she, the epicuriousgirl.

Bidor. this small town needs no introduction anymore. famous to the out-of-towners for only one thing - Pun Chun Chicken Biscuits & Restaurant. This is the place to get your fix of noodles, and various types of chinese pastries & biscuits. as the main town centre seems to border along one main street only, Pun Chun is easy to spot with its yellow facade.

but do not be deceived by the non hustle & bustle of the town as the coffeeshop is brimming with local and out-of-towners alike. the old-school chinese coffeeshop still has a handwritten menu, a high ceiling dotted with greased up fans, and mosaic floors so walked on that some of the colour has faded off entirely. and all these just added to the charm of Pun Chun.

the most talked out about dish from Pun Chun is of course its Duck Noodles (鴨腿麵). The duck thigh is steamed in a herbal broth including wolfberries, dried longan, ginger etc. and placed in separate bowls and kept warm in the steamer. Then only is it poured onto the al dente noodles or served with a dry serving of tossed noodles.

during peak hours, one may have to wait for a long time before they get the long-awaited dish they came here for. i was lucky, as the coffeeshop was only starting to fill with patrons coming in breakfast when i made my order. the noodles were springy but somewhat tasteless by itself. now, the soup, it was well-flavoured but it didn’t appeal to me that much. maybe i am not a fan of this kind of herbal soup. or did i have too high an expectation? the duck meat was so tender if fell off the bone with a few nudges but had no taste due to the long steaming hours.

the colleague i was travelling with couldn’t take the duck noodles as she was forbidden to take duck meat by a chinese medicine practitioner. the chinese do believe that certain food, such as duck flesh releases elements of air. and i guess that’s how the ginger in the soup plays it role as it’s also traditionally used to reduce the extra “air” in one’s body. talk about yin & yang. so she ordered the wantans made with fresh shrimps & minced pork. Could see the shrimps wrapped with the pork and it was tasty! you can choose to have 6, 8 or 10 pcs.

my favourite item at Pun Chun remains as the Wu Kok ( 竽角, yam puff pastry). Freshly made and deep fried at the premises, it’s my must-have. the wispy, flaky pastry is not too greasy and I love the char-siew flavoured meat mash filling inside. A bit pricey at RM 1.30 each, but I’ll gladly pay for this delightful snack. However, it doesn’t taste as good packed so it’s best to try this at the coffeeshop when it’s freshly fried.

And as per the name of the coffeeshop, chicken biscuits (雞仔餅) and other chinese pastries are readily available. Freshly baked mooncakes were also available during our visit as it’s the 8th lunar month in the chinese calender. I’m not a big fan of the chicken biscuits etc but I do love their kaya puff (kaya 角). Bidor’s also the place to pick up fresh produce such as seedless guava, water apples, petai etc.

Pun Chun Chicken Biscuits & Restaurant 品珍
38 & 40, Jalan Besar,
35500 Bidor, Perak

other reviews;
- eatingasia
- kampungboycitygal
- memoirs of a chocoholic

Our company decided to break fast at PJ Hilton’s Paya Serai Restaurant this year. I was very excited about the buffet initially as I remember their excellent buffet spread from some years back. Plus I’ve yet to see the new look of the hotel after it has undergone some refurbishment works.

Sad to say, my dining experience there wasn’t what I expected. To deal with the bigger crowds, the restaurant has set up temporary seating outside the restaurant. The further walk to the buffet table isn’t an issue but the temporary extra seating were cramped and had minimal moving space. Plus most of the tables were pushed against the windows, which meant that those sitting furthest in have to suck in their stomachs and somehow navigate their way in. I don’t know about you, but I like my space when I am dining. And I felt a little bit ripped off somehow.

The spread itself was okay. Lots of meat, kerabu etc. good local fare. i liked the grilled stuff which they did on the spot, together with the satay. the chicken sausages were pretty good too. and i liked the asparagus wrapped in thinly sliced beef. surprised to find hummus, but gladly took some. the garlic naan was too cold hence it tasted leathery. rojak sauce was fab, and we quickly went for seconds.

salads galore, and putu piring!

Desserts! Cakes, ban chean pan (slow-cooked pancake) and ice-cream etc.

