A Case of Keong Kee Restaurant's Har-Lok Meen

Correct-ion correct-ion correct-ion. I did a boo-boo. I recommended a dish called Har-Lok Meen here which I claimed was Mantis Prawn Noodles. Forgive me.

It’s actually Fresh Water Prawns like those used in Sang Har Meen. No matter whether the serving is for 2 pax or one, it comes with a minimum of 2 large prawns. This is how it looks like.My picture displays a blob I know but trust me this once, it’s all fingers, toes, any flexible limbs-up good. Failing that, less men more share then. Muahahahaha *background noise: stampede of bathroom scales and measuring tapes out my room*.

Sis came for a spin last weekend. Typical of all non-KLites, she asked for the black lardy-lard-lard luscious Hokkien Mee. We proceeded to Mun Wah Hokkien Mee along Jalan Maharajalela where she had been before but she was not satisfied. Not wet enough, she cried. Huh? The next night I thought maybe here can do better. Sadly no. they cannot as they only do ‘white’ dishes ie only Cantonese style except for their specialty pictured above. (-_-)”. Oh well. I went ahead and ordered 3 dishes to be shared among 3 of us.

Gau-Yok-Hor (Flat Rice Noodles With Beef) for 1 pax. Oooh they serve one of the best around town!Choi-Sam-Miew (Baby Mustard leaves)Har-Lok-Meen (Spicy Fresh Water Prawns Noodles) for 2 pax. The picture below is my small plate. The noodles had been thoroughly mixed with the spicy sauce in the serving plate. The sauce tasted somewhat like ‘kung-pou’. Very appetizing.Oh, that blob was a prawn head.

Sis is a bit upset now. She is upset she was introduced to this dish late. She cannot have seconds as that was her last night here for this trip. To pacify her, I will try to have this often on her behalf and revert. *pat righteous self*

Bill: RM66.00 (RM50 for their specialty - blob). Exclude drinks.

Location:- Please check out my old post. Easier way would be offer to buy me the blob!

Daidomon Japanese BBQ Restaurant Sdn Bhd, GE Mall

Hmm noticed quite a few of my favourite floggers have simultaneously posted Japanese food. I’ll follow suit but will still be far cry from qualifying to apply for even a puny spot in the JFKA (what's exclusive society is that, you ask? Start dropping by my favourite Tummy Yummies at the sidebar, okay).

I dislike salmon and wasabe. Tsk tsk tsk pathetic, I know.

Did this many moons back when the restaurant was still in its infant stage. Photos were found wanting so was not eager to post. I have never been back since. Personally I found the pricing with the small portions beyond my usual affordability. Tastewise, I prefer the Korean style of marination and dipping sauce.

This is a Japanese Barbeque Restaurant. 4 of us were curious to find out the difference. As appetizers, we had California Roll and Shake Sashimi (Salmon).

The round stainless steel barbeque pit was similar to those found in Korean restaurants. Charcoal powered.

We sizzled Tori Momo (Ostrich Meat), Hotate (Scallops), Karubi (Belly Tender), Nakaochi Karubi (Rib Finger), Shitake (Mushrooms), Okura (Ladyfingers), Kabocha (Pumpkin) and Chicken Garlic Sausages.For drinks, we had Ocha (Green Tea) and a bottle of foreign beer, Weihenstephan (me no sip so no idea of taste but wow, RM33 pricey).

The bill:-Location:-Great Eastern Mall, along Jalan Ampang (Parking’s a breeze and cheap)

Hongkie Kopitiam, Auto City Penang

Belated rant in writing:-

To my utter disgust, the climbing crime rate in our country has robbed me of a languid CNY (Chinese New Year) holiday ritual. For the past years, we would happily do the rounds at the temples on CNY’s eve from midnight until the small hours in the morning. This is rewarded by getting to laze into late mornings at home on the 1st day of CNY, avoiding traffic and most importantly no "baking". Sadly, now my mother is afraid to be out after dark and even before daybreak. Very upsetting for one who was used to exercising outdoors at the break of dawn.

First day of Chinese New Year (CNY). Very sunny, egg sizzling on pavement hot. While most would be soaking in a cool homey surroundings savouring home cooked sumptuous vegetarian breakfast or nibbling on specially made delicacies, I was out "baking".

5 in an economical car whizzing around housing areas, town, new villages you get the picture. 10 temples in 4 hours spanning Berapit (a town in Penang state territory) to Kulim (town in Kedah state). With ash in hair and sticky sweaty new clothes (luckily the dye did not run), we were adamant to lunch in an air-conditioned eatery. Choice was limited as most shops were closed on first day of CNY holiday. We tried our luck at Auto City and ended up here.

Bad news for us, the restaurant boasted of high ceiling glass windows. The air-conditioners had a hard time competing with the heat emanating from them. *sigh* But still it was better than further "baking" outside.

Drinks and fancy named food were average. We shared:-

1 Jade Garden (Menu claimed: Fizzing lemon with Soda), 2 Iced Milk Teas and 1 Iced Yin Yang (Coffee + Tea)

Red Riding Hood (Don't ask, I did not see the relevance either)

The Future of Banking (Menu claimed: Roasted Honey Baby Back Ribs and Vegetables with Rice).Father had this. Can't recall its name. It was rice topped with spicy minced beef and creamy corn sauce. We concurred we'll avoid this if we eat here again.

Oink Oink There (Menu claimed: Black Pepper Pork Fried with Udon in Black Pepper)

Pork Fillet in Cheese Baked Rice (Corn sauce)

Our bill (Names differs from the dishes but the itemised price is the same so I did not make a fuss) :-A view of the restaurant's al-fresco area. Should be quite cosy when the day's "baking" is done.

