Review: Ume-Tei Japanese Restaurant @ Amcorp Mall

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



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

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



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

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

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


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


Technorati Tags: Japanese food

My Version of ABC Soup

**Non-Halal**

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

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



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


Technorati Tags: soup

Roasted Duck and Baby Tomatoes Angel Hair Pasta

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

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

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




Technorati Tags: pasta

King Crab Restaurant Charity Drive For Sichuan Earthquake Victims

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

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


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


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

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


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

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

Cooling Drinks Series: Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

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

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

Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

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

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

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

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

Technorati Tags: tong shui

Review: Restoran Sai Kong (HQ @ Kepong Baru)

**Non-Halal**


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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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


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


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

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

Pheewww that was quite a mouthful!



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

There, another easy peasy dish from the lazy me.


Technorati Tags: egg

The Sloppiest Burger in Malaysia

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

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

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

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

Review: Pantai Seafood Restaurant

**Non-Halal**

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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


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


Technorati Tags: seafood

Another Version of Beef Stew

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

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

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


Technorati Tags: beef stew

Review: Fong Wah Teochew Porridge

**Non-Halal**

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



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



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



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



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



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


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

Technorati Tags: porridge + teochew