Review: Huen Kee Claypot Chicken Rice

**Non-Halal**

I’ve been following Heun Kee up and down the road for the past 10 years! Oh no, no!! Heun Kee is not a super star nor a celebrity, just that I’m the Claypot Chicken Groupie!!! I’ve lost count the number of times they’ve shifted for the past 15 years but thank goodness, Heun Kee is now rooted at the corner of Jalan Yew.

When they first started their business in this current lot, the cooking of claypot rice was done at the back kitchen but I guess that was a bad idea since the charcoal stoves are indeed an advertisement to them to attract customers. So they moved the stoves to the front and now no one can missed them out anymore.Check out how the charcoal stoves roar away!

You’ll understand why I’m a Heun Kee’s groupie as they could churn out one of the better claypot chicken rice in town where the rice is cooked to perfection, nary undercooked with a layer of aromatic crusty rice at the bottom of the pot which is a treasure to unearth as one dig deeper. Their chicken is always cooked just right, retainining its juices. The secret to such perfections is by cooking the claypot with firery charcoals under AND above the claypots!

This is how the end result looked like… with loads of chicken pieces, slices of Chinese sausages and topped with chopped spring onions with salted fish served served separately. To serve, all one need to do is pour in the salted fish, mix and stir the rice with the ingredients thoroughly and as you do that, you can smell the fragrant dash of cooking wine they added towards the end of the cooking process. It’s simply divine! A small pot for one person will cost RM6.50, medium for 2 at RM13.00 and a large one for 3 - 4 is going for RM18.00. Please note that chicken thighs request will cost slightly more.

Other than chicken, you can opt for a mixed Chinese dried sausages and waxed meat pot instead. Heun Kee also serves a mean claypot curry fish head! Just order a pot of plain white rice to go with the curry.This trip we have a small plate of Seafood Tofu (minimum 5 pieces, RM5.00), basically it’s mashed tofu and seafood, shaped into bricks and deep fried. Absolutely great with the chili dip.

This medium plate (RM6.00) of Stir-fried Romaine Lettuce with Fermented Beancurd (foo yue) was fried with enough wok hei (breath of the wok) that enhances the foo yue laced vegetable many folds.

Parking is aplenty underneath the flyover in the evening but nightmarish during the day. Do let me know if you’re a groupie too, just like me, or turned one after trying them out after reading this!!


Kedai Makanan Heun Kee (Claypot Chicken Rice)
59, Ground Floor, Jalan Yew, Pudu,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-9200 1603
Opening Hours: 11.30am to 9.30pm

This article was originally published in Notes From Venus.


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + claypot

Review: Chuka Cafe

**Non-Halal**

Since I came in super early today, so I better quickly do this up!!!

Tucked away in a faraway land towards the old Subang Airport is this Japanese eatery located in a condominium block called Chuka Cafe. This place has been around for a long while but I never got round to check it out until my brother spent dinner sometime back. When we were there, the other 3 tables were occupied by some Japanese. Seems like this place is well patronised by the Japanese community in that area. As this dinner was eaten quite some months back, my memory of the items are pretty vague but let's just see if I can jog it out as I go on typing.

First up were the gyoza of minced meat and chives which we all liked. 2 plates of them disappeared quickly.

Next, we have this Buta Kakuni which is Japanese stewed pork in soya sauce. Pretty similar to Chinese style Tau Yew Bak but this is slightly on the sweeter side and ohhh the pork is sooooo tender. I stole a small bite of the fatty part and it does melt in my mouth! Best if have eaten with plain rice.

Our orders range from Genki Kara Ramen (spicy soup with seafood and vegetable); Tonkotsu Ramen (sliced pork and seaweed); pork rounds ramen (not sure of the name since I didn't order this, judging from the pic, looks like shoyu ramen); Gyu Niku Ramen (beef noodles which I had and I would say it's good. The thinly sliced beef literally melt in the mouth.); and Katsu Don.

Even though the ramens were tasty but there's a major concern with some of them complaining the ramen were too salty to their palate. I can't blame them since we're more used to bland food. We should have told the wait staff during ordering to tone down the salt. So, remember huh, if you're not used to salty food, do inform them in advance.

When you enter the condominium, you'll need to give your particulars in exchange for a visitor plate to be displayed on your dashboard. You can park right in front of the main entrance of the block where the cafe is located.


