Good new find for dimsum@Imperial Pot, Publika, Solaris Dutamas

Imperial Pot may be a little difficult to get to if one is unfamiliar with the layout of Solaris Dutamas.

Just ask around on how to get to the korean restaurant Sa Nang Duel, the boxing gym, the sports shop, Yamaha music school, they are all ar the same level as Imperial Pot.

The price of the dimsums are similar to the level of Ming Room, Imperial Treasure etc but decor wise is more simplistic.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how properly prepared the dimsums were. Presentation of all dimsums were clear winners.

The cheong fun wrapped with crunchy freshly deep fried yao char kuey was delicious. Cleared the plate clean within minutes.

Nowadays, siew mais are such must-order-norms that the quality just gets thrown out of the window because of the bulk production and high demand. Sometimes the roes on top of them were just steamed along and over cooked. This was the first time I noticed the roes were freshly placed just before serving. The bright orange coloured roes stood out, glistening. Good effort guys!

It was also my first time seeing the fried carrot cake served this way too. At first from a quick glance, it does seem as if the portion was rathr small but when I really dug in, I was proven wrong. Hidden are thick slices of chinese sausages, chunks of fried eggs holding the square carrot cakes together. Full of wok hei too!

The only rather norm item was sadly my favourite dimsum, char siew paos were average. There weren't bad but ain't spectacular.

Total bill was RM38. And I did leave the restaurant feeling satisfied and worth my hard earned penny paying for this meal experience.

I'm game to return for round 2, Imperial Pot, see you soon!

Overpriced ice cream@Haagan Daz, Solaris Mont Kiara

I am never a fan of Häagen Daz but this was the only ice cream joint along the way from dinner to home.. hence we decided to splurge for the old folks.

This flower bliss theme comes with a waffle cup, 6 really tiny scoops of ice cream and 4 really tiny squeezes of whipped cream.

While the quality of the ice cream is expected to fare greater than average ice cream parlours however, the tiny scoops and RM 40 price tag ain't worth it.

Id rather buy a tub of good quality ice cream than spending it on this beautifully crafted display.

And it only does justice when one gets full, sickly sweet but happy high from ice cream. That is the effect I love from ice cream when I have my guilt-out-of-the-door days.

First foodieblogger dinner@Mediteca, Fraser Place

A dinner invite to Foodventuras, for the launch of the pork menu at Mediteca. These sort of invitations may mean nothing much to established, famous food bloggers but for a teeny weeny food blogger like myself, I am truly honoured!

                                            

I must say, it was a rather big effort going downtown at 7 pm on a working week. The traffic within the KLCC area was horrendous. I really wonder sometimes, is it worth living in such gorgeous looking condos with great view of skyscrapers and lightings, when going out and coming back home takes so much effort, trouble and time.*shakes head*

After getting stuck for nearly an hour in the KL city centre, I finally arrived... at the building behind Fraser place. Thank God. If there was none, I would have to queue another 1 hour just to make a U-turn into the road leading to Fraser place.

Being a 'sua gu' (mountain cow, literal translation in Hokkien), which means green bean/newbie/freshie/katak bawah tempurung, I didn't know what to expect when I arrived at the restaurant. I was ranked the lowest in the list of foodiebloggers, but that didn't matter to me. I was excited to find out what will we be served for this 'launch menu'.

                                        

The first view was the cold cut of cured meat and cheese station. The chef, suited in white, was dripping in sweat trying to slice the meat as quickly as possible, explaining the different types of parma, jamon, and cheese to the long queue of guests lining up to have a taste of them. The jamon was likely the most expensive item at the station which explains why guests still waited for the chef to slice and place the jamon though their plates were already full.

It would help if the meat served had some tags/ labels to explain to guests what they were and where they originated from, because in the end, the dining experience also comes with learning how the taste and looks of the food differ in different regions. 

                                         

The meat reminded me of my pleasant trip to the meat market in Florence and Barcelona. The spicy salami was awesome, but the first in place was definitely the jamon. Bloody, smokey, salty and went well with the wine. Among all the condiments, the caramelized onions were the BEST. Hence, it ran out real quick and no more replacements were seen at the station.

                                         

                                         

Although this was my first time ever attending such an event so the rights for me to compare is zilch, but the vibes I get after being here for a good 15 minutes was that the crowd seemed lost, and disengaged, not what I would expect of from a foodie menu launch. The various finger food came in tiny bowls, or spoonfuls, served sporadically, almost felt like there was no story behind the entire launch. 

The upside of it was that the finger food served was good. I really enjoyed the sliced sausages, full of porky punch and flavour. Though again, the waiting period of the sporadic serving really did bring down the foodie mood. I overheard some patrons complaining too, that food was unevenly served, some got more, some got less, not enough plates and culteries etc. 

I guess the crowd was too big to accommodate the way of serving they intended as after a while, it seemed like the hungry patrons were ever ready to pound upon each fresh servings the waiters brought from the kitchen. That included me as well. 

I saw some eating the bacon wrapped chicken and wanted to try that too, and when the waitress finally brought a fresh batch, she stopped me from taking it because that batch was meant only for patrons eating on the 1st floor. Well, a big "UMMM....." came out of my mouth. Fine then. I finally got hold of it after another good 10 15 minutes wait.

Again, the dish was good of course. It never goes wrong when you cook a dish wrapped with bacon. This went well with the pint of Asahi.

Second serving of this was needed, since I didn't have enough spoonfuls of the rest. This round, two types of cheese were added to the display. Since there was a crowd again, I didn't get much chance to find out what and where the cheese was from. One was hard, salty, I'm guessing aged cheddar. The other was soft, pungent yeasty, smell like bleu. Both yums! 

I would have missed an opportunity of trying this if I was not conveniently standing next to it by the bar. The chef passed by, and suddenly decided to use the gigantic blade/knife to scrap some cheese for us sitting nearby. Again, sporadic serving, not sure why or what purpose. Could not hear him properly, but its not parmigiano-reggiano, maybe grano padano. Anyway, I'm glad I got a chance to try it, this block of goodie milky cheese probably cost thousands.

The second "UMMMM..." came when I had to cough out an extra RM10, because the price of the Asahi on menu placed in front of me, was an incorrect price, and the explanation by the bartender was that, the correct  menu was at the other far corner of the bar. It was not about the price, but the whole customer satisfaction aspect just went downhill. 

No offense, the food served in general was really good, and of quality too, but the planning and arrangements on the other hand, "UMMM....".

I am in no position to comment much on since cost is always a factor in such events, but I would say if the target crowd intended was over a hundred, perhaps buffet/builk servings and a complimentary drink per person may be a better option if manpower is a constraint. After all, a foodie party in my perspective should be fun, educational, happy, and also gives opportunities to make new friends and when we leave, it is with a full and filling experience. Frankly, I don't think I achieved those points I expected to before I came here. 

Perhaps after this post,  I may not get any more invites for dinner parties but I have to write what I truly felt from my dining experience.

A girlfriend asked me would I come back to this place for a meal? 

If a big group was involved.....maybe. Food is good, no doubt.

UMMMM..........

Seafood craving@Sweet Inn Restaurant, Damansara Kim

 The one common thing Malaysians have is the passion and love for food. Just a simple opening line of "Where is good for crabs?" can get strangers talking like old friends.

After a sweaty session of tennis, we usually cool down at the swimming pool and dip ourselves in the jacuzzi and rest our adrenaline-rushed bodies.

Here, we met an elderly man who apparently swims 5 km each day. Hence, a rather tanned and toned body, not common for a man his age. He overheard our foodieventure conversation on searching for a nice restaurant for crabs and started sharing his foodieventures.

He introduced to us Sweet Inn, in Damansara Kim, and said that we will not regret dining here. We believed his conviction and decided to listen to this wise elderly man.

When we arrived, believe it or not, we had no place to sit, and the restaurant was packed with patrons, and empty tables available were under reservation. The lady owner was gracious enough to remove one reserved table for us since we there were only 3 of us. She probably guessed we would eat and leave quickly based on our hungry faces.

We ordered a bowl of fish maw soup to share. Thankfully, we decided to share and not order a portion for 3, else we would have left the restaurant with our fly unzipped. It may not seem impressive from the picture, but the soup was really good. The maw was fresh too. In general, I am not a fan of this dish, but this deserves a thumbs up. In fact, the soup was very thick and viscous, I wouldn't really consider it as a soup. RM 20+/bowl if I recalled correctly.

We wanted to have an appetizer, while waiting for our seafood dishes, and the restaurant serves 3 or 6 dish appetizer. We opted for the 3 dish appetizer, but surprised to know that this one plate was for 1 pax. The waitress brought 3 plates, but my eye caught a creepy crawly insect on the 3rd plate and shrieked, thinking it was a cockroach. The waitress did a super kungfu stunt, by quickly swooshing the plate away from sight and walked away from our table. The other two did not see anything but worried for a while before eating the food from ones placed on our table.

We cancelled the 3rd plate, as it was just too much food. I guess the creepy crawly insect earned us a free cancellation.

RM 18/plate. Rather pricey :/

Since J has an immense craving for crab, we ordered 1 crab to share. Well, we were surprised that the crab was rather big when served to us. The crab dish was actually, just average. Covered by the sweet, sour, spicy sauce. We all agreed we've ate better crab dishes else where. The plus point was the unique looking mantao, which looked like a baguette when served to us but inside the bread, had rolled stick-like layers, soft and fluffy. Yummy when soaked with the crab sauce. 

The crab was RM 80. Our eyes popped when the bill came.

Finally, the long awaited trademark dish of Sweet Inn came. The sang har mee, for 2 pax portion (3 to share). This was really, really good. The noodles were freshly fried, and able to maintain the crunchiness for a long while. Though the sang hars were not the biggest I've seen served on this dish, but the freshness of the prawns made up for the size. 

Our eyes popped, our jaws dropped too when the price for this sang har mee dish for 2 portion was RM 120. @_@. 

The total bill came up to over RM 300.

After the munching, chomping, slurping, chewing session had passed, when our senses kicked in, the image of the elderly man came into our minds. The word of caution that he gave to us before we left the pool which we conveniently forgot when we were excitedly ordering our dishes....."It may be a pinch to your pockets".

The sayings of a old and wise man.  

Dining like a local-lite@Alor Akar Seafood restaurant, Kuantan

A local customer introduced us this place for dinner. At 6 pm, the restaurant was already packed with patrons, both local and out-of-towners..and caucasian tourists were also spotted here!

Besides being packed, packets of take-aways were laid on the table. Easily 30-40packs, pre-ordered by customers.

According to him, even if you close your eyes and randomly point out any dish on the menu, I will not be disappointed.

"FOR REAL ?!"

Seeing that I will not get to come here often, we chose the popular dishes: claypot pork with salted fish, ginseng chicken and claypot tofu.

The dishes were really good as confidently quoted by the customer.

The ginseng soup was pungent and ful of herbal fragrances, penetrating into the chicken. Protein overload!

The pork slices were really tender and not overly fatty. And I learnt a  new thing that evening. Flies of all sizes are attracted to 'ham yu fa lam pou'. Not sure its the pork, sauce, or salted fish. But we were terribly distracted by the dozens of flies hovering over our food and we noticed the flies were not disturbing the patrons at tables near us. And we noticed they did not order this dish too.

The claypot tofu came with a generous portion. Frankly we struggled trying to finish our food. But they were delicious, as difficult as the struggle was, we wiped our food clean.

All in with 2 bottles of sugarcane water was only RM 56. STEAL DEAL!

We had a good time over dinner, catching up with business opportunities and foodieventure too. Thumbs up, alor akar!

