A good Welcome and how-do-you-do to our new visitors (or maybe you’re existing visitors?) who saw our article in the Malay Mail this afternoon.

You can see the whole article here: http://www.mmail.com.my/content/8456-food-review-fresh-treats-farm

If you’re wondering, the full articles of those 3 restaurants can be found below:

1. Thai Food, Fish/ Vegetable Farm, Cheras
2. Mix Cafe, Phileo Damansara I, Petaling Jaya
3. New Paris, SS2, Not France.

Thanks and enjoy!

Uncle Soon Guan (SG) became a Chartered Accountant to avoid inheriting his father’s business as a noodle vendor which gives only a tough life.

He grew up with operators of all kind of street food (his father’s friends), which has given him an extensive knowledge and love for the subject.

During Chinese New Year 2009 we spent a few days at Hyatt Kuantan and ate Malay food as Chinese food places were closed. Using The Star Food guide we went to Restoran R&R at 54 Jalan Besar and Satay Zul at the Jalan Teluk Sisek and Jalan Alor Akar intersection.

Jalan Sisek starts from Hyatt Kuantan at Teluk Chempadak, the most popular beach in Pahang. It meets with Jalan Besar in town. Shophouses along Jalan Besar are pre-war two storey shophouses of more than 80 years old, all of which still have thriving businesses.

This Malay restoran is more than 11 years old. It was opened by a couple who previously worked in Kuala Lumpur in totally unrelated trades. Rahman was in hospitality whilst Rabina, in language. The restaurant’s name takes after their names. Voted as the only Malay eatery in Kuantan with the highest 3 star by The Star Food Guide they must have employed the best Malay tukang masak ( cook in Bahasa Malay ) in Pahang.

On our first day we lunched on Malay authentic food and their daily spread features more than 30 dishes. We tried curry tenggiri, cow tripe with bamboo shoots in curry, beef liver, daun manis ( used in pan mee ), curried eggs and ox bony meat in clear soup. The soup was hot and the longer it stewed it tasted better. The eggs were not hard boiled but were cracked into the boiling curry to cook. That way it absorbed more of the curry flavor.

As it was the breakfast that we wanted to target, we return the next morning but not early enough at 8.30 am. They open at 7.45 pm but because of the locals’ preferred takeaways, one of their specialty Laksa Pahang was sold out. We tried Lemping Nyiur, Nasi Kerabu and Pulut Uban.

Lemping Nyiur

This is a fluffy savory coconut pancake shaped like roti canai and pan fried in the same manner. It cost a RM1 apiece. Other ingredients are egg and flour. A traditional breakfast fare in the East Coast kampong, it is eaten with sardine sambal like many other dishes due to the abundance of fresh fish from the sea.

Nasi Kerabu

In R&R Restoran, apart from the wok fried grated coconut, there is raw beansprouts garnished with chopped coriander which give the dish a crunchy texture and healthy freshness.

Pulut Uban

Another traditional breakfast fare available at Restoran R&R is Pulut Uban. It is steamed glutinous rice covered with grated coconut in a small pyramid shape, eaten with a few types of fried and salted fishes. This is another inexpensive savory breakfast item not found in Kuala Lumpur.

With another dish of beef rending which we saw hot in a wok, a piece of kueh and two coffee the total bill for a breakfast for two came to RM9 only. At the hotel the buffet breakfast would easily be ten times this amount. So, in such bad economy, do seek out good street food as not only are we contributing to our fellow Malaysians’ businesses, it ease pockets too

-SG

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

I think they sell ribs.

A small group of us went to this restaurant on New Year’s Eve 2008 for dinner. It will probably suprise you, but Ribs is located near the school opposite the One Utama driving range. Bet you didn’t know there was a row of shop lots there right?

Their speciality is ribs, just as their restaurant name would suggest and the shop is actually quite new, less than 1 year old. I first came to know about it through my cousin, as his friend owns and runs the restaurant with his wife.

Mushroom soup

Ham and Pea Soup

For starters, we ordered a cesar’s salad, a ham and pea soup and a mushroom soup. Both of the soups were nice and creamy, but needed just a bit more salt. They are both made fresh in the kitchen (no canned soup nonsense) so you can really taste the mushrooms and the ham, peas and potatos in both soups.

Cesar's salad with bacon bits and crutons

Unfortunately, the salad was not as good as I’ve had it before, with the crutons being a bit burnt when it was given to us. I told the owner and he apologised as it was new year’s eve and they had a recent reshuffling of kitchen staff, so some of them are getting used to their new jobs.

