Tsim Chai Kee Noodle, Central, Hong Kong

As you have read in my earlier post, I was at Hong Kong for 9 days..I will be covering mainly food in Central Hong Kong as I stayed there and had most of my meals over that area.

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We were just in time for lunch when we reached Central, Hong Kong.

It was very sweet of SF to meet us for lunch during her workday, it must have been very hectic for her. Thanks dear!

Our first meal?

Wantan mee with shrimp wantan of course :)

A plate of veggies to start the meal.

Some kangkung with a generous dollop of sauce ( fermented beancurd based) Fresh and sweet, the kang kung in HK is finer is texture and size.

SF had shrimp wantans with hor fun (flat rice noodles), HKD16

Most of the locals add in vinegar and chili paste (lat jiu yau) for stronger flavours..

I had wantan noodles with shrimp wantan and fish balls (HKD21)The wantan noodles, as expected, was extremely springy. Lovely to sink my teeth in. The shrimp wantan was filled with fresh, sweet prawns. And I was rather amazed with the size of the fish balls. Larger than table tennis balls, it's less springy than the usual fishballs; had a slight orange peel fragrance to it. Quite different in taste and you can feel the bit of coarseness in the texture. Tasty but I prefer the shrimp wantans.

This restaurant only serves it's noodles with 3 types of ingredients, shrimp wantans, fishballs and beef slices.

Tsim Chai Kee Noodle is located at 98, Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong.

I'm Back!!

Helloooo all :)

Am back from my break.... hope you guys didn't miss me too much? :p

Thanks Mr Chardonnay for filling in when I was away, hope you enjoyed this short stint as guest writer :).

Have been busy cleaning and clearing my stuff...so shall just post a few pictures on the food and sights in HK. Was away to Hong Kong for 9 days..yes, the same reaction I get from most of my friends are What?!? 9 days in Hong Kong? What is there to do for 9 days?

Especially when I have been to Hong Kong before, some of my friends think I'm just wasting time in HK..You think so?

Hahaha..and no, I didnt shop myself broke :p

Well, there's more than just shopping in Hong Kong......

Of course there's good food..

And more good food

My good friend SF (my ex hand model for my food pictures :p), brought us for a hiking trail up to Victoria peak....

Very scenic and enjoyable trail. Sort of a surprise that we are so close to nature staying in the middle of Central! :)

Spent nearly a day at Lantau..
Took a cable ride up to view Tian Tan Buddha, walked around and went to Citygate for shopping (ladies, this place is factory outlet for many brands...Polo RL, Esprit, Club 21, Timberland, Nike, Adidas, Puma, Quicksilver, Joy&Peace, Sisley etc..to name a few). Located just next to Tung Chung station.

And of course getting immersed in the sea of people busy shopping, shopping and shopping..At Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok etc. Not forgetting the famous Victoria Harbour at night for the light and sound show, while strolling along Avenue of Stars.

A day trip to Macau for a change of environment....

From the packed-with-tourist Senado Square, we walked along the old street leading to Ruins of the Church of St Paul while sampling all the local fare. A further climb up to Monte Fort for a view of Macau. Popped over to Venetian to catch the jaw dropping act in Cirque while finding the replica of Venice rather impressive..

Decided to spend a day at Hong Kong Disneyland as it's the month of Halloween.... Disneyland had the Halloween special hence there were glow in the dark parade, the shops were lighted in eerie blue with jack's face lingering on the shop's facade. Even Sleeping Beauty's castle was 'covered' with spider webs. Hehehe. Very nice.

