Pan Ki Dim Sum @ Sri Petaling

Pan Ki Dim Sum

Dim sum is no poor man's breakfast. I think everyone is aware of how prices of food have skyrocketed these days, as a matter of fact the moment oil prices shot up to RM2.70/litre. Although the fuel price has gone down (slowly but surely), food prices remained the same. I think sometimes this world doesn't work in logic.

Anyway, just yesterday, a few friends and I started our Christmas Day with a dim sum breakfast. Friend of ours was obviously deprived of dim sum as he has been away in the US for about 2 years and Pan Ki holds a nostalgic piece of memory for him as he has been frequenting the shop since young. The lady boss still recognized him but that didn't entitle us to any special priviledges (discounts, complimentary dishes etc).


Fried prawn wanton


Fried prawn roll


Fried yam puffs

We kickstarted the meal with some fried selection of sinful prawn wanton. It was alright but give me anything that has prawns in it and comes with mayo dipping I'll be one happy person! The fried prawn roll is just so-so as I could not really taste any prawn traces. The fried yam puffs was just ok too.


Lala mai


Fish paste with beancurd skin


Bittergourd with fish paste


Mushroom dumplings


Siew mai with prawns


Prawn dumplings

Next, we had a selection of steamed dim sums. All these are common dim sum fares, I wouldn't say they were great but neither were they unpallatable. The steamed dishes fared just between the 55-65% mark or B minus to C grade.


Dried oyster porridge


Prawns chee cheong fun

Amongst all the misses, there are actually 2 hits, the dried oyster porridge and chee cheong fun. The porridge was rather smooth and has hints of dried oysters. The taste was absolutely comforting as dried oysters brought out a fragrant yet not overpowering flavour. The chee cheong fun, though as ordinary as it looks, tasted good too. Soft and smooth chee cheong fun with little prawns enveloped in it, a dab of sambal belacan and fried shallots with a drizzle of soy sauce... right into the mouth :D


Chinese tea

And what better way to end the meal with the obligatory tradition of sipping cups of chinese tea to wash it all down? Our friend who got back from the States commented that he missed having chinese tea the most. Well, welcome home my friend!

The whole bill totalled about RM60+ for the 5 of us. For the quality of food we had, I'd say it was a little on the pricey side.



Pan Ki Dim Sum
Sri Petaling (near The Store)
Coordinates: 3°4'6"N 101°41'27"E
(sorry I don't know the address, so I shall put in the coordinates here)

[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.]

*Merry Christmas*

Merry Christmas, hohoho. Eat, drink, live and be merry!

p/s: Photos taken using my spankin' new Sony α300. Hello DSLR :D

Australia Movie Premier by Jacob's Creek

For those who have been eagerly asking me how I spent my 21st birthday, here's my account of the 'special' day.



It was a working Thursday so I spent half of the day in the office while anticipating for my lady boss to come in to the office and see what she wore for the movie premier that night (it said "smart casual with a hint of Aussie") We were given tickets by supplier for the Australia movie premier organized and sponsored by Jacob's Creek (distributed by Pernod Ricard Malaysia). Anyway yeah she came in about 3pm something wearing sleeveless tank top, denim and all set, YOU KNOW WHAT SHE TOLD ME??!!!!!!!



"Eh, Yiling we're going for the movie premier tonight?? I don't feel like going la.... watch movie only woh... Pavillion so far.... you ask your friends who wanna go lah..."

*stunned wtf*

"Erm... oh okay... you don't wanna go then don't go loh... I ask my friends and see." (very sad and reluctant tone)

But I still wanna go. I wanna watch Australia. I wanna attend the Jacob's Creek event (read: free flow).

So in the end, she gave me her ticket and I called every single possible person to go with me and all the replies came back negative :((((((((((((

/cue for sad violin song



So yes, I drove aimlessly to Pavillion KL (I honestly don't know the way, pakai hentam only), just in time to grab a glass each of Jacob's Creek (Shiraz Rose, Chardonnay, Shiraz- I think), watch some aborigines performance blablabla, bought popcorn and entered cinema alone, watched alone, laughed alone, cried alone. Wtf damn sad.







