I love Penang Hawker Food

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Went to Penang during the Christmas break for a short stay. Penang is a street food heaven, you can find almost every Malaysian nice hawker food in this island. I wish I have a better digestive system to allow me to eat all the nice food here. :(



Went to Air Itam Market area for famous Penang Assam Laska, located along the street in front of Kek Lok Si Temple; Some people call this stall as Kek Lok Si Laksa; Some called it as drain side laksa (because the stall is set a side of a drain). This laksa stall had been mentioned among a lot of foodster, and believe they are one of the best assam laksa in Penang.

I arrive at late afternoon, still the stall was crowded with people ordering laksa. Notice the laksa mee in the huge pot? Not sure how many pots are they selling in a day, but they work at very fast speed in preparing the laksa and you can see the laksa mee is finishing fast.



Look at the assam laksa, it's full of ingredients, including lots of fish flake, red chilies, ginger buds, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, prawn paste and etc. The mixture of these ingredients give very complicated taste, the assam is sour and the prawn paste is sweet, chillies is spicy, it's full of flavor and it's hot!



There are many other hawkers stall across the road,I've order the Char Kuey Teow. I was not impress with the Char Keuy Teow here as I expect more tasteful here. The Char Kuey Toew looks nice though, with big prawns (bigger than the usual in Klang Valley), bean sprouts, Chinese sausage, spring onion and right amount of dark sauce to make the right color. Even though, I believe a lot of Penang Char Kuey Teow is better than this.



I also order curry laksa at the same area. Curry laksa is mee in coconut-based curry soup. Again, Penang curry laksa is slightly different than the normal laksa in Klang Valley. The soup is more watery, serve with pork blood pudding cubes, tofu puffs, bean sprouts, cockles and serve with a spoonful of sambal chillies sauce. Mix all the chillies sauce to get the nice looking red color soup.

Posted by whistler at 1:52 PM 5 comments  

Tu-Long La Mian Xiao Long Bao @ Mid Valley

Thursday, December 21, 2006


Shanghainese La Mian Xiao Long restaurant have mushroomed in this 2 years. Interesting, it seem to be a new formula in Malaysia food and beverage industry. At least I can recall quite a number of La Mian and Xiao Long Bao restaurant that open this 2 years:

  1. Crystal Jade at Lot 10
  2. Dragon-i (Mid Valley, 1-Utama, Centerpoint, Sunway Pyramid, The Curve, Leisure Mall, Pavilion KL)
  3. Chui Heng at Jalan Imbi
  4. Lim Meng Kee at Imbi
  5. Tu Long at Mid Valley City

Tu Long is a new restaurant open a week ago, located at the Boulevard office, right opposite of Starbucks Coffee. The restaurant decorated with traditional Chinese theme, ie red and black. With open kitchen concept, it make the restaurant look elegant. It could be due to the restaurant still new, the restaurant serve all customers at first floor and leaving ground floor unoccupied, even though the kitchen and furnitures at ground floor is ready. Not all the menu items is available.

See, all these restaurant are offering similar food beverage menu, and most decoration are similar i.e, open kitchen concept and using dark color furniture! It's not hard to related them to have a same formula and replicating each other.

Funny enough, I always order similar food when visit to these restaurant. This are what I ordered in Tu Long:



Xiao Long Bao (RM 8)

I notice they have lobster and crabs meat xiao long bao in the menu, however these 2 items are not available at the moment. The dumpling here are just ok, no surprise.



Golden Scallion Yin Yang Seafood Dumpling (海鲜鸳鸯饺 RM 6)

This Golden scallion Yin Yang seafood dumpling is a mixture of pork meat with fish, and garnish with spring onion (green color) and carrot (orange color). A good mix in color and filling!


Shanghai Pan-fried Dumpling (RM 6)



La Mian with Big Prawns (RM 18)




Braised Pork in Special Sauce (回锅肉 RM16)

The pork dish is actually stir-fried pock slices with vegetables and a so call special chilies oil. The dish taste odd, it smell like smelly bean curd (臭豆腐). If you like smelly bean curd, you probably will like it but not for me.

Overall, I don't like Tu Long, even the hot tea taste like make from low quality tea leaf. If compare with Crystal Jade for the same item, Crystal Jade stand a better marks, therefore I probably will not return.