So, that's what I did during my time in Hong Kong :). Not too packed, just nice eh? Shall post on the food I had in Hong Kong soon, be patient! :p

Foodbuzz 24-24-24:Fall, Family, Friends, and Food- Camp Cooking in the Mountains

If you have read this blog much you know that camping is a big part of our family life, and so when Foodbuzz solicited unique meals as part of their 24-24-24 promotion,it should come as no surprise that I thought a meal in the mountains would be just the ticket. Normally we are tent campers,but one of the cabins at Crabtree Falls Campground came available and my husband told them that we would take it - believe me, it was a decision that made all the difference. The end of October in the mountains is usually a little cool so we were prepared, packing layers, and our zero degree sleeping bags, getting ready for our part of the 24Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs at Foodbuzz. Our friends were driving all the way from North Carolina (a six-hour trek for them) and we expected them to arrive between 10 and 11 PM. We settled in, unpacked, with the girls organizing and setting up the beds in the cabin, and we set up our friends' tent. We had some great cheese and a baguette, my husband made a fire and we settled in, enjoying the beauty of the woods, the babbling of the Tye River (at uncharacteristically low levels) and the changing foliage.

The 24 we weren't prepared for was the nearly 24 hours of rain that started about 8:30 PM on Friday. Starting as a spitting rain, it became a steady drip and then a downpour that chased us to the warmth of the cabin, where my husband conked out, and the girls and I played Pictionary Man with the rain beating mercilessly on the roof as we waited for Julie, Anthony and Lilly to get there. Finally they arrived and we convinced them to sleep in the loft of the cabin instead of unpacking into the tent in the rain (which was a deluge by this time!). Lilly, who is six,climbed in with the girls, and her parents settled onto an air mattress in the loft and after some giggling and joking, finally there was no sound but measured, regular breathing and the beating of the rain on the roof.

Saturday started with more rain, and so it was time to improvise. The cabin had a narrow porch with a bench, which became the sheltered place where I cooked breakfast starting with a big pot of coffee -I had bought a new Coleman percolator for this trip, and in the damp cold and steady rain, the sound of coffee percolating was a particularly welcome one. As if the weather wasn't enough of a challenge, a problem in the pumphouse meant that there was no water - for toilets, showers or washing dishes.

About midday, suffering a bit from cabin fever (literally!) we headed to Saunder's Brothers Orchard to get apples for my Foodbuzz dessert. We have visited there often on our trips to the mountains, but the kids were thrilled that they had farm animals and they took turns holding them while we shopped for some apples and local cheese. It was perfect break from the relentless rain for both the kids and the grown-ups. And with bags of apples in our car, as we headed up the mountain we saw something unbelieveable, and welcome... a patch of blue sky!!

Once we returned, I started preparing my Foodbuzz dinner. Now the most important part of preparing meals in the wilds is good planning. I selected the menu in advance - a Chicken Chili based on a recipe I found on the Whole Foods site, Cheese Cornbread baked on the top of the campstove in my cast iron skllet, and for dessert, gingerbread with apples and caramel. Since I was making a new recipe, I used the recipe to check that I had all ingredients as I packed. When you are 30 minutes up the mountain on winding roads from the nearest supermarket it makes sense to check and double check. I had never made a chicken chili before, but with both ground turkey and chunks of chicken thigh meat, lots of onions, pinto beans, corn and a variety of spices, this chili was a big hit with just the right amount of heat. Served with grated cheese, sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro and avocado, there were seconds all around and a big bowl sent up to Dave, the campground owner, who had worked all day getting the water up and running. The chili was just what the doctor ordered as the air cleared and turned cold.

Dessert is an old fall camping favorite, a great excuse to use Saunder's delicious apples, in a hot caramel sauce and whipped cream. I made the gingerbread in muffin tins and carried them with us, and prepared the apples on the campstove by lantern light. Spicy, sweet, rich and fruity- is there a better dessert?

Even with crappy weather, and a few challenges, there is nothing like a great meal with good company in breath-taking scenery, and our Foodbuzz dinner, served to the sounds of the now-rushing waters of the Tye River, and with the crimson and rust backdrop of an Appalachian October. No five star restaurant in the Michelin guide can even touch it!

Campfire Churkey Chili (Serves 8)

1 large onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound of ground turkey
5 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1 can of white corn drained
1/2 cup salsa (I used a medium salsa)
1 can of pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can tomato sauce
1 chipotle chili, chopped fine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon bittersweet paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt to taste (I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil, and add chicken and turkey to brown, breaking up meat and add spices. Once meat is brown add corn, beans, salsa and tomato sauce. Cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and chopped cilantro and avocado.

