URL Change Notice

Hi there...

I decided to change my URL to match the title of the blog and shift it to blogspot. The blog url that is watermarked on previous pictures will no longer be valid.

The new home for all my foodie postings would be http://www.justsimplyfood.blogspot.com/

Ai Chin

My Elephant @ Seksyen 17

I was hungry and it was late one night, I just decided we should try our luck at My Elephant eventhough they said they were fully reserved. So we went, had to wait outside because they were full (I wonder why... haha!) but we were given the menu and about 15 mins later our order was taken... 5 mins later we were given our table... What was astonishing was 3 mins later ALL the food came... and I mean ALL!!! It was shockingly fast! haha! and we didn't order very little...

We get a plate with a banana leaf cut out placed on the base and a bowl of "scoop your own" red rice.

Let's start with the appetizers... We ordered my favourite Thai appetizer which was the Tod Man Plah - handmade deep fried thai fish cakes. It was pretty normal in flavours and I definitely have had better even from roadside store in Thailand but don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad. It lacked the certain chewiness which I like in fish cakes and it was just on the bland side.

Then we had PoPiah Tod - Deep Fried Hand-Rolled Springrolls with Braised Glass Noodle, Dried Shrimp and Assorted Vegetables. I couldn't catch much of the taste because I had the salad first. My mouth was so full of spice I didn't find this dish impressive either. The filling was not seasoned enough although it was beautifully fried and crispy to the bite. Perhaps I will not judge too much on this dish.

Now it gets better from here. :) We had Som Tam Malakor - Hand-pounded Green Papaya with Dried Prawns & Peanuts. This I loved. It was super spicy although it looks very unasuming. One bite and you feel the spiciness filling your mouth right to the back of your throat. I had just the right amount of fish sauce so it wasn't too salty. The papaya was fresh and the tomatoes were juicy...

Next up was myElephant Tom Yum Seafood - myElephant’s SUPER Spicy Tom Yum with Aromatic Fresh Thai Herbs. They were not kidding about the SUPER Spicy. It wasn't the normal chili spicy but it had a certain heat to it. It just hits you the second you put it in your mouth. You could feel the heat up your nostrils. This bowl of Tom Yum was so filled herbs that you could not drink a spoonful of the soup without something else landing in your spoon... It was a tad salty which coupled with the heat just made you reach for a glass of water.

We also ordered the Gaeng Phet Yaeng - Roast Duck Curry with Seasonal Fruit. This time the seasonal fruit was lychee and green grapes. The lychee was just scrumptious. It was juicy and the when you take a bite of it, the combination of sweet lychee juice coupled with the savoury spicy flavours of the curry was simply yum! It just made me smile. The roast duck was tender and well seasoned. The whole dish was just a nice balance of savoury curry with hints of sweetness from the fruits which made it less heavy.

Last dish of the night was the ‘Snow’ Fish - Salt-baked Fish with My Elephant’s Signature Green Chilli Sauce. Although we were left wondering how they could serve this up in 10 mins flat but once we took a bite, it didn't matter. The fish was very fresh. It didn't even require the chili sauce as the salt has permeated into the flesh of the fish just enough to lend its saltiness. It was perfectly baked to the right degree of firmness without drying the fish out.

One thing I got to say is don't order everything that we ordered if you only had 2 people eating. It is a lot of food.

My Elephant

C-G-4 Happy Mansion
Jalan 17/13
Section 17, Petaling Jaya
Malaysia

Tel: 60102201283

Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie

Heard about this place from quite a few friends and we decided to venture all the way to Imbi just to have brunch at Levain... As we drove into the road leading to the place we could already see cars parked along the sides of the road and when we spotted the place we knew why. There were hoards of people, okay maybe not hoards but there was quite a big crowd in the boulangerie...

Now... on to the food... let's start with the pastries and bread.... We had a Caramel Nut Danish which was quite interesting but a tad difficult to eat... definitely needs to be eaten separately. :) The nuts were crunchy and sticky at the same time and the danish was pretty good as well...

Next up a Turkey Ham Epi which I quite enjoy as well. :)

This next one is my favourite. It's called the Chocolate French Toast but essentially it is bread with layers of chocolate swirling... Hmmm.. Yum!!

I bought this next one to take home and it was called Baumkuchen which is a traditional french layer cake layered with maple in a circular shape... The maple was just the right level of sweetness that it didn't leave your mouth tasting of maple. Do admire the work that goes into this cake.

Now for the mains.... We ordered just 2 since there was only 2 of us... Started off with their Creamy Mushroom Chicken Soup which was definitely not skimping on the cream... It was so creamy I couldn't take it but my sis whallopped it all down... Then again she likes cabonara and I don't so go figure... :) I would have appreciated it more if they used proper button mushroom instead of the canned ones.

We also ordered a Beef Aglio Olio which I found surprisingly good... the beef was tender and the spaghetti was just al dente... it has the right amount of olive oil to coat each strand...

and then there was desserts.... :) I order a cake called Le Sultan which was a Moist Mud Cake, Coffee Butter-cream and Dark Ganache. It sounded better than it tasted. Not that it was bad, it was fine but it was just that fine. It was missing the rich chocolate taste which I was expecting considering this place is owned by Beryl's. So that was a tad of a let down.

Washing it all down was our drinks for the day... a hot cup of Cappucino and a Hot Chocolate. The Cappucino was nice and fragrant but pity it wasn't served with a nice coffee art. The Hot Chocolate has loads of melted chocolate making it too sweet for my taste.

All in all I enjoyed my brunch... I like the ambience and the food was good.. Will definitely be back and this time, I will leave room for the macaroons... :D

Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie

No. 7, Jalan Delima,
55100 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia

Phone: +603 2142 6611

Sao Nam @ Empire Subang

Was walking along Empire mall at Subang and chanced upon this Vietnamese Fine Dining Restaurant (or so they say)... It boasted an award winning chef and a pretty interesting menu...

I started the meal with a traditional vietnamese tea... It was a combination of a variety of spices which somewhat felt familiar to me but yet I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It started off quite pungent but as you drank it more it became quite pleasant.

As for the food, we started off with a combo platter... Overall each item felt under seasoned and the usual sugarcane prawn paste was replaced by lemongrass instead... Although I do quite like the taste of lemongrass so I wasn't complaining but I think it does reduce the sweetness it could have had if the sugarcane was used... The manager of the restaurant was nice enough to explain to us how we should eat the dish with the condiments that came with it but I really dislike the taste of basil and it just made things taste worse. I just feel that when you put certain herbs which have a pungent flavour to it, it makes the dish lose the rest of it's flavour. We then ordered a fish cooked with dill in claypot which was served with noodles... (can't quite remember the dish's name). The fish wasn't entirely the freshest fish around and the tonne of basil thrown in did not help the taste... It just made every mouthful basil-ey.... Eww.... Yes it was supposed to be cooked with dill and there was a lot of dill too but when compared, the basil won hands down...

Then came the recommended beef in bamboo which looked promising... Until you look closer and it was once again filled with basil... Uuurrgghh... the entire meal was feeling like a one note.... :( It the chef did not get his basil delivery for the day, he might not be able to cook anything... Although I do understand that basil is quite a staple in the vietnamese diet but it cant be in everything right? If we were to just extract the taste of basil out of these dishes, the flavours are actually not too bad....

The final dish of the day was the red noodle served with a soup... it came with crushed prawn crackers and nuts... This was the only dish without the basil. This was definitely the redeeming dish for this restaurant. I really like this noodle. Not sure whether it is because of the basil overload so anything without taste good or it really was good...

Oh well, don't think I will try it again anytime soon but I think if you really like basil then this is definitely the place for you.

Sao Nam
Empire Shopping Gallery
Imperial Vietnamese Cuisine
Jalan 16/1, SS16,
47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor