Thai Express @ The Curve

On NYE, C and I headed to Mutiara Damansara area so that we could be early to grab a parking spot and catch a movie to kill some time before the countdown at night. We hadn't had lunch and C suggested going Thai. Besides Sutra (which I reckon is pricey), Thai Express was the only choice and since we both decided to give this place a try.

Thai Express is pretty easy to locate with all the striking colors and situated just next to Baskin Robbins. Although there weren't a crowd, the service was really bad! One look at the waiters and you can see why. After we got seated, there wasn't anyone to bring us the menu, we had to get it ourselves! After browsing through the menu and ready to order, again the waiters seem to be very preoccupied with something else. Urgh, this calls for some "minus points" even if the food taste damn good.


Seafood Tom Yum Soup- RM12.90

Any Thai meal will not be complete without the Tom Yum Soup! Thai Express's version is not too spicy and won't make you choke after a spoonful. It also has a considerable serving of squids and prawns. It makes quite a good appetizer.


Thai Green Curry Chicken

The Thai Green Curry Chicken did not disappoint either. It went really well with the white rice. I think C really enjoyed it as he polished the bowl off!


Soft Shell Crab Glass Noodles- RM20++

I am always attracted to anything on the menu that reads SOFT SHELL CRAB. C, knowing how much I love my crabs, suggested we should order this. It's one of the priciest item on the menu. The dish arrived in claypot style, with 2 pieces of soft shell crab. The glass noodles tasted alright while the crab was just how soft shell crab should be.


Belacan Long Beans

The belacan long beans was ok too. Actually the food was above my expectations after encountering with the bad service. I thought with service this bad, the food won't taste any better but it turns out that the food is (edible nonetheless) quite okay.


Iced lemongrass & Thai Iced Tea- RM5.90 each

I think it's recommended to share a drink as I couldn't finish mine! The food aren't all that spicy so I guess it's ok to share. Many said the food here is abit pricey (the drinks are), well I think that's just the standard pricing you'll get when you're dining in The Curve area.

Guess where we're heading for our dinner tonight! Somewhere that offers... foie gras!


Thai Express
G50, The Curve,
Jalan PJU 7/3, PJ.
(Main walkway, beside Baskin Robbins)

[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.]

The Magnificent Fish & Chips Bar

The Magnificent Fish & Chips Bar

I first came across this magnificent restaurant when I was just opposite it dining at Bermuda & Onion. Then, I told myself that I needed to come back here to try out how magnificent it is... the thought kinda slipped away soon after cos coming to this part of KL is really a nightmare itself- lack of parking, loadsa cars, no eating companion :-(



Just recently, C is back and we had initially decided to head out to Bangsar to pick up something and have dinner along the way. I was tasked to find a place we have not tried out before and I ended up on KY's blog (see KY, I look up to your blog!). I remembered the review on The Magnificent Fish & Chips Bar and though neither of us had cravings for fish and/or chips that night, we ended up there anyway because the name is just too appealing (and because I'm not driving hehe)!

(The word "Magnificent" always remind me of some magician pulling up a magnificent trick or something)


Barramundi & Chips- RM34

We had the Barramundi & Chips. I think you get to choose what type of catch you want, not too sure if price varies according to type of fish though. Fried to golden perfection piece of fish with thick cut fries and tartar sauce, such a classic English meal. I remember my dad used to tell us he had so much of fish & chips when he was studying in England (of course that was like 3 decades ago?) and he still love a good ol' fish and chips whenever we dined western. Maybe I can bring my dad here next time.

The Barramundi was as good as it looks. The batter was quite different from the usual ones I have had as the fish is enveloped perfectly by the batter and once cut, the crispy crumbles fall and unveils a fresh and smooth piece of fish. A little bit of Sarsons malt vinegar and freshly squeezed lemon, dipped in a bit of the tartar sauce (we think it's homemade), I can see why the shop's called "Magnificent" now.

The thick cut chips rocks too.


