New Paris Restaurant Sdn Bhd, SS2

This was my last visit there sometime end of last year. I did thought of not posting this until recently, I heard a couple of friends had similar experiences. Not a good thing especially for an old favourite restaurant which had just moved to a much bigger and comfortable location. Guess it is another case of when business expands, quality deteriorates. =(

Our dinner for 6 was steamed white rice with:-

Fried Calamari. A hint of curry powder but was more flour than squids (Squids flavoured flourballs?). Unfortunately, that was considered the winning dish of that night. *sigh*
Watermelon Chicken. I think you can only get this special dish here. Nice presentation. Tastewise, the chicken pieces tasted a bit too 'chicken-y' for us. Hope you can understand that as I really cannot explain it any other way. Unpleasant. We agreed it would so much better if pork ribs were used instead.
Ginger Wine Lala. Succulent crustaceans but with 'oversweet' soup. So sweet it can almost qualify for 'thong-sui' - sweet dessert. Picture is just my own small bowl.
Beancurd topped with 'Choy-Pou'. Smooth beancurd but somehow quite tasteless eventhough the topping was generous. Maybe our tastebuds were overwhelmed by the sweet soup lala.Stir-fried Kailan. Bitter.
Did we ordered the wrong dishes?

Reluctantly settled:-Address & contact:-I would appreciate if anyone had a very different experience to tell. My friends and I may be convinced that ours were exceptional cases and give it another try. Afterall, the crowd there is incredible every night!

Happy Porky Pork Chinese New Year!

May all your daily dishes be even more gorgeous, delicious & satisfying in this Chinese New Year!

Remember to stay healthy to eat more!!

Big Eater, Kuchai Entrepreneurs' Park

UPDATE: Last visit to this area in Sept'07, this restaurant cannot be found. Hmm wonder if it's moved or just closed down. Pity.

This almost forgotten area is booming. It's on a fast track to becoming a busy, even more congested but much sought after piece of prime land. Just take a drive around and one will find more flyover highways being constructed, new land being cleared for new condominiums/apartments, brand new shoplots being snapped up and racing to start new businesses. Afterall, it is only 15mins drive to/from KL city centre, PROVIDED the Seremban Highway & Sungei Besi main road looks & works like a highway.

Needless to say cafes offering western, eastern, fusion and local flavours dots every row of the new shop houses there. So far, I have tried a few and find this worth mentioning.

Big Eater features 'pan-meen'/'pan-mien'/ literally translated as 'flat wood noodles'? They do offer a few other side dishes but so far, I have only been back for the noodles. Here goes the pictures:-

Big containers of 3 types of ground chili to spice up the noodles.
Red = sambal, Yellow = more lime-y, Black - dried chili flakes (deadliest & my favourite!)
Soup Pan-meenDry Pan-meen
Oya, must not forget these, our orders of 'Cham-Pings' (Iced mixture of coffee+tea drinks). Not overly sweet, thick & aromatic.Fatty Poh aka Firehorse, this is especially dedicated to you.
Our bill:-
Location (Address & map):- Sorry for the blur map but it was the best my camera would do. Somehow, it just refused to 'perform'. I have tried all the functions:- simple, macro, auto, portrait etc. Failed. So, let me try to describe in words. Hopefully you are familiar with Kuchai Entrepreneurs' Park. From the Seremban Highway, exit at the Kuchai Lama turnoff. Follow the road & keep left. When reached a cross junction, cross to the opposite where you be able to see a new Maybank branch. Turn right as Big Eater is on the same row as the bank. Phew.

On our few visits found the waitresses who served us speak only Mandarin. Cannot even understand Cantonese! Mainland Chinese, maybe? Luckily they have a pictorial menu.

Kedai Makanan Ban Lee, Jalan Ipoh

Got convinced by team BSG. Read their potent post then you'll understand why I took the plunge to brave the road known for its horrendous traffic and haphazard parking. Yes, after work. Yes, during rush hour!
Verdict? Personally I prefer to drool here. Then again, this is definitely my own tastebuds as Phitoy who was with me enjoyed it immensely. I find there was a certain bitter aftertaste with the soup and it was not fragrant enough. Well, maybe because we were too early as the tables were empty except for a lone Indian man? Afterall people do say that for soup based food it's always best to go later when all the ingredients that would gather at the bottom of the pot are totally infused into the liquid.
Our order for 2 was 2 bowls of rice (infused with oil "yau-fan") and a hot Bak-Kut-Teh claypot with pork belly and soft bones part. No innards. Only additionals were golden needle mushrooms and yau-char-kuai (literally translated as oil fried ghosts). Though the 'fried ghosts' serving was generous, I prefer it crunchier. Drinks were herbal tea of the day - 'lo-han-kuo' (literally translated as Buddha's fruit).My first bowl.
Bill came to RM24.30. We think it's expensive but didn't have the time to ask for a breakdown for each dish's price as this happened. Nevertheless, the portions were generous and would have comfortably fed 3 smaller eaters.

