Zul Satay, Kuantan Pahang

Yup. Another post on my weekend trip to Kuantan. What's a good holiday to a food blogger if no food is introduced?

The hotel package (http://tummythoz.blogspot.com/2010/08/weekend-at-kuantan-pahang.html) we took covered breakfasts and pre-dinner cocktails. So our routine was late breakfast, prolonged cocktails and did late supper in town.

Ist night we did everybody's, no matter you are 1, 2, 5001 or whatever numbered Malaysian favourite meat dish - Satay!The shop is super famous & popular in Kuantan because at such late hour, the whole townsfolk seemed to be there.

Place is clean, service efficient. Lurve it best that each gets his/her own plate of luscious peanut sauce. Freedom to mind own manners when dipping, spooning or outright slurping. Good!And so we had:-
This is DA BOMB! Even moi, a non mutton fan was scrambling for the last stick on the table.This bombed. It was tough.Except WABBIT meat. Okay, it's rabbit but a few friends just cannot fathom consuming such cute furry mammals. Hey, lambs not cute-meh? Nevertheless what stopped us from ordering was that cuteness come with a not so cute price-tag. RM1.40 per satay stick! That's what it says on the paper with the 'V' sign.Wash it all down with a piping hot fragrant Teh Tarik and we were ready to end another happy holi-day with ZzZzzzzz.Price per satay stick (chicken, mutton or beef) : RM0.60

Location : Err.. it's famous so just ask anyone in Kuantan for Zul Satay. Once within it's vicinity, it's a brightly lit double storey corner shop.OOPs.. almost missed to wish all celebrating a HAPPY HEALTHY RAYA!!

Continental Breakfast at Hyatt, Kuantan Pahang or Hoi Yin ..

And there we were. Checked in the luxurious Club Rooms (but no seaview since that would be additional charge of RM160. *Blek*).

Free Continental Breakfast, NOT International buffet spread. I do wonder why.

Continental brekkie makes up of quite boring stuff. Y'know, a variety of cereals, croissants, buns, dry cookies, gimme Asian anytime. Only excitable possible artery choking stuff would a variety of cheeses which this Cina-moi does not know how to appreciate. Close to that was the the thin slices of roast beef. Butter? Unsalted, ok. What is a Nasi Lemak fan to do?

Stack those up in between toasted brown bread with smoked turkey, smoked salmon, salad greens with a healthy dose of herbs and nuts then chomp chomp chomp. Oya, dip that in half boiled eggs .. sadly mine came lumpy. BUT shake some pepper and ... soya sauce,my 1st holiday breakfast of that trip was saved.

The following morning, an unanimous vote was to spend for our breakfast. Walked out, cross a quiet street and there stood this.Yummy thick Curry Noodles Kuantan style! Generous portions of partially cooked cockles, slices of boiled chicken, fried beancurd, pieces of fish cakes and err.. fish balls (?). Price : RM4.50 per bowl (I think).

By the way, know what's the crowd like early morning around the beach and the unopened stalls? But of course that did not stop city folks from doing this!If only workdays start like this. *sigh*

Good Name for a Foodcourt?

When things come to a critical point to be settled, they come with friends, family members, peers, colleagues well almost every Ah Kow, Arumugam and Ali (together with their wives, no doubt) one least expected.

Yes, being bogged down with deadlines from all corners of my life. The unmistaken fruit from my massive Procastination Tree.

*sigh*

But everyone has to breathe. Here's a quickie.Definition of CHOW

noun
Something fit to be eaten: aliment, bread, comestible, diet, edible, esculent, fare, food, foodstuff, meat, nourishment, nurture, nutriment, nutrition, pabulum, pap, provender, provision (used in plural), sustenance, victual. Slang eats, grub. Ingestion.

verb
To take (food) into the body as nourishment: consume, devour, eat, fare, ingest, partake. Idioms: break bread, havetakea bite. See ingestion.

But in a bustling capital city of Kuala Lumpur where Cantonese dialect is widely spoken, the word sounds like ..