Chuka Cafe
Saujana Villa Condominium,
13 Lingkungan Golf Saujana
Subang, Selangor
Tel : (603) 7846 7664
lat 3.106446 long 101.581779
Opening Hours: Mon -Sun 12.00pm - 2.30pm & 6.00pm - 9.30pm

Technorati Tags: Japanese food

Thank You Rachel of ThamJiak...

...to post up her interview with me. The first in her project to interview the Malaysian floggers was on Swee San.

I've always fascinated with Rachel's story of her ahmah (grandma) and look forward to her posts. The little anecdotes always spices things up. Do check out Tham Jiak!

Sorry no food updates today or the next few days... have a deadline to catch!

Review: Durian Cream Puff from Happy Meal

Short post again cos chasing deadline.

I took note of teckiee's post about this Happy Meal place at Jalan Hang Lekir (Chinatown/Petaling Street area). I've always noticed the place whenever I buy flowers next door but never bothered to check out what they offer. It's basically a small corner selling sandwiches, pastries and drinks. Thanks to teckiee, I stopped by one day when I passed by there. Otherwise I would have continued walking.

I saw a lady busy piping out the pastry for the cream puffs onto trays. A couple of them were filling them with cream. Checking out the display I saw pineapple tarts, coconut tarts, kaya swissroll, cream puffs BUT it was the signage they stuck on the glass that caught my eyes... durian puff!!!! Can't resist them, I bought a box which contained 4 for RM2.40. Resisted like hell from buying other stuff... need to watch our expanding waist muahahaha...

Anyway, I only ate them when I got back home. By then the choux pastry had gotten a bit soggy but but but the durian cream compensated it since it's not durian season now hahaha... must check out the other yummies the next time I'm there.

Technorati Tags: cream puff + durian

Babe_KL Had Bad Food Too at Delifrance!!!

To follow up with KY's bloody (pun intended) experience with Delifrance yesterday, this was mine, today...

This was the sausage pasta from it's ala carte menu but I thot I was having prawn mee!!!! Well I was careful at least not to order the chicken thigh which was today's set menu haha moreover I was invited for lunch, so I had to be polite.

This happened at Delifrance, The Weld. Luckily I downed 2 cups of hot tea there and now on my second in the office.

Apple Crumble Version 2.0

My parents usually buy fruits by the boxes... yes, BOXES!!! I am not talking about those small flat boxes that keep persimmons or kiwis but imagine those apples/oranges type. Twice a month, they'll diligently stock up... since they lived quite close to Selayang's Pasar Borong (wholesale market). Yours truly will usually benefit from this as my mom will shuffed some plastic bags to me and ask me to help myself.

Now the problem is... my fridge tends to be overstocked with them as there are basically two people in the house only. Tall task to finish them all up quickly. Most times I would need to cook or juice them up before the next fresh batch come. This time, they have gotten a box of huge, juicy and sweet granny smith... I was juggling them on my palms and asked hubby what should I do with them. Naturally he replied me "Apple Crumble - same like Coffee Bean one!". Yoooohhh an additional step for me to make the base crust!!!! Grrr just like my previous attempt. I was reminded to improve on that at the same time!!! *bleh, stick tongue out at HIM*
Anyway, as I was taking out the ingredients to make one, I noticed that I only have enough butter to either make the crumble or the crust. Feeling lazy (with lots of joy), I decided to leave the crust out! As I browse thru recipes, I remember FBB's version is the simplest so I quickly note down the ingredients and set out to make the crumble. I added a handful of oats on the crumble for the extra crunch plus experimented with some sesame seeds which didn't make much difference.

I made mine in ramekins and I would say this version does tasted better! Thank you FBB for sharing the recipe. My sister-in-law told me it was nice when eaten cold which I tried; and OH YES indeed it was!!! Tasted great even without all those sinful additions mentioned by FBB :p

Coincidently, one of the Drive for Food team, Apple Crumble Team, used the same recipe which earned them a trip to Penang for the final!!!! The voting is currently on... please do vote for Apple Crumble Team and Fantastic Four HERE!!! Thank you very much for your support.

Technorati Tags: apple crumble

Review: Butter Pastry Egg Tart from Tong Kee Brothers Confectionery

Most of us, KLites, are familiar with Tong Kee's mouth watering egg tart of flaky pastry and eggy custard. Tong Kee's egg tart is by far the best in Klang Valley in my book lah, well excluding those I've eaten in Hong Kong. However, I discovered recently that they have another version where the pastry is made with butter! I bought 2 last week just to test out.

