Sweet Bean, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling

That's such a beautiful picture. Empty plates would only mean much satisfied and happy tummy(ies).

It was one of those days where we dragged out of bed late (Cantonese says 'tai-yong-sai-pei-ku' meaning sun shines backside) and took a heavy brunch. Tummies only started growling way after lunchtime. So, I decided to go light as not to spoil dinner but as for Phitoy, it's obvious his hunger took control.

Ever since a trip to Hongkong where I tasted a 'best-ever' black sesame glutinous dumpling in hot ginger soup, I've been ordering d similar thing whenever possible, hoping to quell the craving. So far, the search has been fun but not very successful. Oddly though quite a number of dessert shops here tend to serve them dry or dunked into a choice of sweet thick liquid dessert of red bean, peanut or sesame. In this shop, the dumplings were not sold separately but has to be ordered together with a bowl of thick liquid dessert. But well well well I was surpised and happy to find that the dumplings were served floating in its own bowl of ginger soup next to my choice of peanut soup. And the taste? Good!As mentioned, Phitoy did not go light. He took the Cheese Baked Rice with Chicken Chop. It took quite a while to arrive and when it did, I couldn't wait to pinch a few spoonful as the cheese smelled wonderful. Yumyum. The chicken was tender and flavourful. Another winner! Both of us had a glass of soyabean+black jelly drink (aka Michael Jackson). It was well, ok-lor.There, our bill:- Location: Familiar with Bandar Baru Sri Petaling? It's in the middle of a row of new shophouses facing the road which connects Sri Petaling and Happy Garden, Old Klang Road. Confused? Anyone out there can help?

Hmm.. come to think of it, the name of this shop do sound familiar. Was it previously located at Tengkat Tongshin, behind Jalan Alor in KL town?

Oya! A peek into d calendar made me realised tomorrow is 'Koh-Tong'!! For those who are swallowing 'tong-yuen' (small glutinous rice dumplings) tomorrow, happy aging another year! For those who don't, well, there's no stopping the aging process, so let's do it d delicious way! Gulp.

Restaurant Tong Shan, Salak South Garden

Not too long ago, I use to stay around here, Salak South Garden, which is an old housing area where most Chinese dwell. Off and on I'll be there as I am partial to a hairdresser and the proprietors of a Chinese Medicinal Hall. Well, the feelings of familiarity is comforting.

In the mornings till late lunch, there's this shop which serve food usually found in the evenings or nights, albeit roadside hawker stalls, coffee shops or restaurants.

One of the mornings there for breakfast, we had the following:-

Kungfu Chow Yinyong (Cantonese Style Flat Noodles and Fried Vermicelli)

Fried Tung-Foon (Fried Green Bean Noodles)

Tastewise, they were nothing too great but nevertheless satisfying. Afterall, it's not easy to find these for breakfast anywhere else in the city. Besides the above dishes, their menu is quite extensive like any other 'tai-chow'. For example, they have Fried Rice, Ginger Beef Noodles, Fish Head Vermicelli, Noodles in Hokkien Style (in thick black sauce), savoury meat dishes like Sweet Sour Pork Ribs, Stir-fried Green Veggies and many more. Oh, they do sell the Hakka breadloaves which are cut thickly to go with kaya and halfboiled eggs. Unlike most 'tai-chow' outlet, you get to order milk-tea or coffee (hot or iced) besides the usual herbal tea and canned drinks.

That morning, together with the above noodles, we took warm homemade Barli-longan drinks each and I packed 1 loaf of the Hakka bread home.

Here's our bill:-

Location:- It's a corner shop opposite the only 7-11 outlet around the shophouses in that area. This is not much of a description but I really do not know how else to navigate. Leave me a message if you need more details and I'll try to do better!

Euro Deli Grill Restaurant, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng

Christmas surprise. Not the food but the sudden tasks which my dear boss just dished out which is due last month! (0_o)"". Yes, sweating buckets indeed.

Dear pictures, please show your best and complete this post before my readers/visitors lose interest and stop dropping by due to my infrequent updates.