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Why don't you tell me? ;D

Train Brand 2in1 Penang Kopi-O

"Must remember to look for it."

"Must remember to buy."

"Must remember to find carrying space for it."

"Must remember to bring."

Reminders to make sure my bed space secured.

Malaysians tend to travel overseas packed with local delicacies, no matter store bought or home made. More so when we plan to visit friends and relatives. Our food is just irreplaceable. =P So naturally when we decided to bunk in at generous friend’s abode in Hong Kong, she gave strict orders for each of us to replenish her Malaysian larder in return.

Amongst a few other dry foodstuff, I was to fulfill her order for packets of instant Kopi-O (Local Malaysian coffee with sugar drink). Choo-choo Train brand in green, she insisted. Real meticulous description, don’t you think? Ok she did furnish an empty packet for reference but I misplaced it. Hunted high and low, left right and center (of course) at the retailers’ shelves. ..‘foh-cheh’.. train.. ‘huey-cheah’.. choo-choo.. keretapi.. Found! Of course I was curious so I bought my share and tried. Potent and not too sweet. I was hooked.And that was a post hibernating in my backlog until today, a year later, finally published. *shy*

Nevertheless, it's no loss but more information to gain. They've change the packaging slightly but luckily the authentic old kopitiam kopi-o taste remains. Todate, friends and I are still hooked on it. It's Margarine roasted AND produced in Penang! Sadly, most Kuala Lumpur grocers still do not carry the product and those that do, more often than not, run out of stock.

Latest, it now has a 3 in 1 version (coffee with sugar and creamer). Forget it.

Price:- around RM6.40 for 20 individual sachets in a shiny bag.

Location: Last bought from Cold Storage, Ikano Power Center, Damansara Perdana. Purchase before from Giant Hypermarket Bandar Kinrara, Puchong. Heard it is available at Central Hypermarket, Off Old Klang Road too. Quite elusive as searches conducted at other popular hypermarkets, supermarkets and several sundry shops turned up empty.

Trivia thot:

Pssst here’s a tip for a non-food gift to bring over to that ex-British colony. Electric jug kettle in the circa of RM60. It was in friend’s order list. Apparently there’re only expensive brands for sale there. And for Perth dwellers, rice cookers!

By the looks of the speed of my China posts, obviously I'm taking a looongggggg coffee break. =P

Moved: Restoran Ching Hai .. err.. Pau Kee, Off Jalan Imbi Kuala Lumpur

Seems like I got its name wrong all this while. Ching Hai was the name of the coffeeshop while the stall is actually called Pau Kee. *shy sekali*

One of my favourite breakfast spot in the city is no more at Tengkat Tongshin. Now it's on the other side of Sungei Wang shopping complex.

Positive change: It's now open from morn till night (7.30am to 9pm)

Negative change: Prices went up. Additional RM0.20 for each serving of noodles. But I still frequent it since there's no other stall in town that serves Ipoh Ho Fun like it. So, as long as they do not skimp on the ingredients, I'm there.
They do serve a wide variety of noodles with a wide combination of ingredients but I'm only there for this:- Often with a side order of real Prawn Wantans. Drooling yet?

Prices:- RM4.20 for a bowl of Ipoh Hor Fun
RM4.00 for a bowl of 8 Real Prawn Wantans

Address with map:-

Update:- The Chicken and Charsiew Rice stall has left. So currently only noodles available.

Toilet post? Toilet post! Next post. =-)

TQ for your patience.

The King, Queen & Jester

Hail the King!

In physical form they are rolling down the hills, bouncing in lorries, basking by the roadsides, dozing in supermarkets.In vapours, unmistakably it's in the air and on the locals' breath (and other bodily air disseminator).

Durians.

This is not the most sought after Musang King (because I do not like the slight bitter taste) but just an ordinary gradeless village variety. Shhwweeeet crrreeaamy gooeyyyyy pungent yum-yum!Have it with rice, nice! (hey you there, stop making that ewwws look.)

