Archive for September, 2008

USJ 4 Ramadhan Bazaar

September 30, 2008 at 12:00 am · Filed under Festive, Food

This will be another near photos only post as Ramadhan months is drawing to a close. But managed to squeeze in a visit to the USJ 4 bazaar to have a last minute look at its offerings.

This Roti Bom & Murtabak stall was doing brisk business. Looks promising too.

Kebab and Roti John.

This stall came up with “Mini Murtabaks” which were wrapped using thin spring roll skin instead of the usual roti dough.

Cucur Udang (RM0.50 each) and Lekor (5 for RM2). Only had the cucur udang, which was excellent with the chilli dip.

Mak Wan’s Kelantanese rice stall. Couldn’t resist the Nasi Kerabu yet again. Quite tasty, but on the peppery side. They used quite a lot of dried fish flakes, which few stalls do these days.

This putu piring stall (Putu Piring Warisan) was another popular one in this bazaar. While queuing, could see them making it as quickly as their fingers allowed. Quite a mesmerising sight. And it tasted pretty good! The smokey, sweet palm sugar enveloped in the rice flour cake – yummy! Going at RM0.50 each.

Spotted the Sarawakian Kuih Batik again, and right next to a tray of moist chocolate cake. Both tasted moist and not too sweet. Not too bad indeed.

Ayam percik stall.

Nasi Briyani and other lauk stall.

Smallish ramadhan bazaar in comparison to the SS18 one, but still doing brisk business. Noticed quite a few satay stalls there too.

USJ 4 Ramadhan Bazaar
Along USJ 4/5
47600 Subang Jaya

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Dain Ti Hill, Pavilion KL

September 29, 2008 at 5:57 am · Filed under Eating Out, Food

Citibank was running a 50% off all food (eat-in only) at Dain Ti Hill Pavilion until the end of this month so we decided to take advantage of this promotion. Originated from Taipei, the KL branch features Chinese, Japanese and Western cuisine. It was packed when we arrived and were told that waiting time will be around 40 minutes. But barely 20 mins later, my phone rung and we got our table! Seated by the drinks’ bar, we had a good view of what was ordered by other patrons as the waiting staff had to pass us by. Only downside is the occasional whirl of the blender drowning out our conversation.

The decor is indeed eye-catching, but it’s not really my cup of tea. I find it somewhat showy to the verge of being garish. Felt like there was too much going on. I guess I’m all for clean, zen looks.

Found the covers of the chopsticks funny as they reflected the gender of the patron (male/female). All it takes is to flip over on either side. Apparently Dain Ti Hill targets independent women diners who knows what they want. Hmm.

One of their specialty drinks is the Calamansi Tea 桔茶 (RM15 for hot, RM12 for cold) which is quite refreshing as the fresh calamansi juice is squeezed into the tea. They also have quite a range of alcoholic concoctions in long stemmed champagne flutes which looked quite enticing. Heh.

Started with the Baked Escargots 法式田螺 (RM18). This french starter was very cheesey, but bland in taste imo. A lot of cheese, very little snail. We wanted one of their signature sushi rolls at first, but after seeing plates of them being sent out, with lots of rice and little filling, we decided to go for the next starter, a beef dish.

We were very pleased with our choice of the Sauteed Imperial Beef Steak With Special Sauce 腓力奶油陶板烧 (RM28). The beef cubes were done medium rare, and we could taste the hint of rawness within bites of the tender meat. It was placed on a bed of sauteed onions and leafy spinach and topped with crispy garlic flakes. Easily one of the better dishes we had for the meal.

The Dragon Fruit & Prawn Salad 火龙果虾仁 (RM15) caught our eye later as it kept making its way past us to the other tables. However I was a little disappointed to find out it was all fruit and barely any prawn. In fact, the prawns were sliced into half and only a measly 3 slices were found in one portion. However, the subtle dragon fruit and slightly crunchy chinese pear cubes complimented each other well though and was rather refreshing.

My friend chose the Beef Rice 刷牛肉饭 (RM18), which is essentially a Gyudon Beef rice bowl. This was quite bland and tasteless. I actually think that Yoshinoya’s version tastes much better.

I chose the Pork Ball Rice 狮子头饭 (RM16) which features a “lion’s head“, or an oversized meatball. The origins of the name is quite imaginative in where the huge meatball is the lion, and the accompanying leafy greens (usually cabbage), its mane. Dain Ti Hill’s version featured a pureed vege dressing though and it tasted quite good! The meatball was juicy and lightly tinged with ginger and I enjoyed it with the egg-topped rice.

Another friend had the Seafood Ramen 海鲜拉面 (RM20) which was served with a side dish of Kimchi. The kimchi tasted quite mild, but whetted our appetite. The ramen was nothing to shout about though despite the various toppings.

The Red Bean Ice Mountain 华山 (RM13) was another popular dessert with the crowd and after seeing it prepared again and again at the drinks bar, we decided to see what the fuss is about. It was indeed an ice mountain, and generously drowned with red bean and some boba pearls. We were digging a “tunnel” through the “mountain” when we discovered more red bean paste inside! Treasure eh? So no worries of having not enough red bean to go around the shaved ice.

I have to say that the menu here is quite varied and unique. And there are a few other items that caught my eye such as the Potato Pumpkin Cake, Prawn Skewers, Fried Fish with Dain Ti Sauce and this Mustard Chicken (which was very popular as it kept making its rounds). But tastewise, there are some hits & misses. The Japanese dishes we tried pale in comparison to the Chinese ones, so I reckon I’ll stick to the Chinese ones should I return. A bit spoiled lah after the 50% discount deal, so not so sure about paying full price again. Haha.

Dain Ti Hill 代官山 (www)
Lot 6.01.05 Level 6
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 2145 6628
Open: 11am – 10pm daily

other reviews;
- black tie, white lie
- my pink attitude
- myee
- NST write up
- the star write up

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Serendah BBQ

September 27, 2008 at 11:35 pm · Filed under Cooking, Food

My bestie was visiting from Australia over the week and we decided to make our way down to Sekeping Serendah retreat for a mini-break. It was supposed to be a group of 4 girls but due to some unexpected circumstances, the other two pulled out later. We still decided to just go since reservations had been made.

The retreat is an 5 acre rainforest jungle with clearings made to house 5 sheds of 3 different materials in their attempt to be one with nature. We chose the glass shed, which looked too good to be true in the photos. The shed is really more than a shed, with open up windows top to bottom, which really gave you the best view of the greenery. Even the bathroom was more open than i bargained for! Lol.

Looking Out

There’s not that much to do around here, though they have a plunge pool in the grounds. There’s also the Serendah waterfalls and some Orang Asli settlements nearby. But we chose to remain in the grounds of Sekeping Serendah solely and kept ourselves relaxed with a good book, a hot cuppa and some engaging conversation.

The BBQ goodies

One of the to-dos here is of course having a barbecue. We wanted to keep it simple as it was only the two of us. Marinated some chicken strips with lemon thyme, and wrapped some prawns with prosciutto. For greens, we buttered some portobello mushrooms and asparagus.

Lemon Thyme Chicken Salad

We wanted to have a salad with the cooked chicken strips first. Threw together Green Oak lettuce leaves, cherry tomatoes and sliced onion with a lemon juice & olive oil dressing. But the prawns were almost done and we did think it would go well so we decided to throw that in too, along with the asparagus.

Special Salad

So here’s what we dined to :)

Great mini-break away indeed.

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PJ Section 14 Ramadhan Bazaar

September 24, 2008 at 10:19 am · Filed under Festive, Food

This is going to be a near photos post only of the Section 14 Ramadhan Bazaar in PJ. The bazaar is smaller than I expected, as it stretches down one street, and somewhat around the neighborhood playground but there are many interesting offerings here, including 3-4 stalls of kelantanese fare, seafood bakar (instead of only ikan) and some famous regulars.

Famous Mohd Kassim Ismail’s Penang Popiah Basah with its long queue. Habis by the time we were there (around 5pm). Making these babies was quite easy peasy for him; slather the sauces on the thin skin lined in a row, pile on the vegetables, egg, fried shallots and one single prawn. Wrap it all up and voila!

This Putu Piring stall was also very popular, with another queue. Not as long as the popiah one, but still a bit of a wait.


A stall selling sweet desserts and Bubur Lambuk. Quite a good crowd also.

A Seafood Bakar Stall in front of the playground. They were pouring in the cockles and I was so tempted. But it was rather hot and smoky so we decided to walk around instead of waiting.

Otak-otak at 50cents each.

The Ayam Panggang Stall sold not only the wings and thighs, but the gizzards, livers, hearts and behinds too. All doused generously in the sweet and mildly spicy sauce.

