she, the epicuriousgirl.

Having heard tonnes of Just Heavenly’s cakes, decided to pop by to try it when I was in the neighborhood. The friend I brought along with me left a very happy girl indeed. Chose the following from the counter;

1. Baked Lemon Cheese with Passion Fruit Coulis

the bite-size lemon cheese sat atop a chocolate coated biscuit and was drizzled with passion fruit coulis. it wasn’t too sour but i found the taste to be a little powdery. the biscuit was a nice touch.

2. Banana Cream Pie

This was really good! I love the crust which tasted digestive-biscuity. a layer of chocolate coats the crumbly crust and is topped with custard, cream and the sliced bananas. sprinkled lightly with icing sugar. quite a delightful dessert to polish off.

3. Sticky Butterscotch

Now this actually had squiggly swirls all over it before we agreed to have it microwaved for 15secs and this is what we ended up with. but despite the glob, it tasted heavenly! the warm cupcake base went perfectly with the butterscotch. finished this quickest. if only we could lick the plate clean…

my only thought was why we were asked to dine and pay at the opposite chef&brew? it felt a little awkward as there was no communication between the staff of both places and the captain of chef&brew was not particularly receptive of us. still, this is not going to deter me going back for more desserts!

Just Heavenly Pleasures
G1.05 & G. 1.06 Epicure
Jalan Medan Setia 1
Bukit Damansara
Kuala Lumpur

Closed on Sundays

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if you too wondered about the unique name, kokopelli is actually a fertility deity. that image that depicts this deity is liberally used in the bistro, and dots the outside courtyard floor leading to the entrance. a newspaper write up states that the owner, Ariff Awaluddin (a local artist) liked the sound of the name to begin with and when he read up on it, decided it was the best name to use for his business. the bistro was actually introduced to us by the owner’s wife, a photographer we have worked with. the bistro has a very inviting touch to it, with the glass facade that brings in light. White tablecloths and green runners gives the room a very airy and fresh feel. Photographs by the wife and paintings from the owner himself furnishes the walls. Small touches such as tealight candles, gorgeous tiny lampshades, glass beads and fresh daisies completed the decor.

I joined my aunt & cousin a little late and by then they had already tucked into the dishes they ordered - “Braised Lamb Shank” and “Kokopelli Char Kway Teow”. In fact, they were already almost done! But I managed to try bits of the lamb shank which was wonderfully tender and creamy (from the mashed potatoes).

They further ordered the “Seafood Aglio Olio” to share between ourselves and the “Sirloin Steak” for me. The Aglio Olio was linguine served with steamed prawns, mussels and squid and bell peppers. Grated parmesan, cilantro leaves topped the al dente linguine heap. it was quite good, but nothing outstanding.

I asked for the sirloin to be done medium rare and served with mushroom sauce. It was served with the sauce on the side, with a bun, baked potato, sweetcorn segment, grilled aubergine & bell pepper and boiled broccoli & cauliflower. the steak itself was a bit more rare than I hoped for, but it still tasted smokey and a little charred which added to the flavour of the meat. Enjoyed the baked potato with sour cream and beef bacon bits immensely, as I did the grilled aubergine. The boiled vegetables could have done with a little more salt and seasoning as it was bland, and… cold. But at least the bun was warm! Lol.

Despite all that my aunt and cousin had, they still had space for dessert so we ordered the “Royal Pistachio” to share. Not too spectacular in my opinion. But I reckon they had this supplied from somewhere else so I guess one can’t expect too much.

Overall, lovely, cosy & welcoming ambience with friendly staff will definitely warrant a second visit. Food’s decent for the prices offered and they serve a mean virgin pina colada! my only gripe is the opening hours. hope i don’t end up going when it’s closed! lol.

Kokopelli Traveller’s Bistro
6, Jalan Bukit,
Section 11/2,
Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 03-7956 7505

Open : Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday – noon to 3pm, 6pm to midnight.
Friday – 6pm to midnight.
Sunday – 10am to 3pm.

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my aunt constantly surprises me with great food recommendations and this place is one of them. it’s situated at the shoplots near Faber Tower in Taman Desa, an area we frequent quite often for work. the mint rice came highly recommended by the owner and also my aunt. and for drinks, i fell in love with the orange lassi. the greatest thing about it was that it was not cloyingly sweet. just a subtle orangey taste.

the mint rice was served covered with a metal plate together with three vegetables - deep fried bittergourd, gourd dhal and leafy vegetable.

After the mint rice was unveiled, the waiters placed papaddums on the metal plate to cover the rice and we could happily tuck in. The mint rice was really tasty and bits of onions can be found in it.

