Hometown Steamboat @ Kota Damansara

After a long period of working in IBM, I have become close to some of the colleagues, and steamboat has become one of the favorite outings, as we could have variety of food and the time we could spend together chit-chatting.

Hometown Steamboat is one of the new discovery that we went. Its located near Sunway Giza, in Kota Damansara, where a lot of pubs, clubs, and dessert shops are located. 

There are, of course, rules in ordering. There are few variety of soup base to be ordered, and the famous one are pumpkin porridge and normal porridge soup base. However, we ordered the normal one as the first-timer here. 

Normal one person set portion cost from RM15-RM20, but minimum two set must be ordered for one type/set choice. As we have 6 person, the waiter suggested the two different sets below, due to the difference in choice for the sets.

Pulau Ketam Fish Ball Set

Hometown Special Set

Wine Marinated Chicken

Besides the set, we ordered a few side dishes as well, i chose wine marinated chicken to try out whether they did marinate the chicken thoroughly. It was indeed quite good, as even after cooking, the fragrance of the wine stays.

One of my colleague that frequent this shop suggested the chicken wing as well, which taste as good as it looks.

The total bill went up to RM140 for 6 person and all of us went off with full stomachs.Overall rating would be 8/10 for this shop. Good choice for small gathering....Definitely a good hang out place.....

Nadeje Patisserie Cafe @3 Two Square

There has been a lot of hoo-hah regarding this famous mille crepes shop on Malacca favor by Malaysia all around, when it decided to open branches in Selangor. Thus, we decided to pay a visit too, as Malacca is a tiny bit too far away and, this is sooo conveniently located in Petaling Jaya area. 

As we still wants dinner, we ordered 4 slices for 4 people. One get to pick a flavor each, fair and square.

Actually, the appearance really looks similar for the 3 flavor except for the Double Chocolate.

The mango flavor was highly recommended by friends. So my friend decided to order Mango despite the fact that she loves chocolates. The Mango tasted rather mild, and I seriously think that the fridge they are keeping the cakes, are not cold enough.  

My all time favourite, doesn't matter whether its ice creams or cake, would be Rum and Raisin. Tasted some raisins , very very minimal, but no Rum at all...*sad face*

The chocolates, on the other hand, are considerably good, except the fact that it doesn't seems cold enough. When mille crepes are not cold enough, it would be very hard to cut through, cos the creams are only separated by a very very think piece of egg crepes.

Besides the chocolate, the original would be the best in line already. Because, its original, everything could be forgiven. Its not too sweet, additional credits given...

If you were to compare between Malacca Mille Crepes, you can't. But if you were to say just this branch, its OK. I would give 6/10 for the cakes...As its a torture to actually pile the egg crepes separating the cream, I would definitely willing to pay for it.

Address:

B-01-01, Dataran 3 Two Square, Jalan 19/1, Section 19, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Restoran Boston Baru (伸波士顿餐室）@ Jalan Kapar, Klang--> Revisited

I was shopping with a friend in One Utama when she received a message from her roommate, asking her to join for dinner. As we all know each other, she invited me along when her roommate knows that I was with her. Dinner? Fine. My question would be, 'What should I be expecting to eat? Answer: Seafood. Where? Answer: Klang, at 5.30PM. My first expression was, 'What? Klang? Dinner @ 5.30PM? Ok, understandable we need the time to travel to Klang. But seafood? In Klang? Seriously? I thought Klang only have Bak Kut Teh? Anyway, i tagged along. 

After not so long journey from Kelana Jaya to Klang, looking for Tabung Haji and KWSP building, and a big Kamdar at the opposite, we finally arrived at the destination--> Restoran Boston Baru. Around 6.30PM, the crowd has started. Everyone was standing around, and the boss and some staff was taking orders from the crowd. After around 15 minutes of standing around, the staff finally started to lay out the tables. However, dinner was served only after more than 45 minutes later.

First dish was laid out, the fried mee. It was fried hokkien mee style. But suprisingly, its not the normal big stringy black noodle. The noodle looks a little glassy, and it seems to be in the square shape. It gave you more feeling of elasticity compared to normal Hokkien Mee, which make all the difference. And its really good....

The next that comes up is the Clams in Soup (上汤拉拉). They must have added some wine as well when cooking, and a lot of cili padi as well. This was really good as well, except for the part that there seems too be a little too much of sand that was not cleaned properly.

The next would be the Nestum Fried Mantis Prawn. Its was perfect combination, very good, but a little bit too sweet for my liking. However, it was greatly recommended for anyone who wanted to try there. 

Lastly would be the Seafood Pot, which was good too. The fish was tender, even when it was fried before getting cooked. The prawn also tasted fresh as well. This is also well recommended. 

I would certainly go back for more seafood, since its not everywhere you could get fresh seafood. Rating 8/10 given :)

川人百味(Chuan Ren Bai Wei @ Dataran Mentari, Sunway)

Has been quite addicted with Sichuan food recently. Its like a never ending craving, for the spice, and the numbness you feel if you accidently bite on the pepper like spice called '嘛 ’。 I bet that is why they are called ‘麻辣’ that is numbness and spicy.

