I ate : Balinese food @ Ole Ole Bali

Ole ole Bali has been around for quite some time now. It has always sat in a high position on my must-try places but the price has seem to hold me back each time im thinking about going there.But in the good spirit of friend's birthday's budget always seems to be the least of our concerns. First impressions of this restaurant gives a strong vibe of a beach side resort with is warm colours, wooden furniture's,dim lightings and antiques with a strong balinese influence. Perfect for a romantic evening but not the most ideal condition for taking pictures.

Being fully booked on a odd weekday is always a good sign of a healthy eatery so i had to pester myself to go early to secure a nice table on the terrace of the restaurant.

Seeing that it was the first time there for most of us we were advised to share some of the dishes among ourselves to be able to have a wide variety of choice. To start off we had a jug of barley lime which was shared among the 5 of us and this version of barley lime seemed some how highly refreshing as compared to those served in chinese coffeehouses.

First up was the ole ole trio which was a starter dish with a nice spread of fish satay on lemongrass, grilled chicken wings, prawns and deep fried calamari which was definetly big enough to qualify as a main course. The satay here was the main stand out for me, very fragrant and fresh.

As our main course we ordered nasi campur which comes with a choice of chicken( beef or lamb) accompanied with rice, awesome grilled squid and fish and insiginificant serving of kangkung belacan. I'd reckon on a good day i would be able to wallop the whole portion solo.

Since there was 5 of us sharing we went for another entrée, siap menpanggang which came with half a chicken which was nicely marinated with lemongrass, traditional crackers and nasi kuning. Which was slightly cheaper than the other 2 dishes.

Probably the only thing holding me back from frequenting this place more often would be the price which averages around RM 30 a dish. But for good service and authentic food its hard to argue eh?

Location:

Ole Ole Bali
Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
ob-1c, ground floor main entrance

I ate: Banana Leaf Rice @ KKB

Seeing that most shop houses or buildings in KKB for that matter came to rise circa 1970's the food offered in this small quaint town follows suit with the styling of the buildings around serving basic, simple food in a rustic setting. Probably being one of the more outstanding and modern eatery around KKB would be Indian Village restaurant which boasts serving chettinad cuisine in a more modern setting which actually has an airconditioned room at the back of the restaurant for their diners comfort.

Unlike the other regular establishments of banana leaf rice in Kl like Sri Nirwana's, Kana's and Raju's just to name a few this restaurant exercises a self-service concept. To a certain extend i believed that it has crossed over with nasi kandar apart from the novelty of it being served on a banana leaf. Seeing that they're open only for lunch hours it's assured that the food served is freshly made. Various fares offered are the regular mix of curries from fish, chicken, mutton and some vegetables and of course home made yoghurt.

I opted for their mutton curry which was cooked very well, tender and a nice mix of various curry broth going around with my rice which was very rich and savoury.

As for the price, as i can recall it ended up being around Rm 8-10 inclusive of drinks and 2 portions of vegetables and a serving of mutton which is very reasonable for banana leaf standards as they arent the cheapest choice of food around.

This was definetly good enough to have me fold my banana leaf top down indicating that the food was good and i'll be looking foward to my next time round.

Location:

Its located directly opposite the Hailam restaurant.
No 11, Jalan Mat Kilau, Kuala Kubu Baru

I ate: Hailam food @KKB

Set in the sleepy town of Kuala Kubu Baru untainted by time Restaurant Sun Sun Nam Cheong is said to have served generations of its residents of this small city town. Walking into this simple rustic restaurants sets your mood back to probably 20 years behind time. Focusing on a small menu serving traditional hailam food and local food to serve the local people mainly dominated by the malay population this small eatery serves halal food.

Being in a hailam restaurant which exudes a mood of authenticity i ordered the quintessential Malaysian western dish of Chicken Chop. A very simple dish served with Worcester sauce as its base the very tender piece of chicken was cooked well with onions accompanied with a side serving of peas and fries went really well. And probably the best part of the dish for me was the steamed hailam bread with melted butter on its surface which was then topped with a gently poached egg. Two thumbs up for that!

Other notable fares include hailam mee which is the signature dish of this shop and its fried rice which was fragrant, simple and very well done which could have easily taken on any upper class bistro's in other bigger towns.

