Wednesday 28 July 2010

Merdeka Open House 2010: Poll & Giveaway

POLL

Woots, let's get on with our Merdeka Open House... like I've mentioned yesterday I'm going to set up a poll so you can pick your choice of theme for this year's virtual open house. I'll place the poll on top of my postings and the poll will close on 4th August 2010.

I've gone through the suggestions stated in the comment box, my mailbox and also on my Facebook. I've selected the best 5 themes and all you need to do is to pick ONE. The 5 themes are:

(1) Provincial Specialties
Food that is originated from a place eg. Klang Bak Kut Teh, Teluk Anson Chee Cheong Fun, Penang Asam Laksa, Sarawak Kolok Mee etc. You'll have to cook the dish up and write about the dish... about it's history and your memory of this dish.

(2) Food from Our Heart
A homecook local dish that you love and that is lovingly prepared by your loved ones say your mother, ayah, grandmother, grandfather, yee ma, koo cheh, thamby, tangechi yada yada. Cook and do tell us your story about this dish and your loved one.

(3) Uniquely Malaysian
There are certain dishes that we can certainly claim it's very unique in the local scene. Dishes that we do not need to fight with our neighbours to claim who invented them such as Michael Jackson drink, kaya, 3 layer tea, yee sang and etc. So you'll need to come up with the dish and write a bit about it like how it came about, how it touches your life and what is so unique about this.

(4) Fruitabulous
Create and write about a dish that contain at least one Malaysian fruit as the ingredient. Malaysian fruits as in fruits that are found or planted originally here so fruits like dragonfruit or passionfruit will be out of this league. If possible try create a local dish but you're free to go international with this one.

(5) Jom Lepak
We have a very unique culture of lepaking at Mamak stalls/shops so let's get on a roll to prepare something from your favourite Mamak fare. Best accompanied by a story about your favourite dish or stall.


GIVEAWAY

Now come to the best part, the giveaway! The person whose suggestion got picked to be this year's theme will receive a 2 years subscription (12 issues) to Flavours magazine worth RM98.00. Do note that the delivery of this magazine is confined to Malaysia. In the event that the winner is not based in Malaysia, (1) you can opt to deliver this magazine to an address of your choice say your parents or relative and collect them all when you come back for holiday :p or (2) let's do a private arrangement between you and me on this ok hehe. So excited!

You'll note that I did not specify who suggested what so that you can pick on your choice without favouring anyone in particular. Well, unless you're so free to go through all the comments or my Facebook wall but you won't have access to those that were emailed to me heh! I'm not sure if the poll feature will work properly but I hope each can only submit your poll once. Don't need to be a kiasu right ;-)

Let's roll out the poll then!!!! Hurrah!

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Eggless Carrot Cake

Thank you for all your wonderful wishes on our 6th blog anniversary. We're very happy to celebrate this milestone indeed for all the exciting things that have came our way this year. Hopefully the coming year will be fun filled but yet informative as well.

I'm very happy to announce that I've received lots of great ideas for this year's Merdeka Open House. Just give me a little time to pick out a few suggestions and set it up as a poll. Perhaps I might just throw in something for the person whose suggestion got picked :D Hang on there!!! In the meantime, here's something healthy to drool over.

Eggless Carrot Cake

I've made this cake upon the request from my colleague who is a vegetarian. She can't take eggs but dairy is fine with her. It's my first time using this recipe that I've jotted down in my notebook. This is a very moist and dense cake, tastewise it was not too bad but you might want to stick to 150g of sugar as 120g might be a bit bland for most of you. A bit of tweaking is necessary as I find 35 - 40 minutes is not enough to cook through the cake. This cake is still damp in the centre, I reckon another 10 - 15 minutes will correct that. This recipe need another try in my kitchen.

Eggless Carrot Cake

(A)
200g soft flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I've also added 1/2 mixed spice)

(B)
1/2 cup low fat milk
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tbsp lemon juice

150g mixed nuts (I've used walnut and almonds)
140g brown sugar (I've cut down to 120g)
1/4 cup corn oil
200g carrots, peeled and grated

1. Grease 10 x 25 cm rectangular baking pan and line base with grease paper (my pan was 8"x8").

2. Sift (A) together into a bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix together (B). Whip in sugar and oil. Add in carrots and nuts.

