Surisit Thai Kopitiam @ Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Nowadays, the pig seems to have found a new home in Taman Tun Dr Ismail...in the numerous pubs sprouting around the Lorong Rahim Kajai area and now, the latest is this no-frills Thai kopitiam.
        In Thai cuisine, pork is often used in many dishes. As most of the Thai places opening up in Malaysia are mindful of the religion restrictions, they tend to omit the porcine element. Moreover most of the Thais come from the Southern region that is still very much influenced by our Northern states.
        Opened about two weeks ago, this kopitiam is run by Sita, one of the founders of Bangsar's Montien and her two nephews. The name Surisit is an amalgamation of their names. It does service the whole day hence you get breakfast, lunch and dinner with different menus. Breakfast is pork noodles, porridge while there are different lunch and dinner menus. As they are still very new, the menu is still going through changes as the owners are still experimenting with what dishes appeal to the diners.
        We sampled the dinner menu and of course, it was zoom into the pork dishes since these are so rare.  There were three choices of tom yam soups (seafood, chicken and pork), of course we chose the Tom Yam Ka Moo (clear tom yam soup with braised pork hocks, RM25.90) - light, well balanced with the salty, sweet and sour taste, and of course the fork tender pork.
        The big winner of our meal was the Mun Thod Gapi (crispy fried pork with shrimp paste with deep fried lime leaves and chilli sauce, RM16.90 for small and RM24.90 for large). At first we joked that we're eating Hakka char yoke but a taste of it revealed its differences - the subtle taste of shrimp paste, its crusty top and of course the burst of flavour from the deep fried kaffir lime leaves and the chilli sauce. Incredibly addictive that we even ordered a second dish. Instead, the classic Phat Krapao Moo Sap (mince pork with Thai basil, RM12.90 for small, RM17.90 for large) seemed bland and uninteresting. Somehow the aromatic Thai basil leaves just didn't manage to carry the flavours through.
         While we would have loved to gone completely pork crazy, we did also balance out the meal with the Pla Thod Nam Pla (Crispy Thai Style Garlic Fried Fish, RM32.90). Essentially this was deep-fried siakap fish served with a sauce on the side. The sauce was a bit of a let-down. A little too watery and we detected soybean paste within, spring onions and etc that reminded us a little of a similar Chinese dish. Instead we went for their amazing chilli sauce - it looks fiery but it was sweetish and addictive. That sauce when paired with the fish, saved that dish. Also on the table was the Khai Luk Koei (Son in law eggs, RM9.90). These hard boiled eggs are deep-fried, doused in a thickish slightly sweet sauce and garnished with lots of shallot crisps - a combination that worked well but wasn't very exciting to the palate. One must not forget the greens that came in the form of Pucuk Paku Yam Pla (kerabu pucuk paku RM12.90 for small, RM16.90 for large). A friend had earlier eaten here and raved about this dish but this time round, it wasn't so good she admitted. The elements of the ferntops, prawns and coconut milk - seemed to lack that sourish tangy taste needed to balance it.
         No desserts for us as they ran out but we did end it with some fresh mango. Usually they do serve Thab Tim Krob and mango glutinous rice. It's still very much early days for the kopitiam but I reckon they're going to be a big winner once all the wheels are greased properly. Am curious to return for breakfast as I heard the pork noodles are wonderful. I would love to compare that to the Section 17 market's version. For me, I reckon they have me literally hooked on that crispy pork dish.  Just give me a bowl of plain rice and I'll be a happy camper with that meal.


Surisit Thai Kopitiam
No. 17, Grd Floor
Lorong Rahim Kajai 13
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
Kuala Lumpur


Tel: 03-7710 0173


(Non Halal. Place is further down from Penang Village. Open from 8am-10.30pm daily. More pictures in the Flickr set.)


*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.

Teow Chew Meng Restaurant

I have read quite a bit about this place in the papers and on the Fried Chillies forum but only managed to get to eat it last week once I found out where exactly it was located in SS2. The original shop is located at Prai, Butterworth but they have branches all over Penang, Subang Jaya, SS2 in Petaling Jaya and even one in Indonesia. It's a family business run by a group of siblings continuing their father's legacy.

This Teo Chew restaurant's signature dish is the Mee Sua Tow, where they cook mee sua (a thin longevity noodle) in a seafood based soup that is thickened with potato starch and chock full of seafood like fish, prawns, crab sticks, fish maw and sea asparagus. The ingredients tend to differ a bit for each portion served as I have seen shark fins in someone else's pictures but the portion we got did not have any. It is essential to eat this with some Chinese black vinegar. This dish is said to originate from the Fuchow area in China and was introduced by the founder of this restaurant. We added a bit of the sambal belachan into the soup and it tasted even better with a slight chilli taste to it.



We ordered a Seafood Fried Rice which came with lots of prawns inside it. The rice was very tasty and aromatic. They served this in a metal pot that is also used for the Mee Sua Tow.



Besides that, we also had the Seafood Roll which is like the Penang Lor Bak, a stuffed bean curd skin (Foo Chook in Chinese) roll filled with minced seafood like shrimp, mantis prawns, siakap fishm crab meat and cooked salted egg yolks. Not too bad and they cut up the Lor Bak and fried each cut portion individually making it extra crispy that the normal Lor Bak.



I liked this dish a lot, the Apple Tofu which was made of fried tau kwa (dried tofu) strips, shredded green apples tossed in a Thai chilli sauce with some plum sauce. The dish was sprinkled with some deep fried tiny prawns (Har Mai in Chinese).



This home made Sambal belachan was very nice with the Mee Sua Tow and Fried Rice.



We also ordered one portion of this Teo Chew dessert called Or Nee that is made from yam. They added gingko nuts and cashews on top. It's my first time eating Or Nee but my companions said they have tasted better. The plus point is this version is not that sweet. I suspect they make it ahead and packed in this plastic container. It is then microwaved to heat it up.



Besides these dishes, they also had mango kerabu, seafood porridge using the same stock as the Mee Sua Tow, fresh octopus salad, three taste oyster (sweet, sour and salty), tom yam noodles and clear soup noodles. The place was quite full of people even during the weekday.

Although people rave about the food quite a bit, I thought the food was only okay, nothing that really wowed me or my fellow Hokkien lunch partners. The only dish that I really would not mind coming back for was the apple tofu plus the yummy sambal belachan they served. Another factor to consider would be this kind of food with all the seafood is not cheap as that meal costs four of us approximately RM70.

Teow Chew Meng Restaurant

33 Jalan SS2/30

Petaling Jaya

(The row of shophouses behind New Formosa Restaurant and is the same row as Lobsterman)

Tel: 03 - 78779298

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

The Bakery @ Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur

The Bakery has been making a name for itself among Ampang residents with their Ukay Heights outlet where people flock to for their fresh breads and pastries. If you don't feel like driving all the way there, they have recently opened outlets in Hartamas and Damansara Heights. The Hartmas outlet is located on the quieter area where Salero Negori, Bulldog, Aunty Nat and Saffron are while the Damansara Heights outlet is right next to the 7-Eleven at Plaza Damansara.

Since it was dinnertime when we visited, most of the fresh breads have been sold out but we did catch their hot meals. Dinner here is an early affair as the place closes at 8 pm. From the menu, I choose their moussaka which came with lots of minced beef and eggplant topped with grated cheese. It's a generous portion and really a good deal as they don't skimp on the minced beef here. Splashie Boy had the Beef Champi with Rice, his ideal comfort food with chunks of fork-tender beef and mushrooms served with a creamy sauce. Sorry no prices this time round as this came from the archives and the original thermopaper receipt is too faded for me to make out how much we paid. However, I do remember the prices to be average.

I've been meaning to pop over there for breakfast but somehow I never seem to find time. Incidentally I also noticed that the Bon Bon Cafe in Plaza Damansara has been recently renamed Siblings Coffeehouse. I guess that means no more yummy Tom Yam Spaghetti and Corn Cupcakes anymore at that place.

The Bakery
17, Jalan Sri Hartamas 7
Sri Hartamas
Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 03 - 6203 3354

(Halal. Closed on Mondays and open from 8 am till 8 pm during weekdays. During weekends, they close early i.e. 2pm on Sunday and 6 pm on Saturday)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Moussaka + Beef Champi

Tex Mex Food @ Coast, Hartamas Shopping Centre, KL

On Friday night, we were at a lost on what to try out for the evening. One suggestion was to test the waters out at this very new place in Desa Sri Hartamas called Mama Mia Super Cafe which serves yakitori and cakes. A quick check at the place showed it was empty - not a great sign of its foodworthiness hence we decided to give it more time to hopefully gather a fan club. Then, we saw the roadside banners advertising Coast at Hartamas Shopping Centre. Splashie Boy was hooked when he read it was Tex Mex food - his absolute favourite and despite my protests telling him, I read Honey Star's blog which said the food was horrible, he insisted we give it a try.

