Patrick's Bites: Food and drink

My 2nd Trip to Kota Kinabalu

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:44:30 GMT

Kota Kinabalu is the next stop for my TechNet MSDN Roadshow, little wonder as I am writing this post on my way back to KL, I am visiting KK for the 2nd time in one year and going to climb Mount Kinabalu in April. There is always a aura of mystery around this place as it offers a lot to explore. But cut all the crap, I actually like the warmth of people, the freshness of air and also the tastiness of the seafood here.

Hyatt Regency

Touching down at Hyatt Regency Hotel, we open up the bottle of Tuak bought by Jabez at Kuching Airport. It only sold for RM10 compared to RM28 at Hilton Kuching. (Check out my previous post). And since from Kuching to KK is a domestic flight, one can hand carry the liquor on board the plane. Tuak which is actually rice wine, is sweet and smooth so I enjoyed it. It's really different from the Chinese rice wine (much higher alchohol content and dryer) so I will definitely intro it to my friends from China if they come to KK.


Geoduck Fried Ginger & Spring Onion		Steamed prawn

Steamed red garrupa		Steamed crab using Chinese rice wine

		Some of the exotic seafood found in East Malaysia

Again, I found myself back to Kampung Air seafood with my colleagues. This time I order geoduck (above) again but it is fried with spring onion and ginger. Taste a lot better than steaming with ginger and garlic. We also had steamed crab with Chinese rice wine (very yummy!). Look at the photos above, whole table is steamed dishes, all because Jaime is having stomach upset so we got to take good care of her after all the hard work she done for us.


Pork rib, full of sweetness from the sauce		Fried prawn

Deep Fried Sotong (Calamari)		Again steamed garrupa but this is the best I ever tasted.

The next day after the event a customer bought us to suburbs to enjoy seafood again at a restaurant called Tanker. I had the best and freshest galupa fish I ever had. We ordered prawns and sotong also. while we try to avoid ordering red meat here (go back KL eat la!) we had a dish a nice pork rib under the recommandation of the waitress. True enough, the sauce that comes with it taste like from a char siew stall that existed at Petaling Street years ago.

Yuan Li Fish Noodle

Went back to Yuan Li again for the tasty fish noodle just after I check out from hotel. One bowlful of fish meat, even the noodle is made of fish meat.

Should you really enjoy the seafood here, why not share it with friends and family back home? There are stores at the airport where you can buy frozen seafood, they will packed in with dry ice in a box for you to carry back. So you should always look for exotic stuff like lao shu ban, sea cucumber and giant size tiger prawn. In where I stay in KL, you can buy these at market, maybe have to pay a premium at restaurants.

End of Kuching Trip

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:36:45 GMT

Leaving for Kota Kinabalu today after 3 days at Kuching for TechNet MSDN Roadshow. Initially this morning I wanted to wake up early to enjoy the sun rise view at Sarawak River but ended up overslept. Last night was enjoyable night our with the team. We had dinner at a seafood restaurant known as 'Hai Pa Wang' Seafood.

2 statues of cat(s) at different part of Kuching. If you join Amazing Race and they ask you to look for 'cats' in Kuching, please take note.

River view from my hotel room, below is the sunrise view. :)

So at Hai Pa Wang, we had giant crab, oyster pancake, fried prawn, and seafood soup. also tried one a local vegetable known as Bilin which can't have it elsewhere. Look like some kind of parasite plant I saw previously in KK national park. Taste a bit like Kangkung but after all it is fried with chili belachan. The meal at Hai Pa Wang is quite cheap also, a dinner for table of 9 cost only

Hai Pa Wang Seafood


Bilin, pay attention to how the leave looking like. it has a swirl like leave, which is normal for most parasite plant	Seafood soup	Fried prawn, my favorite style of preparing the prawn because this way even the shell of the prawn is crunchy


Oyster pancake, although the oyster taste fresh, but not good combination	Crabs!! the arrangement look like a Taiwanese cartoon where a couple of pandas are stack on top of each other	Crab lining up to get into our stomach...

2 MVPs who joined us for the trip, Jabez Gan (left) and Chan Ming Man (right), receiving their souvenir for the contribution.

So the next morning, Ming Man bought us for a bowl of Sarawak Laksa. Unlike Assam Laksa from Penang or Ngonya Laksa from Melaka, Sarawak Laksa taste like the combination of both. It is spicy and hot but on the same time a bit sour because of addition of lime juice.


	Beef soup RM4.50		Sarawak Laksa (you can choose the size of the prawn) This is the medium size. RM4.50

After that, not enough, I can't say I visited Kuching if I didn't check out Nasi Baria which is a type of rice planted on hill. Got to know from the hotel restaurant they have it in the menu, I head back to Hilton for 2nd round of my heavy brunch.

So there I go, ordered a set lunch of Nasi Baria, comes with the Bilin vegetable and also bamboo chicken. The Nasi Baria went compared to normal rice in Malaysia, is softer and has a better texture when you chew on it. But what really make me excited is the tastiness of the chicken soup. Having cooked the chicken meat in bamboo, the effect is like cooking the chicken soup in slow cooker for a day. All the essence of the chicken is found in the bowl of soup there. Together with Bilin, I can say all the 'goodness' of Sarawak cooking is found in this set lunch worth RM19.00.

Bak Kut Teh @Jalan TAR

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:47:38 GMT

Seldom people will associate Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman with nice food, but it has proven with the nice Pan Mee I blogged about sometime ago. Today I went to on Bak Kut Teh shop there behind the EON Bank Main Building, although not the best compared to Klang or the one near PWTC, it was full of people during lunch and they close shop exactly at 2.00pm.

Look at the amount of ingredient put inside, you will know how nice the soup is. some more they cook it long enough for the meat to soften up... 8 out of 10!!

Bak Kut Teh is a popular Chinese pork soup in South East Asia, especially Malaysia and Singapore. Translated to English literally means "Pork Bone Tea" which is actually consist of pork rubs and herbal soup. Amy Beh has the recipe here where common Chinese herb such as Dang Gui, cinnamon, Clove, Yoke Chok, Kei Chi (shown below) are cook together with various parts of pork together with dried tofu, mushroom, cabbage and Enokitake in clay pot for hours.

These are the herbs used in cooking Bak Kut Teh

Bak Kut Teh are normally served with rice and the meat are dipped into soy sauce mixed with garlic and a bit of dark soy sauce. Because a meal like this is so 'meaty' most people would order vegetables such as cabbage with oyster sauce.

Cabbage with oyster sauce - the vege is crunchy and fresh

In Malaysia it is also common to order 'yao zha guai' (means fried dough) to go with the delicious soup

Yao Zha Guai, deep fried golden, what else to say? Dipped into the soup and let it absorb up the soup and you know how nice is it ;)

Its a heavy lunch for 2, cost me and my gal pal RM26.00 (together with drinks) . The map is shown below, do give them a visit next time you around that area; Its just behind Wisma Cyclecarri.

Old China Cafe - Melaka Restaurant (Non Halal)

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:07:24 GMT

Paid a visit to this old shop last Saturday, it is not very visible as you turn in from Petaling Street. The special thing about this restaurant is it is the only Melaka restaurant in KL which is none Halal. So they serve pork here... some more nice one ler... ;)

This is the front of the restaurant viewed from outside.

The door, very old style, got a note on the door --> "Non-Halal"

Inside the restaurant, really got a Ipoh Coffee Shop taste

A lot of old nostalgic furniture here

This is Pie Tee, a famous Melakian appetizer made of a hat shape deep fried wheat flour stuffed with shredded turnip, shredded carrot, dry shrimp, and bean sprouts. (RM4.90) You can made some at home following these recipes.