Considering the RM95++ price tag per pax for this Ramadhan Buffet, I think I certainly expected more. And yes, I felt second rated for having to sit outside at the temporary seatings still. Afterall, we pay the same price as those patrons seated comfortably on the inside of the restaurant. Well, looks like I’m back to the ramadhan bazaars dotted around the city…

Paya Serai Restaurant
Hilton Hotel,
2 Jalan Barat,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

- Star write up

take out your lanterns & candles for it’s the time of the year again. a round moon, sweet mooncakes and hot tea, aah.

happy mid-autumn festival.

Have heard about the Bijan Bar & Restaurant some time back. Awarded the best Malay restaurant by Tourism Malaysia in 2004, it’s located at Jalan Ceylon, an area I’ve always liked for its serenity in spite of being within the vicinity of the hustle & bustle of Bukit Bintang.

The restaurant plays with the colours purple & orange, and is unlike any other Malay restaurant I’ve been to, with the bar and wine chiller prominently in sight. Lol. However the overall design is rather cosy and inviting. We chose to sit inside as it was noon and I wanted my air-cond! Heh. Love the batik napkins, nice Malaysian touch.

Tried 2 drinks from Bijan, the Soursop Juice and Bijan Fruitpunch. Can you tell that I was really thirsty? The Soursop juice was much nicer than the fruitpunch though the looks of both drinks seem otherwise. The fruitpunch was rather bland despite the description saying that fruits like mango, oranges, watermelon were used. At least it was of slushy consistency.

For starters we ordered the “Pegedil” and Appetiser Platter. “Pegedil” or fried potato patties with chicken, meat and tuna were created bite-sized and served with a chilli dip. It was crisp to bite and warm and crumbly inside. Nicely done, I must say.

The Appetiser Platter was more disappointing even though it had a few items - Tauhu Sumbat (Fried Tofu pockets with prawns & vegetables), Popiah Goreng (deep fried spring rolls), Kepak goreng (fried chicken wings) and Cucur udang (prawn & vegetable fritters). The tofu pockets had that stale oil taste to it, which was least expected. Lucky neither the spring rolls nor the fritters had the same taste to it. The chicken wings were meatless and whatever little meat they had, were too dry for our liking.

I ordered the “Masak Ayam Lemak dengan Nangka” which are chicken pieces simmered in a rich & spicy curry of turmeric and young jackfruit. It was very creamy and non-spicy. They were very generous with the chicken portions and we didn’t manage to finish this. Maybe we were a little too ambitious whilst ordering. Lol.

Next up was the “Kerabu Paku Pakis”, a fiddlehead fern salad with a chilli mix of coconut milk, prawns, onions, dessicated coconut etc. Fiddlehead ferns are one of my favourite vegetables, hence i greatly enjoyed this. Would even say this is my favourite dish from all that we ordered.

We ordered the “Ayam Goreng Berempah”, crunchy deep fried chicken with spices and sweet basil as one of us didn’t take spicy food much. I would imagine that this is similar to the chicken wings in the appetiser platter, but as it was deep fried with onion rings & curry leaves, this had slightly more flavour.

My friend has been craving “Nasi Kerabu” (pic) for a while now and she didn’t hesitate in ordering Bijan’s “Nasi kerabu with Ayam Percik”, described as a rice platter with finely chopped raw vegetables, herbs and keropok (fish crackers) and grilled chicken in a nutty sauce. I must admit, the appearance of the rice that was served wasn’t what I expected. The rice doesn’t have to be the traditional blue, but at least there has to be an abundance of herbs & raw vegetables. Everything was sliced so thin and fine that it gives definition to the meaning a “fine-dining” restaurant. Lol. The budu and chilli sauces were placed separately. It looks a little bland.

The chicken was served later and the taste didn’t appeal to me at all. Not like any ayam percik i have tasted before.

Overall, I prefer the food to remain traditional (as those more true to the roots tasted better) than innovated to suit modern tastebuds. But ambience wise, this place is a clear winner with the music and sounds of nature with the help of water features.

