Sour fruit

Hey Knitties, Suaiyachoo at the State hawker stalls! Pictures to proof!

Putrajaya Marriott Restaurant

It's been an honor to be invited to this fabulous flog!

To commemorate this auspicious occasion, I would like to start off my first post with the dinner I had with the founding members of this flog =)

6 treasure pineapple on fire.

abalone siew mai - taste Ok. could taste better if abalone and siew mai is separated. as both doesn't goes well together. 5.5/10

yam spring roll - crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. 6.5/10

fried prawns - outer layer was not that crispy, prawns were fresh though. 5.5/10

seafood yam bowl - the yam was pretty standard. seafood fresh. but i prefer the usual chicken/pork combi. a subjective rating of 5.0/10

jelly fish with clams - not sure which type of jelly fish is this, but prefer the one usually served in japanese restaurants. clams were fresh though. 6/10

pineapple - although not edible, but add a sense of exclusivity to the dish. only downside is the burning smell.

Grouper

Taste wise - Good.

Presentation - Excellent.

Exoticness - Excellent.

Fish meat was taken out piece by piece in this painstaking process and was wrap together with fish paste.

Score : 6.0/10

SS15 Snowflake again

 Light dessert shared by two. This one is called Japan combo. 

It has got green tea taro balls and red azuki beans to be mixed together with soy milk favoured shaved ice.

Personally I prefer their cold best seller which I've tried last time here.

Ho Kien Pan Mee @ SS19, Subang Jaya

Le hubby and I have a tendency to run errands whenever we have days off. Today, we had to drop by SS19 and I have heard and read about a famous pan mee stall in that part of town. I was sort of prepared for the long wait as people have complained about it many times.

What I wasn't prepared for was their serving system. I went up to the stall and was surprised to see it manned by a fairly young chap. My impression was that this great pan mee was cooked by a tough, seasoned old shi fu since this stall has been around for years and years.

Anyway, he gave me a number on a piece of cardboard, which could either be 08 or 80, and told me to go sit down and he will come by to take our orders later. Le hubby and I were quite lucky that day because we managed to find a table under a fan. The coffee shop was full at that time.

And so we waited... And waited... And waited... I looked around at the other occupied tables and started to feel a sense of apprehension because the majority of them have not been served yet. The guy was bringing bowls to one table and then moving to another table to take the orders. He would go back to the stall, prepare the order and help serve and cook. I think there was one main cook (another young fellow) and 2 helpers. This went on for many rounds before it came to our turn.

More than 40 minutes had passed when he finally took our orders. He gave us a pair of chopsticks and two little bowls containing a green chili condiment. I suppose this is a signal that our table shall be served with pan mee soon.

After 10 minutes from the time our order was taken, our pan mee arrived, steaming hot and quite delicious looking.

There was a generous heaping of deep-fried ikan bilis and minced pork at the top. I had asked for extra daun manis (sweet green leaves) and I suppose they do not skimp on ingredients.

This style of pan mee is what I would call mee hoon kuey (in Hokkien). The texture of the pan mee was quite lovely. It was smooth and yet had a slight chewiness to it. This can only be achieved with hand-shredded type of pan mee. And the folks at the Ho Kien stall do it quite well.

The broth was tasty albeit a little salty. When mixed in with the fried ikan bilis, minced pork, slivers of mushroom and daun manis, it was a beautiful soupy accompaniment to the pan mee. The green chili condiment was perfect with the whole blend of taste and provided a slightly tangy kick. I also think one of the reasons why everything was so tasty is because they use MSG in their cooking.

The Ho Kien Pan Mee stall is situated inside Restoran Lien Heng. There are only 3 or 4 stalls operating in this coffee shop and most of the patrons were there for the pan mee. You need to be very, very patient and prepared to wait (Dad, avoid this place at all cost!). Most of the customers were staring into space whilst waiting. At least I had an iPhone to keep me occupied.

As much as I like the pan mee here and think that it's really nice, I will not be returning anytime soon. It is just too much of a waste of time with all the waiting. Le hubby and I got there at 10.35AM and could only finish our meal at nearly 12PM. For two bowls of pan mee, it is so not worth it. There are good pan mee stalls not too far away that don't require such a long wait.

Prices:

Pan Mee (S) = RM5 per bowl

Location:

Ho Kien Pan Mee at Restoran Lien Heng

22, Jalan SS19/6, Subang Jaya, 47500 Selangor.

Dinner at "Crystal Palace"

Thursday night before I went back the next day, parents brought me out for dinner just opposite of Jalan Raja Uda. Anu might have seen this place before. :)

In mandarin it is called "Crystal Palace food center" but I don't know why it says "Pusat Makanan Era Jimat", as it means something totally different.

I've always liked to come here for dinner, mainly because they have "Char Tua Pan". To those who are not sure what this is, it seems to be a Penang-only noodle dish, it resembles Cantonese style Hor Fun but it's quite different in its own way. I always love the Char Tua Pan at this shop, eaten with sambal, it is nothing I can find in KL! 

Apart from that, there are also other food stalls in this location and most of them are yummy!

This is called Loh Bak, a variety of fried fish balls, and meat wrapped in fuchok (something like soya skin) and then fried, and some fried tofu all cut up into bite sizes

(RM8.00 I think)

 
They also serve "Homemade" pizza. I can tell you this is nicer than some of the Dominos pizza I've eaten. :) RM9.00

 This is the "Char Tua Pan" for 3 persons, actually it feels more like two person's portion, reason is because Penang portion sizes are usually much smaller than KL portion sizes. This costs about RM8.00

 And our final dish is the yummy yummy spicy grilled fish their signature sauce! My whole family loves this one, although dad warn against eating it too often because it is purportedly high in uric acid. But this is also something we can't find in KL (Well there are grilled fish in KL but it is not at all the same, this is much yummier) This costs about RM9.00

I would recommend everyone to give this a try if they happen to go to Butterworth one day, you may look up Anu or myself, we're both from there! :D

Tom yam "hua ban mian"

Mum brought me to this nice noodles shop for dinner, the noodles here are nice and according to my mum, has a low level of MSG because you don't get so thirsty after consuming it.

If you look at the noodles closely, it's like "pan mee" with frills on the edges. I've not seen this kind of noodles in KL before so it's something new for me. Has anyone seen this in KL/PJ area?

 

Another thing about this noodle place is that, you have to wait for a crazily long time for it. We actually waited 40 minutes for this two bowls of noodles (mine and mum's) because there was quite a long waiting list. 

Strange thing though, there isn't that many customers because I suspect not many people like to wait so long for their food, I guess the cook is just naturally slow with her work. But she did a very thorough job in cooking the noodles, and ensured all the seafood are fresh, even the fried ones. This is one of the reasons my parents come here often, their food is fresh!

My dad wanted to catch his favorite drama so we had to "tapao" for him, so another 20 minutes or so of waiting... lol 

But it's pretty worth it. :) I will definitely go back there again in the future!

Ah khoon Loh Mee

Penang style Loh mee is one of my favorite types of noodles, this can't be found in KL or subang jaya, so usually I will visit this stall when I'm back home.

The shop front

 

  A full bowl of noodles with extra condiments

 

Must eat with these, chili paste and vinegar, so you can imagine the taste is like spicy and sour, plus we eat it with finely chopped garlic soaked in oil (ok my mum said it's soaked in vinegar, but it feels oily to me so I can't say for sure), too good for words!

 

Closer view of the noodles

This bowl of extra condiments Loh mee costs only about RM3.80, yummy and so much more worth it compared to the bowl of noodles plus nothingness we usually eat in KL's hawker stalls. 

The only regret is I can't eat this more often.

Light snacks on board Fireflyz

Light snacks @ Fireflyz : Mini sausage bun and grape juice

Lammeeya @ Empire Subang

Went to Lammeeya （淋面屋） with KC for dinner at Empire Subang. 

This lammeeya is like an authentic local fare like the "lou jiu pai（老字号）" (century-old company), If I'm not mistaken this was a shoplet that was originally somewhere in the middle of KL town and then got really established as a popular food joint. The noodles are really fragrant and it felt like they were cooked with those traditional charcoal fires.

KC ordered the Lam Yee Mee (lammee with yeemee) and iced water. I love the cup they serve the iced water in, chubby and short. In case you're wondering, I love all sorts of unique cups, mugs, bowls... If left to my own device, my kitchen will be filled with mugs, bowls and utensils of all different sizes and shapes. It's like some ladies' obsession with shoes and bags, one for every occasion or dress. Mine is - one mug/bowl for every type of dish! :D

This is the Lam Yee Mee, served with really nice sambal balacan.

I ordered the fresh mushroom lam mee with bee hun and thick noodles, and chilled royal milk tea. Luuurve the shiitake mushrooms they served with the noodles, it's really soft and buttery, I don't know how they do it! It's like eating pork fat but in a really good way! But the rest of the mushrooms tasted a little too "mushroomy", if you know what I mean. I also like the bee hun here, smooth and silky with their thick broth. KC noted that this dish tasted a little like shark's fin soup...