My Secret Mission- A Foodbuzz Assignment

Something is in the works and it has to do with Fall, Fun, Food and Friends. I will posting on Sunday, so stop in here or on Foodbuzz to find out what my mission is and if I chose to accept it!!!

Champ's by Mr Chardonnay

This place obviously does not need any further introduction as it is highly reputable for its "luxurious" version of the Penang Prawn Mee (known as Hokkien Mee in Penang). Luxurious because it comes with huge chunks of pork ribs, cooked nicely in a superior prawn base soup with a premium pricing of RM 21! Anyhow, Smooth Aji and I, who both grew up in Penang decided to stroll over to Champ's yesterday night to try out their other Penang delicacies instead. For the uninformed, Champ's is located on the 1st floor of CenterPoint Shopping Centre at Bandar Utama.

Smooth Aji decided to have the Fried Flat Noodles (more commonly known as Char Koay Teow) whilst yours truly decided to have the Soya Sauce Pork Stew (otherwise known as Tau Eu Bak) which is a traditional Hokkien home made dish. Since I am still pretty new to this whole food blogging thing, I forgot to bring a camera with me and hence the photos appended with this write-up are from my mobile. Apologies in advance if the picture quality does not do justice to the actual food :P.

The "Char Koay Teow" was definitely loaded with an array of ingredients. In fact, I commented to Smooth Aji that the ingredients seemed more than the flat noodle itself, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Now, both Smooth Aji and I think that the best "Char Koay Teow" is the one dished out by the notorious "Goggles Lady" at Lorong Selamat, Penang, so we do have a certain level of expectation on our "Char Koay Teow". This one is seriously quite decent by our standards, the flat noodles were skillfully fried with the flurry of ingredients- heaps of cockles, prawns, shredded crab meat, bean sprouts, egg, chives and chinese sausages (lap cheong). Of course, the chef also used quite a substantial amount of lard which definitely enhances the flavour of this dish but it is something that Smooth Aji and I carefully tried to avoid from swallowing. The unique ingredient that we discovered that differentiated this "Char Koay Teow" with the regular ones is that it comes with "Chai Por" which is the hokkien phrase for pickled radish , commonly found in fried egg dishes to go with Teow Chew porridge as well as fried rice flour cakes ("Char Koay Kark"), which is another Penang Hawkers' treasure. The version at Champ's probably cannot compete with the one cooked by the "Goggles Lady" as it was fried over a gas stove whilst the quintessential art of the "Goggles Lady" lies with the fact that she painstakingly fries her "Char Koay Teow' over charcoal stove in individual portions. Nevertheless, the "Char Koay Teow" at Champ's is definitely worth a try.

Next up, was the "Tau Eu Bak" which is not commonly available in Restaurants, even in Penang as it is very much a cook-at-home kind of dish for the Hokkien people. They were very generous with the chunks of pork and one good thing for me was, there were minimal visible fat on the pork in the stew (however, most people might disagree with me as I noticed a fair bit of people do enjoy the fatty pork when it comes to this dish). This dish typically comes with whole Chinese mushrooms and hard boiled egg and the one at Champ's is no exception. Two other must have ingredients in cooking this dish are whole garlics and whole white peppers. Though I detected the taste of garlic and pepper, I think the dish would have been a touch better if there were more whole garlics and peppers. Nevertheless, I would still say that this dish is definitely tasty by general standards.

The "Tau Eu Bak" was served with a plate of piping hot rice, accompanied by a simple cucumber salad (dressed with chili paste and lime juice) and "sambal belacan". The "sambal belacan" adds an interesting twist to the meal and makes the entire dish even more appetizing. However, I did not like the cucumber salad as somehow the dressing did not quite complement the cucumbers and furthermore, the cucumbers did not taste fresh either.

As the portions were generally huge to justify the premium pricing (RM 17 for the "Char Koay Teow" and RM 21 for the "Tau Eu Bak"), both Smooth Aji and I were full to the brim at the end of the dinner, coupled with the fact that we decided to wash down the food with two mugs of beer each :). My verdict is that both dishes definitely warrants a try and rates quite highly in terms of authenticity and taste -this coming from a Penangite himself!

Paolo's @ Sure Pizza by Mr Chardonnay

Catching up with old friends over a good meal is always fun and last Friday, 17th Oct was such a day, coupled with the fact that it will also be my very first attempt at doing a write up of what I will be eating! I met up with Sweet Lychee and Confused Kidz at Sure Pizza for dinner and drinks, which is located at the border of Plaza Sri Hartamas & Plaza Damas. I recalled eating there once about 2 years ago and the food was fair. Sweet Lychee said her current boss goes there quite often and since he is a picky eater, we decided to check it out. We perused through the menu and there was a decent selection of pizzas, pastas, meat and seafood dishes. We ordered the recommended Pane Aglio & Mozzarella ( which is basically garlic pizza bread with cheese) and then decided to play it safe with the potato salad for starters.

The mozzarella garlic pizza bread and cheese was not quite what we had expected, we thought it would be like an enhanced version of the regular garlic bread but instead we got a pizza with cheese and chives! Sweet Lychee took a bite and said that it tasted quite flat though palatable. I tend to agree. Confused Kidz said it was like a Margarita Pizza without tomatoes. I actually was rather disappointed for a dish that came highly recommended and somehow, the baked Mozzarella did not come as aromatic as I had hoped for.

The "safe choice"Potato Salad was did rather well in my view. The potato was done just right, not too hard nor soft and the dish was appropriately chilled, just the way how a good salad should be. There were generous amount of chopped onions and blanched carrot bits, all nicely tossed together with mayonnaise and Italian herbs. The amount of dressing applied was sufficient and not overbearing and this made the dish both appetizing and refreshing.

Confused Kidz wanted to try something from the "Daily Special" list and she immediately spotted the Liver Pate, which Sweet Lychee and I readily agreed. The pate portion was generous and it was served with medium size sliced bread, toasted to perfection, both in terms of taste and colour. Confused Kidz liked the pate as it was very flavourful. While both Sweet Lychee and I agreed that the pate was rich in terms of flavour, we found it a tad dry and brittle. I would have preferred it to be more moist, as bits of it kept falling off my toast as I tried to spread it.

Of course, with liver pate, the perfect accompaniment in my opinion would be a nice glass of red. The wine list was rather limited, much to my dismay but in the end, we settled for 2003 Azure Bay Cabernet Sauvignon. It was an easy drinking wine with hints of plum and cherry and I felt that it complemented the food that we had quite well, though it lacked body and aroma.

After ordering 3 starters and since the Pane Aglio & Mozzarella surpassed our expectations in terms of serving size, we shared one main between us and settled for another highly recommended dish, the Fettuccine Con Pollo e Gamberettti. It is basically a pasta dish- flat noodles with chicken, prawns, garlic and crushed peppercorn in cream and a touch of tomato. I found this to be quite good as the fettuccine was well cooked which is just the way I prefer my pastas to be cooked. Feel free to disagree but "Al Dente" pastas somehow never quite appealed to me. The sauce was fairly creamy yet not overbearing and is slightly tangy and the crushed peppercorn added a nice touch to the overall taste. The mint leaves served together with the fettuccine also enhanced the overall flavour of the dish and they were rather generous with the prawns and chicken meat. By any Italian joint standards, the prawns can be considered rather fresh (of course, one can never compare with Chinese restaurants).

The total bill came to RM251, mainly contributed by the the bottle of red which was RM149 :). The overall verdict for me? It is exactly how I felt 2 years ago- fairly decent Italian food at standard pricing which is nicely positioned as a neighbourhood joint for family and friends.

Off for holidays!

Hey guys!

I'll be taking a break to visit my good friend SF (my ever trusty hand model for my blog :p) in Hong Kong!

As I'll only be back during the Deepavali break, another foodie friend of mine, Mr Chardonnay, has kindly agreed to be my guest writer.

So, until then, remember, Eat loads and Eat Happy!!

