Those are dawgs?

Was at Elaine's place with Francis recently to see her new pups. She had a pair of miniature poodles and I wanted to have a look at them before they grow up..

I've never seen a miniature poodle before and the usual poodle sure looks weird without its fur and all..

So when I saw the pups, imagine my amazement. The pups were tiny furballs, all fluffy and excited, running about. And they dont look like pups at all! They look like softtoys, teddy bears to be exact, like those you see in teddy tales..

Yup, these are real pups....

The pups were painfully shy when they saw me, I could not get a single good shot when I was there as the pups were avoiding me and the camera :(. So different from dragon's pup who absolutely loves the attention! :p

Luckily Elaine passed me some pictures she took some time ago..

Brandy and Candy posing for Eliane.. so sweet

Awwww, the pups are all tired out after a day of playing ...

Restoran Chan Kee (Hakka)

I was introduced to Chan Kee by gary and candy a few years back. At that time, I was amazed that there is another 'kampung' in the midst of Bandar Utama which I never knew existed..

I was told that Chan Kee has been in operation for over 30 years and it has relocated a couple of times.Maybe coz they're hakkas and hakkas are nomads :p. Hopefully they would be in Sunwaymas for a while....

Chan Kee is famous for its steamed freshwater fish. Even their logo is a 'swimming fish'. I have tried their steamed fish, which was just average for me. The sauce was too heavy on the garlic and ginger that at times, I cant even savour the sweetness of the fish.

That aside, Chan Kee do serve some excellent dishes. I guess the purported Hakka dishes? I wanted to have the preserve veg with meat (mui choi mun kow yuk) which is a fantastic dish in Chan Kee. I was sorely dissappointed that they did not prepare this dish when I went with cc some time back. :(

Nevermind that, the ham yu fah lam pou (salted fish with sliced pork) is also a fantabulous dish, which compensated for the mui choi dish. Chan Kee's version is very fragrant, the tender sliced pork stir fried to perfection with salted fish, cuttle fish, dried chillies, onions and garlic. To die for. ;p

Another favourite is the kangkung belacan(ma lai fung kwong). You can taste the wok hei in this dish, the kangkung, fresh and crunchy, and the tasty belacan, chilli and garlic does wonders for this dish. One of the best kang kung belacan I had in PJ. Still, their QC does go awry now and then...

I rarely take chicken in Chan Kee, but since cc dont take fish, we ordered the boxing chicken as recommended by the waitress. Chan Kee's version is a lil different from the usual boxing chicken, as they use both the chicken drummets and wings. The sauce tasted very similar to the pai guat wong (sweet sour ribs) sauce, whcih is appetizing to eat it with white rice. I've never seen cc gobbled down his food that fast and he had 2 bowls of large rice.. he must have enjoyed the dishes there :)

What Julianne thinks?

Hearty and lip smacking

Chan Kee is located at 23-1,25-1,27-1 Jalan PJU 1/3B, Sunwaymas Commercial Centre. Tel:03-7880 4230. 2 ways to get there. From Aman Suria (the part facing Tropicana), turn at Kayu Nasi Kandar. Drive straight, turn left/ Follow the road and turn left again. Drive straight till u see "Jin Shan Cheng" restaurant on your right, turn right. Chan Kee is at the end of the road. Alternatively, drive from BU 12 or 11 (long road), drive pass traffic lights, see Jin Shan Cheng, turn left. Drive straight till end of the road.

Saffron Indian Restaurant

Suaran told SF about Saffron some time back and me being a foodie, SF was nice enough to relay the "restaurant that serves good Punjabi food" information to me.
Finally, one fine evening, Suaran, SF, Amy, Rick, Esther and me(more like I tagged along) met for dinner at Saffron. As there's 6 of us, this means I can try many types of dishes.. hurray!
Saffron is hidden at a quiet nook of Sri Hartamas, ie, not the usual cafe/pubbing/ mamak Sri Hartamas area. It was full house when we reached and as we did not make any reservations, we waited quite a while before we had our dinner :(.

Suaran placed the orders for us, which I was glad as I know nuts about punjabi food.

Finally, the food came. The carbs for the nite was bhatura (plain and garlic) and saffron rice. I never had bhatura before and I enjoyed it. Bhatura is a sort of indian bread which is deep fried. It tasted rather sweet, but Saffron's version was surprisingly, not oily. I thought the garlic bhatura tasted better though...

As for the saffron rice, it was not as flavourful as I thought it to be. The tinge of herbs/ saffron was rather light, I could not taste much of it..

The achari chicken was something different from the usual fare that I take. It's slightly tangy, spicy and sourish, but delicious. One bite will give you a burst of flavours with that extra 'uumpphh'.. ahhahaha

SF likes the baingen, aka eggplant. I thought it was pretty yum too (as I like eggplants too), tender and slightly mush on the outside, but still firm on the inside.My apologies for not knowing much about indian spices, I think this was cooked with masala...The funny dish for me was the pumpkin masala. I think I was dreaming, but I believe Suaran said he ordered pumpkin before we ate. So I was tucking in nicely into this dish, thinking why the potato masala was so juicy and different from usual. Finally, SF commented that the pumpkin was good and that was when I knew that it was not potatoes...sigh

The Bhoona Gosht, aka, mutton, was another tasty dish. Cooked till the gravy is thick, this scrumptious mutton goes well with both the bhatura and saffron rice. We also had cucumber raita (yoghurt) which was served in a dainty bowl. Don't be deceived though, the raita was thick and creamy and goes well with the dishes...

For me though, the winner of the night is the punjabi saag. This is the punjabi version of palak paneer, without the cheese and the veg is not green. I really dont know whats in there, finely chopped onions and garlic, spinach and loads of spices, but man, I like this dish! ;p

My gripe? The mango lassi. Diluted and lack in mango taste. Most unfortunately, I was facing the bar/beverage counter and I saw how they made the mango lassi. Its obvious that fresh mangoes were not one of their ingredients :(. As I am not a big fan of indian desserts, the gulab jamun, almond kulfi and gajar ka halwa was ok only. Too sugary for me...

What Julianne thinks?

Pleasant, natural and scrumptious

Saffron is located at 5, Jalan Sri Hartamas 7. Tel: 03-6201 1375. Reasonably priced.

If you are coming from Securities Commission, at cross junction to Sri Hartamas, turn right. Reach T-junction, turn right. Drive straight, take first left turning. You will see one row of shops, Saffron is near the end of it.

Bar B Q Plaza

I would try to avoid writing about food found in shopping centres, but dragon had some vouchers to Bar B Q Plaza, so off we went to makan...
Bar B Q Plaza is tucked in a quiet corner of 1 Utama new wing, at the "Rainforest" area. I heard that its a famous chain from Thailand, finally making its way to Malaysia last year. I've seen it long time ago, but I was not really keen on trying grilling my food while I am shopping there. Smelling of smoke and oil while shopping dont really appeal to me..

But it was a rainy evening and we were not going to shop, so in we go. We were ushered to our seats, the waiter makes sure that we understand how their grill cum steamboat works. Without much hesistation, we ordered the supreme pork set as dragon said that that bacon is absolutely scrumptious ;p. We also had extra orders of mushrooms and more bacon. Yes, its a porky nite alrite.

We were given a small jug of broth, to be added in all around the grill. We were given 2 cubes of lard to use for grilling. And the sauce! It's the sauce that's absolutely yummy! It consists of thick brown coloured sauce which suspiciously tasted like chee cheong fun sauce, mixed with chopped garlic, chilli padi and a squeese of lime. Mix it well and OMG!!! It goes really really well with the grilled food...

Actually, you dont need to use the lard for grilling as the food dont really stick to the griller. If it does, just pour some broth over it and out it comes!

I enjoyed the bacon, true to what dragon said, it came out sweet and fragrant. The sliced pork was fine too, goes very well with the sauce. Prawns were fresh, really springy. Other ingrdients were so so only. The broth gets sweeter as we cook our food as all the 'juices' from the meat flows into the broth. I know it sounds unhealthy but oh so tempting ;p.

What Julianne thinks?

Enjoyable, creative and relaxing

Bar B Q Plaza is at Lot 338A, 1st Floor, Rainforest 1 Utama. Tel: 03-77278148. It can be rather pack, try to go earlier.

Restoran Yuan Kee, Kluang

I have been eating this since I was a kid....
If you ever do pop over to Kluang town one day and decided to have dinner here (there's more than just roti bakar in Kluang u know :p), you can try this famed beef noodles in Yuan Kee. The recipe has been passed on for decades, the main draw of Yuan Kee are the noodles. The noodles are made by them and can't be found anywhere else. I dont really know how to describe the texture, it's springy, smooth, slightly thicker than laksa, but not translucent...

Yuan Kee serves ngau lam fun, directly translated as beef tripe noodles. What you get is a generous bowl of noodles (be it dry or soup) filled with beef, beef tripe and tendons. All their beef (and 'spareparts' aka ngau chap) are cooked for hours, so it's real tender and succulent..I always loved their dry version though....thick sticky gravy, served with peanuts, fried shallots, finely diced turnip and choy poh (i think). Squeeze in the lime, give a good toss and have it with their chilli sauce. Simply delicious!

As I grew up eating this version of beef noodles, I am still very biase whenever I eat any beef noodles in KV. I still think they are not up to mark compared to Yuan Kee's ;p

What Julianne thinks?

Authentic, fulfilling and delightful

I dont have Yuan Kee's address, but here's the directions (if u do pop over to Kluang):

Drive to Kluang town and towards Lian Seng Garden (just ask the locals wheres Lian Seng). Drive pass the new Kluang Wet Market and drive about 2 km heading towards Niyor. See a signboard on your right stating " Taman Melodi". Dont turn, drive down the slope. You will see a row of shop on your right, thats where Yuan Kee is. Its a new shop, they moved over a few years back. Price between RM3-4. Only for dinners. Be early coz it gets rather pack.

Pissy days

Guess we get such days now and then...

People just get on my nerves these couple of days.. and I am very sure that I'm not the sensitive one :p

Incident no 1:

• I was in a packed LRT (as usual) and there was a pregnant lady standing next to me. The row of people sitting in front of her were either pretending to sleep, reading papers with full concentration or just staring blankly into space. Most infuriating was when this woman who was sitting and facing the pregnant lady looked up, saw the pregnant lady, gave a sweet smile, look at the pregnant lady's belly and continued to day dream while sitting comfortably. FU woman!!! Man, I wanna box her face!

Incident no 2:

• Being a good citizen and not wanting to be caught jay walking, I waited at the pedestrian crossing on the way to work. When it was safe for me to cross (the traffic lights was red), I still could not cross as the motorbikes just does Not stop! If I took for granted that drivers (especially the bikers) would stop at pedestrian crossing when the lights turned red, I would have being rammed many times by them. So, although I have 25 seconds to cross the street, I was only left with 5 seconds to cross the street as it took the drivers a good freakin 20 seconds to finally decide to stop for us poor peasants to cross the road!!

Man, my blood boils!!! :(

Kedai Yong Tau Foo Khong Kee

The main thing about this shop is Not the Yong Tau Foo, but the porridge. Well, at least for me.
My bro introduced this place to me a couple of years ago and I have been coming back for the porridge now and then..
Khong Kee serves many types of yong tau foo. And as an accompaniment to the YTF, Khong Kee also sells chee cheong fun (served with normal sauce or curry), fried noodles, beehoon and porridge. So far, I have only eaten the porridge as I just cant help ordering it.. :p. SF and SL have tried their fried beehoon, I was told that its tasty, but very oily.

I was at Khong Kee recently with amy and SF for lunch....We ordered some stuff brinjals, tau foo, sui kow, foo chok, bittergourd and lady's fingers to go with the porridge.

So, you must be thinking, what's so good about this porridge? Well, this bowl of goodness consists of ingredients such as groundnuts, mushrooms, shredded cuttlefish, dried oysters, dried shrimps and shallots. The result? You get a silky smooth porridge filled with the sweetness and aromas of the ingredients. Every mouthful is satisfying and I usually gobble it down with glee ;p. I thought this version of porridge is called tang zhai porridge, but SF said the ingredients are not exactly right. My boss said it's called chai yu fah shang porridge. Whatever its called, I still think this is one delicious bowl of goodie!

What Julianne thinks?
Satisfying and comforting

Khong Kee is located at Jalan 21/17, SEApark, PJ. I dont remember the shop number though. Same road as Restoran Lucky, facing Giant Hypermarket. Near Taman Paramount LRT station.

Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant

When I first went to Ah Yat Abalone for lunch some years back, I went with slight trepidation as the restaurant name had the word "abalone".. wah, I aint gonna spend that much for my lunch...
SL wanted to try the dim sum brunch/ lunch there as they had promotion, 50% off all dim sums at that time. So off we go.. and we have been coming back since.. :)

I know its hard to find a good dim sum place in KV, but Ah Yat is one place that is above average compared to the rest in KV. We went on a recent saturday, the 50% discount is still on (maybe its perpetual). We settled down quickly and chosed our dim sums.

We had the usual har kow and siew mai.
I am never a fan of siew mai, but Ah Yat's version is passable. Not too porky in taste, they had a lil bit of prawn at the base of the siew mai to give it a springy bite.
I was not too impress with the har kow though. Maybe bcoz I didnt eat it immediately when it was served..but the texture was just not right. Sure, the prawns were huge and springy, but the skin! The skin! It was hard, sticky and I could taste the 'powdery' texture.. Not smooth at all. :(
Ok ok, lets talk about other better dishes. My always-order-without-a-doubt would be the siew long pau. Ah Yat's version is one of the best i have tasted in KV. The broth in it is thick, smooth and creamy. The pork, sweet. And the skin, they make it just a tad thick so that you dont break it with your chopsticks while picking it up.. Just becareful not to burn your tongue coz the soup can still be really hot inside.. delicious!

