Thursday 30 April 2009

Review: Food Garden @ The Gardens

FG - Food Garden, The Gardens

Food Garden is a food court located at The Gardens on the third floor next to Borders. This food court is rather contemporary looking but the long table and benches reminded me of my school canteen days but in a sophisticated way.

FG - stalls02 FG - interior

FG - stalls01 FG - drinks stall

There are about 16-17 stalls selling all sorts of delicacies here ranging from local dishes to International grubs which you can see in a glance on the wall right at the entrance of the food court.

FG - type of stalls

That evening, the Korean Sam Sam stall grabbed my attention. I ordered a galbi set at RM19.90. Kinda steep eh for food court? However, the food is authentic since the Korean owner was around overseeing the cook and helpers, later on her son took over. The set came with rice, soup and kimchi.

FG - sam sam galbi set RM19.90

The beef slices were cooked on a hot plate and got pushed aside for them to lay a heap of shredded cabbage and carrot topped with thousand island dressing before serving. I find the beef slices were well marinaded. Each slice is tender and full of flavour. What I didn't like was the thousand island on top of the vegetables, kinda hard to comprehend a thick and creamy dressing on top of hot vege. Next time I'll ask them to hold the dressing.

FG - sam sam galbi

Capt'n Hook ordered a pineapple fried rice (RM6.50 if not mistaken) that came in a halved pineapple shell. Presentation was lovely but taste wise, it sucks. The rice was dry, bland and flavourless! Even though it looked like it contained a lot of pineapples, carrot bits and beans but they were very stingy with the meat. Something that is hard to accept with that kinda price one is paying.

FG - pineapple  fried rice RM6.50

Since Capt'n Hook find the rice way too plain, he went round seeking for some meat to go with his meal. He stopped by the Iranian House of Kebab and got himself minced lamb kebab (RM10.95). The kebabs were tasty and the marinade managed to mask the gamey smell.

FG - minced lamb kebab RM10.95

The place is relatively new, hence there isn't that many patrons on a weekday evening. I supposed quite a lot of people is not aware of its existence or perhaps the steep prices shun them away? I've noticed now they have put up posters around the mall to attract some attentions. Hopefully the food court could sustain.

There is a 5% Government tax imposed on top of the above mentioned prices which made me wonder if this place runs by an established food court business otherwise how would it be possible for them to garner enough revenue to start charging Government tax in such a short period?

Food Garden
Lot T-216A, 3rd Floor
The Gardens
Tel: 603-2283 2660


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Wednesday 29 April 2009

Review: Gelatissimo

Updated 4:12pm

I saw the comments hahaha about the price. You know what, the price was one of the factor that deterred us earlier since we can get discount at NZ Natural. I think one scoop is around RM8.50 but it gets cheaper by the scoops. Capt'n Hook and I decided that Gelatissimo is NOT that all expensive after our experience at Haagen Dazs, Bangsar Village II.

You see, Capt'n Hook tend to sit at the Haagen Dazs at Bangsar Village II for his ice-creams. Very nice cafe there and service is great too. I usually have mine on the go but he usually sit there and wait for us whilst me and boiboi go on for some retail therapy. I can't remember the price per scoop but it's definitely above RM10!

One day, we finished up early and joined him there. He was done with his but boiboi and I picked our flavours then proceeded to sit down at the cafe. Fuwaahhh the wait staff immediately served us iced water, plus our ice-creams came in chilled glasses - very nice indeed. When we were done, I went up to the cashier to pay and took a look at the receipt, my first actually cos Capt'n Hook usually pay for them :p

The price was like so much more than those displayed on the board. So I went back to our table and look at the menu. Guess what I found??? Capt'n Hook has been blindly paying RM3 extra per scoop IF you choose to sit down at the cafe to have your ice-cream!!! So imagine for 3 of us, we have to pay extra of more than RM10!

Chilled Glass + Metal Spoon + Chilled Water in a Glass = RM3++ (remember horrr have to pay 5% Government tax and 10% service charge some more!!!)

In case you're not aware too, I was informed by my colleague, BamBam, that the Baskin-Robbins Cafe over at The Gardens side is charging more as compared to the kiosk at MidValley Megamall. So there you go... community service announcement for your awareness :D


Original Post

Iced concoctions are always a fave in our family. We can never say no to ice-cream, sorbet, cendol, ice-kacang... we loved them all.

When it comes to ice-cream and gelato Capt'n Hook loves rum and raisins where else I prefer non-creamy stuff so sorbets are my fave. As for my boiboi, I guess he's a rather simple fella... for he always sticked with vanilla! Perhaps a little unadventurous like his daddy but when I prod him, he would try some other flavours.

We finally tried Gelatissimo at The Gardens, a gelato chain originated from Australia. Ya ya I know, took us so long eh??? It's hard to resist our fave NZ Natural which is just right down the aisle, moreover it's hard to resist discounts :p

Gelatissimo

And so we shared 3 scoops in a cup, well one is to save some money there and two, we have to be environmental friendly. The first R in the 3Rs is to REDUCE wastes... so 2 less cups will go to the landfill heh. Try not to test out so many flavours as more plastic spoons will be wasted there too.

Gelatissimo - 3 scoops

As expected Capt'n Hook had rum n raisins which tasted rather good. Rum flavour is not overpowering. My blood orange sorbet was refreshing, not sour at all. Instant cooldown in the current hot spell! I can't remember what my boiboi have asked for but I think it must have been something mocha cos the fragrant coffee flavour was quite distinct. It was good for me since I'm allergic to coffee drinks but strangely I can take them in other forms :p

I'm glad we tried Gelatissimo, a change from our fave. So we now have one more choice in our list for our icy delights!


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Monday 27 April 2009

Review: Pasta Zanmai @ 1 Utama Shopping Centre

**Pork Free**

Enough of fish for the time being, let's move on to some other things...

Each time we asked boiboi what he would like to eat for lunch/dinner... his standard reply would be pizza or lasagna but recently he developed a taste for fried rice *roll eyes* and this lil fart knows which restaurant have nice fried rice! So there was this time he said he wanted to have fried rice so I took him over to this part of 1U to go to Canton-i. He saw Carl's Jr and said let's have burger. Next thing, I saw the banner next to Carl's Jr... hmmm... the food pics looked very tantalising. I showed him the one with fried rice and he was like OK and so the place was Pasta Zanmai.

Somehow the person ended up with fried rice was Capt'n Hook. He ordered Tori Garlic Rice (RM13) which is basically a serving of a very fragrant garlic fried rice with generous amount of deep fried chicken prices ala Japanese and a side salad. Very value for money I would say. The chicken pieces were tender and moist but crispy on the outside.

PZ - Tori Garlic Rice RM13

My boiboi ended up with a pizza!!! Hahaha... ok he asked for Teriyaki Chicken Pizza (RM22). I supposed the picture of the pizza with a poached egg on top made a very pretty picture indeed. Luckily this is no fast food joint where the pictorial menu is extremely way off from the items you received. Almost like WYSIWYG... the ~8-10" thin crusted pizza has light layer of teriyaki sauce and topped with teriyaki chicken pieces and onions plus a perfectly poached egg. Squeezing of mayonnaise and sprinkling of spring onions and shredded nori finished the ensemble. My boiboi ate all but 2 slices of the pizza but without some pieces of chicken! Eating this pizza is one messy affair especially after the runny egg yolk flowed all over but nevertheless it's rather enjoyable affair. It's too bad there isn't any wash basin inside the restaurant. I have to bring boiboi to *ahem* Burger King to wash his hands :p

PZ - teriyaki chicken pizza RM12

As for myself, I had Niku Onsen Tamago Rice (RM16) which came with white rice, beef slices, a poached egg and side salad. The slippery smooth beef slices is flavourful and cooked just right to my liking. If not mistaken add another RM3, you can have this in a set where there are miso soup and salad or was it chawanmushi (can't really remember).

PZ - Niku Onsen Rice RM16

Capt'n Hook ordered an Agedashi Tofu (RM9). One of the better one we have tasted and the portion is very generous. The deep fried starch layer is thin, the tofu is silky soft and the tentsuyu broth tasted just right not too salty.

PZ - agedashi tofu RM9

Funny it's a pasta outlet but none of us ordered any pasta dish hehe so I guess that will be next round. There is a 10% service charge and 5% Government tax imposed here.

Pasta Zanmai (1 Utama)
G210B, Ground Floor Promenade,
1 Utama Shopping Centre,
No 1, Lebuh Bandar Utama,
Bandar Utama Damansara,
47800 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 603 - 7728 1210
Business Hours:
Sun - Thurs 10.00am - 10.00pm
Fri - Sat 10.00am - 10.30pm


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Thursday 23 April 2009

Wanna Know More About Babe in the City - KL?

If yes, then head on to Feedmelah.com to check out the email interview they've conducted about Babe in the City - KL.

We would like to thank the Feedmelah.com team for the opportunity ;-)

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Review: SS20 Fish Head Noodles

Updated 23 April 2009 9:19am

For 550ml jar of faith and those who would like to know how to get there... take the road (Jalan SS20/21) in front of Damansara Specialist Hospital, then go straight in and follow the bend to turn into Jalan SS20/10. Go on further and you'll see the hawker centre on your left. There are shophouses on your right but they're on another elevated road. Will get Capt'n Hook to provide me the GPS coordinates later. Check the map here.

Coincidently, Capt'n Hook went there yesterday right after I posted this up. He found out that he patronises Michael's soy bean stall in KL way back ages ago when he started working hahaha... no wonder he thought Michael's face is kinda familiar to him.

Also did a correction below as it's only 4 slices of fish in a bowl not 8 :p but they're huge though.


**Pork Free**

We finally got to sample the fish head noodles in Damansara Kim after reading so much about them a while ago. That late morning was so hot after my doctor's appointment and was kinda worried that the stall will be so humid and stuffy. Boy, I was glad as I walked in as this SS20 Fish Head Noodles Stall is located right at the end of the hawker centre and partly covered by shady trees. There were plenty of fans blasting away.

After placing our orders, my soy milk with cendol (RM2.00) was placed in front of me. Nothing beats something's cold and refreshing. Rather unique and healthier way to consume cendol! Capt'n Hook had the normal cendol with fine ice shavings drizzled with thick gula melaka. He said it was good.

SS20 - cendol in soy milk RM2

We checked out the table laden with Nyonya kuih-muih (sweet cakes) and saw these cendol kuih. We thought it's something rather different. Capt'n Hook ordered 2 pieces for himself and I tried one. The lady who took our order was rather concerned asking if we would be able to finish up our noodles which they were still cooking. Capt'n Hook told her not to worry :p

SS20 - cendol agar-agar

Oh my, what a surprise! They're actually agar-agar. Perfect for the hot weather. The texture was firm yet not hard, best part was they're not overly sweet. The whitish layer tasted like soy bean cendol and the top brown layer is a very fragrant gula melaka layer.

SS20 fish head noodles

Our bowls of haruan sliced fish bee hoon (rice vermicelli RM9.50) came. Hmmm the whiff of Chinese rice wine made me salivating already! After digging in, the noodles were all right. The soup base may not be the best but good enough. We both liked the thick haruan (sang yue) slices that came 4 2 slices deep fried and 4 2 fresh slices. Whilst Capt'n preferred the deep fried but I liked them fresh. If you don't fancy bee hoon, there's a lai fun option for additional 30 sens. The bee hoon here is springy till the last bite and doesn't expand nor soak up the soup.

Other than haruan, there were soong yue or yue wart (fish paste) made of kau yue (mackerel); all written clearly in a pictorial menu. Since most fish head noodles came with tomatoes, ginger, deep fried shallots, spring onions, preserved vegetables (harm choy) and evaporated milk; you can opt not to add those items that you do not fancy. Very flexible here and they don't show you black faces :p

SS20 fish head beehoon - haruan sliced fish RM9.50

Capt'n Hook was joking with the owner, Michael Hong. A very friendly guy even though it was our first visit. I did some searching on the net and found out from Boo_licious in Masak-masak that his wife runs a soy milk and tau foo far stall in TTDI market. So now that tells why the soy milk and cendol combi was delish.

There are ample parking if you drive further, in front of the shophouses.


SS20 Fish Head Noodles Stall
Stall No. 17 Jalan SS20/10
Damansara Kim
Petaling Jaya
Tel: +6019 335 0880
Business hours: 10am-4pm (Monday to Saturday), 11am-3pm (Sunday and public holidays)


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Tuesday 21 April 2009

Simple Fish Noodles

Fish Noodle Soup

A lot of times, cooking can be a simple affair especially when there are a lot of ready made ingredients available either in the wet markets or supermarkets. There's a stall in the wet market near home that sells assorted ingredients made out of fish paste. A lot of people crowd around this stall grabbing ingredients for their steamboats. Best part about this kinda stalls is one can just grab a few pieces of this and that, mixing and matching what one would preferred rather than getting a whole packet of ingredient.

So what I did was, I grabbed some fish tofu and other ingredients. I also got some ready made fresh pan meen from the same stall. I moved on to the fish stall and got some red snapper fillet which I just cleaned and slice them thickly. Marinaded the fish slices with some salt and shallots oil.

Cook the noodles in a big pot of water. Remove and place them in individual bowl once they're al dente.

In a separate saucepan, just boil some water for the broth. Once boiled, add in the fish slices. Season to taste with some salt and pepper. The fish slices is sufficient to create a tasty broth. Then add on the rest of the ingredients plus some vege. Drizzle in either shallots oil or garlic oil. Do not cook this too long, I reckoned all in it took me right about 15mins. Scoop the broth and ingredients onto the noodles and scatter some deep fried shallots on top. Give the bowl a dash of white pepper and serve immediately.

Simple, tasty and best of all MSG free. Easy peasy eh?


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Friday 17 April 2009

'Tis The Season For Mangoes

What to do when you're overloaded with mangoes and need to use them up fast before they become mushy and soft? Here are some ideas to use them all up ;-)

Those who have been following my blog for a while would have came across a delectable dessert, Mango Royale. It's super easy to fix and it's a fool proof. Best part is... NOBODY could resist this dessert! I have a few tubs of these in my freezer at the moment.

How about turning a pav to a Mango Mania version???

Mango and Passion Fruit Pavlova

I folded in some pureed mango into the cream and topped the pav with loads of mango cubes and passionfruit. Looked messy huh? Short of naming this Yellow Yellow, Dirty Fellow :p

After all these sinful delights, guess what??? I still have loads of mangoes left behind, yeah I know it's absurb. I didn't buy them but my MIL have been supplying us every few days! So the next best thing to do is to cut them up into cubes and freeze them. Try not to lump everything into one big container, spread them out in smaller ones so that you don't need to use the whole lot up in a batch.

For frozen mango cubes, I turned them into smoothies. Just be creative! The best part is, you don't need to add crushed ice into the blender. I was lazy, so I used my handheld blender and whizzed frozen mango cubes and frozen strawberries (left over as well and I didn't want them to rot in the fridge heh) with some low sugar soy milk. We have some yummy hearthy goodness all in a glass. In place of soy milk, you can use plain yoghurt, milk or juices.

Mango and Strawberry Smoothie

Otherwise, mangoes can be use up in bakings as well. You can try this Mango Teacake or Skinnymum's Mango Bread. For savoury, try her Mango Chicken or perhaps turn them into salads. The list is endless... all one need to do is be creative.

Good luck and have fun!


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Thursday 16 April 2009

Review: Janwa Thai Restaurant

**Pork Free**

After trying Restoran Krua Thai, we were hankering for more. A neighbour of my parents recommended Janwa Thai Restaurant in Bandar Menjalara (the older part where plenty of steamboat restaurants are located). She said it's authentic and so the following week in tow with more people in the family, we went out looking for Janwa Thai Restaurant. It's located in an air conditioned corner shop behind Petronas side, opposite Frame Network (the frame shop who popularised 3D framing after McD's Hello Kitty craze).

With 5 adults and 1 child, we could order more stuff and so here we go. Mom said she wants a Paku in Sambal Belacan (RM12). It must have been a long time to see paku, a type of ferns, in a menu. The ferns came crunchy in a light fragrant sambal belacan gravy.

JT - Paku in Sambal Belacan (RM12)

They recommended their Fried Tofu (RM8) which is a specialty. The tofu pieces are just simply deep fried plain tofu served with Thai sweet and sour chilli sauce. Looked ordinary but crispy upon biting with the smooth and soft centre bursting out. Would be great to eat it with Krua Thai's chilli sauce yumyum.

JT - Fried Tofu (RM8)

We have a Green Chicken Curry (RM12) which is just mediocre but the portion was rather generous.

JT - Green Chicken Curry (RM12)

Next, the Kerabu Chicken Feet (RM12) arrived. This is my parents favourite dish. The chicken feet is crunchy, served with raw red onions, tomatoes and a tangy lime and vinegar dressing peppered with chillies and lemongrass.

JT - Kerabu Chicken Feet (RM12)

We were comparing these Pandan Leaves Chicken (RM2 per piece) with Krua Thai's. Krua Thai's chicken is very much smaller and was deep fried longer to a crisp where else Janwa Thai is tender and juicy with each bite. We preferred the version here even though I was longing for Krua Thai's chilli sauce to go with these.

JT - Pandan Leaves Chicken (RM2 per piece)

JT - Pandan Leaves Chicken - opened

By now, my brother who frequents BKK for business, joined us. He took a look at the table and his first sentence out was "wow very authentic looking Thai dishes". Since I'm not an expert, I just took note.

We were almost done with our rice when our Steamed Fish With Lime Sauce (RM33) arrived piping hot. The fish was fresh and I was literally drinking down the sauce. The sauce tasted just right, not overly sour.

JT - Steamed Fish With Lime Sauce (RM33)

For all the above dishes (mostly in small portion), we shared 3 bowls of rice (RM3 yeah my family is not rice bin - farn tung :p); 3 glasses of soya cincau (RM7.50 @ RM2.50 each); 1 glass of saleh plum juice (RM3) and 1 bowl of cendol (RM3) and the grand total came up to RM113.50 only!!! Price is pretty reasonable and there are plenty of parking spaces in the evening.

Janwa Thai Restaurant
99G Jalan 5/62A
Bandar Menjalara
Kepong
Tel: 603-6276 5658


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Tuesday 14 April 2009

The Winners of 1st Annual FriedChillies Foodsters Awards

The 1st Annual FriedChillies Foodsters Awards has recently concluded and an award ceremony cum celebration was organised by FriedChillies last Saturday. As much as we would loved to support FriedChillies in every way we could, but sad to say we were outstation and could not attend the event. Thousands of apologies to Adly, CEO of FriedChillies and the FriedChillies team as well.

Capt'n Hook and I, have came from a long way with Adly. FriedChillies was then knew as Ritz Street. That must be back in the mid-90s ermmm so technically I've known Adly for more than 10 years? Ada ka, Adly??? I still keep in touch with the other two original partners but have yet to meet the current ones except for Riz.

We're happy to see how Ritz Street had progressed from a simple food review cum forum, right on to become FriedChillies. They did not stop right there, in 2005 FriedChillies published the first Foodsters Guide. By then quite a number of food crawls were organised by them including being involved in some biggie food and tourism programmes. You'll know you're big when it is the Ministry of Tourism asking you to assist them huh???

Few weeks back when we were in Cameron Highlands, I stumbled upon the food portion of the local tourism guide, can't recall its name but it's like yellow pages of some sort on tourism Malaysia. So now FriedChillies can be found in various hotels' drawers/desks hehehe...

Coming back to 2009, we see the first FriedChillies Foodsters Award and I hope there'll be more to come ;-)

I would like to thank the FriedChillies team for bringing us, food lovers, together harmoniously and paving a way for us to discuss about food we loved without prejudice. A place for us to share the good and bad of the local makan scenes, a place where food lovers bond and yes, there's a thread in there now discussing a gathering which is gonna happen pretty soon. If you're interested to meet up, go right in and register yourself as a member, and start discussing!

