Review: Paya Serai @ PJ Hilton

Edited 11:21am to add Bangsar Babe's link.


Capt'n Hook and I have the opportunity to check out Paya Serai (certified Halal) at PJ Hilton last week courtesy of PJ Hilton and theQguides.

Cumi & Ciki, The Nomad Gourmand, Places and Foods, Bangsar Babe and us were ushered into a room for a briefing right before dinner. Frat's boss started off first before Cindy of PJ Hilton introduces Zest, PJ Hilton's blog to us. I find it really cool for a hotel to have a blog to update patrons of what they have to offer plus the latest promotions and such. It's sooo different from the other hotels which I find them errmmm cold?? Zest is so informative as you can see all outlets from rooms to restaurants and the hotel's activities. Such a nice way to reach out instead of calling up asking for promos held.



We have to draw lots to decide which restaurant we get to go out of Toh Yuen, Genji and Paya Serai and we got ourselves Paya Serai! I'm so shy to admit that the last I stepped into Paya Serai was definitely more than 10 years ago for a Ramadhan buffet. Paya Serai was very popular then and I really had a shocked when I see tables being set right along the corridor and walkways surrounding the restaurant. I was told that Paya Serai is still very HOT up till now for Ramadhan buffet and the same scenario exist year in year out even though they have set up the ballroom for the buffet with the same line up but yet patrons would insist to be seated in the restaurant.

Staying true to their Malay heritage, this year the buffet will carry the Citarasa Kampung theme, special lines have been provided for you to make your Ramadhan buffet reservation. Call +603 7955 9122 ext 4260/4261 now! Cindy told us that they have started to receive reservations since 3 weeks back so hurry ok. *whisper* Psssttt don't say I didn't inform... the first 3 days have special pricing in conjunction of PJ Hilton's 25th anniversary. Shhhh check the details here.

Paya Serai has given an uplift and it certainly looked more contemporary now. I was told the current theme is Malay cuisine. I toured the buffet lines and stations... very impressive indeed. So much so that I was traipsing up and down deciding what to place on my plate until Head Waiter Andy had to ask me if I needed any help :p



There were Asian appetisers - satay, different types of keropoks (crackers), ulam and salted fish to go with the various sambal and dips.



Western appetisers were served as well and I am delighted to annouce that they serve real SALTED butter. I have to cos I know FBB, Nigel and Capt'n Hook really hated it when establishments offer unsalted butter :D



So many traditional Malay dishes were offered which make it really hard for me to list them all down!!! However, spotted were various rendangs and curries, gulai ikan masin, briyani gam, and etc. I didn't get to try all though :p but those that I've tried were good. We loved the grilled sotong with air assam, yums.



Other than Malay, there were Western, Indian and Chinese goodies ranging from pasta, tandoori chicken, rotis, stir-fried loh shue fun (rice noodles) and I could go on and on but just check out the pics here...





The best part of course was the dessert line. I was impressed with the traditional Malay goodies like badak berendam, putu kacang, wajik, akok (a Kelantanese dessert), kek lapis, cendol and so forth. The best one that really took the cake was serawa durian!!! Yes no kidding ok, a hotel serving durian dish when durian is banned from the rooms hahaha... Even though it's cooked but the smell is still pungent, sorry Cindy :p Capt'n Hook and I loved this and hopefully I can re-create this, hey, what a brilliant idea, I could make this for our virtual open house!!!



Western desserts were available as well like cakes, cheesecakes, puddings, ice-cream... Just like Bangsar Babe, I loved their Bread and Butter Pudding but mine's the chocolate version which is soooo chocolaty. I told Andy that this gave me a great idea to come out with my own version.



Capt'n Hook loved the fruits selection as it's totally different from the usual papaya, watermelon and honeydew melon!!! There were starfruit, dragonfruit, langsat, mata kuching, pulasan and buah salak!



We adjourned to Uncle Chilli's thereafter with the rest of the floggers and partied till way after midnight :p Errr we were given special treatment and got targetted by the beauties from the band Manila Spice. Some of us retreated to the back so much so that Elaine (also from PJ Hilton) shouted "all cowards" kekeke *ahem*



Uncle Chilli's seems to be back in the PJ limelight with theme nights held. There was Nurse Nite... just check out the photos, so happening eh! There is also Bunnies Nite with the grand finale coming up just this Sat (1 August)... imagine 12 pole-dancing bunnies in their sexy outfits serenading you... so you party people - be there or be square!

