Old Forest Cafe, Kuantan

I stumbled  upon Old Forest Café I was making my way to a friend’s house in Kuantan recently. The large , green signboard certainly did stand out and that was how we ended up having my tea break there.

I like the fact that your cutlery is given to you in a cup of hot water – it always gives me the impression that the owner places great emphasis on  cleanliness and that to me, is a pull factor.

This is kuay teow soup – served with lots of green vegetables and fish cake, it was tasty.

Nasi lemak – the green colour must have come from the pandanus leaf used – the rice was fragrant and delicious.

French fries  - nothing special, just alright.

This innocuously simple dish was surprisingly a favourite of mine – I’ll give it a 10 for taste!

Fruit Rojak 

Prawn noodles

Address: A393 Taman Seri Kuantan 3

25300 Kuantan

Opening hours: 7.30 am to 9 pm

Tel : +6012 988 6181

Cash terms only

Welcome 126 Restaurant, Bukit Tinggi

I was feeling a little hungry  this afternoon as I was travelling via the Karak Highway. I quickly made a pitstop at Bukit Tinggi for tea time. The place was surprisingly crowded as we walked in around 3.30pm.

We ordered 2 plates of noodles to be shared amongst the 2 of us – we had Cantonese kuay teow as well as fried  dry noodles. The Canotonese kuay teow was a tad starchy for me, otherwise it was alright. I prefer the al dente, to the tooth, noodles fried with a generous amount of lard, which made the noodles extremely tasty.

Address: P-16 Pesona Heights

Bukit Tinggi

Tel : +6017 368 5987

Cash terms only

Ben’s BSC

At BSC, I am always spoilt for choice where dining is concerned.  Today I decided to check out Ben’s. As I stepped into Ben’s, I notice that there are ample options available. You may choose for normal tables and chairs or table with sofas, or even sit near the entrance where there are some tiny chairs….which, by the way, is not my idea of a comfy seat.

Anyway, I’ll move on to what we ate…or rather drank. We had vanilla milk shake (RM9.90) and berry basil lemonade (RM9.90). I love the luxurious vanilla cream. I slowly slurped this with my straw and I realise that although the milkshake had what I would call a thick consistency, I could slurp it with ease.

Beef Bolognese (RM22.90) – firm textured spaghetti topped with flavourful Bolognese sauce – heavenly!

House salad (RM15.90) – with an interesting combination of vegetables, amongst them lettuce, baby tomatoes cut into halves, avocado and edamame , every mouthful of this salad brought about a new sensation to my palatte. Love it!

Nasi lemak  – although priced  at RM26.90, which is a little expensive to me, the nasi lemak was rich in coconut milk and that certainky made it superbly delicious.

Chicken vegetable soup (RM14.90) – tasty and satisfying – these were the words that immediately came to my mind .

French fries (Rm7.90)

Address : Lot T6, 3^rd Floor

Bangsar Shopping Centre

285 Jalan Maarof

Bukit Bandaraya

59000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 2095  7988

Visa, Master & Amex are accepted

Dubu Dubu, 1 Utama

1 Utama has lots of food outlets ranging from tiny cafes to famous chain restaurants as well as stand alone ones.  My choice for today was Dubu Dubu which currently has 3 outlets here in the Klang Valley, namely in 1 Utama, Berjaya Times Square and Midvalley. For the curious ones like me, you will eventually find out that Dubu Dubu simply means tofu.

Korean food has always been knows to be one of the healthiest type of cuisine you will ever find on the face of this earth. Koreans pride themselves as a nation where obesity is virtually unheard of.

We ordered peach tea (RM4.90) and ginger tea (RM4.90). I would say the ginger tea was perfect for the cold I was suffering from. It wasn't only deliciously sweet, but was a good remedy for my cold.

Bulgogi beef set (RM20.90) and bulgogi chicken set (RM17.90) were chosen as our main for the meal. The presentation  looks similar. A bowl of what I call healthy rice (short grain rice with a tinge of purple) , some vegetables, a bowl of soup and an egg on top of your choice of meat are what you get.

This is japchae (RM14.90) . Japchae is what we Malaysians call glass noodles, sook hoon or tong fun. With its chewy texture, this plate of  stir fried noodles which contained  lots of ingredients, was superb.

Grilled fish ball (RM7.90) - 6 pieces of fish balls with a few slices of carrots was what this dish was all about. I ahve no complaints as far as the size of fish ball was concerned. But, I would prefer the grill fish ball to be slightly saltier as what I tasted was rather sweet.

