We went the Korean way

Tried out Korean BBQ. They really take their side dishes seriously. Can't remember exactly how many of them but if you wash your own dishes at home, I don't know about you, but I would rather starve to death.

Yup, these were just part of them.

Can't handle it hot? Don't worry they have an alternative.

The meat were not bad...especially the cow tongue..hehe..

Sea Creatures

I was asked by someone (we call him BC) why do I mostly blog about food. In appreciation for the scrumptious seafood dinner he treated us to last night, this post is dedicated to address his comments.

I love sea creatures, especially prawns, crabs and fishes. I love them more when they are delivered to me on a dish. Here are some pictures of the lovely sea creatures in their not so natural habitat, taken at the restaurant we visited. ( Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures. They were taken during a spur-of-the-"Oh I think I should blog about this"-moment. )

Fish...

Prawn...

Crab. There, the three quintessential seafood delight.

Thanks for the meal, BC!

Beef Noodles

Beef Noodles with the works.

There was a comment from Chris Hoke in my Wonton Noodles post that gave me the idea of introducing a local beef noodles restaurant that I frequent. This particular shop is situated in Taynton View Garden, Cheras.

There are two specialty eateries that sell this dish in Taynton View Garden, one of which is called 3U Beef Noodles. 3U was featured on a TV food programme (Ho Chiak on 8TV) so this was also the first shop that we tried.

The second time, we went to another shop in which was located just off the main road, called Lai Foong Restaurant. In contrast to 3U, it was never featured in any TV show nor any (food) blogs / websites. Nonetheless, we were pleasantly surprise to find that their variety of beef noodles came in more generous portions in terms of meat and actually tastes better.

There are several choices on how you would like your meal served: from the different types of noodles to the different types of bovine parts, including the stomach, intestines, beef, tendons and meatballs. One of the differences between the two restaurants was that Lai Foong restaurant actually put in chunks of the tendons, as oppose to 3U which only sprinkled tiny shreds of it. Yet, 3U is more pricey than Lai Foong restaurant.

All things considered, I would definitely recommend Lai Foong restaurant over 3U. It's a shame that Lai Foong's location is somewhat sequestered in the residential area and not that easy to be discovered.

Despite it's somewhat "regular" facade, the interior is actually pretty cool and comfy.

If you live near or in the Cheras area and would like to give it a try, the exact location of Lai Foong restaurant is 3.088195,101.735613 on Google Maps.

Fatty Friday

I went to Kajang for a meeting last Friday. Food lovers in Klang Valley should be familiar with Kajang's most famous delicacy, the Kajang Satay. Even though I have been to Kajang countless times for work purposes, this is, embarassingly, the first time I'm trying out this dish (I've ate Satay before, just not Kajang Satay).

A Satay is basically marinated grilled meat on a bamboo skewer. The meat can be either chicken, beef, mutton or fish. Usually the dish is served with sliced cucumbers, onions and a special peanut sauce for dipping.

Chicken and beef satays with sliced cucumbers.

Along with the special peanut sauce.


Peanut sauce for dipping.

As far as I can tell, there wasn't much difference between Kajang's Satays and the regular Satays you can buy elsewhere in KL. I have never, however, tasted fish Satay before so I might give it a spin next time I stop by the place. If there is anything different about Kajang Satay, I'd say it's the slightly more expensive price.

After having Kajang Satay for lunch, we decided we shouldn't stop there. So, for dinner we drove another hour and a half through heavy rain to Klang, the birthplace of the Bak Kut Teh.

Bak Kut Teh, literally translated as "meat bones soup" in Hokkien, is a popular dish among the Malaysian Chinese. It is a distintively Chinese fare that found its fame in Malaysia. It consists of fatty pork, spare ribs and pig internal organs eg. intestines and stomach linings, in thick, rich herbal soup.

Again, Bak Kut Teh stalls and restaurants can be found all over KL, but they are quite different from those found in Klang. For starters, most Bak Kut Teh in KL have more variety of ingredients, including mushrooms, vegetables, fried tofu and so on, whereas the Klang "originals" consists of only meat, organs and nothing else. The soup is also much thicker in the Klang version. You can also order vegetables as side dishes.

My main peeve with this food trip is that I had to pay more for less, after having suffered a difficult trip and spending a good half hour looking for the particular shop where we wanted to dine in.

meat, meat and more meat. Then there are the organs.

After another ardous trip back to KL, we returned to our trusty mamak stall to enjoy nasi lemak for supper.