Guinness Steak Pie- RM32

C also oredered the Guinness Steak Pie (as reviewed by KY). Initially we were also looking for the special Guinness dishes but was told that the promotion was till Christmas only. Luckily, the Guinness Steak Pie was still on the menu. The last steak pie I had was at La Bodega's and I thought that was pretty good. But all was about to change when I tasted this. THIS IS THE BEST STEAK PIE I'VE EVER EATEN.

The meat were so tender, the gravy was excellent- so full of flavour and you can really taste Guinness in every bite. While I don't drink Guinness (too bitter and I don't like beer anyway), this Guinness infused dish is pretty damn good. It was piping hot, look at the smoke! The gravy was a perfect pairing for the mashed potatoes as well.


Lingham's, Sarsons, Heinz, HP, Tobasco

If there is ever a comeback, I would definitely be ordering the steak pie again. The only downside of this place is that there're no book-type menus, the menu is written on the blackboard inside the restaurant which makes it bit inconvenient for those preferring al fresco dining. And parking still sucks.



The Magnificent Fish & Chips Bar
28, Changkat Bukit Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2142 7021
Business hours: Tuesday-Sunday (11am-12am)

[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.]

Famous Ngau Kee Beef Noodles

Famous Ngau Kee Beef Noodles

It was one of those impulsive decision to have dinner after a dinner. We were strolling along the roads of Jalan Alor, Changkat Bukit Bintang and Tengkat Tong Shin when we spotted Ngau Kee Beef Noodles. I remember reading a review on it by KY sometime back.

Then the conversation went,
"Should we have beef noodles?"
"But we just had dinner."
"We can always come back here, can we?"
"But what if we don't happen to come back here?"
"Ahh screw it, eat first think later!"

So both of us were seated. Not much of a crowd though, not a bad thing as it means fast service and we can take our own sweet time to savour it.


Mixed beef soup

We ordered the mixed beef option. Well you know what they say when you've not try everything and want to eat everything! Always look out for the "assorted" and "mixed" options! There was a mix of beef balls, beef tripes and meat. The soup was very flavourful, you can taste the burst of beef flavour in every spoonful.


Minced beef with wantan noodles- RM5

I didn't have much noodles as I was simply stuffed from dinner earlier. I think I would prefer the soupy version of beef noodles anytime and perhaps minced beef with wantan noodles don't appeal to me much. If Ngau Kee is not so far away, I think it would be a great place for late night supper and beef noodle cravings for me!


Colourful chopsticks



Famous Ngau Kee Beef Noodles
Tengkat Tong Shin,
Kuala Lumpur.
(Located adjacent to Jalan Alor and alongside the same street as Max! Kitchen & Restoran Muar)

[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.]

Senjyu Sushi @ Cineleisure Damansara

Senjyu Sushi

Last day of the year. How do one spend it without any regrets?

Stuffing oneself crazy with Japanese food with a loved one who also enjoys stuffing himself crazy with Japanese food.

Ahhh, perfect.



Couldn't quite decide what to eat as every single eatery outlet in The Curve was packed to the brim. We had wanted to try out Bondi Beach Grill but it was fully pre-booked. Then we walked around and around and still couldn't decide as I wanted something light. We got a table at Empress Cafe but decided to walk out cos the menu wasn't too tempting and impressive to say the least. There was loadsa spaces at Hometown Kopitiam but I don't think I want to have my last meal of the year eating toast bread and white coffee?



I know, so fussy right. But hey, it's the last few hours of the year and the last meal of the year of cos we would want it to end with a bang, aye!

In the end, we decided to go for Tony Roma's but it was a 35mins wait. I'm glad they made us wait, if not we wouldn't have found Senjyu Sushi and decided to give Tony Roma a skip!


12cm long sushi

Service was brisk, we were ushered to our seats immediately. Senjyu Sushi is a newcomer in this industry, branding and pricing itself a class above the likes of other mass sushi chains like Sakae Sushi (they are however from the same management company), Sushi King and Sushi Zanmai. The exterior and interior is very classy with the signature wall decorated with perfectly lined green beer bottles and black fixtures & fittings.


Baby Abalone Salad- RM16.90

The menu offers a variety of Japanese food which I can safely say "different" from other Japanese joints. Of course, you can't compare Senjyu with the likes of stand alone fine dining Japanese restaurants as it is after all targetted at the medium class market who wants something better than the overrated/commercialized Sushi King. If not, where else can you find Baby Abalone Salad in the menu?


Tiny baby abalone

Now, I don't usually order salad as I am really not a big fan of raw cold vege but the word Abalone totally caught my attention! At RM16.90, the salad has a grand total of 5 baby abalones! It is nice to have some greens and cherry tomatoes (and baby abalones) to start off the meal though I feel the salad sauce is a little bit too sourish for my liking.






Foie Gras & Oyster Mentai Maki- RM24.90

Next, we had the MUST HAVE Foie Gras & Oyster Mentai Maki which I had first spotted here and here. As we both love having oysters and foie gras being one delicacy that I have never tried before, this plate of goodies totally sent us to seventh heaven! Armed with a DSLR each (his being a Nikon D300 and mine a Sony Alpha 300- hey they're both 300!) we both took our sweet time to catch the perfect picture that best depicts the taste and presentation. Therefore, it is my pleasure to put all these 4 photos which I think best describes the maki.


Have your foie gras and eat it too!

I have heard praises of this awesome thing called Foie Gras, in fact my own sister has been having so much of it that it leaves me in a pool of jealousy to just hear stories of the goose liver that melts in your mouth. Well, I suppose sometimes same family name doesn't quite put you in the same game. Anyway, about this awesome thing called Foie Gras... well it is so awesome, it is what people keep saying, "Melts in your mouth..." The chefs were quite generous with the size of the oyster and the maki itself was pretty good as it was tempura'ed. I'd say the whole dish is 2 thumbs and 2 toes up!


Senjyu Wagyu Maki- RM39.90



We couldn't resist these Wagyu maki after we saw the kitchen dishing out a plate of these. Initially we thought the wagyu would be raw and we weren't that adventurous for it but after seeing that it is slightly cooked (maybe shabu'ed for a sec)... this plate of pink goodies ended up on our table. No regrets definitely and boy are we glad that we both love beef! Topped with a thin slice of lightly cooked wagyu, the maki is rolled with sauteed onions, asparagus and golden mushroom.


Salmon Ikura Maki- RM8

While loving all things beef, we also love all things salmon especially sashimi. Although I think he might have a higher tolerance for raw cuts than I do. This plate of salmon sashimi slices with ikura was taken off the conveyor belt. It did not disappoint as how we would think conveyor belt sushis = no good.


Shochu Tiramisu- RM9.90

I had wanted to get some tapas from the Sakae Izakaya menu which has Japanese tapas, desserts and drinks but was told that the tapas were not available. As how many people would want the year to end on a sweet note, we had ours in the form of a dessert- Shochu Tiramisu. The tiramisu has hints of liquor in it (good) but I wished they were abit more generous with the raisins. Overall, the dessert was equally good.

***

We stayed around The Curve area, weaved through the massive crowd and avoiding foam sprays to take a few snaps of the atmosphere. The crowd was huge and the fireworks were fantastic but like all major street celebrations, the aftermath was horrible- rubbish, rubbish and rubbish! The jam was crazy, it took us 2 hours to get out of the basement parking to get to the LDP which will normally take less than 10 minutes.

Anyway, still being quite a noob with this thing called human photography, my pictures did not turn out too good- many being blur or simply boring. Below is my best picture of the night's event and countdown.


Blowing fire

Welcome to 2009, folks! Happy New Year, have a cocktail on me! Cheers!

p/s: More pictures at my foodtography gallery.


Senjyu Sushi
Lot G2&G3, Ground Floor,
Cineleisure Damansara.
&
F1.05, Sunway Pyramid.

[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.]

Batavia Cafe Indonesian Food

How does it really feel to be away from work and worries for all 11 days from Christmas to the 4th day of the New Year? I think it feels pretty awesome. Kinda brings back the same feelings of having year end long semester break. Having a day of break feels as awesome as having a week off.

