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

Peanut Butter and Nutella Cupcake

I just can't help it but took an extreme interest in Rita's (of Mochachocolata - Rita) recipe of Peanut Butter and Nutella Cupcake when I read the recipe that does not contain any butter and uses olive oil instead and using very little egg!



And so I did the cupcakes and they're absolute divine!!! The texture of the cake is more steam like. However, the colour of cupcakes do not look as good as Rita's, it's very very pale. Based on my baking experience, cakes that use very little oil will not yield a golden colour but I'm not complaining as they still tasted great especially the goey PB and nutella fillings.

Peanut Butter and Nutella Cupcake

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp peanut butter (and more for filling)
2 tbsp nutella (and more for filling)
1 egg white (I added the yolk in)
1/4 cup olive oil
a dash of vanilla
2/3 cup plain yoghurt

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl, except peanut butter and nutella. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mix a bit, add peanut butter and nutella, whisk until just combined. Pour batter into muffin tray lined with paper cups half way, spoon a bit of peanut butter and nutella in the middle, top off with more batter until 3/4 full, bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Recipe from Mochachocolata - Rita

Tecnorati tags: cupcake + peanut butter + nutella

Congratulations BestFoodJunction.com

Last Thurday, I was contemplating with Jay's invite to the grand launch of BestFoodJunction.com for I was coughing my lungs out for more than a week. The coughs were so forceful that they bruised my throat badly and rendered me almost voiceless. A first for me indeed to have lost my voice. Anyway, I decided to take up the invite and I have no regrets even though it was tough for me not being able to carry a conversation out.

I was late as the traffic in the city was horrendous but I caught another jam around The Curve, geee... which was bad. After registering, I looked around and saw no familiar faces. So I tried some of the food around then I saw Simon across the room. Can't miss this cutie in his bright red shirt! He's so famous that he was actually here in between another event at The Laundry!!!

Then... jeng jeng jeng, I thot I saw someone very familiar, yes yes yes, it's Su of Delectable. I was very happy indeed, it's my first time seeing the Queen of sugarcraft :p Funny how I actually got to know her when I invited her to partipate Merdeka Open House 2006: Recipe Long Forgotten and she submitted her Kampar Chicken Biscuits entry. From there I see how she paved her way to make her dreams came true with the opening of Delectable. You go girl!

Ermmm July is looming, should I host another round of Merdeka Open House???

Shortly later I said Hi to The Nomad Gourmand and she in turn introduced me to Pure Glutton!!! Wow, I was indeed very very happy to have attended this event. Later on Rachel turned up as well. Oh yeah I forgot Tim was there and he introduced me to his lovely wife.

I also finally met the people behind BestFoodJunction.com who is no stranger to me. A couple of my articles were featured in the printed magazine. Do check out the mag at major bookstores. Not only that, BestFoodJunction.com has a portal on restaurants and reviews PLUS you can click click to reserve tables at the participating restaurants and earn some vouchers along the way. Ahhhh... the wonders of technology!!!

Congratulations to BestFoodJunction.com on your grand launch!

p.s. Sorry no pics cos first I was late and then I was busy covering my mouth with a piece of tissue almost the whole time :p

Review: Breakie at La Bodega Deli

Back when I was young, Sunday is always a treat for us as Dad will bring us out for breakie. Breakfast at Yut Kee would have been a great treat as other times kopitiam that serves good chu cheung fun, char koay teow, pork ball noodles or wantan meen would make us jump too.

However kids these days are far more privileged just like my boiboi. His daddy takes him to Old Town Kopitiam whenever he fancies some french toasts or at times a place that serves big breakfast when the maid mummy is not cooking up any yummy breakie.



This time we went to La Bodega Deli for some BIG breakfast. We were a little late for breakie but it's all right since big breakfast is served all day here. Daddy and mummy both have a portion of BIG breakfast with juice and coffee/tea thrown in for RM27++ each (RM22++ without the drinks). Boiboi wasn't interested to share with mummy after he saw the words waffles + ice-cream (RM18++) in the menu. I can't blame him... who could resist warm waffles topped with cold ice-cream???