BBQ ribs

I had the BBQ ribs, which were served with roast potatoes and I quite liked the taste. The ribs at Ribs always come out very tender, with the meat falling off the bone and the flavor going quite deep into the meat. The BBQ ribs are their house speciality.

Italian style ribs

My friend Stan (from Bake With Stan fame), ordred the Italian style ribs, which I must admit I preffered over my BBQ ribs. The taste was more basic, with a more salt and pepper savoury taste to it, which I guess on the night I had more of a craving for. It reminded me of the ribs my friend’s mum (she’s argentinian) used to make for me and him when we were kids.

Lamb shank

Sue Ann ordered the lamb shank, which was served on garlic mash. Sue Ann said it had a slight gamey taste, which I must admit I couldn’t really taste over the flavour of the sauce.

Usually we’d order the apple crumble with Haagen Dazs ice cream (only RM9) which is probably the price of the scoop of ice cream itself. But that night we were really full. But the last time I had it it was great, I would recommend you trying it for yourself.

We later found out that they were throwing a NYE party on the roof of the establishment, hence the slightly rushed quality of the food. We went up to have a look and ended up watching the countdown fireworks from there as it was an ideal location to see them from both the Curve and 1 Utama at the same time.

I’d never seen fireworks so close at hand before. It was great.

Ribs

Lot 1-1, BU4, Oasis Complex

No 1, Jalan Changkat Bandar Utama

Cuisine: Western

Non Halal

Tel: 03 7729 8921

Guzzle Restaurant and Bar

On my birthday the other day, we went for a simple dinner at a restaurant Sue Ann’s friend had told her about. Guzzle restaurant and bar in Damansara Perdana is a small restaurant which serves mostly western food, accompanied with a variety of beers and wines.

The wine shelves

The interior of the place was decorated with wine bottles (empty bottles unfortunately) on shelves and only had around 10 – 15 tables inside the restaurant. Low lighting and simple furniture gave it quite a homey feel to the place.

I washed it all down with beer...

As we were pretty hungry by the time we got there, as usual is the case, we ordered more than we should have and ended the night more full than we should have been. The one gripe I had was that they only sold water in bottles, i.e. mineral water. I never understand why they do that in Malaysia – filter your tap water and serve it to me, I’ll still drink it, don’t try and charge me for ‘reverse osmosis’ water or anything similar.

The Godfather

Bacon and Egg Salad

For starters we ordered ‘The Godfather’ (pizza) and a bacon and egg salad. I especially liked the salad because it had a poached egg on top, although the egg was cold, which I think they did on purpose. The pizza has a nice garlic taste to the base and crust for those garlic lovers out there.

They also serve 'The Wimp' which is Hog's Breath without Jalapeno peppers

Sue Ann ordered the ‘Hog’s breath’ which is basically a beef burger with jalapenos to give it a nice kick and served with home made french fries. The french fries were similar to the ones you get from TGI Fridays, which was a nice change to ‘crinkle cut’.

I wonder if you can buy this at Ayamas?

I had the bangers and mash, which was 2 jumbo chicken sausages served with brown sauce on top of pumpkin and potato mash, also a nice change. The sausages were really huge but still tasty.

Was served super hot.

My mum ordered the beer battered fish and chips, which is exactly what it says. Fish dipped in a beer batter sauce and fried, served with the home made fries as well. The batter used on the fish gave it quite a nice taste, not so bland as usual fish and chips.

Lamb chop.

My youngest brother ordered lamb chop served with pumpkin and potato mash as well. I only had a small bite so I can’t really comment much on it.

All in all, quite a nice simple western dinner, with the bill coming up to RM137.85, which is pretty goof for a meal for 4 with starters. Worth a visit one day.

Guzzle

C111 Ground Floor (Near Citibank),

Metropolitan Square, Jalan PJU 8/1,

Damansara Perdana

Cuisine: Western

Tel: 03 – 77251459

We went to malacca/melaka (which way do you write it actually?) a few months ago on a mad eating spree, where we tried a small cafe on jonker street and chicken rice too.

The shop front.

Looking through my old photos, I realize that we ate alot more than that and one of the places I particularly enjoyed was Sun May Hion pork satay, on Jalan Kota Laksamana.

From in front of the shop you can see these two popular tourist attractions

Why build something so expensive and then move it?

