Wendy's Flagship Restaurant Grand Opening @ Suria KLCC

We were invited to the grand opening of Wendy's flagship restaurant at Suria KLCC last Friday morning. We were debating whether to attend or not and gave it a go since Wendy's did gave Capt'n Hook and I some kind of childhood memories that we have back in the 80s when we patronised the then Wendy's located at Masjid India area. The vision of burger and fries served in baskets came back to me.

The ceremony opened by a short speech by Mr Eric Leong, Director of Wen Berjaya Sdn Bhd (the master franchise owner in Malaysia which is a subsidiary of Berjaya Group). He mentioned that the new flagship restaurant carried an ultra modern design and furnishing and this new design will be slowly introduced to the rest of the Wendy's outlets. We were told that Wendy's burgers were made-to-order to ensure quality and freshness, the values held by the founder, Dave Thomas. Not only that, customers would be able to customised their orders accordingly.



Later on, Mr John Pain, Vice President & Managing Director of Asia Pacific & EMEA, The Wendy's Company introduced us the short history of Wendy's which you can read here. He emphasised that even though Wendy's is a quick service restaurant but the food is made fresh upon order. Each day the lettuce and tomatoes are cut right at the outlet kitchen because they taste better when they're fresh and they do not come pre-cut from a central kitchen.



He mentioned that Wendy's is America's favourite which is confirmed by Zagat in their 2012 restaurant guide. Well, being naturally curious, I did a search and yes indeed... Wendy's is listed number 3!

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

And so with the partnership with Wen Berjaya, the latest and largest Wendy's in Malaysia is located right at Suria KLCC which also boast the first international looking outlet.



I had a look around and they have a variety of sitting combinations ranging from the normal height tables and chairs, they have stools, high top tables and counters. We were told wi-fi is available too for free and best of all they have multiple power points for your mobiles or laptops that are running out of "juice".



As for the menu, we usually go for beef burgers and Chili is a must of course which BoiBoi have learnt to like it. This time round, I've tried a Spicy Chicken Sensation Burger and I'm surprised to bite onto strands of chicken fibers. Eric informed us that they only use chicken fillets of either thighs or breasts and NOT minced chicken patties. BoiBoi mentioned that his Dave's Hot 'N Juicy is really juicy as it claimed.

John behind the grill

The dessert menu springs a surprise to me with the usage of Frosty (their soft serve ice cream) in cones, floats and shakes. While there is no official website in Malaysia but there is a Facebook page where information and promotions are dispensed. Rest assure you that Eric had vowed to ensure customer service and quality of food from Wendy's will be his top order of the day.



Wendy's Suria KLCC is located over at LC-C02, Concourse Level, Ramlee Mall (turn left when you see Haagen Daz). The other 10 outlets are located at Sunway Pyramid, IOI Mall Puchong, Jaya One, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Mont' Kiara, Giant Kota Damansara, Berjaya Times Square, AEON Rawang & AEON Ipoh Station 18.

Thank you Haridas of Softpillow Mollycoddle & Co for the invite and John, Eric and Esther for having us over.

Review: Eat N' Run @ Tropicana City Mall

**Pork Free**


Capt'n Hook had a lunch appointment with his class mate (which he bumped into recently after many many years) at Tropicana City Mall, Petaling Jaya. Since it was school holidays, BoiBoi and I tagged along. We noticed before this that the eateries here tend to be pretty busy during lunch hours, hence I made BoiBoi to have lunch early. Both of us loitered around at the basement floor where there are many small eateries. We ended up picking Eat N' Run, a very bright yellow, white and red eye catching fast food outlet. It's usually full but because it was just past noon, we managed to grab a table at the outside.



Menu is very simple here with choices of either deep fried chicken chop or fish served with butter rice or spaghetti; a sauce and a side dish for RM8.90. Add another RM1.00 for a drink. There is a small list of snacks here that are all deep fried stuff like fries, nuggets, calamari etc stuffs that I generally stay away.

After you have decided either chicken or fish and butter rice or garlic pasta; you move on to pick one sauce out of the 6 available sauces - Eat N' Run Special, Black Pepper, Mushroom, Hainanese, Spicy Thai and Mayonnaise. Next you choose one side dish from 3 options - coleslaw, baked beans with scrambled eggs and pickled vegetables. Easy peasy!

