Review: Ume-Tei Japanese Restaurant @ Amcorp Mall

It's not surprising to find affordable food in Amcorp Mall including Japanese food. In this case, Ume-Tei Japanese Restaurant is one of them. Located on the 3rd floor, it's quite easy to spot them being diagonally opposite the big boys toy shop. The staff is friendly and service is efficient even during lunch hour. Their set meals are value for money indeed.



These are some of the sets that I've tried and I've to say they're rather good and definitely value for the amount you need to fork out. This one is Soba Set (RM15.00) that came with 2 lettuce and cucumber handrolls; a bowl of soba; a side dish of shredded turnips, carrots and black fungus; plus the usual piece of fruit. A simple meal but quite hearty.

The Ramen Set (RM18) have a bowl of simple ramen; a bowl of rice which we asked to be sub with garlic fried rice; fried chicken chop; side dish; pickle and fruit. The garlic fried rice is absolutely fragrant. It's quite a whole of stuff to be eaten in one seating.



Tori Karaage Set (RM20.00) consist of tuna and salmon sashimi slices; deep fried chicken pieces; rice which we sub with garlic fried rice; 2 side dishes; a bowl of miso soup; pickles and fruit. Value for money or not?? Even though the tuna and salmon sashimi is not of superb top class quality, nevertheless, they're much better than the usual conveyor belt cuts. The deep fried chicken pieces are crispy on the outside, moist and tender inside. Yum!

For this kinda easy on the pocket prices, I'm not complaining. They're certainly not Japanese fine dining quality but it's acceptable to satisfy ones hunger for Japanese food in the mall.

They charge 10% service charge and 5% Government tax. Green tea or plain water is complimentary too which the wait staff diligently kept topping up.


Ume-Tei Japanese Restaurant
3rd Floor Amcorp Mall
18 Persiaran Barat, Off Jalan Timur
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 603-7954 1397


Technorati Tags: Japanese food

My Version of ABC Soup

**Non-Halal**

The usual ABC Soup contains potatoes, carrots, onion and tomatoes but my version have a couple more of ingredients - corn and beetroot! The corn gave the soup an extra sweetness to it whilst the beetroot lent a tinge of pinkish trace in the soup. Beetroot is supposedly to good to cleanse the body and rich in Vitamin C and A, on top of a host of other nutrients.

I've used pork bones which I've cleaned and parboiled to get rid of the scums. They're washed again before they go into the pot. Next, dumped in all the vegetables and boil on low heat for 3 - 4 hours. Alternatively, you can use the pressure cooker but I didn't this time. I liked my soup to be slow boiled. Towards the end of cooking, adjust tasted with some salt if you like. Sometimes, I'll add some white peppercorns at the start of cooking but since the weather was hot, I omitted them.



There... the utmost nutritious and flavourful soup filled with vitamins A, B and C hahaha... BTW, this soup tasted better on the next day.


Technorati Tags: soup

Roasted Duck and Baby Tomatoes Angel Hair Pasta

I was home alone one evening and was too lazy to go out for food. I rummaged my fridge and found some leftover roasted duck and baby tomatoes. Decided to turn them into a quick pasta dish.

All I did was fry some chopped garlic till fragrant in olive oil, taking care not to brown them. Add in shredded roasted duck and stir. Next, dump in halved baby tomatoes. Sprinkle in salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lastly, add in cooked angel hair pasta and mix thoroughly. Dish up and serve hot with another dash of freshly ground black pepper.

Dinner in a jiffy - less than 10 minutes including minor prep work. Heh...




Technorati Tags: pasta

King Crab Restaurant Charity Drive For Sichuan Earthquake Victims

This morning, I'm up to some pimping. I got a mail from Precious Pea about a string of charity dinners over at King Crab Restaurant in aid of Sichuan earthquake victims. Details as follows:

Restoran King Crab PJ (opposite Kelana Jaya LRT Station)
7:30pm, Tuesday, 3rd June 2008, 40 tables in 1st floor banquet hall.
7:30pm, Wednesday, 4th June 2008, 40 tables in 1st floor banquet hall.


Restoran King Crab JB
7:30pm, Thursday, 5th June 2008, 60 tables in 1st floor banquet hall.


The donation amount per ticket is RM100 or RM 1,000 per table (10 tickets).

