Sri Nirvana - Bangsar

I was introduced to this place back in 2004, since then this place remains my top banana leaf restaurant. Roti Canai, Tosai and Mee Goreng are also served on banana leaf. The drinks are also worth mentioning, especially their Milo, which is pretty strong (‘kao’).

The standard banana leaf rice set of RM 5 gets you Basmati Rice, Fried Snake Gourd, Pickled Vegetables, Crispy Papadam, Cucumber Salad and Vegetable Salad and Curries of your choice like what you see here. For additional orders, one may choose from a selection of fried chicken, fish, cuttlefish and many more. Selection is done from a top opening fridge located next to the payment counter. I usually go for Ikan Berus, a type of small fish much like the Belanaks, but slightly bigger in size. Deep fried, it’s extremely crunchy and its meat is really sweet. Just be careful of the bones. We had a pair of this, RM 10 for two fishes.
The fried chicken is much like a normal affair in any other banana leaf restaurants, but at RM 5, I find it expensive when you could easily get quarter of an Ayam Percik during the Ramadhan month for approximately RM 7.
The ‘resam’ is a must for me whenever banana leaf is concerned but here in Nirvana, the ‘resam’ is thicker and less oily than others but still packs the same taste and aroma. Only one complaint here, because it’s served in plastic containers, the ‘resam’ is not hot enough, while in many banana leaf restaurants, ‘resam’ is always served hot in stainless steel cups.
So, 2 sets of Banana Leaf Rice, 2 pieces of Ikan Berus, 1 piece of Fried Chicken, a glass each of Iced Lime (Limau Ais) and Sugarless Hot Lime (Limau Panas Kosong) cost us RM 22. One satisfying meal.

My tummy rating: 8.9/10

Fong Jie Lok Lok, Yulek Cheras

Roadside dinner at Yulek, some spell Yu Lek, Cheras on a Friday? Imagine the traffic jam, the limited parking spaces, the crowd, the heat .. you get the picture. Premonition of a bumper to bumper jam came true but it was only when we were on the MR2 (Middle Ring Road). Once turned into the slope leading to the street food haven, it was all clear. Parking? Surprise surprise we get to choose. Crowd? Heard it was pasar malam / night market weekday at a nearby housing garden so minimal crowd here. Weather was cool since there was a slight drizzle earlier. Beeeeautiful night to be sitting outdoors.

Look at the food-on-stick feast we had! We, like most patrons, went a bit berserk when choosing and picking the sticks from the spread displayed at the stall.

The cooked (read deepfried meat) and uncooked seafood (mostly fish meat) were just screaming ‘pick me, pick me’ minus the incessant jumping.

Need I list them? Frankly, I did not have preferences for any of them except for one which I really do not like. Why not drop me a note on anything you are curious about here and I will describe?

Firstly, allow me to extend a special thank you to the really talak sombong Jason for allowing me to pinch 1 of this from his plate of 3 pieces. The proprietor mentioned that this is one of their precooked best sellers. Looked like mini wrapped Pandan Chicken, no?

Tasted meat (most probably chicken) in a strong turmeric mixture with a sour aftertaste.

That I will be avoiding.

A truly Malaysian street food though obviously not in an authentic setting.

In an authentic setting, patrons would be standing and jostling for space to grab the sticks, plunge them into murky boiling water. Once cooked (usually your companions or even sometimes strangers will enthusiastically claim as such) dip into various sauces then maneuver into mouth with hope that none of the sauces you’ve greedily dipped in drips on your attire (shoes especially).

Cost: - NJoe , Jason ,Tankiasu , Food Cookies & Dwayne, Phitoy and I asked for separate bills to ease payment. I deduce the total bill for our table could easily amount to RM130. Afterall, our (Phitoy and mine) share was already RM40 worth.Not cheap snacks, I’ll say. But how often does one have snacks for dinner?

