Review: Restoran Good Friends Express, Genting Highlands

**Non-Halal**

In between our rides at the theme park, we hurried off for a quick dinner instead of going to our regular place. Not so sure what to have we decided to head over to Highlands Hotel to check out the eating places since hubby didn't want to walk so far to First World. Found this Restoran Good Friends Express since I didn't want to wait and order dishes from the restaurant under the same name next door.

This Good Friends Express is a self-service fast food restaurant ala Chinese. All you need to do is place your order and pay at the cashier. Then you move down the line to collect your order. The menu is not super extensive but good enough to satisfy everyone in the family if they do not want to eat the same dishes. There are noodles, rice and porridge (congee) accompanied with roast chicken, roast duck, bbq pork (char siew), roast pork (siew yuk), dumplings (sui kow), or wanton. Also in the offering are sizzling noodles, porridge and etc.

I've asked for the Pork Rib Rice (RM12.00) which came like this...

I had as shocked when I look at it hahaha... look darn pathetic huh? I dug the ribs a bit and had a taste. Hey, not bad actually!!! I must remind myself not to judge a book by its cover. The ribs are steamed with fermented yellow bean sauce and fermented black bean with bits of tomatoes in there. The slight tang from the tomatoes lend a nice flavour to the ribs.

Boiboi had a bowl of Wanton Soup (RM8.00). Nothing spectacular here cos the daddy actually ordered the wrong thing for him. I've asked him to get Dumplings Soup, well... anyway he ate them up but can't finish since his heart longed to get back to the theme park ASAP.

The daddy gotten himself Claypot Chicken Rice (RM14.00) which took 10 mins to cook up. I didn't try any but he said its edible, nothing great.

I checked around the neighbouring patrons, seems like their fresh noodles (sang meen) in dry style looked good and smell like any delicious wanton mee in town. I won't say the food is fantastic cos it's expected in such kind of place but it's great for something quick. Quite pricey too. By the way, order of noodles and rice will come with a drink which I think it's not too bad.


Restoran Good Friends Express
Level 2, Highlands Hotel
Tel: 603-6101 1118
Operation Hours: 6.30am - 11.00pm (extended to 1.45am on Saturdays)


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Review: Pastries from Yik Kee Restaurant

**Non-Halal**

Last weekend I had to FFK the JFKA session cos we decided to drive up the hill for some, well I won't say it's relaxing, perhaps... fun? Hubby and I were happy cos boiboi said he was super duper happy. I'm sure he does but seriously it's not that fun anymore, for me at least, going round and round on children rides... quite harrowing when you have a crazy little terrorist that spin the bloody teacup in detrimental speed!!! We were glad to see him smiling ear-to-ear bumping around in the children bumper car ride. He did that 3 rounds before we dragged him away for dinner (more on that later). Being the kiasu parent, we maximised our money by going for more rides after out dinner since the park opens till 10.00pm these days, making sure we don't picked those that can churn our tummy and say hello to the trash can at the end of the ride. Boy, I was glad that there wasn't that many people at the park after 7.00pm. We practically occupied most of the rides all by ourselves! Shiok hahaha... no queue and don't even need to get our butt off and the attendants willingly set another round for us. So I guess that must be the tip to avoid crowds plus the admission is cheaper after 7.00pm.

Anyway, this post is not about the park definitely, this is a food blog afterall hehe. Most times on our way up to Genting Highlands, we will drop by at Yik Kee at Gohtong Jaya to grab some pastries. Our first visit to Yik Kee, aeons ago was on our way to Cherating in the little Karak town. That was when we tasted our very first durian tart, fell in love with them over and over again. The proprietor's son had informed us that the durian used are from their own durian orchard and they are of D24 variety. You can get durian tarts 365 days here cos they freeze their supplies for the pastries.

Last weekend, we were surprised to see a soft-served ice-cream machine up front of the shop. There were 2 flavours available, chocolate and of course durian. My boiboi opted for chocolate which is good and hubby of course got the durian one. I forgot how much but the durian alone is RM2.40 which came in a huge blob on top of the cone unlike the tiny little blob at Ikea's. I have to say the durian ice-cream is very very yummy, full of REAL durian flavour. Much better than New Zealand Ice-cream's Durian Flo!!! You can opt to have a mixture of the 2 flavours.

The star attraction are of course these babies... durian tarts.

Please excuse for the cracks hahaha the result of swinging and swaying going up the hill. The custard is incredibily creamy and rich with durian flesh. I didn't like the pastry though, it's of the shortcrust kind and I can taste the margarine in them. If I can have my way, I would have just scoop out the durian custard and eat them like it is but I won't of course as it's sinful to waste food :p I've tasted Happy Meal version but still I find Yik Kee's better.

Had wanted to try the durian bombs but so far haven't got the chance. They're always sold out! No durian cake available either. Got a kaya swiss roll instead which I had always liked. The cake texture is finer than Yut Kee's and looks better too but Yut Kee won in terms of fragrant for cake.

I remember Miss Sweet 16 had told me many times that Yik Kee is famous for their siew bao (baked bun) but not sure why we never bothered with them. Karak is her dad's hometown, so she should know better huh??? I gotten a couple each of the chicken (with sesame seeds topping) and pork siew baos. Hubby had the pork one there and then... aiks the pastry is too thick and has very little filling. I tried one chicken siew bao in the car which had very thick pastry as well but I have to say the filling was tasty.

Are you drooling over the durian tarts? With 2 branches in the Klang Valley, you need not go Karak nor Gohtong Jaya for them. Head over to their PJ or TTDI branch to check them out. However, please call them first cos I was told the TTDI branch doesn't have these tarts but have durian pancake instead, not sure what's the latest happening.

Yik Kee Restaurant
HQ:
29 Jalan Besar
28600 Karak
Pahang
Tel: 609-231 1240

Gohtong Jaya Branch:
22 & 23 Jalan Jati 1
Gohtong Jaya
69000 Genting Highlands
Pahang
Tel: 603-6100 3240

Restaurant Sri Karak, Petaling Jaya Branch
17 Jalan 52/8
Section 52
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 603-7958 3240

Taman Tun Dr Ismail Branch
(Sorry, I've tried to search for the addy but couldn't find but managed to get the coordinates haha, so you gotta whip out your GPS! If not mistaken it's behind Shakey's.)
Location: N3.142092 E101.629692


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + durian

Review: Restoran Makanan Laut Mushroom Farm, Genting Highlands Round 2

**Non-Halal Posting**

As I've mentioned before, this Restoran Makanan Laut Mushroom Farm is my hubby's fave whenever we go to Genting Highland. He's also not sure why he likes it here since he's not really a foodie. Well, maybe because of the friendly service and the food.

Anyway, we started off with a plate of Kangkung Belacan (RM6.00). Hubby always order this vegetable stir fried in belacan since he's really hopeless when it come to ordering dai chow (big stir fry) dishes. See the pattern or not?? This Kangkung Belacan was a bit too salty for me since I have a bland diet.



Next, we ordered a Claypot Tofu (RM10.00) which is rather nice. What I liked was it came with a few variety of vegetables ranging from capsicum, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, snowpeas and mushrooms.



Now, the star dish of the day has to be Buttered Tilapia (fei chau) Fish (RM32.00) served with Thai sweet chilli sauce. It's a must have here. See how this dish is presented...



Both sides of the flesh are removed, the remainder of the fish from head, bones to tail is floured and deep fried till crispy and left to stand in the middle of the plate. The fish fillets are deep fried then cooked buttered style with loads of egg white strands, and placed on both sides of the fish body. Utmost delicious when eaten hot where the fillets are crispy on the outside and the inner flesh remained slighly flaky. When left too cold, you can start to feel the oil oozing out from the egg strands. So, you'll need to eat this up quickly. My boiboi simply loves this since its crunchy and fragrant. He usually don't eat fish cos I think he ate too much of them when he was much younger.

All in all with a pot of tea with 2 plates of rice, it costed us RM53.00. Pretty reasonable I would say. So next time when you go to Genting Highland, do drop by this restaurant and give them a try. Remember ok, its the restaurant on your right as you walk inside.

Err one word of advice, try not to visit the toilet, well not that it's dirty but it's extremely smelly from I don't know what source, maybe from the rotting base where they plant the mushrooms. Strangely you can't smell it from outside at the restaurant or retail area but only inside the toilet. So please hold your bladder if you can. Don't say I don't inform you ok! LOL...