We ordered the steamed porkribs with rice sheets. The porkribs was delectable. Tender, fragrant and sweet. The base of the pork were layers of rice sheets (cheong fun) with dried shrimps. Reminds me a lil of Teluk Anson chee cheong fun, but this is smothered with the sweet steamed juices of the ribs. We polished of this dish quickly.

Another yum one is the woo kok. I get weak in me knees just thinking of woo kok. I love eating woo kok, but looking for a good one here is really hard. Of the many times we were in Ah Yat, they never had woo kok in their Saturday menus. Somehow, it magically appeared this time, and we had it. And yes, their version is good. Soft, pasty yam mixed with savoury, creamy filling. Just yummy. As good as the one in Bidor. :)

We also ordered a small plate of Peipa ngap. Anything 'duck' would be good for me coz I really enjoy eating duck. Their version of peipa ngap is a pretty good one, the luscious skin glistening, light and fragrant, the meat, juicy and smooth. Even the dipping sauce is enticing. But for those who loves the duck skin really crispy, this is not one to order..

The other not so memorable dishes were the prawns chee cheong fun and eggtarts. The chee cheong fun was not very smooth, and a little on the thick side. Big prawns does not cover this flaw.

The eggtarts.. sigh. The egg itself was ok, sweet, fragrant, but a little on the wet side. But the crust.. it was flaky on top, but the base tasted.. uncooked. Like its slightly doughy and powdery. Nope, not to my liking.

Overall, Ah Yat serves decent dim sums, at reasonable price (for a restuarant). There are many good dishes here that I didnt order, particularly the char leong. Tasted better than some in Hong Kong.

What Julianne thinks?

Scrumptious and affordable.

Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant is located at Swiss Garden Hotel (1st Floor), 117, Jalan Pudu, KL. Tel: 03-2072 6688. Prices starts at RM6 (before discounts, sat 50% and sun 30%..i think). Free parking.

Mama's Kitchen, famous Loh Shu Fun

I don't remember how I came to know about Mama's Kitchen or who introduced this place to me. It's that long ago.
Just recently, I met CC for dinner. He was hungry and wanted food pronto. Since we are near Taman Tun, I decided to pop over to Mama's Kitchen as they serve food pretty quickly although its full house...

Mama's Kitchen has quite a range of noodles and ala carte dishes (to go with rice). I dont find the dishes that fantastic (SF thinks its too oily), but the famous Loh Shu Fun is quite all right and most guys I know absolutely enjoys the Garlic Roasted Pork Wantan Noodle. We were served about 5 mins later with the sizzling hot claypot Loh Shu Fun after we ordered. This is a fuss free dish, with loads of mince meat and topped with an raw egg. As the claypot is boiling hot, a quick stir of the loh shu fun would cook the egg, giving the noodles a very smooth texture. There are also some prawns and sliced pig's liver in it too. It does taste good when you are hungry, with the sides slightly charred, really hot and the noodles, smooth and tasty. A word of caution though, eat it when its hot coz the moment its cooled, the loh shu fun kinda clumps together. Not a pretty sight and the texture changes...

CC have a thing against Loh Shu Fun, so I ordered the Garlic Roasted Pork Noodles for him.

He must have enjoyed the noodles coz after the first bite, he was practically gobbling down the noodles. I dont really know why guys like this so much.. maybe it's the roasted pork? Loads of meat? I find this dish average only.. or shall I say, it has no 'lastability'. I mean, the first bite was awesome, but after a few bites, I find it just... average. The pork is too hard for me, the sauce, too sweet.

What Julianne thinks?

Simple, fuss free and average.

I've forgotten to take the address..sorry mates. Mama's Kitchen is located at TTDI. Drive towards IBM buidling. At cross junction (IBM across right, fire station on your left), turn left. Take the inner road, same row as Devi's corner. Opens for lunches and dinners.

Restoran Jepun Okuchi

Not sure why, but coincidentally I have been writing quite a lot on Jap restaurants. Last-of-the-dragon recommended this place at Kota Damansara after trying it with her family.
The group us,dragon, redv , eric, cc and chia decided to have dinner there on a recent saturday (well, maybe not so recent.. about a month ago). Dragon girl was nice enough to make a reservation for us, so we had the tatami room all for ourselves. yay! Okuchi is a small one shop restaurant that exudes coziness. It was comfortable eating there, and the tatami room provided us some privacy.

