Cafe Milano & Desserts @ Suria KLCC

Last Friday, we were hanging around Suria KLCC to catch the Da Vinci Code on screen. Since there was a new outlet at the Signatures Food Court (Level 2), we decided to give it a try. We wanted something quick before the movie started. Cafe Milano is actually a sister outlet of the ever popular Pizza Milano and they have now taken over Gelare's front lot. While Pizza Milano serves pasta and pizzas, Cafe Milano serves lasagne, shepherd pies, various meatball pasta, ice cream and waffles. I suspect they must have taken over Gelare's old waffle and ice cream equipment.

I had their version of shepherd's pie - it's available in beef and chicken(RM8.50). A total misnomer since shepherd's pie means minced lamb but here it's used loosely as anything with a mashed potato topping. What is hilarious is their version starts off as a lasagna with the pasta sheets but ends up with a mash potato topping! The "pie" is not too bad but somehow the filling had an overdose of black pepper making it extremely peppery.

Splashie Boy had Meatball Bolognaise Spaghetti(RM7.99) i.e. three beef meatballs with pasta tossed in bolognaise sauce. Sauce is not too bad as it's the same as the Pizza Milano place but meatballs are definitely factory processed. There are various meatball pastas with different toppings including one with Pizza Milano's famous Alfredo Sauce.

We also ordered desserts - a nice and icy cold Red Rubies(RM3.80+) for me. I like the dessert stall as they have a huge variety of desserts. They also serve durian cendol if you are feeling adventurous. Quite a good choice especially if you're a tourist who is just in KL. The red rubies are actually pieces of water chesnuts encased in a red jelly substance. The yellow fruit is jackfruit which is all mixed up with the shredded ice and coconut milk.

Splashie Boy had the leng chi kang(RM3.33+) which was really difficult to take a picture of since there was a light reflection. Whenever we order from this stall, these are the two must haves for us. There's not much happening at the food court but the sausage stall is no longer there and has been replaced by a Hong Kong noodle outlet called Eat & Talk. Will give that a try the next time I dine at Suria KLCC.

Cafe Milano & Just Desserts

Signatures Food Court
Level 2, Suria KLCC

*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: Red Rubies + Suria KLCC

Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 50

What shall I eat afterwards? Fish? Or Fish? Or more fish?

The kitties are always up the trees especially this old tree stump we have. I managed to catch G the cat perched on top of it looking very serious about life. Sometimes she and the grey and white kitten will play catch on these stumps. The colours of the picture are slightly dull as I took it really late i.e. just before it turned dark today.

Do head over to Clare's at eat stuff where you can see Kiri checking out his surprise visitor.

Tagged with: WCB50 + Weekend Cat Blogging

Carrot Almond Cake

More cake! Sorry to those who don't like sweet stuff but since I started my banana cupcakes, I was kinda on a roll hence I decided to make this cake. This time round, the cake is unique because it has no butter or oil plus it's almost flourless since only one tablespoon of self raising flour is added in.

The texture is unlike the carrot cakes you see at the shops because it's lighter with the egg whites folded in, very nutty with all those ground almonds and the colour is pale versus the dark brown cakes since it does not use any brown sugar. I topped it with the cream cheese frosting from the banana cupcakes which went well with the cake. It's advisable not to frost it as the cake is sufficiently moist enough to stand on it's own. However since I had the leftover frosting, waste not. The good thing I noticed about this cake is since it's moist, I can leave it in the fridge (to keep the frosting hard) and when you eat it cold, the cake is still perfect and not dry. If you try out the recipe, I suggest cutting down the quantity of sugar stated as I found it too sweet for my liking.

Carrot Almond Cake (from Her World Cookbook)

4 medium eggs, seperated
250 grams caster sugar *suggest to reduce by half as I found it too sweet

1 rounded teaspoon grated lemon rind
250 grams finely grated raw carrots

250 grams finely ground almonds (or walnuts)

50 grams raisins

1 heaped tablespoon self raising flour, sifted

Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl and combine with 200 grams of sugar. Whisk together until thick, light and lemon coloured. Have the egg whites ready in a bowl and whisk until foamy. Add the remaining 50 grams of sugar and continue whisking till it takes a slight glossy look.

Gently fold in the lemon rind, grated carrots, ground almonds and raisins in the egg yolk mixture. When combined, carefully fold in the egg whites, followed by the flour.