Overall the food was decent for KKB seeing that you dont actually get alot of food around its town area. In a small town like this prices a really reasonable with the chicken chop being the most expensive dish on the menu at RM 10 would probably be a good point to patronize this small eatery the next time round. Probably breakfast here would be a good idea for some authentic steam hailam bread and kaya or perhaps a nice cup of traditional hailam coffee.

Heck they'd even set dodgy looking partitions to give some privacy to their diners. How 70's is that?



Location:

Sun Sun Nam Cheong
8, Jalan Mat Kilau
Kuala Kubu Bahru
Selangor

Sun You Eats: Yi Kee Roast goose @ Cheras

Goose meat has always been closely associated to upper class restaurants and food served in major dining events. As for those who have a long standing affection for this variation of meat there isnt that many places around serving it apart from upper class chinese restaurants as far as i know of. But this particular restaurant presents itself as more of a basic chinese restaurant serving downright honest chinese food which includes the slightly rarer fare of goose meat.

Since we went off the lunch peak hour the service was pretty brisky even though we ordered a relatively sizeable amount of meat for the 5 of us. They offered a wide variety of meat other than their famed goose including steamed chicken, roast pork (siu yuk) which of course we didnt skip out on and a few other seasonal variations offered on weekends.

It was a no brainer that we had to order their roast duck and goose. The roast duck was cooked well, slightly above average without too much fat under the skin,crispy and most importantly no signs of any gamey smell insight. Where as the glistering roast goose was slightly meatier compared to the duck, tasty and not dry. Both the duck and goose went well with their authentic home made sweet plum sauce and their own chilli concoction which definitely was good enough for me.

We also did branch out a little and decided to give their siu yuk a go. This wasnt very significant after having tried both the duck and goose meat but its worth a try if you'd had to have a nice touch of pork in your meat platter.

Dining in a group of 5 has always been an advantage when trying new places as you'd be able to sample a wide array of dishes in a new place which proved evident in this situation and most importantly cost effective too as we paid Rm 15 a person which was a pretty reasonable price considering that goose meat doesn't come cheap.


Location:

Restaurant Yi Kee
(its located directly opposite UCSI along the taman connaught highway)
223, Jalan Sarjana,
Taman Connaught,
Cheras,Kuala Lumpur

Sun You Eats: Yu Kee BKT, SS14 Subang

Following last weeks post on Ah Ping's BKT i had an opportunity to try out another Bkt restaurant located along the same row at Subang SS14. Both shops during dinner hours receives a fair amount of crowd so being seated may take quite some time. As i walked into the shop i was greeted with the ever so familiar herbal scent of bak kut teh as it was being prepared which was a good sign from the beginning.

Orders were placed for both dry and soup version of BKT each with a serving for 2 and the obligatory greens to be shared among the four of us.

Service was speedy even with a large crowd both inside and outside of the restaurant. The soup came first with the usual fare of pork meat both lean and fat,enoki and button mushrooms, tofu pok, pork tripe and intestine. The broth was decent, while not spectacular, with the meat cooked till it had a soft texture to it.

The dry bak kut teh however was pretty good. It was tasty and spicy enough to get my mucus running. We opted for lean meat on this one but i believe fatty meat for dry bak kut teh would have been a much better choice. The lean meat was still good enough as it had absorbed a sufficient amount of sauce and spicyness giving it a strong flavour. Definetly much better than Ah Ping's for both dry and the wet version.

We paid Rm 14 a person and was definetly worth it considering the amount of meat we had. The cold weather made it even more suitable for a nice warm bowl of Bak Kut teh.

Location:

Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh Restaurant
54A, Jalan SS14/2,
47500 Subang Jaya

Sun You Eats: XO Fish head Noodles @ Goon Wah Kuchai Lama

Venturing out for lunch on a weekday has always been a hassle and sometimes would be seen as an unspoken luxury with lectures and the load of mugging hours that needs to be clocked in. Today’s small window of opportunity allowed the four of us to try out one of the more famous fish head noodles in the Klang Valley located in Kuchai Lama, Restaurant Goon Wah. We managed to arrive at 1.30pm when the lunch hour crowd was dying down so being seated wasn’t much of a problem.

Most of our items were ordered off the wall which exhibited an array of their signature dishes. Before starting off with the food a beverage worth mentioning here would be their Kopi Peng which was extra Kao and very authentic rather than some knock off from the over commercialized Old Town White Coffee.