Thank you Cindy, Elaine, Andy and Ruban of PJ Hilton and Lisa, Jek and Frat of theQguides for the hospitality.


Check what others have to say:
Cumi & Ciki
The Nomad Gourmand
Pillow Talk with Bangsar Babe


Do check my flickr album for the variety of dishes available.


Hilton Petaling Jaya Hotel
No 2 Jalan Barat,
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Malaysia
Tel: (+603) 7955 9122

I Chowtutted Last Week

Sorry for not updating, I've no mood for it since I received a horrible news on Sunday that my colleague had passed away suddenly. Totally unexpected and I'm very saddened by it. Well, just to move along, lemme post something that don't need to use much of my brain juice and energy.

Well, I chowtutted# last week with a wedding dinner on Fri & Sat, family dinner at Zun Kitchenette on Sun, a crawl along Changkat Bukit Bintang on Wed followed by a lavish buffet at Paya Serai, PJ Hilton on Thur (post will be up once I come out from my comatose).

So this week, I've been having salads for lunch. Monday was just a plain salad of leaves, carrots and roasted bell peppers (capsicum) with a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar plus some sea salt and sprinkling of freshly grounded black pepper. Sounds and look pathetic horrr? What to do, I don't have a wife who can make me a sauteed mushroom salad :p



Got busted though with a small slice of Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake at 5pm! Yesterday I had Ipoh Sar Hor Fun at a kopitiam at The Weld, considered quite light. Managed to tide me till 7pm.



Today, my salad errrm seems very lavish as compared to Monday's. I just dunk in whatever I could find at home. Some butterhead, carrots, orange slices, chunks of pear, one hard boiled egg and roasted bell pepper. Invented a dressing of extra virgin olive oil, about 2 tbsp lemon juice, pulp from one passionfruit, seasalt and black pepper. Surprisingly this dressing rocks, gah if only I can get passionfruit at the snap of my fingers!

# CHOWTUT [chow-tut]
- noun / verb
An excessive dose, especially of food or alcoholic beverage
"Wahhh! Last night I chowtut at Changkat!"
"That fella sleeping la... he chowtut for lunch"
(definition by Integricity employees)

Technorati Tags: salad

Häagen-Dazs' Sensual Summer Moments

Häagen-Dazs launched their latest summer flavour of Apricot and Cream with a fashion show showcasing the works by Janchittra Tantikarn, Md Hussein Bin Rosman and Joan Lim from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.


I was invited to this summer soiree at Bangsar Village II to witness the launch with the theme Sensual Summer Moments. Finger food were catered from Marmalade Cafe and of course we were served Apricot and Cream ice-cream and a drink called Summer Breeze, both available now at all Häagen-Dazs outlets. This flavour is light and fruity with bits of apricots embedded beneath the creamy ice-cream.





This summer some creations were designed for both dining-in and take-away, so head out to the nearest Häagen-Dazs to check them all out.


Daphne Iking was the emcee for the night, I tell you, she looked so svelte and splendid and her daughther is sooo cute! Once the Managing Director of HPL, the master franchisor of Häagen-Dazs is done with his speech, the fashion show got started.





The designs of the dresses were inspired by the summer colours of apricot and cream; and we saw lots of playful baby-doll cut complete with pleats and ruffles dresses in the different hues of pale orange, yellow, peach, and apricot. The models looked so elegant and poise in these flirty little numbers.





The show ended with some of these models bringing out the latest ice-cream creation where the media photographers all rushed up front to snap pics whilst the food bloggers, errr with their butts stuck to the chairs. Not sure about the rest, kinda shy to bring out p&s to compete with their canggih dslr.




Once the event was over, food bloggers like Ruth, Rachel, FBB, Bangsar Babe, Paprika, TNG and J congegrated to say hi to each other. I knew Pink Parisian is there but I dunno where is she since I've never met her before :p. Hey, Frat was there too and he can't wait to dive in to some Apricot and Cream.




Thank you Regina of Pat-Lin Communications for the invite.




Other floggers thots:
Memoirs of a Chocoholic
Have You Eaten Yet
Perut Besi




Photo credit: Some photos were supplied by Frat and from the blogger's kit.

Babe in the City - KL is FIVE today!

1,011 posts written, scores of cakes baked, heaps of dishes cooked, countless restaurants featured, throngs of hawkers visited, various events attended and many friends made... yes, my dear readers, it has been 5 wonderful years when I first posted here.

