Salero Negori @ TTDI

Nasi Padang

I'm usually not an avid fan of Malay-style food but I do take it once in awhile to give a bit of spice to the sometimes routine lunch hours. My colleague recommended Salero Negori for its Nasi Padang. It works something similar like the Economy Rice or Nasi Campur where you choose your picks from the spread and have them served to you later on. Best to go in a group so you can sample a little bit of everything.

We ordered the Ayam Kampung Goreng which comes with those fried bits that everybody loves. There were also some chicken curry, fried fish, sambal brinjal, long beans, and tempe.


Tapai; Sago Milk

For drinks, I had the Jus Apukat (Avocado Juice with Chocolate Syrup) which is my favourite drink when I have my Indon food but unfortunately the avocado that day was too bitter! Another famous Indon drink would be the Teh Botol (also unfortunately not cheap). We tried two desserts- Tapai with Vanilla Ice Cream and Sago Milk. The Tapai (fermented rice) is quite strong on alcohol, for the acquired taste only.

Overall, it was a great lunch but would have been better if the avocado was sweeter :-(


Salero Negori
42, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14,
Taman Tun Dr Ismail,
60000 KL.

* Also available @ Amcorp Mall.

[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.]

Pradi Prada @ Kota Kemuning

A hearty dinner; Fried Chicken with Kunyit; Fu Yong Omelette; Kedondong Juice

Pradi Prada has been around longer than I had expected it to survive. Back in those days when the Kota Kemuning township was ready, the financial crisis hit and the commercial area became dead. Anyone shops/businesses that opened rarely lasted more than half a year. Those who survived and thrived on were a handful- Pradi Prada was one of them.

Specializing in Penang style Nyonya food, it is a neighbourhood favourite for a casual weekend dine out. The dishes are simple fare, tasted very homely and affordable too. My family dined here a month back and had Fish Head Curry, Assam Prawns, Paku Pakis Belacan, Fu Yong Omelette and Fried Chicken with Kunyit.


Fish Head Curry; Assam Prawns

It was indeed a hearty and satisfying meal followed by a very refreshing Kedondong Juice. The whole bill came to about RM60. There is also a complimentary hot dessert of the day- ours was Sweet Potato tong sui.


Pradi Prada
4, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla Y/31Y,
Kota Kemuning,
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.]

CTNF: Smoked Salmon & Co

Smoked Salmon & Co; Cookbook inspiration

I have recently found my motivation to cook and it was during a visit to the bookstore that I stumbled upon this enticing mouth watering recipe which was at the 'breakfast' recipe section of this cookbook. I bought it immediately seeing that it wasn't too expensive (oh yes, bought a cookbook just for one recipe) and turned the recipe to a heavier one for dinner!


Smoked Salmon & Co- not really like what's shown in the cookbook

Conveniently, I then made a trip to Cold Storage and bought what I needed. Actually I bought more than what I needed- ha haha, the potatoes, bacon, shrimps and beef sausage were not even in the recipe! Anyway it was a pretty simple but expensive meal- the smoked salmon and smoked beef are expensive.

Taiwan Noodle House @ SS2

Beef Noodles with Pork Chop- RM5.50

My colleague introduced this eatery place to me awhile back when we were faced with "The Most Difficult Question of All Times"... which is "Where to eat???"

Located next to The Cave Restaurant, which has now closed down and turned into something else, hopefully not another themed restaurant with bad food, I am impressed that this kopitiam lookalike has quite a number of Taiwanese noodles and rice on their menu. My normal item on the menu (actually it is the only thing I've eaten so far ha haha), is the Beef Noodles with Pork Chop.

If you're craving for Taiwanese Noodles or Rice next time when you're in SS2 area, do give this a try!



Taiwan Noodle House
20, Jalan SS2/61,
Petaling Jaya.


[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.]

Avillion Port Dickson

Breathtaking night scene of lights and water

Nothing beats a good getaway. But how do you define 'good'? To me, 'good' is a combination of wonderful company, relaxing setting and an awesome room to stay. I didn't have to go far for it- I had it all at Avillion, Port Dickson.


The cosy room- Water Chalets

There are a few types of accommodation- Garden Chalets, Water Chalets, Premium Water Chalets and Beach Studios. Then there are Water Villas too- 1 bedroom or 2 bedrooms. I think the cheapest would be the Garden Chalets but Avillion in general caters to the premium segment of holidaymakers.


Open air shower

As with everyone else, my favourite part of the room would be the bathroom. It is spacious and well segmented- an open air shower area (there is an opening on the roof and opening showcasing the sea next to the shower area), a bathtub which I bet nobody uses, a closed area for the 'usual' business and a wash up area. The bathroom is bigger than the sleeping area!


Cochin Pool- For Adults Only

There are 3 types of pool for guests to enjoy- catering to both kids and adults. The Cochin pool is specially dedicated for adults only- perhaps it's deeper and also bigger for morning laps.


Village pool and kids pool

The village pool is for sharing with jacuzzi as well and there's also a kids pool for the kids to have some splashing fun! This area is also popular amongst guests for sunbathing and afternoon cat nap.


