Lunch @ Xing Wang Centrepoint

My friend kept telling me the loved the Pork Belly dish sold here. Sometimes, she told me that she loved the Pork Trotters here. But when she brought me here, I found out that what she had really liked was the Stir-fried Pork Belly with Salted fish, served on rice.

 Stir-fry pork belly with salted fish
Well, the pork was very thinly sliced and very lean, and I found it to be just a teeny weeny bit tough. It's just my personal preference, as some people may like its chewy texture. The taste however, was quite shiok or satisfying. The gravy was rather thick, and robust with the sweet, salty and pungent flavour, and it coated the meat very well. Therefore, this is a very satisfying dish to eat with the white rice.

We shared a bowl of kolo mee .... 

Kolo mee

Now, let's see .... it looked good with the brown, green and red condiments on top of the noodles. The condiments met my requirement, as it had the minced pork and the red char siu. The noodles tasted right, very fragrant with lard and onion oil. The portion was very generous too. The only thing they could improve was the texture of the noodles, blanched for a tad too long .... so it was a little bit soggy. Otherwise, it would have been a perfect bowl of kolo mee. :P 

 Liver soup
The liver soup was yum as well .... very generous with red wine, and with powdery liver used. We enjoyed the piping hot soup with our noodles and rice.

Quite a lot of people here. The food was not bad .... so I would just probably return for the other stuff .... 

Dinner @ Great King City

Since GSC opened its doors, we have been frequently going there for movies on weekends. To watch a movie is to feast your senses, I always think. You sit there in the plush seats, relaxing in the dark while you immerse your sense of sight to the amazing visuals on screen. Your ears pick up the the varied sound effects .... while the buttery scent of popcorn tickle your nose. Well ... not all stories are enjoyable .... but most visual and sound effects are mind-blowing!

Anyway, going to Bintang Plaza on a Saturday night is not something that I like to do, mainly because it is so difficult to find a parking for the car. The other day, we parked near the restaurant, Great King City at Bintang Commercial Centre, and therefore, proceeded there for dinner before our movie.

The place was filled up quickly .... and we had to wait for 30 minutes before we were served our food. By then, we were all starving already!

The first dish to arrive was

Thai-style pork chop

The meat was of reasonable thickness and coated and then deep-fried. A concoction of spicy, sweet and tangy sauce was then poured over the meat, and garnished with shredded carrot, onions and chillies. We enjoyed this dish a lot.

Stir-fried chicken with ginger and spring onion

We did not like this dish much .... I found it too starchy, and the fragant flavour of the ginger and spring onion did not come through. 

Sizzling tofu

This dish was delicious. The silken square tofu was soft and smooth, fragrant, and egg. The sauce was savoury and rich ... and was delicious with the rice. There was an egg cooked on the hot-plate and that was nice with the sauce too. 

 Baby kalian stir-fry with garlic

The vegetables were well-fried, crunchy and nicely flavoured. 

Despite the long wait, we rather enjoyed the dinner. The meal cost us RM48.00 inclusive of 3 drinks. We thought the price was reasonable. No wonder this place was so crowded. 

Date Souvenirs From Mecca

It being Ramadhan, there are a lot of dates at the supermarkets. I love them! But the other day, when my colleague came back from Mecca, he brought back some souvenirs for us ....

Yeah ... dates & chocolates 

Yums ... my favourite among the three would be the plain date with almond ... as I could really taste the sweet and refreshing flavour of the fruit, combined with the nutty fresh almond. Delicious. 

Thanks so much!

Nasi Lemak Lunch

The enterprising kids managed to obtain sponsorship from Shukie, in a bid to raise fund. The restaurant was generous enough to sponsor 40 packets of nasi lemak, in which the kids sold.

Nasi Lemak

The rice came with light green, fragrant pandan rice, a hard-boiled egg, a whole deep-fried chicken thigh, a packet of sambal and another packet of peanuts and crackers. The nasi lemak was very delicious indeed. I liked the piquant and spicy anchovies sambal. It tasted slightly sweet, but went very well with the rice. What I did not like so much was the chicken .... which I found to be bland and dry.

Anyway, I sincerely thank the restaurant for their contribution. Thanks for your good deed.

From The Bazaar 2

I was at the Ramadhan Bazaar at Saberkas. I walked and walked .... but again did not see much of what was interesting to buy. In the end .....

