Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Home cooked...

 Was inspired to cook recently (which is rare) and this was what I came up with..

Made some Yasai Tempura consisting of eggplant, pumpkin and mushrooms... noticed the cut out flower design just like in the restaurants? :) Even had the little grated daikon radish mini tower.

Next up is my take on a simple home style noodle soup... I replaced the noodles with macaroni instead... soup was from scratch with the basic onion, garlic, dried anchovies and sliced pork... Also added loads of cabbage to give the extra sweetness to the soup.  



Monday, January 10, 2011

Fu Gua Thong

I have never been a fan of vegetables... From young I was very selective over what kind of vegetables I eat but ironically I have learnt to take bitter gourd in recent years... so when I was recommended this place by a friend and I decided to give it a go... As per the name of the shop, they really served everything and everything to do with bitter gourd from soups to dishes to teas all infused with bitter gourd some way or the other...

We ordered the bitter gourd meehoon soup and some crispy fried pork which was one of their signature dishes... I don't believe I am saying this but I absolutely love the soup... It was basically a pork and bitter gourd soup served with loads of thinly sliced bitter gourd.. I won't lie and say it wasn't bitter but the bitterness was somehow not too strong for me.. There was a hint of bitterness that when taken with a slice of bird's eye chilli just gave a good punch of spicy and bitter. I ended up finishing the whole bowl of noodles in a jiffy... and it wasn't a small bowl.. haha!

The fried crispy pork was really tasty.. It had a crispy outer layer with a tasty tender center... It is surprisingly one of the better "Hakka Char Yok" that I have tasted though it was a tad oily.

Fu Gua Thong Restaurant ( Puchong )
32-G, Jalan Puteri 2/4,
Bandar Puteri,
47100 Puchong, Selangor
Tel:017 - 716 0006

Thursday, December 23, 2010

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

Friday, September 17, 2010

"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

Friday, January 29, 2010

Precious find...

So... I meant to blog this much earlier on but never got myself to do it... I am such a procrastinator... haha!! Anyway... I wanted to share my precious little find tucked in the corner of Central Market... From the looks of it you wouldnt have thot anything great was there... boy was I wrong.... Herein lies one of the best Nyonya food I have ever had....

 



Inside the restaurant it was filled with antique furniture... Every table and chair was of different size and shapes... The decor was very peranakan...






And they had giant tables and chairs... my feet couldnt even touch the floor when I sat down.. of course it is partly due to my lack of height as well but lets not dwell there.... ;)

 

 



As for the food... yum yum!!! It was really so good... we had ju hu char as appetisers but we were so hungry we whallop it all before I could snap a pic.... Even the food below was snapped halfway eating... We had kangkung belacan, belacan omellete, devil's curry chicken and of course lobak!!!


One more item which I found was extraordinarily yummy was the nasi lemak rice... Basically rice cooked with santan and with blue flower for the Nyonya touch. It was so fluffy you knew immediately it was steamed rice and not those from a normal rice cooker.... It was really really good...







Oh I should not forget to mention the ice lemon tea... Yes you read right... Ice Lemon Tea...theirs was as authentic as it gets...really good stuff.... I was one happy camper...or eater.... haha!!


I am obviously not the only one to extoll the virtues of this place... check out the crowd... ironically not many locals know of this place... instead it is packed with foreigners who are either living in Malaysia or visiting.... Being that it is located in a tourist center, I suppose no local actually bothered to check out this place assuming it's just normal food with premium prices... Although it is a tad pricey but definitely worth it.... trust me...






Precious Old China was definitely a precious find.... :) Glad my mum's fren recommended the place.....
Precious Old China
Lot M2, Central Market
Tel : 03 - 2273 7372










 

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Another yummy place...

Once again I had the opportunity to try out a new place on other ppl's expense.. hehe!! so nice.. :)
But once again not to embarass myself I was not able to get a visual representative of what I have eaten...

Where did I eat?



Yup... the place is called REUNION and it is situated in Bangsar Village II on the second floor on the opposite end of MPH.... This place was highly recommended and it has live up and above its recommendation... They served supposely simply home cook style cantonese food but excellently executed... :) Once again I shall attempt to whet your pallete with a written description....

We started of the meal with seaweed soup cooked with seafood and egg flower (direct translation)... this was just nicely done... not too salty or full of Ajinamoto nor was it too fishy tasting coz the seafood was fresh... a refreshing soup to drink.. just like mum's cooking literally.. Next came a platter of "Char Siew & Siew Yok"... This also was particularly good.. the Char Siew was really tasty... Althought some say it is better than the Oversea one but for me I would put them on par which was still good since Oversea Char Siew is most wellknown... The siew yok was without the thick layer of fat which was really good... Next came the Roasted Duck... The skin was crispy but surprising the meat was still tender and succulent... a far cry from the rough and dry meat you usually get when the skin is too crisps from over frying.. Up next was the vegetable.. nothing much to say... all vegetables are about the same but I must say they didnt serve up some super fat and bitter tasting kailan.. theirs were thinner which is to my personal taste... After that, a stir fry beef dish came our way... now this was really tasty and tender.. yum yum.. :) Next came something that was very special.. it is not something you find in a high end restaurant or the larger establishments. We had steam mince pork which is a typical home cook dish which usually you find in the 'chap farn' line up as well... Although a normal dish, it tasted much better than the ones in the coffeeshop... but of course my mum's one is better no doubt.. hehe!!

We then went on to have a seafood claypot which was filled with scallop, fish maw, sea cucumber and broccoli... This was also stewed to perfection.. the fish maw and sea cucumber was not chewy at all (reasons why I dont usually eat them...)... they were tender and to a certain extent have the effect of a melt in your mouth kinda feel coz you didnt need too many chews to swallow... We also had a braised abalone, fish maw and fish stomach dish... once again cook to just the right degree making it easy on your jaw but not losing the original taste inherent of it... Next up we had steam prawns with egg white... the prawns were really fresh... it was a simply dish that showcased the freshness and sweetness of the prawns itself...

Everything was not too overbearing or powerful in taste... I suppose that is why it is supposedly like the home cooked version.. free of Ajinamoto.. hehe!!

I thought we were done since that was all that was ordered... but apparently I was mistaken.. as another 2 dishes were serve... apparently they were ordered later on additionally.. funnily... the first dish was shark's fin soup with crab meat... something that usually comes in the beginning of the meal rather than the end... This is one of my favourite.... It didnt have all those rubbish which restaurants like TT like to put in... it was just simple... sharkfin and crab meat in the broth... and it was delicious... Last dish of the day... salted egg prawn... this has never been my favourite dish coz I dont like the yolk of the salted egg but one bite and I was surprised... there was this thin coating around the prawn which makes it crispy and it wasnt heavily ladden with the salted egg which made it really quite good...

So that was the end of my yummy meal.. I ended it with a bowl of 'gwai leng gou' which was not so great... I am a fan of the "Kwong Woh Tong" version so this one just didnt do it for me.. it was overly bitter... I think they tried to prove the point of 'quality ingredients used' too much in this dish... haha!! it tasted like the black drink that you get when you go to a chinese medicinal shop and tell them you have a sorethroat... haha!!

Oh.. we had wine too.. apparently good wine.. I cant tell how good is good.. but it tasted good... however I think I prefer the one in Nero Teca...

All in all a great meal.. highly recommended... should try....

We each had a fortune cookie at the end and my fortune was aptly timed...

Dont you think so?
Bonus is coming up... heheh!!