Bijan Bar & Restaurant (www)
3, Jalan Ceylon,
50200 Kuala Lumpur.

other reviews;
- you get what you give…sometimes
- the travelling hungryboy
- ozoux.com
- lots of cravings

This place used to be a firm favourite of my supervisor’s in my previous company so we used to frequent it quite a bit. haven’t been there since i left the company but decided to re-visit it with my supervisor when i met him for lunch. parking can be quite a problem when you’re in PJ old town during lunch hours, but we were both quite lucky and managed to get parkings side by side in front of the shophouses that houses this restaurant.

as usual, left it to him to order. and that’s how we ended up with pig stomach soup and claypot chicken rice with no salted fish nor egg. i normally like to have the additional accompaniments with my claypot chicken rice. but still, generous serving of chicken and wax sausages were more than enough. i prefer the gravy on the rice to the one in paramount. the soup was nice and peppery. apart from pig stomach, they also have chicken and dates in the soup which balances out the strong tripe taste, i suppose.

satisfying lunch, and reasonably priced. you can also get blanched greens and some other common dishes apart from the main claypot chicken rice. can get packed during lunch, so get there early to avoid waiting too long.

Restoran Veng Soon 永顺瓦堡鸡饭餐室
No. F19, Jalan 1/21,
Old Town,
46000 Petaling Jaya.

other reviews;
- kyspeaks

i am stuffed. i think we overdid it. aunt decided to make nasi ulam (herbed rice) for dinner tonight. and we decided to “tambah lauk” (add dishes) from the nearby SS18 Ramadhan Bazaar. being sunday, the bazaar was packed with people. we were a bit late for the weekend crowd and quite a few stalls had already sold out and packed up. so we didn’t really grab much, just some old favourites.

Paru2 Lembu & Nanas masak lemak, both my aunt’s choices. The lung slices were a bit dry, and tasteless. I am not a big fan of cooked pineapple so I only had a smidget of that.

And now, my choices, kerang (cockles) and daging masak hitam (beef dish). The cockles tasted slightly sweeter than I expected it to, but loved the liberal amount of limau purut (kaffir lime) leaves used. the beef’s gravy tasted just right, despite the dark looks. however the meat was really tough. pity about that.

both of us knew we just had to get some of this when we spotted it - cincalok and tempoyak (fermented durian) . drowning along with cut chillies, halved calamansi limes, the baby shrimps were salty and sour and so good with rice. loved the tempoyak too, thought aunt thought it was a little on the spicy side. but it was all good. even the pungent smell wasn’t a turn off. lol.

selamat berbuka puasa to you guys out there too

Am rarely in the neighborhood of this seafood restaurant hence haven’t the chance to try more of their dishes. but some contractors we were lunching with spoke of this place again so we headed there. And what a lunch it was!

Complimentary soup was given whilst the dishes were being prepared. The soup of the day was watercress soup. It was your typical MSG laden soup but I must admit it was still quite tasty. Maybe we were just too hungry. Ordered a stir-fried yau mak (small Romaine lettuce) dish and a egg fu yong (an omelette dish with spring onions, prawns and meat). I’m not a big fan of stir-fried yau mak even though i love the raw lettuce in my salads so I didn’t try any of it. The egg omelette was quite nicely cooked and not too oily.

The guys love their meat and as soon as the German pork knuckle was recommended, their eyes lit up and we could almost visualise them drooling. Lol. But must admit the crispy pork knuckle was delectable! The skin remained crisp to bite and yet the meat was tender and not dry. Enjoyed crunching on the crispy bits. Was served with a dark, sweet sauce and some chilli dip. Easily the best dish of the lot as everything was scraped off the bone.

The soy sauce prawns were titillating too. I could taste bits of crispy dried shrimp in the whatever little gravy that coated the prawns. Yummy…Cholesterol? What cholesterol?

For the fish, we ordered the Black African Tilapia to be steamed in a garlicky sauce. As the fish was swimming in the tank minutes ago, the freshness was undisputed. I love the garlic mixture they use, which had bits of chilli and ginger in it as it was so mouthwatering. One of the fish connoisseurs commented it was a tad overcooked but I couldn’t tell.

Our last dish was only added after seeing the next table’s order. A huge crab by any means as only one crab already filled up the dish nicely. Just look at the claw! Lightly steamed with egg whites and ginger, the crab retained much of its natural, fresh taste. Glistening with oil, it looked so inviting. And tasted even better!

What a lunch eh? The total cost was at RM 143 for the food for 6 people. The crab alone was at RM40 per kg. Food wise, the dishes we ordered this round definitely tasted better than what we had on our first visit. Just don’t expect to see Andy Lau here.

