Joke for the day!

Tian Tian Lai Seafood Restaurant, Sunway

We had our 2nd Yong Family Annual Dinner one rainy Saturday night at this tai-chow place in Sunway which has an aircon room that can seat 4tables. We occupied 3 tables eventhough a few Yongs couldnt make it.

This  place and the dishes for the night  were all recommended by my cousin James Yong aka 007 ! Yes he is a regular here and just mention 007, you may get better and faster service! 

As it was raining, dinner was delayed for more than an hour, so you can imagine when the 1st dish came, I wasnt fast enough to take a pic b4 someone digged in!! rofl

This is the signature Loh Mee with crab meat. Put in some vinegar and definitely a  great hot  dish for a cold rainy night.

Next was the deep fried chicken wings. Definitely one of the best chicken wings i have tasted. Skin was slightly crispy and dunno what was the batter they used but it tasted delicious.  

My brother’s and most Hakkas’ favorite dish of stewed pork leg(Yuen Tai). Stewed to perfection …meat was soft and it may be super fatterning but wth…you have to eat  the lean meat with the fatty skin to appreciate it!

Deep fried taufoo with mayonaise sauce for dip.

Lettuce(yau mak) fried with garlic

007 loves the following dish of Claypot Curry Vegetables. However i found it abit too ‘lemak-ish’. Too much coconut milk.    

This is Sweet Pork Ribs. To die for dish for both kids and adults alike.

Last but not least is the 4vege dish consisting of petai, brinjals, long beans and one more vege(cant remember the name but Malay dishes normally have it fried with belachan). Anyway it was a super combo.

 

Total bill each table came up to around RM200 with water and foc a plate of fruits. Wine was BYO.  Altogether great place and great food at greater prices for our reunion. Convenient car park  with privacy in the room and no steps/staircase which is a must when you have seniors dining with you.

So a great big “thank you” to James aka 007 for organising and here’s to many more!

Old Hong Kong Kitchen – Part 2

Yeah i went back to try the Fried Crab Beehoon so this will be Part 2 of review on Old Hong Kong Kitchen in Imbi.

They had some fresh seafood from Kuala Selangor and recommended to try out this 4-teeth fish!! Yes it has 4-teeth! Other than that i dont know what its called. Maybe Senangin or something like that. Deep fried till crispy.

Ok…this is what i came here for…piece de resistance!! Crab is coated with a bit of flour before being deep fried(so that it doesnt have a soggy texture but hard crust). Thereafter it is fried with the beehoon and some green bell-peppers!

All i can say is…its super yummy! There was some leftover beehoon and i tabau-ed it and had it for supper!!  However for this portion of one slightly bigger fleshy crab, this dish costs RM88!!! So better clean up the leftovers, right?! Gosh i am still thinking  and craving for this dish. They must have added ganja…??LOL

 

The Journey of a Thousand Miles….

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

(Lao Tzu)

Ying Ker Lou Hakka Restaurant, Pavillion

Ying Ker Lou is turning to be one of my fav restaurants and thats becos they serve pretty authentic Hakka cuisine. So this is another day when i sampled out some new dishes.

This is fried pig’s stomach with pineapple. Lovely with a tinge of sour mixed with sweetness of the pineapple. The stomach was tender and cut into strips without any ‘piggy’ smell!

This fried Hakka noodles with mushrooms, leek and pork.

Fried Lui Cha(or Lei Cha) Rice. Yes this is different from the one which has a pot of green tea to go with. The rice here is fried with green tea and egg and served on a plate with the chopped long beans, preserved radish, sesame seeds, peanuts,  mustard greens, cabbage, cubes of tau kwa  etc.

(Lei cha (擂茶; léi chá; literally "pounded tea") is a Hakka tea-based beverage or gruel consisting of a mix of tea leaves that are ground or pounded together with various roasted nuts, seeds, and grains.)

Another Hakka fav is the Pig Stomach Pepper Soup.

One kind of savoury dumpling. Forgot which one it is cos YKL has so many types.

