Nyonya Restaurant is one of the oldest Nyonya restaurant in the Klang Valley and since 1974, they have continually maintained the standard that has shown through their regular customer base that keeps returning for more.

This is the Udang Fried Assam Koh. Unfortunately, my allergies hindered me from trying what looked to be a delicious dish. Under the crisp fried outer skin of the prawns looked to be the sumptuous white meat of the prawns.

The Kangkong Belacan was also quite tasty. Fresh ingredients are the key to a delicious dish!

The Curry Kapitan is an adaptation of Indian chicken curry with a Nyonya twist. During the times of the straits settlement, Kapitan was a name given to appointed Chinese Chiefs, and with that, this dish would be fit for a general.

The Honey Softshell Crab was delightful with the lightly drizzled sauce over the top and soft but crisp batter. Some of the pieces were however more batter than crab, but still an enjoyable dish.

For desserts, we tried the Cendol and Bubur Cha Cha. I found the shaved ice in the cendol dessert to be too coarse, but it is always nice to finish off the meal with something sweet.

Nyonya Restaurant

52 Jalan SS2/24

SEA Park

47300 Petaling Jaya

Tel: +60 3 78759709

Halal

Opening Hours: Monday – Friday      1130am – 3pm, 6pm – 930pm

Saturday & Sunday 1130am – 3pm, 530pm – 10pm

Last week we had a post on Chynna, this week we have one on Toh Yuen. In the Hilton Petaling Jaya, Toh Yuen has a nice setting and a warm ambiance that makes a gathering of friends and family cosy and lively at the same time.

Decorated in preparation for Chinese New Year, lanterns were hanging across the ceiling with metres of bright red cloth decorating the main areas of the restaurant. Toh Yuen caters both for small and large groups.

Well, I shall not disappoint and continue on with more Yee Sang! Typically celebrated on the 7th day of Chinese New Year, this dish has fast become commercialised and sold even before the start of Chinese New Year (can’t say that I disagree with that approach, more Yee Sang!!).

Another dish we had that night was the Venison with Black Pepper Sauce. The venision was as tender as you can get it. The thin slices of the venison goes well with a big spoonful of rice.

The steamed pomfret was slightly overcooked and was evident with the texture of the meat.

The deep fried Thai-style chicken was average. The generous portions of chicken were battered and deep fried and covered with a sweet chilli sauce that seemed to overwhelm the dish. This was then garnished with thin cuts of mango to add to the visual appeal of the dish.

The Pei Pa Tofu dish was something interesting. It had a light texture that was complimented by a thick sauce underneath a bed of broccoli.

Toh Yuen

1st Floor West Wing

Hilton Petaling Jaya

2 Jalan Barat

46200 Petaling Jaya

Tel: +60 3 7955 9122 ext. 4073

Halal

I have always passed by this gallery and cafe on a daily basis on the way to work. Finally, we managed to find the time to give it a try. They serve a variety of food which include Chinese, Indian, Malay and even Italian.

Rumah Ku Gallery and Cafe

Rumah Ku Gallery and Cafe has a very homely feel to it with the wooden furniture, marble top tables and decor. From the outlook of this establishment, you may mistake it for a house on the side of  a very busy road. The bungalow is quite noticeable with bright orange walls so it would be hard to miss if you are driving down Jalan Universiti.

(more…)

At the suggestion of one of our friends, Kwong, Steve and I paid Unique Seafood in Section 13 a visit for a small dinner. Including Kwong’s friend, Wayne, there were just the 4 of us.

For those who don’t know, Unique Seafood is actually under the same ownership of the people who own Pantai Seafood, in Kampung Kayu Ara. They have a few other brances as well.

The difference is that this one caters to the slightly more expensive crowd, with Japanese clients favouring the place.

I let Kwong do all the ordering, as he’s been to the restaurant more often than I had, all I asked was for my Sey Teem Tai Wong (yeah I know, my spelling sucks.) and the rest I left it up to him.

First up was a sashimi/ hot broth fish dish. I say both sashimi and hot broth because they serve you the fish raw and you get to choose whether to eat it sashimi style, dipped in soy sauce, or to cook it and drink it in a herbal soup broth.