Teck Wah Seafood Restaurant 德華海鲜酒家
31 & 33, Jalan A,
Taman Batu,
Off Jalan Kuching,
52000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 03-6251 4629/6252 3260

I’ve been meaning to check out this place for sometime now but somehow I always end up in TTDI on sundays and this place isn’t open on sundays. But made plans to meet politikus and her natikus there for dinner so finally had a chance to step foot into the restaurant. by the time i arrived, the happy couple were already lounging on the sofa, waiting for me. quickly browsed through the menu, which was rather extensive and covered western & eastern fare. a chalkboard also states promotions and specials so do check that out.

Overall, design is eclectic imho. bits and pieces of random decorative items. perhaps it’s meant to contribute to the cosy ambience but i personally prefer a cleaner space. they placed large sheets of white paper over the tablecloth for easy cleaning, which also became the patron’s drawing palette. Lol.
And on these sheets of paper, politikus drew me a PKR 101 lesson after Nat left.

She ordered the grilled portobello mushroom to start. It was served on a bed of mesclun leaves and with a generous topping of peanut & onion bits. The mushroom was really juicy and tasty.

I ordered the Fried Cempedak Chicken, a seasonal item as the cempedak fruit is not available throughout the year. This is actually cempedak fruit stuffed with seasoned chicken, deep fried with batter coating. Upon first bite, the coating is very crispy but the seasoning inside tasted a bit weird with the cempedak. But the taste slowly starts to grow on me as I started to bite into my 2nd & 3rd fritter. The cempedak lover in me slowly awakening, lol.

Politikus ordered the Moroccan Spiced Lamb with lemon, prawns and tomato ragout, over cheese rice cake. It was served with some tangy sauce separately. I quite like the cheese rice, despite thinking initially that it would be risotto-like. But not as mushy. The lamb was nice, bit oily.

My mains was the Blue Cheese Scallops Poppy Seed Fettucine. Basically it’s fettucine tossed in olive oil, blue cheese braised in broth, white wine & herbs etc. I expected to overdose on the strong taste of blue cheese as even the description warned that this was for cheese lovers only, but the taste was not overpowering at all. Quite nicely done in fact. The poppy seeds were something different.

We both decided to share a dessert and she chose the Cherry Jubilee. Pancakes with cherries to be flambéd and served with vanilla ice-cream. It was quite good, though I was so stuffed by this stage I couldn’t really eat much. When we were asked by one of the owners if the dessert was good, we joked about wanting to see the flames when it was served.

Overall, ambience and food are decent. The only unwanted incident was when a fly flew into my drink and all the owner said was that they had a fly zapper without offering to replace the drink. I didn’t mind as much as I was almost done by then. But hope she offers to replace the drink if it happens to someone else!

BoatHouse Restaurant
16, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-7727 4426

other reviews;
- memoirs of a chocoholic
- you get what you give…sometimes
- gingerly yours

As part of the company’s Study Tour, we put up at Cameron Highlands Resort for a night to get some ideas on the character of Colonial interior design. Our bosses were indeed generous to include tea & breakfast in our stay there so that we could, as they say, dine in luxury. There are 2 restaurants there; the Dining Room and Gonbei, which serves Japanese Cuisine. A tea room and bar complete the dining choices available at the resort. Of the four, we had our tea at the Jim Thompson Tea Room and breakfast the following day at the Dining Room.

The cost of tea for one is RM55++ but a tea platter is enough to share between 2. What you see in the photos below is 2 sets, for 4 to share though. It includes a variety of tea, to which I ordered the BOH Bukit Cheeding 53 tea, despite it being a breakfast tea as it was classified as a Orange Pekoe tea, where only leaf buds are used.

We started off with fresh strawberries, which is easily obtainable in Cameron Highlands. 3 accompanying dips are given, with chocolate sauce and fresh cream being the clear favourites. Another dip has the consistency of honey with condensed milk, but tasted caramelly. Tart yet sweet at the same time, it was refreshing to start with this.

A tea platter had some fried snacks, sandwiches and scones. The fried stuff consisted of wontons, spring rolls and slices of quiche lorraine. yeah, i know the quiche isn’t deep fried, but it was placed on the same plate :p Of all these, I loved the wontons most of all. It was nicely flavoured and had bits of vermicelli in it, which was a pleasant surprise. The spring rolls were just so-so. Lucky for the chilli dip. Lol.