Line the base of a 16 cm square cake tin or 18cm round cake tin with greaseproof paper leaving the sides ungreased. Bake in oven preheated to 180C for 40 to 50 minutes or until well risen and the cake springs back lightly when touched with a fingertip. Cool in cake tin before turning it out

Tagged with: Carrot Almond Cake

Gourmand World Media Awards @ Kuala Lumpur

Today I managed to take a break in the afternoon hence I seized the opportunity to head over to the Palace of the Golden Horses to check out the Gourmand World Media Awards which started yesterday (17 May) and is due to finish on Sunday (21 May).

Basically this is "the Academy Awards of the food and wine media" (as extracted from the Flavours magazine write up). It's also quite an honour for Malaysia to host it this year since it's the first time it has been held in Asia. The awards will be announced at the Gala Dinner held on Saturday night but in the meantime, there are lots of events for the delegates.

I managed to catch one of the Masterclasses they were holding in the afternoon hosted by Chef Wan, Malaysia's celebrity chef. It was really fun as he was extremely entertaining (Sorry for the slight blurry pix as he was moving his hands). He demonstrated two dishes: Kerutup Daging (a beef rendang originating from Terengganu) and Lawar (Vegetable Kerabu). We sampled the food and it tasted really good. There are Masterclasses held throughout tomorrow and on Saturday with Le Cordon Bleu chefs, Florence Tan and Chef Shukri. Sadly I missed Bob Blumer, that quirky guy from Surreal Gourmet as his Masterclass was held in the morning.

As this is all about cookbooks, the nominated cookbooks are on display for everyone to view. Really fantastic nominees - even though I can't understand the language, I am blown away by the photography. A few of the publishers have also set up booth at the hotel whereby you can purchase certain cookbooks. I was eyeing The Silver Spoon, THE Italian cookbook that everyone is talking about which I have yet to see on the bookshelves here. If you love Italian, you should get this huge book which is going for RM150, a steal since it's usually priced at RM200. According to the distributors, they are not planning to bring it to the KL bookshops. The only problem with buying the books is they don't really have credit card facilities yet. One stall is due to get theirs tomorrow while another accepts Amex and cash only. At the top of my head, I saw Marshall Cavendish's books, Conran books (they have last year's winner, Harumi Kurihara's book), BBC Books which includes Delia Smith and Le Cordon Bleu books.

If you are a food enthusiast and crazy about cookbooks, head there to check out the various cookbooks and Masterclasses. For further details, check out the awards website and the cookbookfair website.

Tagged with: Gourmand Awards + Chef Wan

Banana Cupcakes

Once in a blue moon, I get the sudden urge to bake. Since we had a lot of leftover bananas lurking and getting riper by the minute, I decided to try out another banana cake recipe I have from a Her World cookbook. Unlike the first one I tried, this one is a lighter version with a softer crumb and is eggless. It's brilliant to have these kind of recipes that has no eggs as it's sometimes difficult for me to get fresh eggs unless I visit the market. Buying those eggs in cartons at the supermarket shelves just does not cut it as those eggs are usually not fresh. If you have vegetarian friends, you can also consider this recipe as their diet may restrict them from taking any eggs.

Since the original recipe was for cupcakes, I decided to stick by it since it was my first time trying it out. Although the recipe is not as straight forward as the previous banana cake recipe which was a one bowl method, this one was pretty easy too. The batter that came out was quite sticky and thick since the only liquids it had was milk. I must say, the cake was brilliant as the crumb is flaky and so light. Only complaint I had was I didn't think the bananas I used were banana-ey enough as the flavours were not so intense. Either I have to add more bananas or use a different type of banana. The next time I make these I will definitely add chopped walnuts to give it extra oomph.

I also decided to decorate my cupcakes, something I don't normally do because I thought having it plain and unadorned looked boring especially since I saw brilliant iced ones on Cupcake Bakeshop and Scent of Green Bananas. I used a cream cheese frosting I found on Cupcake Bakeshop but it was kinda soft hence it didn't turn out fantastic. Since I had no cute and teeny bananas like Santos, I topped it with a piece of caramelised banana. Tastewise, it was yummy but it defintely needs to chill in the fridge or else the topping will melt away in our heat.

Banana Cupcakes

200 grams very ripe peeled bananas
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
250 grams self raising flour
pinch of salt
1/2 level teaspoon baking powder
1/4 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 level teaspoon ground cinnamon

120 grams butter
150 grams caster sugar
75 ml milk

Mash bananas together with lime or lemon juice and set aside. This helps prevent the bananas from growing brown. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ground cinnamon together twice and set aside.