Time sure flies when you’re having fun, checking out new makan (eating) places, learning new cooking tips, finding awesome recipes and meeting fellow floggers and making really good friends.

May Babe in the City - KL continues to serve you jillion of posts in the coming years!

Merdeka Open House 2009: How To

Wow I'm impressed with the amount of responses so far I've gotten over the Merdeka Open House 2009. I'm glad I soldiered on this year ;-)

With the theme set as My Sweet Malaysia, let's get on with how do we go about doing this virtual open house.

As long as you’re a Malaysian, you can participate no matter where you’re located. Those who are married to Malaysians are welcome to partipate as well.

1. Cook up traditional sweets of all kind as long as it tastes sweet be it desserts of your ethnic group; or something sweet your family serves for tea or snack. There will be no restrictions as to whether it has to be halal or not.
   
   
2. Take a picture of your dish, type in your write-up and the recipe (if you have one, otherwise your ingredients and method would suffice if you're the guesstimate/agak-agak type). Do stick to traditional recipe without any shortcuts or replacement of ingredients to make it modern or fusion but it is all right for overseas participants due to limited ingredients. This open house is something for us to cherish our wonderful roots and we hope we could preserve the recipes that our ancestors have hand down.
   
   
3. Post it up in your blog by 29th August 2009 but of course if you can do it earlier, it’s all the better to ease me in rounding up on 31st August.
   
   
4. All entries must reach me by 29th August 2009, midnight Malaysian time at babe_kl(@)yahoo(dot)com. Our virtual party will be on 31st August 2008. In your email, attach a picture of your dish (minimum 500x375 pixels) and please state the following details:
   
   Name or nick
   Location
   Permalink/URL of your post
   Name of the dish
   

If you do not own a blog but wish to participate, kindly do your write up and send it together with the picture to me. I’ll post it up for you.

Looking forward to your entries and happy cooking!


Technorati Tag: merdeka open house 2009

Aiks, My First Roti Canai of The Year

Hahaha could you believe it? Half a year have gone in 2009 and I just had my first full one piece roti canai. Other times snipping off other people's plate not counted!!!

On Monday, Capt'n Hook ajak me to eat roti canai for dinner and I said yes. He was shocked cos I don't usually eat roti canai plus I was still recovering from my cough. He asked me a few times "Are you sure?" hahaha adoi.

Anyway we went to our usual haunt Al Amnah at Selangor Mansion, Masjid India. Capt'n Hook ordered his usual Roti Telur Bawang. For myself, I wanted something different from the usual stuff hahaha yes but how different can the roti turn out right, Capt'n Hook always said that I'm always the one that menyusahkan saje!

I saw "Roti Canai Special RM2.30" on the board and proceeded to ask them what it is. The server replied "Roti canai banjir tambah 2 telur setengah masak atas". Wowwww... yummsss I think I already liked the special a lot and ordered one. I can't resist having my roti shredded up with dhal poured all over and a dollop of sweet sambal on the side PLUS topped with 2 half boiled eggs!!! I know this is not something new but I've never eaten it before as I usually prefer having thosai or chapati.



Are you salivating now?

Hehehe darn delish, I tell ya! My only mistake was not ordering the roti to be freshly done. Mine was from one of the many plain rotis stacked up to almost 6" high pile where the steam have made the roti turned a bit soggy.

Dinner was great, even greater washing down with a glass of KL's best teh tarik!

Al Amnah Restaurant
No. 2 Ground Floor
Selangor Mansion
Jalan Masjid India
Kuala Lumpur
Coordinates: 3°9'7"N 101°41'50"E


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + teh tarik + roti canai

Announcing Merdeka Open House 2009's Theme

Dear all Malaysians floggers, bloggers and non-bloggers alike,

I was contemplating whether to organise another virtual open house this year, after successful rounds of Merdeka Open House which started in Year 2006 with the theme Recipe Long Forgotten; 2007's Muhibbah and last year's Mee and My Malaysia. I thought that by not bring it up, I could just let it go hahaha but how wrong I was. After going through the comments and the recent one by Sugar & Spice of Masala Heaven, looks like I would have to organise one since quite a number did not manage to make it last year.

For the past 3 years, I've conducted polls to decide on the themes but this year there is no need for one as I've gone through the past suggestions and decided to pick one from there. With this, I would like to announce the theme for Merdeka Open House 2009 will be My Sweet Malaysia.



