.000+08:00

Last Friday the unimates and I had a terribly long 3 hours break in between classes. We planned to go to Klang for Bak Kut Teh but the trip was canceled when none of us were sure of the way there and we were left with 2 hours after spending some time accompanying poor Slyvia for breakfast as she had another class.

End up, we went to SS14 to have Bak Kut Teh at the infamous rows of Bak Kut Teh shops there. According to family and friends, one should go to Ah Peng Bak Kut Teh as it is the best there. However, it was closed when we were there hence we tried another restaurant named Chuan Chew. This restaurant not only serve Bak Kut Teh, it serves Chicken Rice as well.

We ordered a portion for 3 with 3 plates of rice. We had 'sau yuk' (lean meat), 'pai kuat' (ribs) and 'yuen yuk' (soft meat) that came with lots of tauhu, ssome vegetables and we added golden mushrooms too. Not to forget a bowl of 'yau char kwai'!!

*Portion for 3*

The soup was not flavourful enough in my opinion as I'm used to the darker style of Bak Kut Teh ala Klang style. Not only that, I felt that there's not enough herb used as well. The meat were tender, of course, and luckily the yau char kwai was fresh. I do hate overnight yau char kwai as they are too oily and have a certain taste that I do not like. Do becareful while eating the tauhu as a bite into it will have the Bak Kut Teh's soup gushing into your mouth and yes, it is very hot!

We were quite satisfied with our meal as it wasn't too pricey (RM10.50 including a drink for each of us) and it was hot! Yup, we seldom have really hot food due to time constraints. While walking out of the restaurant, Dewi saw that they have pre-packed Bak Kut Teh (with meat, ok!) in huge plastic bags in the fridge. *Oh, NO!* Then we vow never ever to go back.

Other than that, they employ a lot of Indonesian maids to help out. What I mean by a lot it means 4 Indonesians maids running the kitchen while the boss sit in front preparing bowls after bowls of Bak Kut Teh. I wonder if the maids do the cooking. Even if they do, it's not surprising. Oh well...no more next time, no more next time!

Price: Reasonable. Rm10.50 including drinks per person.

Cleanliness: Typical Kopitiam.

Location: SS14, Subang Jaya. The restaurant is visible rom the highway itself. If you are studying in SS15, use the bridge that crosses over the NPE and you'll land in front of a row of Bak Kut Teh restaurants.

Rainy days = STEAMBOAT DAYS!

2007-05-26T23:25:00.000+08:00

Steamboat or better known as hot pot is where you put food stuffs into the pot filled with soup and wait for it to cook. It's history goes back all the way to the Chinese Emperor times and the pot itself have evolve so much from using charcoal to gas and now, electricity. It's extremely nice to have steamboat on cold days as the hot soup and 100% comfirm hot food will warm your tummy and make you smile like a little kid (more like an idiot in my case).

I was craving for steamboat for the past couple of days and yes, my craving has been satisfied thanks to the pig. Yup, I do get to pick on what we're eating on his day offs and he will oblige without any complaint except asking him to eat a particular food court's food in Bukit Bintang area. More like, I'm lucky to have a non-picky eater as my boo which will ease a lot of cooking headaches in the future household.

As I was teaching (I teach ballet, not some academic subject) in Kepong, we head on to Bandar Menjalara which is just 10 minutes away. Bandar Menjalara is also known as "The City of Steamboat" as there are many steamboat restaurants there. My family and I had tried almost every single one of them and we have a particular favourite now which is the New High Lite Restaurant located next to Restoran Ulu Yam.

*Steamboat for two in two types of soups*

They serve 4 types of soups, clear soup (Ching Tong), herbal soup (Yiok Choi), Tomyam and SzeChuan Mala (Sei Chuen Maa Lat). Of course, the maximum you can choose is two due to the pots but if you come in big groups, then it is a different story. In the picture above, the soups that were chosen was herbal soup and Tomyam. The herbal soup is actually clear soup with a packet of grinded herbs while the tomyam is very sour and spicy, good for people like me.

Ingredients wise, it looks like any other steamboat restaurant. Yes, they do use some process food items such as crabsticks but thier fish balls, sotong balls, meat balls and other fish related things such as fish paste are all home made. In fact, I've witness them minching the meat with a huge mincher-grinder machine. Thier seafood items are very fresh as they get them from Pulau Ketam. The vegetables are also fresh and not old like what other restaurants uses. I must say they do keep a certain quality on thier food stuffs. Of course the set came with Yee Mee and some beehoon and two eggs.