Lemang, chicken and beef satay with peanut sauce

Now, the lemang was very delicious. Lemang is a glutinous rice roll, cooked in bamboo. At RM2.00 each, the lemang was freshly made, was slightly savoury, soft but not mushy and yet exuded the fragrance of coconut milk and banana leaf. Yums. Of the 2 types of satay, I preferred the chicken satay as the meat was more tender. The beef satay was too tough to eat! Now, I loved the combination of satay and freshly-made lemang. I'm sure it made people anticipate the coming Raya celebration, which is just around the corner. 

From The Bazaar 1

It's the time of the year again, when our Muslim friends abstain from food from sunrise to sunset. And together with the month of Ramadhan, food bazaars are set up at many parts of town, with traditional favourites, and colourful delicacies sold. These food bazaars are frequented by people across all races ... and I loved to go there once in a while.

I went to the one at Morjaya. I was early at about 2.30 p.m. because I did not like to be in the crowd. And in the early afternoon, I could walk freely without being squished amongst the sea of people. The only disadvantage would be that some stalls were not set up yet.

I walked up and down the aisles .... but I did not see anything interesting enough to buy. Perhaps I was too early in the afternoon and the goodies weren't there yet!!

At the most elaborate stall there, I decided to buy a chicken thigh.

"RM5 satu," I was told by the lady vendor. RM5 each.

"Ayam masak apa ni?" I asked. How is this cooked?

"Masak merah. Nak?" Chicken in sweet and spicy sauce. Do you want one?

I nodded and she proceeded to pack up the chicken thigh. She poured more gravy into the plastic bag.

Deep-fried chicken thigh in blood-red shimmery sweet and spicy sauce

I walked some more ..... and decided to buy a nasi lemak. I suppose I was attracted to the fresh green banana leaf wrapping of the nasi lemak, so I decided to buy one pack. RM3.00 each.

Nasi lemak in banana leaf 

I was also interested in a briyani stall at the bazaar .... but that would have to wait another day. I could not possibly stomach so much in one day!!

Back home ..... I unwrapped the nasi lemak

Coconut-milk flavoured rice .... topped with spicy sweet sambal, egg omelette, a slice of cucumber and fried chicken

Hmn .... the food wasn't exceptionally nice. The gravy for the masak merah tasted of chillies, and that was about it. Meanwhile the nasi lemak was mere ordinary. I think more people buy at the bazaar for convenience more than anything else.

Chinese Sausage In Fried Rice

My friend gave me one Chinese sausage to try. She had bought it from someone, and from hearsay, the sausages were made locally and in KL. She had told me that she liked the sausages on many occasions, and insisted that I tried it out.

And so ... with the single sausage in hand, I thought I would make some fried rice.

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausages

Well ... I would say that the Chinese sausages were in a really nice, dark shade. There were firm, but not hard, and was quite sweet. Sweeter than the average Chinese sausage that I'd eaten. So, it really complemented the savoury rice.

On the whole, I enjoyed today's fried rice.

Okra Stirfry

Seriously, I have never cooked okra before. There are plenty of vegetables around, and okra is definitely not one that I would prefer to buy to cook. I don't mind eating okra, but am not particularly fond of it anyway.

So the other day, I saw my friend cooking okra ... and I was just wondering why I myself had never gotten around buying this vegetable for consumption. And my friend went on to share with me the wonderful properties of the vegetable. To her, okra is a rich source of fibre that does wonders for the gastrointestinal health. Its fibres and mucous cleans out the gastrointestinal system, thereby increasing its level of efficiency. It was just what I needed, as for the past few weeks .... I'd been feeling a bit weird in the stomach.

At the grocery store nearby, I happened to see some very fresh okra packed in a bag. Only RM1.30 for the small bag that I picked. Back home, I washed and cut them into thick slanted slices, ands stir-fried them with just chopped garlic and chopped dried prawns. A dash of salt to enhance the flavour, and I was ready to have it with my white rice.

Okra Stirfry

The okra was really fresh. They were soft but not mushy. I loved its distinctive flavour. I finished the entire lot of vegetable, and found it to be very filling. It was also not difficult to cook. So it looks like I'd be buying and cooking okra more frequently in the future.

I'm Lovin' It : Spicy Chicken McDeluxe

The other day, I drove to McDonald's on impulse. I don't know why. Perhaps I was feeling really lousy, and I had just wanted to hang out somewhere. I also wanted to have the Grand Spicy Meal. Unfortunately, McShaker Fries was unavailable. So I had to be happy with just the Passion McFizz.

My Meal .... 

I'm glad that I enjoyed the meal. The drink was quite nice, for a change. I loved the refreshing and fragrant passion fruit flavour with the fizzy and slightly citrusy 7-Up. The burger was yum. I loved the crunchy and spicy chicken thigh patty that set fire to my mouth delightfully. Kinda want to eat it again now ....

But well, that was the other day. Now's the Samurai promo .... I haven't gone to try it yet. Soon. :P

Oh yeah .... for the record, I don't own a single minion. It's sold out by the time I realised there is minions. Lol.

Fried Beehoon and Honey Chicken

Today's breakfast was fried beehoon and honey chicken, which I tucked in with delight.

Yums ... 

The chicken was deep-fried and then coated in a sweet and spicy sauce, while the noodles were savoury. What a complement to each other. And what a great way to start the work day ....

Dinner @ The Cafe

AT and I were a-walking at Bintang Plaza Mega mall. He was interested to get a tablet ... and so he brought me along to give him some opinions. Of course, I tried to persuade him to get the iPad mini .... but it seemed that he was more interested in the Asus Fonepad. Hmn ... I thought the Fonepad camera sucked. :P

So .... then on a whim .... I brought him to the movies since he'd not watched here at GSC Lite. Need to educate him a bit about the cinema. Lol. The movie was not that great .... but by the time we finished, it was time for dinner.

We actually went to Mei Xiang Lou. We sat down and waited a long time before someone came to take our order. She warned us about the long wait. An hour, to be exact. Hmn .... AT decided that we'd go somewhere else - The Cafe at Bintang Commercial Centre, facing SK Bintang.

I'd not eaten here before, my first time. And I thought the food was great! We had ...

Midin Red Wine Stir-fry 

Crunchy vegetables in very fragrant and sweet red rice wine, not overfried. Yums.

Pork Belly with Salted Fish  

This version is rather dry, but was really savoury. The meat was of a chewy texture, and the salted fish fragrant and appetising.

Fish Curry (mind the photo ...:P)

The curry was the star of the meal. The fish was fresh, and served in a rich, thick, spicy and tangy curry gravy. There were beancurd skin, okra, and eggplant in there too. I finished up the entire bowl of rice because of the curry gravy. Super yums. 

The meal cost us less than RM50.00, inclusive of 3 rice.  I thought it was rather reasonable. A recommended  place to eat. Want to come back :))

Lunch @ Apollo

My old friend, AT came to pick me up at my house, but I did not recognise his car. New car? I asked him, impressed with the sleek lines and the leather interior of the Honda Civic. I'd not seen him for half a year, so he could very well have changed his car without my knowing.

Well, apparently not. It was a car under his care ... and he was just taking me out for a ride in town. Lol. Okie ... fine. So off we drove around town ..... before stopping at Apollo for lunch.

To eat with our rice, we had ....

Sea cucumber thick soup

It was not bad ... but we needed to add lots of malt vinegar to make it sour. It tasted better sour. 

Bitter gourd stir-fry

I would always remember AT as the one who taught me to eat bitter gourd ... and that was years ago. So today, he ordered this ... and it brought back memories. The bitter gourd here at Apollo was yum too.

AT also ordered a plain steamed fish. I had taken a photo but too bad, had deleted it by mistake. Hmn .... it was a steamed red snapper ... I thought it was a tad fishy :P 

It was always good to catch up with AT. He'd disappeared for a few months ..... lol ..... I'd last seen him during CNY. 

Little Chef Again

On impulse, I asked my friend to accompany me for dinner. It always happens when I felt cold in the tummy .... and I wanted a hot meal. So we went to the Little Chef. I loved the fast service here. They dished out the food within minutes! Very impressive! And just what we needed when we were hungry.

We ordered the following items, all brought to the table in a jiffy and at the same time.

Stir-fry mustard greens with garlic

The crunchy and crispy vegetables were not over-fried, and was fragrantly coated with deep-fried chopped garlic. Very tasty.

Pork belly and salted fish in a claypot
This was a very appetising dish, as the tender slivers of pork were being flavoured by salty yet pungent salted fish. The leeks and onions enhanced the flavour and texture of the whole dish. There was some gravy at the bottom of the pot to moisten the meat. I loved to drench my rice in the gravy as well. 

Foochow Tofu Soup

What I loved the most about the soup was the intoxicating flavour of the red rice wine. It was perfect with the thick soup. In the soup were tofu, minced pork and egg. The consistency was good, not too sticky and not to watery either. 

The meal was rather delightful, I found. My friend and I enjoyed our dinner lots ..... and we vowed to return for other dishes!! 

Pujut 2 Cold Drinks

This corner shop faces Jalan Pujut 2C. It opened for business not so long ago .... and today, my friends and I went to check it out. Across the road, a car wash was in operation. So, there were customers who were relaxing over some cold refreshments, while waiting for their car to be cleaned.