The butter version is RM1.30 in yellow paper casing wherelse the normal version is priced at RM1.20. As you can see below, the butter pastry looked less flaky.

The first bite, it was crispy!!! The crispyness is different from the normal pastry one, kinda crunchy to the bite. So I took out my camera and quickly snap a pic before its all gone. The subsequent bites were just absolutely Heavenly... crisp buttery pastries coupled with soft and silky custard. Totally different in texture, all I can say it was very very flavoursome indeed.

Other than egg tarts, I also liked the chicken pie which I've woofed down without taking any pic of it, sorry haha. I've also threw away the box that stated down their current brances :p Another must buy is the sponge cake in paper casing. Oh dear, I really feel like having all of these now for tea!

Tong Kee Brothers Confectionery
Main Branch
16, Jalan Brunai Utara, Pudu,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: (603) 242 9958
Operation Hours:6.00am - 6.00pm

Branch No. 1
8, Lorong Brunai 3, Pudu,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: (603) 242 9923
Operation Hours:6.00am - 3.00pm

Branch No. 2 (known as TK at the signboard)
Jalan Cerdas, Taman Connaught
(same row as Gafan Restaurant, or Sedaya College side)

Branch No. 3
Persiaran Mergastua, Kepong Baru

Counters:
Lai Fong Restaurant
138 Jalan Bandar, Kuala Lumpur

Wah Cheong Coffee Shop
17/29, Petaling Jaya

Technorati Tags: egg tart + malaysian food

The Star, Drive For Food

As you would have known by now, my fellow floggers - Jackson, Precious Pea, Teckiee and WMW, participated in the recent The Star, Drive For Food competition. The voting is now open for you to pick the best video travelogue for a friend who would like to take an 8 hour leisurely drive from KL-Penang.

The floggers have entered 2 videos under FANTASTIC FOUR and THE APPLE CRUMBLE TEAM (ACT) since 2 of their round one videos got to the final. Would appreciate if you guys go help vote for their videos which are the top two videos displayed.

Please VOTE HERE. Thank you very much.

Check out WMW's account plus the details of those places FANTASTIC FOUR have visited.

Festive Cookies

In replying to Teckiee's question in my Deepavali greetings post if I was away making murukku... hahaha of course not lah! I got a tin of that from a friend of mine. Well instead of murukku, I made these...

Wahseh... colourful or not? Before these babies were coated with milled sugar, the strong colour looked kinda scary! I made a trial batch of these earlier but I've used very very little colouring and my test bunnies told me they were too light. Hmmm and I thought they looked kinda nice in pastel shades, just that they don't show much after the sugar coating.

So are they festive enough for Deepavali???

Anyways, these babies are known as Arab Cookies or Ghee Biscuits or Sugee (even though no sugee were used??) Biscuits... recipe can be found HERE.

Technorati Tags: cookies

Happy Deepavali

Wishing all Hindus who are celebrating the festival of lights a Happy Deepavali!

My first time seeing such a huge beautiful kolam, quickly took out my phone and snapped a pic of it. This pic was taken at The Weld.

Stir-fried Long Beans With Bean Paste

A firm favourite in Chinese households... am pretty sure most moms would have this simple yet yummy vegetable dish on the dining table. Just stir in some chopped garlic, sliced shallots (shallots are not necessary, just that I have some and wanted to use up before they turn rotten) and minced bean paste in hot oil till fragrant. Watch out diligently as the bean paste can burn easily. Next, dunk in the long beans and stir. Sprinkle in a wee bit of water and watch how the beans turn colour into a deeper shade. Dish up and serve hot otherwise the beans will turn wrinkly. I do not add in any salt since the bean paste is salty. For a bundle of long beans, I normally use about a heap teaspoonful of bean paste. Most times I will taste it during cooking, if not salty enough then only add some to taste.

Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Review: Restoran Soong Kee Beef Ball Noodles

**Non-Halal**

Soong Kee at the intersection of Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin (Silang) and Jalan Tun HS Lee needs no introduction at all as it has more than 60 years of history behind it walls. Well not at the current walls but at least at the cooking section. Previously (at least more than 6 years ago), they do not have a proper front for patrons to sit. We always ended sitting along the corridor of the building behind it. Thank goodness they have renovated the shop front and it's so pleasant so dine here these days. The only problem coming here is there is hardly any parking around.

