cagayan's

... continuation of makan journey.

cagayan's façade

lunch stop was at cagayan's. a humble little shop that serves filipino cuisines tucked in a corner within bandar utama centrepoint. its not really common to find filipino cuisines unlike thai and vietnamese cuisines which are sprouting everywhere. ask anyone, and i dont think many can name what filipino cuisines are like, their main ingredients or their special features.

i read that cagayan's pork ribs are really good, hence its a *MUST ORDER*. and so these are our selections to share...

golden mushroom bacon maki (6 pieces)- rm7.90
stir fried spears of golden mushroom wrapped in pork bacon

chop-chop -rm18.90

mix grill of pork chop, bacon chop, chicken chop with vege and fries

this regular piggy (classic sauce)- rm35.90

a regular size (6 slabs) portion for the not-so-hungry

pinakbet- rm7.90

sauteed pumpkin, long beans, bittergourd, okra with shrimp paste

black coffee- rm3.90

ice green tea bottomless- rm2.90

and the following is a review of what we ordered.

for starters, we had the golden mushroom bacon maki which comes in 6 pieces, just right for us. not too sure weather this is a filipino style cuisine or what as ive seen this dish almost everywhere- chinese, thai, japanese etc. but anyway, we liked it although i found it alil' oily and the mushrooms doesnt look that 'lively' and 'golden'. ehehehe... i reckon its relatively easy to make as well, bacons and mushrooms.

chop-chop, or mixed grill was overall good. it comes in big portions, just nice for sharing. kenneth commented that the meat itself wasnt that flavourful, perhaps not enough marination but the sauce was the saving grace *cue for imaginery angels to sing hallelujah* the mixed grill is served with sides of mashed potatoes and coleslaw.

next up, the reason for us to be there, the pork ribs. they have very kiut names for the porky items. the pork ribs comes in either 4 slabs, 6 slabs or 8 slabs and there are 3 sauces to choose from- classic, oriental, chilli hot sauce. we chose the 6 slabs with classic sauce. the sight of it makes me drool, ive always love the bbq'ed texture of food. the ribs were nice, juicy and tender. glad that it didnt disappoint. the meat was flavourful, definitely a *MUST ORDER*.

the last dish was a plate of greenies, just to balance up our porky diet. its called pinakbet, a potpourri of greenies... however, this dish got all the thumbs down. nobody liked it, nobody bothered about it either. i think most of us still prefer our tai chow greenies, full of wok hei. right, guys?

for drinks, we had ice lemon tea (rm3.90), ice green tea (bottomless), black coffee, and ice/warm water (50 cents). steam rice cost rm1 for a big serving.

total bill- rm104.62

cari makan, dengan kawan members

service is brisk and the person who served us was a friendly attentive guy. the place is quite clean but decorations are minimum, there wasnt really anything to tell us we're in a filipino eatery shop except that there are quite a few piggy decorations around which will certainly freak our muslim friends out :-p

the food are not too pricey, affordable, reasonable and justifies the servings. it was about rm17.50 per person for the food we had above inclusive of taxes, rice and drinks.

its not too hard to find cagayan's as its located at the ground floor. its situated next to starbucks and opposite is the baskin robins kiosk. i am not too sure weather centrepoint has basement parking, but it should not be a problem, also it only cost 50cents an hour.

p/s: one thing that ive learnt is the filipinos love pork like the chinese!

SCORECARD
taste- 3.58
service- 4
price- 3.66
ambience- 2.88
location- 3.86


cagayan's
g107-108 centrepoint
bandar utama
47800 petaling jaya.
03-77241022
business hours: 11.30am-10.00pm
(strictly non-halal)


[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

hong kee tim sum

introducing the newly formed Makan Club members with our very own tagline "Cari Makan, Dengan Kawan!"

yiling

organizer

param

co-chauffer/ photographer

kenneth
chauffer


jill
treasurer/ car provider

fernie
time-keeper

rong jiang
jukebox


official cari makan car

**************

MISSION OF THE DAY-
5 meals in a day with a budget of rm100 per person (inclusive petrol, parking and toll) and have loadsa fun!!