Our big breakfast came with beef bacon, breakfast sausages, fried mushrooms, half a grilled tomato, baked beans, a slice of toast and eggs done in our choice, scrambled for me and bullseye for Capt'n Hook. Can't fault them as everything was done just as they should especially my scrambled eggs. When my plate reaches the table, my boiboi couldn't resist asking to share some of mine *roll eyes*. I think he ate virtually 3/4 of my eggs, half of my toast and all the sausages plus my juice.





When the waffles came, my boiboi only took a bit of the waffles but ate almost all of the ice-cream. So ended up the mummy and daddy doing the Alam Flora bit as usual. The waffles were crisp on the outside but fluffy on the inside... tastes just as good plain or like us with some honey drizzled all over since boiboi ate up all the ice-cream which came in a single scoop only to go with 4 slices of waffles.



This is the kinda deli we would love to kick off our shoes on a lazy Sunday morning with excellent and attentive service from the wait staff. If only they're nearer home... sighhhh.

La Bodega Deli charges 10% for service charge and 5% goverment tax.


La Bodega Deli
18 Jalan Telawi 2
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 2287 9468
Opening hours: 8am - 10pm (Mon - Sun)


Technorati Tags: breakfast

Review: Restoran Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa

**Non-Halal**


It piqued my interest when my friend Pat mentioned that he went to this place somewhere in Kepong that serves a variety of dishes from one single fish. Last week we decided to go dinner together with CES and we asked Pat to bring us to this place which is actually in Selayang not Kepong. It's rather easy to find, from Kepong/FRIM just go straight on until the traffic light junction of the bridge/flyover from Selayang. Continue straight until roundabout. Take 12 o'clock and you'll see a row of hawkers on your left. Slow down and look for a left turn. Turn left and you should find the Restoran Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa on your left. It's actually part of the hawker row not in a proper shop lot.



We arrived rather late that night so no patrons were in sight, so we have Mr Moon (the owner cum chef) full attention. He showed us the fishes available from the ice-boxes that comes fresh everyday. As they were sea fishes, you won't be able to pick them live from a tank. The price could be on the high side depending on the type of fish you pick, so please do check first before ordering.



These are the fishes we spotted on the menu book but again not all are available.

Mr Moon was rather honest and just recommended us this hoong joe yue (red snapper) which is the right size for the 3 of us. Since it was a rather small fish we only get to have "2 cooks" meaning one fish to be cooked into 2 dishes. We let Pat to decide what to do with our snapper and he also ordered a prawn dish. Mr Moon keep assuring us that he doesn't use MSG in his cooking which we think it's very good as the natural freshness of the seafood can be tasted.



We browsed the menu book which is full of photos, many of them repeated or pictured differently. It recommends the kinda dishes you could order from one single fish and of course their specialties. I can't help but notice there were "ratings" like 1 cook, 2 cooks or 3 cooks. Upon enquiry, Mr Moon said it's rated by a team from Astro which Chui Ling was amongst them which you can see their pics plastered all over the place. Apparently, 1 cook is supposedly have the highest marks given.

I was captivated by this dish... Iced Mango Fish. From the pic, the deep fried fish was rested on a bed of mango cubes and topped with ice-cream??? When I asked Pat, he just smiled!!!



We waited almost 30 mins for our first dish to arrive, yes it's pretty long cos it's a steamed porridge (rice congee). Mr Moon advised us to call and order this in advance to avoid waiting that long. Part of our snapper including the bones were used in this dish, topped with an egg with a sprinkling of kei chi (goji berries) and served on top of a portable gas stove to keep the porridge warm.



Thumbs up were given for this porridge from all of us. The porridge is extra smooth, very different from normal boiled porridge. The natural sweetness of the fish can be tasted here with a tinge of Chinese wine. Fantastic! Pat mentioned that the previous time, he have prawns added in which made the porridge even sweeter.



We asked for a prawn each after Mr Moon indicated that they're rather huge and he turned them into Cheese Honey style. The prawns I have to say are absolutely firm and fresh however, there is hardly any cheese detected. Most probably melted into the sweet and sourish gravy. The prawns were fresh but the sauce were mediocre.



The last dish that came, errrm sort of like threw me and CES off a bit. So Pat did ordered the Iced Mango Fish afterall!



