Monday 30 January 2012

Restoran Kim Mua Lau, Jenjarom

满楼海鲜酒家@Restoran Kim Mua Lau
  Happy CNY once again and especially to the Hokkiens who celebrate CNY on the 9th day. CNY is not complete without a visit to the reknowned FGS Dong Zen Buddhist Temple in Jenjarom (佛光山). But, before that let’s take care of our tummies!
The best way to get to Jenjarom is via the KESAS highway. After paying the RM2.20 toll at Kemuning, look out for Banting. Follow this signage all the way until you come to Teluk Panglima Garang. A few kilometres ahead you will see RHB Bank on your right. Turn right, go on for while and you will see Kim Mua Lau, a corner one-shoplot restaurant on your right.
The ten of us arrived at Kim Mua Lau at 6.30pm and the place is already abuzz. Business is good this time of the year when people flock to the temple nearby. We ordered 6 dishes.
This is the RM21 three-cup chicken (三杯). This is very much a Taiwanese dish. The 3 cups used in this dish are an equal portion of the following:- sesame oil, Chinese cooking wine and soya sauce. It had a very exotic aroma and I really loved the sauce.
Three-cup chicken
This is the spare ribs with pumpkin in a clay pot (RM21). This dish is not only yummy….but very healthy. Pumpkin is said to be loaded with beta-carotene, an essential antioxidant that fights cancer.
This is prawns with corn (RM39). I must admit this is the first time I come across this. What a delectable dish!
This is a simple dish of stir fried yau mak with garlic (RM12). Great dish as there was sufficient wok hei.
Steamed lala with garlic (RM21) was the next dish we savoured. We specifically requested for this dish to be done without any chillies – for 2 reasons:-
Someone in our group couldn’t take spicy food
2- We needed to gauge the freshness of the lala
This dish scored a perfect 10. Fresh lala steamed with sufficient garlic truly make a mouth-watering dish that no one could resist!
Well, the ,last dish is one that you must definitely try. Fried mee hoon with crabs (RM51) –something truly unique! The dish actually had more crabs than noodles…and I ain’t complaining J
The total bill for our dinner for 10pax came in less than RM200. Overall, it was a very satisfying meal.
Here are some pictures of the temple. It’s really worth a visit. Ample free parking and admission is also free.




Address: No 17 Jalan Jambu Mawar 3
Jenjarom
42600 Kuala Lamgat
Opening Hours : 12 noon to 2.30pm, 5.30pm to 12 midnight
Tel : +603 3191 6559 , +6012 928 1518 , +6016 626 1086
Do remember to bring sufficient cash as cards are not accepted

Sunday 29 January 2012

All About CNY & FOOD, FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!

Happy Birthday everyone! In case you are wondering what I am rattling on about, Chinese believe that the 7th day of the new year is everyone's birthday (人日). It is on this day that everyone grows a day....oops...a year older.

Here are some home cooked food I've had so far this CNY.

















Saturday 28 January 2012

Shang Palace, Shangrila Hotel Kuala Lumpur

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

For a peaceful and quiet ambience whilst savouring good Chinese cuisine we discovered the ultimate place - Shang Palace on the first floor of Shangrila Hotel Kuala Lumpur. We called early to make a reservation for 10pax and requested for a private room. The entire hotel was in CNY mood. From the minute we arrived, we could feel that Chinese New Year was in the air. Pots of mandarin oranges greeted us at the hotel lobby.

View from the room

 
We ascedended the stairs to get to Shang Palace. At 1pm, business was brisk. I especially love the teacup sets which I believe are only used for this festive season. (I've been here many times, but have never been served tea in these tea cups!)
We ordered the Soft Shell Crab and Jelly fish Yee Sang which is a must have for CNY..sorry no pictures as we were too busy 'loh hei-ing' away with the super long chopsticks given  and forgot to snap any photos.For those of you who are not too familiar with this dish let me say that this is a very Malaysian dish which symbolises prosperity and abundance. What you get is a variety of shredded vegetables with some condiments and some sauce. You then toss everything there is on the plate with your  chopsticks while uttering 'good' words for prosperity for the year to come.
This is stir fried scallop and prawns with crsipy fritter (yau char kwai 油条) along with peas and waterchestnut.
Next we had the poached chicken with dried scallop and superior stock. I wonder what superior stock was when we ordered this dish. Anyway, it had some Chinese wine in it. As you can see from the photo, the chicken served was slightly fat but that did not stop me from enjoying this dish.
 
