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

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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 :)

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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.]

milked high and dry

[rant]
i am angry. very very very angry exclamation exclamation exclamation exclamation full stop

now, most who knows me dont know that i have a lil teeny weeny tiny bit of interest in malaysian politics. yes you read it right. i really do, and thats because i really do care for what [the hell] is happening in the country, MY country~ malaysiaku, tanah airku tercinta.


most people my age or even older than i am are ignorant, very ignorant i shall say... but whats new in this 'tidak apa, mudah lupa-close one eye' land. im not saying i know everything going on around here but its more disheartening to know that MOST people have zero, zilch, nada idea of what really is going on in this country we proudly call home.

this piece of meat news really irks me: malaysia may buy russian space rocket

i usually ignore the news featured in the msn website, cos i get my daily fix of malaysian politics from malaysia-today but that article really caught my attention. i am also beginning to NOT read political news in the newspapers cos 9 out of 10 are merely feel-good news. you know why they're "feel-good"?? because they're owned by the government themselves! you think the gov will allow these mainstream newspapers to criticize them??! i would highly recommend malaysia-today as it is a private blog with strictly no feel-good news, only news that reflect on political realities.

if youve been following closely about the hoo-ha over sending a malaysian to space for rm105 million, you'll know what [the hell] is going on. we're talking bout MILLIONS! that would be 6 freaking zeros. rm105,000,000!!! how many taxpayers' hard earned sweat and blood money would that be? now you might say who am i in the position to be pissed when im not even a taxpayer, chill-lah not your money also, why bising sangat? i am not but members of my family are!! i am not now but i will be in the near future. and that gives me every right to be pissed. GRRRR.

but i digressed.

just when the many malaysians who disagreed with the space project have start to forget about the space issue, this piece of news came about. if sending a guy to space for 9 days would cost rm105,000,000 how much do you think buying the whole damn rocket will cost? maybe i can ask some people who are studying aeronautical engineering about it (ah chang or lynda?).

now, mr. jamaluddin, the minister was quoted as saying that he'll forward the proposal to the cabinet,

"jamaluddin said it was "a good idea" but the government would have to be sure the public supported the move"

hah! excuse me, since when did the government evarrrr listen to what the public (a.k.a. rakyat) wants?? majority rakyat said no to space program, but it went on anyway. rakyat wants a fair reform judiciary system, a royal commission, transparency, less corruption, a clean and transparent electoral system, clean public toilets, quality roads, increased security, lower toll charges, freedom of press, quality education, improved services in government departments, higher cola for pensioners, efficient public transportation system...

the list can go on and on.

the country is badly hit by corruption. its not the "mau-settle-insert-rm50-underneath-ic-to-police" kinda small fly corruption (although that also contributes to the whole corruption issue of the country). we're talking about BIG-TIME corruptions, that involve millions and billions of dollars. look at the mega billion PKFTZ bail-out, the zakaria palace (all 30 over charges against him being dropped??!), the vklingam video clip, rm27 million of assets by a police officer, the AP issue etc.

like the above list, this one can go on and on too.

the country needs a reform in many areas but most importantly are the people governing the country. the policymakers who argues over nonsensical stuff, calling each other names, foul-mouth, childish (you'll know what i mean if you watch the so-called elected MPs behaving worst than bratty kids in parliament on YouTube) in the respectable August house (Parliament) when they should be having constructive debates to bring our nation to a better state than it is 50 years ago.

i quote some commentators in malaysia-today, "we're not advancing, we're going back in time, back to 50 years ago."

50 years of independence, and what have we achieved?

(once upon a time) TALLEST building, BIGGEST mooncake, LONGEST nasi lemak, HIGHEST man in space, and electing the STUPIDEST and MOST CORRUPTEST (not forgetting the SLEEPIEST) people to rule the country.

[update: true you can say with the new "projects" made public by our beloved gov, we're advancing what... the Eastern Region Corridor, Iskandar Region Corridor down South, the Northern Region Corridor, the PGCC in Penang, these are all multi mega billion ringgit corridors! these projects will certainly boost employment and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and then eliminate poverty and blahblahblah multiplier effect, everyone lives happily ever after!

BUT! do you realize... whatever happens to our Multimedia Super Corridor? our Cyberjaya? our Putrajaya now? to me and many rakyats out there, all these mega billion projects only amount to ONE thing- MORE CURRUPTION.

i once heard that a lamp post in putrajaya with the cost of rm600 per batang was inflated to rm6000 per batang! where has the additional rm5400 per batang gone to if not someone's pocket. and we're not talking about only one batang, they're thousands at putrajaya! no wonder they say, the rich gets RICH€R and the poor gets POORAH! /ends update]

well done, malaysia memang boleh!

now sarcasm aside, with the 12th general elections looming soon, i really hope those who are eligible to vote, please do a favour for you and us the future generations, vote WISELY.

[p/s: i am proud that HRH Sultan Azlan Shah and HRH Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah has spoken about the judiciary issue, reflecting on the sentiments of the rakyats. proud to be born a perak-ian! daulat tuanku!]

[pp/s: i honestly think the conferment of datuk-dato-tansri titles system should be abolished. read here to understand why]

allow me to end this ranting post with extract footnotes from patrick teoh's niamah!!.


"I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!" So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
(Howard Beale in NETWORK <1976>)

"PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID OF THEIR GOVERNMENTS,
GOVERNMENTS SHOULD BE AFRAID OF THEIR PEOPLE."
(V For Vendetta - Alan Moore)

[/ends rant]

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just so you know, this blog isnt all bout food all the time. without economic and political stability and good leaders in the country, even the bestest most delicious food taste bland.

sekian untuk hari ini.

3-2 =1

ziling receiving her cert from prof tim wilson, vice-chancellor Uni of Hertfordshire

as the title suggests, 2 out of the 3 lim sisters have graduated. that leaves me as the only member in the family with no BA (Hons) title... yet. well, give me 6 months time, then we'll all have the same qualifications. and then the rat race can begin, harharhar.

nah, just kidding (the rat race part).

family picture without dad again

our way of showing how proud we are of her
[btw, she got 2nd upper]

no, really we do love her... sometimes. and she has never felt so loved before, hence the expression.

yilingl meets kennysia (!!)

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... and this will be my year-end holidays project. scrapbooking!! gosh i can be in that crafthaven shop @1utama foreverrrr fixing my eyes on every single thing in that shop. but everything is so pricey!! and nice!!

rm130 worth of goodies

examples of end results

okie doks. gonna start my project now!

cheeeeeers :)