Review: Buns From Federal Bakery

Remember this???

This is a cream horn but I can't remember what is the current name though which I've seen certain bakeries selling them. Back in the good old days, this cream horn was a treat to me and my brothers. On special treats days, my dad will call us out when the Roti (bread) Man come by each evening to deliver bread in his trusty bicycle which was later upgraded to a motorbike. I still remember the smell of a delicious Sunshine brown bread wrapped in colourful waxed paper!!! Hmmm... I wished they could bring back Sunshine breads in Kuala Lumpur!!! I saw these cream horns recently when I walked into Federal Bakery along Jalan Ampang (diagonally across Standard Chartered Bank). Hohoho... I can still recall vividly how my brothers and I savoured them by peeling the pastry in a spiralling manner, slowly eating the pastry and leaving the bulk of the cream fillings to be devoured lastly. Those were the days...

Federal Bakery is an old school kinda bakery. They still bake breads and deliver round the households. My dad still favoured their loaf bread over High 5 or Gardenia which he deemed them as if like eating cotton wool! Anyway, it was closed to lunch time when I passed by this bakery when I suddenly remembered one of my colleague had recommended their Milk Buns that I had to turn back.

The moment I stepped inside, the nostalgic feeling kinda like slowy crept in... on my right was a tray of cream horns and next to them was sponge cakes covered in butter cream!!!! Wow... they still sell such cakes!!! Amazing!!!! These cakes decorated with pink, green and red butter cream ribbons topped with biscuit flowers sort of reminded me of my birthday cakes when I was a child. Awww too bad my photos are at my parents place, else I could have shown them all here heh...

There were trays of sardine buns, kaya buns, coconut buns etc and I have never seen such huge buns for some time... amazing... Back to my mission, I saw the Milk Buns and on top of them were buns topped with coconut flakes and sugar. The guy manning there told me they are all Milk Buns but the other one is with additional coconut flakes topping and they are all still warm and fresh out of the oven. I grabbed one each of the Milk Buns and of course one cream horn. The Milk Buns came in a loaf of 6 buns. Errrr... I'm not too sure of the price as I suspected the man had under charged me. I didn't realised it as there is no display of price for the Milk Bun but I know the cream horn is RM1.00. Will find out next time.

I tell you, I have never seen my female colleagues so excited when I passed them the buns hahaha... They quickly opened the plastic bag and took one bun each even though they were complaining they just have a heavy lunch, hahaha they can't resist them. I took one myself... fuiiyooohhh the buns were soooo fluffy and soft. There is a hint of sweet buttery taste but yet not oily at all. Soooo cottony!!! Sooooo nice... looks like I may need to make more trips there since there isn't many Federal Bakery around Kuala Lumpur. Looked kinda ordinary huh???

We ate the coconut flakes topped buns later and find them equally as nice. The flakes lend a fragrant aroma to the Milk Buns. My only problem was the sugar on top which made my fingers all so sticky but problem solved after some fingers licking hehehe of course within the confinement of my cubicle.

Those of you who are around my age (*ahem* you know who you are or know what I'm talking about!!!! SSShhhhh...!!!), if you feel like going back down memory lane, step into...

The Federal Bakery
39 & 41 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 2078 4062


Technorati Tags: milk bun + Federal Bakery + cream horn

Masala Tea

Occasionally we brew our own Masala Tea otherwise hubby and I would order this tea at Indian restaurants. This recipe is from a Malaysian Women Weekly recipe card which I find the spices and tea are at the right balance. I've tried it with fresh milk and sugar but somehow maybe because it's low-fat milk, the tea didn't turn out creamy. I have tried using a non-low fat and evaporated milk version but they still lacked oommph. I find that using condensed milk gave a very rich and creamy tea. Feel free to experiment yourself.

Masala Tea

6 cups water
5 cardamoms
3 cloves
3 cm cinnamon
20 ginger slices
2 tbsps tea leaves
Milk and sugar to taste

Crush or grind cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon lightly. Bring water to boil with the spices and tea leaves for 5 minutes. Strain tea. Add sugar and milk when serving.

Technorati Tag: masala tea

IMBB#24: Make it in 30 Minutes

Gosh, I've missed out so many events in the food blogsphere. It's time to catch up. This round of Is My Blog Burning is hosted by Too Many Chefs. When I first saw the theme for this month, it seems to be a pretty easy challenge but I had a tough time deciding what to cook for a complete meal within 30 minutes or less from scratch. I have just too many choices ranging from fried noodles, fried rice, noodles topped with minced meat, stir fry meat and vegetables dish served with white rice, pasta etc etc etc.... I'm totally whooshed out.