Sweet would be rather apt now with so much going on with our political scenes, language issues for our school going children, A(H1N1), haze and the list just go on and on. I supposed it would be great to show case something to sweeten up this 52nd Independence Day (Hari Merdeka Ke-52).

My Sweet Malaysia would need participants to cook up traditional sweets of all kind as long as it tastes sweet be it desserts of your ethnic group; or something sweet your family serves for tea or snack. There will be no restrictions as to whether it has to be halal or not. This time the challenge would be which sweet traditional recipe to pick from!!!! Hahaha yes cos we have so many yummilicious (my boiboi's current fave word!) sweets on the list, very headache but this is so much simpler than attempting Recipe Long Forgotten!

Let me give you some examples to start with cendol; ice-kacang; sago gula melaka; fresh milk curd; onde-onde; pak tong koh; bubur chacha; tee nyah kuih; egg custard; ghee ball; ang koo; and all the various kuih-muih like ketayap, kuih bakar, nine layer kuih, kuih talam and I could go on and on till all my cows come home!

My only request would be if possible, stick to traditional recipe without any shortcuts or replacement of ingredients to make it modern or fusion but it is all right for overseas participants due to limited ingredients. This open house is something for us to cherish our wonderful roots and we hope we could preserve the recipes that our ancestors have hand down.

I will post up the details on what you need to do if you're participating later on but the gist of this open house is to cook up something based on the theme and post it on your blog on the stipulated date. Send me the details and I will round up all the submissions on Merdeka Day itself. Those without a blog could also participate as I could post up your entry on your behalf.

So please let the whole world know of this virtual open house as all Malaysians and also those who are married to Malaysians are welcome to partipate, pssst actually I'm quite flexy, if you're unsure, just drop a comment here or send me a mail ;-)


Technorati Tag: merdeka open house 2009

Stir-Fried Bee Hoon (Zhau Mai Fun)

We usually have this type of stir-fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli) followed by Red Beans & Lotus Seeds Tong Shui (Sweet Soup). This is the commonly cooked zhau mai fun that one can find at home, economical stalls, parties and so forth. In Restoran Hong Ngek, it's known as Tong San Zhau Mai.

Very easy peasy to cook, soak the bee hoon (I liked Erawan brand from Thailand, the one with the elephant picture on it) for about 10-15 mins and drain them. In a hot wok, heat up some oil, then add in chopped garlic. Fry till fragrant before adding sliced chicken fillets (marinaded with soy sauce, sesame oil and some cornflour). Fry the fillets till cooked before adding shelled prawns. Once the prawns are cooked, add in choy sum.

Once the choy sum turned limp, pour in some water (should be just enough to cover the bee hoon. Add in seasonings like oyster sauce, a few dashes of fish sauce (can omit this), dark sauce sauce, white pepper, some salt (can be omitted if you find the oyster sauce is good enough) and a bit of sugar to bring out the flavour. When you taste at this stage, you might need the liquid to be slightly more salty as adding the bee hoon later will make it flat a bit.

Once the liquid is boiling, add in the bee hoon. Let it cook until almost all liquid is gone. Then start stirring until it's dry and start sticking to the wok. You can continue to fry until it's completely dried up or could dish it up as it is.

Best served with loads of sambal belacan on the side.


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + beehoon

My Recent Whirlwind Trip to Penang

As I was chatting with the organisers of my recent whirlwind trip to Penang, I found out from them where they have booked the hotel that we stayed in. Apparently HotelsCombined gave them a good deal in terms of pricing and was able to entertained the requests of the organisers.

It's not an easy feat to handle the booking of rooms of 12 families with the various requests on combination of rooms and beds arrangement but they managed to do it.

I've check out HotelsCombined myself and the prices looked pretty attractive as we might be going to Penang again and I'm impressed that it also covers hotels from a lot of cities round the world!!! The best part is the search facility where it searches the best travel sites and displays the best prices at once and from there you can find the cheapest price. Wonderful isn't it instead of trawling a few sites to do the same thing?

Hopefully I would be able to meet up with the Penang floggers this time round!

Red Beans & Lotus Seeds Tong Shui (Sweet Soup)

Red Bean Soup (hoong dau shui) forms a part of Chinese's snack or dessert staple. Every Chinese household would have their mothers or grandmothers cooking a big pot of this to be enjoyed as snack or dessert especially when they're frying a batch of bee hoon (zhau mai fun, rice vermicelli). They also tend to appear in parties and yes, you would see the big tray of zhau mai fun on the table too!