The collection of the ticket sales will be 100% donated to the China Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fun.


Restoran King Crab
No. 103 - 107, Jalan SS25/2
Taman Mewah Jaya
Petaling Jaya
Tel No: 603 - 7808 2388

Sorry I do not have the JB contact. Please lend your support with your friends and family. Thank you.

Cooling Drinks Series: Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

The weather in Kuala Lumpur has been tremendously hot. I guess it's time to continue my cooling drink series. I was meant to boil this Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit (loh horn guo in Cantonese) tong shui (sweet soup) featured in Amy Beh's cook book but I didn't realised I ran out of dried longan so I sub it with some white fungus instead just for some substance.

Anyway, I just boiled them in a pot for an hour plus instead of double-boiling. I added the rock sugar towards the end and I doubt I've used that much of sugar since Buddha's Fruit will sweeten the soup. So add little by little till you achieve the sweetness that you prefer. Best when eaten cold.

Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

250g fresh sea coconut (to obtain toddy palm seed)
4 red dates, pitted and halved
25g dried longan
1 whole Buddha’s fruit, lightly cracked
150g rock sugar
500ml water

Remove the hard shells off the fresh sea coconut. Tear off the membrane and cut the toddy palm seed into thin slices.

Put rock sugar, red dates, longan, lo han kor and water into a double boiler. Cover and double boil for 1 hour over medium-low heat.

Add toddy palm seed slices and continue to double boil for another hour. Serve hot or cold.

Technorati Tags: tong shui

Review: Restoran Sai Kong (HQ @ Kepong Baru)

**Non-Halal**


The day before Mother's Day, we attended my boiboi's school family day, somewhere around Batu Caves. I've arranged to have the rest of my family to meet for lunch at Pan Heong, the yummy porridge and noodle place in Batu Caves since we haven't gone back there like many years, wayyy before they got so famous... wayyy before they're so crowded! Darn, we waited like 15 minutes and nobody bothered to even bat an eyelid on us. The other poor souls were resorted to standing behind the patrons watching over their shoulders like hawk with the kinda "when are you going to finish and move your butt outta there" stare!

Hating such scene... we decided to move on elsewhere for lunch sighhhh had to say good bye to the delish sang har meen. My brother suggested to go to Restoran Sai Kong in Kepong Baru instead and off we went. When we reached there, my parents were pleasantly surprised that they've became so "big". The last time they went, Sai Kong were still operating from a shack nearby. For myself, I've only been to the Medan Putra outlet. The Kepong Baru outlet is of 3 shoplots with an upstairs space to boost too.

Since it was to celebrate Mother's Day, we asked the big shot to dictate the order and here were what we (7 adults and one child) have for lunch...

Mom asked for a Sweet and Sour Fish (sek ban, not sure what's in English cos I'm a noob when it come to fish. RM25.00), Marmite Pork Ribs (RM10.00) and Angled Loofah Tofu (Seng Kua Dau Foo RM6.00) to suit the boss boiboi. Sadly the amount of gravy that came with the fish was so little to be enjoyed all round. I had walloped most of them for my boiboi hehe... Anyway, the fish was fresh and this dish was a thumbs up. The whole fish was gone from the plate by the end of lunch!



I've no idea when my boiboi had developed a liking for pork ribs cooked in Marmite or just in fact in almost similar style. He just loved them and so did we.



I liked the homemade tofu here. It came in quite a huge piece. Since it was small portion, it was still enough to go around the table.



After deciding the dishes for the fart, we now have adult dishes heh! We opted for the recommended Assam Prawn (RM20.00). It lacked of the assam tang and a bit on the sweet side for me but overall it's still yummy. Best when ladle the gravy and all on the rice to be eaten together. The prawns were fresh and excellent with the accompanying asparagus, ladies fingers, onions and tomatoes.



Next came a quite standard dish, the Four Heavenly King (RM8.00). Sai Kong's version have long beans, four angled beans, ladies fingers and of course my fave petai! If only the sambal they were fried in, is spicier, it would have been perfect but luckily it's not, otherwise my dad won't be able to enjoy it as much.



Lastly we have a non-spicy Romaine Lettuce Fried with Fu Yue (fermented beancurd, RM6.00) where the vegetable came crisp coated with just the right amount of fu yue.



Lots of dishes there but most of them were of small portion with 4 bowls of rice (we're not farn tung - rice bin kekeke) and a pot of King of Tea (char wong RM9.00), the bill came up to RM92.00 after a 5% Goverment tax. WOW!!!! My first under RM100 makan (eating) session with my family in a restaurant like this hahaha... mmm very satisfying indeed!


Restoran Sai Kong
23 Jalan Helang Sewah
Kepong Baru
52100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-6273 2242
Coordinates: 3°11'42"N 101°38'40"E


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Stir-Fried Eggs with French Beans, Baby Corn and Carrots

Pheewww that was quite a mouthful!



This is another variation of frying eggs where instead of turning the combination into an omelette, just stir-fry all the ingredients. Stir-fry diced french beans, baby corn and carrots in some oil. Sprinkle in some salt and black pepper to taste. When they're cooked, pour in some lightly beaten eggs. Let the eggs cook and set. Then stir-fry them all until well mixed. Dish up and serve.

There, another easy peasy dish from the lazy me.


Technorati Tags: egg

The Sloppiest Burger in Malaysia

I need to do a bit of pimping here... there will be a Malaysian entry for this year's 2008 NYC Food Film Festival submitted by Friedchillies. The 2 minutes video featured the famous Burger Om stall located in Ampang Jaya. Very mouthwatering video there!

We all love our Ramly Burgers. This June 2008, New Yorkers will get a chance to see how much us Malaysians love our burgers. Our short video titled 'The Sloppiest Burger in Malaysia' featuring one of the most famous and talked about burger stall in the Klang Valley, Burger Om made it for the official screening of the 2008 NYC Food Film Festival.

They dubbed this video as 'Malaysian gonzo food reportage to the max. Watch out Bourdain.'

Go over to Friedchillies' The Sloppiest Burger in Malaysia to view the video.

Review: Pantai Seafood Restaurant

**Non-Halal**

A group of us, 7 adults and a child, went to Pantai Seafood Restaurant (a branch of the many Unique seafood chain) back in March. Since it was a first visit for most of us except for JW, we made her do most of the ordering, plus some intervention from Yozora.

Her favourite, Deep Fried Squid, became our favourite too! Every bite of the squid came out crunchy even to the very late bite. It may looked simple, battered and deep fried but surprisingly they're not soaked in oil. Best eaten when dippep in the accompanying chilli sauce.



We have a Thai style chicken dish which is basically deep fried chicken topped with tangy strips of mango, cucumber, red onions and red chillies. The tangy sauce made it very appetising indeed.



As there was a kid with us, we asked for a tofu dish ala Sing Kong. I'm not sure how the name came about but it's a common dish found in most Chinese restaurants. It's a dish of tofu cooked with various vegetables, mushrooms and meat in a starchy gravy. The kid loves the tofu especially the gravy! He kept asking his daddy to scoop him the gravy.



This little boy, well, no thanks to his hearty appetite daddy has been well trained when it comes to the food department. He virtually eats anything and everything, just like his daddy! We loved to watch him eat. It made us wanna eat more just like him. He's also special, he loves meat which is very rare for a child of 3 years old! So Yozora asked for a Sweet and Sour Pork (koe loe yuk) dish for him. Actually, I kinda like this dish too since it's a childhood favourite. The pork pieces are deep fried before being cooked in tomato sauce with some cucumber, capsicum, pineaple, tomato and onions.



We have the customary green dish... Kai Lan in 2 Styles which the captain recommended. The kai lan stems are blanched and laid on the plate. The leaves are finely chopped and deep fried together with white baits (ngan yue chai) before placing them on top of the stems. I find the leaves a tad oily but has a nice crunch.



Next, came a Claypot Pork Ribs With Yam. I simply loved the thickish gravy. The ribs are tender, with the meat nearly falling off the bones coupled with the powdery yam. Best when drizzled over on white rice. Am sure if my boiboi is around, he too would loved this.



We ended our meal with a mixed fruit platter with mango. Oooo the mango was superbly sweet!



Since JW forked out to pay for it first, I can't recall how much this dinner costed but it should be less than RM250. I would say it's reasonable. Like Yozora had mentioned, it will be as long as we do not pick anything live from the tanks haha... Oh yeah JW also warned us to make reservation should we want to come here on weekends as she said it's super crowded.