Do not forget to dip your food with thier home-made chilli sauce. It is one of the best that I've ever tried and yes, it is very spicy! It left me with a red and almost swollen pair of lips. Do be very careful with the cover and the pot itself as it is very hot. I accidentally burnt my arm while putting food into the pot and yes, it is very painful.

Besides that, they have a special herbal seafood steamboat set which is slightly pricey but the ingredients are all good quality seafood. Clams, scallops, oysters etc are included in the set. A bowl of rice is also provided as its goes really well with the herbal seafood infused broth. Orther than that, you can order fried seafood items such as crabs, sotong, clams etc. at seasonal price.

This particular steamboat restaurant is opened and run by a husband and wife team with plenty of foreign workers and one or two relatives that help out every now and then. They not only serve stamboat, they serve typical 'tai chow' items as well. Two of thier noodles specialty is the Crabmeat Loh Mee and Sliced Ginger and Spring Onion with Fish Paste on Kuey Teow. The Crabmeat Loh Mee is cooked using real crabmeat. It is very tasty and full of flavor but lacks ingredients as all I had was noodles and crabmeat. A good substitution for Shark Fin's Soup if you kid is yearning for one and not overly pricey at less than RM20. Sliced Ginger and Spring Onion with Fish Paste on Kuey Teow is somelike like eating Glossy Egg Noodles (Watt Tan Hor). The fish paste used is home-made hence not springy which indicates less additives were used. Another good choice, I would say. Sorry no pictures for these items.

For desserts, do order thie sweeten grass jelly. Its tecture is firm and not ssoft like what we normally get from supermarkets. No, it is not a drink, you just eat it on its own.

Price: RM30+ for a set of two with a pot of tea. Pretty reasonable I would say.

Cleanliness: Normal chinese restaurant. OK-lah.

Location: Located opposite of the row of petrol stations (Shell, Mobil and don't know what) in Bandar Menjalara, next to Restoran Ulu Yam.

Restaurant Shin @ Sungei Wang Plaza

2007-05-25T22:35:00.000+08:00

It has always been a problem for me to have a decent meal in Sg. Wang/Bukit Bintang area. It's either good meals which are expensive or not so good meals which are also pricey for that quality. *sigh* Yes, it's always a headache-y experience to choose what to eat.

On one particular occasion, we went to a Korean restaurant named Restaurant Shin on the 6th floor a.k.a. Rooftop of Sg. Wang. We actually intented to have lunch at Johnny's Steamboat but upon knowing that we were served chicken soup instead of tomyam and if we wanted tomyam we need to pay RM10 except if you're in the Selayang Mall outlet, I backed out because I felt like they're a scam. Back to th Korean restaurant, it's one of the few restaurants that the pig and I went to during out 'courtship'. Yup, this place brings back good memories.

As this is not a traditional Korean restaurant, they only serve 3 types of side dishes which is very little in quantity. One of them is, of course, Kimchi, while the two others, cold fish cakes and fried sweet anchovies.

*Side dishes: Kinchi, cold fish cakes and fried sweet anchovies.

As I was particularly in some steamboat-y mood, we wanted to settle for thier spicy steamboat thing. However, upon hearing that the noodle served is the instant noodle type, we backed out, again. Oh well, so we shared a so-called Barbequed set for two.

*Barbeque set for two @ RM35*

This set came with a cabbage salad as appetizer and 2 cups of corn tea. We chose beef instead of chicken as usual and the beef was very thinly sliced. The bulgogi sauce gets to infuse in it so well, that a non-beef lover like me eat it like there's no tomorrow. There were plenty of mushrooms that came with this dish such as golden mushroom, shiitake mushrooms and abalone mushrooms. Not to forget there were sliced carrots, sliced onions and spring onions that came with it as well. Oh yeah, plenty of 'tong fun' (transparent rice vermicelli) that absorbs the bulgogi sauce like the beef slices. As the sauce was a little salty, we had this dish with rice which was absolutely wonderful!

*Cabbage salad*

The cabbage salad is nothing special as it is tossed with mayonaise only. Upon having two mouth's full of this salad, I got 'jelak' already and push it over to the pig.