Asam Laksa

If you are a Malaysian, you will definitely know what is Asam Laksa. It's a soup based noodle that tastes sourish, spicy and sweet. Asam literally means tamarind in English and Laksa refers to the thick rice noodles. The ingredients consist of laksa noodles, shredded mackeral fish, sliced cucumbers, onions, chillies, pineapples, mint leaves and sweet thick shrimp paste. As you can guess from the ingredients, the dish pretty much include the entire gamut of taste sensations, although it is dominantly spicy and sour. If you like your Laksa to be more zesty you can always squeeze in more lime, which is usually provided (as shown in the picture above, on the spoon).

I am always on the look out for good Asam Laksa and fortunately in Malaysia, there are no short of restaurants or hawker centers that offers a variety of tasty and unique blends, some with slightly different ratios of sourness and spiciness.

These pictures were taken at a Hawker center in Cheras, KL. The stall is operated by a middle-age gentleman and for RM 4.00, the ingredients are pretty generous. I'd say as far as KL goes, this is one of my favourite Asam Laksa stall.

If you like to give it a try, you can find the stall at these coordinates in google maps: 3.082721,101.737056

Fishy goodness.

Pineapples

Banana Split

I am bananas about bananas (har har...). But this is rare, even for me...

a banana with a cleavage.

As a Chinese folklore goes: Girls who eat twin bananas may give birth to Siamese twins. I sometimes think that this is all a big conspiracy to let the guys have more of the bananas! Haha...

Wonton Noodles

On Sunday morning, I went out for brunch with friends. Not wanting to spend another meal eating fast food, we decided on the next best alternative given the location that we were at (near Cheras Leisure Mall, KL), a Wantan Mee specialty restaurant.

Wonton noodles, also known as wantan mee to locals, is a popular Cantonese noodle dish in Asian countries such as Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. As the name suggests, the dish consists of the noodle and the wontons, which is the name of a kind of Chinese dumpling that contains prawn or meat. The dish is usually garnished with leafy vegetables and char siew (roasted pork).

The bowl of soup on the farside of the noodle plate contain the Wantans. The reddish meat on the top of the noodles are the Char Siew. The beverage on the side is what Malaysians call the "Michael Jackson". Don't ask why.

As far as Wantan Mee goes, the noodles are suitably chewy but a bit too sticky for my liking. The Char Siews are the usual fare, if not slightly overburnt. What makes this serving special are the prawn Wantans, which are larger than the usual ones you'll find elsewhere.

As I have forgotten to shoot a close up of the Wantan, here's a makeshift illustration of it's size:

What a Wantan looks like (from Wikimedia.com).

The size of the Wantan I had.

If you have never tried this dish before because you do not reside in any of the aforementioned countries, I wholeheartedly recommend that you seek out your local Chinatown and see if they have any stalls or restaurants that offers it. If you have and you live in KL, this restaurant offers an adequate tastebud experience, although I'm sure there are better ones in town.

Thorny Delight

Some have called it the most offensive thing mother nature has to offer. Some have claimed that the smell can repel an invading army of angry barbarians (if that fails, you can still cause major damage by throwing the shells at them). But there is no denying that it is one of the most popular food in this part of the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the "King of Fruits"... the Durian.

If you are not familiar with this controversial produce, the Durian is a popular fruit in the tropical South East Asia. In countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, most locals have gotten used to the peculiar yet endearing odour of this fruit. However, most foreigners seem to find it an acquired taste at best and outright disgusting at worst.

Regardless of how people think of it, the thorny green exterior and the golden mushy meat inside never fails to make me salivate everytime I see / smell it. Since now is the Durian season, I was blessed with the pleasure of enjoying this delightful fruit again.

Here are a couple of pictures to share with you:

The thorny shell makes the Durian notoriously difficult to handle.

Durian..glorious Durian!

The Best of 4E

My eldest sister, nicknamed 4E is our home's resident baking pioneer. She bakes every recipe that she can get her hands on; cookies, pies, cakes...etc.

Basically, there are two versions to her food; the healthy ones and the less healthy ones.
The healthy ones use natural and wholesome ingredients, whereas the less healthy versions are...well, less natural and wholesome. Most of the times, of course, the less healthy ones taste better... :P

She is one of those few people in this world who doesn't taste her own products. But I must say, some of the cakes and cookies are exquisitely delicious!

If you have never baked a cake before, let me tell you, there are a lot of work involved. You need to buy the ingredients from the store; weigh them on the scale; incorporate them together which usually will be much easier to do if you have all the high-tech machines; and the worst of all, cleaning and washing all the greasy utensils which sometimes need a few washes to get rid of the oil and butter. Just thinking about it makes me tired.

Here are some pictures of her pastries that I pilfered from her mobile phone: