Hidden Treasure...

Tucked in the corner of Jalan (more like a lorong) Hang Kasturi along Jonker street in Malacca lies an unassuming little teow chew restaurant called Teo Soon Long Chan.... From the outside, you would think it no different from a normal hawker coffee shop... but step inside and you are welcomed into this cosy little air conditioned restaurants lines with liquor bottles all around... There was only 7 tables in the room, which is why reservation is highly recommended...

To one side is a display of the fresh ingredients/seafood for the day... This uncle here takes your orders and when we asked what is their Signature Dish? His answer was simple "No signature dish, all is good. No need to ask where the source of the ingredients are from, as long as it taste good, that should be good enough!!" ..... and he was right.

On the other side was a counter and the liquor cabinet lining the walls.... That guy on the phone, is no ordinary guy. He got skills... you will know what I mean further down this post.... :)

To start of the dinner... let me introduce you to the sauces... haha!! This is a traditional teowchew tauchu with chilli sauce which is best eaten with the steam fish...

Next up is the sambal..and this is no ordinary sambal which you get at other regular restaurants... This has ikan bilis in them... plenty... It was Yum....!!!

Okay... to start the night off we had the Oyster Noodles which was highly recommended and every table seems to have ordered one... it was just yellow noodles fried hokkien style but with Oysters in them... Unless you are an oyster fan, this is nothing to shout about... Too oyster-ish for my taste....

Next we had the steam fish teowchew style... what other style can you order in a teowchew restaurant right? haha!! This was definitely the highlight for me... It was steamed just right... not over nor under done and the fish was fresh... the broth has just the right level of saltiness that made the whole dish work... It was so good I ordered another one at the end of our meal...

Oh ya... remember the guy at the counter... well he is highly skilled at cutting the fish up... he cuts and debones the entire fish in 22 precise cuts... Cool huh?

Another dish which was recommended by fellow bloggers was the fried soft shell crab... Although not a traditional teowchew dish but this was really well done... the batter was crunchy and the sweet sauce which accompanied the dish just complimented the taste of the crabs...

We were recommended the Bitter Gourd and Pork Ribs stew by the uncle and we gladly agreed... This was an extremely small dish but it tasted really good..the bitter gourd has just a slight twang of bitterness to it and it was soft to the bite... The pork ribs were small little succulent pieces of meat and the sauce was heavenly... Best eaten mixed with rice (which my eldest sis refused to the dismay of the owner)... It was thickened with yam instead of starch so it has a slight hint of yam in the aftertaste...

Next up was the fried mince pork balls.. This was pretty good... It was not spectacular but it was pretty good for pork balls... :)

Now, the final and apparently most popular dish which the uncle insisted we should end our meal with... Ohnee! Or better known as yam paste served with ginko and pumpkin... I need to say upfront that I am not a chinese dessert kinda person (especially when they are pasty) but I gave it a try since it was highly recommended... I am now a convert... This ohnee was soooo good.. the texture was smooth and taken with the pumpkin it gave just the right balance of yammy gooey-ness and sweetness from the pumpkin... Really good.. no wonder this was their one and only dish which has been commercialised.

Look at the consistency of the yam... beautiful....

This is definitely one restaurant I would highly recommend if you are heading to Malacca... I am a malaccan and I only knew of this place recently.. How embarassing... :( Forget about the satay celup or the chicken rice balls... those are just hyped up food.. This is the real deal... just simple delicious teowchew dishes done very well...

Teo Soon Loong Chan Restaurant55, Jalan Hang Kasturi

75200 Melaka, Malaysia

Tel: 06-2822353

Favola

*Update*

Erm... just got a call from my fren BP, and the complimentary wine was not exactly complimentary... It was compliments from him... the restaurant botched up the order along with a cake which was suppose to appear. Apparently they decided to just use the cake my sis bought... Hmm... no wonder the service was so good... hahaha!! Now I got to re-think my re-visit.

Anyway, thank you BP!!! It was a really nice gesture eventhough it kinda got lost in transition... :)

******

Yups... I turned 29 yesterday.... my last year in my twenties... I am officially aging...hahah!! Luckily there are still ppl who mistaken me for being younger than I really am... :)

This year my family decided to go to Favola in Le Meridien Hotel to celebrate my birthday... The place looks more like a Jester's court than an italian restaurant but oh well...

Upon taking our seats the waitress asked whether we would like to have wine as it was complimentary. We could not believe our ears and asked again... Complimentary? and she said yes! How odd, it rarely happens in Malaysia... but anyhow we decided to pass on it...

Now here begins the food... Of course we had the customary bread... bread was quite good...the dip was not as good as the spread in Prime but not too bad either.. :)

Then came the starters... We ordered Garlic and Thyme Roasted Portobello served with Spinach and Lombardi Tellegio Cheese... When it came it looked like oysters to me... doesnt it? and the taste was nowhere near a mushroom...the pile of spinach and cheese on it overpowered the mushroom totally... I was not a happy camper... Come on... I like my mushrooms, mushroomy!!

Luckily they redeemed themselves with the next appetizer. Fritto Mistro de Mare which was basically deepfried seafood with a spicy tomato dip... This was good..the sauce tasted really good and they had a combination of calamari, prawns, fish and scallops..Next my sis wanted the Zuppa de Pesce ala Marinara which was a seafood with saffrom soup... Urrrgghhh... I did not like it..it was waaaay too clamy tasting for me but my sis liked it so oh well.. to each its own... :)Then came our mains...First up was Bianco Pizza which was sauteed beef strips with wild mushroom and this was pretty good I must say... my mum liked this dish the most... It had good flavours...

We also ordered the Risotto ai Funghi Selvatici e Parmigianno which is risotto with wild mushroom and permesan cheese... This was quite good too.. texture of the risotto was spot on but they were a tad too heavy handed with the cheese in my opinion....

Last main of the nite was the Manzo e Patate Ravioli which was essentially braised beef and potato ravioli served with smoked black truffle butter sauce... I liked this dish... I thought the texture of the pasta was good and the filling was nice albeit the potato was a bit too crunchy for potatoes...

and lastly we ordered the famous Illy Coffee Tiramisu... this was the ultimate disappointment... It was really not good... It just made me miss the tiramisu in Neroteca... :( they really should not say it is their speciality when it doesnt taste all too great...

I need to tell you this story before I proceed... somewhere towards the end of the meal the waitress came up to us again and said... "would you like me to pack the wine to go? We can put it in a bag for you to take home" and we were like thinking .... Wow! they are really desperate to let us have the wine... It was virtually like forcing it down our throats... They must have never had anyone said no to a complimentary wine...hahahaha!! So we said yes... Just an additional bottle for us to bring for house warming parties then... :D

So back to my birthday celebration.. when the tiramisu came we were stuffed... we had actually decided not to cut the cake and just bring it home but lo behold while we were having our tiramisu the manager and a few of the staff came over with the cake and sang me a birthday song..that was really nice and unexpected... Top marks for service definitely!! :D Thoughout the nite they were pretty attentive but this was one step up from just be attentive.. They were proactive... :D For that itself, I might just come back and try the other things on the menu... Since the dinner had some hits and some misses..

Favola

Le Meridien Hotel

Kuala Lumpur

"Reunion" Dim Sum

Yesterday was Malaysia Day (another public holiday!!!) and I was about to have brunch with Ching Yee since we just finished being Chee Muis for Vivien... Suggested we have dim sum at Reunion; Bangsar Village II. It was highly recommended by many and I soon learnt why... :)

We started off with some "Siu Loong Pao" and "Char Siew Pao" which as usual, I forgot to take picture off... hahah!! But the Siu Loong Pao was really well done... the skin was just right to hold the juice in but still thin enough to not be flourey... :) The char siew pao was really fluffy... nice!!! :D

So now with the pictures... There is the standard "Siu Mai" and "Har Kow" which was good for sui mais and har kows standards but they are afterall just standard items...

Then we had egg tarts which were really nice... Not too sweet and the crust was thin and flaky...

Next was the "Char Siew Sou" which was also really good.. what I really liked bout all the dim sum is the amount of filling..the skins were always thin making room for plenty of fillings...

Next up was "Wu Kok"... Jae likes it but me not so much..felt the yam skin was not well done and the filling was not so great as well. Oh well, to each its own....

We also ordered some fried carrot cake.... It was definitely tasty...liked it that it was a bit spicy.... :)

Another sweet offering.... "Ma Lai Kou"... direct translation would be Malay Cake but then it isnt malay at all.... haha!! This one was a bit of disappointment... The taste was there but the texture I felt was not fluffy enough... Definitely not as good as the restaurant in Bangsar Shopping Centre..

Oh and we had some barbeque meat... Yum yum!!! the "Char Siew" was melt-in-your-mouth good.. texture and taste... :)

We also had "Siu Yok" which I felt wasnt crispy enough on the skin... :( but once again Jae liked it...hahah!!

All it all it was a really really good... It does live up to its recommendations... This same restaurant actually has a great menu for normal chinese dining as well... Highly recommended except that this place is a tad pricey...

Reunion

2F – 17/18,

2nd Floor Bangsar Village 2

No. 2 Jalan Telawi Satu,

Bangsar Baru

Tel: +60 3 2287 3770

Happy Birthday Ai Li!!!!

Celebrated my sister's birthday 15th Sept 2010!!!

I was a nice sister this year... Got her a birthday card which cost me RM30... Then I ordered a Durian Mousse cake to be sent to her office to surprise her... :) No pictures though coz it was eaten up by her colleagues... Haih...damn expensive cake.. :( But I got a slice and I could taste why it was so costly.. It was no mousse my fren... It was Durian... literally... durian just slathered between layers of vanilla cake... yum yum!! :D

So for dinner we initially wanted to try this place which says Korean Fine Dining which we came across at Pavillion... see see when we went in and opened the menu. It was the same (or maybe with less variety) as any other korean restaurant in town..and probably less authentic... So what is so fine dining bout that? Cheh! So we walked out back... hahah!!

Decided to try out Angus House - Japanese Charcoal Steak instead. It was definitely a good choice.

Initially the menu didnt give us much confidence and it was sparse... All you get to choose was which part of the cow u wanted and whether you wanted the full course or ala carte. So we went for the course and this was what we got....

For starters it was a fish with potato thingy... tasted not too bad...

Then came the soup, it was pumpkin soup that day.... not too shabby as well...

Then came the salad... forgot to take picture so I let u see the empty plate.. Obviously the japanese dressing was really good or else u would not see my salad plate so empty...haha!!

Then came the main course... jeng jeng jeng!! This is my sister's 250gms tenderloin in japanese sauce... It was pretty good...

But nothing compared to my 250gms sirloin which was cooked to perfection... still juicy but not bloody and it was really tender and tasty... Mmmmm.... nice!!! As u can see from the picture, I dugged in before I could take the picture...hehe!!

Look at that...doesnt it look yummy?

So after that cam dessert which I (oops) forgot to take a photo of... but it was just an okay cake... so nothing to shout about compared to the Durian Mousse... Each course was about Rm150 so it wasnt too bad.... but since I have to foot the whole bill... "Ouch!!!"

Angus Steak HouseLot 6.44& 6.45
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
Jalan Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 - 2145 6015

Yummy Volcano @ Yuzu

Okay, this posting is a bit on the late side but better late than never...

Wanted to share this super unique maki that I had at Yuzu, The Gardens the other day. It supposedly has crab and unagi in it an it is stacked in twos like towers and drenched with some special sauce... Mmmm... yummmeeeee!!! Now you see it...

Now you dont!! :D

Definitely worth trying... it was delish!!!

Yuzu Japanese RestaurantT236, 3rd Floor
The Gardens
Mid Valley City
Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: 03 – 2284 7663

Puffing away...

I decided to make curry puffs over the weekend... well actually I planned it the week before but since I only made the puff pastry there was nothing much to show... So this weekend I made the filling...

First I had to wake up at a god awful time of 7.15am on a Sunday morning just to do to the morning market... :( The things I do for my little projects...

First off!! Dicing... god... so much to dice... hand also pain... :(

Chicken....

Potatoes...

Onions and garlic and we are ready...

All fried up...

Pastry ready?

Time to get to work...

Now ready for the oven....

Bake bake bake!!! Tadaa!!!

Yum yum... but unfortunately it's not very fluffy... mummy said I was too hardworking at flattening the pastry dough that I flattened the fluff away... sniff sniff...

Well, we can always try again... :) It still tasted good...

My little pasta adventure....

Over the weekend I was feeling hardworking.... hhehe!! actually over the past week I was feeling hardworking so I started to plan for a weekend pasta making session... Yups... my very own pasta... so lets see how it goes...

First we start of with the basic flour well and pop 3 eggs in.... mix slowly until all the egg and flour combined... then you knead the dough until it is smooth.... Then you roll out the dough into a flat sheet and cut out rectangular pieces... I was attempting to make lasagna hence the rectangular size... :)
Here they are... all nicely cut but not in exact shapes...haha!!

Now we need to lay em up... no pictures of the sauce making coz that was my sister's job...haha!! she is the cook in the family.... :) So my hands were occupied with the dough while she was cooking... then I accidently forgot to take pictures of the lay-up process.... but it goes like this: Sauce, pasta, sauce, grated mozarella, pasta, sauce, grated mozarella etc... go on and finish up with the last pasta then sauce and a layer of parmesan cheese.... unfortunately my sis underestimated her portions so instead of the 6 layers which I intended to do, we only got 4 and the top layer didnt have sauce.. :( so it was pasta then cheese.... and the outcome is?

 

Looks pretty decent I suppose except for the fact that the sheet has turn crispy since the pasta and cheese had dried out and hardened... :( here's a closer view...

Now let's see em layers.... tadaa!!! :D

Looks not too bad.... appetising? :) Here's my slice... yum yum!! but not so many layers huh? Well as long as it taste good... Intially after boiling the pasta (my sis did it) she insisted my pasta was not good coz it was too chewy... I was so sad... :( But after it went into the oven and came out... It was the perfect consistency... yaay!! Just the right bite in them.... hehe!! Yippee!!!

Now what do I do with my additional 2 layers which did not make it into the pan?

We make it into fettucini of course... haha!! We shall have that for dinner... just eat em with some ikan bilis sambal... Mmmm..... Looks authentic rite?

At the same time while the lasagna was baking, I also had a go at making my very own cream of mushroom soup... just bought my handheld blender... those that looks like the ones on the AFC channel which they stick into the pot and blend... ya ya... :D So first off is the fry the mushrooms with butter and onion until brown then pour in the stock and bring to boil... then let it simmer for 20 mins then blend... after blending we add in the creme fraiche and stir well.... I skipped the tarragon eventhough I bought it coz while I was chopping it up it just smelt uuurggghh... so lets not... haha!!

Oops... missed blending one... hmm... how did that happen? Nvm, just pick it out and eat it up...hehe!!

The final outcome was surprisingly good... hehe!! though I might have been a bit too generous with the creme so it had a slight tang of sourness but all in all it was quite good for a first try... Elaine can vouch for it... hehe!! Can semi-rival the ones in the restaurant... muahaha!!

My bowl of soup.... But you wouldnt believe how much this whole meal cost... The soup itself was RM60 for the entire pot (serves 7) and the lasagna was another RM60 for the whole pan (serves 8)... This was one costly meals... such ingredients are so expensive in Malaysia... :(

Anyway... since it doesnt happen so often it is okay I suppose... :)

P/S: That nite my mum boiled the fettucini and said it was the perfect dough... very well made.. it was my not so smart sister who under boiled it so it became chewy...sheesh! should never trust her...haha!!