Restoran Bidor, JB

This was my first meal when I reached JB :)... Was there for brunch where the crowd has not build up yet.. Uncle introduced this place to all of us, even SF and SL never tried it before. Was told that Restoran Bidor had a 'special' fish head dish, so we promptly order that, along with yellow wine chicken, tau foo and veg. 2 hot claypots were placed on our table not long after, we got the fish head and yellow wine chicken. The fish head was steaming hot with loads of vegs. I took a sip of the soup and wow, I must say its definitely different. Tasty no doubt, the soup was slightly murky, sweet and had this aroma that I could not describe... it had slightly charred taste. Good though. I cant really say whats in this dish.. the obvious would be fish head, fish meat, veg, chopped yam, ginger and sour plums..yup, you read rite.. sour plums.. maybe theres more things, i just cant figure out.. :(

The yellow wine chicken was delicious too, thick gravy, sweet wine, ginger to balance the wine flavour, loads of garlic and black ear fungus..:). But this version is dark brown... which SF pointed out, is not very yellow wine-ish.. Guess the cook prefers a darker shade for the dish eh? Hence adding some dark soy sauce for colouring...

Veg and taufoo were ok, nothing spectacular..I saw another interesting dish being served, something like smoke fish, wrapped in foil. Looks plain, but suppose to go really well with porridge. Too bad I was too full to try that :p.

What Julianne thinks?

Unusual, tasty and pleasing to the palate

Restoran Bidor is located at 73, Jalan Ros Merah 2/2, Taman Johor Jaya, JB. Tel: 07- 357 3878.

It's been a year..

Since you are gone, Albert. And we miss you.

Cannot Think You're Not Alive Somewhere
I cannot think you're not alive somewhere.
I think of you just as I did before.
No sudden gust of wind has closed the door
Or made your presence vanish in thin air.
I write you this because I know you're there;
That even after death there must be more.
So does faith one's inner sun restore
After bitter darkness few can bear.
My mind and heart have not yet lost a friend
Even though my senses are bereft,
For you remain the witness of my soul.
No mere accident our love can end
So long as I have will and memory left,
And you lie silent on some unknown shoal.

Restoran Kim Long, Senai

What did you do over the long deeparaya break?

I had a gastronomic experience in JB (and areas nearby) when SF and SL graciously invited me to JB with them ;).Guess you'll be reading on quite a few postings on JB food before I revert back to K Valley since I got to try quite a few yum places there.

Decided to write about Kim Long as I have heard about this restaurant that serves fantastic pei pa ngap for a long time but did not manage to try it.. I was there at a very weird hour, around 4pm, but to my surprise, it was very pack. The sisters told me that lots of Singaporeans stop by for a meal before they return, hence Kim Long is open from lunch to dinner. We ordered the famous pei pa ngap, spring roll, sea cucumber with mushrooms, special taufoo and veg. After some wait, we got the springroll. Kim Long's version is fried in square chunks rather than the usual long roll. The spring rolls were tasty, the filling of fish paste and veg were warm and moist, tender to the bite. A good start :p. The veg come soon after, which was good too. Next, we had the fried taufoo (something new that none of them have tried before). The filling was rather similar to the spring roll, but I did not like the exterior.. Coated with breadcrumbs and butterfly brand flour (i think), it had some sweet, vanilla-ish smell and flavour which I didnt particularly fancy.

Throughout the meal, I saw plates and plates of duck being served and the anticipation was killing me!! And finally, we got ours.. Kim Long's pei pa ngap is certainly one of a kind..The duck is crispy on the outside and tender, juicy on the inside. Very succulent indeed. And the speciality lays at the base of the duck...ie, the sauce. Rather than the usual plum sauce, Kim Long concocted their own sauce to go with the pei pa ngap and the outcome was superb. Their's was a mix of dark, thick sauce (yes, plum sauce being one of the ingredients) with a hint of spiciness, sweet and sour. Goes very well with the duck :)

The last dish that was served was the seacucumber and mushroom. Another delicious dish as the mushrooms were braised till plump and thick, the seacucumber, springy. The sauce was good to go with rice.

What Julianne thinks?

Affordable, satisfying and filling

Restoran Kim Long is located at 130, Jalan Senai Utama 5/17, Taman Senai Utama, Johor. On the way to Senai Airport. Dishes are cheap but quality not compromised. Our bill came out to be RM57. The half duck only cost RM13.