Bow to the Queen!Ok. These are way old pictures taken with my RAZR handphone. Been eating bags of it lately and yet kept forgetting to snap any. Sadly the supply nowadays are mostly from Thailand. Was told that the local variety is of better grade so they are exported to developed countries. *sigh* Well, these are still sweet messy eats. Oh these are mangosteens, manggis in Malay.

Look, the Jester!On Ugly Betty, it's smacked with the name Tico Berries. Now tell me does it not sound like Tickle (&) Bare Me? In Malaysia, it's rambutan. Twist it open and wahlah! Jokes aside... just bite. Smmmooothh shhhweeeeet succcuuulent juicy inside. But careful, remember the woody core else the joke may be on you. Usually I'll peel a good bunch and refrigerate the succulent seeds for easy snacks.Again, these were brought in from our North neighbour. Yes, because the local variety is of bett... blah blah blah. Are we saying that we are too underdeveloped for our developed fruits? We are going backwards or are our fruits just advancing faster? What's next? Rice? Petrol? Ooops that's already in the works.

That's all for now. This post was done before I went on my 2 weeks trip which sad to say, I did not really enjoy the eats I had. (i_i). Hope to have more royalties to cheer me up this weekend!

Modesto's, Capital Square, Kuala Lumpur

Not surprisingly, here's another catch up post.

Been there a few times. Usually after work, when the skies are pouring and traffic is static. Think most patrons are. =P And always it's pasta for me. More than often, done the same way - Vongole. Come to think of it, anywhere I go, it's Vongole, if not in the menu, Marinara. This foodie is just a creature of habit but aren't we all one time or another? Pizza here is good. Again if I'm to order, it's the Hawaiian without pause. How not to love sweet pineapple pieces on savoury topped dough? That time, we had Kilkenny but found the drafts served here tasted 'lighter', so on later visits, we opt to dine non-alcoholically.

Bill:Address on bill:- No reservations needed since there are sometimes more staff than patrons.On the complex itself, I do wonder how's the business of the mostly upmarket outlets here, especially the furniture and grocer, with only one major service suite next door and a splattering of middle income office labourers around.

By the way, are you aware that there's a cineplex under the Tanjung Golden Village company, in this building? Where rhere's no crowd no queue? And the movie ticket entitles you to park for free?

My Elephant, Happy Mansion Petaling Jaya

Nooo introduction needed as a flogger gathering was held there way back in 2007 (which I missed - wanna see fading self kicking scar?) and from that day onwards, like they say, is history. Or should it be claimed, made history as one of the most blogged about Thai restaurant in that area. Not that I saw any other. Is there?

Finally I made it there.. and was disappointed with the food. Why are the much blogged about dishes looks so much more enticing on a 16" monitor compared to a 6'x2' table? I find the portions much less than elephant-hic size. A tad heavy on the saltiness for me too. Observing the heaving crowd yet again I find myself the minority. Even Phitoy stood with the others. *sigh*

We had brown rice (which is not bottomless like white rice in most Thai restaurants)with Tom Som. Interesting sour fish soup. See? Got star fruit.

Thai Grilled Squids. Good but due to the portion, we had to act like real considerate and divide the few pieces fairly by number and size. *sigh* NOTE the sambal (chilli condiment). I'll be back for THAT!

Stirfried Paku (Ferns).

Drinks. Ok, some may find the mocktail selection interesting but I'll stick to plain water next time. We ordered these which Phitoy did the honour of finishing all:-

Watermelon Cooler. Hmm me no taste watermelon and me no fan of those 'lil amphibian eggs (aka sago seeds which is called err what in English?).

Soursop Mojito. Tasted more soda than fruit which made it bitter for me.

No desserts. Not because we were full (obviously) but simply because they just don't have desserts. Enquired and was told that it's the kitchen's discretion whether to have it on any particular day. No advance notice available. (o.O)??

Bill with the address:-Best landmark to find Gajah Saya (as opposed to Saya Gajah) is a school. The row of shops faces it.

The dinner environment was enveloped in red tinge lamps.That's my excuse for the sorry batch of pictures. =P