In the end I opted for a simple Chicken, Ginger and Mushroom Fried Rice inspired by the Vietnamese stall located at Bukit Bintang Plaza after checking the fridge that I've some leftover white rice. Well technically I guess this can be accepted otherwise just use the microwave to cook some rice and keep aside whilst preparing the rest of the ingredients. My microwave oven can cook 2 portion of rice within 12 minutes.

I've some chicken fillet that I've diced into small cubes. Marinaded with some soya sauce, corn flour, pepper and dash of sesame oil. Next I washed some French beans and carrot for some colour. Diced them into similar size. I've some oyster mushroom which I just wiped clean with paper towel. Tore them into reasonabily bite size pieces. Do not wash them with water as they'll soak up the water and make your rice soggy. I sliced 2 cloves of garlic and a knob of ginger into thin strips.

I scrambled up some eggs in some oil, dish it up and set aside. Heated up some oil in the wok and fry the garlic and ginger strips till fragrant. Watch out and keep stirring as they brown easily. Added in the chicken and slowly stir them apart and let them brown a bit. Quickly dumped in the French beans and carrot. At this juncture, I added in some salt and fish sauce to taste. Once the vegetables are cooked, stirred in the mushroom. Gave them a good stir before adding in the rice and egg. Mixed them up well and seasoned with some soya sauce and pepper to taste.

There... a hearty amd wholesome (loaded with carbo, protein and fibre) meal all within 30 minutes including the washing up of the wok and cleaning up the kitchen!!! No kidding ok and I do not have a domestic helper. Try it out!

Tagged with: IMBB24 + 30Minutes

Review: Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant

This is considered as one of my more recent venture. The Starhill Feast Village has been opened for quite a while but I can never seem to be able to find any good excuse to check the place out until recently. Hubby has been there for business a few times and as always there isn't much comment from him since food to him is something to keep him filled rather than to be enjoyed... duh! I happened to checked with a foodie friend who frequent this place, which he claimed there is nothing spectacular about the food in the Feast Village which explained why I never bothered to wade thru the perpectual traffic jam along Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Somehow we managed to find ourselves there one Friday evening last month as hubby was hosting a farewell do for someone close. After deliberating at the concierge, we carefully walked our way thru the tunnel, goshhh the floor is full of "traps". Thank goodness I wasn't wearing any stilettos else I would be cursing like mad for the floors is uneven because of the pebbles and there were little drops or steps here and there. So ladies, be careful OK.

Anyway, we ended up at Pak Loh Chiu Chow restaurant where it's headquarter is located in Hong Kong. Chiu Chow stands for Teo Chew in Cantonese and there isn't that many great authentic Teo Chew restaurants around Kuala Lumpur. I used to frequent one few doors away from Soo Kee in Imbi but they have closed down many years back. So was Classic Restaurant near Tong Shin Hospital that closed down late last year.

Pak Loh Chiu Chow has glass walls all round it which allow people to peep into its kitchen. The entrance is a stone arch and once inside you'll noticed the patterned wood on the walls. It's softly lit all around which is a biatch challenge for me to take clear photos.

This is the kitchen... pretty narrow but long. It's so full of action even though it was past 11pm and the restaurant weren't that pack. Well, maybe there were patrons ordered stuff who were seated at other restaurants in the village. Yeah they allowed cross ordering which is a superb concept. They are open till 2am for those who fancy supper.

A very helpful and attentive lady Captain (what do you call them these days?? Mike, help???) took our order painstakingly explaining to us their specialities and recommending us their "jiu pai choy" (popular and special dishes). I glanced thru the menu and they seems to have a pretty extensive list which includes Teo Chew porridge and condiments.

Anyway, hubby and guests dictated what they wanted, some dishes were from the menu some where not which the Captain did a fantabulous job in recommending. I didn't really paying attention as I was super sleepy since I was still preggy then. So embarassed actually as I was yawning away thru dinner!!!

Hubby enquired about their Chinese wine after he saw bottles of them lining the glass shelves. Seems like they do not have the wine he drank frequently when he is in China. I was joking to him to order Looi Yue Hoong, a type of wine I frequently heard in Kung Fu movies especially Wong Fei Hoong hahaha and hubby thought I was pulling his leg!!! Darn he didn't believed me its a real thing until the Captain said they do have that wine. So hubby ordered one bottle. Check out the wall of Chinese wines... Click on the pics to view larger pics.

