My Favourite Noodles Stall - Sisters Noodles @ Jalan Alor

**Non-Halal**


I've been frequenting Sisters Noodles for around 20 years and it's strange that I've never blogged about them :p no no it's not that I want to protect my fave noodles stall from being over crowded, just that I never have the opportunity to take nice pics to justify the deliciousness. My family has been following Madam Yong and her sister up and down Jalan Alor as they move to different coffee shops for almost every Sunday at one point. Her sister has since retired and Madam Yong's son is taking over the spot now. They are currently located in the same block as Wong Ah Wah Restaurant but at the opposite end. I remember the coffee shop used to be One To One but recently has its name changed and instead of white signboard, it's yellow in colour now and sorry the name just escaped me.

Their specialty are rice wine noodles with lots of ginger and black fungus strips and you have the usual choice of chicken but they have frogs, fish, prawns, pork meat up till innards like liver, kidney, fallopian tube (sang cheung), stomach, intestines etc. Due to the flexibility in choosing your options, hence the pricing also depends on that. I can't remember how much but it's from RM6 upwards. Do opt to add an extra fried egg if you have really huge appetite! I find the rice wine broth has the right balance these days but if you really want a stronger version, do tell Madam Yong and she'll step up the amount of rice wine for the extra kick! I have ex-colleagues who do that and ended up having flushed cheeks after lunch kekeke remember to bring along extra tissue papers ya to mop up your sweat.



I took a foodie friend here recently and she absolutely loved this as she had never have rice wine broth served with noodles. We also shared a bowl of Curry Laksa. I'm not kidding you with the generous amount of ingredients served alongside with the noodles, just look at the pic! Aside from chicken pieces, we have long beans, brinjals, tau foo pok, deep fried pork rinds, and of course my must have of fresh blood cockles! The curry laksa gravy is lightly thickened with coconut milk and midly fragrant with spices.



Aside from these two items, I have the chance of tasting their Assam Laksa back in those days. Loved the punch of sourness but sad to say they don't serve this anymore. However, you can try wantan noodles or pork noodles which are great as well but I just can't say no to rice wine chicken noodles nor curry laksa each time I'm here.

If wish you cook Chicken Rice Wine, I have the recipe here.


Sisters Noodles
31 Jalan Alor, off Jalan Bukit Bintang
50200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS Coordinates: N 3 8.74301 E 101 42.50303
Opens from morning till lunch. Closed on Mondays

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.



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.



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.



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.





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

Review: Standard Chartered Bank's Extravagant 8 at Gu Yue Tien Restaurant

**Non-Halal**


We received this invitation by Bald Eagle (Tim) via Lyrical Lemongrass to review Standard Chartered Bank's Extravagant 8 menu at Gu Yue Tien Restaurant. This promotion runs from 20th January till 17th February 2011 specially designed for Standard Chartered credit card holders to usher in the lunar new year. The best chefs from the top 8 Chinese restaurants in the Klang Valley have prepared very special Extravagant 8 menus priced at RM888++ for a table of 8 pax. Diners will receive fortune cookies at the end of these special meals.

Note that this promotion is associated with the number 8 where it symbolises "fatt" or in English - prosperity in Chinese for a prosperous dining experience ushering the year of Rabbit. The 8 participating restaurants are:

1. Li Yen, Ritz Carlton Hotel
2. Shanghai, JW Marriort Hotel
3. Celestial Court, Sheraton Imperial Hotel
4. Tai Zi Heen, Prince Hotel
5. Zing, Grand Millennium Hotel
6. Gu Yue Tien Restaurant
7. Elegant Inn Restaurant
8. Chynna, Hilton KL

We have been hearing raves reviews on Gu Yue Tien's Chef Frankie Woo but somehow never got to the restaurant to give it a try. Chef Frankie was shuttling between the kitchen and our tables, describing on the dishes, on how he started and all. He come as a very very humble person even though he is considered one of the successful chef in Malaysia. Started working as a mechanic at a tender age of 13 before moving on to a coffee shop at 14. With sheer determination and ambition, he finally became a chef at 23! 

We started off with a Chinese New Year "must have" dish -  Norwegian Salmon Yee Sang. As expected, we can never expect to get the norm here. 

Totally a new style of yee sang


The trio of oil, crushed peanut & sesame seeds and fruity sauce

Since Chef Frankie advocates eating healthy, he created this yee sang using fresh thick slices of Norwegian salmon, green and purple coral lettuces (from Genting Highland he says), Californian golden raisins, pear, pomelo sacs, topped with thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves and crunchy lam yue (red fermented beancurd) crackers. 

Ready to be tossed 

After the trio of oil, crushed peanut & sesame seeds and a fruity sauce made of strawberries, we tossed our way to good health and prosperity. I loved the strawberries in the sauce, it really brings out the salad.

After tossing

When done, we waited in anticipation for the Soft Boiled Egg with Foie Gras! This dish was created to represent Asia in a charity event for James Beard Foundation.

The soft boiled egg with the top part of the shell cut off, drained off the egg white and in its place, a foie gras sauce is poured in. How brilliant! The delicate and creamy yolk paired with the delicious sauce, this is definitely Heavenly for egg lovers. I can see that all of us are egg lovers at the table as I see everyone savouring the concoction with their eyes closed enjoying every moment of it. 

I'm so glad when told none of the participating restaurants will be serving shark fins. 2 thumbs up for Standard Chartered. Our Assorted Seafood Soup came abundant with FRESH seafood like prawns, crabs and scallops, none of those artificial crabsticks! Now this is what I called a real seafood soup. There are also addition of dried scallops and soft silky tofu. This thick soup is not starchy at all and lightly tinged orange due to the roe in it. Vinegar is provided but seriously I think it will ruin the soup rather than compliment it. 

The next dish was really the highlight of the evening. I heard whisperings of "Iberico", "pai kuat", and "pork" as we go thru our dishes. 

The Salt Baked Spanish Iberico Pork Ribs was served whole but of course, it was sliced, yes sliced not chopped, as it was soooo tender!

Instinct does come naturally as none of us bothered with the fork and knife provided. All of us were not shy to use our fingers and start chewing and licking the ribs. The meat fall off the bone effortlessly. Seriously, one of the best ribs done this way I have ever tasted. The salt marinade was just perfect. There were fewer people on the other table and were glad that they passed over the remainder. Not to be wasted, such great ribs.

Next up was Steamed Giant Garoupa with Minced Ginger &Yellow Bean Paste. Not knowing giant garoupa is lung dunn, the silly me asked Chef Frankie how come this fish is not served whole. His eyes turned round and big when he replied me *blush blush*. It was then he told me it's lung dunn, very huge. The one served to us was 36kg (my BoiBoi is 38kg now)!!! This one fish he mentioned can serve 25 tables = 250 people!!! Anyway, the best part in this fish is the skin :p gelatinous and crunchy. 

We took a break when the Steamed Glutinous Rice with Fresh Water Prawn & Wax Meat was served for a photo moment with Bald Eagle (Tim) and Chef Frankie. There was a saying "Never Trust a Skinny Cook" but this skinny cook is one hell of a creative cook whom you can trust! 

Jeng jeng jeng... the plate is virtually filled with huge fresh water prawns. Aly's eyes were dancing looking at them :p

Just check, there's a lotus leaf layer at the bottom filled with a thin layer of plain glutinous rice. In the middle lies the various wax meat of lap yuk (wax pork belly), lap cheung (Chinese sausage), yoon cheung (liver sausage) and lap ngap (wax duck). On the outer ring, you can see the huge fresh water prawns. 

As we lifted the prawns off, the glutinous rice was marked with the reddish oil from the shell and roe. Wow! I was the last to scoop my portion and that was when Chef Frankie came in. He told me that I ought to mix the rice and wax meat all up before scooping. Not sure what the others have missed out but my portion certainly was so flavourful from the wax meat and also the reddish prawn drippings.

I was glad we are down to our desserts as I was really bursting to the brim already. We have individual servings of Chilled Mango Cream with Pomelo. I liked this version which is very light and not sickly sweet. Chef Frankie's version of Pan Fried Nian Gao (a steamed sticky glutinous rice cake) has black and white sesame seeds on them which made the nian gao very fragrant. 

To sum up, this was really a memorable Chinese New Year dinner. The menu was not only extravagant but it was certainly of value for money for the kind of ingredients and quality given at Gu Yue Tien Restaurant. If you're a Standard Chartered credit card holders, don't wait ok, better hurry and book a table! 

Thank you Tim and Standard Chartered Bank for the lovely evening.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna show you how a pro-food blogger work :p LOL

Check what others have said about this Extravagant 8 menu:

iamthewitch

Aly's Wonderland
KYSpeaks

Gu Yue Tien Restaurant
Lot B5A Chulan Square
92 Jalan Raja Chulan

50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-2148 0808 

Opening hours:
Lunch: 11:30am - 2:30pm (Daily)
Dinner: 6:30pm - 10:30pm (Daily)





I'm submitting this for Muhibbah Malaysian Monday blog event. This event is the brainchild of  Shaz (Test With A Skewer) and Suresh (3 Hungry Tummies). Read more here.

Review: Kim Gary Restaurant

**Non-Halal**


We were at Sungai Wang Plaza (SWP) one evening, can't recall why but these days there are hardly any good food outlets here. Anyway Capt'n Hook decided to find a place to have dinner here before heading home. I guess the safest bet is to have something familiar and that we have tried before and taddaaaa it's Kim Gary Restaurant hahahaha... wow I still remember my ex-colleague, Jas, was raving to us about this restaurant when it first opened in Malaysia and it was located in SWP!