The movie was pretty long, 2 hrs 45 mins. In the beginning it was a bit confusing but after awhile you get the hang of it. It has a mixture of humour and romance and HUGH JACKMAN IS DAMN HANDSOME, FTW! I think he and Nicole Kidman make quite a great on screen couple.

Anytheway, after the movie ended, we were given a goodie bag each which contained a Tourism Australia booklet, an organizer, Australia postcards and a box of christmas themed chocolates! The box of chocolates is so nice (packaging) that I tak sampai hati to eat.

After the movie, I called Eiling cos she was around Pavillion to set up her Fidani booth. She and her assistant had booked a room at Sheraton Imperial KL for the night and I was invited to spend the night with them. It was a spontaneous invitation as neither do they or I had expected my special night to end like this.





To not waste the night sulking, I ordered room service for a bottle of Penfolds Private Release Shiraz Cabernet 2007 which tasted quite not right. But I still down it anyways because bad liquor is better than no liquor! Hahaha, ok jk. Cannot waste mah. The half bottle is now sitting on my office desk hehe.

Cheers to meself for turning 21 and cheers to a rather great movie and great night spent alone.

Boss if you're reading this, I don't wanna fren you oredi.
(But pls still give me my bonus k?? Hehe)

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Oh ya, forgot to review about the Jacob's Creek wines. I quite like the Shiraz Rose, for the taste and the pinkish color. It has a sparkling and bubbly sensation as it is served chill like the Chardonnay. It is sweet compared to the Shiraz. I am not a big fan of white wines, so I only had the Chardonnay for the sake of trying. As for the Shiraz, it is ok, not too strong and definitely better than the Penfolds!! Should have ask to ta pau a bottle back instead of ordering room service.

Turning Twenty-One

Today I am 21.

6 days ago, we were all cracking our heads to come up with a brilliant and genius idea of getting me into the casino without being caught. It was a brilliant and genius idea, so brilliant and genius that I lost RM50 in the casino playing Big Small. But I think it was a great experience (felt like the billions of cameras were looking at me as though they could detect underaged patrons like those cameras with face/smile detector).

Now I'm legal, ftw! Just can't wait to flash that ID to show the casino/club/whatever-that's-illegal-for-people-below-21-yrs-old bouncers that I'm legal :D

CTNF: Stir Fried French Beans with Chicken and Prawns

A handful of french beans, a chunk of chicken meat and some small prawns. These are just what you need for a wholesome dish that has all the protein and vitamins! Take it with rice and you'll have the carb as well.

Ingredients
French beans
Chicken, sliced
Small prawns
Garlic, sliced

Sauce
Some soy sauce
Salt to taste
Pepper
Dark soy sauce (kicap pekat, hak yau)
Sesame oil
Water
Corn starch

Instructions
1. Marinate chicken and prawns with a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil.
2. Heat the wok with some oil and sauteed garlic till fragrant.
3. Put in sliced chicken and let it cook.
4. Add prawns. Put in french beans and let it cook for awhile.
5. Combine all ingredients for sauce. Mix well and pour into the pan. Let it simmer for awhile before dishing up.

Dai Shu Geok @ Ipoh

Ipoh hor fun

Over the last weekend, my college friends suggested a jalan-jalan-cari-makan daytrip to Ipoh, the land of good food. And so we embarked on this gastronomic journey up north with a van-load of teenage kids who has never/almost never set foot in Ipoh. It was a long weekend as the following Monday was a Public Holiday, there was a traffic jam on the highway! But our consolation to being stuck in a jam is having the opportunity to be part of the 'wannabe convoy' of Fast & Furious cars from Singapore- all in all, we spotted 3 Subaru Imprezas, 1 Nissan Skyline, 1 Lamborghini, 1 BMW 3 series and 3 Porches. When we exited the Simpang Pulai toll, we saw these cars again. I guess they were on a day trip to Ipoh all the way from Singapore as well!

p/s: If you saw a Toyota van with a bunch of teens jumping with excitement at the sight of F&F cars, that was probably us :p


Comfort but sinful food

As usual, to kickstart the gastronomical trip, my ideal place would be the famous Dai Shu Geok (literally meaning 'under the big tree'). Located under a really big tree (which ultimately provides the shade from the scorching sun) at Jalan Pasir Pinji (my friend from Sungai Petani demanded to know what 'Pinji' means, he finds it awfully funny I don't know why???), Dai Shu Geok can be located very easily if you know where the famous Tuck Kee Restaurant is. It is so famous that if you ask every single Ipoh folk, they will know it. It's like asking the KL-ites where Mid Valley is.