Babi Pong Teh, means pork with bean paste in a black sauce, this is the main reason I am here. Hard to get it elsewhere (RM12.80)

Mixed vege (RM8.00) any Chinese restaurant can find, need not introduce

Cincalok Omelette (RM7.80) This is not a normal omelette but one fried with Cincalok. It is a distinctly Peranakan condiment made of fermented shrimp. It gives the omelette saltiness and a nice fragrance.

More old furniture, I like the lamp and the fridge, some more on top got antique clock

The blue wall is something very special and mostly found at old pre-war houses in Melaka and Penang. This one is at the corridor area upstairs.

There are one guest hall at the top floor, I happened to pass by when I going to the gents. Typical view of a Melaka Peranakan guest hall especially with two deity statues near the window. Hope someone from Melaka can explain to me about the 2 deity.

It was a good lunch that just cost 3 of us RM42.00, next trip I will come back to try out the desserts and more pork dishes. :) There are also more antique to be photographed here so stay tuned. :P

i-Dragon Cheras Branch 龙的传人小笼包

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:57:41 GMT

Shanghai Meat Dumpling 小笼包 has been catching on as a favorite among Chinese here alongside with dim sum. Normally in the morning people go restaurant take dim sum as breakfast while for lunch or dinner normally it would be the Shanghai Meat Dumpling, more commonly known as 'Siew Long Bao' in Cantonese. i-Dragon is one of the most famous franchise of Meat Dumpling here at KL where they have several branches at 1Utama, Cheras Leisure Mall, and Bangsar. Cheras Leisure Mall outlet is at the place where Swenson's ice cream was occupying. I came here today for a light dinner (light means no rice but a bit of noodles) and below is what ate by 4 of us.

虾仁萝卜糕 Fried Carrot Cake [Price - RM10.00]

This is nice, the edges of the carrot cakes are crispy, the shrimp are fresh. Really got the 5-star hotel quality. It is known as carrot cake because Daikon, Chinese white radish is the main ingredient here. So do not mistaken it for the pastry version.

金银蛋菠菜 Poach Spinach [Price - 18.00]

The spinach is fried with century eggs, salty egg yolk and egg white to give it a smooth texture and light sweetness.

海鲜干炒拉面 Fried Noodle Seafood [Price - RM16.00]

This is a handmade egg noodle that you always see in Discovery channel where Chinese chef hand pull the dough repeatly until it becomes a very long noodle. So because of the length, normally the waiter will ask whether you want to cut the noodle to be easy pick up with chopsticks. i-Dragon is one of few place where they hand made the noodle instantly to be served so the bounciness of the noodle is preserved.


上海小笼包 Meat Dumpling [Price - RM8.00]		香菇素菜包 Vegetable Mushroom Bun [Price - RM6.00]

Above is the signature dish here and among the best in KL, very authentic like those I tried in China. There are soup inside the dumpling, so you can observe that the top part is purposely cooked hard for you to pick up with chopsticks. The soup is best served with vinegar and ginger.　

However I am disappointed with the Vege. Mushroom Bun and the Shrimp Ball. I don't like the bun because the vege used inside is Chinese chives 韭菜 and while they try to be creative with the Deep Fried Shrimp Ball with soup inside there are just too many meat and it a bit too oily.

灌汤虾球 Shrimp Ball with Soup [Price - RM9.00]

Overall it is a happy dinner to have with family during the weekend at i-Dragon, there was even a bunch of Africans came to celebrate birthday at this restaurant. CIMB (of Southern Bank) credit card holders enjoy a 10% discount.

Map to Leisure Mall

Bakerzin Sunday

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:53:08 GMT

The ketagihan with Bakerzin never ends! After watching the Simpsons Movie at KLCC with my sister and niece we end up there again. The wide variety of dishes give you a different dining experience every time.