When I say raw, I mean RAW. Kwong said that they serve it right after taking it out of the tank and sometimes you can see the gills still twitching. Well for us, some of the fins were twitching. It was interesting for me since I hadn’t been served fish like this before.

Steve opted out of eating it raw after seeing it twitch so he cooked it in the broth. I on the other hand, had to try it sashimi style. The verdict? Not as soft and tender as salmon, butter fish or tuna, a little bit chewy in fact.

I then tried flash cooking the meat in the broth and eating it with the soup. The soup was really light and tasty, with just a hint of the herbs they had put in it. With the semi cooked fish being soft and flaky, it went really well in the soup.

After you’re done eating the ready sliced fish slices, they take the remainder of the fish and cut it up for you to cook in the broth. This makes the soup tastier and allows you to eat the remainder of the meat off the bone.

The second dish was ginger and spring onion fried la-la (clams). As I prefer my flavours stronger, like kum-heong style, or fried with chillies, I didn’t particularly enjoy this dish. But for those who like a lighter taste, they may have liked it more.

I’ll say it again, Sey Teem Tai Wong. My vegetable dish came and tasted pretty similar to those made in other restaurants, although it could have done with some petai and four angled beans instead of lady’s fingers.

Our second last dish, Kum-Heong style fried meat crab came. I love crab and the crab here was definately fresh. The Kum-Heong sauce didn’t go into the meat as much as I thought it would, but that could have been because the crabs Kwong chose were quite large and meaty.

Our final dish was a noodle dish, which Kwong said his grandmother loves to order, but admittedly I can’t remember what it was called. It’s either the ‘Tai Lok Meen’ or long life noodles that you usually order on your birthday.

Quite tasty but I usually order Tung Fun when I go to sea food restaurants… probably cause of the stronger flavours again.

Total cost RM280 for 4 of us. The food was nice, but a little expensive, a nice place to bring clients, family and friends for special occasions etc. It’s clean, large and bright so you do pay a bit extra for the ambience.

Unique Seafood

Lot 9B-3, Jalan Kemajuan,

Section 13,

46200 Petaling Jaya

Cuisine: Chinese, Seafood

Halal

Tel: 03 – 7960 2088

The Feedmelah.com team were recently invited to our very first food tasting by Maria’s restaurant, in Damansara Perdana. Having never been to any official food tasting before, we were not sure what to expect and what to do (I even asked Amy, one of the owners, if we had to pay for the food).

We’d actually been told about this place by a fellow blogger, Ken, of Foodpoi.com in a comment he left in a previous post. He told us to head to Maria’s to eat their steak but until I got to Damansara Perdana  I had forgotten he had said that.

Maria’s was first established 9 years ago in Greentown Business Centre, Ipoh, by Maria Tan and her late husband Phillip Tan. It became a huge draw for patrons who love Maria’s steaks and signature cakes.

Both shared a passion for good food to eat, and to cook. At a time when Ipoh had little to shout of in terms of fine western restaurants, Maria and Phillip would scour the world in their travels to discover delightful kitchen secrets.

They opened up their Damansara Perdana branch about 2 years ago, which they styled with a country style influence, giving it that slightly ‘homey’ look and feel.

The branch manager, Mary Ann, one of the daughters of the owners, welcomed us when we got to the restaurant and immediately started laying out what she had planned for us to eat. And she had planned ALOT of food. Good thing I can eat alot and so can Steve…

Starters

Caesar's Salad

First up, something light and easy, a simple Caesar’s salad (RM12). Shaved bits of Parmesan, bacon bits (beef), walnuts and croutons with a light dressing.

Pumpkin Soup

Ox Tail Soup

Next up came two thick hearty soup dishes, the pumpkin soup and oxtail soup (RM18) respectively. The pumpkin soup (RM7.50) was freshly made, thick and creamy, which I particularly liked because alot of places I’ve been to serve canned soups and this one was definately freshly made.

Steve and Sue Ann particularly liked the Ox tail soup, asking for them to leave it on the table so that they could munch on the excess meat.

By this point the rich soups were already begining to fill us up but the main meals were yet to come. Mary Ann had chosen 4 main dishes for us to try.

There were only 3 of us eating.

Main Meals

Grilled Salmon Fillet

The first main meal to come was the Grilled Salmon Fillet (RM35)  in a tangerine sauce.

Mary Ann was telling us that instead of regular salmon meat, they used sashimi grade salmon (chilled, not frozen) which they cooked medium rare, with the inside of the salmon still very pink. The result was a very soft and almost buttery texture, which blended great with the tangerine sauce.

Black Angus Steak

Wagyu Steak

In quick sucession came both the steak dishes they had made for us, a slab of Black Angus (top) and Wagyu (bottom) steaks respectively. Both steaks look almost identical but they had extremely different tastes.

The Black Angus (RM40/100g) has a more smokey flavour and firmer texture than that of the Wagyu, with the outer sides of the meat tasting a bit more charbroiled.

The Wagyu has a more buttery flavour (due to the marbling of the fat in the meat) and a much softer texture on the inside, almost melting in your mouth.

The cut of Wagyu we had was a grade 5 (grade 9 being the most expensive and the most fat content) which cost RM60/100gm. Mary Ann was telling us that they would have grade 7 Wagyu steaks for their customers soon, which would have been even softer than the one that we ate.

NZ Baby Cutlets

The final dish was NZ Baby Cutlets (RM48), with exactly one piece each for us to pick up by the bone and munch on the soft succulent lamb meat. Nicely seasoned with the same charbroiled taste as the steaks before.

After 3 starters and 4 main meals, we were truely full by now. But there’s always space for dessert right?

Dessert

Blueberry Cheesecake

A slice of Blueberry cheescake (RM7)…

Tiramisu

…and a serving of Tiramisu (RM12).

Both desserts were made by the chef (Mary Ann’s uncle – it’s a family business after all), but be warned, the Tiramisu has quite a ‘kick’ in it due to the alcohol.

All in all, a nice way to finish the meal.

Eating at Maria’s was a treat, especially the steaks, as I had never eaten Black Angus (which tasted great with the seasoning and charbroiled flavor), before with the Wagyu and Salmon dishes having a great melt in your mouth texture. We’d definately go back again.

Maria’s Restaurant and Cafe
C313A, Center Wing, Metropolitan Square,

No 2, Jln PJU 8/1, Bandar Damansara Perdana,

47820 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Cuisine: Western (Steaks)

Pork Free

Telephone Numbers
Outlet: 03 – 7725 2313
Mary Ann (Manager): 012-5200772
Jane Low (Manager): 012-2977996

Map:

Click to enlarge

* Prices are subject to change, please contact the restaurant for the most current prices.

Mama Mia? First thing that comes to mind (besides the musical) is Western or Italian cuisine. This is nothing of that sort though. Here at their restaurant, they serve Chinese cuisine which does not include pork on the menu. So for those who are looking for Chinese food without pork, you should give this place a try. It is located along the same row as Poh Kong.

Mama Mia

The interior is well-decorated with a modern touch, and is a comfortable setting to bring friends along.

Cosy (especially the comfortable chairs)

Their roasted chicken cooked through without much redness and even so, the meat was still quite tender. The best part that I enjoyed was the crispy skin, which, when dipped with sauce, was delightful. We ordered a half chicken which costed RM18.

Roasted Chicken

Here, you get a choice of sweet sauce or salt to dip the chicken in.

Dipping Sauce

The garoupa came with fresh broccoli and was topped off with some small fried (ikan bilis) anchovies.

Fish garnished with broccoli

The tofu dish was done quite well with the thick sauce that goes well with a bowl of steamed rice.

Tofu

The stir-fried beef with ginger could have done with more sauce. It consists of tender strips of beef, spring onions as well as other greens, costing us RM22.

Stir-fried Beef

Mama Mia Restaurant & Bistro

No. 8-10 Jalan 52/4

Petaling Jaya

Tel: +603 79603985

Fax: +603 79603984

Halal

A whlie back, me and Sue Ann went to Strawberry fields in new town to meet up with our friend Woo Teck for ‘food photography 101′ and ask for some tips on how to get good food shots with my Nikon D80. It’s been quite a while back since we actually went to this place, but better late than never to tell you all about it right?

