"Emergency/Rainy Days" Dishes

Not sure about you but during my childhood days, my mom would usually have some canned food and rice grains stashed up, she says... it's for rainy days or at times for emergency cases. Can't blame her when she have experienced 13th May incident.

Those days as I recalled there isn't much frozen food unlike now when it's so convenient to store ready-to-eat where one just heat up with a microwave oven. Just like her, in my larder I would usually have a can or two (err may not have all at the same time though) of the following stuff for rainy days when I did not manage to go to the market and too lazy to go out to eat.

Tuna Fish: I usually have both in spread or in brine. The spread is convenient for snacks and sandwiches. Can be toasted with some grated carrots and cheese. Jazzing up by topping a piece of toast with tuna spread with homemade tomato sauce (based on Marcella Hazan's recipe).

Baked Beans: I loved baked beans!!! Yes I really do. I liked mine cooked rather than straight out of the can. Can just simply stir fry with celery and carrots as a dip for English muffins or cooked with scrambled eggs (yikes how come I haven't posted on this??? Let me go find the photo first!). I've even tried braising pork ribs with it!

Corned Beef: This comes in handy too to stir up some quick snacks by using onions, capsicum, corns, eggs... the possibilities are endless.

Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans: Loved this with congee (rice porridge) but when fried with kai lan... can dress it up to another level!

Luncheon Meat: I hardly have these but once in a long long while I would get a can. Very handy to just slice and fry, at times lightly coated with egg dip. Most times it can turn into a delicious fried rice.

Preserved Olive Leaves: Great with congee (rice porridge) too. If you have some minced meat stashed up in your freezer, you could come out with more variety of dishes such as Minced Pork With Preserved Olive Leaves. Packed a punch too when use it to fry rice.

Sardines in Tomato Sauce: Before tuna fish came in with a bang in the 90s, sardines no doubt IS the only ever ingredients people ever use in their sandwiches for parties or picnics!!! I remember helping my aunties making them on many occasions. Chopped shallots or onions are a must into mashed sardines and just seasoned with a squeeze of lime before spreading on buttered white bread. Capt'n Hook introduced me to fry rice with sardines and seriously this is good stuff too!

One dish that I'm sure you can find it on your dinner table is sardines that are just simply stir fried with onions! This dish is so simple to cook up, all one need to do is fry sliced onions in oil till slightly soften, add in sardines (I liked to remove the bones and internals first) and stir, mash up a little along the way depending how chunky one like the sardines. Just need to season with a bit of lime juice or in this case I've used lemon juice. Simply served with hot rice or in between 2 slices of bread and it's good to go.

Well, of course there are eggs and frozen goodies but those are reserved for another time ;-)

NST's Life & Times Cover Story

Hello there! As if being listed together with the top food blogs in the world is not humbling enough, we would love to inform that we're being featured on the cover of NST's Life & Times section!!! And so... we're no longer anonymous :p

If you've found your way here via today's NST, welcome to Babe in the City - KL!


Do stay on and come back often for more goodies coming our way.

Happy Mother's Day

Review: Karl Biesl

**Non-Halal**

Updated 3 November 2011

This restaurant is closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Edited 10 May 2010: Added link of A Lil Fat Monkey


A few weeks back, I got an SMS by Pure Glutton inviting me for a review hosted by Karl's Biesl. I told her I ate at Karl's Biesl just the week before and the food was just so-so. I told her perhaps I had ordered the wrong thing so I decided to join her and a group of floggers for this review. Needless to mention, I have to say one ought to judge a restaurant by its signature dishes and restaurants should educate their staff on what to recommend to patrons heh!

The restaurant is rather big but yet cosy with the woody interior. Little did we know that there is a very nice mezzanine floor above, perfect for private functions.

At the start of our lunch, we were told Karl is the name of the owner, Karl Rathswohl and beisl means a bistro, beer house or a casual dining place. I searched the net for more info and stumbled upon this link and the explanation really summed up what Karl's Beisl is!!!

The word Beisl (or Beisel) is probably Jewish. It oroginates from the word Bajiss, which means house. Beisls, which evolved in the 18th Century are inns offering local specialities. The style of a Beisl is like trattoria in Italy or Kneipe in Germany.


The characteristics of a Beisl are the followings: measuring beverages, panelled walls, hooks for clothes on the wall, mobile partition walls, wooden tables, checked tablecloth, choice of food and beverages displayed on blackboard, spice rack on the table and marking the frequenters' tables. You can choose among Viennese specialities such as Tafelspitz (braised beef garnished with chips, chives sauce, spinache, horseradish and apple puree), Vanillierostbraten (roasted meat with garlic) and Schnitzel (fried meat). Besides the meat dishes soups are also very popular. The choice of beverages consits mainly of ales and porters and in most of the Beisls one can buy also the so called mixed beer (ale mixed with porter). As a dessert we recommend you the famouse apple strudel.