Oh to tabulate the cost, just match the colour at the end of the sticks that one has consumed to the board displaying the prices.Another special thank you to Jason for purposely walking to the front of the stall to capture such a clear picture of the pricing board.Goes to prove yet again, floggers are such considerate pals and my laziness knows no bounds. =P

Location: At Taman Yulek aka Taman Cheras, find BHP petrol station on left hand side. Move further up where 7-11 24hrs kiosk is located. Go down the road parallel to it until you see this by the roadside:-

MANY TOASTS TO A MERRRRYYYYYY CHRISTMAS. JUST LEAVE THE DRIVING TO THE WIMPY NON-DRINKER.

Guns Cameras .. Free Food. KL City Style.

A weekend ago..

What a marvelously cool Sunday for a morning stroll in the city.

Katak-katak katak-katak katak-katak (A kid taught me this. According to kid, this is how the helicopter sounded like).

Definitely the safest city ever. Why? So many armed policemen standing guard. So many patrol cars standing by. Snatch thefts and break-ins, no wonder none of such news appeared in newspapers lately.Noted most of the highly trained dedicated personnel had at least 3 stars on their shoulders and various colourful badges dangling on their chests (kid insisted that the metal pin-ons on a uniform are heavy else why the wearers are stout – due to gravity pull, sweat so much and appear angry most times?).

Behind the lines of heavy bang-bang and click-click artilleries, a truly Malaysian breakfast awaits. Free no less. No wonder so much fuss! Boxes full of packets of Nasi Lemak (Coconut milk infused steamed rice) with a wide variety of ingredients:-Sadly no sponsorer of Teh Tarik (Pulled Milk Tea) found. Never mind, this was good too.

Restoran Ye Lok - Sri Petaling

Restoran Ye Lok – Sri Petaling (opposite The Store)

This is a place I like for a quick dinner with family and friends. Often packed with patrons from 7pm onwards, we usually arrive here just about 6 to get a nice table, often beside the counter where you have unlimited access to chilies and garlic. To be honest, there isn’t much to shout about this place, but the dishes available here are decently delicious with minimal MSG and reasonably priced. To get to this place, head to The Store located in Sri Petaling and you’ll find this restaurant in a corner lot along the shophouses opposite The Store’s main entrance. Other landmarks include Janbo Restaurant and an AmBank branch in the same row.

This time, the 7 of us just wanted a fast and decent meal on a busy Friday night before we adjourn to our individual activities. We had the following dishes:

Pork Ribs in “Marmite” sauce.

Nicely done, a firm favorite every time we’re here, but I’d wish they had a lil’ bit more gravy to go with the rice. For those who don’t enjoy ribs, they can even use pork chunks (de boned) for an easier and faster ‘assault’.

Clay Pot Pork Strips with Dried Chilies and Salted Fish (Harm Yue Fah Lam Poue)
MY FAVORITE dish. The pork strips had a 3:1 ratio of meat to fat, while the gravy was not too oily unlike some places and I can just have this with plain white rice on a daily basis. Here though, I have to admit that it’s only average for I’ve tasted better ones than this.

Steam Fish with Black Bean (Cheong Zheng Yue)
Topped with deep fried pork lard, this was a nice dish but when you’ve already ordered the 2 dishes mentioned above, I think we had too many salty dishes for a dinner. For this, the fish was steamed right on time, the gravy was rich and the tiny bits of the lard made it absolutely superb.

Clay Pot Tofu (Nga Poue Tau Foo)
My mom’s favorite dish, and she’s been consistently ordering this every time we go out for meals. The gravy here is less starchy but lacks flavor which is a must for this dish. It wasn’t flat but you could sense that something was just missing. Still, a great dish to balance the saltier ones we’ve ordered. Besides tofu, you get lots of vegetables, squid, prawns and pieces of roast pork (Siu Yoke) in it.