Closer look of the mushrooms

Truth be told I still prefer the Lot10 Lammeeya, felt more authentic. I think it's because the YTL group collected all the best local old-timer chefs there and the rest of their franchises are just, well, franchises. 

We wouldn't mind coming back here again, it's not too bad especially if you like traditional chinese-style home-cooked food like salted fish with steamed minced meat, steamed egg, vinegared pork trotters, stewed potatoes with meat etc.

Lam Yee Mee: About RM8.90 (Forgot the exact figure)

Mushroom Lam Mee: RM9.50

Chilled Royal Milk Tea: RM5.90

Chilled Filtered Water: RM0.50

Lammeeya Empire Subang 
LG31 Lower Ground,
Jalan SS16/1,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Tel : 03-5635 9818 / 5635 9858

Umai-Ya @ IOI Boulevard

Today, we brought my mum to Umai-Ya to celebrate Mother's Day as she had a little craving for some Japanese food. This restaurant is one of the front-facing shops at IOI Boulevard and le hubs and I have passed it a few times but never tried it out.

They have ala carte buffets available on Saturdays and Sundays for RM48++ per pax but we decided to order individual sets and dishes instead.

When we first reached the restaurant, most of the tables were taken up and we had to sit at the sushi bar for a short while before they had a proper table available for us. By the time I took the above photo, most of the patrons had left. The interior is fairly spacious and comfortable. It's a nice setting for a family meal or to gather with friends.

Mum had the Salmon Lover's Set, which consists of slivers of raw salmon and a piece of grilled salmon with the usual rice, miso soup, side salad and chawanmushi that comes with Japanese sets. Although the sashimi was fresh, the grilled salmon was a little let down as it was dry and just a little tasteless.

I ordered something called the Ladies' Set, which had a few different rolls, a chilled chicken salad and a mushroom consomme. The salad dressing and leaves were quite tasty but the chicken slices were on the dry side. I suspect it may have been prepared by the same cook who did the grilled salmon for mum's set.

Sis ordered a Kani Unatama Maki (soft-shell crab roll) to share. It's not too bad but nothing to shout about. I've had better rolls at Pasta / Sushi Zanmai actually.

The Mother's Day special was a Mommy Set, a smaller version of the full Gindara Set offered in the menu. This was free if your bill came up to RM80 and above in a single receipt. This dish was probably the highlight of our meal and we shared it across the table. The cod fish was very tasty. The meat was firm yet soft and silky.

The service was generally acceptable but they didn't smile or greet us when we entered. The waitress who attended to us was rather 'blur' and a tad bit annoying. The quality of food was all right and the prices were not unreasonable. But there are better Japanese restaurants in Subang SS15, which is not that far away, so I'd probably not return to Umai-Ya anytime soon.

Rating : 5/10

Prices :

Salmon Lover's Set = RM36

Ladies' Set = RM22

Kani Unatama Maki (4 pieces) = RM16

Unagi & Sashimi with Udon Set = RM45 (not photographed)

Curry Katsu Don = RM26 (not photographed)

Ocha (green tea) = RM1.50 (each cup)

Mommy Set = FOC

Location :

Umai-Ya Japanese Restaurant

A-GF-40, IOI Boulevard, Jalan Kenari 5, Bandar Puchong Jaya.

Contact : 03 8075 1113

Din Tai Fung @ Empire Shopping Gallery

Le hubby and I were at Empire today and we decided to pop into Din Tai Fung for lunch.

They are known for their xiao long bao. 

And here are the chefs hard at work preparing the famed DTF xiao long bao and other dumplings.

And here's the rest of our lunch.

I have been to this particular branch twice and so far, the food quality have been quite consistent and pretty good. I don't find their la mien as refined and smooth though. I do like the chilled Japanese Cucumber, it is a very refreshing starter. The Xiao Long Bao is a tasty burst of flavour in a little packet. The skin is not too thick and the filling is not too salty. My only complaint is that the broth is lacking. I would have preferred a more "soupy" bao :-)

What I was impressed with was that the chefs seem to genuinely care about the quality of their xiao long bao and told us one of the six had burst and they offered an extra dumpling as compensation. I thought that was nice of them.

Prices :

Xiao Long Bao (6 pieces) = RM9.80

Japanese Cucumber with Chili Oil = RM3.80

Hot & Sour Soup with La Mien = RM12.50

Pork Chop Fried Rice = RM15.00

Lo Han Kor (ice) = RM3.80

Watermelon Juice = RM7.00

Location :

Din Tai Fung

G15, Empire Shopping Gallery, Jalan 16/1, Subang Jaya, 47500 Selangor.