It’s actually just off Jonker street and you can walk there in no time at all. But if you’re lazy like us, you’ll drive. From the row in front of the shops you can see the landmarks above. I don’t know why the ‘eye’ was moved to Malacca, as if there wasn’t better uses of our money in the first place…

The old uncle cooking up a fresh batch

The pork satay at this place is pretty famous in Melaka and is constantly being cooked right in front of the shop. The smells wafting on to the street drew me in like one of those UV lights attracts flies.

Satay and more satay...

After sitting down, a lady asked us what we wanted to drink and how much satay we wanted to start with. For 3 of us I think we started with maybe 20+ sticks of satay, some pork, some pork innards (yummmm) and I think there were a few sticks of chicken satay as well.

The sauce really added great flavour to the satay

The satay was served with the pre-requisite ketupat, onions, cucumber and of course the satay sauce. The satay sauce here was slightly different than normal as it had chunks of pineapple inside which gave it a nice salty, nutty, sweet flavour.

For me, you HAVE to eat your satay with a bit of ketupat, onion and cucumber on the stick before dipping it into the satay sauce before having a bite. The combination of textures, colours and flavours was great and is what I feel makes asian food so diverse and just down right tasty.

Satay anybody?

While you eat, the satay is constantly topped up on your plate in front of you. Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you pay for everything that’s put on the plate, just what you eat, they count by stick (RM0.60/stick). I think it’s really smart to do it this way as you always eat more when the food is right under your nose. Haha.

We probably ate close to 50 sticks for 3 of us. Maybe more…

Sun May Hiong Pork Satay

Jalan Kota Laksamana

Off Jonker Street

Melaka/Malacca

Cuisine: Satay (Is this malay/indian/chinese?)

Non 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

Does he mean he varies his pasta alot? Who knows.

Located in a quiet corner of the row of shoplots that surround Atria shopping centre lies an unknown Western food restaurant called Vary Pasta (no, it’s not a spelling mistake) and it claims to have the cheapest Western food in town. I’m not going to bet a million dollars on it, but I think he may have a good claim to that statement.

One page caught my attention really fast.

The owner’s story is a little different to that of a resteraunter as he used to run the Western food stall in a coffee shop near KDU before setting up his own place. Usually Western food stalls in coffee shops are quite basic, you wouldn’t hear them ask, ‘would you like a vinigerette sauce with your salad sir?’ and the only mushroom soup they serve either came out of a can or was made from some sort of powder.

FRESH mushroom soup

So it’s quite a suprise that when this guy opened up his own restaurant selling similar dishes to his original stall, he has things like fresh mushroom soup, vinegerette dressing and fresh herbs in his dishes. The mushroom soup was a refreshing change as it had a variety of fresh mushrooms blended to make the dish, no powdery after taste like some out-of-the-can soups you usually find in some Western places.

Garlic Herb Sphagetti

Crispy fried potato crepe with fresh mushrooms and a garlic filling

Another dish that we ordered was the garlic herb sphagetti. Although some may confuse it for aglio olio, it isn’t. It comes with certain main meals, so make sure you know what comes with your main before ordering this as a starter. It is made with garlic, olive oil, fresh herbs (corriander I think), mushrooms and cold salsa on the side.

Sphagetti Carbonara with bacon bits

Another pasta you should try is the sphagetti carbonara, which was made with a rich creamy carbonara sauce and bacon bits inside.

As for the mains, they’re all mostly meat dishes, with chicken paella being one of the few exceptions.

Beef steak

Mixed grill - Pork and chicken chop, lamb chop, pork sausages

Chicken Cordon Bleau - Was a little tough for my tastes. But the brown sauce helped soften it a bit.

Pork chop - Nice, tender and cheap (RM12)

Chicken with rum sauce

These photos were actually compiled over 2 trips to the restaurant, but for each it should only cost you just under rm20 per person including some small starters, but it depends on what you order for your main. Average cost of mains is between RM10 – RM 30++ but that’s for the pork knuckle, which I haven’t tried yet.

Vary Pasta

No.21 Jalan SS22/23,

Damansara Jaya,

47400 Petaling Jaya.

Opening hours: Lunch and Dinner

Cuisine: Western

Non Halal

Telephone: 03 – 77106100

Ah San Bah Kut Teh, Sunway Mas

Over the weekend, we decided to take my grandparents who are down from Malacca to have some good ol’ bah kut teh. We didn’t want to drive all the way to Klang so we decided to go to one of our usual bah kut teh place in PJ. This place, Ah San Bah Kut Teh, opened a few years back in Sunway Mas. It is frequented by most of the people who live in Damansara , Bandar Utama and Aman Suria area.