 My shaved ice

I had corn and red beans in my shaved ice, flavoured with palm sugar and evaporated milk. I found that it was not "milky" enough, so that rich and satisfying flavour was lacking. Too bad, though I quite enjoyed the soft and powdery red beans. 

Deep-fried fritters

Hmn .... I think there were yam and sweet potato and maybe even breadfruit in there. The root vegetables were all fragrant and powdery, the crust coating them was crunchy and maybe even a bit hard. We all agreed that the sauce was "stinky" ... well ... a bit too pungent. We finished up the whole plate nonetheless. 

 Sotong Kangkong

The vegetables were well-blanched, and I found the cuttlefish cut too small. I much preferred large and generous slices :P  The sauce was less pungent than the one for the fritter ... and I did not like the chilli paste much. 

I thought the prices here were a bit more steep, compared to the rest of the drinking holes in town. Besides the above, the shop also sells kolo mee, mee suah, laksa, dumplings soup, fish balls and meat balls soup. We did not try any of the items ... perhaps next time. 

Four Coloured Rolls

Hmn .... four colour rolls are probably aren't very healthy. They are after all, categorised as "processed food".

Four-colour rolls

But I loved the springy texture of the processed fish paste, coupled with the taste of surimi stick, seaweed, water chestnut and parsley - all wrapped in a roll using beancurd skin. The four-coloured rolls are normally deep-fried and sliced. I loved a dollop of chilli sauce over the slices before I tucked in. 

Nancy's

I haven't been to Nancy's Beef Noodle for quite long. She's opened a branch now, at the Waterfront area. But we went to the original outlet. They were a lot of people mid-morning .... and though we secured a table, 2 other people came to share it with us. It was alright, except that the lady smoked right in front of us. So that made it rather unpleasant. We were relieved when they moved to the next table, after someone vacated.

What's new here .... well .... we got to fetch our own cutlery and condiments at the condiment station. We grabbed our own chopsticks and spoons, ladled our own chilli sauce into our saucers ... and cut our own limes for our laksa. It was quite interesting, lol.

 Kopi peng

The coffee was quite satisfying ..... thick, bitter and not too sweet

Beef noodles, RM6.00

The beef noodles were superb. I loved the springy noodles, coated with beef-flavoured gravy and oils. Very fragrant and delicious to eat. The bowl of beef soup was also appetising, with slivers of beef, tripe, blanched beansprouts, and chopped salted mustard in there. If only the soup was boiling hot ... then it would have been perfect. The tangy and spicy chilli-ginger dip was perfect accompaniment to the noodles.

Laksa, RM6.00

Hmn .... the broth was alright. My complaint : the hard-boiled egg was annoying as yolk polluted the gravy. The prawns were not shelled as usual. Still one of the better quality laksa in town, but I wish they stuck to the original ingredients. Long time ago, they did! Now, it seemed that they did not bother to. Too bad.

Well .... I was glad that the beef noodles were still yum ..... I hope they maintain the quality. Till next time!!!

Airflown Kampua

My friend brought this back from Sibu.

Kampua

I popped a packet into the microwave for 2 minutes ..... and it was ready to eat. The noodles were still very springy and really fragrant cause of the lard and the onion oil. I enjoyed the noodles lots. I wished there were more char siew, that's all. :P

Ham & Egg

I was lazy to cook ... so I sliced up some ham and made an omelette with an egg.

And that I ate with bread. For dinner. ;P

Fried Beehoon Again

The next day, I had craving for Fried Beehoon again. Dunno what's wrong with me for craving Fried Beehoon all the time.

Fried Beehoon

This one I bought from the canteen, RM2.00. It was quite tasty with lots of vegetables in it. The other ingredients were just some fish cake slices and eggs. Not bad ... and quite filling. It was a nice change from having rice for lunch all the time!

I Made Fried Beehoon

I had a strong craving for fried beehoon ... and I wanted to make my own, cause I did not want it greasy.

Fried Beehoon

So it's rather easy to prepare. I stir-fried blanched rice vermicelli with garlic, shallots, egg, ham and beansprouts. To make it the beehoon dark in colour, I added some dark soy sauce. Finally, I seasoned the whole dish with a bit of salt and pepper. 

Hmn ... I found my beehoon to be rather yum. I had a great lunch. ;) 

Red Velvet Mania

The red colour is really enticing. The texture is crumbly ... and there is a slight taste of chocolate to the cake.