The restaurant which is visible from the main road is at the same row as Paddington House of Pancakes and Eric's Deli. Incidentally, it looks like Penang Village is due to open opposite it in July. This place also has a branch at Putrajaya's Alamanda shopping centre. Since there seemed to be a pretty decent size crowd tucking into their food there, we decided to give it a try rather than fall back to the usual Rakuzen.

The place is a real knock off from Chillies/TGIF with rockstar memorabilia on the walls, booths with pendant lights and extremely similar looking food. There was Cajun Spring Rolls that looked like Mexican Egg Rolls in Chillies, Macho Chicken which seemed to be a close cousin to Monterey Chicken in Chillies minus the beef bacon and Chicken Tempuras that was looked like the Chicken Crispers with Honey Mustard Sauce. The menu also has burgers, fajitas, ice cream pie and two Asian dishes i.e. a tom yam seafood spaghetti and deep fried tofu.

We wanted a light meal, hence we ordered the Cajun Spring Rolls (RM12++). Tastewise it was not bad and slightly spicier than the Mexican Egg Rolls in Chillies. The dip was pretty watered down though.

We then shared the Chicken Tejas (RM15++ with a drink) which bears a great resemblance to the newly launched KFC Cheesy BBQ Meltz that is said to be retailing at RM5.50. This was pretty good although it would have been even nicer if they had used a mix of mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheese versus the tasteless Kraft Cheese slices. Fries were cut like Chillies but not as crispy.

They are currently having a promotion till 31 July, 2006 - spend a minimum of RM15 to get one Chocolate Brownie which is priced as RM9++ on the menu. The brownie was chunky with nuts but slightly dry.

During the meal, we both had a long discussion on what we thought the food was like. The conclusion at the end of the night was the food here is a copycat of Chillies which uses more locally sourced ingredients hence the significantly cheaper prices. We kinda suspect Chillies' food could have maintained their standards as most of their stuff is imported in from the USA or be pre-packaged to keep their secret formulas intact. If you want Tex Mex food at reasonable prices that will not burn a hole in your pocket then I would certainly recommend this place but if you want real Tex Mex stuff, just head over to Chillies. Be warned though as I think the portions are shrinking at Chillies as they are not increasing their prices. Incidentally, when we left the place, it was full of people which is such a total contrast to the extremely empty Retro American Diner on Hartamas Walk.

Coast Southwest Grill

LG18 & 19,

Hartamas Shopping Centre

Tel No: 03 - 6201 2680

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Tex Mex Food + Hartamas

Other reviews:

Hartamas Shopping Centre

• Life of a Food Lover
• Honey Star

Putrajaya Alamanda

• Wantan Productions
• Days without Dawn

Malaysian Food Finds @ 23 January, 2006

Lots of fantastic food plus Chinese New Year ones to get us in the mood....

Chinese New Year

Have you gotten ready for Chinese New Year? If not, what are you waiting for as it's just round the corner. Have you made your peanut cookies? Don't worry, Lilian from Malaysia Best has a simple step by step recipe for you to try out. She also has a great idea for unconventional reunion dinner - steamboat that sounds fantastic.


Malaysia Best's Peanut Cookies

Foodcrazee wowed us all with his detailed explaination on all the ingredients on Yee Sang. Amazing stuff and thanks for the great effort you put in gathering the information. EatingAsia also gets into the Chinese New Year mood with their goodies from kind friends. I can't wait to see the demonstration on how they make waxed meats as that will be one of the kind.

Besides the goodies, don't forget to decorate the house with Chinese New Year decorations. Wu Ching from the Journal of the Whills gave us a peek into how the Australian Vietnamese celebrates the festive season and it looks really nice. For some lion dance action, check Month of May who brings us the wooden house in KLCC and the lion dance performance.

Kitchen Stories

You can always count on Lilian from Malaysia Best for innovative recipes and she has Crispy Surimi and Seafood Springrolls that will satisfy any tummy. Bujang Lapuk Abroad finds pork chop and apple sauce to be a weird combination but I love it - reminds me of Colliseum Cafe's roast pork with apple sauce. Alicia from Some1's Voice Out There made her version of baked tiger prawns with cheese that sounds really simple to make.

Shawn of Away from Home is back at the stove, cooking up Kampung Fried Rice from his family's recipe. If that's not your thing, how about peppered steak and bake mushrooms? I'll take some as I love mushrooms. Babe in the City made Roast Chicken with vegetables for her cute son who demolished the whole chicken thigh by himself. Elb's hovel of thoughts made salt crusted baked duck breast that looks fantastic. Amazing how a little salt can help crisp up that skin. The northern rabbit is busy with work but she made time to cook up this jiffy tom yam fried rice. Greenapple from My felicity corner makes Japchae, something new to me which looks easy to cook up.