Mom, hope against hope that we’ll be able to revert back to your ritual of visiting temples after midnight on the eve coming year.

New government, get to work!!

Hui Lao Shan , Tsim Sha Tsui Hong Kong

My favourite dessert in Hong Kong .. todate (since last trip). Simple stuff which is available locally BUT still seems to taste so much better there. One, Hak-Chi-Ma-Tongyuen aka Glutinous Rice Ball Filled With Thick Black Sesame Paste within. Look somewhat like this. Unbelievably so but I kept forgetting to take pictures although been visiting a particular shop at Tsim Tsa Tsui. *Bow head in shame* Err.. cannot even remember the quaint shop’s name. Consequence of total friend dependency.

Okay, *put on brave front* on to my second favourite dessert at the ever buzzing metropolitan – Mango Pudding! Don’t fret as for this dessert I have got plenty of pictures although most turned out quite blurry. Must be my stiff fingers due to having iced desserts in the moderately cold weather. On second thoughts, maybe it was due to my notorious shopping girlfriends anxious to get back onto the streets. Nevertheless this trip we managed to have it twice. Wheeee..

Cash only:- HKD30.00 about RM15.00 per bowl of ecstasy.

Location:- This shop has branches dotting on almost every corner.

Note:- We did try a few other items on the menu such as this Coconut Milk with Birds' Nest and Mango in Coconut Milk with Glutinous Rice at the bottom.Verdict:- I'll stick to my simple plain Mango Pudding.

Mangoes available in Hong Kong are imported from Philipines. As promised in my earlier post to tell a tale, I googled and took a bite here.

Long time ago, so this Philippine myth goes, in a wooden villa deep in the forest was a beautiful lady. An only daughter of an old, old couple, they wanted her married as soon as possible. They feared dying without seeing her married. This Philippine myth says Pangga was her name, meaning “object of love” in the vernacular. Aside from her arresting natural pulchritude, she was very industrious, kind, and smart with rustic wisdom. Moreover, Pangga knew a lot of trade skills that had earned her quite a bit of money. Thus, her parents wanted nothing but the best man for her. But Pangga fell for a local poet, a professional dreamer. He was known in the village as a desperate writer whose works of poetry made meager money. This Philippine myth continues that Manong, the dreamer, lived in the fields and slept in mangers. He was the town’s vagrant. But one thing about him; he had a knack for speaking sweet nothings, a full-pledged sweet talker who could promise the sun, moon and stars to the one his eyes beheld. Girls in town went crazy for him (though they never bought his poems) but his eyes were only for Pangga. His sweet nothings never fooled old folks, though. His own parents, when still alive, often remarked “Please cut out the sweet pleasantries!” when he was at his verbal talent again. In the vernacular the remark went “Manong magtigil ka nga!” So, as this Philippine myth goes, they gave him the nickname Manong. Pangga’s parents never bought Manong’s promises of bringing down the sun and moon to shine on their forest-dimmed bungalow and other sweet nothings. “You’re always saying that sun-moon conversation of yours. That’s all you know!” Pangga’s parents mocked him. But Manong and Pangga sought to stubbornly keep their love vows till their dying day. Then, the Philippine myth says, one day they disappeared in the woods.The Philippine myth ends with a discovery of a new kind of tree. Its fruit was a bit crescent-shaped like the moon, yellow like the sun, and sweet like Manong’s tongue. It was rich in nutrition as Pangga’s multi-faceted genius. In time it was called “Manga,” a mix of their names, and today’s vernacular for mango.

Happy V-Day!

Good Morning everybody especially those who are working!! I'm on leave. *tilting yet to be bathed head* Muahahaha.

No not another ancient post like my recent ones. The last 2006's was really something huh.Now what's past is past. Let's rocket to a better, safer, cheaper (I have my doubts) and most importantly responsible future.This toy is cute, no?You got it. V Day here is Voting Day! So everybody exercise your right and do your duty. H A P P Y V O T I N G !

The Making of Special Ho Po Hakka Rice Meal

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present the workings of a Ho Po Hakka traditional rice meal prepared with special tools:- Pestle and mortar with coarse surface made from the hard Guava tree. It is claimed that these are usually homemade then passed down the generations as they are not easily available.

A homemade meal. A tedious homemade meal. A relative’s tedious homemade meal. Phitoy’s relative’s tedious homemade meal. Phitoy’s favourite tedious homemade meal. That’s why he did part of the hard work while I get to ooh, aah, haha and click away. Furthermore, I was a guest. More haha.

Most call it Thunder Tea Rice. Trust me, only the last noun is a fact. Day was bright and sunny. No thunder unless the significant increase in decibel level when other relatives arrived to supervise the preparation counts. Contrary to certain beliefs, NO tea leaf was harmed in this production. But the same cannot be said for sweet potato leaves, mint and some other leaves called ‘khoo-lek-sim’.Now how do your get the ‘luik’ (green in Mandarin language) colour? You ‘loi’ (grind in Hakka dialect) the greens like this. Got it? It’s actually Green/Grind Tea Rice.

Ready, get set, GO!

Arghh.. What big biceps your have ..He works hard for the .. err.. green-ey (-_-)”The mushy greens were then dumped into a big pot of water to boil as soup. Lucky me they decided not to make this a vegetarian meal. Salty dried anchovies were added for flavour. Then other ingredients needed to be chopped, minced then either boiled, fried, roasted or stir fried.I had mine dry with the soup in a separate bowl. Hard-working Phitoy took 3 servings the authentic way. Drowned rice topped with everything in murky green broth:-To me, blek.

Note: A family gathering in Tapah late 2006. Back when I was still taking pictures with my handphone's camera.