Cream the butter until soft and add the sugar gradually. Continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the milk, a little at a time and beat well. Using a large metal spoon, fold in one third of flour, followed by half of the mashed banana, another one third of the flour, the other half of the mashed banana and finally the remaining flour. You can either bake the cake in a loaf sized tin or cupcakes. If baking in tin, bake at 180C until done. If using cupcakes, bake at 200C for 10 to 12 minutes. Since mine was a bigger size, I baked them for about 15 minutes. Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes before turning it out from it's pan.

Tagged with: Banana Cupcakes + Vegan

Revisiting Asia Cafe, Subang Jaya

Last Saturday, I managed to persuade Splashie Boy to make a detour to Subang Jaya to try out the food at Asia Cafe for lunch. It was a breeze to get parking with the long weekend. We spied the pizza place when we did a quick tour around which Splashie Boy decided to order. Prices are extremely reasonable with regular pizzas ranging from RM15 to RM12 depending on which type you order. They also have calzones which they make funny shapes with. He ordered a vegetarian pizza(RM12) which came with an extremely nice and thin crust. Definitely a winner because of it's crispy crust but we didn't like the toppings they put on top as the combination of eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini and capsicum was a bit bland.

I wanted something different and decided to try out the Vietnamese Lemongrass Barbeque Chicken(RM5.90) which was near where we sat. It's pretty okay as it was a change from the usual barbequed chicken you can get from the Chinese stalls. The other recommendations you all mentioned were not opened since it was lunchtime i.e. the fried mushrooms, crabs, grilled fish and etc.

We ordered the huge fruit juices they have - a small mug comes up to RM4+. I decided to try out the Hong Kong dessert stall and ordered a honeydew mochi(RM3.90). Everything is pre-made and chilled. The mochi has a fresh honeydew ball inside it which was cold.

Also ordered the mango pancake(RM3.90) which from a distance looked like durians as the pancake was very yellow. It's filled with fresh whipped cream and a chunk of mango. It was not too bad but lacked much taste since it was chilled. Besides these they also have different kinds of mochi, durian pancake and soya bean curd with fruit toppings.

Pizza Brava, Vietnamese Barbeque Lemongrass Chicken, Hong Kong Desserts

Asia Cafe
SS15, Subang Jaya

*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: Malaysian Food + Asia Cafe

Save the Internet

I just read about this on Food Blog S'cool after I posted my food blog or else I would have left it out since it's no food blog day today.

What's this all about? It seems the big Internet providers in the USA is lobbying the Congress to allow them to create a two tier Internet system where there will be a fast lane provided to those big guns who can pay and a slow lane for consumers. This means the loss of free and open Internet known as Network Neutrality.

Although you say why be bothered because it's so far away in the USA, knowing how life works - if it is implemented in the USA, one day it will appear in Malaysia as most countries follow best practices from the overseas. I honestly do not want discrimination in my own backyard with regards to my Internet services which I pay for. I am already suffering slow service since we only get one major broadband provider so can you imagine how painful it is if they start restricting the Internet because they have a right to do so.

What can you do to help? If you're a non USA resident, put this plea put in your blog or write about it so your USA resident readers can read about it and contact their Senator or Congressperson to voice their concerns. You can also sign the online petition at SavetheInternet.com to support Net neutrality and ask your readers to sign it. If you're a USA resident, contact your local Senator or representative by writing or contacting them to protest against this action.

Read Food Blog S'cool for further details.

Thanks so much for your support.

Hakka Dumplings

Last Sunday, one of my distant aunts made these Hakka dumplings as a treat for us. Although my father's family is Hakka, it's my first time eating these savoury dumplings. Usually the rice flour skin is white but she added sweet potato into the dough which gave it such a pretty purple colour. The dumpling is filled with shredded yam bean, dried prawns and Chinese mushroom. Really yummy stuff.

If any one knows what's the name of this, do let me know. I did ask my aunties and they mentioned it's called Lor Mai Chi which is similar to the sweet type filled with coconut and ground peanuts. As the Zongzhi festival will be held soon, another aunt made her famous dumplings (bak chang) that was simply yummy. Didn't take any pictures of it but here's the link to last year's pictorial of making zhong (bak chang) by her. Remember to start ordering and eating them as the festival starts end of this month.