Restoran Kin Kin

I briefly wrote about Kin Kin months back in the good food list as it's the only famous chilli pan mee that I have tried. Heck, its the only chilli pan mee I have ever tried. :p

Though I have been eating this for years now, I am still a fan of the conventional pan mee. Nevertheless, this is an unique, tasty pan mee and it has earned itself many loyal customers. I have known some who are so addicted to this noodles that they must have it at least once a week....

Lily and I popped over around 12:40pm for lunch on a weekday and it was freaking pack!! Though the pan mee here is more expensive compared to the average pan mee, no one seems to mind at all..We waited for seats and in the end had to 'dub toi' with others..

So what is chilli pan mee? Well, for those who have not tried this noodles before, chilli pan mee's main ingredient is of course, the chilli. Not the usual chopped chilli or the watery pan mee chilli sauce, but this version is the stir fried dry chilli with shrimp concoction. What you get is homemade pan mee with the usual ikan bilis, mince meat and topped with a half boiled egg. Instead of the usual dark soy sauce in your noodles, you add your own dose of dried chilli and mix with the noodles. With the yolk still runny, the chilli pratically clings to every strand of the noodles, giving it a wonderful aromatic flavour. Having the noodles warm, the chilli spicy and the ikan bilis crunchy sure packs a few punches with every mouthful :).

What Julianne thinks?

Unconventional, fiery but lip smacking (yeah and maybe spicy and red too from all the chillies!)

Restoran Kin Kin is located at Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1, Off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, turn left when you see the Honda showroom. Turn left again, Kin Kin is located in the midst of mechanic shops. With the amount of crowd, you wont miss it.

Food Foundry

I only heard about Food Foundry a few months back when SL went with her friends. Since then I have been wanting to try the food there, but some how didnt quite make it..
Finally, on a rainy sunday where I could not go for the pasar ramadan, Pariza and I went to Food Foundry instead :p

We reached there around 7:20 and the parking was already scarce. Luckily, there were still seats available at Food Foundry :). Pariza came here before, so she knew what she wanted to eat already. Food Foundry serves many types of cuisine, ranging from italian, local, spanish and western. I opted for the pasta, I heard some good stuff about it.. We had Seafood marinara, aglio beef and mushroom and lamb meatball tapas.

The tapas came first. The lamb meatballs was served with warm pita bread, which is appetising since it was a cool nite with the rain and all. The meatballs was drenched with warm mushrooms brown sauce and the pita bread soaks the sauce up like a sponge. Meatballs were tender, but I think they are a lil heavy on the flour/bread crumbs side.. some parts of the meatballs tends to get starchy...Taste wise, its ok.

Pariza's marinara was served next and for RM13.90, this plate of pasta sure is worth it. The pasta was generously topped with loads of sauce, squids, fish slices, prawns and mussel. I took a bite (thanks P) and the pasta tasted pretty good. Al-dente, the fettucine was just right.

My aglio beef and mushrooms was a feast to the eyes..I mean, look at the colours! Simply gorgeous. Food Foundry certainly is very generous with their ingredients.. I had so much beef and mushrooms that every mouthful I take has it. Pasta was al-dente, the beef, slightly rare, so it was tender. Yum. Alas, I have my gripes too. Pepper. Yup, you read right, the pepper. My aglio should be light flavour, with garlic and olive oil teasing my palate. Somehow, the chef decided that pepper as the main star and after a few bites, all I could taste was pepper. Maybe this should be renamed pepper beef and mushroom pasta. :(. My advise? When you are ordering, tell them for less/ no pepper.. And, there should not be any chopped spring onions on my pasta!!

Was rather stuffed already, but Pariza told me that Food Foundry has a very special cake.. The crepe cake.So, though I know I shud stop, I decided to order this special cake.. I mean, crepe is crepe, cake is cake.. but a crepe cake?? Basically, this Mille Crepe cake (thats the name) is melt-in-your-mouth-paper-thin crepes being stacked to the height and size of a cake. And every layer is filled with light milk cream, which gives this delicious cake a creamy, smooth texture. I actually like this cake and its concept. Refreshing. I wonder how many crepes they took to make this cake? 50? For those who hates the taste of milk, no worries, they have other flavours like chocolate, strawberry and green tea. Finish this off with a cup of Illy coffee, ahhhh...just superb...:)

What Julianne thinks?

Hearty, creative and reasonable.

