Ichiban Boshi, Pavilion KL

It was lunch time and I was extremely

hungry. I stepped into the first restaurant I

see and it happened to be Ichiban Boshi. I

recall I had once read  from their website

that  ‘Ichiban Boshi introduces Japanese

dining with a dash of modern simplicity’.

At 12.30pm the place is already quite full and

I sat right next to the sushi bar.

Waited for about 3 minutes and since no one

seemed to bother to take my order I reached

out for a plate of  salmon sushi which I

finished within minutes…Sigh! Still no sign of

anyone wanting to take my order.

As my patience was running low I called out

to the waitress who took my order. Hot ocha

for RM1.50 –which by the way is refillable

(but good luck trying to get them to attend to

you!) . I ordered Miso Yaki Udon.

I waited quite some time for my lunch to


arrive. As I was feeling rather bored (cos I


was dining alone) I looked up and saw rows


and rows of empty bottles – quite a brilliant


idea!

The chef was busy preparing  food. Mind you

I was seated right opposite of him and it

really made my stomach growl!

Finally my Miso Yaki Udon arrived. Oh!


What a small serving for RM15.90…luckily I


already had some sushi earlier! It did not


look appetising…and it didn’t taste good


either. (Remember I was very, very hungry).


Lots of udon were stuck to the hot plate, so I


didn’t manage to eat them all.

Well, better luck next time, perhaps!


Address: Lot 1.14 (Level 1) Pavilion

Tel : +603 214166221

Website : res.com.sg

Mastercard & Visa accepted

Kedai Kopi Bee Toh , Tanjung Karang

Many of my friends have been to Kedai Kopi Bee Toh and have said that it is a highly recommended coffee shop to go to. Well, let's just say that you must be prepared to have your coffee in the old Chinese coffee shop style.

We left KL early in the morning to avoid the traffic jam. Using the LATAR highway we arrived at our destination within an hour. Mind you, it's only 6 am and the shop is already packed. The very worn-out signboard tells a lot about this place –it has withstood the test of time!

One thing caught my attention - something I must write about here. The spirit of 1-Malaysia is very much alive here. You will see a nasi lemak stall manned by a Malay lady, a chee cheong fun stall run by a Chinese lady - all in the same restaurant. "Wow!", I thought to myself and that's not the end of it. You can see people of all races having their breakfast together in this restaurant.

Breakfast was just for 2. So we ordered tea and coffee. I also asked for some steamed bread with kaya and butter. It was piping hot when it was served and the taste was heavenly.

Bread is never complete without soft-boiled kampung chicken eggs...so we had to order some, and this was served in a cup.....frankly, this is the first time I see this!

Next, we had fried mee hoon with some curry flavoured gravy - a very huge serving but we ate it all up as it really reminded me of the delicious noodles I used to have as a child.

At 6.25am a man walks in with a basket of nasi lemak...remember there is a nasi lemak stall in the restaurant...."Ah! Alaissez-faire market" I said as I reached out for a packet of the rather unique nasi lemak. For the record, I loved the nasi lemak a lot and as I was about to finish it another man walked in with his basket of nasi lemak - truly amazing! 3 different types of nasi lemak in one restaurant!

 All these for less than RM10!!!

Address : No. 68, Jln Besar, 45500, Tanjong Karang, Selangor 

Tel. No: 03-32692297

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Ayamas Golden Roaster

Today is one of those days that I just don’t feel like dressing up merely to dine out. The perfect solution…drive out in my shorts & t-shirt to the nearest Ayamas outlet.

Hmmm…..there’s a promotion going on for the Golden Roasters. For RM26.88 I get the entire chicken. The guy asked me whether I wanted an add-on. I was at a lost and when I enquired further was told that for an additional 88 sen I could get a 1.5 litre bottle of F&N orange…why not! So I paid RM27.80, grabbed the food and headed home.

Still  in my shorts and T-shirt, I opened the box of Ayamas Golden Roasters . I paused for a moment and realized that it has been quite some time since I last had such  a simple meal.

I ate half the chicken as it was rather a small bird…plus the fact that it was so aromatic to the extent that  I just couldn’t stop eating!

What  a simple yet satisfying meal!

Restoran Da Feng Shou, Ara Damansara

I found this gem by chance and would really like to tell all my friends about it. I was heading towards Citta Mall and made the wrong turning. What a  blessing in disguise!

I drove along Dataran Ara Damansara and noticed that there were many restaurants there. As it was blazing hot we agreed on Restoran Da Feng Shou for only 1 reason – it had air conditioning. The signboard did not give a clue as to what sort of cuisine was served here. Anyway, we were bold enough to walk right in.

A few points are noteworthy:-

(1) The table looked different..intially we thought they were merely serving  steamboat. So, we enquired and were told they had a wide array of food.

(2) The bowls, plates and chopsticks were all wrapped up – one up for hygience.

The waitress spoke with a very heavy mainland Chinese accent.  She gave us 2 books of menu…yes, I used the word BOOK….truly impressive. The chef can cook so many types of dishes!  There must have been more than 200 items on their menu.

It took us quite a while to flip through the pages and finally settled on 3 dishes:-

This is mushroom with kampong chicken soup (RM18). We drank up every drop of it, even ate up all the chicken! Awesome although no MSG was added. It really reminded me of the soup Grandma used to make for us………heavenly!

This is the sweet and sour fish (RM28). Not a bone on the fish and you will notice that the fish has been cut into tiny ‘balls’. I would highly recommend this dish for kids…it’s not spicy and it’s easy to eat especially for those who are too lazy to ‘hunt’ for bones!

Celery with lily bulb (RM15) . The celery was crunchy and well, if you are wondering what lily bulb taste like…err…I would say they taste like a very mild onion. This combination made the dish outstanding!

It started to rain when we finished our meal. So we stayed on a little and chatted with the waitresses- ordered some drinks.

 We found out that most of them are from FooChow…and suddenly we started speaking in dialects. I was told that they even serve Foo Chow cuisine such as ‘yen pi’, mee suah in red wine, etc, etc….. all of this are not listed on their already ‘thick’ menu!

It continued to pour. Despite not having an umbrella , we decided it was time to bid farewell to the waitresses (and waiters too!). Another thing that impressed me was that 2 guys were already waiting with umbrellas outside the restaurant, waiting to bring us to our car……Service could not have been better and I give a thumbs up for food & service too. Very, very impressive!

For the record, the toilets were immaculate. Well, it could be due to the fact that this restaurant is only 6 months old. Well, I’ll love to come back again in the future…and hope that my comments will still be applicable.

Address:

F-11 Jalan PJU 1A/20D

Dataran Ara Damansara

47301 Petaling Jaya

Tel : +603 – 7846 5168 / +6016 653 5796

Opening hours:  11.30am-3pm, 5.30pm – 11pm

Only cash is accepted

Makan Trip to Kuantan - Howin Seafood Restaurant

In my search for a place I've not tried out, I ended up on Jalan Air Putih and decided on Howin Seafood Restaurant with some friends.

The shop is split into 2 sections -one with air con and the other without. As it was a hot afternoon we opted for the former.

We ordered 4 dishes - the first one was steam talapia in chilli sauce (more of sambal!). Don't be fooled by the looks of this dish -it was not spicy at all, in fact it was sweet! This dish costs RM26 - slightly pricey for such a tiny fish.

We were told that they did not have any green vegetable available that day..what a let down. Hence our order of cabbage fried with prawns, carrots and some mushrooms (RM12). The outcome was not too bad, I would say.

 As the 2nd dish was served we were told that our order of fried eggs with prawn would take some time to be served. Why, you may ask....yeah, and I dont blame you for asking too. We were told they have run out of eggs!!!

The third dish was venison with ginger and onion, I didn't expect this dish to turn out so dark -probably too much dark soya sauce!

 I don't have a photo of the final dish as I was already done with lunch when it arrived.

I think this restaurant should be more prepared to serve its customers and for goodness sake please stock up on green veggies!!

Address: 274 Jalan Air Putih

25300 Kuantan

Visa & Mastercard Accepted.

Opens for lunch and dinner.

Makan Trip to Kuantan - Chong Lee Hong Restaurant

It’s dinner time again and we are spoilt for choices here  in Kuantan. The restaurant we chose from our ample selection was known as Chong Lee Hong.

There’s ample parking space in front of this restaurant, so you can literally park in front of their entrance & walk right in. I must say that this restaurant serves a huge variety of food so much so that it took us a while to decide what to order…..again spoilt for choice!

We ordered chicken wong wong  (RM20) which was chicken baked and then steamed. Very unique indeed and I’ll give it a perfect 10 for taste.

The sweet and sour pork (RM18) was a steal. The pieces of pork were well cooked and every in every piece and in every bite you can taste the tenderness and the sweetness of the meat.

The mixed vegetable (RM15) had  a combination of Chinese cabbage, squid, Chinese mushrooms, French beans, pork, cauliflower and  button mushrooms  - wow! So much in a dish! I am not a fan of mixed vegetable but this dish was definitely edible, by my standards.

This is scallops with tofu. The gravy was very delicious…hey, after all there’s scallop in this dish, remember?

Our final dish for the meal was a simple dish of stir fried yau mak (RM12 ). There was definitely sufficient ‘wok hei’ ie the food has been cooked in a wok over a high flame whilst being stirred and tossed quickly.

On the whole I would say this is one restaurant you should head to when you are in Kuantan. Food is served fast and you won’t be disappointed with the food.

Address:- 

A17-A19, Lrg Galing 84, Jln Air Putih,
25300 Kuantan

Opens only for dinner

Cards accepted : Master & Visa

Makan Trip to Kuantan - Nasi Dagang Tanjung Api

Our food hunt this time around brings us to the intersection of Jalan Tanjung Api and Taman Gelora in Kuantan. It looks just like this:-

I'd like to call this place the nasi dagang stall  as it has no name. This place is very popular amongst the people of Kuantan. I am there early. It’s only 7+ in the morning and there are already so many people in the queue.  This place is famous for its nasi dagang and I was told that if you don’t want to miss out on the good nasi dagang, be there as early as you can.
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 The stall keeper brings out a huge basin of nasi dagang to the cheer of the hungry crowd (including me!)  The guy in the front of the queue orders 9 packets of nasi dagang and the stall owner religiously packs them for him. A few minutes has passed by before it was the next person’s turn. 15 packets of nasi dagang was his order……. After some time it was my turn…I asked for ‘1 nasi lemak & 1 nasi dagang’ .

Here’s what the nasi dagang looked like. Please note that there is a difference between the Pahang version and the Kelantanese ones. The ones you find in Kelantan would have speckles of brown rice.

I would not say that the portion was generous as it costs RM2.50 a packet. The fish was really nice. I believe it was ikan tongkol. The gravy was not too hot and was indeed just perfect for me. I have to say that the glutinous rice was well cooked. It had the right amount of santan (coconut milk) and was very aromatic. You eat the rice with a splash of the fish curry.  Now I know why everyone in the queue that morning had ordered nasi dagang.

The nasi lemak - I think it’s suffice to say that I’ve tasted better ones!

This place also sells ‘roti manis’. I’ll try that some other time as today my tummy is already filled.