I'll be off on Monday, so I'm not sure if there will be any update here or not, but I'll try update our inaugural Food Blogger Gathering tonight at KLUE's RSVP event in Sandias. Can't wait to meet my fellow foodies!

Mushroom Farm Restaurant
Genting Highland Mushroom Farm
Tel: 603-6101 2864
Business Hours: 7.00am - 9.30pm

There is a branch in Gohtong Jaya as stated in the business card.
50 Jalan Jati 1,
Gohtong Jaya,
69000 Genting Highland,
Pahang
Tel: 603-6100 5388
Business Hours: 6.00am - 9.30pm


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + genting highland

Restoran Makanan Laut Mushroom Farm, Genting Highlands

**This is a non-halal review!!!**

This is one of my hubby's fave place when we go to Genting Highland. Genting Highland is a resort located about 45 minutes drive away from KL. It's a popular place for the old and young. The old will go to casino for you know what... whilst the young love its theme park. This is the only place in Malaysia that has got a licensed casino operating in the country. Otherwise, gambling is illegal in this country!

Ok back to this place, I never knew its name until I really took note of it recently for the sake of this blog haha, yes hehee... How to get to this place?? Just follow the signboards in Genting that says "Mushroom Farm". It's really a place where they plant or rather farm mushrooms. You can take a visit inside one of those dark and musky rooms where they culture the mushrooms. You can buy fresh vegetables, mushroom and some souvenirs here.

There are two restaurants here, this one is located on the right as you enter the restaurant area. The reason hubby liked this place is the friendly staff and reasonabily priced food. However, one must know what to order cos not all dishes turn out nice.

First up that came was Salted Fish Pork Meat (Harm Yue Far Larm Poe). Thank goodness the meat was not too fatty. However, this dish lack of salted fish. No ummpphhh, so disappointing lerrr.



Next up was Fried KangKung Belacan*. This one is nice. The KangKung is fresh and crunchy just the way we liked it. Fellow blogger, Reid, managed to stir fry some recently.



Next up was my fave... Three Mushrooms Stir Fry with Beancurd Sheet (Dao Karn and not foo chuk). I always have the knack for this soy bean product. Its like layered beancurd sheets, the texture is slightly chewy. My last count of the type of fresh mushrooms used was like 4 and not 3 hahaha... lets see, oyster mushroom, enoki mushroom (also known as golden needle in Cantonese), shiitake mushroom and straw mushroom!!! It's basically fried in oyster sauce. We finished up everything!



Well this is an additional order that was not supposed to be ordered. This Pig Stomach in Hot Pepper Soup came from a separate stall selling Bak Kut Teh. Hubby ordered that and I was blinking at him as far as I'm concerned I think we've over ordered!!! Fancy eating all these and there were just the two of us excluding my boiboi??? Urrrghhh... anyway, it came piping hot in a claypot. It has pig's stomach and white snow fungus. The taste is simply not peppery enough - doesn't have the ummmpphhh factor!! So sad...



I can't recalled how much we've paid for this meal but it was reasonable. Should be less than RM50 with 2 bowls of white rice and a teapot of Chinese tea. Should have stick with the drunken chicken soup, steamed fish and prawns! Nevermind, there is always a next time...



* Belacan - Fishermen catch the shrimps, drain them of water, salt them immediately, then dry them on huge metal beds placed on low stilts. The salt and decaying shrimps will eventually combine into a semi-solid tightly compacted pulp. The pulp is then pressed through a mill and passed out as thread-like paste. The process is then reversed when the paste is repacked into sacks for a second round of fermentation. The fermentation process is repeated once more before full maturity occurs. The final product is chopped into bricks, resembling blocks of butter. The mark of the producer is lightly etched on top of each block with a name press brushed with vegetable oil. Family members then wrap the blocks, first with grease proof paper, followed by a plastic sheet then finally the outer wrap bearing the name of the product and manufacturer.

Belacan is used in countless local dishes: sambal belacan (de rigueur as a dip accompanying most Malaysian foods), laksa, belacan fried chicken, sambal tumis, fried cincaru, satay sauce and yummy rojak.

Selangor Hotels
Title: Selangor Hotels
URL: http://www.hoteltravel.com/malaysia/selangor/hotels.htm