Weekend Brunch @ The Bee, Jaya One

I've yet to blog about what has been going on lately, which I will work on next...

I had missed this year's Putrajaya Balloon Festival due to an upset stomach. So, after a few hours of sleep, I got up feeling pretty hungry.

EV suggested that we have brunch at this place she read about...

Cheap Eats @ Whampoa Drive

On my final day in Lion City, we both finally were able to find the hawker centre near our hotel.

Somehow, we both regretted not having gone to the place earlier...

EV's sister recommended Whampoa Drive's hawker centre to us for its famous rojak. We never got to try it as it opened at night. We both decided to pay a visit for brunch on our last day.

This was the first thing I spotted...

Universal Fun @ Lion City - Day 2

After a restless night, we had a relaxing late morning breakfast at the nearby Tuck Shoppe, which is just down the road from our hotel.

The cafe had the usual food - toast, soft-boiled eggs, curry/chicken rice and even wantan mee.

Light Dinner @ Italiannies, Empire Subang

It's funny but true, you CAN have light dinners at Italiannies.

It was just one of those days... hot and sticky - making our appetites quite light. All I wanted to do was just to take ice cold drinks.

As for food - we went for the set which offered 1 appetizer and 1 main.

Bitter Gourd Speciality @ Restoran Fu Kua, Taman Megah

If you're mad about bitter gourd, this is a good restaurant to go to. EV recommended this restaurant as she had gone to it with her parents previously when they visited from Kuching.

We ordered four dishes for the three of us.

I couldn't remember if it was the Marmite Pork Ribs or the Sweet & Sour Pork Chop was good. So, we ordered the Sweet & Sour Pork Chops ("Pai Kuat Wong"). It was served differently as the pork chop was cut into small pieces. The pieces of pork was soft and easy to chew - good for older folks.

My parents love bitter gourd. I, on the other hand, could never tolerate it being cooked as the bitterness just seeped into everything that it is cooked with. So, they had to order a separate vegetable dish - stir fried kai lan.

Anyway, I felt a bit adventurous and tried the rest of the dishes my parents ordered.

The stir fried bitter gourd with salted egg tasted good but according to my mom, it was not as good as the one cooked at this other restaurant in Subang Jaya (which is no longer open).

The bitter gourd soup is highly recommended and seems to be the "specialty" dish of the restaurant. The soup was absolutely bitter but funnily though, the bitter gourd pieces did not have any bitterness at all. I wondered if my tongue had lost all its ability to taste other flavours. LOL!!

The soup is a boiled soup with minced pork, pork stomach and pigs blood pieces. Sounds disgusting but the soup tastes great!

The entire meal was around RM53 which included drinks and rice. Can be slightly expensive but if you're crazy about bitter gourd, this is the place to go!

Belated B'day Celebrations @ My Elephant, Section 17

Happy 20-10-2010!!!!

This post is late by 2 months... My friends and I had a belated birthday celebration for some of us who had our b'days in June and July.

A friend recommended a Thai restaurant, "My Elephant" which is situated in Section 17, PJ for lunch. She is pretty much a regular there and so, was able to navigate us around the menu of yummy Thai food.

We decided to order a number of signature dishes such as a Thai Papaya Salad, TomYam and Red Curry.

The papaya salad was spicy, sour and salty at the same time. The saltiness comes from the fish sauce which complemented the raw papaya slices in the salad.

We definitely enjoyed the mixed platter which is one of the popular appetizers served at the restaurant. Crunchy and not oily at all!

We ordered two types of Tom Yam - one spicy and non-spicy. The prawns were scrumptious and soup was tasty.

The Thai Roast Duck Red Curry was fantastic! The dish had a good balance between the "lemak" (coming from the coconut milk) and spicy chilli. The pineapples were sweet and was not acidic after it was cooked.

The restaurant served a unique type of rice, i.e. "red" rice which is less starchy. It went very well with the dishes served.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in this little gem in PJ. I would certainly go back again for my Thai food fix...

Peanuts

Something playful today...

If someone were to say to you "Peanuts-la".. Is this what you think of?

LOL!! Hope that you will have a great week ahead where your tasks are like "Peanuts". ^.^

Indian Rojak @ Section 17, Petaling Jaya

It was a pretty hot afternoon yesterday.

So, I was in the mood for some Indian rojak & so, took a drive down to Section 17, PJ to "tapao" some.

It is absolutely delicious! The portion is huge with lots of unhealthy fried bits with shavings of cool cucumber , turnip and bean sprouts.

The peanut sauce is slightly spicy and tops off this local "salad".

All this for RM4.

The rojak stall is located along the main road of Section 17, very close to the medan selera near the flats. I highly recommend this stall...

Comfort Food @ Oriental Cravings, 1Utama

There are some days when you just crave for some comfort food...

I've been to Oriental Cravings a few times but did not quite have the time to photograph the food or decor there.

So, one particularly cold day in July, I went to have some comfort food...

Pastry Indulgence @ The Bread Shop, Bukit Damansara

Happy Malaysia Day!! Hope that everyone is enjoying their day off.

I believe that spending a great lunch at a cafe is a great way to enjoy the day...

Hot beverage to start off the day... I thoroughly enjoyed the hot beverage at The Bread Shop...

Fusion Japanese & Italian @ Pasta Zanmai, Empire Subang

It's ashamed that Japan never met Italy in the World Cup this year. However, you can always try a mesh of these two countries at Pasta Zanmai.

Empire Subang is fast becoming a very popular spot for us locals around Subang Jaya, Sunway & USJ. The lower ground floor is dedicated to food and it is home to a couple of big restaurant franchises - Chilli's, Italiannies and Rakuzen.

Bak Chang.... Yum!!

Happy Bak Chang festival!