While everyone was toiling blood and sweat at work (recession is coming to town...), both of us were happily deciding what to eat for lunch before our movie at 1 Utama.

Please allow me to digress.

Ip Man (not related to Yes Man, Cicak Man...) is the must watch Chinese movie! It stars the awesome/manly/kungfu ABC hearthrob Donnie Yen. It's actually based on the real kungfu master (also the sifu of Bruce Lee) who made history by defeating the Japanese. Anyway the highlight of the movie is Ip Man's super awesome Wing Chun moves and how calm the man is when he fights! Donnie Yen is the Man!

/ends digression.


Bakso- RM4.20

One of our main motives to have Indon food was of course the Bakso (beef balls). Unlike the Bakso we had at Ayam Penyet Ria (just a stone's throw from Batavia), the Bakso here opens up really nicely... similar to the Chinese 'fatt koh' which requires superior skillz to make it 'smiling'. The Bakso greeted us with a very welcoming smile indeed tempting us to eat them! Hahaha. Not too beefy, but the soup is flavourful.


Empal Penyet- RM4.50

Loving all things beef, we ordered the Empal Penyet, literally meaning flattened beef. Flattened to make it tender, it didn't disappoint. The meat was floss like and the accompanying chilli gives it an extra kick, making it more 'syiok'.


Pecel Ayam- RM4.50

Following the recommendations of Michael from Food Street, we also had Pecel Ayam. We did not go for the ayam penyet this time around. Pecel ayam is basically ayam bakar accompanied with a sweet sauce. Pecel is an Indonesian sauce based on peanuts, similar to the sauced used for Gado-Gado (Indon's version of the rojak). The chicken meat was tender and the sauce made the dish rather interesting.


Kangkung Belacan- RM4.00

You can't possibly go wrong with the Kangkung Belacan. It was nothing to shout about, I would have preferred it with a little bit of gravy though.


Es Campur- RM4.30

We had wanted to try the Jus Alpukat (Avocado Juice with chocolate syrup) but unfortunately it wasn't available that day. We had to settle on second choice which was the Es Campur, which in Malaysian terms we would have called it the Ice Kacang or ABC (Ais Batu Campur). I think the Es Campur at Ayam Penyet Ria fared much better. We both felt that they were too generous with the atapci (some tasted sourish, too generous with anything can be a bad thing).


Pisang Bakar- RM 2.50

For dessert, we ordered the Pisang Bakar as recommended at Food Street. While the dish certainly looks pretty interesting and fancy with the chocolate rice and grated cheese toppings, the taste didn't quite impress. For a start, the banana was too cooked, hence making it very mushy. The cheese didn't really flavour anything, in fact I couldn't taste any cheese! After some bites, the Pisang Bakar actually tasted like some Indian sweets... which is not a good thing cos I don't quite fancy Indian sweets.

I noticed that there are quite a few Indonesian food outlets around Sunway and SS15 Subang Jaya. Have yet to try all and conclude which is the best. Indon food is one of the most affordable cuisines (of course, I'm sure there are higher end outlets out there), Batavia is an excellent example- nothing in the menu exceeds RM10, ranging from as low as RM2.50-RM7/8. While food portions may not be big, it is nice to order a few items to share. With some hits and misses, Batavia deserves a comeback.


Batavia Cafe
No. 9, Jalan PJS 8/10,
Dataran Mentari,
Bandar Sunway, PJ.
(Behind Shell station- formerly Projet Station at Dataran Mentari)

[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.]

Happiness is...

getting a DSLR.







Thank you dad & mom for my 21st birthday present. Thank you Calvin for the free 3 weeks intensive photography course. Now we can go shoot pictures together without having me to wait for you while you work your magic AND improved pictures for my food reviews (so that untasty food also can look tasty HAHA). Thank you various dead objects for agreeing to pose for me (sorry I can't hear you even if you disagree).

Check out my foodtography HERE!

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.]