Red Bean Soup is Capt'n Hook's favourite tong shui (sweet), simple but yet yummilicious. I've done Red & Kidney Beans Sweet Soup and Cream of Red Bean (hoong dau sar). Here's another version of Red Bean Soup. This version contains lotus seeds.

To make this, prepare dried lotus seeds by soaking them in warm water until the seeds got rehydrated. Proceed to split the seeds and remove the yellowish greenish stems as these stems will caused the seeds to taste bitter. Once done, you can boil or steam them till soften and set aside.

In the meantime, wash the red beans until water runs clear, remember to rub them in between your two palms as the beans can be rather dirty. You can soak the beans in warm water for about 20 mins but it's fine if you don't.

Boil the red beans in a large pot, uncovered (unless your pot is very tall else the content will spill), with about 2 times water of the height of the beans with low heat. Keep checking, add more hot water if it dries out too much. Once the red bean turned soft, add more hot water until your desired consistency, we liked ours half water, half beans proportion. Proceed to add in some brown rock sugar (or you can use normal sugar) and some washed and drained sago pearls. I loved my Red Bean Soup with sago pearls as it thicken and smooten the soup texture. Add in the lotus seeds. Let it come to a slow boil and cook until the sago pearls turn clear. Turn off the heat and serve Red Bean Soup hot or chilled.

We loved this soup by dunking in yau char kwai (Chinese crullers) or soak the yau char kwai pieces inside the hot sweet soup. Good enough as an afternoon snack or at times for our breakie.

BTW, anyone tried making this using a pressure cooker? I tried a couple of times but both times I have the beans spilling out of the errrr watchacalldatthingamagik (valve??) and I could see reddish smoke coming out there too!


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + red bean soup

Review: Tokyo Seafood Restaurant

**Non-Halal**


My uncle and family whom have migrated to Canada came back for a visit. He tried to come to this Tokyo Seafood Restaurant but couldn't find his way here. After asking my another uncle, he decided to bring him here, of course I got invited along as well :p

We used to come here for their signature fresh water prawn dish and their oh so huge frogs (the body alone is bigger than my palm)!!! Somehow with the amount of new places popped up, Tokyo somehow sunked into our forgotten radar. I was really looking forward to this visit!

When we arrived there on a weekday, I was very surprised to see it empty! I remember this place usually packed to the brim. My uncle was wondering too cos he said usually it's packed. He said lunch time is super packed.

Since my uncle was hosting, he sort of like ordered almost all their signature dishes. Too much dishes and the portion was way too much. They should have proportion them according to the number of dishes ordered. Anyway, we still dugged in with gusto.

Salad Tofu (if not mistaken this is the right name) is deep fried white tofu, topped with julienned turnips and cucumber drizzled with a sweet sticky chili sauce ermm almost like the Thai sweet chili sauce. The final sprinkling of chopped peanuts finished the dish. The tofu is absolutely crispy on the outside but soft and smooth on the inside. The sauce and vegetables strips complimented well.



This simple deep fried fish with soy sauce was nice but the fish is a little over fried.



Next we have clams (lala) done kum hiong style. I wasn't impressed with this but the lala that came was rather big in size.



This kangkungsweet potato shoots (thanks to Mimi hahaha my bad) fried with belachan doesn't pack a punch at all and the kangkung were kinda limp.



We have this plate of brinjals which is one of the signature dish. It was good but by the time this came I was quite stuffed so didn't eat much.



Pork is a must for big family feast, hence we have the pork knuckle ala German. No doubt the skin is crispy but I feel its a bit over fried that the meat part is a little dry. The sauce that came was pretty tasty.



Next we have this dao bao (made of soy bean sheets) cooked with yue piew (fish maw). The dao bao absorbed the flavour of the sauce which made this dish rather good.



Now the star of the dishes is this signature fresh water prawns. The prawns were huge and meaty, very fresh too! There were something like crispy nai yau (buttery) bits but it doesn't taste like butter. I tasted something Chinese herby on them but I can't pinpoint so I asked the boss when he came by. Ohh so the secret ingredient was superior quality dong kwai (angelica)!!! These powdered dong kwai are sprinkled over during cooking, no wonder it tasted kinda special. This is a must order dish in Tokyo, if you don't believe, check what Julian had here.