4. Mix in flour mixture with wooden spoon. Spatula works for me too.

5. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven 180C for 35 - 40 minutes. For my oven, I would need another 10 - 15 minutes so this will depends on the kinks of your oven.

Friday 23 July 2010

Babe in the City - KL Is Turning 6 This Year

We are 6

Wowwee 6 years... I can't really believe we've made it this far!

From the scores of comments we have received, friends we have made, cakes that we have baked and eaten, dishes that churned out in our kitchen, restaurants and hawkers visited... oh boy, it was certainly fulfilling indeed. Thank you to all our readers to make this happen and keep us going.

May Babe in the City - KL continues to serve you better in the coming years ;-)

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Review: Can? Hot-Can???

Capt'n Hook and I have the privilege to attend this function at Havana @ Changkat Bukit Bintang to introduce a couple more flavours in the Hot-Can series. What piqued us was this creative aluminium can could actually heat up the contents by just pressing a button at the bottom of the can, give the can a few shakes and you'll have a hot drink right out from the can. Yes, amazing isn't it?

Hot Can

One of the owner and inventor, Dato' Kenneth Kolb spoke on how this concept worked. Seems that Hot-Can has developed a special double chambered aluminum can which contains the beverage in the outer chamber and holds water and calcium oxide (quick lime) separately in the inner chamber. When the button at the bottom of the can is pressed, the water mixes with the quicklime, starting an exothermic reaction that heats the contents of the outer chamber in less the 3 minutes by 50-55°C to give you a piping hot drink.

You can see here that after not long the button is suppressed, white smoke can be seen. This is the reaction of the lime and water. Next you can just leave it and watch the indicator which can turn red when it's really hot. Luckily the sip hole on the can is rather tiny to prevent one from burning their lips or tongue.

Hot Can - Smoke & Indicator

before & after

Hot Choc and Cafe Latte flavours were launched sometime back and this time round we got to taste Mocha. Hot Tea should be out by now as well. You should be able to find it in a supermarket or convenience stores. The Mocha has the right balance of chocolate and coffee, best is the sweetness level which is just nice for me. However the Cafe Latte is too mild in taste for most of us.

Capt'n Hook poured this Hot Choc out for BoiBoi to taste since the drink can get very hot like up to 65°C! Hmm this hot chocolate is just like thick homemade hot cocoa. Nice.

Hot Can - Hot Choc

With this technology, the world of hot beverages just opens up to the possibility of having hot soup straight out from a can and also no surprise when Capt'n Hook asked if sake would be in the pipe line hahaha but sadly it was a NO since Hot-Can is certified halal.

Thank you to Nazeen and Lilyana for this invite.

Friday 16 July 2010

Review: McDonald's Limited Time Only GCB

By now, you would have been bombarded by the latest blitz of McDonald's advertisement about their just-launched-yesterday GCB which is actually Great-tasting Chicken Burger! I'm not sure about you but when my colleague, A, showed me the advert on their facebook page I was captivated by the thick and fat juicy burger with loads of fresh lettuce and dripping sauce in between the sesame seeds bun. Can't wait so I arranged to try this for lunch today.

Based on the adverts... this burger is supposed to have GRILLED whole chicken thigh, GORGEOUS iceberg lettuce, GLORIOUS char-grilled sauce within GOLDEN sesame seeds bun!

thigh and sauce

lettuce and bun

This is how GRILLED, GORGEOUS, GLORIOUS and GOLDEN got interpreted in real...

GCB Box

Inside the box GCB is wrapped with waxed paper

How GCB looked like

This is how GRILLED, GORGEOUS, GLORIOUS and GOLDEN got interpreted in real...

Here are more... comparison in size and visual.

Check the size

The real mccoy

Looked kinda pathetic isn't it??? Sighhh we always get suckered into their beautiful ads but yet still die die want to try a bite! Despite errrmmm the shortcomings but I have to say GCB is really delicious. Both my colleagues said the same too. The chicken thigh is not really the entire whole thigh, perhaps just a thin piece from a thigh, marinaded battered and grilled. I liked how it's grilled to retain the juiciness. The flavours were great but a tad high on MSG level since we have to keep on downing water to satisfy our thirst when we were back in the office.

It's not cheap either... burger alone on ala-carte is RM8 and the Medium set which includes a pack of fries and aerated drink will cost you RM11.90 excluding the 5% Government tax. Could have cut down the price by just offering the burger in waxed paper without the paper box. Totally NOT environmentally friendly at all!

Sighhh guess what? We're going again for some GCB next week hahaha we're born suckers, aren't we??!!! Hahaha

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Merdeka Open House 2010: Suggestion for Theme

Only half a month to August... yes yes it's time to delve into our annual virtual open house. Back in 2006, I started off the first Merdeka Open House. I asked for suggestions and came up with the theme Malaysians Recipe Long Forgotten.

The following year, the theme was Muhibbah which we saw us dishing out fabulous dishes of an ethnic different from our own. 2008 saw us cooking up noodles for Mee and My Malaysia. This was also the year that we went non-halal and allowing beef.

Last year saw us sweetened up with My Sweet Malaysia featuring our local mouth watering desserts. So what's on for this year???

I would love to hear suggestions from you for this year's theme. Please feedback by 23 July 2010 so that I can announce the theme right before August.

Thank you so much!

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Review: Restoran Venecia @ Casa Venecia, Bukit Idaman, Selayang

**Pork Free**


I was sieving thru my pics and hmmm I haven't posted about Restoran Venecia. Restoran Venecia can be found at Casa Venecia Condominium in Selayang or in Bangsar Puteri Condominium. Since Selayang is nearer, I decided to come here instead to celebrate my Dad's birthday back in March.

It was pouring that evening and was pretty dark. After the security gotten our info, they instructed us on how to head to the restaurant but they didn't tell us like where should we alight. We have the option to get off near a staircase but since a car had blocked the way we got down ermmm at some sort of the back of a shop since it's nearer. Luckily the proprietor was kind enough to let us climb the stairs and walk thru his mini market to reach a foyer. 

From the foyer, we looked around and finally found the restaurant entrance at the top of another staircase. Totally not very friendly for the old folks. The interior of the L-shaped restaurant is quite small and can be claustrophobic as the ceiling is really low. It's not helping when the table cloth are dark green in colour.

As we do not have a reservation, the Uncle who looks like he's the manager here told us to wait 15 minutes as the patrons from one table have just called for the bill. Once done, we sat down. Since I've sniffed at some blogs before coming here, I had wanted to order the sang har (big headed fresh water prawns) meen (noodles) and the signature sang har dish. However, just like the downpour outside, I was disheartened when told there is no sang har available. Mr Manager mentioned that there won't be any too for the time being, he was quite aksyen (snobbish) also by asking us to check Tokyo Seafood Restaurant cos they don't have any too.

Sighh so we just ordered some dishes to go with white rice capping off with a crab dish! The first to arrive is a Dao Gan and Tofu dish that came in deep dish. A typical tummy warming dish of deep fried homemade tofu and dao gan braised with assorted mushrooms, carrots, snowpeas and baby corns.

dau kan and tofu

Loved the Fu Yue Yau Mak (stir fried romaine lettuce with fermented beancurd) here which is full of wok hei.


Mr Manager recommended this Claypot Chicken with Salted Fish. The thickish sauce was great but a pity that too little salted fish was detected here.

Claypot Chicken with Salted Fish

As we only have the crab dish left, Capt'n Hook decided to add on another dish sensing that it might not be enough. He asked for Kum Hiong Lala (stir fried spicy clams). The lala here is big in size, very fragrant and littered with lots of deep fried dried shrimp and curry leaves. My only qualm is I find the curry powder a little over powering.

Kum

The pièce de résistance is of course this Salted Egg Yolk Crabs!!! Their version has each piece coated in thick and creamy salted egg yolks... made us licked them clean before devouring the sweet meat. Very finger licking good.

Salted egg yolk crabs

There were 4 adults and BoiBoi at this dinner. We have like 3 bowls of rice and a pot of Chinese tea. I've lost the receipt but I remember it was less than RM150 for the above dishes. Seems pretty reasonable and I can't wait to go again for the sang har dishes but I won't bring my old folks along though. Hmm or maybe I should try their Bangsar branch since Boo_licous (Masak-masak) had mentioned it's better there!


Restoran Venecia (Selayang)
1st Floor, Casa Venecia Club House
Jalan Bukit Idaman 1/3
Bukit Idaman
68100 Batu Caves
Selangor
Tel: +603-6136 2010
Business hour:
Mon - Thu 12:00p.m - 2:30p.m & 6:00p.m - 10:00p.m
Fri - Sun 12:00p.m - 2:30p.m & 5:30p.m - 10:00p.m

* Reservation is a must since tables are limited. 