Elb's Hovel of Thoughts' Salt Crusted Baked Duck

Fatboybakes from Have Your Cake and Eat It Too has been steadily filling up tummies with his delicious sounding Rugelach. If you want something tangy, how about the Lemon Delicious Pudding that is simple to make? Just Heavenly went macaroon crazy for Hay! Hay! It's Donna Day and made three versions: chocolate macaroons, cherry macaroons and cinnamon honey macaroons. Swee also made a yummy Temptation Oreo Cheesecake that will definitely make Rachel of Tham Jiak's friend really happy as he loves cheesecakes. If you are feeling lazy to bake the cheesecake, try Leng Mou's student cheesecake that is so simple to make with a few ingredients.

Eats around the city

Wingz from Everibodi Lafu Rojaks highly recommends us to Paradisso Italiano in Taman Danau Desa. Even the kid gave it thumbs up. KY Speaks introduces us to Nong and Jimmy Thai BBQ Seafood where food is cheap and good! I've heard rave reviews of this place before and after looking at KY's pictures, I am dying to go try them. He also brings us Braised Duck Rice from PJ State - it's been years since I ate at that place, it still looks great. Alicia from Some1's Voice Out There also ate a similar braised duck. Shaolin Tiger gave the thumbs down to the Curry Laksa from Uncle Lim's Kopitiam in Ikano Power Centre. Julie the biscuit is back with Kluang Station Kopitiam review.


KY Speaks' Nong & Jimmy Seafood Pictures

Noodles and gravy to me are a match made in heaven as I love them both. EatingAsia introduces us to Jalan Alor's Beef Noodles that has me drooling over. They also enjoyed the addictive but healing Bak Kut Teh in Klang and Kuantan. Wyejon from Wantan Productions reviews Kong Kee in Puchong and found it pretty good. He also mentions that Puchong is a terrible place for food - bit sad as there are loads of Chinese eateries there. Aprilcherrie is famous - she's in a restaurant's website for a review she wrote. I like how this restaurant, Umai-Ya seems to be aware of bloggers review of their food. She also eats at Sushi King which is having a special scallop promotion. Babe in the City introduces us to Char Kuay Teow from Tengkat Tungshin that looks sinfully good. Pam from Foodyumz ate at May Xichuan in Damansara Perdana as the food is so good there.

Duck seems to be the thing last week and Good Food....Good Life! talks about his experience with a crisp roast duck from Loong Foong in Paramount. He also recommends us a pork noodle stall in Subang Jaya. If he adds the address, I can visit the place as it sounds good. Makan Kings eats Beard Papa's cream puffs and found it just a bit dry but the cream to be heavenly. Sixthseal tried out the new Burger King Greek Lamb burger and loved it. Looks like I should make a trip to my nearby Burger King for a taste of it.

Eats far away from the city

KampungboyCitygal has the Citygal posting last week with Kampungboy back in his hometown and she brings us Ipoh eats at Koh Samui and Old Town Kopitiam. I wonder if this is the same Old Town Kopitiam that has sprouted like mushrooms after a heavy rainfall all over the Klang Valley. After visiting Ipoh, do pop over to Cameron Highlands for a spot of tea and clean air far far away from the city as recommended by Good Food...Good Life!

If you are visiting Sibu, Robin has this little food guide for you to try out all their must haves. The special three layer Teh C Peng looks really good.


Robin's Three Layer Teh C Peng

Sixthseal brings us Japanese food in Kuching - everything looks fantastic and now my tummy is rumbling for some of that yummy food too. The Makan Kings are back after a long holiday and they bring us Taiwan eats from the markets. Feast your eyes on the goodies. He also ate at the famous Ting Tai Fong which just did not impress him much. For something nearer, how about indulging in noodles from Thailand, one of my favourite cities? EatingAsia introduces us to Kanom Jeen and Kanom Chine, favourite spots of her's for those Thai noodles that always hit the right spot. Sigh! How I wish I was back in Thailand.

* I have borrowed the pictures from the respective blogs. If you object to this, please drop me a comment and I will remove it.

Tagged with: Malaysian Food

Mini Siam - Mid Valley Megamall

I stumbled across this Thai fair called Mini Siam at Mid Valley Megamall which is on until 2 November, 2005. This group of Thai traders usually move from mall to mall setting up stalls to sell their food and Thai produced items. It has been quite a while since I have been to one so it was great fun to look at all the food plus browse through their items. I saw some beautiful woven baskets which I was tempted to get for keeping magazines and what nots. However I suspect if I get them, the cats will decide that it is fun to sleep in them instead!

There are two stalls at the far end of the fair selling cooked food with chairs and tables placed behind for people to eat their ordered food. The first stall(nearer to the massage stall) was doing brisk business. This caught my eye, the Thai Ice Cream which looked like an ice lolly made from popular carbonated drinks in multi-coloured hues. You can see how they freeze the ice lollies in a this metal contraption with ice cubes underneath the molds.



They had ready packed these deep fried tiny prawns which looked good and would go wonderfully with some Thai Laksa.



Then there was this creamy looking steamed fish cakes which we know as Otak-otak in banana leaf cups. There is a bit of coconut cream on top with a prawn and shreds of kaffir lime and chillies.



These are deep fried Thai fish cakes which is made from fresh fish, red curry paste and chopped coriander and lemon grass.



This was extremely popular, the noodles that quite a lot of people were ordering. They had stacked the different varieties of noodles; beehoon, yellow mee, laksa noodles, kuay teow in front for people to pick their own preference. You can also choose the seafood and vegetables you wish to add to your laksa. Once you have chosen, you hand over the bowl to the person behind the counter who will cook and ladle the soup into it.



This was the tomyam soup they had on boil in a huge rice cooker which they will add to your laksa items once they have been cooked. They kept pouring in the stock from another large rice cooker to top up the soup. Another large rice cooker had boiling water for them to cook the noodles in.



A very popular dessert, steamed tapioca. I am not a great fan of this so I am not sure if the liquid below is actually just the tapioca juices or a sugar syrup.



This is what I like, the mango glutinous rice. They had two varieties of rice, one white and one green which I suspect is just tinged with a bit of pandan extract. You can't really tell the difference. I ordered one to take away and it was yummy with a bit of coconut cream on top to accompany the rice and sliced mango.



The other stall was selling an exact replica of the food items in the first stall but they had something unusual which was pre-packed Mieng Kam, a kind of appetizer which is getting popular in Thai restaurants. You add chopped chillies, lime segments, toasted peanuts, ginger chunks, chopped onions, fried tiny prawns and toasted coconut on top of betel nut leaves and fold them to eat. A sweetish black sauce is also added into that concoction before you fold up your betel nut. This is one of my favourite street foods and I have fond memories of this old lady folding them into triangles poked in a bamboo skewer for sale in Chatuchak Market.



I chuckled a bit when I saw the mounds of grated green papaya and grated green mango that were for the som tam and mango kerabu as this was also my favourite. I ordered one portion to try at the stall and the lady pounded it up in her wooden pestle and mortar.



This was my som tam, that came in a huge mound of shredded green papaya, toasted peanuts, shredded chillies, sliced tomato, lime juice, fish sauce and tiny prawns. It was pretty fiery that brought tears to my eyes but I liked the taste. Unlike the one we tried in Songkhla Hawker, this one does not have a strong taste of fish sauce.



There was a stall selling all kinds of Thai food items including jars and jars of pickles.



They also had the Thai sauces and curry pastes for you to cook up a Thai meal at home. Besides these condiments, they had stacks of tomyam instant noodles for sale.



This three variety sweets are extremely popular in Thailand and you see them sold everywhere, the first one is a sesame seed candy, black sesame seed candy and the last one is peanut candy. You can also buy packets of just the sesame seed candy or black sesame seed candy.



Thailand is a great place to get cashew nuts and everytime we make a trip there, we will buy loads of them to bring back as they are cheaper than the ones we get in Malaysia. Something unusual that they were selling at this stall are these tom yam cashews.



They had sprinkled some black and white sesame seeds on these crackers. Usually the popular crackers are those sprinkled with pork floss.



You get quite a variety of durian desserts in Thailand and they have this durian cake and even durian sweets. Besides these items, you can also get a large selection of dried fruits including my favourites, dried longans. I will either eat them as a snack or boil them to make desserts.



This is pretty popular among Malaysians, the foot reflexology and thai massage stall. They also have private cubicles for the Thai massage. To be honest, I have not tried the reflexology before, I get a bit ticklish at my feet but from what I can see, they will add cream on your foot and put the cloth over your foot and massage it.



Hari Raya Festival in conjunction with Mini Siam 2005
Mid Valley Exhibition Centre
Level 3, Mid Valley Megamall

Kuala Lumpur