Food Foundry is located at BG-8, Happy Mansion(its an apartment), Jalan 17/13. Drive towards Seksyen 17(from Eastin), turn in at Shell (corner). Drive straight till you see traffic lights, turn left. Drive straight and turn right just before another Shell station. Turn at the second road on your left. You will see 6 to 10 Grill & Nasi Lemak. Food Foundry is at the other end.

Indian Rojak@Tmn Bahagia LRT

Looking at the title tells you where this rojak stall is :)

I know there are loads of rojak stalls everywhere and I must say that this stall may not be the best indian rojak, but if you are around this area, you can always give this rojak stall a try..

My bro brought me here years back and we went pass it recently.. seeing it makes us wanna makan.. so, over we went! It was a sweltering afternoon, but the stall was under some shady trees area which provided a good area to eat the rojak and slurp down the cooling cendol... I had my rojak without the sotong and I got a reasonable plate of rojak and it was drenched with kuah.. The usual ingredients were there.. the fried doughy stuff, the ones with grated coconut, taufu, beansprouts, chopped cucumber, egg and the keropok. I think the nicest thing in this rojak would be the keropok. Although the keropok is at the bottom of the pile, soaked with sauce, I was pleasantly surprise that its still crunchy by the time i munch my way there. And the shrimps gives the keropok a great flavour, goes so well with the sauce. The abundant and fresh beansprouts balanced out the rich rojak sauce very well, so you wont feel jelak by the end of your meal. Still, some may find the sauce a tad diluted, I guess it boils down to personal preference... :)

What Julianne thinks?

Fuss free and very local

This Indian rojak stall is located opposite Taman Bahagia Putra LRT station. Next to the small park, where the taxi stop is.

Kanna Curry House, PJ

Kanna Curry house is located in an area which is rather hidden near the bustling SS2. Sometimes, when I suggest to some frens who have never been to Kanna before, they would think I'm swearing coz Kanna sure sounds like something else..:p

It was a nice sunday afternoon, breezy, birds chirping happily on the trees and SF, amy and me decided to pop over to Kanna. Kanna has 3 areas, air-con and without in the restaurant and alfresco(under the trees) which provided shade and they have added cooler fans too to keep the customers happy.

Kanna serves banana leaf rice and rotis. They have a wide variety of dishes to select from and we finally settled for chicken masala, curry prawns and fried squids. I always enjoyed the fried squids topped with loads of fried onions. Really delicious. Kanna's version of fried squid is better than Nirvana's as it's without that weird red colouring and have more spices in its batter. Also, its cheaper that Raju's. kekekeke...The curry prawns was pretty good too, we had it piping hot and the prawns were fresh and sweet. The chicken masala was well marinated, but may be a tad salty for some. Quite spicy too, so it gives quite a kick to our palate on a lazy sunday :).

SF also likes Kanna's stir fried mushrooms and I have tasted their other dishes such as curry chicken, fried chicken, curry lamb and masala lamb which were all decent dishes too. Kanna is generous with their vegetables for the banana leaf rice, you can ask for additional top ups without extra charges. Great place to while away time on a lazy sunday with your family and frens and a cup of teh tarik...

What Julianne thinks?

Unhurried, relaxing and cheerful

Kanna Curry House is located at 27-29 Jalan 17/45, 46400 PJ. Drive from SS2 towards the Rothsman roundabout. When you see Nanking Vegetarian Restaurant on your left, turn left (main road) and follow the road. Turn right, the road goes slightly uphill and turn right again. Kanna is at the row of shops there.

Hing Ket Grill house, Klang

Amy recommended this place after she went with her frens months back....

So with much planning and lots of effort , WF, Elaine, Francis, Chris, Jem and me finally managed to try the food in Hing Ket recently :)
Hing Ket is located deep in Kampung Jawa (or least to me , it felt like it), at some dark corner which you can easily miss. But the moment you see Hing Ket, you will not miss it as it's packed with customers. Jem was late and we tried waiting... however, the temptation of seeing other people enjoying the food and the fabulous smell wafting through the air make us waiver and we decided to start dinner without him.. kekekekke
Guess we were really hungry by then, we ordered quite a lot.. grilled lamb, crabs, fish, squids and 3 types of stir fried noodles...

The cornflour noodles..