Free chocolate cake (info below)	Seafood linguine, a bit spicy but the clams are over cooked. Wish it can be more creamy.	Salmon spaghetti, the salmon is over salty

There is now a dinner set offer with free warm chocolate cake with ice-cream when you order stew lamb (lower second) and mashed potatoes salad (lower right). The lamb is soft and tender while the yummy dessert is rich in chocolate that melts with the ice-cream. The tomato slice at the bottom and the strawberry are meant to 'soften' the thickness of the chocolate.

The dinner cost us about RM70.00 but frankly I am a bit disappoint with both pastas this time. Too bad my appetite is not good that evening so I gave soufflés miss.

Yong Tao Fu at Jalan Tun HS Lee

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:12:47 GMT

The other day I shared about and introduced the Yong Tao Fu at Ampang but unfortunately cant talk much about the location. This is another good one nearer to city area and within walking distant from Masjid Jamed STAR LRT station. 10 pieces cost me around RM11 with drinks so its around the same price as Ampang's. This time I capture the ingredients showing the meat paste stuffed inside. Far below is the map to guide you.


Chili, purple eggplant, bitter gourd and you see they serve soup with it. (Ampang is dry one) Very tasty soup best taken with rice.		This shows the tofu stuffed with meat paste

Red Beans dumpling

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:42:47 GMT

An addition to my blog about Chinese dumpling (Zhong Zi) here, below is a picture of a red bean dumpling. There are two main types of Zhong Zi which are the meat one and the sweet one. The sweet type of Zhong Zi either have nothing or they are stuffed with red bean paste. This one is a gift from my friend and you can see the Zhong Zi has got a lot of red bean paste with just a thin layer of rice. This made the Zhong Zi very sweet and tasty. :) I will try to find out from my friend where to find such a good quality Zhong Zi that is fully stuffed with red bean paste.

See the middle one how thin is the rice layer.

The Zhong Zi packed with leave and has to be steamed before eaten.

Its Bakerzin Week!

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:25:04 GMT

Bakerzin is a cafe headquartered in Singapore. They specializes in their wide variety of desserts.

Wide selection of desserts, from afar you might mistaken it as a jewelry cabinet.

I first visited their outlet in Queensbay Mall, Penang during Chinese New Year and last week I had lunch with my buddy at Bakerzin KLCC. Again on Saturday I had a crave for desserts again so I brought Sook Yee to Bakerzin Bangsar Village.

Competitively priced against cafes such as Secret Recipe, Bakerzin added in some distinguish selling points such as Illy brand of coffee in their menu, a very boutique like outlet interior design. Menu side, they typically have a whole range of Western desserts ranging from normal cakes and pastries to Souffles, Tapas, and sorbets. They even have ice-cream! So they are even competing with the likes of Starbucks and Hargen Daaz by offering everything under one roof.

Recommendations: After I came back, Kelly told me I should have tasted their Souffles, which is a French egg white dessert with different flavours and toppings. But I had tried Tiramisu and Strawberry Shortcake and found both are very delicious, especially I can feel strong taste of Mascarpone cheese and coffee on their Tiramisu. Some of their chocolate cakes are yummy as well.

Souffles

Price wise it about RM60 for a person meal while the desserts sell at about RM10 - RM20.

Below is the location and operation for Bangsar Village and Queensbay mall:

Bangsar Village
G5 Floor Level, Bangsar Village
No. 1, Jalan Telawi Satu
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: +03 2284 7514 / +03 2282 8310
Fax: +03 2284 9606
Operating Hours:
Sun - Thur: 8.30 am - 11 pm
Fri, Sat & Eve of Public Holiday:
8.30 am - 12 midnight

(Click on map for details)

Penang
Lot No. 1F-111 & 1F-113 First Floor
Queensway Mall 100
Persiaran Bayan Indah
Sungai Nibong Bayan Lepas
11900 Pulau Penang
Malaysia
Tel: +04 643 2137 / +04 646 9175
Fax: +04 646 9634
Operating Hours:
Sun - Thur: 10 am - 11 pm
Fri, Sat & Eve of Public Holiday:
10 am - 11 pm

KLCC
The KLCC outlet is new and is located inside Suria KLCC 4th Floor.