Tu-Long Xao Long Bao
25-G, 25-1, 27-1
Mid Valley City
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2283 3115


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Posted by whistler at 1:55 PM 9 comments  

Bakerzin @ Bangsar Village

Friday, December 15, 2006

Claira

I've been noticing Bakerzin since the last post from masak-masak in April, yet I'm not visiting due to Bangsar and 1-Utama is not my usual hang around place.

I could not resist to nice looking dessert. Last Tuesday, had my dinner at Bangsar Village then dessert at Bakerzin. I was quite full, end up just order 2 mousse. The photo above is a mousse named Claira, it's layers of coffee cremeux, caramel mousse with macadamia nuts and coffee dacquoise. The caramel mousse is quite sweet, and I think the macadamia base is not a good match.

Jivara

The other mousse I order is Jivara, a milk chocolate mousse with a praline crunch base, topped with raspberry sauce and fresh slice of strawberry and a blueberry. It's a nice one.

Cafe Latte

Nice dessert must company with nice coffee. Notice the coffee art on the photo above? It's make from frothed milk with good skill. Amaze with the coffee art? Find out how it created here and some other example here.

I'll return to Bakerzin again for their Chocolate Cake and Soufflé.

Bakerzin
G5 Floor Level
Bangsar Village
No. 1, Jalan Telawi 1
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur

Posted by whistler at 11:25 PM 1 comments  

Sticky Fingers Cafe & Restaurant @ Bukit Bintang

Monday, December 04, 2006

Baby Back Rack (Full Rack, RM 28)

Dinner last week at Sticky Fingers, was there for their famous ribs. I ordered a full slab (Full Slab RM28, half RM21) of pork ribs with Original Stick BBQ Sauce. The ribs is tender and juicy and it really nice with the BBQ sauce. There isn't many western restaurant in Klang Valley that sell pork ribs, Sticky Fingers definitely a place that I would recommend, at least I think it's nice.

Sticky Fingers serve Lamb Ribs besides pork, which is quite rare in Klang Valley.


Beef Fillet & Bacon(RM35)

This beef fillet is actually grilled tenderloin wrapped with pork bacon. Tenderloin is the tenderest part of the loin of beef, it's still a delicate bite even it's grill to well done.

Sticky Date Pudding (Ice Cream and Pudding, RM9)


We end our dinner with a dessert. The pudding just taste normal.

Sticky Fingers Cafe & Restaurant
23 Jalan Mesui,
Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

Posted by whistler at 3:38 PM 5 comments  

Re-visit King Crab @ Taman Mewah

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Re-visited King Crab last week for a dinner with a old friend. My friend does not eat poultry and meat, what's left is seafood and vegetarian. I'm not interested in vegetarian, so end up in King Crab. My last visit was 1/2 year ago, the restaurant is bigger than last, occupied 3 shop lot now (2 last visit).

Hairy Crab

Autumn and winter is the only time we can eat hairy crab. I ordered 2 of these crabs. The best way to cook hairy crab is to steam.

Waitress is cutting the crab for us


Female Hairy Crab, look at the crab roe!


King Crab is having promotion for hairy crab, which is quite cheap compare to the rest. The restaurant offer authentic Yang Cheng lake hairy crab and Tai Hu lake hairy crab. The price starting from RM38 to RM98 (Usual price is RM78~RM168)

Clay pot Butter Crabs RM 33

Other than the hairy crabs, I order my favorite creamy butter crabs, the sauce is so creamy and it taste really good with deep-fried mantou.

Fresh Prawn Bean Thread (生虾粉煲) RM 49

Bean thread with fresh prawn is a dish recommend by waitress. I reckon this is a nice one, it's soupy, savory with strong taste of ginger and pepper, syok!!


Restoren King Crab
No. 103 - 107, Jalan SS25/2
Taman Mewah Jaya
Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7808 2388

Other Reviews:
Makan Kings
masak-masak
Memoirs of a Chocoholic

Posted by whistler at 12:18 AM 6 comments  

Diamond Engergy Water

Friday, November 24, 2006

Do you have a Diamond Energy Water System at home? You probably want to see this video clips.