Main building that houses everything else

There is also a spa building which I will blog about it later, but for everything else- karaoke, bar, restaurant, souvenir shop, buffet line etc, it is all in this building which lights up perfectly at night. For animal lovers and pet loving kids, there is also a pet farm which is very well maintained with assorted pet animals such as tortoises, rabbits, chickens, peacocks and pigeons to name a few. There is a feeding session daily which kids love it!

I wish everyday is a getaway.


Avillion Port Dickson
3rd Mile, Jalan Pantai,
71000 Port Dickson,
Negeri Sembilan, M'sia.
Tel: 06-647 6688
www.avillionportdickson.com

Cristang 'P for Pork Burgers'

P2: Pork Patty + Back Bacon- RM19.80

This place was raved and reviewed by many food bloggers out there some time back. So, how could I not pay a visit here when it's so near to my office? Cristang is famous for it's 'P' grade burgers- which I suspect 'P' here means 'PORK'. And who could ever say no to the 3-alphabets lovely animal that has 4 short legs, starts with a 'P' and ends with a 'G' :)

There were a selection of Western, Portugese, and Malaysian food in the menu but we were not easily distracted. "Aim for the 'P'!!", we kept reminding ourselves. So here we are, with the P2, P3 and 'Urban Legend' P7. Actually these grades are reminding me of my ACCA studies- I'm taking the P3 paper now :p


P3: Pork Patty + Minced Pork Chilli Con Carne- RM23.80

Honestly? The burgers came a little disappointing. The pork patties were just so-so. In fact, they came a little bit dry and cold.


P7: 'The Urband Legend' Pork Patty + Minced Pork Petai- RM28.80

Even the P7 did not impress me much. I know it's special with the inclusion of petai but it left me feeling bloated over a burger rather than wanting more. Considering that these gourmet burgers are not cheap and is just 'meh', I guess a revisit won't be too soon. I think I'll go back to my Ramli-s special.



Cristang Restaurant
B-G-19, 8 Avenue,
Pusat Perniagaan Seksyen 8,
Jln Sungai Jernih 8/1,
Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 03-7956 7877

[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: Mango Mojito

Mango Mojito- The Weekend Drink of Champions

I just went to The Library the other night (no, it's not the place with books) and was amazed and amused at the same time with the variety of cocktails available on the menu. While I appreciate the myriad of choices and groupings by alphabetical order in the menu, I am not exactly very adventurous when it comes to cocktails. I swear and stick by one & only one cocktail- The Mojito.


Cheers!

Inspired by Bermuda & Onion's Mango Mojito which I read/saw somewhere but hasn't the priviledge to try, I thought I'd give this a go ala home made. I googled some recipes for this and most suggested mango puree. As I was too lazy to set up the blender, I whisk this up myself (arm's abit sore now haha).

Tall clinging glass, mint leaves, lemonade, lemon peel and crushed ice- that's all you need for a refreshing after dinner drink!

* Decided to go non-alco on this, but if you decided to turn this alco, just substitute lemonade with a fruity flavoured alco (i.e. Bacardi Limon or Absolut Mango?) and sugar syrup.

Read here for Nojito.

Sushi Tei @ Tropicana City Mall

Paper Hotpot; Thinly Sliced Beef; Salmon Sashimies

I am a very simple person- I like Japanese food but if you were to ask me which Jap place is my favourite, I will say it's Sushi Zanmai. It's got a really nice big menu with appetizing pictures, the ambience is nice, food is good and price is affordable. Recently I discovered another Jap outlet that offers the same 'feelings' I have for Sushi Zanmai, spotting similar concepts and even very similar menu- Sushi Tei. I'm not sure if they are both from the same management, though I found out that Sushi Tei originates from our Southern Neighbour and has franchises all over AsiaPac.


Mango Dragon Roll; Seared Salmon Belly Sushi

Sushi Tei is located in Tropicana City Mall and is quite popular especially with the lunch crowd. On my maiden visit, they were running some promotion and I instantly spotted the Salmon Sashimi in the promo menu. If there is anything more happy than having Japanese for me is to have the whole platter of Salmon Sashimies alone. It was pretty cheap too @RM18- 4 types of salmon sashimies with 3 thick cuts each. I had 12 pieces myself in total- BURPPPP! The hotpot was pretty cool too but it takes awhile for the broth to heat up.

On my second visit, I managed to try a few other items but the spotlight were on the Mango Dragon Roll and Seared Salmon Belly Sushi recommended by my dear colleague.

I'm looking forward to have lunch here again.


Sushi Tei
Lot G-16, Ground Floor,
Tropicana City Mall,
Jalan SS20/27, Petaling Jaya.

[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.]

Dowish Seafood Restaurant @ KK

"Tung Fung Loh"- RM22/kg

Dowish is a 'cute' name for a chinese seafood restaurant. You may question and laugh about the name but once you have tasted the food, Dowish will probably be stuck to your mind.... it's worst when it's alllllllllll the wayyyyyyyyy in Kota Kinabalu and you're here in KL. I was first introduced to Dowish during my last trip to KK with my ex-company, but subsequently was lucky enough to fly back to KK on 2 occassions for work with my currect company and had Dowish on both occassions. This time, I knew I must spread the 'love' to my other friends and I brought them here on our recent visit to The Land Below The Wind.