For lunch, Bakerzin has lunch sampler at RM20.00 which give you a sampler of 5 items (pictured below)

This is my lunch last Friday

The honey sweet fish with mashed potatoes

Cream Burlee for desert

Mushroom soup

Illy's cappuccino is the smoothest I had taste.

Brioche with mushroom fricassee

Salad with crab meat and avocado. Creamy on the crab meat and steamed avocado.

Chicken thigh with potatoes

New outlet at KLCC 4th floor (besides Isetan)

Kai Si Hor Fun

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:43:01 GMT

Kai Si Hor Fun at Petaling Street is one of the original famous hor fun in KL. While many argue their standard has dropped, they are still the best kai si hor fun in town. It is opposite the old Popular book shop at Jalan Hang Lekiu. Looking at the pictures here is not enough to explain my experience, the nice smell coming from the shrimp soup is indescribable.

It's a little soup beside the hot sunny Petaling Street. They got another branch opened near Jalan Imbi

Chicken Hor Fun with shrimp

Tasty Shrimp Wantons

Espetada @Nando's

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:10:28 GMT

Nando's has a new menu item called Espetada which is like kebab where the chicken meat is grilled on a metal stick. The chicken is marinated and the skin is crispy. Hey, no bones some more!! Priced about 30.00++

That's Sara at the back, catching up with each other today at KLCC.

Comes with salad and wedges but I think you can change the side dishes.

Suan Pan Zi - 算盘子 discovered near my house

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:57:31 GMT

Sook Yee's dad bought us to a Hakka restaurant on Sunday evening. This is the only one Hakka restaurant so far in KL which have Suan Pan Zi (算盘子) in its menu. Suan Pan Zi (pic below) is a authentic Hakka dish (or its a kind of noodle) where is made of flour, egg and yam. Yam is the ingredient which makes it different from noodle. It is hard to find nowadays because you got to hand roll the Suan Pan Zi piece by piece and it takes a lot of effort.

Suan Pan 算盘 is actually abacus(below) in English, the shape of Suan Pan Zi which looks like a abacus piece gives it this name.

Before this the only place I know to get Suan Pan Zi is at the Bugis market in Singapore. Suan Pan Zi is fried with mushrooms, dried shrimp, spring onions and minced meat.

Coming back to this restaurant called 9888 (means prosper forever) it is located behind PGRM building, if you coming from Jusco Maluri, take the road on the between PGRM and Petronas station, then go further up for about 700m you shall see a row of shops on your right, 9888 is around there. Refer the map below.

There are also other nice stuff like Lotus Leave Steamed Rice with Pumpkin 荷叶金瓜炒饭, Deep Fried Salted Egg with Pumpkin 咸蛋金瓜, and Africa Fish (local M'sian name, don't try to search for it) deep fried with egg, milk and butter. 奶油金凤鱼. For a head count of 6 people and 7 dishes it cost about RM151.00.

Lotus Leave Steamed Rice with Pumpkin 荷叶金瓜炒饭

Deep Fried Salted Egg with Pumpkin 咸蛋金瓜

Africa Fish deep fried with egg, milk and butter. 奶油金凤鱼. I believe Africa Fish is known as Moba, check out the pictures in this blogpost.

Hong Kong Yun Long Low Por Biscuit

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 04:39:40 GMT

Low Por means wife in Cantonese, and Hong Kong's Yun Long is famous for this pastry which made of sugar and flour. Maybe the sweetness reminds you of your wife or something. :P But unlike those sold in elsewhere (esp KL), Yun Long's Low Por Biscuit is simply great because the crust is thin enough while the sugar inside is not sweet like candy. So if you are going to HK, please ta bao for me ya!!