I bet this dish should be familiar to all-麻婆豆腐 (mapo tofu). The difference of this dish with the one we always had, is that they added the pepper for the spiciness (they practically added the pepper to everything they cooked)

The next would be the considerably famous dish for Chongqing native. Known as 水煮鱼， or fish fillet in hot chili oil. I personally do not favor this dish, but certainly no bad comment on it. Just to say, personal liking problem.

This is actually one of my favorite Sichuan dish.It was called 蕨根粉(jue gen fen ), or Fern Root Noodle, often cooked in sweet, sour spicy way. According to Full Noodle Frontity, the noodle is actually made from starch extracted from the common bracken fern. Some might not favor the look of the blackish noodles, but they are indeed recommendable. 

I would not comment that this is not good. Its just that, this seems a little too common. Mashed Taro in fried spring roll crepes.

This is actually one of my favorite Sichuan dish, that a lot of people might oppose. 毛雪旺(mao xue wang)，is actually a dish that has duck's blood cake as its main ingredient. But some will actually use pig's blood to replace the duck for duck's blood cake can be quite expensive. With a mix of other meat and innards, this can be quite a delicious dish to introduce, especially for those food lovers that are not picky towards innards. 

 If I am not mistaken, this dish is called 炸子鸡。 Typical fried chicken? Definitely not so simple. They are deep fried with bunches of dried chili and peppers. But, it can be quite fun to actually bite on the peppers, letting your tongue go numb for awhile.

After having too much of meat, we feel obliged to actually order some vegetable. However, the vegetables are really not just vege. They are stewed with a whole lot of pepper and chili too.

Here comes one thing that are not spicy. Fried pumpkin with salted egg. The pumpkin is a little sweet, which can be a good combination when its cooked with salted egg.

Alright....that would be all for today's blog post. 

Stay tune until I found my liking for some other weird foreign food. 

Red Wine Mee Sua @ Sitiawan

As for this post, I won't be blogging about foods around KL/Selangor, but a local Foo Chow delicacy from Sitiawan, a delicacy that most Sitiawan people working outstation (especially foo chow origins) could not run away from, the Red Wine Mee Sua.

This picture is taken in my own house, prepared by myself. As for ingredients, it would be preferably kampung chicken, as they somehow do not have the weird smell of the chickens we usually get from Hypermarket, the red wine, and hand-made mee sua from Sitiawan. Now, this is my habit of preparing the delicacy.

First, you stir-fried onions with sesame oil (to enhance the fragrance of the red wine(in this case, we use the paste as well). Then add in the chickens and stir-fried until it look cooked. Then, add in the red wine. I would usually add in one or two tablespoonful for the taste. When the fragrant of the red wine became stronger, add in hot water to turn it into soup. Then prepare the hand-made mee sua with another pot. Just make sure the water is boiling before adding in the mee sua. Once the mee sua seems translucent and is seem floating at the top, its ready to be served. Add in the soup on top of the mee sua, and the meal is ready :).

Although the post above is a home-made version, there are several place in Sitiawan serving this delicacies,such as Lido Restaurant behind The Store Supermarket and Bei King Restaurant. That would be the only places I knew serving this delicacy. However, I never tried it at these places, thus, try at your own risk :)

Ah Ping Bak Kut Teh @ SS14 Subang

The blog has been pretty dead for a while due to my busy work+study+diet schedule, that I decided to revive it a little bit :). As usual, small secluded restaurants/shops are my expertise. And this time, I would like to introduce my all-time favourite Bak-Kut-Teh place, Ah-Ping,located in SS 14 Subang. The exact address would be 42, Jalan SS14/2,Subang Jaya. If you are coming from PJ, it would be a 3pm turning at the Bulatan Kewajipan. 

Everytime I was there, I will need to park behind the restaurant, which made no difference actually, as it was opened both side. However, this actually proved the popularity of the BKT for those people that would like to have a good BKT without needing to go all the way to Klang.

The reason I like this particular shop is due to the considerably thick soup and their huge portion. We usually ordered 1 half portion for 2 people to avoid wastage. They also serve the BKT with everything-intestines, fat/lean meat, tofu , dried tofu strips or fuzhuk (腐竹), shiitake mushrooms and a few piece of lettuce leaves.

They also serve vege separately, or more commonly known as 'yau coi', a simple plate of vege that comes with soy/ oyster sauce and a little bit of fried garlic/onions. I will usually order a plate of vege to come with a pot of BKT, as it will somehow makes me feel less guilty for allowing my crave overcome my sense. Thus, I would certainly recommend this place highly for those staying in PJ and Subang area. 