There were 3 sandwich fillings - tuna, egg & watercress and finally, chicken. Not sure why they didn’t use the traditional white bread, but the bun they used tasted buttery and was soft to bite.The scones were served with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Wasn’t expecting the scones to taste salty as we normally have sweetish ones with raisins. I expect tonnes of butter were used. Its only redeeming quality was that it was warm.

Overall, there’s consistency in the quality of the tea platter served even if it wasn’t entirely suited to our tastebuds. However service was inefficient and lacking and the staff messed up our orders and we were left waiting for rather long. Even the next table’s couple got their food quicker than us despite arriving after we did.

Breakfast was served at the Dining Room the next day. In the same tradition as the tea room, they had a standard menu for one to choose from. But everyone started with the same food - bread of your choice from their bread basket, fresh fruit, fruit juice and coffee or tea. I opted for a croissant and watermelon (from the choices of watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, papaya & guava) and watermelon juice (or orange).

You could choose any egg of your choice to be served with beef bacon, chicken sausage, hash browns, grilled tomato and baked beans. Whilst my colleagues opted for the sunny side up, half boiled egg & omelet, I decided to order them poached. Just wanted something different.

The eggs were great, and the hash browns too. Of course you can never go wrong with grilled tomato and baked beans. But the beef bacon was too dry for words. I guess they were trying to go for crisp bacon strips but it was tough to chew instead. The omelette was quite good, with a lot of ingredients.

Apart from this, there are waffles, pancakes, curry crepes, fried noodles of the day etc too. One can order a few types provided you can finish the food as the breakfast was going at RM50 per pax for all you can eat. Rather good deal in comparison to the tea platter. Between the few of us, we shared the fried noodles (which was actually beehoon) and curry crepes. Both were not bad, though a bit heavy on the salt.

Once again, service was lacking. I suspect it’s due to a shortage of staff as the people serving us were always the same even if we dined in different restaurants. Quite disappointing really, considering the luxurious standard the resort prized themselves upon.

During our recent trip to Cameron Highlands, we stumbled upon a gem there. Once again, we were reminded not to be deceived by appearances. Somewhat hidden (look out for the signboard), the unpretentious and small Restoran Tringkap was empty when we arrived for early dinner. However, as we were ordering, the owner informed us that certain dishes we wanted couldn’t be prepared as the kitchens were too busy preparing some signature dishes for a big reservation. True enough, 15 minutes later, a huge group (filling up to 5 tables) arrived and other families started filling in. Apparently, this place is very popular with the locals.

We ordered the deep fried oyster mushrooms and I loved the batter. It had a certain crumbly yet crispy factor to it.

Next up was stir-fried watercress (西洋菜). We re-discovered our love for watercress in Cameron after seeing it in its abundance there. Bought quite a bit of it an organic shop there as we’ve heard that the ones selling in KL has had loads of pesticide sprayed on to it to prolong the shelf-life.

For the kids, we ordered Supreme Ribs (排骨王). The sauce was tangy and mouthwatering. Sorry about the blur photo… had to snap it quick as everyone wanted to tuck in already.

The highlight of our dinner was the Steamed Keli (蒸生鱼). The fish was utterly delightful as it was so fresh and the texture of the flesh was so smooth and firm. And to think that we nearly didn’t get to have this! The signature fish dish of this restaurant is actually Black Pepper Tilapia where the fish is filleted and deep fried and served with tangy salad on the side. But the owner recommended the steamed fish as she said it was not often they get to have such fresh freshwater keli fish and we could have the signature fish dish anytime. And we’re so glad we listened to her.

Our last dish was a crispy, salty prawn dish (to which I can’t recall the name, my bad.). The prawns were quickly deep fried and stir-fried on high heat with ingredients such as sliced chilli, salt etc to give it the crispy, aromatic taste.

Everything we had at Restoran Tringkap was definitely above average. And the restaurant was packed by the time we left, a sure sign of its popularity with the locals. And we’re definitely returning to this eatery when we’re in Cameron next, and I can’t wait to try some of the more popular dishes I see our neighboring tables ordering such as the signature fish dish, the Kampung chicken (菜园鸡) and this pork trotter dish (焖猪手).

Restoran Tringkap 直能甲海鲜饭店
Tringkap,
39100 Cameron Highlands,
Pahang.