Here are the full listing of the 1st Annual Friedchillies Foodsters Award that I flicked from their site :p

For Best Roti Canai : Raju Restaurant
No. 27, Jalan Cantik, Petaling Jaya
N 03.10159 E101.65385

For Best Assam Laksa : O & S Laksa
39, Jalan 20/14, Paramount Gardens Petaling Jaya
N 3.10783 E101.62499

For Best Banana Leaf Rice : Kanna Curry House
No. 29 Jalan 17/45, Petaling Jaya
N 3.11974 E101.62978

For Best Chicken Rice : Hainanese Chicken Rice
73, Jln. SS22/23, Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya
N 3.12595 E101.61618

For Best Crabs : Fatty Crab
No 2, Jln SS 24/13 , Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya
N 3.11482 E101.61254

For Best Char Koay Teow : Aunty Gemok
Restoran Jamal Mohamed No. 24, Jalan SS5A/9 Petaling Jaya
N 3.09526 E101.60546

For Best Satay : Satay Samuri Taman Melawati
Jalan Melati Utama 4, Melati Utama, Setapak
N 3.13505 E101.62370

For Best Nasi Lemak : Village Park
5, Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya
N 3.13774 E101.62318

For Best Street Burger : Burger OM
In Front of 7-11, Off Lorong Kolam Air Lama, Ampang
N 3.16063 E101.78560

For Best Kopitiam : Yut Kee Coffeeshop
35, Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur
N 3.15705 E101.70001


Related Links:
1. AFA Event Nite
2. AFA Winners Presentation - Day 1
3. AFA Winners Presentation - Day 2

Highlighting Fake Eggs

I have these video links of fake eggs found in China to share, take a look... awww sorry I tried to embed the videos here but doesn't seems to work so you'll have to click on the links.

Video One

Video Two

There are some pics of the cracked eggs which looked exactly like the real thing except for the yolk sac that is hard to break. The above videos showed a hard boiled fake egg and it looked like real except that the yolk is rubbery when pressed together and bounces like a ping pong ball :p

Monday 13 April 2009

Review: Restoran Krua Thai

**Pork Free**

We have been meaning to check out this Thai restaurant, Restoran Krua Thai (literally means Thai kitchen) in this part of Kepong cos each time we passed by in the evening, the place is usually crowded which is a sure good sign. Even the hip C&C pair sang praises.

Our party of 3 adults and my boiboi arrived around 7.30pm and I tell you, business is roaring!!! The place is full house and quite a number of tables were waiting for their orders. We stood near a table at the five foot way hoping they'll hurry up with their meal hehe... nope we did not pressure them with our "stares" :p Anyway, I quickly placed our order first so that we don't need to wait too long. Well we got our table in about 15 mins and our food another 15 mins. Anyway, I guess the best time to come here is after 8pm for dinner as by then the crowd simmered down.

First to arrive was this non-spicy Claypot Japanese Tofu (Tow Foo Soong Kreang RM15) recommended for kids. We find it's way too watery and this is just mediocre. Kinda expensive with some carrots, mushrooms, baby corns, prawns and squid thrown in.

KT - Claypot Tofu (RM15)

Next came the Pandan Leaves Chicken (RM10). The chicken pieces were quite small but well marinaded and crispy on the outside. The chilli sauce that served with it is da bomb. Sweetish and sourish, went extremely well with the chicken. It was so good I was eating just the chilli sauce with my rice :p

KT - Pandan Leaves Chicken (RM10)

KT - Pandan Leaves Chicken = opened

Then we have Stir-fried Kai Lan with Salted Fish (Pad Kanna Plakem RM12). One can hardly go wrong with salted fish dishes and this came with generous amount of salted fish in rather large pieces. Ohhh yummsss... no need to say any more right?

KT - Stir-fried Kai Lan with Salted Fish (RM12)

We have the customary Tom Yam With Seafood (Tom Yam Nam Sai RM20). We find this tom yam is wayyyy too sweet... we thought we were drinking tong shui (sweet soup) hehe. Otherwise, if they have cut down the sugar to suit our Malaysian tastebud, then it will be great!

KT - Tom Yam With Seafood (RM20)

Lastly, I ordered another non-spicy dish for my boiboi... Pattaya Omelette with Chicken, Prawns and Squid Fillings (Kai Hor RM15). It's basically minced chicken, prawns and squid filling cook in a sweet and sourish light tomato sauce and wrapped in an omelette ala Nasi Pattaya. This was just ok but my boiboi wallopped 3/4 of them!

KT - Pattaya Omelette with Chicken, Prawns and Squid fillings RM15

They served steamed rice in individual aluminium bowls which needless to say is fragrant and fluffy. I think its RM1 per bowl. We have a Thai fragrant coconut at RM3.80 and a glass of Thai herbal tea that tasted like teh-o for RM2. In total we paid RM80 which we thought it's slightly on the high side.

We managed to try out another Thai restaurant in some other part of Kepong which is more authentic, will blog about it later this week.


Restoran Krua Thai
39 Jalan Metro Perdana Barat 2,
Taman Usahawan Kepong,
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-6250 8104


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Friday 10 April 2009

Bubur Cha Cha Using Cocopro Coconut Paste

We picked up a couple of packets of Cocopro Coconut Paste during the second launch of MyNourishment. I told the girls there that I'm gonna make Bubur Cha Cha with them and true enough I set to work that very weekend.


Cocopro Coconut Paste - front Cocopro Coconut Paste - back

I was using Amy Beh's recipe from her first book but modified along the way omitting black eyed peas and sago pearls as her recipe in the book consist of the method of making the starchy dough.

To make the starchy dough, divide 150g tapioca flour into 2 portions and place into 2 mixing bowls. Mix red colouring with 70ml hot water and another 70ml of hot water with green colouring. Pour the hot water into the flour separately and mix with wooden spoon. Mix well to form a pliable dough. Roll out each portion with rolling pin and cut into shapes of your choice. Dust the pieces with tapioca flour then steep in boiling water. Stir to prevent them from sticking. Boil until they float to surface. Remove and soak in cold water for 10-15 mins. Remove and set aside.

I've used 600gm of sweet potatoes of the orange and yellow variety and 700gm yam. For the first packet of coconut paste I added 250ml water as per instruction. After tasting, there isn't enough coconut milk, so I added the next packet mixed with 150ml water. Add in the starchy dough before serving.

I find this Cocopro is easy to use but the taste can't match pure coconut milk. It doesn't have that coconut oil smell nor taste though unlike some brands. The other brand that I fancy if I can't find fresh coconut milk is Ayam brand's which tasted like the real thing and most importantly doesn't have the coconut oil smell nor taste. They come in a light version too.

Sorry the picture came out lousy and yucky as it was a gloomy day.

Bubur Cha Cha made with Cocopro Coconut Paste

Gula Melaka Version of Bubur Cha Cha
Bubur Cha Cha


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Wednesday 8 April 2009

Review: Mee Jawa @ Kedai Kopi dan Makanan Hoi Kee, Segambut

**Non-Halal**

Sitting amongst shop houses and industrial units is this kopitiam (Chinese coffee shop) named Kedai Kopi dan Makanan Hoi Kee. There are a few noodles stalls but the Mee Jawa stall shines here. Since I'm a banana, I won't be able to tell you the name but its the stall right at the front entrance. You can see tonnes of deep fried tofu, eggs, and fritters on the glass display.

For a mere RM3.80, you get a small portion that looked like this...

Mee Jawa 02

Give it 180 degree turn...

Mee Jawa 01

Yes, I'm not kidding you! Beneath the pile of "liew" (toppings/ingredients) lie a reasonable portion of yellow noodles with beansprouts (taugeh) topped with a not too thick gravy that is usually made of sweet potatoes. The gravy here is not overpowered with the sweetness of the sweet potatoes with just light hint of aromatics ie shallots, gallangal etc used. As you can see from both the pics above, the mee is topped with generous amount of boiled potatoes, half an egg, at least half a piece of sliced tofu, deep fried fritters and sotong (brown cuttlefish)!

This mee jawa is not only value for money but very delish till the very last bite. To find this place is not hard, it's just a stone throw away from Yu Ai Segambut (the famous seafood noodles).

After passing by Yu Ai on your right, turn left and you'll see the corner shop Kedai Kopi dan Makanan Hoi Kee (Jalan Segambut Selatan) on your right.

I did a search and found that WMW had blogged about this kopitiam but it's the pan mee that she had looked for. Looking thru her pics now I realised they must be good since most table would have those porcelain bowls on them! Will definitely try that next time.


Kedai Kopi dan Makanan Hoi Kee
Jalan Segambut Selatan
Click here for map.


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Blog Revamping

Hello... I'm in the midst of revamping my blog to make my life a little easier. So do not be alarmed as work is still under construction.

Cheers,
Babe_KL
16 Oct 2012