Direct translation ' Meat Bone Tea'

We are such usual patrons, that the uncle can even remember our usual orders. The uncle always greets us with a big smile on his face. Very friendly guy. Our orders for that day were

2 bowls of golden and button mushrooms

2 bowls of yau char kuai

2 plates of poh li sang choi ( Lettuce)

1 bowl of tau fu pok

1 bowl of yat ji guat (1 bone meat)

1  bowl of sam cham yuk (3 layered meat)

1 bowl of pig tail

Total Bill = RM107 (8pax)

All sounds abit weird putting it in english, I don’t think there are english names for calling dishes for bah kut teh. Its all done in cantonese here. Not long after ordering, the uncle went to his little ‘kitchen’ to prepare our meals.

Uncle chopping away to prepare our meal

The reason why we like coming to this place is because its like eating in your own neighbourhood, everyone knows everybody else. Plus the friendly service we get and the great food keeps us coming back for more. Another things is that the bah kut teh here is slightly different from the usual ones. The broth for this one is very light, its not the thick heavy broth that you normally find, so it has that very lite feel.

'One bone meat' so tender..Mmmm

Our favourite cuts of meat are ‘yat ji guat’ or roughly translated, one bone meat. You can see from the picture what we mean. I think its the upper arm of the pig (sounds so un-refined when said in english).We like this cause the meat is exceptionally tender, almost falling off the bone.

'Three layered meat' all in one

Another cut we always order is the ’sam cham yuk’ or Three layer meat. I think this is the cut where people use to make siew yuk (Roast pork). It has 3 layers of meat (Skin, Fat, Meat) all found in a single piece. So you get to enjoy the best of 3 worlds. We specifically asked for less fat cause alot of us has high cholesterol, so we had meaty sam cham yuk.

Mushrooms and yau char kuai to complete it all

Not to forget the usual order of yau char kuai and mushrooms, it won’t be bah kut teh without them. They complete the meal. We always order the mushrooms here because they are really generous with it. Me and my sister can finish one bowl each..we are so greedy.

Tea pouring 'ceremony' to close the meal

Lastly, to wash everything down, or rather wash away all the ‘fats’ , we must always end with a few cups of steaming hot chinese tea. Perfecto. You can also bring your own tea like many of the regular patrons. A delicious meal, especially when you get to share it with family. If you are ever in the area, do pay them a visit. You will definitely enjoy it.

Ah San Bah Kut Teh

27, Jalan PJU 1/3D

Sunway Mas Commercial Centre,

47301 Petaling Jaya

Opposite 88 Pets mart ( The giant petshop)

Non-Halal (Duh)

Cuisine : Chinese

With Rakuzen opening a branch in Sri Hartamas, we decided to give it a try. They do have other branches in the city and in Subang, but this was the closest to drive to.

The decor has a very warm and modern feel, whilst maintaining a Japanese style to it all. Some of the tables are segmented by hanging sheets or dividers to give more privacy.

This, however, is not a blog about interior design. So lets move on to the food! For starters, we begin with the Spider Roll. A delightful sushi roll which centres around a portion of soft-shelled crab. The outer layer of the roll is coated in Flying-fish roe.

Next up, cha soba (cold green tea buckwheat noodles). This was definitely a generous portion of cha soba which was complimented with dipping sauce that is hidden underneath the quail egg and seaweed. The noodles, however, were abit on the dry side.

The Tempura Moriawase is a mix tempura of vegetables and prawns. The fresh ingredients made this a delightful dish.

Another appetizer includes the Hotate Mentaimayo Yaki which are baked scallops.

For the mains, we managed to sample two sets. Firstly, the chicken katsu, always a favourite.

Secondly, the Sashimi to Yakizakana Zen set. This includes two pieces of grilled fish accompanied by sashimi, deep fried shrimp, miso soup, cawan mushi and others. They were quite generous, providing thick slices of sashimi. Grilling and the light seasoning brought out the true taste of the fish.

As always, there was room for dessert, but after such a heavy meal, we decided to go light on desserts and try the variety of ice creams.

With many other dishes yet to be tasted, there will definitely be a return visit.

Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant

Lot P17, Plaza Ground Floor

Hartamas Shopping Centre

60, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Cuisine: Japanese

Halal

Tel: +603- 6201 2060