We actually raised some eyebrows when the waitress brought out some suen mooi (tyzng boi or assam boi... whadayacallitindamnenglish??? :p too lazy to google plus I don't eat these stuff one) and some tiny slices lemon quarters. So sua koo (country bumpkin) you know until have to ask the waitress which gave us a sheepish smile, she explained that they are to serve together with the wine. She placed one suen mooi and one slice of lemon into the wine glass before pouring the wine in. They're supposed to errr make the wine more palatable... pardon me ok I wasn't really paying attention since I can't drink plus I was yawning away but I did had a teeny weeny sip. Surprisingly it's very smooth and tasted quite good. Maybe can try it now since we brought back the left over bottle hark! *hic hic*

Omigosh such long winded grandma story, ok let's get back to the FOOD!!!! I'll try to recall what we ate... I'm having the same syndrome as Mike but I had a valid excuse hahaha being pregnant tend to have short memory, that's for me, not sure about other ladies. First dish that arrived is this fried kailan. Pretty tasty with the addition of joe hau yue (it's a type of fish which I can't recall the English name) which lend a very fragrant taste to the vegetable. Tried a bite of the fish but it's so hard!!! Maybe its the dried version. Usually my mom will grill the fish till crispy and pound it till it turned powder to be used in her stir fries.

Next up was a braised lamb in claypot (not sure of actual name). I tell you, this dish is super delish with white rice!!! I ate quite a number of pieces of the lamb and tried to wallop whatever little sauce that clinged to the pot. The sauce went deep into the meat and it's ohhhh so tender. Can't wait to eat it again!!!

The next dish was ordered by one of the guest. Guess what??? It's a very very simple choy poh (preserved turnip, I hope I got this right) omelette. Let me tell you, this is the most delicious dish of all the dishes they've ordered in my opinion. I wonder what are the extra ingredients they have added in to make this so fragrant. It's something that I can't described... but please don't tell me it's MSG!!!

To me Teo Chew cuisine means taro or yam cos I find that they use them frequently used be it sweet or savoury. So we had a taro duck or something. Sorry this one I really can't recall... I think it's a vegetarian dish. We find this nothing spectacular and it's pretty oily but I can be bias since I don't fancy deep fried stuff.

Next up is a braised chicken which is fine but it's a tad too salty. It's cooked with plenty of onions and ginger. This is something that can be easily recreate at home.

Overall, it was a pretty pleasant experience and it's somewhere I won't mind going again. Might try the Teo Chew porridge next time to compare between such high class place with our regular hawker haunt at Pudu. Price wise I think it's quite fair for the kind of service and ambiance. There were 5 of us that evening and the total bill came up to about RM300 plus. The Looi Yue Hoong is RM100 and tea is mighty expensive per head at about RM10 or was it RM15, I guess depending which type of tea.

So if you're around in the vicinity and do not mind splurging some dough for some good food, this is the place. Check out some thots about Pak Loh Chiu Chow from non other than Patrick Teoh himself.

Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant
Feast Village, Starhill
Tel: (603)2782 3856

Fruit Cake

This is really a long overdue post...

I baked this Fruit Cake during Christmas and cured it for a month in time for Chinese New Year. I still have one loaf in my fridge which I'm still diligently drizzle brandy over it from time to time. *hic*

In a clean glass jar, I've soaked the mixed fruits in brandy for a week in the fridge before using them. Here was how they looked like after a week.



Mixed fruits and nuts boiling in orange and lemon juice.



This recipe managed to yield me 2 loaves and a square cake (I'm not sure of the measurement) and this were how they looked like after baking. (Click to enlarge the pics which looked absolutely gorgeous when blown up).






I've drizzled the cakes with brandy once a week and placed them in the fridge all wrapped up in cling wrap and heavy duty foil before stuffing them inside Tupperwares which you can see some of them in here.

We savoured the square cake during Chinese New Year and it was splendid. Just moist enough and the proportion of fruits and nuts with the cake was just right. However, it was best after opening the cling wrap and foil and air it for a while before serving. Just let the liquor vapourised a bit else the brandy smell was kinda overwhelming. You see we can't help ourselves after cutting the fruit cake hahaha... everybody seems to enjoyed a piece or two over tea.