There was already quite a crowd when we arrived at noon time. This is basically how the system works around here if you want food on your table. First, pick your items using the bowl and thongs that you'll see at the counter. Then hand over your bowl to the lady taking the order, she will ask your choice of noodles. Tell her where you're sitting and your yummy fried bowl of goodies will be delivered to your shortly. Easy peasy.










Fried goodies

I picked alittle bit of everything because everything seems so good! My favourite would be the fried fu pei which I have mentioned before that only Ipoh I can find fu pei with fish paste in it! They're so yummy! Another favourite of mine is the fish cake. Best eaten when it is freshly out of the wok as the fish cake is very soft but still tangy!! I can have that for lunch and dinner for consecutive days!


Ipoh transluscent hor fun

We had the obligatory Ipoh hor fun which is transluscent and big fat juicy tauges. The broth is clear and really goes well with all the fried goodies.


Popiah- RM1.50 each

A friend ordered the Popiah and it was great as well. Not as a main dish but absolutely good as a side/appetizer.

The lunch was very comforting although I was so full (trying to fill up on my quota of months I haven't been eating all these... hehehe). Total bill was only about RM5 per person for all the food we had. So cheap and worth all the calories/cholestrol :D


Related post:
Dai Shu Geok Revisited


Dai Shu Geok 'Under Big Tree'
Jalan King, Pasir Pinji,
31650 Ipoh, Perak.

[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.]

CTNF: Stir fried salted egg squid

As good as it looks...?

This recipe is fresh from the wok!

I took leave today to enquire about the new ACCA course in INTI. There IS a possibility I might go back to studying..... part time. We'll see how it goes (ie. paper exemptions, cost and timing). Another thing that bugged me today is finding out that a dear lecturer who was my Head of Program is quitting the college and relocating to India due to some family problems. I am pretty saddened by the news as 1) He is a very nice and friendly person and has been very helpful throughout my 4 yrs duration in college, and 2) Every single person I know is quitting the college, there's no more reason to go back!

Cut the long story short, I took leave and I cooked dinner.

Anyway, I digressed.

Ingredients
4 Salted eggs (yolk only)
150 gms Squid (calamari)
2 Tablespoons Sliced Onion
2 Garlic cloves
1 Tablespoon Shrimp Oil
2 Tablespoons Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
Curry Leaves
Chilli Padi

Preparation
1. Clean and chop the squid into bite sized pieces.
2. Heat some water until boiling and briefly blanch the squid. Remove and drain.
3. Put oil into a frying pan, over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, take just the yolk of the salty eggs and fry until half cooked, break up the egg yolkd as you cook them, just like scrambled eggs.
4. Add the squid to the pan and fry it for a few seconds more until cooked. Remove from the pan and place on a serving dish, keep the pan ready to reuse to make the sauce.
5. Chop the garlic and put into the pan, fry for a few seconds to release the smell.
6. Add the fish sauce, sugar, shrimp oil, sliced onion, black pepper, curry leaves and chilli padi and fried for 1 minute.
7. Pour this sauce over the calamari and egg mix before serving.


Most definitely!

I had initially wanted to cook something similar to the salted egg squid I had in King Crab (partially due to the last post which contains salted egg squid at Ah Lim Seafood as well). I couldn't find any recipes on that and decided to settle on this recipe from Apron's Thai Food. It didn't quite disappoint and I must say it was quite yummy hehehe.

Preparation and cooking is easy peasy too. If I can cook, so can you!

Ah Lim Seafood @ Kota Kemuning

Ah Lim Seafood @ Kota Kemuning

AH LIM SEAFOOD has its origins in Tanjung Tualang, Perak, a place famous for its udang galah or blue fresh water prawns. The restaurant, formerly at Vest Inn Coffeeshop in USJ 16, Subang Jaya, moved into its own premises in Kota Kemuning in May 2006. Its founders, two Lim brothers from the Perak town, came to Kuala Lumpur in the mid-1990s, worked with a number of seafood restaurants and decided to strike out on their own in 2001.

Specialties

(1) Fried crabs(in various style)
(2) Fried noodles with udang galah(sang har mein)
(3) Deep fried homemade bean curd with sauce
(4) Braised pork knuckles
(5) Fried intestines with dried prawns

(Excerpt from Rasa Rasa Malaysia)

I remember reading about this particular dai chow in one of The Star Metro's food review awhile back. This review is at least a month backdated hehe, sometimes I just lose the will (ie. lazy) to write anything on this blog!


Kam Heong Lala


Marmite Pork Ribs


String beans, okra, brinjal & petai combo


Salted egg fried squid


Tofu with minced meat

The dinner overall was satisfying. No complains on the food although we had expected the salted egg fried squid to look like the one at King Crab. Ah Lim's version is watery and I think it goes great with white rice. Both dry and watery version taste just as awesome!

Well, it is quite surprising to note that the eatery used to operate from the very same shop my aunt's noodle stall is at now. And discovering that it has affiliations with Tanjung Tualang, the place famous for its fresh water prawns in Perak. I think this just calls for another eat-out and we might just try out the dishes recommended on Rasa Rasa website.

Kota Kemuning's food scene is certainly coming to life!


Ah Lim Seafood
1, Jalan Anggerik Eria AU 31/AU,
Kota Kemuning, 40460 Shah Alam.
Business hour: 11-2.30pm; 5-11pm
Tel: 03-51213736; 012-2019210 (Candy Chai)

[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.]

MCF Fish & Noodle @ Kota Kemuning

MCF Fish & Noodle

I am not a big fan of fish noodles (ie. fish head noodles) although I superlove fishballs, fish paste, fish fillet in my noodles. Perhaps I don't have the acquired taste for soup noodles with evaporated milk. The combination is just.... weird.

But, I will still eat them.

Last 2 weeks ago, it was one of the regular nights where both Eiling and I were home late from work and Ziling was as usual hilang entah mana. We didn't have the time to cook, so we decided to eat out. I blindly drove around the neighbourhood and this was the first shop that attracted us- big red banner and it's a new eatery place. We decided to give it a shot.

(Actually I didn't quite realize we were in for fish noodles until we settled down at the table and had a look at the menu, both of us were busy talking away...)


Seafood noodles- RM11.50

Eiling ordered the seafood noodles. It came looking like it's nicely done and all, but when Eiling started to dig in, she found hair in it! Disgusting! She called the waiter and he brought the bowl back in the kitchen but soon came out bringing the same bowl- only difference is that the hair has been plucked out. After going through half the bowl, Eiling remarked that their definition of 'seafood' is fish paste and prawns. There weren't any signs of other seafood occassionally found in seafood noodles ie. squid, cuttlefish, clams etc. Adding to the already very bad review is the prawns weren't fresh. Sighs zero hits, and so many misses in a bowl.

Plus, it was expensive!


Fish Paste Noodles- RM7.50

Mine came slightly better, at least I didn't find any stray hairs...... The bowl of noodles did not impress, it fared only so-so, perhaps I am already biased from the start (I don't like evaporated milk in my soup!!). At RM7.50, it was a pretty expensive one-course dinner, I think I would have like to spend it eating McDonalds instead.

The restaurant was very quiet and adding to the bad dining experience we had, it's just a matter of time before it meets the fate of other eateries which had opened and closed down.......



MCF Fish & Noodle
39, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla U31/U,
Kota Kemuning,
40460 Shah Alam.

[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.]

Goin' places

If you ask me what I like about my current job is that it takes me to places that I have never been before- albeit it is for work purposes and the places are anywhere but glam (ie. jet-setting to NY, London, Dubai etc). But that's ok because I really do appreciate the chances I get traveling without my own expense (except personal purchases).

Over Thursday and Friday last week, I was up and about at 5am to the airport for a flight at 7am to Alor Star. The usual outstation trips routine will include meeting up at McDonalds at LCCT (do you know the LCCT outlet is the most McProfitable in the whole Msia?) and then checkin' in and boarding.

For this trip, we were to kill 2 birds with one stone- 2 places in a day. But I'd say we achieved more than that, read on and find out where the 3rd place was ;-)


At Sultan Abdul Halim Airport (Alor Star)

We touched down at the Sultan Abdul Halim Airport and it was love at first sight. The surroundings of the airport are nothing but green fields and it was such a refreshing moment to come out of the plane inhaling nothing but fresh air...... I swear we could all live till 95 if we stay there.

The outlet manager came and pick us up and it was an hour plus journey to our dutyfree shop at...... you guesss???? The Thai Border, or also known as Wang Kelian. Believe me if I tell you we literally went across bridges, through the jungle, up and down the hill, all the little ulu kampung roads to get to the shop! While I was in the car, I kept thinking whether there was even civilization in there!


Little streetside stalls at Thai Border

Like the few trips before this to Langkawi and Kota Kinabalu, we were there on a work assignment- year end stock take. So it was counting liquor and tobacco for me, very sien and tiring- told you it's nothing glam. Of cos while I was counting, I was also spying on which bottle to buy home, it's dutyfree and additional 20% staff discount! I got a bottle of Absolut Ruby Red and another bottle of Absolut Vanilla for less than RM45 per bottle. It was a steal! I also bought a dozen of Absolut Raspberri miniatures- it was retailing at RM4 per bottle! I regretted bringing such a small luggage, else I would have bought more!


Old skool bottled drinks

It was lunch time and my manager brought us to cross over to the Thai side. Thailand was just a mere 50 metres away.... no passport needed, just some conversations in Tagalog and hi-byes with the immigresion officers. We settled at a little run down shop which seemed like the only eatery around the jungle and had Thai "dai chow"- just few simple dishes.


Thai "dai chow" at Thai border

We had a fish curry, mixed vege and shrimps with sambal (very pedas!!), ulam, fried beef slices, salty vege with egg, and fried omelet with petai. We also found something that we couldn't find in Malaysia- Minute Maid orange juice in little glass bottles! It was such a thirst quencher that we all had 2 bottles each. The whole bill came up to 420 Baht = RM42.


Minute maid orange juice

We headed back to Malaysia after lunch and continued with our work until about 3pm where we took another hour plus ride back to civilization. Then it was another 2 hours cab ride to Penang! Didn't help that the cab was not too pleasant but still bearable......


Crossing the Penang Bridge

We reached Penang at about 6.30pm, checked in to B-Suite hotel which is near Bayan Lepas. The rooms were very spacious and it was pretty cheap too, if I'm not mistaken about RM150 or so per night. I shared the room with my lady boss and we were all too tired from the day's rides from KL-Alor Star-Wang Kelian-Penang. We were both in bed by 9pm!




Room 1305 @ B-Suite, Penang

What happened that night was rather interesting. I was sleeping and I heard noises, sounds of beads falling to the floor. At first I didn't pay much attention thinking perhaps it is beads falling or something (there's no logic as I know my boss is sleeping as well). But after 3 or 4 times hearing the same sound, I woke up and turned to my boss who also woke up as well. I asked, "What's that?????!!!" and she replied, "The air-cond."

It didn't make any sense but I tried to go back to sleep. The following morning, she told me that initially when she heard the same sound she thought someone tried to break in through the balcony, but she was afraid to approach the area to find out (I didn't know she was awake, I was probably sleeping like a pig), after awhile she realized it was the air cond. It was so cold that it started making ice cubes and those ices fell to the floor- hence the bead-like sounds.

Well, the air cond could have made ice cubes sooner, then we could have made ourselves some cocktails!

Friday was spent at the Penang Airport doing stock check as well..... reached KL on the same day in the evening. Super tiring! but very happy with my cheap steal of liquor :-)

As I was joking to my colleagues and boss, "Wah we have such a high-flying lifestyle. Breakfast in KL, lunch in Thailand, dinner in Penang! HAHAHA."

Though I wish it was London, New York and Paris.

I'll be off to Kota Kinabalu again from Wednesday-Friday! (You can tell I am most happy when I can get out from the 9-6pm office routine :D)