Restoran Venecia (Bangsar)
41-02-02, Level 2
Bangsar Puteri Condominium
41, Jalan Maarof
Bangsar
Tel: +603-2094 2010
Open for lunch and dinner. Closed on Tues and Sun lunch

Friday 9 July 2010

Review: Miss Kwan's @ Suria KLCC

Yesterday both of us dropped by at Suria KLCC, seems like it has been a while we were here. Lots of changes here and there ie. Dunkin' Donuts is closed and renovation is on going and signage plastered on the wall belonged to Famous Amos; Al Marjan is closed too and... Bumbu Desa's flagship outlet will be opening soon in its place. Otak-Otak place has opened a kiosk in the Signatures Level 2 Food Court. Was sad to note that Taiwan House stall is also boarded up.

Capt'n Hook went into one of those electronic or was it a camera shop but I waited outside. Then I spied on level 4 above me was this kiosk named Miss Kwan's. I was curious since this kiosk is just a stone throw away from Madam Kwan's. When he came out from the shop, I pointed to him... he was like huh are they competitor or a spin-off? Anyway, he decided to go to Madam Kwan's for dinner so I guess that's a way to find out.

Miss Kwans

As we stepped off the escalator, I noted this kiosk with a central food preparation station cum cashier and the back of it have some chic looking tables and chairs. Capt'n Hook stepped up to the cashier and asked her what is their relation with Madam Kwan's. She replied that Miss Kwan's is the QSR (quick service restaurant) of Madam Kwan's. Since they're the same we decided to dine here instead. The menu is limited and a little different from Madam Kwan's. The dishes and condiments are the same but they mix and match the dishes with the rice to churn them into sets. For example, Assam Fish Rice, Beef Rendang Rice, Sambal Prawns Rice etc. There are light meals like toast, soft boiled eggs, nasi lemak bungkus (RM6.90) and chee cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) too. If not mistaken there are a couple of dessert choices and one of it is tong yuen (glutinous rice balls served in ginger syrup).

True to being a QSR, our food arrived in less than 5 minutes after seated down. Capt'n Hook had the Nasi Lemak set (RM17.30) that came with a drink which he picked iced lemon tea. The nasi lemak here still pack a punch... with the same condiments of curry chicken, kickass sambal, fried peanuts, serunding (floss), acar and cucumber slices are served with a rich coconut milk rice.

Nasi Lemak set (RM17.30)

I picked an Assam Fish set (RM17.90) and opted for an Umbra (kedondong) juice instead of iced lemon tea. Loved the refreshing juice and best it's not the diluted kind. My set came with deep fried tenggiri pieces cooked in a dry and slight tangy sauce and a side of kerabu mango (salad) served with nasi bojari rice. This set has a separate bowl of watery kuah (gravy) assam. My fish is nothing outstanding. The small tenggiri slices are over fried and I had to douse them with assam gravy for flavour. The kerabu has tiny slivers of raw mangoes, overshadowed by the amount of thinly sliced onions and green chilli padi. The rice portion is not as huge as Madam Kwan's as I managed to finish up my rice :p but I'm not complaining since I never like to waste on food.

Assam Fish Set (RM17.90)

Overall, we find them to be just okay but it's a good alternative when the queue is long at Madam Kwan's. Prices are reasonable since the set include a drink.


Miss Kwan's
Lot K43B Level 4
Suria KLCC
Kuala Lumpur
(no phone number since it's a QSR afterall)

Thursday 8 July 2010

Sweet and Sour Pomfret

A simple dish loved by kiddies. I just deep fried a pomfret before pouring the sweet and sour sauce over.

Sweet and Sour Pomfret

To make the sweet and sour sauce, all I did was fry some chopped garlic in some oil. Added quartered onions, sliced bell peppers and carrots. Stir for a while before adding water. Next, pour in some tomato sauce and tomato paste to taste. Adjust with some sugar. Salt if you like. Add in quartered tomatoes and cover. Simmer for about 3 minutes. When done, pour over deep fried pomfret.

You can used the same sauce for deep fried pork ribs or prawns.

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Review: pla dib @ The Heritage Village

**Pork Free**


When I first read of pla dib in the papers the previous weekend, the thought of Thai fusion kinda disinterest me as Capt'n Hook is rather a errrm traditional person who doesn't like his food to be messed up. When I received an invite from Nigel via Anna Chew of Venus Buzz for food tasting at pla dib, I was in dilemma. To go or not to go??? Not to go when a place that is finally so near home is kinda hard to resist, so in the end I accepted the invite. On that day, Capt'n Hook picked me and I left on the dot at 5.30pm from the heart of Kuala Lumpur... braving the jam which is surprisingly quite smooth except the turn off from Seremban Highway towards the Selangor Turf Club/Palace of the Golden Horse. Guess what... we reached The Heritage Village around 6.15pm!!! Ample time for us to scoot over to The Mines Shopping to pick up a card reader from the IT center which is like huge (my first time here), yeah lots of stuff here, don't need to go to Low Yat Plaza!

pla dip

The rest who came later complained it took them like an hour from various destination like Shah Alam, Bangsar etc well that's also because the sky decided to take a heavy dump. So in actual fact, only the mind is telling us that Serdang is very far! On weekends, if you decided to do a Cuti-cuti Malaysia with your family, you can actually take a KTM Komuter ride to Serdang station via Seremban route. Cross the pedestrian bridge and walk towards the white blocks of buildings with Chinese influence roofs and you'll be at The Heritage Village. Take a short walk through the tunnel and you'll reach The Mines Shopping. If you have kids, take them on the boat ride. We took one last year and it was surprisingly quite fun to ride such a huge water elevator!

Opps, back to pla dib... just drive into the compound and the security guard will issue you a parking chit, bring the chit to your dining destinations in The Heritage Village to be stamped and parking will be free, otherwise it'll be RM3 per entry. pla dib is located at the far corner of the building towards the lake which seems to be a great destination for an outdoor party or function. Reminded me very much of our wedding reception next to the lake at Palace of the Golden Horses, minus the water fountain.

I finally met up with Anna after being in touch over the years. She introduced us to our hostess, Sherlene, of BluWater Estate. Sherlene explained to us that everything in pla dib are fashioned and designed after the Bangkok restaurant. The bulk of the furnitures and furnishing are imported from Thailand! The stools we sat at the outdoor area are extremely heavy and sturdy. Quite comfy actually.

Pla Dib 01

Whilst waiting for the rest to arrive, we were offered imported Phuket beer which is surprisingly quite light for a 5% alcohol beer. It's served with a lemon wedge but Anna claimed it's nice without it as well. Kinda unique too to drink from such a slim glass.

Phuket Beer

As explained to us pla dib means raw fish but putting them together it also means freedom of food which explains the fusion cuisine here. I checked through the menu, there seems to be quite a number of raw seafood dishes here as appetizers. The menu rage confusion as one can find Japanese kinda appetizers, pasta, pizza... I see French influence in a duck confit! Prices were very decent with the ingredients and portion served with nothing above RM30 except for the large pizza. Please note that pla dib has separate lunch and dinner menu where dinner menu has more items available and that's with where the raw items are.

Once everyone - PureGlutton and hubby, Nigel and Allan and FBB arrived we were ushered inside. Aly joined us later. The air-conditioned interior exude a very clean and modern environment. The chairs were again very chic and heavy to boot!

Pla Dib Interior

They started us off with some appetizers. This is Salmon Labb (RM10) which is slices of salmon drizzled with shoyu, chili flakes, roasted rice and lime juice. The zing on the first bite is kinda strong but I really loved the roasted rice on them.

Salmon Labb (RM10)

Next came the Raw Shrimp in Fish Sauce (RM15). I've eaten this before in a Thai restaurant but never with such an interesting marinade. The explosion of chili, lime zest and juice is simply amazing coupled with extra fresh and crunchy shrimp. Whilst Capt'n Hook squirms when he sees this but I loved this appetizer the most. However, he being a great sport, he took one but that went shivered down his spine!

Raw Shrimp in Fish Sauce (RM15)

Mixed Four Raw Seafood (something new) came in a long platter with mounds of raw chopped shrimps, tuna, octopus and salmon topped with a mysterious sauce that tasted like fermented soybeans (tau cheo) was served. Perhaps this is made from miso?

Mixed Four Raw Seafood

Everyone who was drinking beer seems to like this Single Sun Beef (RM15). Slices of beef are marinaded with salt and pepper before they're sunned until dry. The beef slices are then deep fried with garlic, chili flakes and Thai basil. Fantastic finger food this one.

Single Sun Beef (RM15)

One can't go really wrong with deep fried soft shell crabs. What more when it's served with healthy greens in mayobi (mayonnaise and wasabi) dressing (RM15)!

Soft Shell Crab Salad (RM15)

We were served a series of 3 pastas. This is Creamy Capellini Angel Hair Pasta with Ebiko (RM18). A tad too creamy but loved the burst of ebiko upon each bite!!!

Creamy Capellini Angel Hair Pasta (RM18)

Black Spaghetti with Seafood (RM18) is my favourite pasta for the night. The spaghetti is blacken with squid ink tossed lightly in olive oil and topped with squid, prawns and fish slices.

Black Spaghetti with Seafood (RM18)

After a black pasta, we were served a green spinach fettucini with mentaiko. Mentaiko being cod's egg are served along with a dollop of cream under the nest of toasted seaweeds strips. This is my least favourite pasta for the evening as the above 2 worked more for me. However, Capt'n Hook liked this one... funny eh when it comes to food... everyone just have their own personal preference and more on this later.

Spinach Fettucini with Mentaiko

We were then served the 2 special drinks (RM9.50 each) available here. A green coloured Mint Soursop Blast which is made from soursop puree, mint leaves, pineapple juice, fresh lime and syrup. Everyone seems to love this sweet minty drinks. I preferred this over Pladib Art. Pladib Art is concocted with peach, pineapple juice, grenadine, yoghurt, fresh lime and syrup. To Capt'n Hook and Nigel, this tasted like cough syrup but when it comes to food and drink... one man's meat is another man's poison as FBB liked this more than the green drink. Puzzling isn't it?

Mint Soursop Blast and Pladib Art (RM9.50 each)

We were showered with 3 main dishes. First up was Grilled Lemongrass Chicken with Roasted Rice (RM20). Loved how the lemongrass marinade worked extremely well with chicken. The creative part here is the rice which is mixed with eggs, shaped and roasted. The rice cake is soft on the inside with a layer of crisp on the outside. The rice has springy texture which we thought is made from Japanese rice but we were all wrong. They were Thai fragrant rice!

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken with Roasted Rice (RM20)

This interesting plate of rice came and we went wahhhh all cos of the egg placed on top of the rice. This is Black Fried Rice (RM20), rice blackened with squid ink and fried with pieces of seafood and chillies bits served with a ring of deep fried basil leaves. One has to mix in the raw egg into the hot rice before eating. Gosh the raw egg really worked the rice into a slight creamy texture and this by far one of the best item we have eaten at pla dib. Eggcellent!!!

Black Fried Rice (RM20)

At this juncture, a side dish of Mashed potatoes and Wasabi (RM8) were served. FBB and Aly were eggcited cos they both loved mash potatoes. All round murmurs of "hmmm I love this mash" can be heard. If you're worried that wasabi might give you a heart attack, don't worry here. The mash has just a light hint of wasabi.

Mashed potatoes and Wasabi (RM8)

Opps the fish here looked bellied up hehe but what the heck! Rainbow Trout in Lime Leaf and Steam Rice (RM28) has fresh trout that came from New Zealand which has a natural sweet flavour. The fish is stuffed with ginger and lime leaves, topped with cherry tomatoes and assorted mushrooms and wrapped in parchment paper and baked. Funny, my serving has lots of ginger and lime leaves strips where else the rest just have fish. I chewed on the leaves and find it's a very fragrant kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut in Malay).

Rainbow Trout in Lime Leaf and Steam Rice (RM28)

By now, I'm really stuffed but just can't resist the Smoked Salmon Pizza (regular RM30, large RM36). We really wondered how on earth they manage to roll the dough so thin!!! The outcome was splendid as the crust is crispy. We smeared the egg all over the smoked salmon slices before digging in. The tomato based sauce, rosemary and mozzarella cheese gave the extra flavourings here. A rare combo but they do really melded well.

Smoked Salmon Pizza (regular RM30, large RM36)

By now everyone is yearning for the dessert but when I see Thab Thim Krob... I scrunched up my face. Everyone except me were waiting for the jackfruit in the Thab Thim Krob (RM8) until the dish was brought out and introduced. Eeeekkk no smell and I was really really very happy when told pla dib version does not have jackfruit :p It was victory indeed but you should have seen the other scowling faces.