Meaty affair@Big Joe, SS2

This new dining joint became one of the popular hang out spots in SS2, especially during supper time.

The puffs of smoke from the grill clouded the road and racks of chicken were sizzling away on the charcoal coated metal strips.

Time for a new foodie exploring session.

I was pleasantly surprised that the Big Joes actually decorated the small patch of curb area with flowers, garden grass and lights. Like a tiny garden home project. I never seen any restauranteur who actually bothers to do this. Salute!

The price on the menu does suit those who are on a budget but stilll craves for western food. My beef burger was about RM8, but the patty was a bit of a let down. As described on the menu, the patty was supposed to be thick but umm...as it came to me... flattened and taste wise was also average.

The trademark grilled chicken was slightly more expensive. Half a chicken for rm20. Did not look like that many pieces after the 1/2 chicken was chopped. Tastewise also nothing really great and memorable. Could not beat the grilled chicken from Kota Bahru. But rm20 for the guy's hard effort of standing hours over the grill cooking for us was worth the penny I guess.

Many patrons were seen ordering the chicken cordon bleu, perhaps i'll give it a second try on another trip to Big Joe, since the price is actually affordable.

Round 2 coming up!

An early morning breakfast@Restoran Kita, Kota Bahru

Restoran kita is one of the most popular breakfast spots for locals and out-of-towners. It is packed to the brim with all walks of races. Chinese, malays, indians all happily enjoying their morning meal together. This is the should-be Malaysia aspires to be.

One thing great about the eggs and poultry in this side of town is that their chickens are all 'kampung kai', meaning not in-breeding farmed methods but chickens roam free. Hence the meat is leaner and somehow the eggs are strangely larger.

That aspect makes eating these half-boiled eggs so awesome. The yolks are golden, glistening and large. The egg whites are also firmer, viscous. A dash of pepper, a dash of soy sauce. Whoah-lah, happy moments!.

The toast bread was only so-so, a bit too hard for me. But I could see most are having nasi lemak, am guessing this is their specialty. Next round!

Porky Affair@Swine, Publika, Solaris Dutamas

It has been a while since I dined in any of Ben's foodies in Publika. Since they removed the benefit of free corkage charges if one opens a bottle of wine purchased from Ben's grocer in any of his restaurants, I haven't gone back to any since. I still buy from wine from the grocer of course.

My friends decided to have a porky affair one night, to celebrate my friend's new job and promotion. And what a pleasant surprise indeed to find out that the free corkage benefit still applies in Swine!

We bought 3 bottles: 2 reislings and 1 red. Happy faces!

From the pictures themselves, you can tell the boys did the ordering. And the pictures I were not even half of what we ordered that night. 2 gigantic bowls of fries, 2 bowls of pasta, 1 plate of fatty grilled pork covered with mash potato not captured. BOYS and FOOD = the ugly glutton in us comes out.

The appetizer pigs in the blanket, essentially pork wrapped with bacon were quite yummy actually, but slightly pricey . Each tiny piece was about RM3 plus.

The pork sausages I gotta say were my favourite. The sausages tasted home made, not like most bars or pubs where those tasted mass manufactured. The smell was a bit wee porky than the usual and it did get a bit of getting used to before the enjoyment came in. The fried mashed onions were amazing, especially dipped in sour cream sauce.

My eyes widened, bewildered by the serving size of the BBQ pork ribs. Never have I seen such a long plate on a tiny dinner table. The ladies shook their heads and warned the boys to swallow up every single bit of food thanks to their "ambitious" ordering.

The ribs were OKAY. It looked tastier than it seems. Morganfields and Malones served better ribs in my opinion. Nonetheless, having a set of ribs for dinner with a group of friends is always an awesome choice. Watching the barbaric side of every single decent soul surfaces as one bites through the meat and licks up the sauces from the bones is great fun.

All in all, food was rather good but my happiest take home message from Swine is...no corkage fees. YAYYYY! I hope this applies to Plan B and Bens too. Time to find out.