Pak Lah Murtabak. Looks good but I wasn’t up for Murtabak today.


The item I came here for – Pecal / Gado2. No pink crackers, but nice assortment of blanched vegetables including bean sprouts, kangkung, tapioca leaves, cucumber and tofu. The peanut sauce was a bit watery imo, and somewhat spicier than I expected.

Roasted Lamb by Dr Grill Catering (Contact:016 309 2369)

Seafood Bakar also by Dr Grill Catering. Upon ordering, you’re given a number. Good system but I didn’t have to wait for my kerang (yes, ended up getting it here coz it was cooked!). It was ok lah, but I thought it was a little bland as none of the cockles opened up during cooking to soak in the sambal. No difference to eating boiled cockles.

Various kuih including the Kuih Bakar/Kemboja, Kuih Ketayap, curry puffs, stuffed tofu etc.


Another kuih stall that sold Kuih Batik! The kuih batik was not as nice as the ones I’m used to back in Sarawak as it was so soft and “un-sweetened” but good enough lah.

So moral of the story is, don’t judge the book by its cover. The bazaar here may be small, but sure packs a lot of goodies. Can visit!

Section 14 Ramadhan Bazaar
Along Jalan 14/28
Section 14, Petaling Jaya

other reviews;
- masak-masak
- klue write up

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Subang SS18 Ramadhan Bazaar

September 18, 2008 at 4:18 pm · Filed under Festive, Food


Fancy rainbow coloured roti jala?

I find it quite difficult to frequent Ramadhan Bazaars on weekdays due to the distance, and of course the traffic jams hence I tend to go back to the same bazaar year after year, the one in Subang Jaya SS18 as it’s closest to where I work.


Kuih Pelita (steamed santan & rice flour in folded pandan leaf rectangles)

Noticed the bazaar getting longer every year, which is a good sign! But a lot of the old stall handlers are still there, including some of the ones featured in masak-masak’s post a couple years back. The bazaar here has less kuih-muih than others I’ve been too, but features more on cooked dishes and savoury snacks etc. Ah, just what I like.

This nasi lemak stall (Nasi Lemak D’Kukus) has got a faithful following, and they’re famous for their fried chicken. Have seen people buying just the chicken without the rice also.

Nasi Lemak with Ayam Goreng Berempah and Kerang. Fluffy rice, juicy and flavour chicken with yummy cockles.

Nasi Kerabu from another stall. I love checking out Kelantanese fare during these bazaars. This version had almost the full works apart from the optional salted egg.

There are a few Murtabak stalls here but I noticed more people waiting for this one (Nasir & Co), so decided to join the queue.

Another interesting stall here is the one selling middle eastern influenced snacks such as the Tunisian appetiser brik. There is the mini sized one, and another bigger one with a whole egg inside. The filling is akin to mash potatoes with onion and meat, which is then folded into the pastry skin and deep fried.

Also, the Murtabak which I bought from the Nasir & Co stall.

This big stall selling all kinds of Masakan Melayu dishes is a regular alright. See them without every year. I always walk along the stall to check out the dishes before making my pick.


Pucuk Paku Masak Lemak, Kerabu Mangga and Siput Sedut (Balitong). The mango salad was really yummy, hitting all the sweet, sour and savoury tastebuds.

Apart from the above, there’s the usual bbq-ed chicken wings, satay, drinks, desserts, nasi briyani etc available there. Anyhow, banyak choice lah. :D

SS18 Ramadhan Bazaar
Along Jalan SS18/6,
47500 Subang Jaya.

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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

September 14, 2008 at 12:52 pm · Filed under Festive

Enjoy the moon viewing and lantern carrying tonight…

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Senjyu Sushi, Sunway Pyramid

September 13, 2008 at 6:43 am · Filed under Food

After showing a couple of my colleagues reviews of this place, they were so enthusiastic about this place that we went after work. Hehe. No prizes for those who guessed that Japanese cuisine is a firm favourite amongst us. Lol.

Senjyu Sushi is located at the old wing of Sunway Pyramid, where Genki Sushi used to be. From the outside, the mostly black mirrored facade does look classy, but also portrays a slight “off-limits” feel. But I guess that’s in line with the restaurant management’s directive to portray it as a higher end sushi joint.