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Hakka Food

Icy Cold Desserts @ The Frutti Stall, SS2, PJ

Such hot crazy days - it looks like it will rain every afternoon but no such luck! Splashie Boy and I keep looking for things to cool off with. Yesterday after a hectic weekend of running around for a family event which took a lot of time and patience, we managed to get some time off and decided to indulge in a teabreak. We don't usually have tea hence this was Splashie Boy's first time at the dessert shop and my second time eating here ever since it opened in SS2.

I had the Mango Loh(RM5.50+) which is essentially finely shredded ice topped with mango puree mixed with sago pearls and chunks of mangoes. I suspect they add syrup at the bottom before they top it with the ice as it was quite sweet when it's all mixed down. If you eat just the top layer with the mango puree on top, it's much nicer since it's less syrupy.

Splashie Boy wanted the Kiwi Loh but I remember reading WanTan Productions which advised that their Kiwi Loh was sour as the kiwis they used were not that ripe so I steered him towards the Honeydew Loh(RM5.00+). It's essentially the same as mine except his topping was honeydew puree and his sago pearls were green in colour. They also topped his dessert with a hot red maraschino cherry.

Although they were sweet, it did the trick as we felt pretty refreshed (must be all that sugar content!) after that quick pit stop. The place was super packed with people trying to cram in their tiny shop to indulge in tong sui, fruit lohs and snacks. This particular outlet is a branch of KTZ dessert from Kepong which is famous for their peanut butter tong sui.

Restoran The Frutti Stall
No. 22, Jalan SS2/63
Petaling Jaya
(behind Novel House - same row as Shabu Shabu King)

Tel No: 03 - 7877 2499

*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: Malaysian Food + Mango Loh + Honeydew Loh

Other reviews:

1. Rock On in Style - 7 May, 2006
2. Jee's Life in Malaysia - 19 April, 2006
3. Some1's Voice Out There - 14 April, 2006
4. Chronicles of a frenchie - 9 March, 2006
5. Yummy Corner - 6 December, 2005

Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 49

How do I get down from here?????

Fluff Puff is growing up - she's now under her big brother's influence and he's teaching her how to live life to the fullest as a kitty cat which means climbing trees. Sadly he only taught her how to get up but not down so I had to pluck her from the tree as she was scared stiff after she saw how high it was.

Do visit Clare and Kiri at eat stuff as the kitties from all over the world share their fun snaps and stories. (P/s Clare has some wonderful news to share with all of you too!)

Tagged with: WCB49 + Weekend Cat Blogging

Cendol @ SS15, Subang Jaya

Nowadays the weather is haywire - super hot during the day and then in the late afternoon, heavy rain that causes chaos everywhere. Whenever the weather is this crazy, I often reach out for some icy cold comfort in a form of Indian cendol - a steal at only RM1.20 a bowl. All throughout the city, you see these vans or stalls that sell cendol together with Indian Rojak. Some are more popular than others but this one in SS15, Subang Jaya seem to always have perpetual long queues.

Long ago there were rumours flitting around that these cendol men have unusual ways to keep their cendol tasting special. One said it was a bag of earthworms inside the coconut milk while strong rumours said it was used sanitary pads. It was probably nasty rumours spread by competitors as I doubt they are true.

I didn't catch any nice pictures of the Indian Rojak man and was kinda shy to take more pictures since I was not eating any. However, I did catch these men in a row enjoying their rojak and cendol break. You sit at the ledge of the road while eating your spicy Indian rojak. That gets your sinuses working which you'll cool down with a bowl of icy cold cendol.

Cendol and Indian Rojak Stalls
Opposite Shell Station and in front of Gazebo
SS15, Subang Jaya

Opens from lunchtime onwards

*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: Malaysian Food + Cendol

Pumpkin and Tomato Laksa

Whenever I get really fed up of eating solo, my hands start to itch to make something nice. Since there was half of a pumpkin lurking in the fridge, I decided to make pumpkin and tomato laksa from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries versus my usual standby of roast pumpkin.

As usual, I had a hitch when trying out a recipe for the first time. My pumpkin cubes were slightly overcooked - I think I shouldn't have left them too long in the steamer since they were already quite soft as it had been in the fridge for quite some time. Overcooking the pumpkin caused it to merge with the broth making it thick and orangey but it didn't affect it's taste as it was still fantastic. You can't see the noodles as they're underneath so at one glance you'll think this is roast pumpkin soup served with cherry tomatoes topped with a sprinkling of coriander and mint leaves!

