Eve’s and Wazir’s lil blog space

Vietnamese food may not have as much followers as Japanese or Korean food here.  But for those who had a chance to sample good Vietnamese food, especially in Australia or Vietnam itself, you know what to look for.

Good news to Vietnamese food lovers! There’s a Vietnamese restaurant in Soho KL (Solaris Mont Kiara) that just opened recently.  The owner is a Vietnamese who just migrated over to Malaysia from Australia.  The food is cooked by his wife!  How authentic can you get now eh?

This place came highly recommended by our family doctor who claimed that he had the best beef dish there.  So, we decided to give this mystery “Beef” a try and gave it our seal of approval!

On our first trip there, we decided to try:

1.  O’Ngon Famous Beef with Crispy Potatoes (RM18-90++)
2.  Mango Green Salad (RM12-50++)

 O’Ngon Famous Beef with Crispy Potatoes

Mango Green Salad (with 4 Prawn Crackers)

The beef is tender and juicy. The restaurant claims that they use imported Australian beef (sourced from Cold Storage which is located round the corner from the restaurant).  Even the Mango Green salad which we ordered comes with strips of tender beef!  This mango salad is a must try for “kerabu” fans!

Enough on the food, where is this place?  The restaurant is called O’Ngon, on the first floor of the fairly new Solaris shopping complex.  For those who are new to Solaris or Soho KL, you may want to refer to Google Map for better idea on how to get there.  Once you get there, locate Cold Storage and go up to the first floor of the building.  O’Ngon is located towards the middle of the complex.

To sum it all, you should try this place if:

1. You’re into Vietnamese food and missed all those Vietnamese food you once had while studying in Australia.

2. You have hypertension and only allow yourself a beef meal once in a blue moon, use your ration here!

3. You want to try Vietnamese food for the first time.

4. The last time you tried Vietnamese food was in Bangsar Village and you either love or hate it there (btw, the Vietnamese food there was expensive and not that nice)

5. You just ran out of ideas of what to eat.

Worried about your cholesterol level but just could not keep your mind off that luncheon meat?

Worry no more …. we have turkey luncheon meat that taste almost like the real thing.  If you’re not into turkey, they also have beef or chicken luncheon meat.  All for RM6-90 a can which is cheaper than the real thing!  Try it and eat with less guilt.

Healthier & Halal Version of Luncheon Meat

(at Mercato Market - Pavillion KL)

Note: It looks like pork luncheon meat, taste like pork luncheon meat but it’s not … sounds familiar not? :p

After giving Coliseum Cafe in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman a miss for so long, we decided to have dinner with our friends and colleague there tonight. The place still has not changed, gloomy but at least the damp stench that usually lingers in the air was missing.

For those who are not familiar with Coliseum Cafe, it was the place to be for Western food in KL once upon a time.  Please do not expect warm welcome or great service here.  The waiters on average are above 50 years old and have probably been working there for their whole life.  Tonight, our orders were taken by Captain Moorty.

The cod and spinach were off the menu as they were still out catching the fish and planting the spinach according to our Captain.  We decided to order mushroom soup for starter, 4 in 1 chicken and sizzling rib eye steak with mushroom sauce for main course.  We also ordered a glass of pineapple juice which turned out to be a cordial and cost RM4.30++ a glass!!

Mushroom soup - it was not piping hot and taste like powdered soup that you get from Pizza Hut.  The bread was a slice of traditional hailam bread with butter.

4 in 1 chicken -  chicken, turkey ham, chicken sausage and ???? coated in batter and fried.  The crust was crispy but a little salty.  Overall, not too bad.

Sizzling Rib eye steak -  the hot plate was probably not hot enough.  We could hear it hissing when the tomato was placed on it but then quiet when the sauce was poured.  The steak was tough and the sauce was not as good as it used to be.