Initially i thought this blackish dumpling would be similar to the others but turned out to be kinda sweet and reminded me of the malay kueh kochi! You can actually order this as a dessert!

Will try out the other  Hakka dishes soon!

Restoran Ole Sayang Nyonya Food, Melaka

Restoran Ole Sayang is one of the famous Nyonya/Peranakan food restaurants in Malacca. It is located at Melaka Raya.

This is a halal restaurant so only chicken pong-teh is served here.

Deep fried fish with to-die-for sambal belachan.

Pickled mustard green duck soup otherwise known as Itik Tim.

  Fried potato leaves.

Overall review - Nothing spectacular and they seem to cater more to tour groups on that particular Saturday. Some of our KL nyonya restaurants are much better.

198-199, Taman Malaka Raya, 75000 Malacca, Malaysia

Phone : (606)2831966, (606)2834384

Opening hours : Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm Dinner 6:00pm-9:30pm, Closed on Wednesday

Rama V Thai Restaurant

Rama V is located at 5 Jalan U Thant near to the US Embassy and Royal Selangor Golf Club. It is set in a bungalow amidst lush greenery. At the back is a pool and chalet like huts/rooms are available for   private dining.

Wish  i had a house like this is all i can say! Looks very resort like. 

This is the main dining hall and the furnishings are definitely more upscale fine dining.

If you do not know what to order, do ask the waitress who is only too happy to recommend and though the dishes are slightly pricier than average, nevertheless the larger portions make up for it! 

This is the mango salad topped with cashew nuts. Their salad was different from others in that, chopped peanuts were mixed into the paste. So it kinda tasted like our Malaysian rojak .

 

Thai Pineapple Fried Rice with pineapple, raisins, peas, shrimps and egg served on a plate and not on an empty pineapple but totally Delicious!

One of my fav Thai dishes is fish cake and Rama V excels in this dish.

I loved Thai kueh since  childhood days where we use to eat it in Hatyai but since then, i can only indulge in this when I am in Thailand. So am truly delighted when i saw that Rama V has this in their menu.

Most Malaysian Thai restaurants serve the Tako Haew (water chestnut and corn with coconut  topping) or the Thai agar-agar jelly or Tab Thim Krob/Red Ruby( cubed water chestnut in coconut milk) as their desserts.

Rama V has a couple of additional  kueh and that is the yellowish egg  thing in the center right which is called Foi Thong which is like sweet shredded egg yolk and Steamed Tapioca which is to the far right.

Anyways pinched the following 2 clearer pics from a thai website and these were my favorites. See the egg yolk ones which consisted of the Foi Thong, Thong Yip (sweet egg yolk cup)
and  Thong Yot (sweet egg yolk drop).

The picture to the right is of the Luk Choop which is mashed  Mung beans moulded into miniature fruit shapes.

Anyways the waitress suggested coming again at nite as there would be a wider selection of desserts especially weekends. There is a wide range of main dishes which are also popular  and hopefully will be trying them out soon!

A Note to God

If I wrote a note to God,
I would speak what’s in my soul
I’d ask for all the hate to be swept away
For love to over flow
If I wrote a note to God
I’d pour my heart out on each page
I’d ask for war to end
And for peace to mend this world
I’d say, I’d say
I’d say
Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love, cause love is over due
And it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we’re on
If I wrote a note to god,
I’d say please help us find our way
And all the bitterness with some tenderness in our hearts
I’d say, I’d say
I’d say
Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love, cause love is over due
And it looks like we haven’t got a clue
Need some help from you
Grant us the bridge to carry on
Give us hope when it seems all hope is gone
Cause it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we’re on
No, No
We can’t do this on our own
So.. soooooooo
Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love, cause love is over due
And it looks like we haven’t got a clue
Need some help from you
Grant us the faith to carry on
Give us hope when it seems all hope is gone
Cause it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we’re on
If I wrote a note to God

Old Hong Kong Kitchen

I first went to this restaurant located on Jalan Utara, Off Jalan Imbi sometime during the CNY for dim sum and it left me with a bad after taste. So bad that i refused to blog about it!