Pantai Seafood Restaurant
Lot 13575 Jalan Cempaka PJU 6A
Kg Sg Kayu Ara
47400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 603-7725 5099/1099
Click for the map here.


Technorati Tags: seafood

Another Version of Beef Stew

I've made another round of beef stew but this time it's slightly different. I marinaded the beef with some salt, pepper and a few generous dashes of Woscestershire Sauce. In my pressure cooker, I fried the chopped onions, leeks, garlic cloves and celery in some olive oil. Coat the beef in flour and add them into the cooker. Brown the meat evenly to seal in the flavours.

In some water, I mixed in some Marmite and few dashes Woscestershire Sauce. Pour the mixture into the cooker, ensuring there's enough water to cover the meat. Cover and cook as per instructions, in my case, for about 10 mins, before I turn off the fire. Released the pressure followed by the lid and turn on the fire. Add in the rest of the ingredients. This round I added leeks, celery, carrots, potatoes, button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and tomatoes. Pour in more water covering half of the vegetables. Let it come to a boil, taste and adjust the seasonings with salt. Put on the lid and cook under pressure for another 5 minutes. Once pressure are released, open the lid. Stir the stew and ensure the vegetables are cooked thru.

Again my boiboi refused to eat when I mentioned I'll be serving this for lunch but when I served it and asked him to try, he was game since I served it with bread. As usual he loves it and so did hubby! I guess this time the method worked better as the meat turned out melt in the mouth, plus I've used Marmite lent a lovely taste to the stew. My big pot of stew got finished up by dinner! A first indeed haha...


Technorati Tags: beef stew

Review: Fong Wah Teochew Porridge

**Non-Halal**

When it calls for light dinner, we tend to opt for simple porridge ala Teochew along Changkat Thambi Dollah. This time we went to Fong Wah Teochew Porridge but sometimes we go to the other one, Restoran Teochew, a few doors away. Fong Wah is the intermediate corner lot one. Basically both serves similar dishes, with porridge or rice.



This time we ordered a fish dish of braised tenggiri (mackerel) in preserved black bean. This is our first time tasting this dish here, a bit salty but went well with the porridge.



Then we have the usual steamed pork with tung choy (preserved vegetable) which is usually a must for hubby whenever it comes to porridge.



We also have an omelette of preserved radish. Hmm note that majority of these dishes were made out of preserved stuff??? I guess it's the saltiness of them that bring out the flavour to go along with porridge.



I asked for this bowl of spicy sour kai choy (Chinese mustard green) which had the right tinge of sourness. Slurped up the whole bowl of goodness.



These 4 dishes with 2 bowls of porridge costed us RM16.50.


Fong Wah Teochew Porridge
35 Changkat Thambi Dollah
Off Jalan Pudu
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-2143 4088
Opening Hours: 10.30am - 4.30am

Technorati Tags: porridge + teochew

Wesak Day

Wishing all Buddhists peace and tranquility on Wesak Day, may Lord Buddha showers you His blessing today and always!

Steamed Dong Guai Prawns

I usually steam my prawns with just garlic and ginger but here's another version with dong guai (angelica) just like what I did with chicken.



Very simple, just rub some salt and pepper over the prawns. Place them inside aluminium foil on a heat proof plate. Next, lay about 4-5 slices of dong guai and some ginger strips over them and sprinkle some kei chi (boxthorn/lycium/Chinese wolfberry) all over. Pour in a few dashes of soy sauce and generous dashes of Shao Xing Hua Diao (a type of Chinese cooking wine). Wrap the foil up tightly and place in a steamer. Steam for about 7-8 mins (I only have 6 huge prawns). You can check by opening up the foil but be careful cos it's super hot. It's cooked if the prawns have all turned orangey and curled up, otherwise rewrap and return to the steamer for a few more mins.



You can opt not to wrap the prawns up in a foil but I find wrapping them up have more flavours since the water vapour doesn't drop inside the prawns and dilute the taste.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Technorati Tags: prawn

Review: Tosaya Japanese Restaurant

We were stuck in the mother of all traffic jam in the city one evening. Hubby gave option to pop by at KLCC until the traffic turns good, however as we were heading that way, the road seems pretty jammed up too. So he ended up making a right turn into Jalan Sultan Ismail. Next, I saw him smiling and declared that we should hang out at Tosaya instead. Hmmm sounds good as it has been a long while since we last ate at Tosaya which is located at the side of Wisma Cosway, facing Novotel Hydro Majestic entrance.