The very yummy fried tong fun

We got the noodles first.WF said that one of the noodles can only be found in Klang. I dont know the name, but I must say it's different. They say it's made of corn flour, hence the sticky chewy texture. Stir fried with dark soy sauce, this dish was a good start to the meal. Sadly though, the fried beehoon was not good :(. Bland and no ingredients. Boo. Luckily, the fried tong fun managed to salvaged the situation. Hing Ket's version is dry, frangrant, and does not clump together. One of the better fried tong fun I had tasted for ages, do remember to order this if you come over to Hing Ket.

Ok ok, enough of the noodles.. Lets talk about the main food.. the grills :) We got the grilled squids first. The squids were fresh, very springy in texture. The flesh was plump and thick, gives a great bite to it. For those who likes their grilled squid with sauce, you'll enjoy this. I personally prefer my grilled squid dry and without sauce though :p. The famous lamb was served next. And I must say this.. The lamb is to-die-for. It is so so good! The lamb was grilled to perfection, the meat tender, yet juicy. The sweetness of the meat was retained and not overpowered by the grill/smoke taste. Just a bite will send you to paradise! hahahha. Just lovely. The grilled stingray was pretty good too, crispy skin on the outside, but once you break the skin, the meat inside oozes sweet juice. Squeeze loads of lime on it, its really appetizing.

The much awaited crabs came last. Hing Ket serves different sizes crabs, we opted for the medium sized one coz we were rather stuffed already. We got the whole crab package, ie, its not cleaned (ie, the internals were not removed). Still, we attacked the crabs like no tomorrow. The crab's meat was very sweet, fresh I presumed. But some parts of the crabs were over-grilled, hence, turned out a tad dry. Chris said that there's another shop that serves better grilled crabs wor..

What Julianne thinks? Hidden, basic and decent.

Hing Ket is located at Lot 3569, Batu 3 1/4, Kampung Jawa, Klang. Tel: 03-33713913. Costs: Above average, 6 of us paid RM190. Amy's fren gave an explanation on getting to Hing Ket, hope this helps:

If you come from Fed. Highway, after toll, go straight. 1st viaduct, go up.At roundabout, turn left. (condos in front).When you reach traffic lights, take left. There'll be shoplots on the left.
Go straight. At traffic lights, turn right.You'll come to a T-junction, turn left there.
Travel down that road, quite a distance. Shop is on your right so you'll hv to keep a lookout (at a curvy part of the road).This shop is sandwiched btw a house and another shop.(the whole area is called kg. jawa)

Gerai makanan Kie Kee

I was out with my bro recently and it was approaching lunchtime.. As my bro is a foodie too, I bugged him to bring me somewhere new to makan...
So off we went and soon I realised that he was driving towards PJ Old town... towards the foodcourt next to the market.. Ceh! Eat yong tow foo is it? I dah pernah makan ler...

But that was not his intention. He wanted me to try the chicken rice at the foodcourt. Chicken rice? Hello bradder, can let me try something more interesting ar?

We settled for a table near the stall, which a long queue has formed for takeaways already. So, what so special about this chicken rice stall? Nampak biasa je. Still, my bro was keeping his mouth shut and just told me to wait and try the food.. The suspence is killing me..

Finally, we were served. We had 2 dishes, the chicken and roasted pork. The star is definitely the chicken. It's actually not the ubiquitous roasted chicken, although from far, it does looks like one. This chicken is actually braised and looks something like see yau kai (soy sauce chicken) but the sauce base is sweet and fragrant. For those who enjoy chicken skin, Kie Kee's version is plump and smooth. And the chicken meat is so so tender! It practically melts off the bones, it's very well marinated and well, its just pure yummilicious :)

The roast pork was pretty decent too, the skin crispy and the meat, tender and not too salty. Well, of course its not as good as the very famous roast pork at Pudu area la(i think the shop is called wong mei kei) but boleh tahan. But if I had to choose, I will still take the chicken :p

What Julianne thinks?

Surprising, succulent and enjoyable.

Gerai Makan Kie Kee (stall no 41) is located inside Medan Selera (foodcourt) next to the PJ old town market. Opposite the bus station.

Yuen Fatt mooncake

Since mooncake festival is around the corner, might as well post something on mooncakes right? :p

I don't recall when Yuen Fatt mooncake became such a big hit in my hometown, but I would guess maybe a good 15 years ago? Every year, when Mooncake festival looms close, the Yuen Fatt mooncake craze would usually reach to an euphoria in my hometown. People literally fight ( yup, down to fisticuffs and all) just to get the once-a-year-die-die-must-buy Shanghai mooncakes. This year was no exception and customers come from Singapore, KL and various part of Johor just to get their hands on the delectable mooncakes..

Aiyo, just shanghai mooncakes wat, what so special about it?? Yup, I thought the same too, but guess I get to eat it every year, I do take for granted this unique mooncake from Kluang....

Yuen Fatt shanghai mooncake is oblong shape (like a lean rugby ball to me) and the skin is somewhat like butter cookies. The near-melt-in-your-mouth pastry wraps the traditional mooncake ingredients such as lotus paste, tau sar aka redbean paste and lotus paste with single or double yolk(nothing fancy like the flavours you find in KL). I find the paste just right, not sweet at all and complements well with the skin. My favourite is the single yolk, and the mooncake looks really cute as the centre bulges up with the yolk in there :p. Their mooncakes are handmade, baked daily and is without perservatives, which means you need to makan everything within 4-5 days.

My friends in KL absolutely enjoy this tasty morsel, mostly because of it's great taste, unique texture and shape. Plus the fact you have to wait for a whole year to the next mooncake fest... :)

What Julianne thinks?

Unconventional and wonderful

Yuen Fatt is located at 39 (Ground Floor), Jalan Haji Manap Nordin, Kluang Baru, Kluang. Do ask the locals for location coz its a tad difficult for me to explain :p. Price RM13-19 and RM16-RM22(for the conventional mooncake). Oh, btw, even if you are in Kluang now, dont need to look for their shanghai mooncakes.. I believe they have stopped producing it already.. try it next year..

Mermaid or monster?

I got this email from Alicia just awhile ago.. it was freaky and bizarre at the same time that I cant help but to write a post on this...
Alicia forwarded a 'curiosity killed the cat' email aptly name " Mermaid found in Pulau Besar, Melaka". WTF?!? For real ar?? Our very own Melaka has sigthings on such lovely mythical creatures? Visions of beautiful, shimmering mermaids ala Little Mermaid flitted through my head as I clicked to open the email..

WTF is that?? This surely is Not a mermaid right?? Its more like an alien with a fish tail! Yikes!! And its swimming in Selat Melaka? OMG!!! This is so freaky!

Obviously curiosity got the better of me and feeling really certain that no such thing will ever swim in the Straits of Malacca (would have died from the water pollution) I did a quick google on this. And in less than 10 seconds, I got my answer to the source of the "mermaid"...

This 'dead mermaid' was auctioned in Ebay.. Ok, so from freaky, it's now bizarre and there are actually people auctioning for it. Wonder if Ripley's did a bid on this....

Tao Xiang claypot fish head noodles

ES told us about this fish head noodles at Jalan Tiong Nam recently. With the directions that ES gave, I thought he was bringing us to the fish head noodles shop near Wisma Sime Darby...

CW and I happily made our way over to Wisma Sime Darby and we started walking and walking and walking.. What seems like an eternity later, we turned into a quiet road off Jalan Raja Laut and we see this quaint little shop tucked in a corner. But by golly, was it pack!

We quickly settled for the first available seats and ES ordered claypot fish head noodles for 3 and bak kut teh for 2. The wait was not too long and soon we were served with this large claypot brimming with fish head and other goodies... Tao Xiang's version of fish head noodles differs slightly from the usual. It came packed with 'extra' ingredients of fish balls, la la and yam. Yes, yam. I donno why its there, but its there. The usual ingredients such as sliced preserved veg, taufoo, tomatoes and veg are there. The result? You get a sweet tasting soup that's rather addictive. The fish head can be rather over fried, as some came out dry and hard. The fish ball and la la were yummy though.

The bak kut teh was served shortly after, but it paled in comparison to the fish head. The soup was ok, had quite a strong "foo kum" taste to it.. But the meat..sigh.. I dont think the meat was boiled long enough, it was kinda hard for me to chew and that is not a good version of bkt.. I wont order this the next time I pop by..

What Julianne thinks?

Very Malaysian, simple but satisfying.

I dont really have the address of Tao Xiang. In fact, they dont even have a signboard in English for its shop. So, i took a picture instead. Drive down Jalan Raja Laut, pass Wisma Sime Darby on your left. Drive down and turn left ( one road before KFC cross junction). You will see the above shop..

(ps: I did get rather thirsty after lunch, wonder if its from the soup.. is it full of msg??)