Naturally we ordered their signature XO fish head noodles which were nothing short of awesome. Simmering in a piping hot clay pot was tomato both regular and cherry tomatoes, chunks of fish head meat – literally, lemongrass, onion leaf , plum seeds, ginger and of course the broth which had a nice action of full cream milk giving it a rich savory taste to it. The broth had a subtle sour taste which wasn’t too overpowering and the added milk with its rich feel compliment the overall taste really well. I was definitely hooked after a few sips of it and the best part was refills of the broth are pleasantly entertained. Slurp Max!

Next in line would be Claypot Lou Shoue Fun which came in a trough which was simmering ensuring that it remains warm while you chomp away on their other dishes. I can safely say that this is one of the best lou shoue fun’s that I have had in Kl so far. It had a nice balance without being too dry or too moist with plenty of fried shallots, dried shrimp and minced meat. A must try when visiting and if I had my way I would have downed the whole serving by myself.

As a side dish we ordered their other signature dish which was their Guinness stout Chicken wings. Glazed with honey and a nice hint of Guinness which was sweet and flavourful. Needless to say we polished through this one and I’d tell you it was finger lickin’ good.

Overall, this lunch offered a rich palette of flavours ranging from the slight sourness from the fish head noodles,a crispy feel while chomping down the lou shoue fun and sweetness from the chicken wings was a pleasant experience for a mid day filler.

The best part of it was you’d know you’re not alone when your lunch buddies walks back to the car looking like this.


Location:

Restaurant Goon Wah
G13, Jalan 3/115C
Block KP2,
Taman Kuchai Jaya,
Off Jalan Kuchai Lama,
58200 Kuala Lumpur.

I ate: Ah Ping Bak Kut Teh, SS14 Subang

Bak kut teh one of Malaysia's best known dishes and synonymous with the town of Klang. But i do believe that this dish has matured beyond its original location and could be found probably at other place around town or another state. Venturing into Subang SS14 where it seems that a little pocket of Bak kut teh joints have mushroomed along the same row of shop houses with 3 restaurants to be exact. So we went for the middle one, Ah Ping Bak Kut Teh which has been around since 1989 and rather popular among folks in this area.

For the 5 of us at the same table we ordered 2 claypots one soup and a dry one each a 3 person portion. The first pot of steaming soup bak kut teh came with the regular mixture of pork both fat and non fat,intestine, ribs,button mushrooms, lettuce and fu chok(dried tofu skin). The soup was pretty tasty with a sufficient herbal feel to it which was enough to trigger my threshold of a good bowl of bak kut teh herbal soup. Credit definitely has to be given to the workers at the restaurant for an excellent service of refilling our bowl with soup each time it was depleted.

The dry version however was a little disappointing as it lacked that spicy punch which is probably a distinctive feature from its counter part. For those unfamiliar with this version, dry bak kut teh is usually cooked with dry chilli, shreds of dried cuttlefish and garlic with plenty of soy sauce which is cooked in a clay pot till its all dried up. This would have been better if it had more dry chilli to it.

Overall it was a pretty satisfying meal coming at RM 12 a person inclusive of drinks. Very reasonable and above all most probably the best way to bridge the gaps formed by time with your long lost buddies.

Location:

Restoran Ah Ping Klang Bak Kut Teh
42, Jalan 14/2Subang Jaya
47500, Petaling Jaya
Selangor

*pictures taken with iphone 4. pretty awesome eh? Thanks Nick!

Sun You Eats: Ahwa Hokkien Mee, PJ

I first heard of Ahwa's famed hokkien mee from MD's tales of his college days of grim eating. So it was only natural that we headed out in search of MD's long lost plate of hokkien mee. Located at PJ section 14, Ahwa can be easily spotted as the first shop at the corner after turning in from the Shell Station intersection. Parking may be a hassle so do play your patience card while at it.

best enjoyed with chilli paste

Apart from hokkien mee like most dai chow places other notable dishes also include watan-hor, loh mee and etc. Be prepared to wait for about 15 minutes as most patrons of this restaurant are here for a taste of Ahwa's dishes. So we started off with a side order of lala from one of the other stalls.

This big portion of lala(RM15) comes with a generous portion of lala's. The gravy was cooked with plenty of garlic and dried shrimps proved to be flavourful and slightly spicy much to my liking.