Strawberry fields is a small cafe in PJ New Town, near the area with all the banks. It serves western and local food and is a good hangout place for students who are studying in and around that area.

Woo Teck kindly brought along a friend’s 50mm AF1.8D prime lens for me to try with my Nikon and here’s the frist shot I took:

It looks like the juice is glowing

Woo Teck explained to us that the key is to angle your shots and make sure that what you want people to concentrate on in your shot is in focus and that everything else in the background is completely out of focus or only slightly in focus. Having enough light is important as well, because you don’t want to take photos of food with a flash, as it distorts the colour of the food.

Deep fried calamari rings

As a dish to share, we ordered some deep fried calamari rings, which tasted pretty good, although probably really unhealthy. Notice the ‘out of focus background’ look I tried to achieve with the lens that Woo Teck had lent me. If I remember correctly, the setting for the aperture was F1.8 (i.e. the lowest setting = the most blurry background) and I was focusing on the calamari which is slightly right of center of the plate.

Sang Har Mee

I ordered Sang Har Mee for myself and although I liked the flavour of the egg sauce as well as everything else about it, there was just not enough meat in the dish. I’m quite a meat eater and 2 or 3 prawns weren’t enough. Woo Teck’s tip for this photo was to add some utensils to the plate so that people know that it’s food. Although a plate of food should, by common sense look like a plate of food, adding the utensils makes it look ‘natural’ – something is missing without utensils right?

Cantonese Fried Mee

The Cantonese Fried Mee that Woo Teck ordered had the same egg base as my Sang Har Mee but it had chicken and prawns instead of my fresh water prawns. In hindsight, being such a meat eater, I should have ordered this instead. Notice how this shot has no utensils in it? Doesn’t look quite the same right? But I must admit that alot of the photos I take usually have no utensils in the shot, as we’re in such a hurry to eat the food…

Another tip Woo Teck gave was to tilt the camera a bit so there’s more angle to the shot. You could also consider following the ‘rule of thirds‘ where your area of focus is usally off to one of the corners. But you can read more about it if you follow the link.

Steak with mushroom sauce

Sue Ann ordered the steak with mushroom sauce and she said it was a little tough. I find that steak made in small cafes usually isn’t that great. I think it has something to do with the avaialbility of good quality beef. Malaysian beef pales in comparison to beef from America or Australia but beef from these countries is really expensive as it’s imported.

All in all I enjoyed Strawberry Fields as it’s affordable and most of the dishes are quite good, most of all, the restaurant has a very ‘cheerful’ feel to it. Go pay it a visit and you’ll know what I mean.

Strawberry Fields

Lot 14 Jalan Tengah PJ New Town (PJ State), Petaling Jaya
46200 Selangor,

Cuisine: Western + Chinese

Halal

Tel: 03-7960 1268

Sri Nyonya Restaurant has served delicious Penang Nyonya cuisine since 1986. Tucked away in a quiet part of Section 22 in Petaling Jaya, Sri Nyonya uses traditional family recipes which have been handed down over several generations.

Sri Nyonya

Nasi Ulam is a signature dish of the Peranankans as well as the Malays. The rice is accompanied with a mix of vegetables and sambal. Each serve is approximately RM7.50.

Nasi Ulam

The Beef Rendang here is pretty good, and even though it is shown topped off with chillis , it is not as spicy as depicted. So, for those that cannot stomach a very spicy meal, you should definitely give this a try. The rendang is abit pricey though and goes for RM18.

Beef Rendang

This is the Kacang Botor Sambal (also known as winged bean or Goa bean).

Kacang Botor Sambal

Their Sri Nyonya Acar (a type of salad which is made of different vegetables such as beans carrots and cabbage which are pickled in vinegar, later tossed with grounded peanuts) was rather simple, though I have tried better ones elsewhere.

Sri Nyonya Acar

The Chicken Curry Kapitan (RM18) was quite a tasty dish and a recommendation to try when you are there.

Chicken Curry Kapitan

This is the Sri Nyonya Fish Curry.

Sri Nyonya Fish Curry

I thought that the Fried Assam Prawns were rather pricey at RM26, though it did look rather tasty.

Fried Assam Prawns

To finish off the night, you can try a variety of traditional desserts.

