Tuesday 26 July 2011

Review: San Kee Fried Noodles @ Jinjang Utara

**Non-Halal**

Thank you for all your well wishes which is going to make us work harder to maintain this blog ;-)

So back to food blogging...

We have been introduced to this stall, San Kee, in Jinjang Utara by my friend ArthurT. We always bug him to bring us there ever since he keep mentioning how delish the hokkien fried noodles are. He finally brought us there, but that was some years back. We never make our way back as we were not familiar with the area. Recently, we bugged him again and things could happen rather quickly, no thanks to technology :p So a bunch of us waited for ArthurT at the Petronas kiosk for him to lead us in, yay!

Fire, fire, wok on fire

Ahhh not only the familiar smell greets us, the sight of hot fiery wok is sooo welcoming, knowing that lip smacking noodles coming our way. We let ArthurT to do the order, whilst the rest of the friends catch up in real for once rather via technology :D

This is the breath of the wok

The first dish of noodles that came was this greasy looking Dry-fry Hor Fun (flat rice noodles). Tastewise was not bad but the noodles are a bit limp and greasy.

Dry Fry Hor Fun

The next dish that arrived was our most anticipated Hokkien Fried Thick Noodles! Wahhh it was so fab and practically flying off the plate. The glistened noodles are filled with wok hei (breath of the wok) albeit the soy sauce used here is slightly sweeter than normal. I supposed if you don't fancy a little sweetness in your savouries, this might not be your cup of tea. We also loved the crunch of the generous amount of chu yau char (deep fried lard).

Hokkien Mee

Next we have the Fried Pak Kor Meen (fried rice cake where pak kor is also known as Shanghai Nin Go) done Hokkien style. No regrets for this. The right amount of celery leaves (cunt {pardon me but that's how it's pronounce :p} choy in Cantonese or daun sup in Malay) gave a subtle hint to the noodle dish.

Pak Kor Meen

As we have another friend who arrived late, we ordered 2 more plates of single portion for Fried Hokkien Mee and Pak Kor Meen which actually turned out tastier than our 2 portions size earlier. I supposed the wok hei is more when a smaller portion is fried, hence the noodles were more fragrant and drier in appearance.

All noodles down with gusto with the accompaniments of sambal and fresh chillies.

Sambal & fresh chillies

Since ArthurT was so generous and paid for our meal, I've no idea how much it costed us but it should be rather reasonable.

To get here, from Jalan Kepong (going towards Kepong from KL with DBKL on your right, there's a traffic light here) turn right into Jalan Jinjang Utama. Go all the way in, passing the field on your left then followed by Jinjang Police Station on your right. Then there's a slight bend where you keep going straight and you should see the police quarters on your right. Follow on straight till a T-junction where you'll see River South Road or Jalan Tebing Selatan. There would be new shoplots on the left. Sang Kee is actually directly across this T-junction. You can park right there in front of the stall but it has limited space though.

Sang Kee @ River South Road or Jalan Tebing Selatan

Look out for this sign for San Kee!

Sang Kee


San Kee Fried Noodles
River South Road or Jalan Tebing Selatan
Jinjang Utara (North)
Kuala Lumpur
Click here for map
Opening hours: 2:15pm till 1:00am daily

Saturday 23 July 2011

Babe in the City - KL is Celebrating Its 7th Year!

Could you believe it??? Babe in the City - KL is turning 7 today! 

It has been 7 amazing years of blogging with 1,298 posts to feed many hungry readers. Thank you so much for all the support and comments you've bestowed upon our blog. Hopefully 7 would be a year filled with itches, yeah itching for more visits to hawkers and restaurants, itching to bake and cook more creatively, itching to meet more of you and to many more itches to come.

We have a few things in stall for the coming months, so hold on for a while when they come about. And yes, we're going to launch our annual virtual Merdeka Open House very soon too! Can't wait for that to happen since I've discovered more cooking buddies now. Hang on tight there. At the moment, I'm pretty tied up with work, hopefully it will ease by August when I would have more time to post up more blog posts.