No frog dish that night as there is no stock. Overall, I felt there were hits and misses, perhaps they were cooking bigger portions to be separated into two tables of about 16 people. Not sure how much the bill came up too since uncle paid for it.

This place is nearby Restoran Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa. From Kepong/FRIM just go straight on until the traffic light junction of the bridge/flyover from Selayang, or from Jalan Ipoh, turn right at the bridge/flyover. Continue straight until roundabout and take 9 o'clock. It's a industrial area, just go on straight and you should be able to see the shophouses. Tokyo Seafood Restaurant is right at the corner lot.

Tokyo Seafood Restaurant
7456 Jalan 1,
Taman Selayang Baru,
68100 Batu Caves,
Selangor
Tel: (603) 6138 99312
Map here.


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

A Very Simple Fish Paste Noodles

There were times when I'm so lazy to put up something for my boiboi's meal, I would resort to simple Vit's dried noodles. A plain fragrant noodle served with fried egg and some vegetables that I could rummage in the fridge would make him quite happy. When I'm not so lazy, he would have something lavish with prawns and mushrooms.

There was this time I had some fish paste which I bought from the wet market (it's so convenient these days huh?) in the freezer, so I just devised a really simple fish paste noodles which I could cook up very quickly but of course I had to defrost the fish paste way in advance.

Into the fish paste, I added some white pepper and mix them well. No salt is needed as they're already salty to begin with. Boil some water in a saucepan, this would be the soup stock. Once it's boiled, shape the fish paste into rounds or ovals using a spoon or two and add them into the saucepan. Let it come to a boil and season it with salt and white pepper. You may add some soy sauce if you wish. I find that I don't have to use ikan bilis nor chicken stock for this as the fish paste is enough to flavour the stock with some natural sweetness. Add in vegetables, in this occassion, I have carrots and french beans. Drizzle in some garlic or shallots oil. Turn off fire once the vegetables are cooked.

In a separate saucepan, cook the Vit's dried noodles. Drain and dish up the noodles when done. Pour the soup base into the noodles together with fish paste and vegetables. Serve hot.



Easy peasy but I guess still packed with some nutrients.


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + noodles

Whirlwind Durian Makan Trip to Penang

It's durian season and a few weeks back, we followed a car club convoy to Penang for a durian buffet on a Sat and came back the next day. Well, it's not really so much for the durians but it was fun to join the fabulous people in the club in a well managed convoy complete with all the GPS coordinates for all the intended stops.

There was a stomach pit stop in Pun Chun at Bidor mid morning which I still find the food really over-rated. I shouldn't have eaten here, really spoilt my appetite for my Penang lunch... grrrr! BTW, if you intended to stop over here and park near the market, please do go find a place to buy the scratch and park tickets cos almost the whole jing gang got a lovely piece of surprise from the Majlis Daerah Tapah on their wind windscreen!



We stopped by at Batu Lanchang market to have lunch but I was still full from the breakie so only Capt'n Hook and boiboi have their lunch. Penang is soooo hot and hazy that weekend, it's no fun when I was under the weather. We stopped by Ghee Hiang and followed by Him Heang for those who wanted to grab the local confectioneries.



Checked into the hotel and refreshed ourselves before our trip to Bukit Genting Hill Leisure Park & Restaurant for a sunset dinner. This is one long drive, almost an hour from Tanjung Bungah snaking up the hill. We were like country pumpkins (sua koos) ooos and ahhhings over the amount of durians and rambutans from the foothill till hilltop which is owned by the same management. Some of the boys slowed their car to steal pluck the rambutans.

The road up is rather narrow and kinda steep at some places but once we reached the top, it's totally an entire world altogether. There were a lot of cars parked around the restaurant area already and the whole place is abuzz with activities. Lots of structures and platforms were built around the restaurant for you to enjoy the view out towards Straits of Malacca. There's only one thing though, a lot of animals and trunk shaped statues and fountains were made out of cement and fiberglass which kinda make it rather gawky but what the heck, the children loves them to the bits posing around them. Well, not only children actually, adults too were busy having their photos taken.



Everyone were captivated by the view and sunset but it was very hazy that day hence the pics didn't turn out great, actually more like this noob doesn't know how to set the camera properly :p Anyway, we ordered the set dinner that was worth RM248 (I think) for 10 that came with rice and drinks of air mata kuching. We waited very very long for our food to arrive, almost an hour and everyone were very restless as the place we sat (under the dome roof) is very very hot. It's better to sit out in the open air if it's not raining. The dome roof contained the heat and there isn't any fan to ease the flow, plus with this kinda roof, we were practically listening to conversation from the next table hehe.

