Tom Yum (Kung POW)-er

Tom Yummy!!

Nice and tangy...

With loads of fresh seafood (squid, fish, prawns)...
loads of mushrooms....

Not too too too spicy to kill the taste.... but ada 'kick'!

AND.... it's buffet style....eat all you can leh~

I whalloped 3 or 4 bowls only la.... since it was still morning.. (did i mention this tomyummy was served for breakfast?)

Anyway.... where to get this bowl of yummyliciouspowderful tomyummykung?

Hotel Mido

222, Pradipat Rd,

Sapankwai, Bangkok

Thailand.

:P

Seri Kembangan, Pork Noodles

Chu Yok Fan!
My colleagues *love* pork. Combine that with the recent discovery of a pleasantly fulfilling shop that served delectable pork noodles... it was a visit worth documenting. In recent weeks, we have been rather adventurous for our lunch escapes. Seri Kembangan is a good 15-20 minutes drive without traffic, roughly 15kms from where we work (I'm guessing). To go through the trouble getting there on a daily basis requires 1 of 2 things:

1. We're out scouting for new spots
2. We love the shop, and are back for seconds (or thirds =Þ)

The shop is relatively close to SK3. It lies directly behind the huge shop-house area past Taman Universiti. There are seriously a lot of shop-lots here that are unoccupied and/or deserted, so it really does take some effort to actually scout the area out for potential stops. Our criteria last 2 weeks has been to visit shops that only have one stall. It is generally a good indicator because to survive on only one dish means either:

• It is very good, or
• It is very new

It is always good to hope fo the former :) And that was how we stumbled about 'Restoran Kean Wah'. Specialty: Chu Yok Fan!

They offer pork noodles in a variety of noodles; pick and choose to your liking. They also have the dish in 2 styles, soup or black sauce (dry). This is similar to pan mee or wantan mee style of servings. I ordered the dry version, as shown above. *slurp*

I opted for loh shu fan, which (I believe) translates to 'rat tail noodle'. As can be clearly seen, they're very generous with the pork! The black sauce is not visible here because I haven't mixed the stuff up yet... posing shot, I would say =Þ But take my word for it, the sauce given is just nice in amount and flavorful enough without being too sweet or salty.

The dry version is served alongside a bowl of soup with a few slices of tofu skin (not sure what they *really* call that) and pork meat paste. The paste has a satisfying touch to it. Very smooth texture, and equally tender/soft. It has a mild flavor to it that's not just skin deep. It went well with the soup, which does not give off the typical MSG flavour that we may be used to. This is a good indicator that the soup version would be just as enjoyable as the dry. Kudos!

The shop keeper is also pretty generous with customizations. On another visit here, some of us customized by requesting more pork chunks, noodles, tofu skin, etc. We didn't just get more.. we got a LOT! To the point that some of us will be thinking twice on doing it again, haha. The dishes on their own average RM3.50 to 3.80, and an additional RM1 for standard extras. Pretty cheap for a very fulfilling meal.

Now, this shot was really from another shop we visited the day before, but we had the same drink with the noodles. What's unique about it? This drink is called 'Teh C Special'. I have no idea what is really in it, nor do I know if it is a commonly available drink. The only times I've seen this thing was in that small area around Seri Kembangan.

It is served as seen in the photo; 3 layers of what seems like tea, milk and ... er.. black stuff. Haha. I'm honestly most curious of what the black thing is. We need to mix it up before drinking, by which the drink looks no different than teh tarik. That's where the similarities end... this is tea, with a very unique flavor. I cannot exactly describe it well, coz different ppl use contrastingly different descriptions. I taste some hint of soya and cincau... odd, but that's my assessment. Regardless, it was nice.

If you ever happen to be in SK, be on the lookout for posters with 'Teh C Special'. I've only seen it available in shops that advertised it. Do take a taste and drop a note of your experience :)

Home-cooked delights!

The interesting thing about food adventures is that it isn't always about the finest ambience, the exquisite presentations, nor exorbitant prices. Neither does it have to be the humble hawkers with their hereditary styles and offerings. I'm not sure how many people *could* disagree wih this, but some of the most satisfying and pleasurable culinary experiences come from none other than our very homes.

At where I work, I have grown a close bond of friendship with 3 of my fellow colleagues. Life at work would be utterly mundane had it not been for them; colleagues, comrades, friends! On October 1st this year, one of my colleague invited us all to a small dinner at his house. Occasion: His birthday, relative to the Chinese Lunar calendar.

I was excited partly for the nature of celebrating a b'day dinner within the humble confines of a traditional household, but I was also anxious to finally have a taste of his mom's cooking. Obviously, much has been said about his mom's offerings... all the while fueling the curiosity.

There we were, amidst the government flats just beside Pudu Jail. Quite a hotspot... it is KL, and all around it was busy and congested. The house, too, was literally humble... small and cosy, exuding a sense of belonging, and a history that money can't buy. In present days, it is indeed rare to experience homes like his. But the admiration of his abode was interrupted... by food!

It didn't take long for his mom to prepare the table as soon as we arrived. There were only 6 of us there, including his mom. We weren't expecting a feast, but neither were we expecting something relatively elaborate like this.

This was the 'banquet' greeting us. Some of these even had top-ups in the kitchen, rice included.

I'm guessing these were butter-fried prawns. Frankly, the style didn't really matter to me... I was sold at prawns =Þ Juicy, fresh, and flavored to utter taste-bud joy!

My favorite for the night had to be this dish. My first impression from its looks was nothing out of the ordinary. I was expecting it to be the traditional sweet/black sauce chicken. To my surprise, this was pepper chicken. Sorry, that's what they called it. I'm not a real fan of pepper... but this one spelt 'addiction' all over it. Haha, I practically devoured around 1/3rd of this. The hint of pepper was not overwhelming, and the flavour of the sauce still stood out. The meat was juicy and tender... flawless!
Apparently, this was his mom's specialty, and I can understand why. Odd thing is, my general perception about Chinese dishes is that what you see in restaurants and at home are pretty similar when you're considering the simpler dishes. This particular style, I've never actually eaten before. Would love to know if anyone knows of a place where I can savour this anytime I want, haha.

All meat and no greens would be against the doctor's prescription :) I love home-cooked vegetables not because they're particularly unique or delicious. I'm picky about vegetable freshness (a habit from home... my mom's a vegetarian). Home-cooked is almost always 'freshness guaranteed' and this was no exception. There's value to simplicity, I'd say.

What a way to bribe my taste-buds, hehe. Eggs! Added combo: Eggs with PRAWNS! Awesome... too bad there weren't seconds =Þ

There was another dish on the table I didn't take a close-up of, which is the tofu soup. It looked uninteresting, though it tasted nice. But it is a soup... they're nothing much to show in terms of looks, haha.

We were expected to EMPTY all the dishes! Lucky for us, that was not an impossible feat. It's always good to see the joy in a mother's eyes when the family enjoys her food... imagine having 5 strangers that devoured her servings with pleasure. She might consider adopting us, haha. Anyway, after dinner... we had a small surprise for the b'day boy!

What's a birthday celebration without a cake!? We grabbed this from Bread Story, and it not only looked nice, but it was very well done. Small and delicious, with sweetness seriously under control.

Of course, this was irresistable... the ape was lying around the house. It probably doesn't get much attention, but with us around the house... that was about to change.

And then there was the birthday boy himself. This is taken the way it was taken for a personal reason. We've had a series (yes, series!) of photos over the past few years that had food in the foreground, and my colleague (and his boyish grin) in the background. Can't break tradition now, can we? Hehe.

All in all, it was a very simple yet unimaginably enjoyable dinner that night. The company was great, the food was awesome, and the fun was constant! It *is* unfortunate that the food is not publicly available like a restaurant, but I suppose that's where the novelty lies.

Some of the best moments happen right within the comfort of our homes. We just gotta take our time and remember to appreciate the moments. This trip definitely had lots of food, lots of fun, and lots of friends.

Buka puasa bersama-sama at San Francisco Steakhouse

Hei guys, hah, this is my first time to post an entry here. LOF, Lot’s of food, Lot’s of friends.
Well.. I was known as official first FOODKAGE since 2006 in APIIT TP3F0508 intake ~_~, hm.. this is just a joke so readers, please ignore this.huahahaha

I’m here to write an article as I just got a chance to attend my company’s event at September 27, 2007. IPower Bhd. Buka Puasa Bersama-sama 2007 at San Francisco Steakhouse Restaurant.

One week before the event all of us were asked to vote for the restaurant and we got the selection of San Francisco Steakhouse and buffet at Hotel Sri Petaling. So…. The answer is obvious. (who will vote for the second option ~_~ since our boss is the one who pay the bill hahaha)

Today, we finished working at 5:00pm as the schedule of the event and we straight heading to Mid Valley. I bet, many of us already no mood to work after lunch. And everybody should be shutting down applications in computers at 4:30, haha. Of course, I’m one of them.

You know, I’ve been trying to figure out what food will be available at the restaurant few hundred times in my mind and finally I got some variety of food selection for the buffet just after my lunch through a colleague… my reaction after I read the message in skype…. WHERE IS MY OYSTER =.=












We actually reached Mid Valley City quite early as the dinner will start at 7:00pm. Once we reached the restaurant, I actually have a browse there and start taking pictures for the purpose of taking down nice memories for this event and mainly… for this article ~_~ (see, that’s how much I care for this entries)

Frankly speaking, this restaurant is smaller if you compare it to Jogoya or Shangrilla Hotel buffet. Even to Saisaki Sushi at Wisma UOA, near KLCC. And the variety of food is considered lesser. But there’s still Japanese food like sushi, sashimi, tempura available and also some Malay food and of course lamb and beef.


Firstly I start my dinner with sashimi, my favorite, haha



Many people around me might think I’m a person who cares more on quantity in term of food after they see my body but that isn’t really true. I’ll eat more in my daily life, to fill up my stomach but when comes to this kind of restaurant, try focus more on the quality of their food. Do enjoy the food and taste every single taste that your food contains slowly, haha. That’s why my plate has just some raw salmon fish with wasabi.





Look!! The layers of fat on the fish are so beautiful. They’re juicy and fresh.

My strategy for this kind of buffet, is always take them slowly, plate by plate, and then taste them clean and neatly. But I won’t go for rice base item like fried rice, spaghetti or ketupat. They just waste my food quota in my stomach haha.

For tempura, I’d say for a person who hates vegetable a lot like me, I won’t go for the tempura haha. That’s just simple because the restaurant only serve 2 kind of tempura, sweat potato and another greenish thing which I can only make sure that’s just one kind of vegetable ~_~. So, I straight rate their tempura 2 out of 10 by not eating them. Their tempura selection is too little.

But the lamb shoulder and beef is nice. Especially beef. It’s 70% cooked and it was just warm and cover with either brown source or black pepper source (depend on what source you choose) which is slightly warmer than the meat. It’s so delicious, just after putting one slice of the beef into your mouth.. yummy!!









You know @@, what makes a man happy, a great meal taken by a beautiful lady… wow, what a wonderful scene, enjoy the food and enjoy the scene ~_~
Ok… perhaps I should focus more on the food ~_~ haha. Let’s continue =.=


Desserts,

Actually they didn’t serve any nice desserts but just some cream tarts, cakes, and puddings which are common to other buffet style restaurant. Even their ice cream is just very normal ice cream in vanilla or chocolate flavor. You know, I MISS MY MOCHI IN JOGOYA @@

Finally, dinner is ended. Not much comments for this restaurant but I’m glad to have my meal here. And I really enjoy my sashimi and beef. Hope to come here again although I know their food is expensive.








People start leaving after dinner. But I’ll make sure all these memories are shared within the company, haha
Goodbye mates












Lot’s of food, lot’s of fun, lot’s of friends

^FoOdKaGe^

Seri Kembangan, Yong Tau Foo!

For frequent visitors to Seri Kembangan, there would be some common flavours of cuisine that are literally available in every corner. Some of these include (but not limited to) pan mee, and yong tau foo. To the uninitiated, yong tau foo is generally an assortment of fried soya products and vegetables with stuffings of fish paste. However, I can't say that is a complete/correct description of what it really is... I'm just basing it on the various places that I have enjoyed this particular style of cuisine.

There are several yong tau foo spots around the concentrated old town of Seri Kembangan. The particular one I visited just recently is close to the tom yam spot previously covered. I'll update this post with an address when (and if) I acquire it, but for those familiar with SK, they should know of a bah kut teh shop within the vicinity of area 6 and area 3. That's as much as I'll describe before I confuse myself :P If that made sense, suffice to say you're not far from the intended destination.

It can get pretty hot during lunch, and coupled with the difficulty to find decent parking spots, it is tempting to shy away from SK. This particular spot (like many others in SK) is a house-turned-shop outlet. Much to my surprise was the decent amount of ceiling fans that keep the shop itself comfortably cool amidst the scorching heat. The crowd was respectably large, but we did manage to get a spot upon arrival.

We ordered the standard stuff. There isn't really much in terms of variety to expect from a yong tau foo shop. What I did notice is that most shops have at least one additional specialty.

Theirs is this; paper-wrapped chicken. My colleagues were kind enough to teach me the Mandarin name for those who're interested. Do correct me if my pinyin is wrong: zhǐ bāo jī.

Unwrapping this reveals none other than... chicken :P For one, I enjoyed this particular dish because it was my first time. It is kinda hard to provide more comparative details due to that. I did have a second helping :) The meat was only slightly tough; however the flavour was evenly tasteable through-and-through.

There was also a vegetable side-dish available. Seems like the standard affair available in most Chinese food spots. I won't pretend to know the name of this vegetable, nor the dish name... forgive my ignorance. Suffice to say, the vegetable was rather fresh and juicy. It definitely meets my minimum criteria for edible greens: freshness.

All in all, for a serving to feed 5, the total bill came up to RM64. Though I somewhat enjoyed this meal, I would deem it on the pricey side for a simple menu. I've visited other ytf spots with larger varieties at lower prices. One in particular is in Bandar Bukit Puchong; a spot I'd like to cover on a future visit. I would still rate that higher than SK's, but this is not bad by any means. If you happen to pass through SK over lunch, it is worth checking out.

Happy Mooncake Festival (Mid Autumn Festival also lah)

Just want to wish all my fellow LOF-ers a happy mooncake festival. Hope you guys are enjoying some really good mooncakes right now. If you are not, dont ask from me because i finished all already. If you have any leftovers mooncakes, dont be shy to send some over this way (only lotus seeds and red bean paste types accepted, just in case you guys start sending some really weird ones over).

The origins of the mooncake festival is actually still a mystery. Briefly i will mention the 2 stories I have heard of concerning its origins.

Story 1 has it that there was once an immortal woman who in her many ventures to earth from heaven fell in love with a mortal man. For this reason, she stayed on earth for a long time and never went back to heaven which was against the laws of the heavens. And for her defiance, the jade emperor imprisoned her in the moon for eternity where she will only be allowed to meet her lover once a year. So the festival is to celebrate her one day of release from her prison lo.

Story 2 has it that the mooncake was a vessel used by the rebels to pass secret messages from one to the other. With this tactic, they were able to overthrow the government of that time. So the festival was to commemorate the success of the rebels.

There are of course hundreds more variations of the origins of the festival. When I was young, I always remember it for the day I get to play with lanterns which actually turned to playing with fire as I grew older. I remembered at one time burning the front part of my hair playing with the candles at a friends place. But now, I remember it for the time I get to eat delicious mooncakes.

P/S: The mooncake festival falls on a different day every year because it uses the Chinese Lunar Calendar. It will fall on September 14th next year.

LOF member forever,
ZICKZACK

Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Japan

5. Toyota Camry 2007 Model

4. Takoyaki

3. Seriously Kawaii Girls In A Kimono

2. Japanese Manga & Anime

1. JAPANESE FOOD!!!


Haha anyone who knows me would know how much I love Japanese food. Especially fresh sashimi. So last week, a few business partners and I were in KL for a business meeting and after the meeting, we were feeling hungry. The place we were at had loads of great restaurants lined up one after another but having just gone to one of the restaurants called Elcerdo (will be on another post in the future) we wanted something different.

After 15 minutes of deciding on what to eat, all signs pointed to dinner at the famous Jalan Alor ( lofmsia will do a feature of this place in the future as well ) when suddenly one of my partners went "come, lets go and eat japanese buffet in Wisma Antarabangsa." As everyone was a Japanese food lover, all of us agreed on the spot.

The place we all went to in Wisma Antarabangsa was called Shin-Nichi restaurant. Now I have been to quite a number of Japanese buffets in the past (Oishi, Saisaki and also Shogun) so I knew what to expect, but when I reached there I was very surprised to see the spread of food available. There were many different types of raw fishes, with some of them I have not heard of before. There was many varieties of food available there from Teppanyaki to Sukiyakis and all other yakis you can think of lah... what I liked the most about the place was the fact that it was well lit, and surprisingly on a Thursday night, the place wasn't packed to the brim.

We got seated, each took a plate and then started our "rounds" and started to pack our plates. So here goes, hope you don't have an empty stomach when you are reading this post =)

Round 1















Round 2
















Round 3





















WOW... Actually after uploading the pictures only then did I realize the amount of food I ate. Scary man... I had another plate of Teppanyaki which unfortunately I didn't take a picture of, but I highly recommend it. As for the food that was shown in the pic above, only one word is needed. DELICIOUS. I highly recommend the food at this place and honestly, I place it above all the other Japanese buffet dinners that I have been to. This place has almost everything you would want in a Japanese restaurant e.g. sushi, soft shell crab, tempura, anything that I can think of, they have it. All in all I give it my thumbs up, and at the price of around RM 50 per person, I think its worth every cent. Especially after you saw the amount of raw fish that I ate over there. The best part of all of this? Most of the food I ate was fat and cholesterol free, hehe talk about eating healthy.

Ok my friends, hope you guys liked my first post. This is Acronixx signing out... Obsius your post should be up next ok? We will be waiting...

LOF Member - Acronixx