Of course we had some other accompanying dishes with the mint rice. There was chicken tikka and sambal petai and fish cutlets. the fish cutlets were basically minced fish with various spices and it was really delectable. actually all three dishes were very good. bit salty for me, but easily washed down with my lassi. heh.

also had a portion deep fried fish came with a spicy chilli sambal belacan.

my newest discovery was this - sardine thosai. i have always ordered plain/paper thosai without any inkling that you could add fillings to it. and boy was it good! from now on, i am going to go on the road of discovery in thosai fillings. lol.

SriNeelas is highly recommended for those who are in search of authentic indian food. feel free to ask the friendly owner or waiters for recommendations and be prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

SriNeelas Curry House
No.51, Jalan Desa Jaya,
Taman Desa 58100 KL
Tel: 03-7983 0995

Knowing that I am a big fan of soups, my friend decided to bring me to this stall in Paramount Garden that sells quite a variety of “Steamed Soups”. I have been here about 2 years ago and am glad to see that the crowd is still as busy as ever. They have improved since my last visit and have come up with a menu for our convenience. The soups are separated into 2 types - Vegetable (such as the common white radish, old cucumber, lotus roots etc) and herbal soups (such as herbal chicken, chinese ginseng, sea horse etc).

However as we were quite late for dinner (about 9-ish), the only soups available at that hour was the Maize with Chicken Soup (粟米鸡汤). Hot and rich in flavour. Carrots were added in for that extra “sweetness”. I even polished off the sweetcorn as it was cooked till it was very soft. Quite a big portion and it’s possible to share between 2 people. But I had no problems finishing this up as I love the corn flavoured soup.

We wanted to order 3 Yolks Steamed Eggs and Tofu initially but both were sold out. So we ended up with Curry Pork Ribs (咖喱排骨) and Potato Chicken (马铃薯鸡). The pork ribs were not that impressive as I believed it was pre-cooked and kept warm in the steamer. So it was watered-down in some bits. I quite like the chicken as it had imbibed the flavour of the potato. I noticed that the chicken was quite a popular choice with the other patrons.

They also offer fish and leafy vegetables amongst other things. To get the soup of your choice, it’s best to be early as they get sold out pretty quickly.

Gerai Meng Kee Steam Soup 洺记炖汤
Stall No.9, Jalan 20/16,
Paramount Garden,
Petaling Jaya.

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On days when we drop my cousin off at her primary school in SS19, we’ll take the opportunity to have breakfast at one of the nearby coffeeshops. Our favourite is perhaps Restoran Hock Hin which is your typical hawkerfare eatery. However, the main draw here is the woman selling nasi lemak and other breakfast fare such as fried noodles/vermicelli (经济粉), yam cake (芋头糕) and radish cake (罗卜糕). Quite a queue waits patiently for their turn to be served and I soon joined them, curiosity piqued.

it was bout 20 mins before it was finally my turn. noticed that the 3 people in front of me bought at least 8-10 packets each! but one thing that surprised me was the variety of nasi lemak dishes she offered. apart from the usual kerang, sotong, chicken dishes, there was luncheon meat, sambal petai, wild boar curry etc. too! Hence we chose the final trio which we rarely get in other places. Since we have ordered other food, we decided to get one one plate to share amongst the three of us. the rice was hot & fluffy and we relished every bit of the rice & accompanying dishes. it tasted very homecooked, which was a plus point for us. we were also tickled to get to have luncheon meat and wild boar curry with our national breakfast dish for the first time. lol.

also ordered a portion of both the yam & radish cakes to try. drizzled with sweet sauce and served with a dollop of sambal, it was rather tasty despite being a little cold. they sure didn’t skint on the yam cubes as it tasted rather similar to homemade yam cake my grandmother makes. I definitely liked the radish cake’s texture and taste.

The main dish I came for was the pork noodles (猪肉粉). Served with meatballs, minced meat, pork slices and pig liver, and piping hot soup. the soup was good, clear and flavourful. i suspect they add a little bit of chinese cooking wine in it which I’ll gladly give another thumbs up for.

This coffeeshop also serves rather good curry noodles amongst other hawkerfare such as roasted meats rice, porridge, fish head noodles, seafood noodles etc.

Restoran Hock Hin 福兴茶餐室
SS19, Subang Jaya
(near Lick Hung Primary School, will have to add the address a bit later)

Kafe Bawang Merah is my neighborhood fix for authentic homecooked Indonesian/Malay cuisine. Regardless of lunch, tea or dinner time, it’s always packed. Love the set up of the place, with the cosy and inviting ambience. A little cramped perhaps but once you’re seated and fully enjoying your food… all other issues fly out the window! they don’t really serve ala carte food but have this nasi campur concept. they also have some “specials of the day” which is mostly stuff like nasi ayam, lontong sayur, soto ayam etc.