Anyway, this is one of our fave place to drop by for a simple dinner whenever hunger calls since the noodles are served in a jiffy! Both our orders are pretty standard... fresh noodles dry style with a small bowl of broth filled with beef meat and beef balls whilst hubby preferred a large bowl of beef balls. We usually skip the tripe since we don't fancy them.

We loved the springy texture of the fresh noodles (sang meen, the same noodles used in wantan noodles) topped with very flavourful and generous serving of minced pork meat sauce (yes it's pork and I've seen patrons who don't eat beef order noodles with just the minced meat). The beef meat is tender and the beef balls could literally bounced right off the wall if you hit one at the wall haha... Their beef balls are of the smooth and bouncy kind. Best dipped in the vinegar laced chilli sauce. The broth served is kinda nice but could cause dry throat later on as MSG is used here. Luckily they do not serve a huge bowl of broth, otherwise it can be quite disastrous heh.

Other than fresh noodles, you can ask for the popular loh shue fun (a type of rice noodles), hor fun (flat rice noodles) and bee hoon (rice vermicelli).

BTW, we have stopped patronising Ngau Kee over at Tengkat Tong Shin since last year as their noodles and beef balls standard have dropped tremendously. Aeons ago, you would have to fight for a table literally but these days if you pass by there... it's soooo quiet. So Soong Kee is definitely the place in the city centre for a good bowl of hearty beef balls noodles!


Soong Kee Beef Ball Noodles
3 Jalan Tun Siew Sin
Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: (603) 2078 1484
Opening Hours: 11:00am - midnight

Technorati Tags: Beef Ball noodles + malaysian food

Yummilicious Snacks

Found these pics in my flickr album. Totally forgotten about them.

At times when I'm hungry at odd hours but lazy to go out to grab a bite, I will usually turn to my fave food - bread. Other than slattering them with peanut butter or making PBBT, most times I will rummage my fridge to look for stuff to go with the bread.

The simplest is just spread some butter on a piece of bread, sprinkle with some grated cheddar cheese then top with sliced sausages. Top with more cheese and dot with chilli sauce. Toast till the cheese melts and chow down whilst it's hot. Easy but irresistable!

I had fresh button mushroom on hand once, so I spread some sweet chilli cottage cheese on a piece of bread. Place sliced button mushrooms all over and grind in lots of fresh black pepper. Send for toasting and voila... another yummy, easy and quick snack.

Check out my other snacks:
Quick Corned Beef Snack
Stir Fried Mushroom in Butter
First Attempt With Bagels

Technorati Tags: bread + snack

Review: Nasi Lemak at Jalan Alor/Changkat Bukit Bintang Junction

I'm pretty sure many of the KLites working around Kuala Lumpur most popular hawker haven, Jalan Alor, would know or have tasted this nasi lemak located at the junction of Jalan Alor and Changkat Bukit Bintang (opposite KL Baptist Church). I know of a fan, Yozora Nite Sky, who must have her fix at least once a week! Haha... Opens in the morning and it's a norm to see long queue like this...

Going up close, you'll be amazed with the array of lauk (dishes) to go with your nasi lemak. Ranging sotong, fried chicken, curry chicken, chicken/beef rendang, kerang (cockles), bergedil, terung (eggplant), paru (lungs) and so on!!!

Next to all the lauk, they have a separate section offering fried noodles, bee hoon and colourful kuih-muih.

This packet I've gotten costed RM3.50 that have beef rendang and sambal kerang. Aiyoh I'm salivating now looking back at the delicious pic hahaha... Loved their beef rendang where their meat is tender and not sinewy at all. The rice is not overly rich and they come in separate grains.

On another occassion, I had a piece of ayam goreng berempah and a piece of bergedil. This combo costed me RM4.50! Chicken tend to be pricier it seems. I'm not complaining cos this style of fried chicken is very tasty albeit oilier. The chicken meat are usually marinaded with pounded shallots, red chillies, garlic and turmeric before being deep fried. Yum yum! I think their bergedil is plain potatoes patty but I can't recall tasty any minced meat inside or not. Nice... but I could be bias cos I loved potatoes - any style!!!

Technorati Tags: malaysian food + nasi lemak