This one I bought from Seed Bakery. It's got a cream cheese frosting that lent a rich and salty flavour to the cake. I liked it.  

 This one I bought from The Lof, Kuching. It was finer in texture, and more chocolate-y, probably due to the chocolate ganache. This cake was also sweeter.

Both versions of Red Velvet were nice, in their own ways .... :)) 

Ginger And Anchovy Floss

My colleague ordered lots of these ginger floss .... from Kuching. I bought a tub ...

Ginger floss

It's very spicy ... and it's good for expelling wind or gas from the body. My friends recommend that I eat it as it is ... or with rice porridge. I did not quite like its taste on its own. But I think it will go pretty well with fish or pork porridge. I think I'll just try that!

Lazy Sunday Breakfast

Hmn ... it was a lazy Sunday. So I decided to stay home to have breakfast.

Homemade : 2 eggs, 3/4 boiled. Bread with chicken serunding, cucumber and mayo. Instant white coffee.

Hmn ... it's not easy to get boiled eggs in the perfect consistency. I like them soft, with a custard-like texture. My friend told me to cook the eggs till the water boils,turn off the fire, and then to let the eggs soak in the hot water for 5 minutes. I must say that I was quite happy with the result.

Serunding is the Malay version of meat floss. It is cooked by stir-frying cooked meat with spices till they became light and dry. I chanced upon Chef cooking some chicken serunding the other day at my workplace .... and so I bought some from him. I loved serunding with my bread, some refreshing cucumber for some crunchiness, and flavour-enhancing mayonnaise. Yums.

Coffee? Hmn .... instant ones will have to do for now. Just tear up the sachet, add hot water and stir. ;P

Simple ... and a bliss. 

Inarizushi

Hmn .... I never really appreciated Inarizushi ... up till now. It's essentially a tofu pouch, filled with rice. Now, it can be filled with lots of other things other than rice.

This time around, I kind of liked the sweet taste that had a faint hint of soy, and its soft yet chewy texture. Of course, the presentation kind of tempted me as well.

Inari Boat Tuna Mayo

Inari Burger

I thought it looked kind of cute, the patty being so much large than the tofu pouches. Taste wise ... hmn .... I can't say I like the combination. But the tofu pouches still tasted good. 

Well .... not much of choice here .... frankly speaking. There are lots of items .... but then .... just not what I want to eat. In the end ..... 

Broiled salmon ... 

It's another night at the movies after that!

Marudi Homemade Ice-Cream

My colleague's been raving about Marudi homemade ice-cream.

Where? I asked, interested.

"Taman Tunku," he replied. 

Hmn .... I suppose I would not be driving all the way there just for an ice-cream. The other day, I picked up my friend from the airport. So we decided to go to Taman Tunku to try out the ice-cream.

Ice-cream, RM2.50

Ice-cream Special, RM3.50

The colourful homemade ice-cream was delicious! It was smooth, not too sweet, and had a delicate coconut milk flavour. It was totally enjoyable. I had it plain, but my friend chose to have hers with jelly, stewed red beans, and corn. 

We also decided to try the rojak ..... 

 Rojak, RM5.00 onwards 

Sotong Kangkong, RM5.00 onwards 

The ingredients in the rojak included cucumbers, pineapples, tofu, jicama, and slices of squid. They were served in a piquant rojak sauce.

The Sotong Kangkong was made up of just blanched water convolvulus and squid slices.  The sauce tasted milder and sweeter, compared to the rojak.

Of the two, my friend and I both preferred the Sotong Kangkong.

My friend and I vowed to drive back there .... next weekend. 

Nissin Teppan Yaki Soba

Have you watched tontantin on Youtube? He's posted over 5,000 videos on instant noodles, sourced from all over the world.  Ever since I watched tontantin, I had a craving for instant noodles, especially the dried variety.

The other day, when I was at the supermarket, I came across the Nissin Fried Noodles Specialist. This product was made in Singapore. Hmn ... the packaging said "Teppan Yakisoba". That's supposed a Japanese-inspired hot plate fried noodles ....

The packaging ... see picture of the Teppan hot plate ..

Inside the packaging were noodles, seasoning powder, seasoning oil and seasoning sauce

I cooked the noodles till they softened and drained them. Then I added seasoning oil, seasoning sauce, and 3/4 sachet of the seasoning powder. I mixed the flavouring well and served my noodles. 

 Nissin Teppan Yakisoba

Hmn ... I liked the texture of the noodles. It was springy and nice to chew on. The noodles tasted salty and with a hint of sweetness, and quite sharp with the smell and taste of dried chilli in seasoning powder. Overall, quite yum.