Pla dib's version is very special indeed. The finely shaved ice came from a block of frozen coconut milk so you won't get a watered down version as the ice melts. The crunchy chestnut chunks here are on the larger side and has strips of young coconut on top of the ice. Very refreshing and good till the last drop, yes last drop cause I did a very unladylike thingy here... I excused myself to the rest and had a "maggi mee" moment :p I tipped the bowl to my mouth and emptied the bowl!!!

Thab Tim Krob (RM8)

We were served a very rich and moist Marbled Spice Cake, brought by Nigel. He mentioned it's a test cake but we're not complaining. We begged him not to tell us how much butter and egg yolks were used but he let on that each of us would have one egg yolk in our piece of cake *fainted*. This loaf cake will be made available by middle of July at Just Heavenly and their outlets.

Just Heavenly's Marbled Spice Cake

The next item Homemade Durian Gelato is silky smooth! Now, durian... I like and it's not smelly heh. FBB and Nigel find this so weird of me hahaha. The durian used was generous in portion but this is not in the menu, so just asked for it as they do not make it in a large batch to keep freshness at bay.

Homemade Durian Gelato

To sum up the entire evening... the company no need to mention as always is great. The food seriously if pla dib is consistent with the quality, then we'll be happy campers since coming here will be a breeze for us and it has food that BoiBoi will like. I now take back my initial reservation about Thai fusion as the confusion here really rocks!

There's another thing I would like to mention here... Sherlene, the Chef (we didn't get his name but he's local and trained in pla dib Bangkok, Prakash and staff did a fantastic job. I've never attended a review that worked like clockwork where everything run in perfect precise movements. If you're a PR agent or restaurateur reading this, do take note.

This was how the review was done... Prakash brings out the actual dish for us to take photos, then he proceed to explain what's the dish and opportunity is given to us to ask questions. Then the dish is taken back to the kitchen to proportionate it into individual portions as shown in the pic below. This way, we got to take the photos in peace without having to scramble for the food from the main plate. Absolutely fabulous!

Individual tasting portions

Mint Soursop Blast and Pladib Art - individual tasting portion

pla dib is located in 1/1 soi Areesampan 7, Pharam 6 Road, Bangkok where else in Singapore they're known as Raw Kitchen Bar which is interestingly located in an old firestation at 276 Upper Bukit Timah Road.

Thank you so much to Sherlene, management, chef and staff of pla dib, Nigel, Anna and everyone else for such a wonderful evening. We'll be back, promised ;-)


pla dib
G-13 & 14 The Heritage Village
Jalan SB Dagang
43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor
(opposite Mines Shopping Fair)
Tel: 03-89381936
Business Hours: 12.00pm to 3.00pm; 6.00pm to 10.00pm
Closed on Tuesdays
Click here for directional map or here for pictorial map

Friday 2 July 2010

New Style Chicken Varuval

New Style Chicken Varuval

I've actually posted this recipe before but here it is again with some tips and tweak. I brought this dish to PureGlutton's potluck party last weekend and we have a blast there!

During deep frying the chicken, you will need to use a metal slotted spoon to sieve out the "rempah (garlic and ginger)" remnants from the oil. Keep doing this to clear up the oil from these bits and pieces, otherwise your oil will not be hot enough to fry the chicken until crispy. You may throw the deep fried bits away but if you like them like I do, I kept them and add to the chicken whilst stir frying with the spices. Just make sure don't use the bottom bits as they're extremely oily.

If you have kids who can't take hot food like mine, remove the seeds from the dried chillies. In order to remove them easily, we learnt this tip from Rohani Jelani's class recently. Cut or snip the chillies with scissors diagonally and soak them in hot water for a while until softens. Once done, just shake the chillies and the seeds will come out with ease.

New Style Chicken Varuval

Ingredient
1 chicken, deboned and cut into small chunks (I used 5 pieces of chopped up thighs with bones and all)
4 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
10 dried chillies (cut into pieces)
10 shallots (shredded)
2 pc cinnamon stick
4 pc cardamoms
2 pc star anise
A few stalks of curry leaves, just use the leaves only, discard the stems
black pepper and salt
oil for frying

Method
1. Clean the chicken and cut into small cubes. Add ginger-garlic paste, curry powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.

2. Fry the chicken in batches till golden brown and set aside.

3. In another wok, add a little oil. Sauté the onion, spices, curry leaves and dried chilli until onion turns light brown.

4. Add the chicken and stir well. Add black pepper and salt to taste. Best served with rice or as snack with beer!

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