For drinks, I didn't order any at first since there was complimentary corn tea that came with the set. But upon tasting it, I gave up and asked for the menu to order another drink which was a Korean soft drink named Crushed Pear. The drink is sweet and yes, it does come with plenty of crushed pear bits! Very yummy indeed. The pig was having sorethoart and slightly feverish. I made him to have honey ginger tea which he drank like a good boy. Why? Because it is iced not hot tea. *sigh* I give up when it comes to forcing him to drink herbal thingy/hot drinks

*Complimentary corn tea, Iced Ginger Honey tea @ RM3.50*

*Korean soft drink, Crushed Pear @ RM4.00*

You can buy this Crush Pear drink from any Korean Supermart such as Lotte Mart in Desa Sri Hartamas or any other Korean supermarts in the Korean Village at a lower price.

I do love this restaurant as it is has a very simple and nice menu. The setting of this place is like any little cafes and they even allow you to jolt your thoughts down and pin them up on the wall. Do try thier kimbab next time. They're absolutely lovely. I used to have it everytime I go there but not this time and I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it.

Price: Reasonable

Cleanliness: OK

Location: Lot 61 6 (A B C) Sungei Wang Plaza, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur.

Contact no.: 03-21456717

Rachel's 21st

2007-05-24T00:59:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite girl, Rachel, celebrated her 21st birthday a few weeks ago. I was exxtremely busy on the exact day itself which was 10th of May as I had a major assignment due the day after which I haven't finish due to crazy Streamyx being down for 2 freakin' weeks! The weekend right after her birthday, I made the other 2 'ladies', Fern & Aaron (one a true woman with all things woman have, the other is just womanly inside not outside) to come over and made her a little something that money can't buy.

I was the "manager" of the whole project while Aaron was the decorator (except the piping part which was mine) and official taster (many cupcakes were gone while in the process of waiting it to cool) while Fern was the ah soh who did whatever I instructed her to. Oh yeah, Fern's other half came as well, he was involve in whatever the ah soh ask him to do.

Our end result?

Fancy some flatten chicken?

2007-05-22T17:31:00.000+08:00

Last week my unimate who is an Indonesian and I went to sampled some really really good 'flatten chicken' (loosely translated from Ayam Penyet) opposite of Sunway Pyramid. It's fully run by Indonesians for Indonesians and non-Indonesians like me. *Hehe* Besides rewarding my tummy with good food, I was also rewarded with a RM100 fine for my very absent mind for not paying parking fee and display the coupon on my windshield. How silly of me. But seriously, I totally forgotten about it. Sigh...yes, it was a very 'expensive' lunch indeed.

As I really love sour stuffs, I ordered thier Sup Sayur Asam or Sour Vegetable Soup for us to share. It turned out quite bad accoridng to my friend as its not suppose to taste like that. However, the dish did came with lots of vegetables such as corn, cabbage, kangkung, melon and lots and lots of peanuts.

*Sup Sayur Asam @ RM3.50*

Both of us ordered a portion of ayam penyet each. When the dish arrived, it came with a piece of tempeh (fermented beancurd), deep-fried taufu, steamed kangkung, a big slice of raw cabbage and a few slices of cucumber, very spicy sambal and of course, the ayam penyet topped with kerisik (fried coconut husk). This would mean that we can only order this dish and a bowl of rice and have a really balance meal already.

*Ayam Penyet @ RM6.50 per order*

The chicken was very crispy and the chef really flatten it as the meat was easy to shred (yup I only used a metal spoon and a meal fork and no 'tug of war' with the chicken)and not a single bit tough. It was also very juicy and it beats KFC all hands down. The tempeh was fried just right as I polish it off eventhough I hate tempeh aas most tempeh are not fully fried. The taufu was also crispy eventhough there wasnt any flavour. I'll have to say that I'm hooked on its sambal which is very, very, very spicy! Love it to bits!

We did sampled thier deep fried brinjal (Terong Goreng) which wasn't really good but it came with all the side dished that came with ayam penyet.

*Terong Goreng*

All in all, it was a scrumptious and wonderful meal. The restaurant must really good as there were a lot of Indonesians patrons. I suspect that the restaurant used to be a dance studio as one side of its wall is full of full-length mirrors. What I really don't like about this place is that it is dimly lit and not well ventilated, hence a little stuffy. Not to mention, the servers were pretty ignorant when as we had to wait for quite some time before being able to catch thier attention.

Price: Reasonable. We paid RM22 for all the food mentioned above including drinks which was good for 2 person.

Cleanliness: OK.

Location: Next to a bridal shop named Picaso opposite of Sunway Pyramid which is the row of shop houses next to the row of shop houses McDonalds is. It should be in the PJS 8 area. ^_^