BoiBoi picked his choice of chicken chop with butter rice, black pepper sauce and baked beans with scrambled eggs plus an ice peach tea. Seriously, I wonder how he finished that huge bowl of rice, in fact he whacked the entire plate till it's empty. I tasted the rice which is quite all right with just a light hint of butter so it's not that "jelak". The black pepper sauce is rather mild too in case you wonder if it's too hot for you.



Since I'm not a big fan of rice, I opted for garlic spaghetti with my chicken chop, mushroom sauce and coleslaw plus an ice lemon tea. I find the the medium sized chicken leg had a greasy and thick egg-flour batter coating which I dislike as the exterior is crispy but the interior got soggy when it steamed up inside. I removed much of the batter but BoiBoi "stole" them all tsk tsk tsk! The spaghetti as expected was pre-cooked, hence they're dry and cold. I had to pour the mushroom sauce on the spaghetti to counter the dryness.





For RM8.90, I think it's a value-for-money meal as one piece of chicken leg is around RM5 but rather unhealthy as it's deep fried food. I guess once in a while should be ok. Plus point is, they food does arrive pretty quick, living up to their name!


Eat N' Run
LG 25 Lower Ground Floor
Tropicana City Mall
No 3 Jalan SS20/27

47400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: (+603) 7729 2297

Review: Ninja Joe (Pork Burger)

**Non-Halal**




Let's start the year with something porky. It's just some fast food in the form of burgers, nothing fancy but these pork burgers by Ninja Joe really rocked our bellies. They have been around for a while, just that we never get to blog about it earlier since almost every non-Muslims in the blogsphere have written about this joint.

Their set ups are pretty simple and seriously this is a home grown brand even though banging on a ermm Japanese theme and they're not a foreign franchise. Even their menu is quite basic with just 3 types of pork burgers to choose from which is great so that people who are indecisive can quickly make up their mind :p, a few side orders and a small selection of drinks and ice cream.

The basic burger is named Ninja that is just pork burger patty on a split bun with tomato slice and lettuce. The specialty is the choices of sauces available ranging from original, oriental, teriyaki, spicy, black pepper and sweet & sour. The Ninja is rather small in size, for myself, one Ninja would be sufficient but for Capt'n Hook... he can go between 2 to 3 Ninjas. I supposed it must be due to it's sheer size, the pricing comes in either solo, 2, 3 or 6 with the price of RM5.50, RM9.90, RM12.90 and RM29.90 respectively. So far I've sticked with either original or teriyaki sauce which both were great with the pork burger. Not very sloppy but good enough.



Even our BoiBoi likes one and he does not go for the normal ones aka Ninjas. He has such a good taste bud that he tends to order The Big Boss or Brucely. Now, I'm beginning to wonder aloud as in what would "The Big Boss" or "Brucely" have got to do with ninjas or joes? (Note that "The Big Boss" and "Brucely" sounded like a reference to Bruce Lee, perhaps the owner is a big fan of Bruce Lee Xiao Long!)

The Big Boss (RM8.50) has pork patty, a fried egg, onion slices, lettuce and tomato slice in between buns. You can opt to add bacon for RM1 and cheese for RM1. For BoiBoi, he usually would ask for both! I think he's on a grow spurt these days. I'm cringing that he may get taller than me by the end of the year for now his head had reached the top of my ear!!! That means I've to get new sets of trousers for him *sobs*



Then there's the Brucely (RM9.90) which I quite like too, the difference is instead of pork patty, this burger has a slice of pork chop, tomato slice and lettuce. Again one can opt for the extra bacon and cheese with the addition of RM1 each. Even though it's a piece of pork chop, rest assure that it's very tender and juicy. Sorry no pic on this one cos I can't find it :p

For all pork burger orders, just pay an extra of RM3.90 for the set that would include a cold drink and fries or RM4.90 for Zing Soda and fries. We didn't quite like the thick fries so we usually do not take the sets. I've asked for Zing Soda once which you can see in the first pic, I think that was an orange flavour. Just the usual soda with added orange syrup for flavour. The thing I like is I could actually get green tea to go with these lovely pork burgers.