It has been quite a number of years since we last step into a Kim Gary Restaurant which has sinced mushroomed all over Malaysia. The outlet in SWP had undergone a renovation. Seems to be still popular amongst youngsters. Flipping through the thick menu, the contents are a far cry from those days. There are loads of choices and of late, there's even Western food like sizzling steaks!

As usual Capt'n Hook stick to his Cheese Baked Rice with Chicken Chop (RM17.90 per set) and he opted for the set that came with a soup, a drink which he chose Honey Lemon and a dessert. Not sure what's with these HK style restaurants, they served the dessert first even before our drinks arrived!!! We took one bite each and decided to leave it alone as it's really bland... not sure what kinda pudding is this.



There's soup which nothing to shout about. The baked rice took a while to arrive and it's quite standard. A layer of browned melted cheese over chicken chop served with fried rice. I guess really value for money.



As for myself, I tried something named Honey Pomelo Tea (RM3.90) and what I've gotten is actually Korean Honey Citron Tea.



I picked one of the smaller portion of food on the menu which is Macau Pork Chop Burger (RM6.90). Not authentic Macau Pork Bun as the pork chop has a film of sauce coating it with some mayonnaise and tomato and cucumber slices. At least this burger is juicy and tasty, best of all I could finish it up.



There are Service Charge 10% and Government Tax 5% but we have Jusco card which entitled to 5% discount. Our total bill came up to RM31.45.


Kim Gary Restaurant
Sungai Wang Plaza
Tel: +603 2144 8113
List of outlets

Review: Prego's Come As You Are, Eat As You Can Promotion

**No Pork Served**


We were at Westin last week and noticed this promotion of Prego pasted at the elevator door. Sounds pretty reasonable for an eat all you can pizza and pasta that comes with a soft drink going for RM40++ (5% Government tax and 10% service charge) per person. This promotion is on for the month of September and not valid with SPG membership or another other discounts.

There is a special menu of pizzas and pasta, plus desserts that you can order for this promotion. The pasta are served in small bowls to taste or larger bowls to share and pizzas came in 7" diameter if you wish to taste more, otherwise a regular sized to be served on a larger group. You can eat to your heart content sharing with your friends and family at the table. When I check it's website's menu, it seems that this promo was on in August but the selection of pizzas and pastas looked slightly different from the current month or maybe it's the same? I can't really remember heh :p

A large loaf of round crusty bread is served with a special tomato dip.



We have ordered the following pastas...

A Frutti de Mare which is mixed fresh seafood in tangy tomato sauce. Wow so much seafood in the small bowl of pasta and tossed in a light touch of olive oil.



This is a creamy Farfalle Prego Carbonara which have beef bacon, egg yolk, cream and parmesan that BoiBoi asked for. Just look how thick the sauce is, luckily it's only a small bowl. Capt'n Hook and I took a spoonful each and BoiBoi whacked the rest. This must be his favourite pasta that nite.



The Tagliatelle Guancia took quite a while to come. If I know this fresh flat egg pasta ribbons with red wine braised beef cheeks is sooooo delicious, I would have ordered a large portion! The braised beef cheeks melted in the mouth and tasted like Chinese canned stew pork meat, how not to be delish???



The pizzas were all crispy thin crusted baked in wood oven which I kept watching the Chef shoving in and out pizza after pizza in the open kitchen.

A must order is the Margherita which consists of tomato, oregano, mozzarella & basil. Simple but delectable.



Loved the Wow Suprema for it contained a whole lot of ingredients like pepperoni, turkey ham, gorgonzola, artichoke and kalamata olives. The toppings were so heavy hence it was kinda a feat to lift up a piece to bite on. Be ready to get messy!



BoiBoi specifically picked Napoletana, I've no idea why since it's his first time ordering this. He said he likes anchovies *roll eyes* must have been watching too much kiddies channels! On this pizza, the toppings were anchovies, capers, mozzarella, oregano with tomato sauce on the base. BoiBoi likes this but I find the anchovies a tad salty for my taste bud. Capt'n Hook who can tolerate salty food finds it ok.



Capricciosa has toppings of turkey ham, marinated bell pepper, mushrooms, chicken sausage and kalamata olives. This pizza is packed with loads of ingredients as well. Since I have a penchant for bell peppers, I find them a nice sweetish compliment to this pizza.



Next we have Sottobosco which is a mixed wild forest mushrooms, mozzarella, garlic and sage. I liked how the mushrooms were slightly charred which gave a rather robust flavour coupled with a hint of sage and garlic. Lovely!



By now we were quite stuffed but can't resist ordering the two dessert pizzas.

For nutella lovers like BoiBoi and I, Nutella e Pistacchio Pizza is pure heavenly for us! The hazelnut base spread has a sprinkling of roasted pistachio nuts. The only thing I wish there were more were pistachio!



BoiBoi specifically asked for Cioccolato Pizza which has dark chocolate sauce topped with diced fresh strawberries. Again, I wish they could use more of the strawberries and the chocolate sauce is too thin. Otherwise this dessert was just so so only. Stay away from this and get on with the gelato!



Woohoooo then we tried all the 6 flavours of gelato served that day.

The green tea has just a light hint of green tea flavour which should be good for those who doesn't like green tea. One of my friend who detest green tea told me they tasted like fish tank water! Hahaha...but I think she might find this ok. The creamy vanilla has some marshmallows on top which we got some in our scoop as we were there quite early. BoiBoi's favourite! Then we have the pistachio that I find ok.



The next batch, we have raspberry which is surprisingly quite light and not as rich as the 3 earlier. Maybe the tang helped to counter the creaminess. The chocolate one the best out of all! Capt'n Hook who is not a chocolate fan unless it has nuts gave full praises too. Each spoonful, not only rich dark chocolaty gelato envelopes our mouth but there we some crunchiness from the chocolate ribbons. Best! The next best for me is the strawberry as it contained chockful of strawberry chunks which lent a frozen fruity goodness to the gelato.



So what do you think of the eat all you can pizzas and pastas? I know we don't eat a lot but judging from the prices from the ala carte menu and the size of our tummy, we won't be able to taste so many varieties of pizzas and pastas in one go. What more with large creamy scoops of gelato thrown in!!! Would be great if there is huge bunch of us there :D


Prego at Westin Kuala Lumpur
Ground Floor, 199, Jalan Bukit Bintang

55100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: (+603) 2731 8333

Opening Hours:

Mon - Sat: Lunch and Dinner

Sunday: 6.00pm to 10.30pm

Review: Ramen Ton Chan

**Non-Halal**




Does Ton Chan rang a bell to you?? Yes, there used to be one outlet over at The Curve but it has shut. I've been there but the food and service were both terrible. Not sure what went wrong over there when the fact that Ramen Ton Chan had stood strong over the years at Wisma Cosway just like it's sister restaurant, Tosaya.



Ton Chan is a simple no fuss restaurant. It's clean and well patronise by the Japanese community. Their specialty is ramen but of course they have other items as well. They made their own ramen using pure ingredients without any preservatives hence their ramen are bouncier, firmer and chewier. They have reasonable price set lunches and dinner. Lunch hours are usually packed with office workers around here.

On that evening we were there, there was this special set dinner which consisted of a bowl of braised pork ramen, assorted sashimi, a side salad, 2 slices of watermelon and a dessert of tutti fruiti ice-cream (no pics). This set was priced at RM25 but since I requested for fresh ramen, an extra RM1 was charged which is fine with me. The texture of the ramen even after soaking in the hot soup was springy right till the last bite! The braised pork which the waitress said "khau yuk" in Cantonese tasted blissful with the right amount of fatty layers (not too much) in between the lean. I drank up the soup till nothing was left in the bowl heh and did not have any after effect of msg, no thirst at all which is superb!



There is a 10% service charge imposed.


Ramen Ton Chan
Lot 1.18-1.21, 1st Floor
Wisma Cosway
Jalan Raja Chulan
Tel: 603-2148 9389
Opening hours: Mon - Sat 12.00pm - 2.30pm; 6.00pm - 10.00pm
Closed on Sunday and Public Holiday

Technorati Tags: japanese food

Review: Restoran 3JC @ Plaza Low Yat

**Non-Halal**

Was in Plaza Low Yat after work sometime back helping someone to buy a digicam. Ended up looking for dinner here. Had wanted to eat my fave ccf but they were out of ccf already :( even though it was only 7pm!!! Grrrr...

Walked in vain and decided to try out this Restoran 3JC which serves the kinda pork ball noodles (sarm karn chong noodle) that I liked.

Capt'n Hook had 3JC in Curry (RM8.80) and Iced Honey Tea (RM3.80). The curry broth tasted good slightly thickish of the coconut milk. Don't mind ordering this next time.



I tried their 3JC in Sauce (RM7.90) which is their house specialty with handmade noodles. The taste is totally off from a normal sarm karn chong noodle. The soy sauce concoction for the kon lou (dry) version tasted salty which lack a hint of certain sweetness. The supposed handmade noodles are not bouncy as expected but the only good thing is they do not contain alkaline. The siew cheung (roasted sausage) needless to say was quite disappointing as well. The saving grace was the smooth and springy pork balls.

There is a 10% service charge over the prices.

Restoran 3JC
Lot LG30 Lower Ground Floor
Plaza Low Yat
Tel: 603-2145 4911


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + noodles