Posted by whistler at 11:41 PM 1 comments  

Lim Meng Kee La Mian & Xiao Long Bao

Friday, November 17, 2006


I could not resist Xiao Long Bao (小籠包 Shanghai Steamed Pork Dumpling). Every time I found a restaurant that sell Xiao Long Bao, I must go and try it. There was a day I took Imbi road home, notice Lim Meng Kee has open a restaurant opposite of their BBQ dried meat shop to sell Xiao Long Bao and La Mian. With no exception, I have gave it a try.

Xiao Long Bao (RM 6.00)

Look at the Xiao Long Bao in the picture, you can see the dumpling is full of soup inside. However look at the folds on dumpling skin, it's uneven. It show that the chef is not skillful enough in making the steam dumpling. The thickness of the dumpling skin was fine, yet taste wise does not meet my expectation. The taste of the meat and soup are sweet but artificial, they probably put too much of sugar.


Shanghai Pan-Fried Dumpling (RM 5.00)

We ordered pan fried dumpling as usual. This pan fried dumpling is over size. Taste wise, there are room for improvement. Like the Xiao Long Bao, the sweetness is not natural to me.

Beijing Dumpling (RM 6.00)

The Beijing Dumpling is a total disappointment. The dumpling skin was too soft. You see from the photo above, the dumpling skin has broken when it serve. I think is over cooked, taste was disappointed too.

La Mian with Stewed Beef in Chili Oil (RM 6.00)

The La Mian is value for money, a lot of beef was given. I can't say I like it, the taste was just fair.

The items offer in Lim Meng Kee are more or less similar to Crystal Jade and Dragon-i with much lower price. Location wise is not very good, road side and hard to find a parking space during peak hours.

If you like Xiao Long Bao too, feel free to check my previous post on my favorite Xiao Long Bao. Human's taste buds are quite subjective. You might disagree with me, I just say what I feel. :)


Kedai Makanan Lim Meng Kee La Mian Siao Long Bao
Jalan Barat, Off Jalan Imbi, 55100, KL

Posted by whistler at 11:36 PM 4 comments  

Riblee's @ Desa Sri Hartamas

Thursday, November 09, 2006



I was disappointed on my last visit to Tony Roma's, due they don't serve TR famous Baby Back Ribs! The feeling is just like McDonald's without Big Mac. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining their food taste bad, but lacking of the famous item is a pure disappintment!

Since then, I'm looking forward other place which serve nice baby back ribs. I know Checkers and The Ribs Shop have, but I'm looking for others. Found this restaurant in Desa Sri Hartamas named Riblee's does serve it.

Smokey Rolls (6 pieces RM 16.80)

Our starter is Smokey Rolls. Smoked streaky bacon wrapped around tiger shrimps, cucumber, carrot sticks and celery and deep fried. I like this very much, the bacon is not salty, and the filling has neutral the bacon taste.

Riblees Baby Ribs (RM 28.80)


This probably Riblee's signature item (first item in the main). Charbroiled and specially marinated baby back ribs served with corn on the cob and curly fries. The ribs were tender and juicy, and very strong in black pepper taste.

Roast Wild Boar Ribs (RM 36.80)

This red wine glazed wild boar ribs, slow roasted to perfection and serve with Brazilian salsa and mashed potatoes. Good try, but I'm not really like it. The taste is not as strong, and it's wild boar, the meat is leaner than other ribs. I suppose some people will like it, it's just not my preference.

Riblee's is specialist in ribs, they have beef, pork and wild boar. If you like ribs, worth to try it, especially pork ribs, when hardly find in Klang Valley.


RIBLEE’S
41-1, Wisma CKL
Jalan 23/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas

Posted by whistler at 4:50 PM 6 comments  

One day in Tanjung Sepat

Tuesday, November 07, 2006


Tanjung Sepat, a small fish village located at southwest part of Selangor. Tanjung Sepat becoming a tourist attraction after commercialize seafood restaurants open in this area. Nowadays, people came here for fresh seafood and various orchards farms, including Dragon Fruits Longan, mushroom and Ganoderma (Chinese Ling Zhi) farm.


My sister is having her maternity leave and resting at her parent in law place in Tanjung Sepat. Family and I pay her a visit during the last weekend. Unlike other visitor to Tanjung Sepat, we didn't visit to those places, we just have simple meal instead.