Citron dubu (RM5.90) -  looks like our version of taufu fah! Taste wise -similar too except that citron dubu is topped with citron preserve instead of the normal sugary syrup that is served with taufu fah.

Address : Lot S345 Second Floor
1 Utama Shopping Centre
Lebuh Bandar Utama
47800 Petaling Jaya

Tel : +603 77 33 6872

Mastercard & Visa accepted

Serai, Life Centre

Serai is helmed by a reknowned chef who has cooked for quite a number of celebrities. With such an excellent CV, the two of us walked into Serai expecting a lot.

When we arrived at Serai, we were immediately ushered to our pre-reserved table….when we enquired, we were told that Serai has a few outlets in the Klang Valley and the famous chef we were dying to meet was not based in this outlet, but was in Empire Subang.

This is known as Serai Platter (RM25) – with some awesome sambal to accompany squid and an entire chicken leg plus some acar , I cant say that this was expensive.

Nasi Ambang (RM20) –although I’ve never fancied nasi ambang, I found this platter a delight. The anchovies were crunchy and the salted fish just right. The broccoli and cauliflower was delicious…all in all, a good combination!

Serai ice tea

Address : Lot G-06 Life Centre

No 20 Jalan Sultan Ismail

Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 2181 6717

Mastercard & Visa accepted

Kampar Old Town Restaurant

This is a branch of the famous Wing Lok Yuen of Kampar known for its pork knuckle, clay pot chicken rice, fish ball noodles as well as its kaya puff and chicken biscuit. This means that the restaurant (the original one, I mean) has a history of close to 70 years dishing out delectable food for Kampar folks!

The USJ branch, located at USJ 11 opens at 7.30am and closes at 4.30pm.

I went in with a very empty stomach earlier in the day and tried a few of their dishes:-

From what I had, I would say the food here is good. I love the barley with gingko here so much that I bought a packet to be eaten at home!

Address :  20 Jalan USJ 11/3j, Usj 11, 47610 Subang Jaya

Tel : +6023 5635 9041

Cash terms only

Morganfield, Pavillion KL

This is a non halal outlet serving what I would label as superb ribs. Today, I tried the set lunch which came with bottomless soft drinks…I tell you, if you can gulp down 2 glasses of their super tall soft drinks..I really salute you, lah!

I was first served with some salad - a light salad with tomatoes, capsicum, lettuce, cabbage and some onions, this was a great starter.

This was my main dish – sticky bones. The serving was generous and the ribs were simply juicy and succulent. I recall someone was told me that the ultimate test for ribs was that they should fall off the bones easily…and the ones at Morganfield, I would say, pass with flying colours.

Address : C4.03.00, Level 4

Pavilion KL Shopping Mall,

168 Jalan Bukit Bintang,

55100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2141 3192 

Dbakul, Taipan USJ

Occupying the shop lot near Bank Islam, what drew us to DBakul was no other than its prominence. As we drove past Taipan, we have all noticed this brightly lit Indonesian restaurant and have made a mental note to try it out.

So…that’s the background to how we came to Dbakul.

We were greeted with ‘Selamat Sore bu, Selamat Sore Pak’ as we walked in. The ambience inside the restaurant was simply pleasing and the soft Balinese music in the background made me feel very welcomed.

Appetiser

Love the batik motive

This is called sop buntut (RM24) which was made from ox tail. I love this rich yet clear broth which was packed with the goodness of carrots and potatoes.

I ordered a lalapan for myself (RM5.50)- this was merely a platter of freshly cut veggies – long beans, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber and some lettuce. Just take a piece of the raw vegetable and dip it into the sambal – heavenly!

These are ayam penyet and ayam presto (RM9 each). I’ve always marvelled at the way they flatten the chicken! Anyway, the chicken was so aromatic and the generous amount of sambal gave this dish an extra boost!

Gado-gado betawi (RM7.50) – made up of a variety of ingredients, amongst them bean sprouts and long beans reminded me of our Malaysian rojak.

Teh kotjok (RM7) and teh rempah serai (RM6)

At the end of this wonderful dining experience, we are given a discount voucher which entitles us to a 10% discount on our next visit….and I am 100% sure we will be back.

Address: Unit 55A

 Jalan USJ10/1F

47620 USJ

Tel : +603 80 20 6813

Mastercard & Visa accepted