I've ordered one of the sides, a Shuriken (5 pieces for RM4.90). I was given a number plate as they need to fry them up upon order. Even arrived piping hot, these potato and pork croquettes are really disappointing. The texture is mushy and very oily. After that one experience, we just couldn't be bothered with the fries and sides and straight hit the pork burgers.



I'm so glad that there are more Ninja Joe branches these days with the latest being opened in 1 Utama. Other than that it can be found at Tropicana City Mall, Sunway Pyramid and The Gardens. Our only gripe is The Gardens outlet does not have a wash basin to wash our hands before and after a burger or two. Not very convenient as we need to wait for everyone to finish up before heading towards the washroom to wash our hands. Thank goodness there's one at Tropicana City Mall and I think Sunway has it too but I can't really recall. We haven't been to the one at 1 Utama and I really do hope they have one install in this outlet due to convenience and hygiene reason.


Ninja Joe's Branches:

• LG-233, The Gardens Mall (Mid Valley)
• LG-113, 1 Utama Shopping Mall
• First floor, F1.93-95 Sunway Pyramid (Next to TGIF)
• LG-18, Tropicana City Mall

Opens Mon - Sun 10.00am - 10.00pm

Review: Darabif Burgers @ Wisma Cosway

We were in Wisma Cosway during ramadhan and Capt'n Hook saw this spanking new Darabif Burgers right at the highly visibility corner of Jalan Raja Chulan and Jalan Pinang. It was four in the afternoon and he decided to have a "snack" of burger *roll eyes* after looking at the buntings. See the power of delicious looking photos!



Darabif is not new to me as I've seen their frozen products like sausages and burgers in the supermarket and now they have this modern looking burger joint right in the middle of the city.



He opted for the Malaysian Moo set which is essentially a beef burger with an egg wrap, topped with a slice of cheese and shredded cabbage. I think there's a squeeze of an orangey sauce too. The RM8.88 set came with fries and coleslaw and a cup of soft drink.



I took a couple of bites and I have to say it's not too shabby but I can't pinpoint the certain lack of oomph that we generally get from the street burger stalls. Perhaps it's not sloppy enough hehe... the fries are all right too but seriously the lump of coleslaw not only look unappetising but tasted one too. The cabbage and carrot tasted dry and lifeless that we left them untouched after a teeny bite.





While Capt'n Hook was devouring his burger, I attacked the ABC (Air Batu Campur ) with Durian (RM3.95), a shaved ice concoction with jelly, red bean, sweet corn etc drizzled with syrup. As I dig in slowly by the sides instead of mixing everything up, I find something is not right about it. I asked Capt'n Hook to try some and he seems to agree with me. There's something sourish in there. As I try the elements one by one... ahhhh then I found the culprit - the durian puree!



The durian puree has turned bad definitely. I brought it to the counter and told the staff to stop serving the durian ABC as it has turn bad. The guy gave me this puzzled look and he took the bowl into the kitchen. From my seat, I saw the entire crew crowding around the bowl of ABC, not sure what went on there (I did not expect them to taste the durian puree since it's fasting month) but seriously there is no single word of apology right from the time I returned the bowl of ABC to the point we left. Again not being petty here, not only they did not apologise, there was no offer of replacement or anything like that. A simple word of 'sorry' would suffice and replacement to us is not necessary but could have been sweet.

Sighhhh, our country is seriously lacking in the service department just like our experience in The Cream & Fudge Factory. We can have the world class food but having a third class service ethics would certainly mar the experience no matter how great the food is! It's time for the service industry to buck up!


Darabif Burgers
Wisma Cosway
LOT G13, G14 & G16, Ground Floor, Wisma Cosway,
N0 88, Jalan Raja Chulan,
50200 Kuala Lumpur

Review: A&W's Root Beer Float & Waffles

If not mistaken, A&W Restaurant is the first fast food outlet in Malaysia. The first being at Batu Road (now known as Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman) which is still standing until today. This is the outlet my parents used to bring us for our dose of coney dogs, root beer in frosty glass mug and soft serve ice cream that came in a paper cup. Gosh I still remember the ice cream and the frosty mug! You can read more here.

I guess when you mention A&W, these few items will come to your mind "root beer", "coney dog", "waffle" and "Taman Jaya drive-in"! So much so that the url for Malaysia is http://www.rootbeer.com.my/!!! LOL

We haven't been to an A&W for a long long while, not sure why but it just doesn't appeal to us anymore when there are so many choices around. We so happen to pass by one outlet at Ikano Power Centre and Capt'n Hook said "Come, let's grab a root beer float". That is too after seeing the root beer served in glass mug :p We were aghast that some outlets uses paper cups for their root beer cos it's just not the same drinking from a frosted glass mug! (Before ordering, we usually check with them if they're serving their root beer in glass mug or paper cups.)



On top of the large root beer float with double scoop vanilla ice cream (RM4.90) we have a waffle with double scoop ice cream (RM6.70).



While the root beer float still holds but seriously the waffle we ingested gave us wasted bad calories. The waffle texture is totally different. It's no longer crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It's a soggy mess and the inside is not well cooked. This is entirely a bad waffle! I remember having one at Taman Jaya sometime last year and it's quite similar as this :( How sad! I think we will just stick with the root beer.



Prices shown above are before tax.


A&W Restaurants
Click here for outlets

Korean Instant Noodle + Cheese + Egg and Potato Crisps, Sounds Insane?

It's Monday and the 1st day for the 11th month of the year! How time flies!!!

I'm having a little Monday blues now looking the amount of work I need to tackle grrrrr... anyway back to today's blog title... I know it sounded incredulous but the combination of Korean Instant Noodle + Cheese + Egg and Potato Crisps is absolutely delish.

I first read about this at Rita's blog, I did thought it's kinda ridiculous but not until the second person, Celine, proclaimed that this is yummy that I gave second thoughts about this combination. One afternoon, I felt like indulging on something naughty, hence I made a bowl of this noodles. Both Rita and Celine have used Shin Ramyun, the spicy noodles but since I've ran out I've used Nongshim potato flavoured one (non-spicy) instead.

What one need to do is cook the noodles accordingly, once it's almost cooked chuck in a slice of cheddar cheese. Pour in one lightly beaten egg and according to Rita, stir in the egg which meant to thicken the soup. Once done, pour into a serving bowl and topped with potato chips. I have some extra chopped spring onions in the fridge so they're on top as well.



I have no regret after my first slurp LOL... the soup is creamy, coupled with springy noodles and crispy chips; like Celine had mentioned; it's wacky but delicious. I cleaned my bowl till I can see my reflection on the shiny bowl bottom :p

Do give this wacky combination a try, well if you're brave enough :D

Papa, Mama and Baby Bears' Cheese Burgers

*chuckle*

Duhhh my BoiBoi insisted on having McDonald's after school last Friday even though we have wanted to eat char siu rice but being a "Yar Sei Hau" papa, Capt'n Hook obliged and swing in to McDonald's instead.

While we were browsing at the menu board, there's this Triple Cheese Burger promotion on. So the Papa Bear ordered that one. Baby Bear decided to have a Kiddie's treat of Cheese Burger. Since they're on a cheese burger roll, the Mama Bear will have the Double Cheese Burger then LOL

This is Baby Bear's Cheese Burger. He likes this all cause it has cheese in it!



Mama Bear's Double Cheese Burger. Luckily for the cheese slices otherwise the patty, well as usual, is dry.



Papa Bear's Triple Cheese Burger. No comment.



Again, when you look at the menu and the promotions on telly and their web... there's always the disclaimer - Products shown are for illustration purposes only. Need I say more??? :p

Review: McDonald's Limited Time Only GCB

By now, you would have been bombarded by the latest blitz of McDonald's advertisement about their just-launched-yesterday GCB which is actually Great-tasting Chicken Burger! I'm not sure about you but when my colleague, A, showed me the advert on their facebook page I was captivated by the thick and fat juicy burger with loads of fresh lettuce and dripping sauce in between the sesame seeds bun. Can't wait so I arranged to try this for lunch today.