Dearest readers/visitors, pardon my rudeness but for once please allow Mr Bill here introduce you to the following dishes.Not complete, I know but well frankly, I forgot the dishes actual names. It was a few moons back as Mr Bill stated. Come to think of it, we ordered according to our favourite pictures in the menu! Please drool on my behalf as I really need to climb into bed. *yawn* Tomorrow is going to be another long day. *sigh*.

Yes yes, pictures of the dishes do look quite similar to each other esp. the roast ones. Let me tell you, they tasted similar too with different texture. However, all of them yummy yum yum & incredibly filling.

Oh! One comment though:- RM3.50 just for a plain honest decoration-free ordinary glass of lime juice (no picture shown). Why the drinks at such establishments always so expensive? Or am I the only one bothered by this?

Location: Euro Deli outlets' addresses

Good nite & hopefully I can sneak a breather to pop in again before Christmas!

Toilet post#9

Luna Bar. Sounds familiar? If you are not familiar with the night spots in Kuala Lumpur, maybe you were (and still is?) a fan of this interesting report.

Quite a number of bloggers had posted opinions and pictures of the food, drinks and most of all, the breathtaking view of the tinseltown skyline from this rooftop waterhole. Kinda bored? Well I'll feature its washrooms instead.

Ladies, please take a seat:-

Just luv the island circular mirror and washbasin area. This is in the ladies.

Gentlemen, feet apart, aim, fire! Err.. that's d only picture taken of the gents'. Apa boleh buat (What to do), male traffic was too thick and no one was willing to risk getting a black eye by whipping out a camera when there are private 'family jewels' on display. =P Actually more like male-egos just got in the way. Afterall, quite ambarassing-lar as may be labelled as 'kolot' or 'just arrived from somewhere terribly ulu' (far-off) to take pictures in there. Then no stylo-mylo lor! Quite a pity really as the urinals are positioned directly in full view of our famous Twin Towers (Kuala Lumpur City Centre)!

Location & address:-

LUNA – CHILL OUT BAR
Level 34 (Rooftop),
Pacific Regency Hotel Apartments,
Menara Pan Global,
Jalan Puncak off Jalan P. Ramlee
50250 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-2332 7777
E-mail: marcom@pacific-regency.com
Web: www.pacific-regency.com

Note:
Downstairs at the main entrance can be real quiet at times. Just go into the building and get into a lift. Need to change lifts at a certain level but err.. I forgot which floor. However I do remember that there're still a couple of flight of stairs to conquer after the lift ride. Not so conducive after 1 too many drinks I tell ya!

S.K Seafood Restaurant, Seri Kembangan

This restaurant opened sometime 3rd quarter of this year. Yes, spanking new. Not many patrons though, maybe because it was the Raya holidays week where most city-dwellers either 'balik kampung' (return to their respective hometowns in other states) or went away on vacation.We chose to sit near the railing where it sloped down to the railway track. Naturally, the passing commuter trains and the speeding KLIA ERL became conversational topics. That's the view beyond the tracks. Err, see that grey roof bungalow? Is that Tun Mahathir's home?

For our food, we took steamed white rice with dishes recommended by the restaurant manager:-

Stir-fry Greens with 'Fuyu' (red preserved beans).

Claypot Tofu.Mmm.. just ok-lor. This is available at most Chinese restaurants but somehow, I have failed to find a good one which makes me go back just for it.

Steamed 'Sang-yue' ("err.. snakehead fish?').Thought this type of fish is slippery black with whiskers. You know, those that are sold in markets still very much alive and jumping in buckets; strongly believed to help heal surgery cuts? Maybe a different type? Pity I forgot to ask the manager. The meat is quite thick with lots of bones. Taste wise, nothing special.

Chicken steamed with Ginger Wine This was a real no-no. It was way way too salty! We informed the manager, he tasted it and agreed. So he replaced it with fried calamari. =) Good show!

Fried Calamari. This was good.

Claypot Crabs baked in Cheese. The flavour was ok but the sauce too 'watery'. One of my dining companion kept ladling it into her bowl and calling it cheese soup.