The recipe that I've roughly based upon was from Amy Beh which was published in Kuali. I have plus minus on the fruits and nuts. Still worked out well though. Do give it a try during the next festive season.

Ginger, Mushroom and Chicken in Oyster Sauce

Now, this is a very quick stir fry dish. Just cube some chicken fillet into sizable chunks. Marinade them with some oyster sauce, cornflour and a dash of sesame oil and pepper. You may use chicken breast but it might be a tad too tough for some people.

Wipe clean some oyster mushroom and set aside. Do not wash them as they'll soak up the water. Thinly sliced some ginger.

In a hot wok, pour in some oil and let it heat up. Place in the ginger and stir fry till fragrant. Put in the chicken fillet and let it brown before turning them over. Once they're cooked, stir in the oyster mushroom. Pour in some oyster sauce to taste and some water. Cook for about 2-3 minutes before dishing up to serve with hot white rice.

Surprisingly hubby liked this, so did I.

Lunch Box Salad

This is one of my backlog post.

Sometimes I get very bored with the availability of food around the office, so I packed myself lunch. This was one of them...



A very simple salad of lettuce leaves (from Sime), roasted peppers and cubed pears, served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. Strangely enough the balsamic vinegar brought out the sweetness of the pear. Lovely.

The roasted peppers were made by roasting them either in an open fire or in the oven until blackened. Place them in a bowl then cover with cling wrap or inside a plastic bag and tie it up. The steam will loosen the skin where it can be easily removed after doing so for 5 minutes or so. Be careful though, they can still be very hot. Once done, cut them up and remove the seeds. Next drizzle olive oil all over and sprinkle on some sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Usually I'll make a batch and keep them in the fridge in a sterile bottle. I've used them in salads and sandwiches (really yummy). Really handy and jiffy for a quick snack or meal.

My Pot Is All Cleaned

Thanks for all the warm wishes whilst I'm recovering from the burnt pot incident. Physically I'm fine, as for mentally, hubby and I are coping pretty well too. I guess it didn't hit us very hard as we have read about blighted ovum when our friend experienced this a couple of months back. We were told there isn't any sign of fetus nor heartbeat during my first visit to the gynae for a scan. The sac was there and I was confirmed pregnant but we can't see anything inside. It was all BLACK. He kept it positive, brushing off that I might have got my date wrong and it's too early to detect the fetus. However, he did warn us to prepare ourselves. 2 weeks later we brazed ourselves to the clinic and true enough my gynae can't seems to detect any heartbeat and it was rather difficult to search for the sac. The black image on the monitor had turned hazy. The d&c was scheduled within that week.

I had my check up last weekend and I'm in a clean bill of health. It was a fast and painless procedure but it's the semi-confinement thingy that is pretty painful. I can't eat cooling stuff ie cabbage, Chinese cabbage (wong nga pak), icey stuff, tea, fruits aiyeyeye... Just like during my confinement days but thank goodness I can shower and wash my hair everyday! Still have another week to go, just to be on the safe side.

I was lucky to have my mom taking care of the meals while I was on medical leave. I had had womb warming soups with plenty of ginger (something that I'm not very fond of and you know Kuala Lumpur was super hot two weeks ago??? Urrghhh imagine the heat generated.), rice wine, Chinese Angelica (tong kwai), herbal soup and double boiled chicken essence which literally kept me awake!!! Ate lots of rice wine chicken cooked with loads of ginger strips and black fungus and not forgetting the delicious sesame oil chicken. Sorry, no pictures taken cos I was too busy enjoying and resting for that few days.

Well, I'm so sorry to keep you guys from any updates. The streamyx at my parents seems to be a tad slow and its a pain to load pages. Then my boiboi keep wanting to surf hitentertainment website to colour or play Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train and Barney games, so much so of having some rest huh?

I'm still working at client's site which it's not very convenient me to post anything here nor leave any comments at your blogs. Well, I do read blogs once in a while when I have some time to spare, just not convenient to leave any message. I hope you guys do understand.

I hope I can post more cos my hardisk is bursting to the brim with all the photos that I've taken the past few months. It's gonna be a long long backlog. Will post more when possible. Once again, I would like to thank you all for all the support and caring words in time like this. I'll be back!

My Pot Got...

...burnt!!!

I'm fine and dandy now. Do not worry about me ok, will update when time permits. Thank you once again for all the warm wishes and again in advance thanks for all your caring thots. Love you all lots!