We were famished by the time the food arrived! I lost count of the food serve but we have seafood tom yum (super hot), claypot glass noodle prawns (this is good), mixed vegetables, cucumber salad, green curry (good), thai style fish, fried rice, hot plate prawns and squid (very very good) etc. There were only few good items, the rest were mediocre only and majority of them were very hot. Our main grouses were the food came too slow!

We went back straight to the hotel, knocked out almost immediately after our shower but some of the guys went off for more food for supper!

The next morning we headed to Balik Pulau which is almost another hour drive up and down the hills. We reached Bao Sheng Durian Farm. The whole gang went into a frenzy savouring the durians that Mr Chang (owner) opens. The buffet was not RM25 as stated in the website but I think it was around RM45 which you can have the red prawns, holo (gourd), eu bak (pork lard) etc but as usual we suspect there's a tactic cos they kept opening the I dunno what variety, make you fill up first before opening their best. Since I was coughing and having a bad throat, I did not partake in this buffet. Sighhhh the sight and smell...



However, I was urged to try the eu bak as one of them said it left a numbing sensation in his mouth, so I tried a couple and beneath the pale colour of the fat layer of a good siew yuk lies a very creamy, slight bitterish flesh. Oh yummsss and it did left a slight numbing sensation. Later on we found out that only very very fresh durians that dropped less than an hour will cause this sensation. Mr Chang said this is the kinda taste they would look for when eating durians.



We lingered quite many hours here and even went on a insightful tour of the farm. I learnt a lot about durians that day. We went back to the hotel to refreshed ourselves before getting home. It was a tiresome trip but we all have loads of fun. Interestingly we didn't really get to enjoy the real Penang food, perhaps next time. Looking forward to more trips to come ;-)


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + penang food + durian

Happy 11th Anniversary

Make a Smilebox greeting

Love is all the little things that make a moment special and a lifetime happy.

Happy Anniversary, Guys!

Dedicated to Mr & Mrs Tengster, Cyrene & Matt and Dr Chen and sweetheart:

Wishing you many more

happy years to share

when each day
finds you closer together

and even more in love.

Happy Anniversary!

Review: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen

**Halal**


I must be the last of the floggers to blog about this place :p in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. Together with Miss Sweet 16, we went to check out Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen some time back, yeah I know very back cos in between, we have been to Shang Palace and Rama V already and I've yet to write about this one :p

Anyway, we decided to try the fried chicken and fish even though they have various other stuff like fried shrimp, rice and sandwiches. We've gotten the set that came with a biscuit, coleslaw and mash potatoes.



We asked for both mild and spicy for our 2 pieces chicken set. We both decided that the spicy one tasted better even though well, it's not that spicy. The mild was kinda disappointing as the flavours were concentrated on the outer skin.



I loved the fried catfish though. The fish were fresh and tender amist the crispy coating surrounding it. Funny I have to ask them for the tartare sauce. Don't these fish automatically to be served with tartare sauce?



The coleslaw is pretty normal but I kinda like the mash as it came with Cajun style gravy which tasted almost like a chili. However, the biscuit is really smashing! It's fluffy almost like my scones except this is savoury. Miss Sweet 16 and I loved the crumbly and buttery biscuits a lot.

My verdict is, for fast food fried chicken... I'll stick to KFC but I'll definitely come here for the fried fish and biscuits. Hmmm I think would be great to bring my boiboi here for some fish since he's not a big fan of fish, wonder what's his reaction and comment would be :p

Oh yeah, whilst I was washing my hands at the sink, there were some plastic drawers on the console next to it. One of them was labelled "spork". I was telling Miss Sweet 16 and we were both wondering was there a typo or what until our food was brought to our table. Amist our food, there's this utensil...



Spork or no spork??? Hahahaha... spoon + fork = spork!

Sorry no prices since Miss Sweet 16 paid for the meal. Thank you Miss Sweet 16 :D

Noticed we did not have any desserts? We went off to Namaste which is located on the row just behind of Popeyes to have some Chai. I liked the Chai here as it's not sickly sweet with a hint of spices. Thinking of trying the food here some day, well, have to wait till I say bye bye to my cough.


Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 7710 1198


Technorati Tags: poultry + fish