Fatty Crab @ Taman Megah, Kelana Jaya

The initial plan was Ming Tian Food Court when i made a last minute decision for the craving for Chilli Crabs. Thus, we went to the famous Fatty Crab located behind Ming Tian.
As usual, the place is full, with bunch of peoples sitting outside the restaurant, waiting for tables. The waiter is quite polite actually, making sure that we get a seat while we are waiting. They actually took our orders first.
I was caught by surprise to know that they actually served a very limited choice of dishes. The crabs cost around RM32 per 600++grams, and they are actually only 2 types of cooking method, Steamed or Chilli Crab.
Nearly every table was ordering fried rice, and I actually wonder whether they serve white rice. The chicken wings and Satay can be ordered only after we are seated.
The fragrant smell of the chicken wing is really really good, that I am almost craving for another after having the first, of which I have to admit, above average good.

  The Satay is actually lean meats with very minimal fat, almost none actually.Too healthy for my liking *shame*.

The fried rice seems to be the speciality here, nothing special, but the prawns does taste fresh, and is good enough for above average grading.

And here come the FAMOUS CRAB, with its side kick-the toasted bread.

I would say that the crabs are fresh, and you could feel the texture and its freshness, no complain about the crab at all, even when there were so many bad remarks on serving of bad, dead frozen crabs in many other websites.

But the gravy is a little bit too sour for my liking, although my friend love it to the max, and actually ordered another plate of bread to dip the sauce. Nonetheless, the gravy is good, and very thick too.

The bill came RM98 for 3 person, of which I would say, still acceptable at KL's rate and the quality of food served, with no mistake that the crab actually cost around 75% of the total bill. But fatty crab do live up to its reputation, and I still do wonder, how would the Steamed version will actually taste like.

Josephine Cafe & Bistro @ Ipoh Garden South

This cafe & Ipoh was recommended by my friend Josephine. I like the environment here a lot as it was a nice place suitable for hang out with good food. Too bad I had already taken my dinner. Thus, we only have some light supper.

Thus, we decide to order a small piece of cake a 2 serving of salad. As this post was rather outdated, I only remember this salad as helping with enoki mushrooms.

But I really love the Ceasar Salad here. The meat was warm and the helping was rather large. Really hope to go back for it.

The cake look tempting, and was really not bad.

Don't remember the name of the drink, but it was really not bad.

Claypot Chicken Rice @ Kampar

Dropped by Kampar for the Claypot Chicken Rice opposite the old cinema which is currently a furniture shop names Foo Wah, a shop opposite KFC.

The 'yau choi' is really not bad, or more on its fresh.

The best thing about Kampar's claypot chicken rice is that the rice is cooked with soup base compared to other places (especially KL/Selangor) where only normal water is used.

Its just 6pm and the place is slowly getting crowded. Doesn't remember the price, but it was very reasonable considering the helping was quite huge.

Hokkien Mee @ O.S Restaurant, Seapark

O. S Restaurant is actually a hawker stall like restaurant situated opposite Paramount Caltex. behind Giant hypermarket. Went there after a recommendation from a friend that actually does not like Hokkien mee, as she complained on the lards used in cooking hokkien mee (but what is a hokkien mee if its without a minimal amount of lard?). Thus, has been visiting this restaurant quite often in this month.

The 'siu chau' in the hawker stall only start their business after 5pm up to around 12am at nite. But I prefer to go later than 8pm. After 9pm, the place will start to get crowded and you might need to wait for awhile for the food to come. All around, you will see most of the tables ordering the same dish of 'siu chau', 'hokkien mee', or black noodle.

I would say the 'watan hor' is a so-so from this restaurant. But, i do like their sambal a lot, as it goes well with the 'siu chau'.

The 'siu chau' cost RM6.00 per person serving.

Out of curiosity, i also give the fried chicken wing a try. It was nothing much special, but I do feel some crunchy bits of garlic(of which I am really not sure whether garlic is one of their secret weapon) in their marinating ingredient), although I am not sure whether I tasted it correct. Someone please correct me if i am wrong about this. The chicken wing cost RM2.00 per wing, but I think that would be the standard price in KL/Selangor.

Overall, I do like the siu chau here, although there are 2 other location that I would love to try on.

Stay tuned...for next hokkien mee location.

Yat Yeh Hing（日夜兴生窝海鲜饭店）@ Kelana Jaya

Yat Yeh Hing (日夜兴生窝海鲜饭店) is actually situated near Kelana Jaya LRT, at the side of LDP beside housing areas. A visit to this small food court is actually my friend's idea, coz of the reason, she missed the soup served with the chicken rice here. But, we actually need to line up and the soup is actually a self service. I am still OK with that rule, considering there were too many people waiting to be served. But we ended up getting a rude comment from the waitress, telling us that there were no need of two person lining, one would be enough, cos we are getting the place crowded :( . Tell me about bad service.

The soup is considerably good, as I don't really have high expectation on soups served along with chicken rice, but they do allow us to have a big bowl of it shared among few people.

A good chicken rice always come with good chili sauce, but this one is really a so-so.

The chicken in considerably pass enough.

The roasted pork is still a good, although not in very good category. And of course, we could easily finished it.

The 'ngar choi' is really normal, of which i don't understand why chicken rice have to come with taugeh, although its understandable that Ipoh "Ngar Choi Gai" comes with it. Unless, the taugeh come from Ipoh.

Overall, the chicken rice here is good. Its just the service here is unsatisfactory.