The inside looks a bit more inviting, with splashes of bronze and some wood furnishing. But the most eye-catching bits (to me, that is) are the rows of glass bottles. We were ushered to one of the booth seats and given a menu to browse through. Could spot quite a few interesting items, and they had little icons promoting them as “chef’s recommendation” or “airflown” which was a nice touch. And yes, the prices are indeed more hefty than your usual franchise sushi place. But we would soon find it if it was worth it’s price tag…

We ordered mostly off the menu instead of picking up stuff from the conveyor belt as we wanted them to be freshly made. The prices of the dishes on the belt ranged from RM4 to RM16, depending on the colour.

While waiting for our orders to be made, we were served freshly grated wasabi first. Green tea is at RM2 per cup. The size of the cup was very, ah, dainty. I could easily finish the tea in 1-2 gulps if I wanted to. Of course they refilled, and very regularly. But I don’t quite like the waiting team to hover around.

First up was the Airflown Oyster Sashimi (RM 12.90). Gorgeous presentation and quite big in size. It was very fresh, hence tasted naturally sweet.

Abalone & Ikura (RM12). When I saw this on the menu, didn’t hesitate in ordering it. The abalone is tiny, but brimming with taste. And the saltiness of the ikura complimented the combination well. My only grouse was that the sushi rice was somewhat hard and clumpy, which i suspect is due to it being refrigerated. Authentic sushi rice should be stored at room temperature and covered with a moist cotton cloth.

We loved the Salmon Belly (RM8). And the length of the cut was very agreeable with us. Lol.

I saw the Salmon Mango Hani Maki (RM12) on the conveyor belt and couldn’t resist the thick-looking slices of salmon. In between the salmon slices were diced mango, some cucumber and a wee bit of sushi rice. Quite a nice combination and I enjoyed it vastly.

Not only wanting to limit our meal to seafood, we decided to try the Senjyu Wagyu Maki (RM39.90). The thin beef slices are lightly seared and wrapped around the maki rolls with asparagus and stir-fried enoki mushrooms and onions in them. The sweetness of the sauteed onions blended well with the beef. It was like having bite-size wagyu beef don! Yummy.

Overall, I would agree that the standard of the food served here is befitting of its upmarket pricetag but it’s not somewhere I can afford to dine at on a regular basis. Service was good, and polite but they did have about 6-7 people on their waiting team and only 2 tables of customers. Could feel them watching us. Lol. And oh, they charge you for the wet tissues on your table even if you didn’t use them so I took them back to wipe my dashboard. Yup, i happen to be one of them who doesn’t trust the origins of these wet tissues and rarely use it, esp. not to wipe my mouth! Heard too many stories :P

Senjyu Sushi
F1.05, Sunway Pyramid
No. 3, Jln PJS 11/15
Bandar Sunway
Selangor
Tel: 03 – 7492 6236

other reviews;
- masak-masak
- ling239
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Taiping Lang, Puchong

September 11, 2008 at 9:26 am · Filed under Food

We were looking for something different in Puchong when we spotted Taiping Lang with it’s prominent Axian (Taste with Jason) cutout board displayed outside. Encouraged by that we decided to step in the swing doors and realised that it was also featured on 8TV’s Ho Chak. Hmm, promising indeed.

The decor of the place plays heavily on the nolstagic feeling as lots of antique everyday products are used as decorative items on the walls. And some of the legs of the tables are actually old sewing machine discards! Ah, what a walk down memory lane indeed.

Ordering here is a bit of a puzzle as they have three set menus which are further separated into 4 sets, and rotated between dates! I suppose they wanted to maintain variety yet some kind of consistency. Or maybe it’s something to do with the availability of fresh ingredients. Anyhow, what we did was just pick the sets that appealed most to us. The prices went for RM28 for 2 pax, RM38 for 3 pax and RM48 for 4 pax. We were recommended to choose 2 sets for 2 to share so that we can try more dishes, which also meant RM8 more than sticking to just a choice of 1 set.


SET A: Chai-Por Nooi (菜pu煎蛋), Ba Kian (肉卷) and Achat Hu (青椒姜小鱼).

The Chai-Por Nooi is preserved radish omelette and is quite an everyday dish in most chinese households. It was one of my favourites to eat with plain porridge. Even though it tasted very homecooked, I thought it needed more preserved radish.

The Ba Kian, or meat rolls were delish. They were identical in taste to Penang’s lorbak and featured marinated minced meat.