Fried Chicken with Onion Rings (Yeung Chung Kai)
I’m not a fan of this dish at all, due mainly to the fact that it is often served with heavily battered, deep fried onion rings which leaves the onion flat and tasteless. However, the onion rings here are lightly battered while the chicken pieces are crispy fried with sweet and sour onion sauce. Hence I can proudly that I like this dish here.

This was one dinner too much for us. Not just in terms of meat but the serving was also big, despite us telling the lady boss that we would prefer medium servings for the pork and chicken. Price was RM 94 inclusive of a pot of Chinese Tea and 2 bowls of additional rice.

My tummy rating: 8.1/10

Pizza Uno - Centre Point

I dig this place. Though I’ve received mixed responses, I have to admit that my previous visits to this place have been nice. This time around, I came here for a light bite with some friends and this kid. He’s one active kid with potential in the showbiz, especially those HK undercover cops vs mafia movies.
Like many other pizzerias, many have accused this place of being too Malaysian. Of late, pizzas and pasta from these restaurants are often too spicy, too strong in flavour and ultimately losing the Italian heritage the food is supposed to carry. For instance, some carbonara pastas are just too chessy and creamy leaving you with a gigantic thirst to quench.

The first order was an antipasto - the deep fried mushrooms, a regular with many of its frequent customers, possibly owing to its crispy batter and juicy mushrooms, served with mayo, a slice of lemon and salad. For RM 14.00 I’d say it’s worth price, but just don’t finish the whole plate, it’s pretty filling. Here it is:
We had another mushroom entry, called simply the mushroom soup. This one’s another favourite of mine, provided that I’m really hungry. Why? The mushroom soup here is super thick and creamy, perfect for those like me who grew up with Campbell’s infamous range of soups. Really 'kau'!

Price: RM 9 – A BIG “Go for it!”

Next up, Garlic Prawn Spaghetti – served with Pizza Uno’s exclusive garlic gravy, big juicy and succulent prawns and a slice of lemon. I’ve had this dish a couple of times before but it seems a bit too salty this time. Get it right, and this dish will reward you with its balanced texture, aromatic gravy and tender-spongy bites…. Every bite.
Price: RM 26.00 – a bit too expensive.
The Ice Lemon Tea is well, just like what you’d expect, but the following picture is the Iced Coffee with Chocolate. For calorie seekers, this is your cup of tea… coffee actually. The only other drink thicker than this would be Souled Out’s Haagen Dazs Milk Shake. Glazed with chocolate syrup this drink is superbly enjoyable, so long as your other half is fine with it. Otherwise, call me for a stealth convoy to Pizza Uno for this.
Price: Ice Lemon Tea – RM 4.50
Ice Coffee – RM 16.00
My Tummy rating: 8.6/10

Shyet-Li's Kopitiam, Great Eastern Mall

Parking's a breeze. Cheap too (RM1 for 3 hours, if I'm not wrong) but the food certainly not. GE Mall can be considered a neighbourhood mall to me but I seldom shop here. Most times it will be Alexis for late evening chit-chatting over lattes or an occasional dinner at one of the restaurants. And that too only if other party suggests it. Great place to people watch though.

Brunch time on a lazy cloudy Sunday. No mood to snake around Sunday-sight-seeing-drivers (read major road hoggers) but aimed to feed, quick grocery shop and back to wrap around sofa to catch up on the 'oh so lohmantik' Korean series. For me that is. Okay, GE mall then.

Noticed that the tables at this little corner were always full in the evenings. Discovered business was not as brisk early of the day.Sat ourselves down and promptly ordered:-

Teh-C (Tea with sugar and evaporated milk instead of the toothachingly sweet condensed for phitoy), 'Cham' (the darker mixture of Tea and Coffee) for me.

Roasted Chicken Rice. That day's special.Lum Mee. This is Penang style

That was our first and only stop at the quaint corner. Err.. let's just say hawker food usually taste much better at hawkers' stalls.

Stung with:-Stung by:-