Note it is sold in box of 6 pieces each and there is no vacumn packing nor slica gel so you got to finish fast because the hote wheather in Malaysia does not allow it to be kept more than 4 days.

Yummy...

Dinner at Greenview PJ

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 04:25:09 GMT

Went to have dinner at the Greenview Restaurant at PJ besides Lise De Inn Hotel. It was just besides Menara Merais where my former employer eBworx at. Greenview is famous for its fried prawn mee but we ordered rice instead. Nothing fanciful with deer meat, fried squid, tao fu, and vege. Plus later we order 2 Indonesian Crab. The crab is nice but I would prefer King Crab Restaurant opposite Kelana Jaya LRT station. In the end the bill comes to about RM195 for 6 person. So if you are around there do try out the fried prawn mee, or if you are there during lunch, check out the Yong Tau Fu few doors away.

Hakka Zongzi (Rice Dumpling) 客家粽子

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:39:58 GMT

According to Wikipedia, Chinese rice dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Eating of Zongzi means the coming of dragon boat festival, which is to commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Known for his patriotism, Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbors. When the Qin Dynasty general Bai Qi took Yingdu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, rice dumplings were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet's body.

My sister during dinner let me taste what according to her is Hakka Rice Dumpling. Unlike the normal ones where is looks darker due to the usage of black sauce, Hakka Zongzi is white as in the color of the rice. The normal rice dumpling ingredients are there such as fat pork, chest nut, Chinese black mushroom, and salted duck egg. However there is no dried shrimp but there are additions of beans which I guest that is the difference of Hakka Zongzi.

During the Fifth month of Chinese calander, Zhongzi can be found everywhere from restaurant to market and I think is another Chinese makan makan festival besides Chinese New Year, Moon Cake Festival and welcoming of WInter.

Nice Duck Rice at the back of UE3

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:10:45 GMT

One of the best duck rice I had in Malaysia was located at the office area at Taman Miharja just behind UE3. It is just a stall in a traditional kopitiam (coffee shop) where office workers normally go for affordable lunch. I ordered a duck drumstick rice which sells for only RM6.50.

Everything on the tenderness of the duck meat to the sauce that comes with it earns it a well 9/10 for duck rice in KL. You can't get it anywhere else so better follow the map below (it is same roll with the Foto Prime shop located below). Its located at the 1st store of the road if you turn left after coming in from Jalan Maluri. The place is also home to another famous dish in KL which is Pan Mee, I haven't try it but I will blog about it later.

Steamed Fish Head at Jalan Pasar

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:54:10 GMT

Have been a week since I posted here, thru out this week I tried out a few nice food in the center of Kuala Lumpur. Last Monday I went to Jalan Pasar for dinner. According to my friend they served one of the best steamed fish head in town here. Some more it is affordable, 4 pax cost us about RM65.00. Check out the pics below.

This is the steamed fish head.

Deep fried 'sotong' (squid)

Deer meat with vegetables.

The RM65.00 include the above 3 dishes plus another stirred fried 'tow fo'. Below is the rough location of the shop. I will post the name of the shop later once I recovered the receipt.

粥低火锅 Porridge Steamboat

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:14:59 GMT

To my westerner friends, don't mistaken the steamboat here with the steam powered boat. Steamboat is a Asian (particularly Asian) cuisine where we have soup on a pot and then we put in raw meats and veges as we want to.

The porridge based steamboat is actually also soup based. Many people will be mistaken but the porridge here use powdered rice in stead of actually rice. The purpose is to trap the taste and the fluid within the meat and vege so they taste fresh and tender when eaten. According to Wikipedia, this type of steamboat was originated from Guandong （广东顺德） province.