Due to our minuscule sized fish, the fish slices were thinly sliced, coated lightly with sesame seeds and deep fried. The fish slices were placed on the sides of a bed of mango and papaya cubes plus some canned rambutans with pureed mango at the bottom of the plate. In the centre were a myriad of ice-cream scoops of different flavours, yes, you read me... ice-cream!!! Finished off with a cherry as topper :P



Mr Moon was there to guide us to eat this... place the fish and mango inside the mouth then followed by some ice-cream. I can't really described the feelings... it's a pretty different experience for someone who eats french fries dipped into soft ice-cream. Like CES' comment, "I think my mouth is kinda confused now"... yeah I could relate to this. It's kinda confused to my system to decide if this is part of my mains or was it dessert already??? It was fun though trying something out of the norm.

The prawn dish costed us RM21 whilst the 2 fish dishes came up to RM52.80. Tea and ice all round up our bill to RM81.30 which seems reasonable. Oh yeah this place do accept credit cards, so I can imagine those huge exotic fishes could cost an arm and a leg. I was told it gets very busy here on weekends so a reservation is a must as tables are limited.

There are other dishes as well like tofu soup, steamed fish, tung por yuk (one day advance notice required) and etc. Looks like I'll have to come again to check the rest out but for that night, the star was definitely the steam porridge! Gosh I'm drooling now.



Restoran Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa
Taman Selayang Segar
Lot 59-61 Jalan Besar Segar 1
68100 Batu Caves
Tel: 6016 268 8559 or 6012 605 1168
Coordinates: N 03° 15.093' E 101° 39.563'

Beef, Onions & Peas Quiche

Using the same recipe as Mini Cheese & Spinach Quiche, I sub the cheese and spinach with sliced beef, onions and peas. I browned the onion first before tossing in beef slices marinaded with soy sauce, a dash of worchestershire sauce, a bit of cornflour and pepper. Stirred quickly and added the peas. Season with some salt and black pepper. Dish up and cool down before placing them evenly over the pastry. Pour in egg and milk concoction and bake.

You can use frozen shortcrust pastry or make your own. I made mine this round. If you need the recipe, just leave a note in the comment and I'll post up the recipe.


Technorati tags: quiche

Please Help Baby Kai Xin

This morning, my colleague passed me today's copy of Sin Chew Jit Poh. On the front page of Metro Edition section featured my friends', Eric Loke and Lee Huey Jing, plight of their baby girl Loke Kai Xin. The following are the scanned copies of the article (please click to expand the copy):







I've a copy of the original email which I've summarised together (in English) with the latest update that I've gotten from Eric this morning.

Their daughter Loke Kai Xin was diagnosed with biliary atresia at 3 months old and a Kasai procedure was done in February then. Unfortunately, the procedure did not cure her condition and was advised liver transplant as her last and only option.

Due to her weight, she was advised by University of Malaya Specialist Centre (UMSC) to seek medical help from Singapore. After the first round of pre-assessment at National University Hospital S’pore (NUH), Eric's liver artery is too short and narrow if the surgeon cut out the left lobe of the liver. Although there is no risk for Eric but it will lead to future complication and the result will not be good for Kai Xin. Huey Jing went thru all major pre-assessment and found to be a favourable donor prior to the rest of the assessments to be done at a later date.

At the moment, Kai Xin's current weight is 7.2 kg inclusive of water in her tummy and they need to get Kai Xin to gain her weight to 8kg before the liver transplant team can arrange the date to have the transplant done. Kai Xin is staying in UMSC as they need to use a feeding pump to feed her gradually during the night (less milk volume but increased feeding frequency) plus maintaining her health level to be as good as possible.

The total cost including post-operations and follow up expected to be at the region of RM500k (liver transplant and pre-assessment SGD200k, post ops, follow ups etc) or more due to her age. This amount is just too high for them to bear in full moreover they've spent more than RM50k up till now for Kai Xin's medical expenses; therefore they are appealing for help. As of last week, the figure had barely touched 10% of the amount needed. Hopefully with their plight highlighted in Sin Chew Jit Poh, the desired amount can be met.

A fund has been set-up for Kai Xin with following bank account details. For those who are keen, kindly deposit your donations (cash or cheque) in favour of:

Name: Loke Kai Xin
Maybank Berhad A/C No.: 1-14013-213313

Note: If you're using Maybank2U/ATM, you'll see Lee Huey Jing displayed instead.

May the compassion of Lord Buddha cure all illnesses that is afflicting Loke Kai Xin, and may she has a speedy recovery, long and healthy life!