During a recent lunch with my aunt and family, we picked out a few different dishes to accompany our rice. Amongst which we had;

Pucuk Manis & Ayam Goreng with Tempeh Goreng

The Pucuk Manis is the dark green leaves of this leafy vegetable Cangkuk Manis and cooked in a lemak gravy. The leaf itself tastes slighly sweetish. The Fried Chicken was marinated with turmeric and some other who-knows-what, my cousin practically licked the bones clean. Seeing her with the chicken drumstick, could only imagine how great it tasted. I didn’t have any of the tempeh because I’m not too keen on the taste. Quite the acquired taste for me.

terung sambal, kurma daging

The terung sambal is boiled/steamed aubergines topped with this chilli paste. definitely one of my favourite vegetables and I love it no matter how it’s cooked. The beef kurma was piled with potatoes and very creamy. As it’s a mild curry, it was neither spicy nor overpowering. Instead the taste was subtle and delicious!

keli cili & tempoyak, lontong sayur

Also had the keli fish which was deep fried and coated with pounded green chillies. The result? A spicy but aromatic fishy dish. Another old favourite. And last but not least, my favourite condiment - sambal tempoyak! have always loved tempoyak which is fermented durian. cooked with chilli and other ingredients, it can be truly your rice’s best friend. very fragrant indeed. love, love it. Another thing I love from Bawang Merah is their lontong which is nasi impit (boiled compressed rice cubes) drowned in sayur lodeh, a rich, coconut milk-based gravy with vegetables ( cabbage, carrots, long beans), vermicelli, egg and tempeh.

With the homecooked taste element, it’s no wonder it continues to be packed with customers everyday. we just can’t help returning again and again.

Kafe Bawang Merah
12A, Jalan SS12/1B ,
47500 Subang Jaya
Opening Hours: Daily (9am-10pm)
Tel 03-5621 6100

we were browsing the curve last week and found this interesting concept restaurant in the midst of training its staff. as it was only to open this week, we decided we’ll wait to check it out as soon as it opens. ah, mistake on our part indeed as the staff clearly hasn’t ironed out its opening kinks. service was frankly horrible. as most of them were foreigners, we could hardly understand the waiter nor he us. some of the waiting staff pretended not to see us when we tried hailing them. still curiosity got the better of us and the other patrons.

the concept is delightful. as it goes by the name of “the apartment”, the interior deco clearly tries to implement the homey and cosy ambience into this restaurant. there’s an outside “patio”, the living room, kitchen, bathrooms, bar area, lounge, a reading nook and even an upstairs, complete with wardrobe! it’s kooky and delightful at the same time! even the menu is rather unique, using a clipboard with illustrated graph paper. the only flaw is that the pages don’t stay up! lol.

i wanted to start off with the “my aparment soup” but all soups were not available this time. decided to skip the tapas or the clams/mussels bowl as my colleagues didn’t seem keen. They all jumped into the mains as we were famished by then.

The first dish to come was the “Mediterranean Braised Squids” (RM16.80) which was squid stuffed with herbed breadcrumbs and dampened with lively tomato sauce. It was quite lovely though one colleague commented that the breadcrumbs had too strong a herb taste. but I totally loved the herbi-ness of it. reminded me of turkey stuffing, somehow. lol. The second dish was the “English Lamb Curry” (RM22.90) served with warm ciabatta bread fingers. The hearty meal of lamb curry with aubergines was rather good. And every bread finger was dipped into the bowl to clean it of its curry gravy.

The most disappointing dish of the night was probably the “Fish wrapped in Banana Leaf” (RM21.90). Cooked ala otak-otak style, the lemon sole is cooked in a rich coconut milk base with slivers of ginger, chilli etc. However the fish pieces in the middle didn’t cook well enough. I suppose the use of the banana leaf was to seal in the flavours and despite the fish smelling rather delicious when the leaves were opened up, it didn’t live up to its first impression. My colleague complained that it tasted rather bland and she kept adding salt and pepper. My choice was the “Roast Duck with Plum Sauce” (RM23.90) and it’s description said “roasted duck drenched in scrumptious plum sauce served with tossed french beans”. Drenched? there was barely enough plum sauce to go around. But then, the plum sauce wasn’t really the plum sauce I’m expecting. Instead it tasted as it was mixed with some other berries, almost akin to Ikea’s Lingonberry Sauce. But the duck meat was tender and easy to tear away from the bone and had a very subtle smoky taste to it. Mustard is drizzled onto the french beans which gives it an extra oomph. Quite delectable actually.