I went to the famous Sri Petaling Tian Yuan （田园火锅）Steamboat Restaurant to meet up Kam Yew and Wooi Meng for dinner. Tian Yuan Restaurant is on the same road as Sri Petaling Hotel. I ordered a set of 3 persons (which has prawns, fish balls, meat balls, Wanton, Sui Gao水饺, eggs and fish meat) with additional order of surgeon fish meat and grouper fish. All cost us only RM94 with drinks and service tax. At this price, I can say I give it a 8/10 especially for the freshness of the fish they served there.

*The picture only shown the leftovers so don't think its so little for RM94.00

The plain porridge

The dishes for 3 person

Surgeon fish 蓝刀鲷

Grouper fish 石斑

After put in the delicious meat and veges.

Nice Thai Desserts

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:43:54 GMT

Sister just came back from Bangkok holidays and she bought back some nice Thailand dessert which can't be found in any Thai restaurant here in Malaysia.

Besides Tom Yam and green curry, Thais are actually very good in their desert especially you got a sweet tooth like me. ;)

The 1st one below if made of egg yoke and sugar. Very soft and sweet and got a nice fragrance. This is the best desert I had in Thailand so far. You got to look for it at supermarket when you are in Bangkok. :)

Asians got a kind of dessert known as kuih (its like pastry for Westerner but they are mostly steamed) and customs like Chinese, Malays, Indians and even Thais have got their own delicacies in this department. Below featured a kind of fruit like kuih which actually made of sugar wrapping green beans inside.

There are also some nice jelly here. First one is coffee flavor, and the second one has 2 layer with coconut milk flavor at the bottom.

Yummy... now excuse me while I enjoy my kuih and jelly. ;)

Roti Tissue

Tue, 29 May 2007 13:31:37 GMT

Roti Tissue is a much thinner version of traditional Roti canai, almost as thin as a piece of 40-50cm round-shaped tissue. The dish is composed of dough containing copious amounts of fat, egg, flour and water. The form of fat used is usually ghee (clarified butter). The entire mixture is kneaded thoroughly, flattened, oiled and folded repeatedly. Roti Tissue is available at most local Mamak stalls in Malaysia.

Peking Duck Restaurant, Cangkat Raja Chulan

Tue, 29 May 2007 13:26:35 GMT

Having miss the Peking Duck in Beijing I decide to give a try to the newly opened Peking Duck restaurant at Cangkat Bukit Bintang. There is a 20% discount on all menu items from now until 10th June. Peking Duck is a delicacy in China where the famous ones can cost you a few hundred RMB per duck. Just as I expected the restaurant is mostly operated by Chinese from China where there is now a boom on culinary colleges. What I fear most in tasting duck in Malaysia is the leanness of the duck meat here which at times I think they are made of rubber. Not to disrespect the local chef, I had also tasted some good ones such as the one near UE3 which I hope to blog about it one day.

Come back to the Peking Duck, I can say the qualify is better than most restaurant in KL but I can give only an average rating because I had tasted much better Peking Duck operating at back street in Beijing. Marco Polo restaurant in Jalan Raja Chulan KL had Peking Duck in it menu few years back and I feel they are better too.

Peking Duck is normally prepared by pumping gas (not sure the gas but I bet its safe and non explosive though) into the duck and roast on charcoal. Then the skin and upper layer of the meat is sliced (1st picture below) and served on plate. You the pick the duck meat put onto a form of bread similar to tortilla (just like how they serve Fajitas) with cucumber and spring onion slices. (3rd picture below).

Chinese never put food into waste, so the remaining meat are fried with sarery (below) and the carcas is boiled into soup. Now, the way of preparing this is different from Beijing there normally what is remain will be either deep fried or made into soup. Plus the fried duck with celery and the soup is much nicer when compared to Beijing. I guess this is one way to justified to client the RM78 price tag here as they can tell people RM78 is for 3 dishes.

Other body parts of the duck like duck tongue, which is another delicacy is available here. However to 'take care' of my colleagues who having lunch with me I gave it a skip this time.

