Spice of India, KLCC

Located on the 4^th Floor of KLCC, I would say that the entrance of this restaurant, known as Spice of India , is not prominent. The lacklustre attitude of the staff makes it even more uninviting, but what brings the patrons back again and again is none other than the food. Both Northern and Southern Indian cuisine are served here.

 I ordered Strawberry Lassi (RM 9) – in a tiny glass, it may be slightly overpriced but I love it as the creamy chilled lassi is always so refreshing on a hot afternoon.

Briyani rice (RM13) – such aromatic rice…it really made my tummy growl!

Lamb vindaloo (RM35)   -I’ve been a huge fan of lamb vindaloo ever since I savoured some excellent ones in London many, many years ago.  What I love about vindaloo is the extra umph that I get from the spices used in making this dish. However, the ones at Spice of India just didn’t work for me. Well, maybe my expectation was high as I love my vindaloo to be extra hot, sour and with lots of vinegar.

Bhendi Masala (RM20) – well, 3 words to describe the taste – spicy, tangy, crunchy! Love it!

Murgh tikka masala (RM33) –that’s a chicken masala dish.  The roasted chicken or rather chicken baked in a tandoori pot is served with a spicy sauce called masala. I love the creamy, spicy, orange-coloured gravy. It was great!

Prawns curry leaves (RM45) – big, fresh succulent prawns in a tiny ‘pot’ of curry is something that no one can resist.

Peas mushroom (RM20) – when I ordered this dish, I never expected it to be button mushrooms, but that was exactly what we got. Button mushroom cut into tiny pieces cooked with green peas – surprisingly the combination worked alright.

Address:  Level 4 , Suria KLCC

Kuala Lumpur City Centre

50088 Kuala Lumpur

Opening hours :11.30 am to  10.30 pm 

Tel : +603 2164 9221

 Mastercard, Visa and Amex accepted.

East Court Restaurant, OUG -revisited

I came here some time back and have been longing to come back ever since. This time around, I ordered chicken with Chinese dodder (yes, again) as I just couldn’t have enough of it. The price remains the same (RM40) as per my last visit.

This is stir kai lan  -which to me was a let down as the kai lan was old and tough. It is very rare for us not to finish up vegetable ordered, but we could not even chew the vegetables, so we decided to let them go to waste!

Eggs with cekur manis. I found this vegetable too dry for my liking.

Braised fish tail  -taiwanese style, in a claypot with yam and mushrooms. This is normally cooked with fish head but we opted for fish tail as some of us do not like fish head. On hind sight I would say that it was a big mistake as the fish tail was huge and tough. Perhaps the head would have been more palatable.

Well, perhaps my expectation this time was too high and that was probably why I left this place feeling slightly disappointed.

Address : 26 Jalan Hujan Rahmat 3

Taman OUG

58200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +6 017 376 4988, +6016 2485433

Opening hours: 11am to 3pm, 6pm to 9pm

Only cash is accepted.

Yoke Fook Moon Restaurant 玉福满点心 , Ipoh

If you are the type who judge the book by the cover then you would definitely give this restaurant a miss…and in doing so will miss out on what I call the best dim sum in Ipoh.

The front façade is simple and certainly pales in comparison to the other dim sum restaurants located in the vicinity. But trust me, the dim sum here is simply marvelous.

The staff are efficient and friendly. Unlike most dim sum outlets where food is brought around on a push cart, at Yoke Fook Moon the staff carry them in trays from table to table.

Fish balls

Chee cheong fun

钟无艳

Address:  No 67-69 Jalan Leong Sin Nam

30300 Ipoh

Tel : +605 - 241 6589

Opening hours: 6-10am, 6.30-11pm

Mastercard & Visa accepted for transactions above RM70

Plates U8, Shah Alam

 This is my first time at this rather wide shopping mall called Space U8 here in Shah Alam. The mall has been cleverly designed to save on electricity for lightings as natural light is definitely the preferred choice here.