Barra Cafe, Ampang

I was back in PJ afterwork when Bollywood Queen asked me to accompany her to Ampang to collect something. Since traffic was perfect earlier on (it was the monday after raya break), I thought it will be a smooth trip to Ampang but I was so wrong! Traffic turned 360 degrees and the jam was horrific..

After collecting her stuff, we finally managed to pop over to Barra Cafe at about 9 plus..hmmm, is that dinner or supper?

Barra Cafe is located at a rather new business area, most of the shops are unoccupied. Surprisingly, customers were still trickling in to Barra at about 10 pm..

We were famished and luckily for us, food was served quite promptly..

For snacks,we had some Keropok Lekor (RM4)

Barra's version is small and cute. Crispy exterior with flavourful gummy interior, we find this very tasty indeed.

Bollywood Queen wanted some Fried Keow Teoy (RM4.50)

Very colourful and looks scrumptious, this kuay teow is cooked ala malay style; ie. wet kuay teoy. The taste is decent, but I'm a bigger fan of the chinese style kuay teow.

I opted for Barra Fried Rice (RM6)

The fried rice was full of wok hei and had ample ingredients. Delicious. Served with ayam rempah (fried chicken with spices), which I find somewhat dry. Oh, it's also served with a lip smacking dollop of sambal (hidden by the fried rice)

Though I was stuffed, Bollywood Queen claimed that our meal was not complete without sampling the Fried Banana Bali Style (RM5)

I never did see this dessert when I was in Bali, so I didn't mind trying. The bananas were not the sweet, ripe ones, but the solid, slightly sour ones. Hence the reason it was served with gula melaka and desiccated coconut. It was a decent dessert, nothing thrilling about it to me.

Barra Cafe also serve a variety of western dishes at very reasonable prices. Their specialty dish was the Barramundi (hence the name Barra Cafe) and we heard that Barra Cafe is a project of Jabatan Perikanan; thus the seafood served here are pretty fresh.

Barra Cafe is located at Lot49-51, Jalan Pandan Prima, Dataran Pandan Prima 2, 57100 KL. Located at the area behind Tesco Ampang. To be exact, it's behind Petronas MRR2 Ampang.

Foodbuzz Publisher Community Launches

Being part of the food blogging community is in and of itself, very exciting. I have received emails and comments from Scotland, Italy, Turkey. I have made friends from sea to shining sea and beyond. I have read about new restaurants, new recipes and discovered new cuisines and ingredients. But being part of the Foodbuzz community has been not only fun, but has added a new dimension to food blogging. For those of you who are not familiar with Foodbuzz, it is a blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world. At its official launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.

I am proud to have been a Foodbuzz featured publisher for awhile at a site that recognizes the power of food bloggers and validates their culinary experiences. Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews. Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions. Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors. Need to find a restaurant in a strange city or a recipe for the summer bumper crop of zucchini? Check out Foodbuzz. If you love food, it is the place where other food lovers gather!

Congratulations to the Foodbuzz launch team, and to all the rest of the Foodbuzz community for making this a place where foodies want to be....and keep buzzing!

Yong Tau Foo and Chee Cheong Fun, Jalan Kancil, Pudu

I was at Pudu area rather early with Jessica and boss..

Jessica used to work in this area and she suggested to have breakfast at this old school stall that has been serving an array of 'chinese economy breakfast' (keng jai) for years..

Jessica was real quick with her selection...Her plate was filled with YFT, CCF and curry sauce. She looks so satisfied eating this dish, she said she missed eating it since she moved office..

I had a selection of YTF to go with my plate of CCF too..Alas, I was not as impress as Jessica. The YTF were mostly overfried and dried. The brinjal was too oil. Only the plain CCF was ok with the usual sweet spicy sauce.

Jessica ordered something rather interesting..A type of sweet soup, it boiled papaya and pumpkin thong sui. Not much flavour in the thong sui unless you eat the mild flavoured papaya and pumpkin cubes..

Boss wanted to have the bak chang... Looks good with quite a lot of filling..but came out rather tasteless. Think they have forgotten the salt.

The steamed yam cake fared much better..Quite smooth and had bits of dried shrimps in it; though lacking oomph. If you are on who prefers chunks of yam in it, then this will not be your choice.

I spotted something that i have not eaten for over 15 years..

The sweet chinese pancake..A simple pancake with sugar, flour and eggs, I used to have lots of it when I was a kid..One bit and it brought back such wonderful memories. It was quite nice, but boss said it's not fragrant enough.

Overall, I find the food very mediocre; I guess it's a place for quick brekkie..don't expect much on quality.

This YTF and Chee Cheong Fun stall(and a whole load of other chinese breakfast food) is located at Jalan Kancil (corner), off Jalan Pudu. Drive along Jalan Pudu, turn to the small lane on your left just before Maybank (maybank is on your left). Very near to Tong Kee eggtarts shop.

DC Bloggers- Suggestions for eateries near L'Enfant Plaza

We are headed to DC for a family wedding. Guests are staying at the L'Enfant Plaza, so I urgently (we leave Friday) need some suggestions for where we can eat that is reasonable priced, good and an easy commute (hopefully without driving). Anyone out there with any great ideas? How about the Eastern Market.Let me know and I will report back!!

Jin Chwan Seafood Garden, Selayang

Many years ago, I used to go down to Selayang for seafood as my friend's father was a seafood wholesaler there. Uncle would choose some fresh seafood for us and we'll meet at a local restaurant where they'll whip up delightful seafood dishes.

So when Vincent suggested a trip to Selayang for fresh seafood recently, how could I say no? :p

We managed to get to Selayang in good time, lucky for us, traffic was pretty fabulous that day. After many turnings and driving deeper into Selayang, we finally saw Jin Chwan Seafood Garden.. First welcome I got? Full blast of cold air as the Alaskan Crabs were placed at the entrance..Water's ice cold to keep these babies happy..

I had the impression that we were going to a restaurant, but Vincent explained that Jin Chwan is a wholesaler; we'll buy the fresh seafood here and bring to the restaurant of our choice for the preparation.

And gosh, there were plenty of seafood to choose from! After spending quite some time choosing our seafood, we walked over to Kedai Makanan Chef Tam (just a stone throw away, same row) for our dinner.

We bought some beautiful Pearl Clams (RM76)

Figured the best way to cook it was steaming. The sauce, ginger, shallots, garlic and fresh clams combo was simply stunning! The pearl clams were so fresh; the meat was springy and sweet and the killer sauce; it complemented the clams very well.

Some Japanese snails (RM 23) Slightly rubbery, chewy with a hint of Q in texture, the snails were stir fried with dried shrimps and bird's eye chillies. Very appetising indeed. I rather liked this dish too.

For the large sea grouper we got (RM93), the obvious choice was to steam it.

Our fish died in vain. Over steamed, the fish meat was coarse and unrefined. :(. poor fish.

We had a simple vegetable dish of stir fried celery and lily bulbs. Sweet and refreshing. Love the crunch in the veggies.

Some Philippines meat crab (RM126).. We decided to have it prepared 2 methods..

Steamed..

The sauce was way too sparse that I could no savour much of the sweetness. Could have see traces of steamed egg at the base of the plate too. The crabs were quite sweet; meat texture was just ok. Vincent said they were in the tank for too long. :(

The Chilli Crab fared much better.. The sauce was spicy, and sweet sour. A tad different from those I've tried in PJ area, I find this sauce very tasty. Swirls of egg thickens this sauce wonderfully and goes amazingly well with the sweet flavours of the crab. And of course we mopped it up with some fried mantaus (we had steamed too, but the fried ones are much better).

Total cost is RM309 for fresh seafood.

Cooking cost at Kedai Makan Chef Tam (inclusive of rice, drinks and vegetables) RM120.

Jin Chwan Seafood Garden is located at 9, Jalan 2/4, Taman Bidara, 68100 Selayang, Selangor.

Kedai Makanan Chef Tam is located at 6A, Jalan Bidara 2/4, Taman Bidara, 68100 Selayang, Selangor.