A stratum of Beisls developed in the past few years, which matches the quality restaurants. These inns offer their services at a higher quality. That means that they take aim at affluent Viennese citizens and tourists. Visiting such kind of an inn can equal a gastronomic trip.


Ref: Vienna Hotel Online

As it was a very hot day, we were offered Franziskaner weiss beer, a German beer. It was indeed very smooth and a great cooling agent. This is available on the tap here. Oh thank you to Ciki to model for us :p

OK, let's get straight on to the food served to us. We tried a Spinach Salad that came with red peppers and pork bacon strips (RM18). The baby spinach are from Australia which is sweet and crunchy. We loved the light cream based dressing which has just the right amount! I hate overly drenched salad. If you look close enough, you'll see cubes that resemble chu yau char (deep fried lard) but chu yau char they are not! LOL they're actually roasted potatoes which are crisp on the outside.



A Cold Platter (RM38 for 1 portion or RM70 for 2) was quickly cleaned up. Not surprising when it has serrano ham, chorizo, roasted pork belly, olives, cheeses, roasted red peppers, gherkins, sun dried tomatoes and baguette. The cheeses were superb especially the blue cheese (which I don't like cos it stinks :p) according to FatBoyBakes, Ciki and the Lil' Fat Monkey.



Then we have 2 types of soup - Cream of Forest Mushroom (RM18) and Cream of Roasted Garlic & Red Pepper (RM15). The mushroom soup is robust and not rich at all with cream but the red pepper soup is a real winner. It was the group favourite as the flavour was quite unexpected, ermmm where it looked a bit like laksa soup but the taste was refreshing with a light rosemary fragrance. My advice is try not to stick to the usual mushroom soup!



The mains started to arrive once we were done with the starters. The first was half a portion of Roasted Suckling Pig (whole at RM199 and half at RM110). This piglet have very crispy skin and a whole lot of succulent meat as compared to the fatty Chinese style's.

It's so delish that FBB couldn't resist gnawing on the whole thigh. Since I sat next to him, I could hear the crispy skin crackle under each bite.



The Roasted Suckling Pig served with steamed Cabbage (or you can opt for sauerkraut) and mashed potatoes. We have steamed cabbage and wow it has bits of pork bacon in there that made the cabbage very flavourful indeed. The mash was the creamy kind and not goey at all despite looking like one, perfect!



When the Farmer's Platter (RM95 standard portion 3 to 4 persons; big portion 6 to 8 person RM130) arrived, I can see everyone's eyes lit up. Can't help it when the plate is filled with Roasted Pork Knuckles, Pork Belly, Kasseler Ham, Bratwurst, Frankfurter Sausage and this platter is served with Steamed Cabbage/Sauerkraut. I personally like the bratwurst and sausage here. It was then revealed to us that they make their own sausages as they owned a smoke house!



Next, Double Rib Pork Chop (RM50) was served. It's such a huge serving! The chop is very thick and lean which made it a bit tough to chew on. I would love to have a little bit of fat on a chop.



Of all dishes, this Pork Wiener Schnitzel (RM38) is my favourite! Served with one of the best potato salad around (not just cos this is an invited review ok but it's really my honest opinion). The meat were flatted, seasoned and coated with flour, eggs and breadcrumbs before deep fried. The outside is crisp but the inside is ooooh soooo tender! This schnitzel was so good that Ciki and FBB just burst out singing My Favourite Thing (click to watch the video and listen to the song) from The Sound of Music (one of my fave movie that I've watched countless times). If you go to FBB's post, you'll understand why (pssst check the lyrics!).



A final meaty plate of Black Pepper Spare Ribs with Garlic Butter Rice With Pickled Veggies (RM60) came by which we were up to the brim. We savoured the tender ribs slowly. The fork tender ribs have juicy meat and not laden with sauce, the black pepper is not over powering at all.



Don't worry if you're not a babitarian (pork eater), you can opt for this Seafood Spaghetti With White Wine Sauce (RM30). A crowd winner even amongst the babitarian! The white wine brought out the sweetness of the seafood. There are huge prawns, scallops and mussels in there, value for money indeed.



Thank goodness the mains stopped here and out came the desserts. We have a Palatschinken (RM18) which is crepes with apricot jam served with a scoop of rum & raisin ice cream.



And of course a must have is Calvados Apple Strudel (RM20), a traditional Viennese strudel, a popular pastry in Austria. This strudel is a rolled layered pastry heavily stuffed with pieces of apples cooked in sugar and cinnamon with raisins. Since I liked cinnamon, this is absolutely lovely but if you don't you might find the cinnamon overpowering.



Karl's Biesl is located at Solaris Mon't Kiara or rather known as SohoKL which the host explained it meant Solaris Hot Spot! It's just besides Häagen-Dazs. I would like to thank Pure Glutton and her friend, the host, chef and staff of Karl's Biesl for the lovely afternoon.