Cendol

Pulut Hitam

Sri Nyonya Restaurant

14 Jalan 22/49

46300 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Halal

Tel: +60 3 7875 1031

Fax: +60 3 7873 7702

It's close and convenient for those living in the Damansara area.

The other day I went with Sue Ann and our families to Pantai Seafood in Kampung Kayu Ara for a nice seafood dinner.

If you’ve ever been to this place you kind of wonder how the owner ever decided to put his/her restaurant there in the first place. It’s located in the middle of a kampung area and surrounded by those car chop shops (where you see alot of halved cars stacked up on shelves).

I guess rent was cheap.

Look what I found in the large tanks of seafood

My dad, after just getting back from Dubai where he works was in need of some good Chinese food and as usual when he just gets back, he ordered alot of food.

Tung Fun

First up was some tung fun (if that’s how you spell it) or glass noodles, a favourite of my family. It’s just so light to eat and all the sauces seem to stick really well to the noddles. It must be the starch content I guess.

Talapia fish

Although I say ‘next up’ was the fish dish, in reality all the dishes arrived at the same time so that you can enjoy your whole meal at once. The man who took our order specifically asked us if we wanted all our food out at the same time but we told him to bring the tun fun out first.

The fish was cooked with just soy sauce, garlic and some spring onions and was really fresh.

Potato leaf vegetables

Nestum deep fried squid

The potato leaf vegetables are a favourite of Sue Ann and her family. The Nestum deep fried squid is basically squid fried in the usual batter but with Nestum flakes in it. This gives the dish a savoury-sweet flavour which works really well.

Deep fried pork 'hand'

I always thought it was pork foot or knuckle when you order it, but the guy said it was pork ‘hand’ which was a bit strange to me. But other than that, this is the house specialty, deep fried to a golden brown, cut up and served with a pepper based dipping sauce.

The meat is tender and soft while the outer skin is crunchy with a slight salty taste which goes well together.

Tiger Prawns

Salted egg crab

Kam Heong crab

As for the seafood, my dad ordered prawns, 1kg of salted egg crab and 1kg of Kam Heong crab. All the dishes above were eaten by 8 people. Almost 1 dish each. haha.

The prawns tasted like most other prawns I’ve had before, fried in some type of black sauce, but they did taste fresh.

The salted egg crab was really nice, the salted egg giving the meat a very nice savoury taste but also making it taste almost ‘creamy’.

The Kam Heong crab tasted almost like black pepper crab but with a hint of the Kam Heong flavour, similar to the taste you would get from curry leaves.

All in all the bill came to just above RM250 but our fish was free, because we had been to Pantai Seafood a few weeks before and when you spend above RM200+ you get a voucher for one free fish (talapia) with any new purchase of RM100 and above.

So we got another voucher since we spent more than RM200 again. All in all, a very nice meal at an affordable price (for that much seafood) and located within 10 minutes from my house.

Pantai Seafood Village

Lot 13575, Jalan Cempaka

PJU 6A, Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara

47400, PJ

Cuisine: Chinese

Non Halal

Telephone: 03- 77255099/77251099

As the name depicts, Simply Fusion caters to a wide variety of taste buds, serving up all-time favourites like fish-n-chips to out of the ordinary dishes that stir your curiosity to try something new such as root beer spaghetti. Located in the recent development, Jaya One, Simply Fusion has friendly staff and a relaxing atmosphere. Besides this outlet, they can also be found in Rawang and Kepong.

The chicken chop was done well and with a fresh bed of salad and buttered rice, there was nothing to complain about here. You can choose from a variety of sauces such as mushroom and black pepper.

Another favourite is their Fish-n-Chips. The thinly battered fish is accompanied with lemon, mayonnaise, potato chips and the same salad as the chicken chop.

The chicken chop was RM11.80 and the Fish-n-Chips was RM13.80. I also had a try of the Blueberry Bubble Tea, but was not too impressed as the pearls were not cooked through and quite hard at the centre. Other than that, Simply Fusion served well presented with fresh ingredients that made the dish more appetizing.

Simply Fusion

13-G, Block D, Jaya One,

No 72.A Jalan Universiti,

Petaling Jaya

Tel: +60-3 7958 2291