I decided to check out Plates & Bottles. For your information, the outlet is divided into two sections. The section facing the inside of the mall is Plates which serves food …you know, as in a plate! The other section of the outlets faces the outside and is known as Bottles as it serves alcohol…hmm…what an interesting name for an establishment!

These were the 3 drinks we ordered – ice luo han kuo (RM2.80), tornado twist (RM8.90) and a glass of fresh apple juice (RM7.90). I found my apple juice a little too diluted for my liking.

The blackboard indicated that breakfast was served all day long, but when we ordered it, the waiter politely told us that it was not 
available. Sigh!

Braised yee mee (RM8.90) – very well fried and tasty. If I had one complaint, it would be the serving size – rather small.

Cantonese kuey teow (RM8.90) – fried with a generous serving of prawns and fish cake, this plate of noodles was yummy.

Spaghetti beef Bolognese (RM16.90) – I didn’t like the boring presentation and I must say the price was rather steep. However, the firm yet not hard pasta was a delight.

I had the dessert of the day (RM3.50) – which was a tiny cup of Chinese black jelly. It did not satisfy my longing for something cold and sweet as the portion was way too small.

Address : Space U8 : B2-17-G

6, Persiaran Pasak Bumi

Taman Bukit Jelutong

Seksyen U8

40150 Shah Alam

Tel : +603 5033 4886

Mastercard & Visa accepted

Restoran Tanjung, Kuantan

Many Kuantan folks have recommended this place to me & I finally made the time to try out the food at Tanjung. It was drizzling as I walked in and I noticed that the entire place (I’ll tell you why I use this word instead of restaurant!) was empty except for the waiters and waitresses.

 

 

I looked around just to make doubly sure that I had not got the wrong place. I saw what resembled parts of a boat! And that was not the end of the ‘surprises’!  I even believe I saw engine oil bottles….argh! the place certainly looked unkempt to me. Frankly the disheveled appearance put me off and as we were deciding whether to go next door, the waitress smiled at us and politely asked us which table we would like. There were hardly any tables there – less than 10 I would say, and most of them were filled – a huge table which can sit 10 people was filled with pineapples, another was covered with vegetables………

We chose a table for 8. And started ordering food:-

This is stir fried spinach with garlic. A very ‘safe’ dish to order – if you now what I mean as it does not take much culinary skills to get this dish right.

 

 

Mutton curry – tender , rich in flavour and mouth watering, this dish was of course my favourite.

 

 

 

Butter prawns – I love the crispiness of the prawn shells so much that I actually ate some of them. The curry leaves used added an irreplaceable fragrance to this dish whilst the cili padi used added flavour to this already wonderful dish.

 

 

Pork ribs in Marmite- although the ribs were slightly tough, the well marinated ribs were heavenly.

 

 

 

Steamed fish – steamed with ginger and garnished with some spring onions and parsley, the freshness of the fish was definitely felt as we devoured the fish within seconds!

 

What surprised me was that although the building looked big from the outside, there were hardly any tables available for lunch time customers. Furthermore, I was told that credit cards are only accepted for dinner. For lunch, payment is strictly on a cash basis only.

  

Address : Lot 57971 Medan Selera

Jalan Haji Ahmad

25300 Kuantan

Tel : +6012 983 2457

 

 

Restoran Mei Hiong, Kuantan

Mei Hiong – how I first got to hear of it was when one of my friends mentioned that she had sharks meat in Kuantan. I was perplexed and so I had to ask the normal questions e.g where, when, how, etc…..  as in all my years of travelling to Kuantan, I must admit that I have never ever eaten sharks meat before.

Now comes the ‘tricky’ bit – to locate the restaurant. Well, if you have GPS then it would be easy peasy, but if you don’t, then let me guide you there. As you come from Teluk Chempedak take the road leading to Kuantan town. You will pass by Zul Satay on your right. Drive on until you come to Jalan Tanjung Api. Turn left and drive all the way to the end. Don’t fret or make a U-turn, as yes, the road looks rather dim and deserted. Just persevere and you will find Mei Hiong on your left.