Location is an ecpc find. Just locate Dynasty Hotel. This old coffeeshop is on the left of its main entrance (when in hotel facing out). Impossible to miss as it is occupying 2 shoplots now with one solely to seat patrons. As for parking, the road shoulder is popular during late nights. However, as good citizens, there are parking lots (private and otherwise) behind this row of shops. Just go further pass Kedai Makanan Ban Lee and turn into the lane behind.

Hey, do tell me your experience/opinion at this place so I can decide whether I should brave the traffic again.

Toilet post#11

Dynasty Hotel's lobby.

Clean

Convenient.

A lifesaver. *so have your eyes grown bigger with curiosity at this statement?*

Sounds quite extreme but trust me, when the urge hits you, there's no early notice on where when and with whom. A couple of days back, Phitoy accompanied me to grab dinner at Kedai Makanan Ban Lee, Jalan Ipoh (interested to know my personal opinion on the food? Next post, 'k!). Right after the meal, sudden spasms hit. (@.@)" Luckily it was only a short sprint next door. (^_^)

Phew.

Meme: 5 Things You Don't Know About Me

The lawyer who cooks up a storm at Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food tagged me. Hmm.. what should I reveal? More like what revelation would interest you? Maybe these:-
1) I'm tall!
2) I'm dropdead gorgeous!
3) I'm extremely rich!
4) I'm world famous!
5) And of course, I'm a big fat liar. =P

Ok ok. Here goes the 'real' stuff.

First:-
I'm only 5' 2" on good days. This is actually the result of a measurement exercise done during my secondary school days which is undeniably eons ago. Since todate it remains the most favourable, I'm sticking to it. So there!

Second:-
A typical Chinese female with typical Chinese features. Only incident of being mistook for being a non-Chinese was during a backpacking trip in Nepal where the people there insisted I belong to the Rai tribe. Not bad considering they are the fairer of the lots - without a doubt - in my opinion!

Third:-
Hahahaha.. what a dream. What a vision. I'm an employee with fixed salary. Has been for many years.

Fourth:-
Err, how to check where my blog visitors are coming from?

Fifth:-
No-lar. I'm as honest as I can be.

Disappointed? Don't be-lar. Please come back. Slow discovery makes it all the more fun, right?

So, who should I tag? Actually by now, almost all those on my links have been tagged or done it. I'll choose those I think have not done this yet. So Paris, Honey Star, Precious Pea, WMW, Teckiee can indulge a bit of your real life persona?

Oya, since this is a non-food post, I quickly quickly took the opportunity to showcase a few of my favourite photographs from my archive. So, ok or not? Hope I did not bore you.

Nasi Lemak Udang Joo Hooi Café Penang

Most are familiar with this coffeeshop along Penang Road on Penang island. One of the ultimate must-visit for all food fans, locals/oustationers/foreigners. Unfamiliar name? It's because the stalls are more famous. Try this:- Teochew Cendul stall, Char Koay Teow and Assam Laksa. You know, the one that charges RM0.30 extra (or is it more?) for the bowl of cendul if brought into the shop from the stall outside. Now you know which coffeeshop I'm referring to, right? I can stop describing right?

The following may be a new discovery for most. Let me introduce you to an unsung unassuming unattractive small packet of rice found here. Nasi Lemak Sambal Udang aka Fragrant Coconut Milk infused Rice with Spicy Shrimps. A must try as it is not easily available anywhere else be it in Penang or Kuala Lumpur (actually I've not seen any in KL yet).

Location: Wraped in packets on plates set on tables in the coffeeshop. I think the packets were marked 'A' (Err actually-hor, better confirm with the waiters there. Usually I just do that thus did not memorise the alphabet on the packet). I just know those marked 'B' were not. They contain either anchovies or a small piece of salted fish. Good too but my favourite is the 'udang'.

So can tapau/pack for me? If can carry heavy loads of icy cendol, pungent assam laksa and sizzling hot char kuey teow, no problem with 1 or 2 of this cool compact rice, huh. *rubbing hands in anticipation*.

Oh just in case you are curious, the drink in the picture is not kopi-o (black coffee) but 'pat-pao-teh' (Eight Herbs/Goodness Tea in Hokkien). Very refreshing. Many like to add milk in it too - 'pat-poh-gu-ling' ie 'gu-ling' being milk in Hokkien.

Sunny Day Sunny Fruit

A simple sweet refreshing post.

Ever saw this brand before?Phitoy brought these over from Taiping and I was going, 'Alo, bring-lar something famous from there. Everywhere also got oranges-wat.' I gladly swallowed my words whole without hesitance upon the first bite!Hey, no need to believe me how good these are. Just tell me where they are sold here in Kuala Lumpur.

Ok, ok. I'm really putting this up more to enquire than to promote. Oh ya, Phitoy got them at RM10 for 8 palm size reddish sweet juicy oranges. 8 big ones for RM10, where to find huh? Pretty purty please share the information if you have as my stock is running low!

Note:

Been told that if oranges are not sweet, don't refrigerate them. Room temperature will further ripen them. Same goes for Mandarin oranges. Later batches are usually sweeter. True?