first makan place:

hong kee tim sum @damansara jaya

IMHO, the bestest way to start a day would be having warm good food in your stomach, and dim sum is the bestest solution!

came across reviews of hong kee tim sum from other flogs and thought we should give it a try.

this is how hong kee tim sum works:

1. get seated
2. order your choice of tea
3. a waiter will bring about a trayful of fried items, select according to your preference
4. another waiter will bring about a trayful of bamboo baskets which contains FROZEN, RAW steamed-type of dim sum (har kau, siu mai, yu mai, lohmaikai etc)
   
5. select whichever dim sum you want and the kitchen will steam 'em up for you
6. waiter will bring the steamed dim sum to your table
7. enjoy!

rule #1- never OVER-ORDER

and these are the array of dim sums we tried out-

"heung pin" chinese tea

some kinda siu mai

sui gao type of dim sum

pork meat rolled with egg crepe

siu mai

scallop type of siu mai

char siew chee cheong fun

har gao- prawn dumpling

fish ball

yu mai

yong tau foo- brinjals and fishcake

wu gok- fried yam with char siew bau filling

fried fishcake

prawn chee cheong fun

fried radish cake

fried lotus sesame balls

fried wanton with prawn filling and mayo

total bill- rm63

tastewise, hong kee tim sums are nothing fantastic to shout about, its has the normal kinda varieties of dim sum but also some which are not widely available in other places such as the "sang chow loh mai fan" which is only available on weekends and have garnered the *thumbs up* from a few floggers. i personally find that some steamed dim sums were abit dry and the wu gok was not fluffy enough though kenneth finds it good. well, again different people have different tastes :)

... and they always say ipoh people are very fussy with their food. well, i guess they're right.

since it was a rainy friday morning, also cos many are still on holidays, the place is not too packed. parking was a breeze but im not too certain about it on normal working days or weekends. located at the row of shops around atria shopping complex, hong kee tim sum is hard to miss as it has a bright attractive orange signboard. service is so-so as some waiters are foreign workers, hence we didnt know weather they understood us, but it has a very clean environment and the place is not hot and stuffy (maybe because of the morning rain?).

price-wise, it is reasonable, dim sums range from rm1.20-rm5. the items we had above were all priced at rm3 each and cha sui (tea) is at rm1 per head. definitely a good place to start the day without burning a hole in your pocket :)

here's the scorecard, graded by us which i have averaged the scores out (out of 5).

SCORECARD
taste- 3.21
service- 2.78
price- 3.52
ambience- 3.75
location- 4.0

... and the good food journey continues. stay tune!


restoran hong kee tim sum
18 and 20, jalan ss22/25
damansara jaya, pj.
(shops within atria shopping complex, corner shop with bright orange signboard)

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

san francisco steakhouse

having heard good ravings from the sister about san francisco steakhouse being her fav place for good steak, i had no doubts about it when calvin brought me here for our 1st month ann. i know abit damn long already but good food reviews should have no expiry date!

sorry for poor quality pictures as i was using my cameraphone.

we visited the mid valley branch. if i remember correctly, we ordered a set dinner which comes with a soup, mains and a dessert, and another ala carte mains, honeydew juice, 1/2 dozen of escargots and a french onion soup. i cant remember how much they cost though but prices are pretty much the same range to those in victoria station or the ship, plus i think they've already changed the set combinations.

honeydew juice

brocolli cream soup

french onion soup

i opted for the set dinner which comes with the brocolli cream, oyster steak (there were few other choices of mains, but as usual oysters never fail to attract me!), and the forgettable cake. knowing that i like french onion soup, calvin ordered that for me and he took the brocolli cream instead. hehehe. however, it was a bad experience! the "cheese" layer on top of the soup as you can see in the picture is soooooo hard!! but the soup was okay, so we abandoned the cheese. was the brocolli soup ok? i cant remember, hahaha.