To recreate this at home:

• Cut the pumpkin into cubes and steam them. Watch the pumpkin closely as you don't want it overcooked like mine. The recipe says 12 to 15 minutes but since I used a local pumpkin which was sitting in the fridge for a while, I guess I should have steamed it for less.
• Make the spice paste by blitzing them in an electric blender the following: garlic cloves, kaffir lime leaves, coriander roots, coriander leaves and stems, fresh ginger, chilli padi (bird eye's chilli) and lemon grass. The spice paste can get quite mild so if you want lots of fire, add lots of chilli padi unseeded. If it's too thick, add a bit of oil to make the paste go round.
• Cook the noodles seperately in boiling hot water. I used thin rice noodles but what would be more ideal will be thin Thai laksa noodles.
• Heat up oil in a deep base pan and fry the spice paste to get rid of the raw taste. Add chicken stock and coconut milk to boil. Once boiled, add nam pla (fish sauce) and calamansi lime juice (Nigel uses lemon juice but I wanted it localised hence the use of calamansi lime juice instead) to taste. You can add more if you wish it to be more tangy. Add the halved cherry tomatoes to boil for about seven minutes.
• You can add the pumpkin cubes in for a minute once the tomatoes are cooked to heat it up. If your pumpkin cubes are soft like mine, don't add them into the pot but spoon them into the bowl when you are ready to serve.
• Place the cooked noodles in a bowl and add the laksa broth. Top with lots of coriander and mint leaves. If you want your laksa to be spicier, add chilli flakes. Enjoy with gusto accompanied with a great television show i.e. CSI.

Tagged with: Laksa + Nigel Slater

Dumplings @ Asia Cafe, Subang Jaya

After hearing so much about the ginormous food court place in Subang Jaya called Asia Cafe, I finally managed to make it there. It's huge and so full of different stalls I had a very hard time choosing what to try. Eventually I decided to try these dumplings as I saw the Chinese couple making them. Although the menu and their picture shows it fried, I wanted mine with soup. It's a really good deal - I got 8 pieces for RM4 and they're huge. Extremely substantial enough for a meal and very delicious. I liked how my dumplings were just cooked right as I have eaten some overcooked ones before. They also give you a yummy chilli sauce made from dried chillies to go with it which was fantastic.

The couple were making their dumplings - very sweet as the husband was rolling out the dough while the wife was filling it up before sealing it with the traditional folds. She was working really fast so it was kinda difficult to get a nice picture.

Here are the rows and rows of Guo Tie or dumplings which are ready to be cooked. I reckon the couple is from China as they only spoke Mandarin hence I had a bit of trouble ordering my food since I can only speak Cantonese. Will definitely come back and try their noodles as I wonder if it's hand pulled plus I must bring someone who can speak Mandarin. Too bad they don't make jiaozi which I love to bits.

Any other recommendations for "makan" at Asia Cafe? Everything looks good that I was confused on what to try out. Just followed my instincts on this one and it turned out pretty good.

Stall No. 22

Chinese Ramen/Noodles (Next to the Pizza Brava)
Asia Cafe

SS15, Subang Jaya

*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: Chinese Food

Cozy Corner @ Ampang Park, Kuala Lumpur

Last Sunday after an exhausting Saturday we decided to take it easy. Since we had an errand to run down town, we ended up in KLCC. Our original plan for the day was to search for furniture for the house so we decided since we're in the area, we'll take a detour to Plaza Ampang City. Splashie Boy had a crazy idea to walk all the way from KLCC there so we took a morning stroll there. Luckily it was a nice cloudy day or else you'll hear loud protests from me. The place is really deserted and the only nice place was Xtra Living selling branded stuff like Ghost chairs, Herman Miller office chairs (drool! drool!), Alessi, Kartell and etc. We did find a fantastic cookshop next to it called Pavillion which we plan to go back and spend lots of money on.

A quick walk at the bridge between Plaza Ampang City to Ampang Park got us exploring the place. Original plan was to head towards the Bagel Station at Avenue K but since we were at Ampang Park, we decided to check out the place. We found this Cozy Corner place which I remember someone telling me it's famous. At first we were confused since we found Cozy House and then Cozy Corner at the same row. I thought they were the same owners and they had a branch at Great Eastern Mall until a quick chat with one of the captains revealed that they are not related at all! It seems Cozy Corner has been in business for a grand old 33 years (I guess since Ampang Park opened) and they have a genuine branch which just opened at Putrajaya Alamanda. We had to take a picture of their cute logo of the boy licking his lips. Incidentally Cozy House has the exact logo so I guess imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

The place is quite dark and has black and white lines on their walls that kinda remind me of the colonial British houses. Splashie Boy was busy testing the camera in the low light conditions and although it protested a few times when the light was quite low, he did manage to get some good shots. Picture of our drinks, they had this citron lemon(RM5.50++) which came with these adorable coloured round little jellies. Tasted pretty good too - much better than my boring ice lemon tea(RM3++).