Having our lunch at Restoran Hong Seng Bay Seafood. It's was around 1:30pm, there are 4 buses stop in front.

This is not the most famous restaurant in this area yet it's full house during the lunch time. Food wise, it taste reasonable good. I truly believe their pricing is reasonable as well (brother in-law pay for it :D). These are what we had.

Bamboo clam in "Kam Heong" style


Fried Oyster

I like this fried oyster. You see a lot of tiny yet juicy oyster fried with egg and batter base. Unlike the usual fried oyster I had in seafood restaurant in Port Klang. Normal seafood restaurant pan fried the oyster with flour and eggs, where this one doesn't has flour at all.

Deep fried seafood beancurd, another good item

Stir-fried Kai-lan

White shell clams, I don't see this often

Pomfret in Teo Chew style


After the lunch, go to the famous Hai Yew Hin to buy the Hainanese style steamed Chinese buns.

Hai Yew Hin

You can see the cloud in the photos, and everyone is carrying a bag of pau in hand. During the weekday, they sell over thousand buns in a day, weekend is out of imagination, tour buses is sending tourists for huge purchase. Something must be special right?

Pork meat buns (RM1.80 each)

The buns is handmade, I reckon the the dough is not make from the usual all-purpose flour, look at the pau color, is natural yellowish (normal pau has whitening). The bun is soft yet does not stick on teeth.

The bun's filling is make from lean meat mostly, yet it is not dry. According to Tanjung Sepat resident, Hai Yew Hin's pau taste better last time.

Fat boy visit

According to a uncle who sell fish ball in Hai Yew Hin, the buns business boost another 80% after the fat boy visit. This 3 "Hong Kong Eat King" posters is a good advertisement.


海友興包點
Restoran Hai Yew Hin
405,Jalan Pasar

Peng Heong Hakka Paikut Restaurant @ Klang

Monday, November 06, 2006

Have Bak Kut Teh brunch with old schoolmates. Caker asked what other nice food does Klang has?! It's a good question indeed, I'm Pasankia yet most of the food I mentioned in my blog are KL and PJ's food. Mentos said Xuan Gong(璇宫) pork ribs can be consider, I agreed that.

A lot of Klang Chinese will know Xuan Gong pork ribs, but most of the people do not aware the actual name is Peng Heong, that is because Peng Heong Hakka Restaurant is located at the next to Seri Intan Cienema and the cinema's Chinese name is Xuan Gong(璇宫). Xuan Gong was popular in the old day. Like all other old style cinema, Xuan Gong is fighting for surviving these day.

Due to hygienic reason, my family do not come to this place often. However on my recent visit I notice their tableware and cutlery is cleaner than last, yet location wise is still a problem, as it's located at road side. Dine with my family, 5 of us.

This is the pork ribs which Peng Heong is famous for. This Pork ribs also known as pork loin rib chop or "Pai Kuat Wong" in Cantonese. Seriously, I've never taste a better pork rib chop than this. The meat is sweet and so tender. The chef must be marinate the rib in long hours before frying it. You can notice every table has order a plate of this pork rib chop.


Hakka clay pot vinegar pork leg is another popular item. It doesn't surprise me, even though we ordered every time we are here.


We order this clay pot chicken curry, my complain is too oily. You can see from the picture, there are so much chili oil floating. The other dislike is the cutting, some of the chicken has very big cut.

Vegetable, quite fresh. Just light boil in water and serve with mixture soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame sauce and top with shallot crisp. Besides the dishes above, Peng Heong do serve other food like mutton curry, asam kampung fish, roasted chicken.

Peng Heong special make chili sauce, light spicy, sour and sweat. The reason I mentioned here is usual chili sauce on the table are quite watery. For their usual customer, they serve with "special" chili sauce. The picture shown is the "special" one. The special version is thicker than normal. I didn't taste the normal chili sauce, I think the differences is watery vs thicker. Try to request on your next visit, they might give you.

Not forget to mentioned the soy drink, just like home make, soy bean and sugar, nothing more. It's fresh. Total damage: RM46.00

Other blogger who has mentioned this:
Tham Jiak
KYspeaks
Three Meals of Goodness

Peng Heong Hakka Paikut Restaurant is quite hard to find if you're not familiar with Klang. Ask Chinese about Xuan Gong Cinema, they will tell you.