Most of us were hungry, so we quickly browsed through the menu and ordered. For appetizers, we had chuka hotate(scallops), chuka itako(baby octopus) and gyoza.

Chuka hotate

Hotate and Itako came first. I must say that both the dishes were very fresh and tasty. With my taste buds tantalized, I waited for more... The gyoza came next, piping hot from the pan :). But alas...the gyoza was just so so, not fantastic. I find the skin a tad too thick, so it got kinda chewy after a while....

Redv, eric and me ordered the same bento set, ie, Sashimi To Unagi Kabayasi.

The plates were huge, but the portions, small. In fact, I must say that some even look miserably miserly. The sashimi was fine, it's fresh. The best amongst the platter was the butter fish. Others were nothing to shout about. The unagi was wrapped in sweet sauce, delicately arranged in 3 pieces. It was a tad soft, I prefer my unagi slightly firmer. Still, it was acceptable.

Dragon had Tempura To Gyu Terriyaki( ie Tempura and Beef terriyaki) bento. I took a slice of her beef (precious commodity since its just a few pieces) which I find the texture hard. Not good. She didnt complain on the tempura, I presumed its ok.

CC and Chia, both carbs freak I guess, ordered the Gyu Katsu Donburi To. Basically its Stir fried beef on rice and udon.

Chia did not like the noodles at all, he practically left the whole bowl intact. He said it tasted weird. Not nice. CC, on the other hand, finished everything in the bowl.

What Julianne thinks?

Average and uncomplicated

Restoran Okuchi is located at 36-1, Jalan PJU 5/9, Datarn Sunway, Kota Damansara, PJ. Tel: 61408336. Price range: appetizers- RM6 and above. Bentos: RM20+ and above.

Lorong Gombak chapati

CW recommended me to this place, which I never knew it existed. He said that its always very pack during breakfast and lunch time, so we hurried over to 'secure' a seat...
The place is very warm, seats are limited, hygiene level is ummmm...
But, the chapati here is fantabulous!

When we walked in, the Indian lady was making the chapati at the entrance. Looks heavenly as she kneads and roll the chapati dough. This shop serves just a few types of dishes where customers can eat with either chapati or rice. The basics are curry chicken, curry lamb, fish curry, veg (fried and stir fry) and samosas.

Very promptly, our orders came. The chapati was served with chickpeas and beansprouts. It's just heavenly eating this chapati : soft, fluffy, fresh, warm and oil free.. very healthy and yummmm

The accompanying dishes of curry chicken and lamb was good too, though I personally preferred the latter. Even the teh tarik was slightly different.. I wondered if my tea was served with fresh susu lembu/ kambing..

Though the food was good, we really had to chomp down our food pronto as the heat in the shop was rather unbearable. Still, no regrets! I will definitely be back :)

What Julianne thinks?
Satisfying, back to basics meal.
I had to take a picture of the shop as it has no name( its next to Restoran Nasi Kandar Haji Ibramsha). It's located at Lorong Gombak, behind Coliseum Cinema. If you are coming from Jalan Raja Laut, it's behind Tradewinds Building.

Tanjung Bungah Fish Head curry, PJ

After my week long break and away from blogging, I decided to start with a vicious review on this restaurant I went some months back. I didnt have the heart to review it then, but I do now!

As some of you may know, I am on the prowl for a decent dish of fish head curry. Tanjung Bungah is a place we always passed by, but never tried. Finally, the Day came and SF, SL and I decided to pop over for a meal.

The restaurant was rather quiet, old but had a number of articles framed and hanging on the walls, boasting of great curry fish head and delicious meals. With our hopes up, we placed our orders of Fish head curry, Mah Poh tau foo and stir fried ferns (paku pakis).

It took quite a while for the food to arrive and we hungrily tucked into the tau foo (which came first). The tau foo was ok, rather sweet, with lots of chopped broccoli and peppers. Sure dont taste like the usual mah poh tau foo I had.

Next came the famed Curry Fish Head. Boy, was I sorely disappointed. The curry fish head's gravy was diluted and runny, does not even tempt me to dig in. Although the portion was generous, I was not satisfied at all. The fish head was not infused with the curry flavour.. everything just seemed so.. dull.

The last dish, stir fried paku pakis was again average for me. No doubt the veg is young and tender, but the cincaluk and the sugar/msg was just way too much for me. After a few spoonful, I got jelak of it.

What Julianne thinks?

Dull, over rated and not worth the effort

If you do wanna try, Tangjung Bungah Fish head curry is located at Chow Yang, SS2. Same row as Restoran Chow Yang.