There was altogether 3 of us with MD, island gal and myself so we ordered a portion for 2 person which comes at RM 6 a person. The hokkien mee was dark, tasty and came plentiful with pork fritters. The hokkien noodles in ahwa is cooked over a charcoal fire just like the good old days giving it a very distinct 'wok hei' essence which can only be achieved at cooking over a very high flame while being stirred and tossed quickly.

After both dishes we were still hungry so we ordered another portion of watan hor. I put this dish as my personal favourite over hokkien mee which this place is famous for a few reasons. The flat noodle that came with it had a dominating presence of 'wok hei' which i think is really important in this dish and a nice egg gravy that was smooth and wasnt too starchy like in other places.

Needless to say all 3 of us ended up pretty satisfied with our meals and went back setting sight on our next visit here again.

Location:
Restaurant Ahwa 66,
Jalan 14/48,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Confessions of a pork addict

Every once in a while everyone of us has our own guilty pleasures which we choose to indulge in overlooking health aspects and pork so happens to be one of mine. Recently i managed to acquire a packet of pork scratching (UK) or also known as pork crackles in aus and NZ. For the uninformed pork scratching is basically the fried or roasted skin of the pig which actually melts off the fat from the pork rind.

The resulting snack is actually very very crunchy and very salty with a slight hint of fat in the larger pieces and most importantly very porky. Traditionally its taken with beer in a pub similar to the ranks of peanuts or crisps. Probably the closest thing you could eat that can come on par with this would be scrapping off the skin from siu yuk or very dry chee yuk char.

Since its not found in our country so those who are going to UK/aus/nz anytime soon do spare a thought for me eh? For those who remain skeptic of this snack i do believe its and acquired taste which i definitely acquired over a 100g bag. So whats your addiction?

Sun You Eats: Williams mamak!

One of the most blogged mamak's around PJ would be William's with google search returning with over 30 results i cant actually think of another mamak stall that can beat that number other than Murni's @ SS2 which is actually affiliated to William's so that doesnt count. So it would only be right if i did a write up about this mamak to complete my rite of passage as a noble food hunter, so to speak. Both Murni's and William's serve some similar dishes such as roti hawaii, Mi Raja, Roti Dragon as to which is better it would be a rather subjective matter. What actually makes William's distinct among other mamaks would be their unique italian food served in a mamak stall setting.

Among the 5 of us we shared 3 pint sized Ribena Longan which could be spotted at almost every table. If there was something William's is known for it would be their enormous portions of everything. Imagine, half a can of longan, syrup and lots of ribena in a pint size glass. After a while when the longan would have soaked up the ribena giving it a purple tint and a nice fusion of blackcurrant and longan flavour.

there's S,M,L,And then there's Williams


Although it is highly recommended that dishes in William's are meant to be shared but as self-confessed grim eaters we challenged ourselves where each one of us ordered 1 item each starting off with MD which ordered Meatball Cabonara which came with 5 ginormous meatballs and bacon slices. The meatballs were chunky and generously with mozzarella cheese stuffed in the centre giving it that nice feeling when the warm melted cheese mixes with the meat in your mouth.

The next grim eater would be Pepper which called for one of William's signature dishes, Chicken Cordon Bleu. It came with a large chunk of the standard chicken cordon bleu which was deep fried to golden perfection then topped with mozarella cheese with some stuffed on the inside. On the side there was the delicious home made mashed potatoes which i swear can rival TGIF and Chilli's as well as some form of vegetable which im not too sure of the name but it was wrapped in lasagna skin and mashed spinach on the inside.

This would be the Chicken Kiev ordered by Island gal which i thought tasted somewhat similar to the chicken cordon bleu. Nonetheless she still enjoyed it.

Chicken Kiev

Seafood Cabonara

This was actually the first dish to land on our table ordered by RE which was seafood cabonara another one of william's must eat dishes. It came with a good deal of prawns, mussels, squid and button mushrooms to complete things up. The sauce was just as creamy as the meatball cabonara but it had a slight orange tone and sweet taste attributed to the seafood that came with it. Yum Max!

I personally ordered the king's ransom which was the penultimate seafood rissoto. Just take a moment and look at the size of it. It could have been put off as a seafood platter. Spammed with plenty of prawns which were delightedly cut in a cross section manner to absorb the herbs used as well as grilled squid which was stuffed with mantis prawns and herbs to the max! Not forgetting very fresh scallops and a huge fillet of grilled seabass topped with tomato paste which was nothing short of awesome. Overall this platter came with a nice variety of flavours and at the end of it i actually thought that i was King Poisedon ruler of the seas. If you're a seafood lover this dish would be the one to go for.