Based on the adverts... this burger is supposed to have GRILLED whole chicken thigh, GORGEOUS iceberg lettuce, GLORIOUS char-grilled sauce within GOLDEN sesame seeds bun!





This is how GRILLED, GORGEOUS, GLORIOUS and GOLDEN got interpreted in real...









Here are more... comparison in size and visual.





Looked kinda pathetic isn't it??? Sighhh we always get suckered into their beautiful ads but yet still die die want to try a bite! Despite errrmmm the shortcomings but I have to say GCB is really delicious. Both my colleagues said the same too. The chicken thigh is not really the entire whole thigh, perhaps just a thin piece from a thigh, marinaded battered and grilled. I liked how it's grilled to retain the juiciness. The flavours were great but a tad high on MSG level since we have to keep on downing water to satisfy our thirst when we were back in the office.

It's not cheap either... burger alone on ala-carte is RM8 and the Medium set which includes a pack of fries and aerated drink will cost you RM11.90 excluding the 5% Government tax. Could have cut down the price by just offering the burger in waxed paper without the paper box. Totally NOT environmentally friendly at all!

Sighhh guess what? We're going again for some GCB next week hahaha we're born suckers, aren't we??!!! Hahaha

Review: Ina Sambal Udang Pan Mee Goreng

I got this pack of Ina Sambal Udang Pan Mee Goreng by Yugatrade at Jusco. I like Ina's pan meen and yee meen so decided to try this sambal udang version. I can't remember how much but it's a mixed pack of 5 different flavours.



Inside the packet, it contained the dried noodles, a packet of dehydrated vegetables, a pack of dark soy sauce, a pack of seasoning and a pack of sambal udang.



Cooked the noodles according to instructions and poured in all the ingredients.




Mixed them up and voila... dinner!



Easy peasy. This tasted ok only, perhaps not enough sambal udang. I shall stick with the soupy pan meen which tasted like the real thing especially the ikan bilis soup. The yee meen soup tasted exactly like claypot yee meen, just remember to crack in an egg!

McD's Prosperity Beef Burger is Back!

Just a quick community message, if you're fan of black pepper sauce coated beef patty on a bed of raw onion in between sesame seeds buns, it's time to hit the I'm Lovin' It place :D



McD's Prosperity Beef Burger is back! It's sooo satisfying to sink in to one ;-)



Wished the Twister Fries is a permanent item on the menu though!



Oh yeah, it was just too fantastic that this is available for McValue Lunch for only RM9.95, 12 - 3pm everyday! *skipping and hopping to McD*

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

Review: McDonald's Double Prosperity Burger

Every year towards Chinese New Year, I tend to look forward to go to McDonald's just for one thing... their Prosperity Burger, the beef version. The chicken version doesn't go well with the black pepper sauce in my book. It's only December but the Prosperity season has started cos Chinese New Year is only about a month and a +/- half away!!!

Well, technically I didn't eat this Double Prosperity Burger since I doubt I could finish the whole thing plus I was recovering from a long bout of food poisoning last week. So thanks to Miss Sweet 16 (pssst still 16 ka??? hahahaha...) for posing :p and allowing me to disturb her after some bites of the said burger.



I've eaten the single portion and I have to say I'm lovin' it!!! The juicy beef patty smoothered with black pepper sauce topped with raw sliced onions on sesame seeds bun... very delish indeed but the sauce is HOT stuff! So if you can't stomach hot and spicy food, you might need to skip this. I'm sure Miss Sweet 16 had double the enjoyment chomping on the double amount of beef patties and Prosperity black pepper sauce!!!

BTW, the Twister fries that came with the set is really kick ass! They're absolutely crispy and crunchy till the last bite. Wish they could have this permanently in their menu. Capt'n Hook had the Orange Dream McFlurry but he said it wasn't good which was echoed by a friend. However, I still loved the Orange McFizz.

Oh yeah... I would like to mention the prices here. Tell me what do you think ok? The Prosperity Burger alone is RM8.88 and the regular set is I think RM13.88. The Double version, burger only RM14.88 and the regular set is a whopping RM18.88!!! RM20.00 for one meal at McDonald's and that's excluding dessert!!!!!!


Technorati Tags: mcdonald's