Ended the night with coffee, mocha latte (RM8.90) actually and cuppacakes (RM4 each). The rest had iced water which was served in a flourish. the waiter put the cups in a carrier thing and brought that over. a single lemon slice and mint leaf floated about in the water and I guess that’s why that glass cost RM0.50. Lol. The cuppacakes were from wondermilk and i loved the frosting! couldn’t taste much of the cupcake itself as these were shared between the 4 of us!

well despite the food being quite pleasing to my palette, i think i will make a return visit when the staff are more settled and well-trained. hope your visit there will be more pleasant than mine in terms of service!

the apartment (www)
Lot 72, 73 & 74, 152 Ground Floor,
Western Courtyard,
The Curve,
Mutiara Damansara.
Tel: 03- 7727 8330

Ever since I spotted this in the cookbook my aunt bought me recently, I have been salivating after it. My grandmother used to cook this when I was a young girl. She planted quite a bit of herbs in our garden and would quickly pick some basil leaves when I asked for this. Ended up visiting a night market to pick up the ingredients to whip up this dish.

Stir-fried Aubergines with Basil 茄子炒九层塔

600g aubergines/brinjals/terung
20g dried shrimps
1 tbsp minced garlic
50ml water
20g basil
salt to taste
1 tsp sesame oil

Chop up aubergines into bite-sized pieces and soak in salt water for approx. 10 mins (to retain lustre of skin). Then, stir-fry brinjals in heated wok with oil briefly. Remove to drain.
Heat up more cooking oil, fry minced garlic till fragrant before adding dried shrimps. Fry further before adding aubergines, and water. Drizzle in the sesame oil after adding the salt. When the aubergines are almost done, mix in basils and fry briefly before dishing up to serve.

in preparation to being holed up at home over the weekend, poring over the 7th Harry Potter book, i happily bought some chicken carcasses and dried oysters to make porridge so that I need not worry about food whilst I remained engrossed in my book. But things do not always go according to plan, huh? Ended up having to work after picking up my book on Saturday morning.

Speaking of which, was a little amazed at the queue that greeted me at Carrefour SJ as I was driving past. I pre-booked (and pre-paid) mine from MPH some time back and didn’t know of the difference in price until seeing it in the newspaper later. That explains the queue and why MPH wasn’t selling the book. A father and his daughter was hoping to get their hands on a copy in MPH when I was picking up mine and were informed that they were only serving pre-bookings. I could see that the father was getting a little desperate. He was even prepared to drive to Puchong to get it from Tesco as informed by another parent. I thought I could at least do him the favour of telling him that Carrefour next door was selling it and that he had to be prepared to wait. I suppose he was also grateful that he was saving RM40 in the process. I comforted myself that it was only a RM30 difference (with the RM10 discount voucher) but, sigh, still can’t believe I paid almost 30% more!

Anyway I finally started on the book late Saturday evening and continued to finish it on Sunday afternoon after running my errands in the morning. I don’t know about other readers, but I found that I had to put down the book every other “encounter” to fully grasp the details. If I continued to plod on, I would have been a little lost with the fastest paced book of hers. I must admit, I felt no particular emotions in finishing the series at last, even though the previous book evoked plenty. No time was given to mourn well-known characters fall one after the other, as the plot continues to pick up. Yet, it all ends too quickly. And then, there is closure despite some questions arising.

Had my comfort food for companionship throughout the weekend as mentioned earlier. Just popped some Bario rice, chicken carcasses, dried oysters into the rice cooker and let it do its job. Surprisingly, keeping it on “Warm” mode for hours did wonders as the porridge became more smooth, as if the grains have been grounded. Ate it with some olive vegetable (橄榄菜) and fried gluten with peanuts (土豆斋鲍鱼).

Lovely weekend indeed.

i’m not a huge fan of the petaling street scene but on very weekends where I find myself gallivanting around that area, it would be after consuming this piping hot, heartwarming bowl of porridge from Hon Kee. i don’t hanker after porridge much as in my mind, one only eats it when they’re not feeling well. however, when i actually do make my way downtown on a weekend morning, it’ll be to visit this stall.

my personal favourite here is the raw fish porridge (鱼片粥). the smooth porridge is cooked slow and long with grounded grains and topped with spring onion. served with the raw fish slices on a separate plate with sesame oil, ginger slivers and coriander leaves, we are to mix the fish slices well before pouring the lot into the hot porridge. the heat of the porridge will then cook the fish perfectly. then, dip in some “yau char kway” (油条) and it’s just heavenly!

The other porridge I have tried it the Mixed Pork Porridge(猪杂粥) which has pig innards and is topped with crispy fried intestines and spring onions. the fried intestines is crunchy to the bite and reminds me of pork cracklings. yum yum. however, i still think that the mixed pork porridge I have eaten in Subang (review later) is more reminiscent to the excellent one we had in penang. Hon Kee’s version has its own merits though and we even ordered an ala carte portion of the fried intestines for that extra bite.

Hon Kee Porridge 汉记靓粥
Jalan Hang Lekir,
Off Jalan Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur.

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