Check what my fellow floggers have to say about this review:
Cumi dan Ciki
Kampung Boy City Gal
PureGlutton
My Story
Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Memoirs of a Chocoholic
a lil' fat monkey (new)


Karl's Beisl
Lot K-OG 13 & 14, SOHO KL
No. 2, Jalan Solaris,
Solaris Mon't Kiara
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (+603) 6204 0628
Operation Hours 12 noon till late daily
Lunch: 12 noon - 3 pm
Dinner: 6:30pm - 10.30pm (last order)
Bar Food: till midnight
Click here for map

50 Best Food Blogs for the Avid Traveler by Online Degree.Net

I got a surprised mail from Online Degree.Net earlier today and when I clicked on the link it brought me to 50 Best Food Blogs for the Avid Traveler. I read the list and woohooo Babe in the City - KL is listed under Asia & Middle East amongst EatingAsia, Nibble & Scribble and StickyRice! On top of these, we're also there together with delicious:days, Anthony Bourdain, The Traveler's Lunchbox, David Lebovitz, Chocolate & Zucchini, Grab Your Fork and a whole lot more!!!

Oh yeah... it does feel nice to self-pimp after such a long while heh :p

Review: Restoran Sang Kee (Yes, Again!)

**Non-Halal**


I can't help it but post this up quickly even though I have other impending posts cos I'm having a sudden craving for Sang Kee's Goe Low Yuk (Sweet and Sour Pork). As I've mentioned before Sang Kee's version is how goe low yuk should taste like where the pork pieces are not fatty and remained crispy even after cooking in the sweet and sour sauce.



We're having rice this round instead of sang har meen, so we ordered a Steamed Tofu with Fish Paste upon recommendation. Apparently, this dish was mentioned in Taste of Jason, sounds like a must order item. When it arrived, I was like thinking aloud "Aisay, my mom always cook this dish hahaha". In fact, I've cooked them as well, easy peasy, simple and nice.



We decided on Stir-fried Sweet Potato Leaves with Belachan after the captain rattling off the short list of vege available. Enough wok hei but not sambal belachan no ommpphh PLUS the stems are sooo fibrous indicating the vegetable is very matured! Took us so long to chew them up!



Actually these 3 dishes would be just nice for us but Capt'n Hook saw the waitress sending a plate of Foo Yoong Darn (omelette) to the next table and immediately beckoned for one as well!!! *roll eyes* Someone just ate with his eyes which is bad cos 2 of us definitely can't finish all these up! Sang Kee's version contained quite a number of prawns, char siu (I think), onions and lots of spring onion which gave it a very fragrant flavour. What I liked is the omelette is fluffy and crispy on the sides, not soaking in oil.



Since we were there on a weekday, service was quite good even though the dishes came a tad slower. I can't imagine what it is like on a weekend which I saw people commenting in Jason's site about bad and slow service. I guess have to avoid this place on weekends.

We've paid RM48.70 for the 4 dishes, one bowl of normal sized rice and one small bowl of rice plus a pot of Chinese tea.


Restoran Sang Kee
Off Jalan Hang Jebat
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 20785092
Opening hours: 11:00am-3:00pm; 5:00pm - 11:00pm
Coordinates: 3°8'36"N 101°41'57"E

Fried Bee Hoon With Dried Shrimps and Chives

When I was young, I remember tasting a very simple stir-fry bee hoon (rice vermicelli) that contained just bee hoon and dried shrimps. My mom just fried the bee hoon till they're dry and almost crispy, quite a feat I would say during pre-nonstick pan days.

I was helping my aunty to fry bee hoon few months back but she didn't have enough ingredients so to make the bee hoon "presentable", I rummaged my fridge and I managed to find a handful of dried shrimps in my fridge. I added pounded dried shrimps to the bee hoon and thank goodness it was a hit.

So I decided to use up half a packet of bee hoon by frying it with very simple ingredients like carrot strips (just for colour), taugeh (beansprouts, tailed, such a hard job removing the ends!), chives cut into 1.5" in length (kow choy), egg and of course dried shrimps. Clean and soak the dried shrimps for a while. Drain and pound it up or just use a electric chopper like I did :p

Start off by scrambling beaten eggs in hot oil, dish up and set aside. In hot oil, add in dried shrimps. Be careful here as the dried shrimps can go popping out from the wok. Once they're fragrant and crispy, add in chopped garlic. Fry till garlic is fragrant before adding carrot strips, beansprouts and chives. Pour in some water and put in seasoning like oyster sauce, salt and pepper, plus a wee bit of sugar to taste. Add in soaked bee hoon and mix well. The water level should cover about 3/4 of the bee hoon. Cover the wok with a lid and let it simmer under low heat.

Once the water is drying up, keep stirring to prevent bee hoon from sticking on the wok. Add in egg. Cook till bee hoon is dry. Serve hot.

Loved how the chives and dried shrimps compliments each other just like Chinese Chive Pancake. The beansprouts lent a crunchy bite to the bee hoon.



Other styles of bee hoon that I''ve made:
Fried Sambal BeeHoon
Stir-Fried Bee Hoon (Zhau Mai Fun)
Vegetarian Fried Bee Hoon