Family Dinner @Crystal Jade, Lot 10, KL

Sat, 26 May 2007 17:06:57 GMT

Had family dinner here after Ai Wei wanted something new. When mention Shanghai Dumpling (小笼包) in KL most people will immediate think of Dragon-i. But there is another good dumpling store in KL which is Crystal Jade in Lot 10. The restaurant occupies the space previously belongs to Fish & Co which I think they had moved to The Curve. Shanghai Dumpling is quite a phenomenon here is KL so I suggested the place for dinner.

While the main dish here is suppose to be Shanghai Dumpling but I feel Dragon-i did much better on this. However there are still a few dishes which I felt they are much better than Dragon-i especially on the noodles department.

Here is the list of must try.

Nanjing Salty Duck 南京盐水鸭 is the 'cold dish' 冷盘 we ordered. 'Cold Dish' normally serves as appeticer as well as something to chew on while you wait for the 'hot dishes' that normally take longer to cook. The Salty Duck taste tender and not really salty. After living few years overseas, I normally give duck in M'sia a pass because I always feel the duck meat overseas is more tender. Maybe its the salt water that processed or marinated the duck meat.

Poach Spinach that cooked with salted duck egg. The spinach is fresh while the salted egg that cook together gives is a nice texture. This is the only vege dish for the night.

Introduced by my sister, this is boiled egg that mix with scallop and fish meat. The food in a dumpling restaurant is normally oily and filling while at times they are spicy. So this 清凉 dish is a welcome after all the spiciness.

As for noodles which I mentioned they are great here, the 2 orders that stand out tonight is the Dan Dan Noodle (photo not available) and the Sliced Noodle here that fried with pepper and beef. Especially the Dan Dan Noodle which retains a authentic taste sold in China has got a rich aroma of peanut oil. The sliced noodle is hardly seen here unless you visit a shop owned by Chinese from China.

A visit here cannot be complete without tasting dumpling although I think Dragon-i scored better not nevertheless you should test out a few variaties before making at judgement. Dumplings shown here are Shanghai Dumpling (in bamboo container) is made so that the soup is contains inside the dumpling itself. You suppose to pick it up with the chopstick holding it at the top part (they had made that part harder so easy to pick) onto your soup spoon, then bite off the top part and you are see the meat and soap. Dip some vinegar and ginger into it and try to suck the soap with the ginger and vinegar.

Beijing dumpling is dry and they look a bit like wanton. There are also other types of dumpling mainly soup dumpling水饺，'Gou Tie'锅贴，Wanton云吞，'Long Chao Shou'龙抄手。All these dumpling are different in terms of the way they are prepared (pan fried, deep oil fried, soup boiled, or steamed), the different flour used on the 'skin' and the meat used (normally pork, crab, prawn) or vegetables.

The so call desert tonight are pastries 酥饼. Back when I was staying in Beijing, noodles and pastry are the staple food of Chinese there as compared to rice here. I had a colleague from Shandong which told me back in his hometown, the only staple food he had is noodle and he never ate rice before he finish high school! Another credit for Crystal Jade tonight on the pastries as again they fair better than Dragon-i here. Try out the Radish Pastry (1st pic below) which is crispy at the crust but the layer of crust stay intact when you bite at it. Look at the picture you can see what I meant after it was cut with scissors.

Famous HK Mango Pudding.

Wed, 23 May 2007 15:13:23 GMT

Got this from a forward mail but the picture says a thousand words (some more now is a couple of pictures here). The shop is at Causeway Bay.

Wanton Mee maker machine

Tue, 22 May 2007 15:57:40 GMT

Found this at a Hong Kong styled cafe 港饮港食 at Low Yat Plaza (at Jalan Imbi)'s lower ground floor. The food was so-so but at least they got an antique to attracts customers. The label on the glass show "50 years of Wanton mee making".

Low Yat Plaza at Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia