Yu Jia Village Seafood, Jalan Imbi, KL

Hello all, I'm back! Did you guys miss me? hehehe

Had a very tiring time shopping in Bangkok, shall have updates on that soon! (the food, not my shopping :p)

Thought I should write about this before I start on Bangkok :)

Vincent took the trouble to arrange dinner for a group of us at Yu Jia some time ago. We were ushered into a room, seated and food was soon served. Stephanie had pre ordered some dishes for us (some dishes were not in the menu)..

First up, soup.

We had the old cucumber soup..

The soup was smooth, the ingredients fresh which gave the soup a very sweet flavour. Unlike the usual meat, dried oysters/ cuttlefish in the soup combo, Yu Jia's version was filled with seafood- there were fresh shrimps, julienned dried scallops, cuttlefish....Thwarts the flavour of the soup, but in a good way. The old cucumber, steamed for a long time, was soft and mushy, just the way I like it.

Next was the deep fried prawn appetizer..

The prawn was wrapped in fish paste and deep fried. The springy prawn and slightly salty fish paste goes very well with the honey wasabi dip. The head of the prawn was not spared either, it was stuffed to the brim with fish paste and deep fried. Pretty good too.

The steamed garoupa with hairy gourd was an interesting dish...

(sorry I didn't get to take the picture of the whole fish, it was quickly whisked away for serving before I could take a snap)

I had my reservations when my serve was placed on the table..The fresh garoupa was steamed with thickly sliced mushrooms, hairy gourd and preserved vegetables. The combination came out surprisingly good, each ingredient complemented the other beautifully.

The braised sea cucumber with abalone sauce was next...

This dish was excellent; the sea cucumber was bouncy, the stuffing was flavoursome and the sauce was gorgeous. Velvety, scrumptious...my fave dish for that night.

Stir fried mix vegetables..This dish was ok. Vegetables was fresh.

Steamed rice with chicken and waxed sausage Akin to claypot chicken rice, this was an individual serve. You can add the amount of sauce that suits your palatte.

For desserts, I decided to have the boiled hasma with longan and red dates.

I find the longan too overpowering, the mild hasma taste was blanketed by it. Think a plain rock sugar, dates and hasma combo would be better for me :)
We paid about RM90 per head (or RM95, thereabouts). Overall, good quality chinese food that I don't mind revisiting in the future.

Yu Jia Village Seafood is located at 51, Jalan Barat, Off Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-21439966.

Away.....

Hey guys, I'll be away for a short break.......
Will be back next week for more food posts!

Till then, makan banyak banyak ye? :D

驿站, Tanjong Pagar MRT Station, Singapore

Ok, I should have posted the restaurant name in English, but I cant seem to find any English name for the eatery...Maybe there's none?

Anyways, another quick lunch near my Singapore office and we came across a small eating area at Tanjong Pagar MRT station. This taiwanese eatery seems rather tempting, at least it smells good.

We were quickly seated and ordering was prompt...

Decided to share the "Ah Ma" pancake (SGD3)

It's dough pancake with loads of shredded vegetables such as carrots, beansprouts, spring onions and a sprinkling of dried shrimps. Have it warm and smear it with some sambal, this is pretty tasty..

ES, Ian and Al had the Ru Rou (braised pork) rice (SGD5.80)

Looks great, the pork was braised until tender and it literally melts in the mouth. The sauce was fragrant with chinese herbs, slightly gelatinous from the fats from the pork.. Sinful, but delicious nonetheless. Served with beancurd and egg which was also braised and fully absorbed the flavours of the sauce.

I had the Taiwan Kong Rou rice (SGD5.80)Basically the same as the Ru Rou rice, instead of thick sliced pork, I got julienned pork which was also braised in the same addictive sauce. Mixed with the rice..the blend of melted pork and fat and warm rice was just heavenly. Very scrumptious.

Had some snacks..

Teriyaki chicken and teriyaki pork stick (SGD1.50 each)

The meat was quite tender but I find the marination lacking. Something like teriyaki sauce with salt and chili powder.

驿站 is located at 120 Maxwell Road, Tanjong Pagar MRT Station B1-30/30A, Singapore.

Whitley Road Big Prawn Mee, Lorong Telok, Singapore

So dinner time was nearing and we were all really hungry from the extremely bad lunch...

Before I could even explore any where nearby for yummies, ES gathered all of us and more or less commanded..

We are having prawn mee...

Everyone was excited, and we were soon walking to this makan place (yeah, it's rather near our hotel) that purportedly serves good prawn mee..

It was already packed when we reached; luckily we managed to get seats. I looked around this small eatery and noted that it had a Makansutra stamp of approval already. So, this meal would definitely be better than lunch....

Whitley Road Prawn Mee had an interesting array of prawn mee choices...

You can have prawn mee served with small/ medium/ large prawns or have it with ribs and prawns or have it with some pork/ pig parts (liver, pig's tail).

Mine was pork ribs prawn mee..

The soup was sweet, from hours of boiling prawn shells and pork bones. To add some spice to it, we didnt get the usual sambal; we were given chilli powder to heat things up. Well, it did give us spicier noodles, but I'm still a sambal-in-my-prawn-mee fan. The prawns were very fresh; the meat was springy and sweet. The pork ribs were tender, but most of the porky sweetness were gone...think it went all into the soup boiling process.

ES decided to have pork ribs noodles..

Not surprising since he's the porkman..haha. Served in the same soup base as prawn mee, his bowl was filled with quite a lot of pork ribs. Oh, he was really fast with the noodles, I took this picture after he started on his noodles. He looked really satisfied when he was done with his noodles. Not a single drop of soup left in his bowl..

Overall, pretty good prawn mee at Whitley's. Nonetheless, call me biase, but I still prefer Malaysia's version of prawn mee :p

Whitley Road Big Prawn Mee is located at 18 Lorong Telok (off North Canal Road). Tel: 65336578. Closed on sunday & public hols.

Hawker stalls, Cecil Street, Singapore

I was off to Singapore for work immediately after Lang Tengah..
Guess I was re-energised and burn out almost immediately :(. No fun at all.

As we were in the middle of the cement jungle, we just ate at the nearest food place we saw...

So at the junction of Cecil Street and Boon Tat street , there were some hawker stalls and it was really packed! We figured food should be ok; well, at least it was crowded.

I ordered stir fried hor fun

This must be the oiliest hor fun I have ever eaten! The hor fun was thick and chewy, the ingredients for the stir fry was crab sticks, bean sprouts and eggs. Tasted like plastic. phleh. It's so oily that I could not finish it :(

Boss has bee hoon...She thought it was stir fried bee hoon, but it turned out to be bee hoon in some tomato sauce base thick soup. It was rather sweet, but she said it was still better than mine :(. Then she sighs and said she missed Malaysia's food..hehe

Diha decided to have bakso (beef noodles soup)

I tried the soup, it was ok. She was not very happy with it as she said the materials were not fresh and the beef balls were not very nice. She didnt finish her bowl of noodles too.

ES had fried rice which I didnt get to take a picture of. Though he finished the rice in 5 minutes, he said it was bad.

Overall, lunch was bad for few of us, while the remaining was just average.

Food was ordered from Dudu cafe and Ain's Kitchen, located at the cross junction of Cecil Street and Boon Tat Street.

Busy... and dieting!

You may have noticed that I have not been posting as regularly as I usually do. Part of it is that I have been incredibly busy with lots of freelance work that is both fun and exciting (and it pays!) The other part is that my husband and I have been on the south Beach Diet Phase I. As a diabetic my husband was told to lose some weight and his doctor recommended the SBD, and we all know it is easier to diet together. Besides, over the last 10 years my weight has slowly increased, and at 5 ' 1", the extra 15 pounds I have been carrying makes me look about 6 inches shorter and a foot wider, so this was an excuse (opportunity) for me to get back into a single digit size.

I am sure that I don't need to tell you, though, that any diet does not usually lend itself to blog posts and photos of lamb chops, and mashed potatoes or homemade ice cream. And here at the peak of summer bounty, watermelon, and corn on the cob and fresh peaches are verboten (at least for the remainder of Phase I). So I guess now you aren't surprised that I haven't felt like posting about food.

However, I will not be cheating since in 2 weeks I have already lost 6 pounds, so I need to find the bright side. Luckily, I have the inspiring Kalyn's Kitchen with lots of ideas for enjoying food that is healthy and will help stabilize blood sugar and keep your body from storing fat. And frankly, staying on Phase I without eating the same thing every day takes more creativity than cooking with foie gras and sweetbreads.

So what am I missing (besides 6+ pounds)? Bread and crackers are the thing I would still kill for. Watermelon and corn on the cob at their peak are quintessential summer to me and so I am really missing them. I miss rice, and noodles, and of course, potatoes. Let's face it, I am a carb addict, and I am really having a hard time going "cold turkey". It is particularly difficult during this first phase since fruits like raspberries and strawberries are also not allowed, but I know that will not always be the case.

So what am I eating? Eggs, lots of eggs, both real whole eggs and egg substitute cooked with veggies and cheese, soft boiled, and baked in canadian bacon. Luckily for me I like eggs. I use avocado to dress up a salad, or on the side of my eggs, since avocado has a rich, luxurious taste that seems decadent even if it is healthy fat! Lots and lots of veggies - I have made my eggplant parmesan since it has very few carbs, as well as my chorizo, kale and white beans. A shrimp salad served in a half an avocado is delicious on a hot day. A hamburger without the bun brings a taste of traditional summer to the diet, and flank steak served with a salad and mashed cauliflower, is great when you feel like meat and potatoes. Snack time is most difficult for me , but I have been introduced to Laughing Cow cheese with celery and pistachios in the shell satisfy that "hand to mouth" craving I often get in the evening. If I am dying for something sweet I can have sugar free Jello, or a sugar-free Fudgesicle.

Tonight I am trying out a recipe for pasta-free lasagna, and I will let you know how it works, and hopefully will feel inspired to post more as I add back foods to my diet and drop pounds, and look for new and exciting ways to eat healthy without feeling deprived.

Warong Corner Banggol, Kuala Terengganu

Though we had the fantastic nasi kerabu for late breakfast, we were hungry again by lunch time. Why am I perpetually hungry when I'm holidaying? :p

Our initial plan of having nasi dagang were dashed by a heavy downpour and we ended up at Warong Corner Banggol.

Looks pretty promising as the warong was packed with customers..after getting our seats, we decided to get our lunch.. can either opt for nasi berlauk (rice with our choice of dishes), noodles or goreng (ie, nasi/mee/kuay teow goreng).

I noticed the lauk area were rather packed, so I decided to try the dishes...

The dish on the right was daging masak merah which was superb! The meat, though just slightly hard, was marinated very well and the kuah was amazing. Very tasty indeed. The middle dish, timun gulai was also very scrumptious. The cucumber, though cooked in gulai, was extremely juicy...every bite I took was like biting into watermelon. The dish on the left, well, I took coz it was very popular and everyone seemed to be taking it. It was goat's intestine and the gamey flavour was so, so pungent and vile that I nearly puked after my first mouthful.. what the...I didn't touch this dish after that.

Amy decided to have noodles instead, hence the assam laksa..Their version was with clear soup, served with lots of shredded vegetables and a hard boil egg. It was actually pretty spicy, but I find the fish stock rather lacking. No ommphh :(. Poor amy didn't finished her assam laksa as it was too spicy for her..

Warong Corner Banggol is located at the corner of Jalan Kampung Tiong, Kuala Terengganu. In the middle of town, same road (opposite) as Alliance Bank.

Norra Nasi Kerabu dan Ayam Bakar, Kuala Terengganu

Aaah, yesss.... I am back!

Had a wonderful break at Lang Tengah, I simply adore the beach there...lovely!! It's my second time there but am missing it already :(. Oh well, next year then..

So we left the island and were at Merang.

On the way to Kuala Terengganu, we stopped by Norra Nasi Kerabu, where it's very popular amongst the local..It was packed when we reached.. that was 10:30 am on monday. Wished my monday mornings were like that every week too!

Norra's a very fuss free stall set-up... they only serve nasi kerabu with ayam/ daging bakar.. they do serve other lauk (erm, there were 2 dishes), but patrons tend to ignore those and go straight for nasi kerabu..

I had the nasi kerabu with ayam bakar..The mak cik was very generous with the rice, chopped ulam (raw vegetables) and kerisik (fried shredded coconut). Smothered with their sweet sambal tumis/ budu like sauce, all you need to do is to mix all the ingredients well. The overall flavour was on the sweet side (quite norm in Terengganu and Kelantan), it was very good nonetheless. Every bite was filled with breath taking flavours from fresh ulam and sweet kerisik. And the ayam bakar was simply lip smacking! Well marinated, extremely juicy and with hints of smokey flavour; the ayam bakar complements the nasi kerabu beautifully.

Down the brekkie with a cup of hot teh tarik.....absolute bliss...

All for RM3.50.

I tried asking for the address, all pak cik could tell me was,

Jalan ni, kalau terus, ke Kuantan...bertentangan tu ke Kota Bahru la...

Erm, hope it helps :p