This place serves Western and Chinese food. We decided to eat rice with a few dishes. I wanted to order this straight away when I saw it on the menu - their beef with Chinese sauce (RM16++). Fantastic stuff as they had pounded the beef till it was nice and tender. Sauce was also yummy which went so well with rice. We also ordered Kailan with Oyster Sauce(RM9++) which was blanched kailan with a not too salty oyster sauce topping.

Splashie Boy wanted the Egg Fuyong(RM8++) which we ordered. We thought it was so so and it I am not mistaken the menu said crab meat which is devoid in our portion. Tasted just like scrambled eggs.

The place was packed during lunchtime with families having their Sunday lunch. Saw lots of people ordering the Western meals so we may give that a try the next time we come. It's actually a hop and a skip away from KLCC vide the train if you are bored with the food around the area. On the walk back, we spied a film crew in front of Avenue K - think they were shooting a hair commerical as they had the model/actress stand still with her hair at one side, ready for a flip hair shot. No pictures taken as they all looked really threatening with their security detail.

Restaurant Cozy Corner
Lot 266-271 (First Floor)
Ampang Park Shopping Centre
Jalan Ampang

Tel No: 03 - 2161 5649

*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: Malaysian Food + Chinese Food

Other reviews:

1. Winpatch's Fotopages - 4 November, 2003
2. Emi's Fotopages - 17 April, 2005
   

Pik Wah Restaurant @ Kuala Lumpur

It's not the first time I have blogged about this place but since I took some pictures with the new camera, I thought I will put them up.

As mentioned before, this is the regular place for us to have celebration dinners. This time round we were having an early celebration for Mother's Day since next weekend we are having another family event at home. Usually whenever we go out for any family meal, we will call my aunt and uncle from my mother's side since they are alone in Kuala Lumpur. All their children have migrated to Australia and Canada. Remember I said we order the same dishes - yeah we do all the time as it tastes great plus my aunt and uncle are creatures of habit. First was their yummilicious fried rice - they do it so well it with crunchy long bean cubes, prawns and chicken plus a crunchy topping of tiny anchovies (ikan bilis).

The must have of the restaurant - their Pattaya Style Fish. I had to take this picture very quickly as the waitress was hovering around the fish which she needed to cut up. Not so fantastic this time round as we made a mistake of coming during dinnertime. Usually we eat at lunch but on Saturday we were busy shopping at the HomeDec fair in Mid Valley Megamall. It was packed during dinner time plus the regular chefs were busy with a wedding dinner going on hence the fish was not up to it's normal yummy self.

We usually also have their home made bean curd with angle gourd (no picture here) and switch the last dish around to try. This time round, we tried their three cup chicken. I was thinking more of Fong Lye's fantastic and sticky three cup chicken when I ordered it but it turned out to be an imposter. First off, no basil leaves on top to add on top of the chicken - only spring onions. Then the chicken was a bit tasteless even though it had lots of sauce on top of it. They also added chinese mushrooms so it felt more like a soya sauce chicken with mushrooms dish. Splashie Boy claims I can even make better tasting soya sauce chicken with mushrooms.

Don't forget your vegetables as they are great for you. It looks like we always order this when we come here. The siu pak choy fried with garlic and dried prawns.

Have you had your Mother's Day celebration? Just be warned though as next weekend will be chaotic at the restaurants with the long weekend, Wesak Day celebrations plus the Mother Day's celebration on Sunday. I think the restaurants will also take the opportunity to raise prices or offer special Mother Day's promotions next weekend so beware of being scalped.

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Chinese Food

Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 48

Sorry for the very late WCB posting this weekend. I was actually waiting for Clare from eat stuff to post her Kiri pictures but there does not seem to be any sign of a new post on her blog. Suspect she may have internet issues so I hope that's sorted out soon for her.

I thought we should not waste these excellent pictures we took of the grey and white kitten this weekend. We caught him sleeping at the funniest position ever. He seems to love sleeping next to a wall and stretching himself like a yogi. After we snapped the picture, he woke up hence the second picture below where his eyes have fluttered open and he has this sleepy "please go away" look.

Updated: Clare has posted WCB 48 - please visit Kiri and lots of kitty pictures from all over the world.

Kedai Lontong Mak Yah @ Section 14, Petaling Jaya

I'm still digging up old pictures as I have accumulated quite a stash of them plus I haven't had much time to take new ones yet. It'll probably take me a while to build up my usual store unless I work very hard on it. By the way, I recently had lunch at Tang House of Fishball (read my February 2006 review) and that place has expanded from one shoplot to three shoplots. Business must be really good! Although the food is on a slightly pricier side (RM0.80 for yong tau foo), it tastes great as the filling is full of fish and not pan fried making it a healthier alternative.

I have read a lot about this famous Lontong served in Section 14 hence one day I made a special trip to search for it. It took me a while as I thought the stall was at the bottom of the complex but after tracing the sounds and smells, I managed to stumble on an upstairs food court which was bustling with people. The lontong stall is tucked behind a column hence it was not easy to spot.

It has been ages since I ate lontong and although the stall's variety is slightly different from the one I am used to - it was really fantastic. I ordered the lontong with sotong and egg (RM3.30). Basically lontong consists of nasi impit which is compressed rice cakes cut into cubes. You add sayur lodeh which is a vegetable coconut curry. Depending on each person's preference, the vegetables will be cabbage, long beans, carrots and fried tempe, a kind of beancurd. Tofu is sometimes added into the curry which is very creamy. A peanut sauce is then added on top completing your lontong meal. At this stall, they added slices of sotong (brown calamari), hard boiled eggs and grated coconut which tasted great. The curry is quite mild since it has a lot of coconut milk.

If you are in the area, give this a try as it tastes great. After writing this, I feel like having some for breakfast now!

Kedai Lontong Mak Yah

Kedai P24 , Seksyen 14 PJ,

At the Pusat Penjaja Petaling Jaya

Closed on Mondays and open from early morning

(To get there, turn left at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Go up the stairs leading the food court and the kedai lontong is right in front of you behind a column.)

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Lontong

Rasa Fiesta Food Court @ Ikano Power Centre

More Ikano Power Centre pictures, this time these were taken with the old camera and on a day which we spent quite a lot of money at Ikea hence we decided to go budget on our food. The Rasa Fiesta food court is a favourite of mine versus the Food Junction in the Curve. We tried the food once at the Curve's food court which was horrible hence we never went back.

The food court is nice and well lighted hence the sterling quality of the pictures. Usually whenever I eat at this place, I will always order the Taiwanese beef noodles from the Noodles Paradise stall. This time round I had the glass noodles with soup. Sorry I can't remember how much it cost as I lost the receipt when my bag got snatched. Think it's around RM8 to RM9 for a bowl. Although the soup is not as nice as Taiwan House in Ampang, it's much cheaper here and offers a pretty substantial meal especially when you have not eaten any breakfast.

Splashie Boy had the Chicken Bulgogi from the next stall that serves Korean food. It's pretty good value too as that huge amount came in a set with rice, soup and a drink.

Another reason why we both love the food court is their tong sui selection. An all time favourite is the Cheng Tng that originates from Singapore and is like a leng chee kang except in this version they add sweet potato cubes. This particular dessert holds special meaning for both of us as we once entered a radio competition and won a small amount of money just by eating it.

I decided to try something different and had their herbal jelly with the pineapples and nata de coco. It's pretty refreshing but not much taste to the herbal jelly unlike the ones you get at Koong Woh Tong.

Rasa Fiesta Food Court
4th Floor, Ikano Power Centre
Mutiara Damansara
Petaling Jaya

*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: Malaysian Food + Ikano Power Centre

Fasta Pasta @ Ikano Power Centre

It's been ages since we ate at Fasta Pasta (the Australian pasta chain) over at Ikano Power Centre but ever since Splashie Boy saw Sloppy Joe Pizza on their blackboard specials, he has been dreaming of it! He loves American food after being exposed to it during his university days.



We finally got around to eating it before it was taken off the blackboard and it was yummy albeit messy just like a Sloppy Joe. There's no way to take a nice picture of the Sloppy Joe pizza(RM29.90+) as it didn't look great with all the meat mixture on top so sorry for the not too great picture. Basically it tastes like bolognaise meat mixture on top of pizza studded with meatballs and salami that you need to eat up before the pizza crust becomes soggy. Eating that pizza started both of us reminsicing about great pizzas we have had i.e. the enormous Chicago Pan Pizzas.

