Nasi Paprik at Raub Rest House

Going to KB from KL is not a ‘fun’ drive as it takes forever to get there. I decided to make a pit stop at Raub and found the Rest House by chance. The place looked rather deserted and a pleasant waiter asked me if I wanted to order something to eat. I said yes and he gave me a simple one-pager menu from which I picked nasi paprik.

Nasi paprik is said to be of Thai origin. Hence it is super spicy. Made with morsels of chicken along with tomatoes, long beans, chillies , onions and some bird eye chillies this dish was definitely spicy (as it should be) and delicious.

Address :  Jalan Dato Abdullah

Tel : +609 355 9899

Aryan, Quality Hotel

Aryan is located along the main road of Jalan Raja Laut, fronting Pertama Complex.  We valet parked and was told that you do not leave the keys with valet as his job is only to ensure you get a parking right in front of the hotel!

It took us a while to realise that Aryan was open for business – the place was dark and the doors were locked. We pressed the bell and after a long pause, someone came to open the door for us. We then noticed that Aryan is locked at all times.

I would only like to highlight my favourite dish here which was tandoori chicken, served with lots of onions.  The chicken was so tender, it fell off the bone. The chicken was marinated with the right amount of yoghurt and herbs, not overpowering nor bland.

Service here is friendly and efficient. I’ll definitely be back.

Address: Ground Floor, Podium Block

 Quality Hotel City Centre

 No. 12, Jalan Raja Laut

 50350 Kuala Lumpur

 Telephone: +603 2691 9245

 Opening hours : Monday – Saturday: 11.30 am – 2.30 pm & 6.30 pm – 11.00 pm

Tower Bar & Grill, London

I met up with a friend at the Tower Bar & Grill located on the ground floor of Grange Tower Bridge Hotel for dinner. This was conveniently located within walking distance of the Aldgate tube station. We chose this place as she had a voucher for ‘Kids eat for free’ ….so the kids she brought along literally ate for no charges at all.

For the adults we decided to  share a salad and order a main course each.

Like all other mediterranean salad that I have come across, this one came with crumbled cheese –something that I definitely do not fancy. The colour however was rich and interesting. With lots of olives,  I loved it (except for the crumbled cheese, that is!)



 This is my friend's order which was the Grange Hotel's special pizza.



This is the rabbit dish I had – it was rather bland and I did feel a little disappointed with it.

 

The kids had starters and main course – all of which were huge by Malaysian standards. I would say that in Malaysia these would have definitely made it to the adults menu. In fact, the poor kids had to cancel their dessert as they were really full by then…..by the way, dessert was supposed to be ice cream.


Entree - for kids!!!

Prawn salad



Spaghetti - even I can't finish this!
 

Main course - just look at the amount of fries!

We continued to chit chat for some time and the waiters left us alone. Soon the little ones were yawning and it was time for me to say my goodbyes.

I don’t know how much this meal costs as I did not pay for it.

 

Address : 45 Prescot Street

London E1 8GP

Tel : +44 20 7959 5000

Shanghai, JW Marriott KL

There are not many Shanghainese restaurants in KL and this time I decided to revisit Shanghai, a restaurant located on the first floor of the JW Marriott Hotel in KL.

Synonymous to Shanghainese  food (for me that is!) is none other than Xiao Long Bao –a must try if you come here.

This is duck tongue. It is tiny – about 5 centimetres and for a first timer, I would say I love it. And ………I had more than one of this.  The taste is totally different from that of duck meat.

This is shark’s fin soup with fish maw. You will notice that the soup is clear. It was quite tasty as well. Shark’s fin is said to be filled with protein  and calcium and is a cure for arthritis.

Cod fish in brandy. Cod fish has a distinct smell and when cooked with the over-powering brandy gives a very unique aroma and flavour.

This is sea cucumber, leek and Chinese mushroom. Quite an interesting combination I would say.

Next up was nothing spectacular- broccoli with Chinese mushrooms. The chef can never go wrong with this dish – so I have nothing more to comment!

This is duck with mini buns. The duck was too dry on its own but tasted heavenly when you dip it in the sauce.

Pork..really fat pork piled up in the shape of a…..pagoda…err….or a rose? Take your pick. To me this dish was totally inedible as I have no liking for fatty meat!

Fried noodles - found this dish to be slightly tasteless and oily.

Address:
1st floor, JW Marriott KL
183 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 27159000

Opens for lunch & dinner

Credit cards accepted

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 (年年高升).

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