1/2 dozen garlic butter escargots

the escargots were yummy. is there any other way to cook escargots besides garlic and butter? escargots remind me of my accounting lecturer who despite saying he stayed in france for a period of time and can speak french BUT he said he just dont understand why french likes to eat things like goose liver (foie gras) and garden snails (escargots). i thought he would be able to accept their delicacies cos he's so proud to have lived in france. but guess not, he prefers his roti canai! anyway, hope to try foie gras soon, been hearing so much good things about it.

sorry, cant remember the name of this steak, but the grill marks sure looks attractive eh?

oyster steak
omgggg look at the BIG JUICY oyster innit

as for the mains... really large portions! my oyster steak was damn good, i had it medium well. it was thick and juicy and very tender... yumm yumm while the oyster hidden innit was BIG SUCCULENT and JUICY, yumm yumm. at first i was like searching for the oysters and then i realized it was hidden innit. hahaha. calvin said it was good too.

calvin's steak which i cant remember the name... wasnt that good as he claimed. it was too well, was it?? so folks, next time you see oyster steak in the menu, go for it! (i dunno if they have it in the menu as that time we went, oyster steak was only available for set dinner not ala carte)

some cake which name is forgettable

i was pretty damn stuffed, dont think i finished the sides. when the dessert came, it was a slice of cake with some cubed dragon fruit and halfed strawberry. presentation wise, okay but the cake tasted horrible. a hit-miss-forgettable dessert.

will i be coming back for more steaks? certainly!

p/s: san francisco steakhouse chains are owned by the tai thong group! just found out about it :)

****************

foodnote (footnote, geddit? is this a pun?): my makan kakis and i will be embarking on a makan-makan day trip tomorrow around the klang valley. ive done my homework by reading food reviews of other floggers, finding out the locations and budget range, and will be forwarding the "schedule/proposal" to my honorary makan members. hope it will be a successful makan outing for us! more food reviews after tomorrow i promise!

happy deepavali to everyone near and far away from home!

san francisco steakhouse
available at damansara intan, mid valley, summit usj, suria klcc

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

gelato fruity

gelato is an italian ice cream, first made famous by lecka lecka i believe. this dessert needs no further introduction as i think most of us have had a taste of gelato before.

this is the first time i tried gelato fruity @1 utama, which was previously where lecka lecka was situated. im not too sure what happened to lecka lecka, either theres a change in management/take over/closed down etc.

gelato fruity

so let the pictures do the talking!

like lecka lecka, gelato fruity offers a variety of gelati, not just fruity flavours. normally id go for the after eight (choc mint) but i was feeling a lil' fruity, needed something refreshing, hence i opted for the orange+pineapple flavour from the fruity range. like lecka lecka, gelato fruity allows tasting first before you decide which flavour you want.

orange + pineapple

i guess one of the core reasons that people come back for more (especially females) is that gelato are highly fat free. 95% for daily variants and 99% for fruity variants. hoorah!! indulgences without sins :)

prices are standard at rm5.90 per scoop. the more scoops, the cheaper.
there are also fruit juices (rm5.90) which you can customize according to your liking. i remember i had the carrot juice the other time with calvin because i was desperately craving for it. the fruit juices are all purely extracted from the fruits itself, no added sugar water or anything like that which is very good *thumbs up!*


IMHO, rm5.90 for a scoop if ice cream seems like too much to pay for when you can get a mcd sundae cone at rm1.05 or a conetto drumstick at rm2.50. however, the scoop is really generous and its great to share! so its worth every penny ;-)

heres a summary of the prices for you readers!

drinks
juices (100% pure fruit juice) -rm5.90
mineral water- rm2.40

take away
500g- rm23.90
1 liter- rm43.90

ice cream
single scoop- rm5.90
with waffle cone- rm6.50
double scoop- rm8.90
tripple scoop- rm10.90


gelato fruity
lgk5, 1 utama shopping center (new wing)
(at the previous lecka lecka location)

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]