 

We arrive close to 7pm and this two-shop lot restaurant is abuzz. The waitress asked whether we had a reservation and to be frank, I was shocked as to me this was just an ordinary makan place, which looked rather simple to me. Anyway, I told her that we did not have one, and she said that well, we can have the only available table there as the rest were reserved. We made our orders fast as we were very hungry and yes, we DID of course ordered sharks.

This is stir fried sharks meat with ginger and spring onion…and hmmmm…how would I describe the texture of sharks meat – I was mentally prepared to sink my teeth into tough meat, but my perception of sharks meat was totally quashed that night. In fact, the meat was tender, more tender than chicken and I really enjoyed it.

 

 

Sweet and sour pork – with its perfectly balanced flavour of sweet and pungent, this dish was heavenly.

 

Stir fried choy sum – with sufficient wok hei, I couldn’t fault this dish at all!

 

 

Marmite chicken – I’ve always wondered why this dish is called marmite chicken! Looking back at childhood days, marmite was something we ate with porridge or drank as a soup (just add marmite to a bowl of warm water and TA-DA, you have a bowl of soup!)  and marmite on its own had what I’ll call a foul taste – salty and yuckie. But what makes a dish of marmite chicken so popular is the fact that apart from marmite, this dish is made more palatable by the use of honey in it. You know the marmite-honey combination makes a very delectable dish…but then credit is always given to the marmite, hence the name marmite chicken!!!

 

Another fish – ikan jebong. Well, I don’t know why but I can’t seem to get enough of ikan jebong whenever I go to Kuantan. I like the spicy sauce, which went well with the fish and rice.

 

Address : B52-54 Jalan Tanjung Api

25050 Kuantan

Cash terms only

B Kee, Kuantan

On my last trip to Kemaman, I wanted to try out B Kee. In fact, I went there twice, but on my first attempt the place was full and on my second, B Kee wasn’t opened. So this time around I have become a little smarter. I called up to make a reservation and that was how I managed to get a table.

Business sure is brisk here. The sole foreign worker seemed rather busy as he put away the used plates and cutlery, wiped the table sparkling clean and served patrons. The lady boss is in charge of taking orders and she too helps out with serving food and cleaning the tables!

 

6 hungry tummies to be filled – so we decided that we would each order  a dish. The smartest aleck played safe and ordered stir fried yau  mak. To me the presentation of this dish was totally unappealing. But it tasted alright.

 

 

I ordered ikan jebong curry. Well, in case you don’t know what that is it’s scientific name is Abalistes stellaris. Yes, I know I’ve confused you even more…well, in our markets in KL we simply call it ikan ayam. The fish tastes just like chicken. Don’t be fooled by its messy appearance as the curry was really alluring. As we ate, it became more and more addictive, I would say, and hence we ended up ordering more rich.

 

 

 

This is B Kee’s signature tofu. An interesting dome with goodies inside – that’s how I would describe this velvety smooth tofu.

 

 

 

 

 

This is another of their signature dish – pork served in a mini wok , Sinfully fat pork with some lean meat cooked in a delicious sauce. It was excellent.

 

 

 

Well, another smart aleck ordered this – known as their signature prawns, this was prawns with cheese – you can feel the cheesiness oozing out from the prawns with every bite. I simply adore this.

 

 

This is called their signature chicken….hmmm..when I look back at these photos, I now realise that all of them  were really conservative that night…almost all of them chose signature dishes..but I really aint complaining because the food was awesome. This chicken dish, I was told involves many steps – steaming and baking, etc. The outcome was succulent chicken with a great taste .

 

We certainly left B Kee very impressed. Dinner was just under RM150.

 

Address: B 3298 Jalan Air Putih

25300 Kuantan

Tel: +6016 933 8118, +6017 976 8788

 

Only Cash is accepted