Since there was so much meat and tomato sauce in that pizza, we chose a vegetarian pasta. Strangely all the vegetarian raviolis have dissapeared from the menu which is sad as I liked them. We settled with the Rotelle Broccoli (RM18.90+) which was dissapointing since it did not have a lot of broccoli! It tastes pretty okay as they sprinkled spicy chilli flakes and the cream sauce was not too rich. Another gripe about the place is they seem to have done away with the bread they used to serve before your meal and the ice water - now you need to order mineral water by the bottle. Must be a cost cutting exercise in view of the rising costs nowadays.

Fasta Pasta

G1, Ground Floor
Ikano Power Centre
Mutiara Damansara

Tel No: 03 - 7727 5876

*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

Other reviews:

1. Mysara.scravius.com - 8 August, 2005
2. Jasiminne* the Penguin - 20 February, 2006
3. The Star Paper - 14 April, 2006

Tagged with: Fasta Pasta + Italian

Thai Market @ Off Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I was in such a holiday mood that I forgot it was Monday! Back to the swing of things with a new camera. We finally settled on the Panasonic Lumix FZ7 (My new Fizzy) after testing a few around the same range. We also looked at the brand new Canon Powershot S3IS which looked great in black but was much heavier plus had a smaller LCD screen since it was the tilt and angle version. It was a busy weekend testing out the camera and there are so many more functions I have to learn about.



I have been thinking of visiting the stalls next to the Thai Buddhist temple just off Jalan Gasing for the longest time ever since I heard about it. Last Sunday, I finally managed to visit it since Splashie Boy was busy meeting up with his school friend - the Duck Man! I tend to prefer making these rounds myself as I like to browse and slowly take pictures. If you love Thai food especially the stall food, pop over here as you can get lots of Thai items. These stalls are slightly different from the ones you get at the shopping malls as they are less commercialised. Most of them are small make shift ones which look like they are selling the items for extra cash.

First up on my tummy agenda after one quick browse of the market was their laksa (RM4) as seen above. The laksa is extremely creamy and lovely. Much nicer than anything I have eaten at any Thai restaurant. It's not spicy at all and you have to add in the extra chilli flakes, sugar, orange juice or what nots yourself from the condiment tray.

All along the side of the temple wall, the stall owners have made makeshift seating areas with rattan mats and flysheets. Just sit at the side under the shade and enjoy your picnic.

There were quite a few people around stocking up on food items. This stall had a row of pots with cooked items that people were packing back. Most of the stalls also serve som tam and mango kerabu which they will pound for you when you order. One of them also added tiny salted crabs which was extremely unusual.

Something extremely popular among the street stalls in Thailand are their grilled items - this one is non-halal but looked really good. At least three stalls offer these grilled items but I liked the one from a tiny makeshift stall as they were grilling them on the spot versus the others who had them pre-grilled already.

If you love Thai instant noodles, do pop by and grab some home as they have so many varieties. They also sell Thai magazines and newspapers plus a large variety of Thai ingredients if you wish to cook at home. I saw packed Mieng Kam which you can buy by the packet, the thin white noodles they used for laksa, packed green curry paste and etc.

There was one van selling all kinds of vegetables and herbs for Thai cooking which looked great. I only took a picture of the eggplants as the stall owner was barraging me with too many questions.

I love these green skinned oranges as they are extremely sweet. You can get the freshly pressed orange juice in tiny plastic bottles from stalls dotting the Bangkok streets. I love the juice as they were great refreshers whenever I used to trawl the streets. I also spied fresh bamboo shoots which looked really good.

Not everything is about food and you can buy flowers and garlands as offerings. I love these beautiful lotus flowers which is extremely popular as an offering.

There was a cute little girl with her family at the stalls - her mother was keeping her cool with a rattan fan but I managed to sneak a picture of her. What's interesting is most of them speak the Cantonese dialect extremely well. When I asked one of them why, she told me they had to learn the language to be able to adapt to KL lifestyle (everyone speaks Cantonese here) since they are making a home here with their kids.

Lastly I spied this cute doggie with it's owner - this little girl's mother was shopping at the stalls but they left the dog just in front of me when I was having my laksa at the makeshift picnic area. Hope you'll make it to the stalls soon - I know I'll be making more trips here to get my laksa fix plus to try the other Thai food.

Stalls outside Wat Chetawan
Jalan Pantai 9/7
Off Jalan Gasing

Petaling Jaya
Available every Sunday from 8 am to 5 pm

Tagged with: Thai Food