Well recently heard some rave reviews about their dishes so went to give it another try!

This is their homemade taufoo with seaweed covering on top and topped with minced pork and mushrooms. The taufoo was  actually quite good..slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Topping went well with it thought it was abit too salty! RM15.

Okay this is the ‘piece de la resistance’(pronounce it like the French pls!)  that I came here for…stewed sharksfin rice.  The transparent thing you see on top is the sharksfin and stewed with mushrooms, crab meat and abit of chicken too.

You mix it up and this is what you get, the rice which is underneath. Basically becomes like a porridge after mixing. This claypot dish costs RM32(1pax portion).

To be honest I would still prefer my sharksfin ‘neat’…without the rice. Once you mix it up, I couldnt taste/feel  the texture of the sharksfin and whats the point of paying that money if you cant taste the sharksfin right? But this is individual taste i guess cos my friends liked it!

Seems to be the trend nowadays in restaurants to offer vegetables served 2styles on a plate. This one which is kai-lan had one portion steamed and the other deep fried with anchovies. RM15.

Old Hong Kong has aquariums with live fish outside for you to chose and they cook it for you and most days they may also have seafood that is supposedly from the previous day’s catch in Kuala Selangor. Anyway tried out their ikan kembong which was served with belachan. RM8 for 2pc. Basically taste like home cooked fish. Nothing special and didnt quite like the belachan.

Overall , I would probably come back again to try out the fried crab with beehoon as its supposed to be another signature dish.Roast suckling piglet is also available on reservation.

For those who would like to try their Dim sum despite my bad review, there is  50% discount every Wednesday and Sundays but dont expect anything fancy and please dont order the siao-loong pau no matter how much the captain insists and recommends!

One good thing about this place is ample parking around and in front of it.  Across an open parking space is Imbi Pasar/market.

For reservations : 03-21418636.

Sek Yuen Restaurant, Jalan Pudu, KL

Apologise for this forgotten post from CNY. My brother Patrick suggested trying this place out after passing it many times while driving on 313-315 Jalan Pudu. They have air-con and non air-con lots but the weather being what it is, we opted for the air-con! 

(Front facade pic taken from Preciouspea’s blog!)

Old style furnishings from a bygone era!

The yee sang – dead giveaway this is supposed to be a CNY post. 

 

The 4season platter which is one of their signature dishes.

Ka Heong  Chai- vegetarian with lam yee which was too salty!

Pei Pa Ngap – Crispy roasted duck must be pre-ordered.

Deep fried Stuffed grass carp.

   

Perhaps it was CNY and the place was fully booked….i dunno but the food didnt leave up to its reputation as one of KL’s leading old-style Chinese restaurants. Many of their signature dishes were also not available during the CNY period like  Ngap Thun Chi,   Kung-Po Top Shell and Rolled Chicken,  Stuffed Pig’s Intestine with Dried Scallops and Rolled Fish Maw, Braised Stuffed Duck, Eight Treasure Duck,  braised stuffed duck ,chicken skin stuffed with fish paste  etc. Be prepared for some pretty  steep prices for these pre-order dishes tho.

The bill came up to around RM200 for this meal for 7pax.

Grandmama’s Pavillion KL

Due to some miscommunication on venue,  we ended up at Grandmama’s on 27th March 2010 Earth Hour to celebrate my elder bro Steven’s and my Sydney’s birthdays which fell on 28th and 31st respectively.

The food is  similar in variety to Madam Kwan’s but i would say taste wise fell short. So these were the dishes we ordered for our gang of 8 (increased by one) with the inclusion of my niece’s boyfriend Wayhan.

We had satay, acar, sambal petai ladyfingers, asam gulai siakap, curry chicken, claypot taufoo, fried mixed vege, and an omelette(not pictured).

Dessert was this cake from Lavender’s downstairs and its a very light mango cheese cake. Was a good recommendation from Lavender’s staff as it is supposed to be one of their more popular cakes and suitable for after-dinner. You would think its very rich and cheesy but wasn’t so.  

The birthday girl and boy!!(LOL) Many more joint birthdays to come!