This place brought back lots of nostalgic moments having celebrated colleagues and friends birthdays and such here. Tosaya's standard has been maintained thru out the years and the telling signs were, there are a lot of Japanese customers partronising this place. Tosaya was one of the better and authentic Japanese restaurants wayyy before Japanese restaurants mushroomed in the city.



I opted for the Dai and Tempura set (RM25.00) as I had wanted something lighter. This set came with 2 handrolls, miso soup, salad, tempura of prawns and vegetables and a couple slices of honeydew melon. Simple and just nice for me. Loved the crispy tempura pieces.



Hubby asked for Salmon Shioyaki set (RM29.00) which is actually not in the menu but you can always request for it. The usual bento stuff - sticky rice, salad, miso soup, pickles and of course the grilled salmon piece. Can't go wrong here and how to comment on perfectly salted and lightly grilled salmon?



Tosaya is just your usual no frills Japanese restaurant with reasonable prices to boost to hang out in the city centre. So don't expect luxurious Kaiseki set ala Fukuya haha...



I'm not sure if this place is halal or not but they serve liquour like beer and sake. Definitely no pork served though. They charges 5% Government Tax and 10% Service Charge.

Tosaya Japanese Restaurant
Ground Floor, Lot G22-24, Wisma Cosway,
88 Jalan Raja Chulan,
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-2144 3416


Technorati Tags: japanese food

Steamed Tofu

Another quickie dish... homemade, simple, nutritious, healthy BUT yet tasted slurpilicious, brought to you by Babe in the City - KL haha... Please excuse the photo quality cos I was in a hurry to serve it hot.

Steamed Tofu

Tofu based:
550 ml unsweetened soy bean milk
4 medium eggs or 3 AA (large) eggs which I've used instead, worked as well
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar

Topping:
2 tbsp fried shallots with oil (you don't need a lot of oil)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fried dried shrimp (which I've omitted since I can't find any in my fridge)
2 tbsp spring onions, chopped

Mix the tofu based ingredients and sieve into a deep heat proof dish. Put in a wok or steamer and steam for 7 minutes under medium heat.

Once done, remove from steamer and sprinkle the topping all over. Serve hot with rice.

My boiboi lurrveee this even though he refused initially and he told me he will only eat it after dinner as dessert cos it looked like tau foo far to him hahaha... Anyway we coaxed him to try some and he was hooked! Now he will ask me to cook this for him other than his fave potato dish.


Technorati Tags: tofu

Breakie at IKEA Restaurant

There was one Sunday that hubby needed to be at Ikano by 11.00am to meet with his classmates. Since they're only meeting for a couple of hours, he roped myself and boiboi in to hang out there. As it was kinda early, we decided to check out the breakfast served at IKEA Restaurant, our first for breakie.

We reached there right around 9.45am but Ikea seems to be abuzz with activities, more so when we walked into the restaurant on the first floor. The place is packed and long lines formed! Hmmm I checked the stuff they served that day, it was nasi lemak or chicken char siu bao going for 99 sens each! So cheap?? Cheaper than the makcik's nasi biasa!

We got ourselves the nasi lemak and char siu bao for boiboi, then the usual tea/coffee and juice. Earlier we noticed people carrying plates of deep fried chicken pieces but when it was our turn to order, they have ran out. The server asked hubby to wait 10 minutes. By the time it was my turn to pay, hubby had gotten his 3 pieces of fried chicken going at RM2.00 per piece. Not bad huh the price... just like the usual makcik's.

The char siu baos are of mini sized and I really meant MINI! They came in two. My boiboi finished one in 2 mouthfuls!!! Errr the photos depicted a rather big bao eh? The bao has thick dough with very little filling but my boiboi did not complain.



Knowing it's not enough for him, I asked if he wanted to try some nasi lemak. He refused initially since he saw the sambal on the plate. We managed to coaxed him to try some without the sambal of course. Also gave him some fried chicken. It's his first time eating nasi lemak actually haha cos usually our nasi is laden with spicy sambal so he never get the chance to try. I need to start training him for spicy food... any tips???

The nasi lemak tasted not bad for 99 sens that came with the usual condiments of deep fried ikan bilis, peanuts and half an egg. The rice is not rich with barely a hint of santan (coconut milk) and came in quite a large bowl. Lucky I gave some to boiboi, otherwise I doubt I could have finish. The sambal is not hot at all with a tinge of sweetness in them, certainly not the best but hey at 99 sens, who is complaining??? However, the chicken marinaded in turmeric is good. Since it was just off the hot oil, the skin is crispy and at least it's tasty. My boiboi loved the chicken and managed to finish them with the small portion of rice I gave to him.



Other than these, they have the usual sandwiches, muffins and cinnamon rolls. Later we saw our neighbour brought sugared doughnuts hmm... Since it's my first time there, I'm not sure if their breakfast menu is on a rotation basis but seriously I don't mind going again just to check out.

Oh yah... they should also serve their ever so delish curry puffs here too!


IKEA Restaurant
Sun - Thurs 9.00am - 10.00pm
Fri, Sat and eve of Public Holiday 9.00am - 11.00pm
(Breakfast 9.00am - 11.00am)


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Pork Balls Rice Porridge

**Non-Halal**

I've been feeling extremely lazy since Saturday... not sure why, could it be the super duper hot weather??!?! All my housework have been put on hold and I just lazed around the whole of Sunday except washing the bathroom as I can't stand dirty bathrooms. Sighhh... I'm still feeling IT!

Anyway, I would like to wish all the mommies a very Happy belated Mother's Day!

Just a quickie post here...

I was feeling lazy to go out one weekend, so cooked a pot of rice porridge. I've used white and red rice, hence you'll see red/brown spots in my porridge. The red rice provided a bite to the porridge. To make things simpler, I just minced some lean pork and tung choy (preserved vegetable) together. Marinade them with some soy sauce, white pepper, a dash of sesame oil and some cornstarch to bind them together.



Once the rice porridge is done, scoop the minced meat with a teaspoon and shaped them into balls. Drop them into the porridge. I've also added chopped salted duck eggs in the rice porridge. Season the porridge with salt and pepper to taste. Let the porridge come to a boil and check the pork balls are cooked thoroughly before turning off the fire.



Served my porridge with more sprinkling of white pepper and a dash of sesame oil. Simple but yummy! My boiboi's favourite too.


Technorati Tags: porridge

Review: Pan Meen at Taman Indah, Balakong

**Non-Halal**

Last Friday, hubby and I were not working. However, we both woke up early to go for a walk. Aduiii he took me to this private land wayyyyy inside Bandar Sg Long and climb the hill backing Ulu Langat! I was cursing and swearing as I was totally not fit for the steep climb plus it's so embarrassing to have old folks over taking me!!! After huffing and puffing our way up and down, we got down to the foothill around 8am. I was famished but luckily my legs didn't buckled.

On our way back, I got him to bring me to Balakong (the pekan side) for pan meen (board noodles). I only remember the stall is operating from a corner house behind Ambank after reading it from a guide book sold at Popular. After parking the car, we walked towards the house behind Ambank. As I attempted to walk in, something is not just right cos I smelt bak kut teh and saw kettles on stoves around the tables... uh-oh sensing not right, I stopped and walked out. Then I got "that" look from hubby, you know the kind questioning if I really know where is the stall :p

Just across, we saw baskets of dried anchovies and claudrons of boiling liquid. Hubby asked the lady who where in the midst of opening if they're selling pan meen, boy I was glad when she answered a yes. Since the place was empty, he asked if they're open. The lady asked in Cantonese "Lei sheung sek moe? Yue gwor seung sek, ngor chau chue pei lei." (You feel like eating or not, if yes, I'll cook for you.) Hohoho... how sweet of her!

We sat out at the compound and ordered our pan meen. They only serve soup style pan meen and you can pick either broad or thin noodles. We both asked for thick version which she said it's like the torn style. Wooo hooo I like that! When it came, omigosh... so big bowl even though we asked for small.



I dug in my chopsticks, there were loads of broad noodles, amaranth (yin choy) instead of sweet leaf bush, deep fried crispy anchovies, some pork bits and fragrant deep fried shallots which I believed it's made by themselves. No need to worry about supplier melting plastics in hot oil to crisp them up! We both slurp them up in gusto... it's absolutely fabulous... so hearty.

The clear broth made from anchovies is sweet and definitely no or very little MSG (testimony - not thirsty after this). The pan meen itself is chewy but the thin parts were soft and slippery, absolutely a slurpilicious delight! I loved the amount of amaranth in the bowl and also the ever so fragrant fried shallots. Both brought the pan meen to another level of enjoyment.

Not knowing they came in such huge portion, we asked for 4 sui kow (dumplings). We struggled to eat them up hahaha and I have to say they're GOOD. They're plumped with prawns inside which you can see the orangey bits under the translucent sui kow skins. Inside the bowl, came more amaranth and fried shallots!



We tried our might but alas we can't finish our noodles after downing 2 sui kows each. Gee, next time we might need to share a large bowl instead. With the noodles arriving piping hot and sitting under the roof without fan, we were both perspiring away and busy wiping our head and nose with tissue papers as we dug in. This is in the morning, imagine during lunch hours??? I have to say it was well worth the sauna experience!

Check out Honey Star for more pictures of the place. The small bowl of pan meen is err around RM3.70 or was it RM3.80 per bowl.


Pan Meen, Taman Indah
Corner house behind corner lot Mamak (beside Ambank)
Jalan Indah 3/6
Taman Indah, Batu 11,
43200 Balakong, Selangor
Coordinates: 3°2'35"N 101°46'18"E


Technorati Tags: pan meen + noodles

Psssttt... here, here... KL's Best Teh Tarik

Can you guess where is this place located?

Hahaha I guess it's hard eh unless you're a true KLite.

My hubby brought me here during our courting days for supper. He used to frequent this quaint little stall during his graveyard shifts when he was working for the bank. Let me introduce to you - Al Amnah Restaurant. It's not a restaurant proper, just a small stall located along the walkway on the Ground Floor of Selangor Mansion. This stall faces the river and a stone throw away from the pedestrian bridge across the river to Jalan Ampang. The hustle and bustle at this place usually heightens in the wee hours of the morning.

I can vouch that their teh tarik (pulled milked tea) is one of the best in Kuala Lumpur. Why you may ask... for me this is the only stall I find that do not serve sickly sweet teh tarik with the right balance of tea flavour and the creaminess of the condensed milk. Best part is, you don't even need to add "kurang kurang manis" (less less sweet literally) at the back of your order!!! Sorry no picture... just looked like normal teh tarik but tastewise, it's a bomb and I'm not kidding as hubby bumped into his ex-classmate who resides in Kajang drinking teh tarik here hehehe...

The rotis made here are crispy and fluffy. Previously they only have basic rotis but now it seems the menu have expanded to include some of the fancy mancy rotis but don't expect a long list of them.

Hubby ordered roti sardine (RM3.00) which is basically roti canai with a filling of mashed tinned sardine mixed with an egg and sliced onions. I had one bite and mmmmmm mmmmm mmmm...



My roti telur bawang (RM1.70) is just basically roti canai with an egg cracked over it with sprinkling of sliced onions. I loved this piping hot!



Both rotis were served with thickish dhall (not the usual watered down version) that I prefered with a dollop of sambal which I find it a tad too sweet. However, it does serve its purpose.



Total bill of the two rotis with one glass of teh tarik and one glass of limau panas (hot calamansi) came up to RM6.60.

Game to sit by the five foot way beside the parit (drain)? Then wait no more!!! Head on to Al Amnah and get yourself a glass of teh tarik.


Al Amnah Restaurant
No. 2 Ground Floor
Selangor Mansion
Jalan Masjid India
Kuala Lumpur
(I think this place opens 24 hours)
Coordinates: 3°9'7"N 101°41'50"E


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + teh tarik + roti canai

Marmite Prawns

Let's go for seafood today...

I made Marmite Prawns without following any recipe, just pakai hentam (simply guess) only. Let me recall what I put inside the sauce. I have 6 large prawns and some spring onions chopped to about 2 inches in length. For the sauce, 1 heap teaspoon Marmite, a few dashes of Worcestershire Sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar or to taste, and about 4-5 tablespoons water - mix them all together (taste it now and adjust either by adding sugar or more Marmite according to your liking).

First, I dried the prawns with paper towel and lightly sprinkle some salt and pepper; plus some cornflour to dry them further. I fried the prawns in some oil until they're cooked (when they turned red/pink and curled up). Stirred in the spring onions. Next, poured in the sauce and stirred to coat the prawns evenly. Lastly, thickened the sauce with some cornflour and water solution. You may cook yours till it's dry but I preferred mine with some sauce so that I can lap them up with my rice!



Surprisingly, they're pretty yummy!


Technorati Tags: prawn + marmite

Looks Like I Am Not Alone in My Plight

Just barely a month ago, The Star "took" my photo and featured in their video without my permission nor crediting me. I just realised they were at it again last Sunday when they featured the article about Penang Chief Minister YAB Lim Guan Eng flying economy class. Apparently, The Star had lifted the photo of him and Ning Baizura from her manager's (Vernon Kedit Jolly) blog without permission and also did the same trick of cropping off his watermark! Oh boy, of course he kicked up a fuss just like I did. Well, since he's famous, someone got hold of Dato Wong Chun Wai, the Group Chief Editor of The Star, to personally call Vernon to apologise!

I hope Dato Wong will take note and address this issue with the staff working at The Star NOT to simply lift photos and articles from bloggers without permission. It's very unethical indeed to see this coming from a mainstream media like The Star.

p.s.: To Amy Chin who left a comment in Vernon's blog, thank you for highlighting my plight there.

Mega Mac Anyone???

We first saw the Big Mac Chant and Mega Mac advert on the morning of 1st May. Hubby just couldn't resist trying the Mega Mac and off we went to check it out for lunch. The Mega Mac is TALL with 4 beef patties instead of the usual 2 for Big Mac. I didn't taste it since it's just Big Mac anyway with extra patties. I doubt I could even finish half...



Hubby did all his might to compact the Mega Mac so that he can stuff it inside his mouth. All I know was it was darn messy with the lettuces kept falling out :p

The medium mcvalue set that came with a soft drink and fries came up to about RM13 plus, not cheap huh but well, he said just for the experience. If you fancy trying the Mega Mac out, please hurry cos it's on for a limited time only.

Herbal Roasted Duck

I was kinda excited when Precious Pea told me about her roasting a duck. I had always wanted to try roasting a duck but never pluck up the courage. I told Pea I would try that weekend but alas I was out the whole weekend so instead I made them last Saturday. Thanks to her step-by-step pics, it did make things a whole lot easier.

I searched thru the wet market and found 2 stalls selling them but one of them only have frozen ones. Stepped up to the one selling fresh duck and found out that 1kg cost RM14. I asked her to pick me a small one slightly less than 2kg.

Whilst I was cleaning the duck, I was literally cursing and swearing as it was tremendously tedious to remove the remainder feathers on the skin. A lot of them were embedded or ingrown on the skin!!!! I sat down for almost an hour just to pluck as much as I could but there were still so many under the skin which can't be removed. Now I totally understood why my mom needed one day to prepare a duck to be cooked the next day!

Other than this, it's relatively quite easy to prepare this duck. I hung up my duck on a pole above my wok for the vinegar and hot oil baths which made it easier as I did tried holding on to the duck and it's very heavy as I pour the liquid over it.

Since Pea had told me that it was not salty enough, after stuffing the duck, I rubbed some salt all over the duck and hung it up for about 45 mins before I bathe it. I think it worked. Then I hung it to dry with a fan blowing at the duck for about 6 hours.

Roasted the duck in the oven in a roasting pan breast side up, after 30 mins I checked the underside, it's not browned throughly so I turned it over and roast it till golden brown. Lots of oil collected in the roasting pan!

I rested it for a while after the oil bath since I can't handle hot stuff hahaha... Managed to chopped the bird up nicely which is a FIRST for me :p I'm so shy to admit that I can't even chop up a chicken properly without disintegrating it but this duck seems fine. My palm was in pain though from thumpping on the chopper to chop the hard bones.



As for the taste, it was okay but hubby said something is missing but he can't pinpoint. To me, seriously it's not worth my time cleaning up the duck, well unless someone volunteer to do it for me. When compared with those sold outside, of course can't compare lah... those were way off better. Nevertheless, it was a good effort.

There you go, my FIRST time cooking a duck and chopping one cooked one too! Very high achievements in Babe_KL's book!!!

For the recipe and step-by-step pics, please check over at Precious Pea.


Technorati Tags: roast duck