Mushroom soup - RM5.30++ & Bread - RM0.50++

4 in 1 chicken served with fries and mixed vege - RM20.90++

Hissing Rib Eye Steak with fries and vege - RM37.90++

Overall, the food standard at Coliseum has dropped.  It is a sad thing as they used to have some of the best sauce around.  We didn’t go for dessert which is also one of their specialty as we were just stuffed after all the meat.

Malaysia probably has got the widest array of food in the region if not the world. And we cater for all races, religion and taste buds … localize it.

Now … come the halal Bak Kua (Dried Meat). Traditionally, it’s made with pork or chicken. Of course it is non halal and you have half the country’s population wondering how they taste like.

This store in Pavillion is the second company I see doing this. Previously there was another brand from Seremban selling halal Bak Kua in Jusco IOI Mall, Puchong. They unfortunately closed down ages ago.

So, any Muslims who has been wondering how this Bak Kua that they see being bbq’d by the road side taste like, go and try it out at the Lower Ground floor of Pavillion (near JCO Donut). And for the existing Bak Kua fans …. you’re probably better off with the original recipe

Beef - RM75/kg Chicken - RM72/kg Spicy Chicken - RM75/kg

This “special” menu was spotted at a Korean restaurant in Danau Desa. Spelling aside, it looks yummy … gosh … I want my clab *drool*drool*

Tong Yuen, originally uploaded by Chin Ping.

yesterday was winter soltice day, and it also my paternal grandma’s death anniversary…

through out the last few weeks its been lots of celebrations,  weddings, Christmas parties, endless merry making… will load the pictures up soon, left the cable at office

To celebrate my sister’s birthday today, we drove down to Pernu in Melaka for Ikan Bakar (BBQ Fish).  Sadly enough for Eve, she could not come along.

When talking about food in Melaka, Chicken Rice, Satay Celup, Nyonya and Portugese foods come to mind.  But Melaka is also famous for its Ikan Bakar (BBQ Seafood).  There are a number of restaurants featuring this style of cooking especially at the Medan Ikan Bakar Umbai and Medan Ikan Bakar Terapung.  Both of these places are in Umbai, about 15km away from the Melaka city centre.

But they are too commercialized …ie. expensive and not so nice.

We went to our favourite restaurant near a small fishing village about a kilometer from these two spots.  Hidden away from the main road and with no proper sign, the place is still full with visitors from Singapore, KL in addition to the locals.  I guess good food requires no introduction.

The restaurant has simple layout with a concrete bench like a pasar (market) welcoming patrons with the seafood selection of the day.  You select the seafood which you want and they will weigh it in front of you.  Then inform them how you would like to have them cooked. You may have your fish, squid, prawn, cockles, mussel or crab BBQ’d, deep fried, boiled, sweet & sour or cooked with sambal sauce.

 

 

Another thing which I enjoy here is their Sambal Sotong (Spicy Squid) but had skipped it tonight as there was just too much food.

The question now is where exactly is this place? Just follow the following instructions to get there:

1. From Melaka town, head towards Muar.  You will come to a traffic light junction where you will need to turn right towards Kandang (look for the signboard). 
2. From this point, drive straight for about 12km until you see the signboard to “Jeti Pulau Besar”.  You know that you are near when you see the signboard “Medan Ikan Bakar Terapung” on your right.
3. You will come to a junction with a large rock with the sign for Pulau Besar.  Turn right at this junction.
4. Take your first right again and drive down this quiet road until you see a small lane on your left about 200m from the turn in.
5. The restaurant is about 100m from here. 

 

There are a few restaurants in here but I fancy only “Ikan Bakar Special Encik Yusuf” which is the first stall in this small lane.

Final verdict of our dinner tonight …

What we like:

• Sweet & Sour Jenahak (Red Snapper)

• Terubuk or Siakap Bakar (BBQ’d Terubuk or Seabass)

• Sambal Sotong (Spicy Squid)

• Udang Goreng Tepung (Prawns in Crispy Batter)

• Otak-Otak (Brain-brain ???)

What we don’t like

• Cockles … overcooked

• Mosquitoes … bring your own repellent or mosquito coil

• Price … not as cheap as it used to be.  Our meal tonight cost RM104.

Attended a workshop in Swiss Garden Hotel for the last 2 days. The seminar room was just across from Ah Yat Abalone Forum restaurant and I could not help noticing the dried sharks fins which they have on display as well as the fresh South African abalone on the menu.

Sadly enough, sharks fin soup is still considered a delicacy or even a must by many at weddings and special celebrations. But the fin itself only provides nothing more than texture and toxin to our bodies. Even if we do not care about the 100 million sharks that are killed for their fins each year, we should think about our health. Sharks fins are found to contain up to 42 times the safe level of heavy metal such as mercury. As our oceans are being polluted, the sharks which breed in these waters absorb the heavy metal which are then passed on to humans when we consume them.

Sharks fins are nothing more than cartilage, has no nutritional value and taste. Eating it may potentially cause sterility, central nervous system problems and kidney diseases. Question now, why are we still paying RM30 for a bowl of toxin?

More info:

• The High Price of Shark Fin Soup - Malaysian Nature Society Dec 2006
• Toxic Mercury in Sharks - Malaysian Nature Society Jan 2007
• Thai diners told steer clear of ‘toxic’ shark fin - CNN 4 Jul 2001
• Watch out for shark fin soup - China Daily 21-05-2005

we went out for dinner tonight, wanted to try out a new place, so we went to Restaurant Ho Kee at Jalan Puchong. Turned out this is Fatty Cheong’s new restaurant that he was telling us about when we last went to eat dinner there.. such a coincidence ya!

Food quality same as Fatty Cheong, service was fast, air conditioned, or if you prefer alfresco you can sit outside

Price wise all the dishes above for RM52

Recommendation:-
1. Duck egg fried calamari is delicious!
2. Butter fish (yummy!)
3. Tong por yuk
4. Duck egg bitter gourd
(we didn’t order the above cos, i have yet to recover from the nasty throat infection!)

Ho Kee Restaurant
No1 Jalan Tige, Dato Kandan Baru,
8 1/2 mile Jalan Puchong.
47100. Puchong. KL
Tel: 016 204 9176 (Kent) 016 373 3161 (John)
Opening hours : 11am - 2.30 pm (lunch) 5pm - 11 pm (dinner)

i will scan in the Map with the scanner tomorrow

BONJUK
No. 18, Ground Floor, Jalan 25/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-2300 2302

Our verdict:
BBQ and steamboat seems to come to mind when talking bout Korean food. Bonjuk offers a change to that. Our favourite is the Octopus and Kimchi porridge or the bibimbob (rice) version. Price is competitive as at RM12.95++, the portion is generous and side dishes can be topped up at no additional cost. The side dishes include cold soup which is a new experience and Evelyn drank every drop of it when Johnny (the manager) told her that it’s good for detox. The soup is made of high quality imported seaweed which is boiled for a long time.

PORRIDGE STALL
Jalan Hujan Rahmat Dua, OUG
Jalan Kelang Lama, 58200 Kuala Lumpur
(same row as Steven’s Corner)

Our verdict:
Evelyn’s all time favourite porridge shop. The fish porridge comes with generous portion of fish with no bone, no skin and cooked just right. The fish slices are weighed so that you know you will get the same amount of fish each time. The rice porridge is just perfect too, not too watery, not starchy and gooey and yummmmmyyyyy!! It is served in a hot claypot with a dash of sesame oil and sliced fresh ginger. A single portion of fish porridge is only RM6. Apart from fish, they also serve the porridge with prawn, frog and century egg. You may also order the delicious spicy kung poh or kiong chong (ginger and spring onion) meat with plain porridge, boiled kailan with oyster sauce and steamed fish head (3 varieties available - ginger, soya sauce & garlic)

(tips - Thursday is the pasar malam night and is difficult to get a parking)