I was tasked to order- yay for me as I get to order my favourite dishes! The Tung Fung Loh is a must, it's a type of shell fish that needs to use toothpick/little forks to those yummy little buggers out of their shells. Yes, it's somewhat like escargots but this one is just boiled or lightly blanched and served with mustard sauce. It's addictive!


Salted Egg Crabs- RM30/kg; "Pak Cheok Har"- RM30/half kg; Sabah "Shu Chai Choi" Vege- RM12

Of course no seafood feast would be complete without the appearance of our friendly crustacean friends- the crab! While I love 'em done in salted, I equally love it with the salted egg. If I know who is the master behind recipes using salted egg, I would hail him for creating the most perfect combination! The salted egg goes well with anything and everything- pork ribs, prawns, squid and crabs. The "Pak Cheok Har" is also my favourite- big fresh succulent prawns, all freshness and sweetness of the meat still retain by just boiling/steaming (not too sure which method). You can really taste the freshness in every bite.

The Sabah "Shu Chai Choi" vege is another winner in its own category. When I was young, I remember this vege used to be available at the Pasar Besar Ipoh (Ipoh Big Market) and my grandma used to cook this and it was just the best tasting vege everrrrrrr. Then supplies for the vege diminished and I used to think that if this was to come from Sabah, then "Damn, I'll never be able to eat this again!" cos I never thought I'll have the chance to set foot in Sabah. I don't think anyone can understand this feeling I had when I had this for the first time after more than a decade of missing out on this! (I know it sounds a little drama, but really I was estatic) What differs the Shu Chai Choi from the paku-pakis we can get around here is that the former is crunchy, smaller and doesn't have that gooey texture. Best to stir fried with sambal belacan :)

Seeing that I can dedicate the whole paragraph to this vege just shows how much I love this.


Special "Shu Chai Choi" and Salted Fish Fried Meehoon- RM12 and Happy Faces :)

We initially ordered a mantis prawn but it was not available and the ladyboss recommended this special "shu chai choi" and salted fish meehoon. Initially I was a bit skeptical, how good can a meehoon get, seriously? We weren't too impressed when the dish arrived too... it's too fair for a fried meehoon! However, never judge a meehoon by its colour as after our first bite, it was too good to be true! The chef managed to whip up an ordinary noodle to one that is soft, perfect moisture and blends well with the vege and traces of salted fish. I was impressed!

One of my motive to eat at Dowish was also because they have coconut pudding on the menu but I was left disappointed as they didn't have the dessert on the menu that day :( Luckily I managed to satisfy my cravings for it at Kg Nelayan.

We were guessing the bill for the night with some of us guessing RM200 - RM300 but total bill inclusive of rice, tea and braised groundnuts appetizer came at RM127.60 for 4 persons. That's an average of RM32/person- Peng, Leng and Cheng! (Cheap, Nice and Good!)


Dowish Seafood Restaurant
Mile 5, Jalan Bundusan,
Penampang,
88853 Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah.
Tel: 6088 718 387 / 721 387
Fax: 6088 710 387

[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.]

Kampung Nelayan Seafood @ KK

Kg Nelayan Seafood

Early last month, I participated in a white water rafting activity with my co's sports club and the we flew all the way to Kota Kinabalu for the adrenaline rush (& short getaway). It was a really good deal since the activity was partially subsidized (from the monthly sports club fees deducted from our paycheck- RM4/month for a year's long of fun filled activities!), I remember we only needed to pay RM70 for 2 nights stay at a backpackers hostel, white water rafting package and a sumptuos dinner at Kg Nelayan! Since this was already planned more than half year ago, we got our air tickets at a unreasonably cheap price of RM62/return.

Would be silly not to join, I'd say.


Fried Calamari; Steamed fish, Spinach leaves; Butter Fried Prawns

I suspect Kg Nelayan is one of those dining places where tour agencies bring the tourists for dinner as evidenced by the load of buses there, including ours. Dinner menu was pre-ordered, the last thing anybody wants is to contemplate and dilly-dallying on what to order since we were all starving from the day's traveling (Side note: To get to our water rafting location from KK, we had to travel about 3 hours by bus and another 45 mins of old-school locomotive train and the same amount of traveling back to KK).

The common seafood fare were served- calamari, fish, prawns, vege and I think I missed an egg dish. Quality of food was okay, not too bad for a touristy place. I was told that on certain hours of the day, there is a cultural dance but we missed that. Nevermind, I guess we were too hungry to be interested in anything else but food!


Coconut pudding

Oh my... I never expected to have this here and I am so glad this was part of the menu. I first had this at another seafood restaurant (Dowish- watch out, at the next post!) in KK, introduced by a friend and since been lingering for the great taste! So so good, must try when you're in KK :)


Kampung Nelayan Seafood
Taman Tun Fuad, Bukit Padang,
Luyang, Kota Kinabalu.
Tel: 088-256001
www.kampungnelayan.com

[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.]