The food may not be memorable but the atmosphere was. Clean, airy and a choice of dining outdoor under the sky. No air-conditioned hall/room though but the number of hardworking fans more than make up for it. O ya, nice toilet too. Planned to snap a few shots of it when we were leaving but forgot. It's not attached to the restaurant but stood as a building by itself.

Bill for 6:-

Address. This I have a problem. This is the funny part. The manager informed that namecards were not printed yet as they want to see whether the business will sustain! And he didn't seem to be joking. Talk about prudency and save the trees campaign, mien! 0_o"

Well, have to 'tumpang' (take a free ride) on South City Plaza's location map. Just another 1 minute drive after the Plaza entrance and you'll see the restaurant on your right, opposite the Plaza, at the end of the apartment block. This was how the signboard looked like .. ..unless the move to save on namecards was proven as a wise one.

Toilet post#8

Someone tell me please.

Did I just miss d golden opportunity to experience d most intelligent washroom in the whole of Malaysia (could it be even Asia)?

I'm talking about this futuristic public convenience featured prominently in The Star newspapers early this year.

Couple of weeks ago while shopping at the vicinity of Lot 10, Sungei Wang and BB Plaza, found the pride of our nation like this:-Err..had this ever been in operation? Can't seem to find the date it's launched nor d ribbon cutting (maybe toilet seat popping?) ceremony news online.

If it was opened before, oh boy, public toilet-ers in our city sure are a rough and careless lot!

Pity the self-repair function was not included.

Restaurant Guizhou Garden, Pudu

4 of us. Dinner time. Raining dogs, cats and whatever animals easily found on Kuala Lumpur city soil. Bad traffic jam, of course. You get the idea.

We were unable to decide what to have around Pudu area. The easiest choice would be Teochew porridge but 2 of us were not keen on rice and I wanted to try other restaurants there. So, after walking along the row of shops, we found ourselves staring into a spanking clean bright air-conditioned patronless restaurant wondering whether to risk it. You know what they say about quiet empty restaurants but then again we noticed other shops were like that at that time. Maybe the heavy downpour was keeping most diners away. Upon spotting us, the Manager (mm.. a position like a Head Waiter/Captain) quickly came to open the door and ushered us in. Menus were presented, tea was poured and the manager started rattling on about their specialties/choices of food/recommendations.

We decided on a hotpot with 2 choices of soup ie. herbal and malat("spicy hot"). Yes, we were going for a sweaty affair.

Oh, a couple of spoonful of soup (your own preference of which) is to be added to the small bowl of condiments. It's dip.

On that night, a sliced tong-shan fish (ikan keli?) was given free. As for other ingredients, we chose beef balls, pork balls, straw mushrooms, golden mushrooms, chinese cabbage, lamb meat slices, chicken meat slices, lotus root, homemade tauhu.On top of that, we tried 2 of their specialty dishes.

Fried Brake (that's how it's named in the menu!) Vegetables with Cured Meat @RM18.The green vege is green onion. The rest was Brake Vege which tasted like err.. twigs. Reminded me of a Mr Bean episode where he served his guests with freshly broken twigs dipped in Bovril (I think). Definitely not a dish to order again. For us, that is. The only thing I can recall about the cured meat, which was sliced and not obvious in the picture as the colouring was similar to the Brake Vege, is it's very salty.

Special Blood Bean Curd Miao with celery @ RM15 Blood Bean Curd Miao is the black pieces in the picture. Tasted similar to 'heong cheong', Chinese Hakka stuffed intestine. Salty, flavourful, and you get to choose the vegetable to be cooked with. The manager recommended celery. Good call. 2 bowls of steamed white rice was ordered due to this dish!

Desserts? Looks like candy?They were moist pink towels offered after the meal.

Good environment, good service. Did I mention the waitresses were in customs? After they've cleared the table, we sat there chit-chatting for almost 3 hours. They didn't mind since only a sprinkle of diners came in. Anyway, having people at tables do look so much more inviting to potential patrons outside, right? When we left at almost 10pm, we saw the restaurant next door which serves similar food was full! Hmm.. we missed the jackpot? O well, at least we did enjoy the meal.

This was our bill:- and this is how you locate the place.

Restoran Makanan Laut Soon Fatt (Soon Fatt Seafood Restaurant)

This is one of Phitoy's favourite dinner venue for Chinese 'Tai-chow' (literally means big cook?). This place is definitely no stranger to those staying around Sri Petaling and Sri Endah housing garden. How good is it? Below is the familiar scene at dinner time e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y except Tues when it's closed. (Please note that the restaurant only occupies the ground floor. A Korean BBQ restaurant runs the floor above.) :-

A few friends have been asking for map/address but being one who has problems differentiating right from left when directing, thought why not do a post instead. Dear impatient hungry friends, do skip the pictures and scroll below for the address/telephone number and location map! For the others, let me show a few favourite dishes served there.

These pictures were taken quite sometime ago as the date on the bill will show. Anyhow, to this day, these few dishes have never disappointed us nor new patrons. Almost every table will have an order of at least one of these:-

Pineapple pork ribs (sweet and savoury)'Par-chiu' Tilapia (hot and sour) 'Seong-thong' (err.. high soup?) spinach (flavourful with anchovies and garlic based soup)

Nevertheless, the chefs here always do come up with new dishes. The waitresses there are very helpful in recommending the specials for the day. As the crowd is quite 'scary', glad to note that the service is usually fast and furious in finding a clean table and taking orders.

To get there just call for directions or better still, just see this location map. This restaurant is diagonally opposite the Sri Petaling Hotel, so once you find the Hotel, just look across. Hard to miss with the bright lights and heavy crowd, even on rainy nights!

Price? See the bill? Oh, just notice that there's no breakdown of price for each dish but in total, reasonable price, right?

Taro Ramen, Sungei Wang Shopping Complex

One day after working hours, 3 of us headed over to Sungei Wang to get a few *coughcoughDVDscoughcough*. For dinner, I suggested Madam Wong's Cafe which was recommended by Babe In The City KL, one of my favourite food blogger who did a review of that place in Sept'06. Was mentally deciding whether to taste the Marmite Chicken or Supreme Pork Rib Rice when suddenly upon arrival at the shopfront, 1 of my friends exclaimed "Aiyo, this place is it? Came before-lar with so & so. So-so (meaning edible standard) only-lar". Upset but with tummy making angry noises, I did not protest much but made a quiet promise ie. I will return without you! So, we went nextdoor.We were quite early, I guess, as the tables were still empty and the waitresses/waiters were chatting away at a corner. Nevertheless, once seated the service was fast and attentive. In between I noticed they were whispering about my taking pictures of the food. My actions were very obvious especially when my companions kept reminding each other not too softly not to touch the food until satisfactory portraits were taken! TQ guys. Actually, quite shy-oh.
Lucky for that friend, we found the food there good. The 3 of us had Green Tea (refillable/bottomless. Guess that's why it's RM1.50 per glass) with the following individual bowls of ramen (I can't remember the names - forgot to take pictures of the menu). Pictures from top to bottom:- Beef Ramen. Mine. Tender beef slices. Good. Miso Ramen. Well, I'm not a fan of Miso soup, so I prefer the Beef Ramen without a doubt. Spicy Ramen. This I believe was featured very prominently in the menu (highly recommended?). We agreed that was the best of the lot (of those we ordered, that is). Kids stay away as it was hot (spicy)! That red colour soup was not for show.These were additional orders (for the record, we did struggle a bit with the udon as all the noodles servings were quite generous). Edamame (credit to Honey Star for reminding me of the name) and Yaki Udon. I only managed to bite into 2 pieces of the beans as my companions were fast workers. The udon tasted bland to me but maybe it's because I was already quite full after my bowl of Beef Ramen. But all of us agreed that it was a tad too oily.

The bill and address:-

Other branches' location:-

Excuse me, just to check. Are my pictures too dark or is it just my monitor?