Next we had the suckling pig with some char siew…what a porky dish! I must tell you that the sauce for this dish (not in photo) was superb!
The subsequent dish (stewed sub-dried oyster with sea moss, mushroom and garden green in oyster sauce) is another popular CNY dish, served for what it symbolises.... Oyster known as ho xi (牡蠣) in Cantonese means all good things or good luck, By eating oysters it means you will have all good things coming your way for the year. Sea moss (in this photo you can easily identify it – it is black and looks like human hair) is called fatt choy (髮菜)in Cantonese. It means prosperity.
Next we had steamed cod fish with cordyceps flowers and fungus. I felt that this dish lacked the ‘green’ garnishing of  spring onion and  coriander that I love to see in steamed fish.
As usual, all Chinese meals must come with rice,so we were served steamed glutinous rice with waxed sausage and dried shrimp. I found this dish slightly bland and had to eat it with lots of chilli sauce.
Dessert time! It’s sweetened red bean puree with black sesame dunplings (the white ball in the photo below) and steamed 2 layers ninko and almond. Ninko (年糕)as the Cantonese calls it is simply a Chinese New Year pudding made up of glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, salt, water, and sugar. It’s very sweet and eating it has the symbolism of raising oneself higher in each coming year (年年高).

If you want to go to Shang Palace, now is the time. They have special CNY sets





Opening Hours:-
Lunch : 12noon - 2.30pm (Monday – Saturday) / 10.30am - 2.30pm (Sunday and Public Holidays)
Dinner : 6.30pm - 10.30pm (daily)
Address:-
Level 1, Shangrila Hotel
11 Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Tel :+603- 2074 3904
Dress Code:-Smart Casual
Cards Accepted :Mastercard, Visa, Amex

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Garden View, Bukit Tinggi

Approximately 45 kilometres from the heart of the city of Kuala Lumpur lies a quaint little village known as Kampung Bukit Tinggi. Don’t be fooled by its peace and tranquillity for in this village is a a food haven! There are lots of restaurants here and most of them serve Chinese cuisine. We begin our journey from Kuala Lumpur and arrive at Garden View Restaurant after a 45-minute drive as traffic on the Karak Highway was rather slow.
How to get here from KL:-
After the Genting tunnel (Genting Sempah), you will have to go downhill for about 1 kilometre. When you see Selesa Hillhomes on your left, turn in & immediately turn right (follow the signboard that says “BHPetrol”). You will go through a small ‘tunnel’. Turn right at the end of the road & voila! You’ve arrived.
This is the branch of the popular Foon Lock Restaurant which is located just a stone’s throw away. They also have another outlet in KL known as ‘ Canton Kitchen’ in Setapak. Parking is easy as there is a huge plot of land in front of the restaurant. There is also a small shop next to this restaurant where you can buy fresh vegetables. RM 2 for a bundle or RM5 for 3 bundles.
Garden View has a mini farm attached to it. You can take a tour of the farm for free. The scenery here is a feast for the eyes and ears. You can see (and hear) a river flowing and the place is just ….errr..full of greenery. They even rear poultry here.



The first thing I asked for was coconut. I was told that this was not the fragrant Thai coconut but was locally produced ones. At RM4 each it not only managed to quench my thirst but also left a lasting impression on me – local coconuts are better than their Thai counterparts – TRUST ME!
Since there was only 4 of us we ordered 3 dishes:-
This is the two-flavour vegetable (RM6) which is a ‘new’ vegetable – it is a combination of kai lan and choy sum. Very fresh, tasty and there was no trace or smell of chemicals in it. I love every bite of it.
This is the steam fresh river prawn (sang ha). The prawns were steamed in eggs. Although this dish tasted good and the prawns were juicy and tender to the bite, I must remind you that this dish costs RM60 (2/3 of the cost of our entire meal).

We also ordered a dish ofsweet sour chicken (RM10). This was kampong chicken which was reared in by the mini farm here and as such the meat was a little tough (as one would expect of kampong chicken). The gravy was not too sour and was indeed to my liking.
After the meal, we were each given a complimentary slice of papaya….sweet& juicy ones, mind you…what a way to end an already sumptuous meal!
Garden View Restaurant
Lot 19326 & 19327 Pesona Heights,
Kampung Bukit Tinggi, 28750 Bentong
Tel:
+609 233 0282 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: +609 233 0370


 By the way Mastercard & Visa are accepted.