Thank you once again for all your support to keep us on our toes. May there be more delicious posts from Babe in the City - KL!


Monday 18 July 2011

Review: Surisit The Thai Kopitiam

**Non-Halal**


Last week I took you to Japan and this week, let's go Thailand!

Surisit The Thai Kopitiam is still a new kid on the block but already receiving raves reviews all over. It is located in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), same row as Penang Village. The set up is a simple kopitiam but thank goodness it's air-conditioned. Makes it comfortable to enjoy hot and spicy food!

Thai Condiments

For drinks, you'll see some imported bottled drinks from Thailand like Capt'n Hook's Thai Tamarind Juice (RM7.90) which seriously quench your thirst. I just had the usual Thai Black Jelly (RM3.90).

Thai Black Jelly (RM3.90) & Thai Tamarind Juice (RM7.90)

Since there were just 2 of us, we just opted for fried rice. Capt'n Hook's Kao Phat Kung (Prawn Fried Rice RM14.90) came first. Tasted like ordinary fried rice but quite flavourful.

"Kao Phat Kung" - Prawn Fried Rice (RM14.90)

Since I've read raves review on Kao Klut Gapi (Belacan Fried Rice RM14.90), so I must have this. After browsing through numerous blogs, not sure why the pork belly served to me was placed directly on the rice and not on a separate bowl. Anyway, I guess it won't' make much difference. I wished they have used a bigger plate for this to ease mixing up the belacan fried rice with the condiments ie. long beans, raw mango, shallots, omelette, chili padi and pork belly. I find the rice do not have enough "wok hei" (breath of the wok) and had tasted better ones else where.

"Kao Klut Gapi" – Belacan Fried Rice (RM14.90)

The compulsory green for us was Kana Moo Krab (Stir Fried Kailan with Crispy Pork RM14.90). Just plain old stir-fried kai lan with garlic and addition of ermmm something like roast pork minus the crispiness. I think I would like salted fish in here instead.

"Kana Moo Krab" - Stir Fried Kailan with Crispy Pork (RM14.90)

Capt'n Hook's Torb Tim Krob (RM5.90) which was alright and come with generous red rubies (water chestnut) and jackfruit slices with the only grouse that the ice was not made of shaved ice. They have used crushed ice. This was feedback to them and was informed they were looking for an ice shaver at the moment. So give them a bit of time to acquire one.

Torb Tim Krob (RM5.90)

There seems to be a little confusion on the opening hours as stated up front. Looks like it was adjusted to 11.00am instead of 9.00am.

Surisit

I guess it's only fair to give this place another few tries to check out the dishes that goes with rice plus a while more to get things into a smooth moving gear. My only problem is the amount of MSG used, I was so thirsty that I had gulped down 500ml water just before going to bed at 2am and woke up at 5am for another glass of water, a first for me definitely o.O


Surisit The Thai Kopitiam
No. 17, Ground Floor
Lorong Rahim Kajai 13
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-7710 0173

Friday 15 July 2011

Review: Marutama Ramen

**Non-Halal**


We must have been the last in town to pay a visit to Fahrenheit 88 (formerly known as KL Plaza), the not-so-new mall by now. That too because we have to kill time waiting for MIL to finish up her hair do in a salon nearby. Anyway, it was late morning when we were there and just took a quick walk around to check things out. Not sure what kinda crowd this mall would attract though after going thru the mish mash of shops.

Food outlets are scattered at different corners and floors instead of concentration within the same floor. It was kinda confusing at first but luckily they have signages all over the pillars. For lunch, we can't wait to dine at Marutama Ramen after all the raves reviews from the blogsphere.

Marutama Ramen is an established chain of ramen shops based in Saitama and Tokyo. It has now landed in different parts of the world, fast expanding in South East Asia. The first outlet in Malaysia is located at Fahrenheit 88.

The ramen are handmade fresh on a daily basis and served in a savoury chicken soup. One can choose to have it normal or spicy. Next, you're asked to pick what items you want in your ramen. As the menu is very simple, there are just a few options available such as stewed pork belly, char siu, egg etc. The noodles are served with some seasoned seaweed. On each table, there would be condiments of fried garlic and sesame seeds.

Condiments

Both "tham jiaks" (greedy eaters) opted for stewed pork belly, char siu and egg in their ramen (RM27 per bowl)! Sounds pricy but seriously, it's worth all it! The soup is tasty knowing that it has been boiled long hours to extract such flavour from chicken. The char siu and egg were cooked to a perfection, do note that the egg is actually 3/4 boiled where the yolk is still a bit runny on the inside... ahhhh my kinda egg! The ramen texture is thin but bouncy and served with some yummy seasoned seaweed. The pork belly is stewed till super tender and literally melt in my mouth. I did tried adding some fried garlic in my ramen but in my opinion, over powered the delicious soup. I think I'll keep mine clean with some extra sesame seeds. On the other hand, Capt'n Hook preferred loads of fried garlic for a more robust flavour.

Marutama Ramen (RM27)

BoiBoi's favourite is gyoza which one can opt to order as a side dish but they do have set lunch on a separate set of menu. He opted for the set lunch (RM17) which has the gyoza and garlic fried rice (another of his fave) which came with a bowl of tummy warming vegetable soup.

Gyoza Torigohan Set (RM17)

I did not try any of his dishes but I'm pretty sure they were good as he polished them all off. His set came with a drink of green tea, otherwise we paid RM1 each for the green tea.

Garlic Fried Rice

Gyoza

The set up here is very simple and food is served rather quickly. Now I understand what's the fuss is all about Marutama Ramen. If you're in the vicinity, do make it a must-go!


Marutama Ramen
Lot No. 1-27(01)
1st Floor,  Fahrenheit 88
Tel: 603-21411573




Monday 4 July 2011

French Apple Cake

It has been a while since I posted something that I've baked. These days I only bake when it's necessary like trying to finish up something in the fridge. This case is apples. I have quite a number and some of them especially fuji apples' skin are turning wrinkly. The rest were granny smith. So I've used a mixture of both with granny smith dominating the combination.

I had always wanted to make this cake where the recipe is by Dorie Greenspan but was published by David Lebovitz. I played around with the ratio of the apples according to what I have, which is way more than needed and luckily they still turned out great, totally filled with chunky apples pieces!

I've checked with Capt'n Hook, it seems like he prefered this apple cake rather than my other favourite Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake. He loves super moist cake and I think this almost pudding like cake totally fit into that category. Usually cinnamon is used for anything apple but not this, hence I can taste the pure vanilla fragrance in this cake together with the slight tangy granny smith apple pieces.

I've gotten BoiBoi to help me out with the sifting and whisking cos making this cake is really super easy. He was aghast when I poured in the liqour and complained that he would not be able to eat any until I reassured him the alchohol will evaporate during baking. He loved this cake too, well another way to make your kid have fruits, not that I have any problems with him.

French Apple Cake

French Apple Cake
One 9-inch (23 cm) cake
Adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan

3/4 cup (110g) flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large apples (a mix of varieties)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup (150g) sugar (I've reduced to 130g)
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (115g) butter, salted or unsalted, melted and cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven. Heavily butter an 8- or 9-inch (20-23cm) springform pan and place it on a baking sheet.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Peel and core the apples, then dice them into 1-inch (3cm) pieces.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until foamy then whisk in the sugar, then rum and vanilla. Whisk in half of the flour mixture, then gently stir in half of the melted butter
Stir in the remaining flour mixture, then the rest of the butter. Fold in the apple cubes until they’re well-coated with the batter and scrape them into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top a little with a spatula.

Bake the cake for 50 minute to 1 hour, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan and carefully remove the sides of the cake pan, making sure no apples are stuck to it.

Friday 1 July 2011

Half Year Mark...

Sighhh time really does fly eh and today mark half a year has gone by in the year 2011. I'm still officially "jobless" albeit enjoying my time working on part-time basis at Bayan Indah. I've learnt lots of stuff and met lots of people of all walks of life from some corporate top guns to famous Malaysian artist to the number 4 most influential woman in the world and best of all bumping into my ex-colleagues and old friends!