As for the Achat Hu, fried fish pickled with ginger and turmeric, I found the gravy too sour for my liking. But as the fish was deep fried, the flesh inside had only a sour tinge, which made it palatable.


SET D: Bangkuang Cha (鱿鱼沙葛), Sambal Hae (辣酱虾)and Bee Ba Special (美姨炖肉).

The Bangkuang Cha, or stir-fried jicama shavings with cuttlefish shreds. There were other ingredients such as chicken shreds, diced prawns, julienned carrots and sliced mushrooms which added to the flavour. It was served with fresh lettuce leaves and was easily my favourite dish here.

The Sambal Hae , or prawns were drenched in the chilli sambal, along with some petai. Bit watery, so didn’t score much with me.

I quite like the Bee Ba Special, which was braised in soy sauce. It had quite a good ratio of fats and lean meat, so tasted very tender. But the gravy was a tad oily imo.


Soup of the Day and our drinks, the Leng Kak Chee Leong Fun (明角子凉粉), which is essentially Cincau drink with soaked basil seeds (biji selasih). The drink is quite an ingenious idea, and a hit with me as I love both cincau and the basil seeds.

Overall, the Peranakan food offered here has quite a homecooked feel to it. But I do think that most dishes are too oily in comparison to what I’m used to. Prices are a little on the high side for the portion size. However, they do give free rice refills, so perhaps that’s value for money for some.

Restoran Taiping Lang 太平人之美飨 (www)
No.19-01, Jalan Kenari 18B,
Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47100 Puchong,
Selangor.
Tel: 8076 2686

Opening Hours : 11.30am – 3pm, 6pm -10pm
Closed on Mondays.

other reviews;
- Life of the Food Lovers
- ahmok
- simple life

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Weekend Barbecue

September 9, 2008 at 12:03 pm · Filed under Cooking, Food

Over the weekend our company decided to throw a bash for some of our associates at my boss’s weekend house. We girls were involved in most of the food preparations. Only had to marinate the meat with a mixture of lemongrass & ginger infused sauces and cut some fresh vegetables before skewering everything into shish kebabs. Hehe.

On the day itself, apart from the usual chicken wings, corn on the cobs, shish kebabs, we also rolled pineapple cubes in streaky bacon and bbq-ed them. Sliced the leftover brinjals and Eryngii mushrooms and threw them on the hot plate too.

Being Sarawakians, Boss & I agreed to make Sarawak Laksa for our guests (who have long asked for it). I was more of a sous-chef for the stock, while my Boss did the final tasting etc. The secret in a yummy bowl of Sarawak Laksa lies in the soup and we have long been loyal customers of the “Swallow” brand of Laksa paste (which can be obtained at this stall *hint hint ). All the preparatory work for the ingredients (i.e. cooking & slicing the prawns, shredding the chicken, omelette strips) were done by Boss’s domestic helper and I.

The only thing that I actually made was the accompanying sambal. Just blended all the ingredients for a fiery, slow burning accompanying chilli paste. Used in abundance was garlic, shallots and chilli. Added some pan-fried belacan and some whole lime and voila. The sambal and squeeze of lime is the much needed “kick” for the dish, so it’s a customary accompaniment.

Most guests brought boxes of mooncake, but some brought other desserts like jelly etc so needless to say, we were all stuffed. But the best bit of the evening was this last minute riverboat cruise down Sungai Langat to catch the sunset.

Ah, good times indeed. :D

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Imitation, the best form of flattery?

September 8, 2008 at 5:17 pm · Filed under Others

Edited 100908: Brian Tan Sze Haw has deleted all plagiarised posts as of 10th September 2008 but has not acknowledged nor apologised for the incident. To all, please credit images back to their owners whenever you can. Infringement of copyright matters should not be taken lightly.

Just a quick browse through my stats and guess what I saw? This boy (tzehaw.blogspot.com) blatantly copying my posts and using it as his own! And watermarking MY photos as his own!!! True, he’s only 13 and doesn’t know better but claiming other people’s work as his own? Plagiarism is also a form of theft!

Tried reporting to Blogger about this content abuse but it seems that all they can do is suggest that I file a DMCA complaint with them. So at the moment, all I can do is leave a message at his chatbox and comments to get him to remove it. Will you guys also leave him a message too? If we don’t curb this now, maybe more of us floggers will face the same problem.

Or can anyone else can suggest a better way of handling this?

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