Contact : 03 5022 2522

Ah Tuan Ee's Place @ SS2

I love savoury, sour and spicy food. My palette has been shaped by growing up in Penang, the land of fabulous hawker food and wonderful Penang nyonya fare. I have tried a number of nyonya restaurants in KL and they don't usually come close to the type of nyonya cuisine I'm used except for a restaurant called Ah Tuan Ee's Place.

Le hubby and I have been to both the SS2 and The Curve branches a few times. I prefer the food quality and portions at SS2 because I find them to be slightly tastier and a bit more generous. I also like that it's generally quieter than the one at The Curve too.

The ambience is quite warm and a little old-school. They were playing some Richard Clayderman piano music from the overhead speakers and it was a little loud because we were the only patrons there and we are fairly quiet people so that's all we've been hearing. I'm not a fan of Mr. Clayderman's music but I was hesitant about asking them to change the CD. After all, I was there for the food.

* click on photo to make big *

My favourite dish at Ah Tuan Ee is Perut Ikan (literally translated as "fish stomach"). It sounds unappetising but is in fact such a glorious nyonya dish. Their version consists of 12 different vegetables, aromatic herbs and spices along with the fish stomach (usually dried and fermented) in a delightfully savoury, sour and spicy concoction that often whets my appetite just thinking about it.

We also ordered the Gulai Tumis, with slices of sole fish in a hot and tangy broth. It was the first time trying the dish out at Ah Tuan Ee's and we weren't disappointed. The fish was prepared well and didn't have any fishy odours (which I cannot stand) and the "gulai" (light curry) was very tasty.

Le hubby needed some meat because he cannot survive on seafood alone, so we ordered the Pandan Chicken as well. I'm not that big into fried chicken and only had a piece. It was very tasty as it has been marinated in some fragrant marinade (I forgot to read the description) and fried to perfection.

We couldn't finish all the dishes and had to tapau (take-away) a couple back. I believe the small (S) servings are generally good to share between two to four people. They offer larger servings too if you have a bigger group.

The prices at Ah Tuan Ee have increased over the years and they are now quite expensive for a simple nyonya restaurant. I think most dishes, if not all, are at least RM4 extra. This is why we don't visit very often because it is not a cheap eatery and it is halal (no pork). Penang nyonya have quite a few good porky dishes and it's a shame they are not served widely in KL nyonya restaurants.

Prices :

Cendol = RM6.80

Perut Ikan = RM20.80

Gulai Tumis Fish = RM22.80

Pandan Chicken = RM20.80

Steamed Rice (small) = RM1.50

Boiled Water (with ice) = RM0.80

Location :

Ah Tuan Ee's Place

74, Jalan SS2/72, Petaling Jaya, 47300 Selangor.

Contact : 03 7957 2915

Salted Egg Yolk Fried Chicken

Went to Kitchen Village with the team today, as you can see my fellow team mates all posted with the exception of a certain someone. :P

Had Salted Egg Yolk Fried Chicken with white rice today, it's one of my staples here as well. Yummy~

Though priced at RM13 with just the chicken (add another RM1.20 for white rice), the portion is huge for one person and is recommended to share between 2 to 3 person. :)

Thai Tomyam Fried Rice

@ Kitchen Village, Cyberjaya

Wok Stir Fry Black Pepper Beef from Kitchen Village, Cyberjaya

I ordered this for lunch today. In fact, to be honest, I kind of have this every time I go to Kitchen Village in Cyberjaya.
Why do I have this each time? Because I really enjoy it, and once I find a dish I enjoy I kind of stick with it for a while.
Yummy Yummy Yummy in my Tummy!

Rakuzen - Empire Subang

Finally gotten around to go to Rakuzen this time! Have previously toyed with the idea of going but haven't got around to, and whenever we do feel like going, the place is either fully packed, or not yet open for business.