I guess the highlight ought to be the 3 Kampung Cuisine classes that I've taught whilst Rohani was away on holiday last month. Amongst these 3 classes, one of them was under Malaysian Kitchen initiative and guess who was in the kitchen??? Never would I imagined "teaching" an Australian Masterchef and he's none other than Season 2's winner - Adam Liaw!

Other than this, I've been really really quiet about my pregnancy late last year since I had a bad track record previously. In fact very very few of our friends or relative were aware of it. We have both been having really good vibes and were terribly careful about it. I was also being monitored ever so closely by my obgyn (she's reading this, I know - Hi!) that my visits were on a regular 2 weekly basis. Alas things just decided to go downhill with another miscarriage. What could have been more worse off than having it to happen on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year and to add on to that... a rather traumatic time in the emergency room.

This time round, fetus was just tested healthy with nucal scan and blood tests came back normal as well (they don't come cheap!), just like 2 weeks before and my last check up was just a couple of days before Chinese New Year. Anyway to cut long story short, my placenta seemed to have another bout of bacteria infection and the 14.5 months fetus aborted itself. To thank Lord that I do not have to be induced which can be extremely painful!

It has been really really hard since we both were prepared for this and I totally understand now what devastation meant now. As my mother was recovering from her bout of gout, I have to literally take care of myself after discharging from the hospital. Luckily we have an acupuncturist friend whom had helped me to recover quickly by giving me the right herbs in the form of tablets and capsule plus of course needle pokes.

Capt'n Hook just can't bear it when my obgyns have advised us not to conceive anymore since they have no idea how the infection could have taken place and the chances to recur is very high. So we decided to take a break in Chiang Mai the following week which left my acupuncturist aghast as he thought that I should stay at home to rest and practice some kinda confinement :p

When things like this happened, many would advice... well don't worry time will heal but seriously, it can be quiet hard. I would have thought 5 months have gone by la-ti-da but things are not helping when you tend to keep bumping into pregnant ladies or newborn babies in prams but the worse bit was seeing new mummy carrying their newborn leaving the hospital!

The cream of the cake came when we have to send BoiBoi to the emergency room 2 weeks ago. Gosh it was so hard walking through the door, I could literally see the blood drips on the floor... and the floodgate opened when they put BoiBoi opposite to where I was placed. It's also not helping (well, we could laughed about it now though) that it was the same nurse whom witnessed the abortion before the doctor arrived attending to BoiBoi. The Medical Officer was puzzled why the mummy is crying and my poor BoiBoi looked kinda worried. What a lousy mum I must have been at that moment. Again Capt'n Hook became my pillar of strength to help me quickly recover from the meltdown so that we can concentrate on BoiBoi.

Thank goodness he's all well now, fully recovered and back to his normal self. I supposed we're glad to be blessed with him, more could have been better though but I do felt relieve now that I don't need to wake up to a wailing baby, changing smelly diapers, having smelly curdled milk on my shoulders or clothings... but I really do missed the smell of a baby. Gosh jotting all these down still bring me tears... still not 100% healed yet I guess :(

I hope those of you whom have invited us for tea party, dinners and reviews and oh yeah also a video feature on a food programme on NTV7 but we have turned down mostly would understand the situation that we're in. A lot of times I just don't feel like mingling around. Just give us a bit more of time ya. Sorry.

6 months have gone by and almost a year to my VSS, I supposed I really do need to sit down and reflect, to think of what could be my next move. Should I jump back to the corporate world or should I pursue something I enjoy and doing the things I love??

I guess you guys just have to wait and see then...

Anyway for something on the bright side, this month I should start thinking hard on my other baby - Merdeka Open House 2011! This year will be the sixth installment, woohooo! Lemme sit on it for a while cos this week, my work schedule has been really really crazy. I've never done so much preparation and cooking especially deep frying. I have been a really good and clever girl this week hahaha... never been so proud of myself.

There's something that I do hope turn out nice this month and would update here once we got wind of it. So excited actually :D

Well, may the next 6 months bring us and you more good tidings ;-)


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