Kekekeke... Actually, it's the Dragon Boat festival but most of us remember only the yummy rice dumplings during this time of year.

Esquire Goodness...

Esquire Kitchen is pretty much an institution in KL. One of my earliest memories of it was having dinner with my family when I was three or four years old at the one of the oldest restaurants situated in Sungai Wang.

Over the past 30-odd years of my life, the food has remained pretty much the same, except for a few new additions. The decor has changed slightly but the main theme of the restaurant still remained the same.

Japanese Food Fired Up @ Sushi Zen, Gardens MidValley

Another post on food... Haha!

Actually, I wanted to post up this picture I took while having lunch at Sushi Zen, Gardens Midvalley.

We happened to sit at the counter for lunch and had a good view of the kitchen. So, we could watch all the food that were prepared for all the customers.

It's not everyday that you get to see a blowtorch in action. The dish prepared was probably grilled salmon tataki or grilled cod roe on salmon sushi which is delicious.

Anyway, we ordered some boring stuff...

Yasai tempura....

Unagi don...

Both were absolutely delicious. Anyway, Sushi Zen is just another name for the Sushi Zanmai franchise and so, the food was expected to be of good quality at a reasonable price.

Yum... It certainly prepared me for the "Mad Hatter's Tea" later that day. :-)

Craving for Bi Bim Bap

I've been pretty much silent lately in my blog as I've been preoccupied with other stuff.

Lately, I've been hitting the gym at least 4 times a week and ever since I've caught up with my old personal trainer, I've been working out even harder during my sessions.

So, between exercising, coming home to have a quick bite, playing with my nieces & dogs while catching up with my TV shows, I barely have enough time to blog. :-(

Anyway, I'll have to readjust my schedule a bit as I'll find some time to write.

This post is a little outdated as I've been meaning to blog about some of my favourite Korean dishes. One of it is the famous Bi Bim Bap.

At first I was turned off by the dish because the sauce was red which looked like kim chi but it turns out to be hot bean paste which doesn't have the sour taste of kim chi. However, once I had a taste of it, I can't seem to get enough of it!

The last Bi Bim Bap I tried was at Ko Hyang Korean Country Delights at Mid Valley Gardens. I've blogged about this little cafe before where I've tried their Bulbogi Beef. It turns out that they make a pretty good Bi Bim Bap too.

Bi Bim Bap is a pretty well-balanced dish with a lot of vegetables accompanying the rice. It is usually topped off with an egg which is cooked sunny-side up.

To eat it, you just stir everything in the bowl together. In some variations, the bowl is a hot stone which heats the rice and the ingredients through.

This version is done in the stainless steel bowl and the dish is like a cross between mixed rice with a slightly cold salad.

Personally, I prefer the hot stone bowl version as it just heats up the hot bean paste and rice making it feel like a claypot rice dish.

As usual, there were some side dishes which came long with the main dish. I didn't quite like the fried anchovies as it was a bit too salty for me. However, I do like a bit of kim chi even though it tends to be too sour for my taste.

Do give it a try, you might just love it... ;-)

Drowning in Affogato @ Haagen-Daz

If you enjoy coffee and ice-cream, you may want to try an affogato, which means "drowned" in Italian.

I tried a version of affogato during my student days back in Melbourne, where there was a cafe in David Jones which had a wonderful version of 2 full scoops of vanilla ice-cream accompanied with a small cup of espresso, chocolate or mocha.

To drink the affogato, you just simply pour your espresso into the cup filled with vanilla ice-cream and sip your coffee. You don't add any sugar, milk or cream as the ice-cream has all the sugar and cream.

Unfortunately, I can't take coffee as the caffeine gives me some problems and so, I didn't get to taste this yummy treat from Haagen Daz.

However, it is such a pretty thing to photograph... :-)

New York, New York Deli @ IUtama, PJ

Time to post something a little more light-hearted...

Lately I've been posting a lot of pictures on food. LOL!! Well, it was the Christmas season and so, being out and about, one cannot get away from eating out, right? :P

I've been to New York, New York Deli before for a quick bite but I didn't quite indulge in anything sinful unlike what I'm about to share with you folks...

New York, New York is a cafe which provides a slice of "Americana" cuisine, i.e. popular food from the US. Well, the menu serves up a lot of American classics like burgers and hotdogs but also some other American favourites like chilli con carne, fried chicken and ribs.

The cafe is a lot different from Chilli's or TGIF where the selection of items does not have a lot of Texan or Mexican items. In a sense, New York, New York offers a different slice of American Western cuisine.

This is a "disgusting" looking drink but in fact is quite yummy... Well, the "fake" blood definitely suits EV who, being an emotion vampire would find this drink absolutely nourishing...

The name of this drink - Bloody Eyeballs. Yes, EV dug up those eyeballs for me to see. Quite scary to sip a drink where you have 2 eyeballs starring back at you. But for EV, this is a relaxing drink. LOL!!!

Ok... Sinful food here. Prawn fritters. Need I say more? :P

I can't recall if it came with some sauce but the prawns were fresh and sweet. The batter was brilliant too. I only had a few pieces. This was after all, EV's snack before she had her main course (which I forgot to take photos of)

Since my diet was blown to hell... I just ordered the Teriyaki Beef burger. Absolutely delicious with the lettuce and tomato. What was lacking was a pickle and some onions. The portion of fries accompanying the burger was just right. There is only so much carbo we can absorb at one seating!

I cannot recall the price range but it is somewhat between the RM12 - 50, where RM50 gets you a large main meal of steak or ribs. My burger costs just below RM20 which is reasonable as the burger patty was made with real meat and not the generic burger meat you get elsewhere.

Will I go back there again? Definitely YES but will go for some healthier options. ;-)

BTW, the above shots were taken with my 50mm lens... Just love the bokeh...