This time, we went to the Subang Jaya Rakuzen near to SJMC, but the queue out there is unbelievable!! So we agreed to go ahead to the Empire Gallery in Subang, a fairly new shopping/eating place, in case anyone is wondering. :)

Look at their heavy duty tea cups, love the shapes! (The one on  the left is for cold tea, the one on the right is for hot tea)

We ordered a couple of things, some of which looked quite similar but it tastes different, so it's fine. :)

This is called "Cranky salmon roll", the name sounds kinda weird, which is what attracted my attention in the first place, to our surprise it's one of the nicest makizushi (rolled sushi) we've eaten! Inside it's fatty salmon with tenkasu (the crunchy bits), while outside it is rolled with rice and sprinkled with ebikko (fish roe), and the other kind (seen in the inner pieces) are bonito flakes. This goes well with mayonnaise, although I know some people would prefer not to have it with mayo. :P

[Click on each picture to enlarge to see the juicy fatty salmon]

Hubby ordered Sukiyaki, cooked by the kitchen. There were two choices given, either you cook the beef yourself on a hotplate (i think, well some people prefer to do it themselves), or you can get it cooked by the kitchen, which we did. It's a pot of broth with vegetables and beef, served with a raw egg. The correct method to eat this is to dip the meat into raw egg, and then eat. :) Those who prefer to forgo the raw egg, can also just eat the cooked stuff as is.

[Click on each picture to enlarge to see the succulent half done pinkish beef]

My dish is the Tenpura Nabeyaki Udon - udon noodles with broth served with some fried tempura vegetables and prawn. Yummy!! The soup is just nice, but I admit I did add in some wasabi to the soup because I like it, but most "Japanese cuisine connoisseur" will probably snort indignantly at my behavior.

[Click on each picture to enlarge to see the yummy details]

The set also comes with chawanmushi, some hijiki salad and a side dish of california maki rolled sushi. It looks similar to the cranky salmon roll but to be honest I prefer the cranky salmon roll even though this in itself is also very nice. Though a tad overshadowed by the salmon roll.. huhuhu...

[Click on each picture to enlarge to see the glistening ebikko bits]

Price: 
RM30 for the sukiyaki
RM 3 for white rice (to go with sukiyaki)
RM38 for the tenpura nabeyaki udon set including the california maki
RM16 for the cranky salmon roll
Plus tax comes to about a hundred bucks or so, worth it for a satisfying meal for two, especially since we don't really eat in "big restaurants" much nowadays, once in a while we tend to splurge... ^^;;

Overall, I would give this a 7.5/10, the only regret is that it doesn't have the home-made feel I so loved, we will definitely visit this outlet again, ready to try out their other dishes! :)

The Pork Place

When you come across a restaurant with the name The Pork Place, you can only expect this eatery to serve all forms of porky delights. I first came to know of its existence when Reiko pointed it out to me. The first thing that popped into my head was that le hubby would likely enjoy it most.

Le hubby is huge on pork and his favourite are ribs. He came up with the idea of having "pig-out weekends", where we will pick a day in the weekend and go out and savour all things porky. This evening, we decided to visit The Pork Place at IOI Boulevard in Puchong.

The ambience is simple, country style. The interior walls are laid with red bricks and this adds a certain degree of warmth and cosiness to the place.

The menu consists of a number of porkilicious goodies and they were mostly western style food. We toyed around with it before ordering as we were rather tempted by a few items and couldn't really make up our minds.

We started off with the Sliced Belly Salad with Goma dressing. This was the only starter that caught my eye. The belly slices had a nice consistency and were not too chewy. There's a generous sprinkling of ebiko at the top, which I thought was interesting.

I am a huge fan of pork sausages so I couldn't resist ordering the Sausage Platter. This came with two dark and two light sausages and they were all quite big. The sausages were served with a warm cabbage salad and some mash on the side. I was a little disappointed that they didn't add more mash though.

This is a good dish to share with two. I could only manage one and a half sausages and le hubby ate the other half and we had to tapau (take-away) two home. He will probably have them for breakfast tomorrow.

Le hubby had the Bacon and Cheese Burger. The portion is not as big as the burgers served at TGIF but they are definitely better than the puny ones as Macdonald's. The pork patty was grilled well and had a slightly smoky flavour. He told me he would rate it as 7/10, so it must be quite good.

The Pork Place has an array of wine but le hubby and I are not wine drinkers. Instead, we got ourselves some dark German beer and in my humble opinion, this is the best drink accompaniment with pork :-)

All in all, it was a warm, enjoyable experience and meal. We will definitely visit again as we would like to try their pork knuckle and some more porky delights the next trip.

Side Notes :

The Pork Place serves premium-grade pork with pigs grown on their own farm in Mersing. This is also the only ISO certified pig farm in Malaysia.

Prices :

Sliced Belly Salad = RM18

Sausage Platter = RM38

Bacon & Cheese Burger = RM19

Iced Honey Lemon Tea = RM6.90

Weihenstephaner Dunkel Bier = RM28

Location :

The Pork Place

31, IOI Boulevard, Jalan Kenari 7, Bandar Puchong Jaya.

Contact : 03 7728 4600