Im not mentioning prices here but all i have to say is that its not exactly cheap for a mamak but looking at the portion and ingredients given it was definetely worth it. And yes we actually did manage to polish through all five plates so we did achieve what we initially set out for. We came. We ate. We conquered!



Location:

Jalan SS26/9, Taman Mayang Jaya, PJ
*its the shabby looking row of stalls opposite a mini mart.

I ate: Fatty Frog Porridge, OUG

If there was one dish that Singapore would be famous for it would be their glorious Geylang Lorong 9 Frog leg porridge. But not everyone has the luxury of time and money to venture all the way down to Singapore to get a bowl of frog legs. So after reading up a little on this dish i realised that we actually have this delicacy served in our own backyard. Located on the corner lot at the same row as Steven's Corner pass the dodgy snooker complex it isn't tough to spot as on normal days you would be able to see tables and chairs deployed at the roadside.

This steamed fish head stall seems to be pretty busy as well. Should probably give it a try next time round.

Between myself and MD we ordered one pot of Kung Pow Frog Leg and Plain porridge. Do expect to wait for about 10 minutes as like all good porridge they are made to order. From spying other tables, one other popular dish frequently ordered here would be the steam fish head which comes from the stall next to Fatty Frog porridge.

The porridge is done just the way i like it, with a thick and gooey texture along with a smooth feel to it and of course topped with sesame oil. There are a few choices of porridges offered here with various seafood but their centurian egg version looks appetizing. The next claypot that arrived was our kung pow frog which was cooked with lots of dry chilli, birds eye chilli,ginger and onion leaves. The frog meat was sweet, springy and tender without a "gamey" smell to it. Unlike regular kung pow dishes, frog leg ala kung pow served at Fatty Frog Porridge was cooked till the sauce clinged to the meat ensuring that you can really enjoy the meat along with a spicy kick to it. Total Delight!

The trick to really enjoying your frog leg porridge kung pow style would be to flood your porridge with kung pow sauce for that extra oomph especially on your plain porridge. At the end of it both of us were sweating buckets but was definitely satisfied. One more good food location flagged!

Location:

Fatty Frog Porridge
Jalan Hujan Rahmat Dua,
OUG, Jalan Kelang Lama,
58200, Kuala Lumpur

Ming Tien Food Court

If you'd know me long enough you would know that im not much of a supper type of person to the extend that my friends came up with some form of statistics saying that i would only appear in 1/10 supper sessions. But today was an exception when Pepper made an offer to try some place new, "Err we're going some place in Taman Megah" I snapped "Ming Tien ah????, wait let me get my cam!". For those noobs that dont know the fame of Ming tien, its in SS24, Pj and i can safely say its one of the biggest food courts around kl which operates 24 hours.

On the journey there i had my mind set on trying their elusive deep fried lychee and cuttle fish kang kung. When we arrives most of the stalls were closed by then. Since i didnt want to have a heavy meal i went for hokkien mee in search for the much needed pork fix of the week. The portion was decent for a small plate and it came with an abundance of chee yuk char but what it lacked was the 'wok hei' essence so i'll just put it off as average.

Island gal and Lopez ordered herbal soup mee sua with duck meat which looked pretty decent. Both of them unanimously agrees that the mee sua was cooked nicely giving it a nice smooth and springy texture without being too soft having it stick together but the soup lacked that extra herbal kick. I dare not challenge their tastebuds!

The most promising of the night would be Pepper which ordered Sarawak noodles which looked right by my standards. Its called Sarawak hand made noodles which is an equivalent to the famed kolo mee from Sarawak. Everything about this dish is cooked and made with pork where the noodles are cooked in pork lard then topped with minced pork and a few slices of char siew and for those enjoy their greens, it comes with spring onions.For those who have never set foot on the Land Of Hornbills this is as close as it gets to the real stuff!

And not forgetting the obligatory taiwanese sausages which is a must when visiting Ming Tien. We didnt get to the level of super spicy this time tho but we will the next round!

Other items to lookout for the during a visit to Ming Tien would be of course Deep Fried Lychee(yes i know it may sound wierd), Cuttle fish with kangkung, waffles,dumplings and of course Sarawak Noodles.Though not the best first visit, it has got me thinking about the second round to go for their deep fried lychee!

Location:

Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8,
Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor