Earlier this month I was invited to the Wild Rice restaurant at Mid Valley Boulevard hotel for a food review session courtesy of foodstreet. I looked through the list of my MSN and found a dinner partner in Ringo to go there with me. (you know, a fehmes blogger to increase my street cred.)
wild rice restaurant, with indoor and outdoor seatings
The wild rice restaurant is situated on the 9th floor with nice indoor seatings as well as the open terrace with a beautiful pool view.
We were greeted by the friendly communication manager Mr. Huang, and shortly after that the dishes started coming in. The good chef prepared eight dishes for just the three of us for the night. Other than their weekend buffet, Wild Rice restaurant serves Malaysian food as well as Western dishes.
clay pot chicken rice, char kueh teow, Penang seafood hor fun
Our first dish of the night was none other than Char Kueh Teow. I usually have my reservations when it comes to this dish, but the chef (who has a very strong Penang tie) actually pulled this off rather well. The good size prawns, chives, bean sprouts, and egg combined to deliver a dish that tasted pretty good.
Similarly, the Penang Hor Fun was very nice as well. I like the way the egg is done with the yolk still half cooked while the white spread over the flat noodle. The hor fun comes with prawns, squid, dory fish fillet, and vegetables.
The chef also prepared two versions of clay pot chicken rice for us, the more usual recipe with salted fish, and a version with century egg. Although I love century eggs, I think the combination is a little weird though, this little experiment from the chef didn’t turn out very great (the dish is not on the menu). Then again, I always applaud chefs who are willing to experiment.
Hainanese chicken chop, avocado burger, pan fried salmon, oxtail soup
Then there’s the very crispy and juicy Hainanese chicken chop that I wish I have a bigger stomach to eat more. The chicken chop consists of 1/4 quarter chicken with thigh and drumstick, fresh button mushroom in brown sauce with some mixed vegetables, and of course, fries. (I wonder if they have fries in Hainan, but lets not digress)
The pan fried salmon was good as well, but I think the most interesting dish for the day goes to the avocado burger. This vegetarian dish has beet root, cheese, butter, and a generous serving of sliced avocado. If you had California Roll, you know how avocado tastes like. The combination of avocado relish, and cheese in the bun was actually delicious.
the good chef and Ringo
Ringo’s favorite dish, if my memory serves me correct, was the Malaysian oxtail soup. It wasn’t too spicy nor tasted too strongly. The soup was just nice with the meat tender and the carrots soft, serving it in a clay pot does help by keeping the temperature.
Boulevard Hotel is situated at the North Court of Mid Valley City
The best thing about Wild Rice restaurant is the fact that it is open 24 hrs a day. To me this spells the end of mamak after midnight show especially if I’m at Mid Valley.
As for price, I think they are pretty reasonable for a hotel. Soup is RM15; the burger and other local dishes are around RM 18 to RM 22. Expect to pay slightly more for western dishes, but the portions are pretty big. The good news is that the prices are nett, no extra 10% or 5%. I like that.
Address:
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.119262, 101.677802
Tel: 03-2295 8000
Undoubted many of you agree that Penang offers the best hawker food in this country, the best char kueh teow, curry mee, prawn mee, and of course, laksa, can be found on the island. However, there are more than just these few offerings when it comes to Chinese hawker food, and there are certainly dishes that tastes better outside the favorite hawker food destination that is Penang.
traditional set up with lots of combination of ingredients
When it comes to wantan noodle and various roasted/bbq meat items, some of the bests can be found right here in Klang Valley. One of my favorite places to have a cheap and good traditional wantan noodle would be Restaurant Choy Loy at PJS 10, situated just opposite Sunway Pyramid.
The first time I visited this place was actually in the previous decade when I used to stay at around the area. It was nice to see that the shop is still running and selling basically the same thing after I came back from the States.
roast pork & bbq pork, beef & innards, chicken feet & mushroom, roasted duck
The selling point at Chong Loy is the variety of traditional noodle and rice you can get. They have the classic wan tan mee with char siu (bbq pork), then there’s siu yoke (roasted pork), lap cheong (Chinese pork sausage), roasted duck, chicken, chicken feet with mushroom, and even beef including tripes. You can pick any combination to go with noodle in dry and soup version, or rice.
look at the dude enjoying!
I have tried pretty much everything from this place over the years. While it might not carry the wow factor like siu yoke at Pudu or char siu at Aman Suria, everything do tastes pretty good and proper, just like how they should be. I particularly like the chicken feet with mushroom and the wan tan noodle with beef.
This place is just behind Ah Foong bak kut teh
Address:
Jalan PJS 10/9
47800 Bandar Sunway
Selangor
GPS: 3.076731, 101.603934
I am a strong believer that you gotta do something slightly crazy once in a while to stay sane in this world, so last Saturday I invited a bunch of daring friends and hosted an Insect Cook Out. The attendees were Kim, Su Ann, Sammy, Terence, ST, Dree, and of course my house mate Rachel. The following 6 minute video is the whole insect cook out adventure, check it out!
The whole idea actually started right after Terence, Dree, and I went to Bangkok and had our weird and wonderful creatures including insects, worms, and frogs. Kim was protesting the fact that we did not bring back anything for her, and that’s when Terence came up with the idea that we should just cook some ourselves.
the ingredients from aquarium shop and grocery store
I eventually tabled the idea to Kim and she responded enthusiastically, then I got Su Ann, Sammy, and the rest of the gang to join in as well. This thing is actually going to work!
So I set up the official time for this unusual cook out at 5pm on Saturday evening. I went out to grocery store to get the seasonings: pepper, curry leaves, shallots, dried chili, and garlic. Just half an hour before the cook out, I got to an aquarium shop near Sunway and got a box of good size worms (RM9) and 120 crickets (for RM3)
ahhh, glorious protein enriched food
Contrary to Su Ann’s believe that we googled for the recipe, it was completely original sans the “salt juice” suggested by Terence.
First I fry some shallots, garlic, dried chili, and curry leaves to flavor the oil. These are then taken out and the crickets and worms thrown in the hot oil. Some salt juice is then added for extra kick. It’s that simple, and boy it turned out great! (the insects were freeze in the fridge for about 15 minutes prior cooking to prevent them from jumping everywhere)
the crazy diners
The dish actually tasted a lot better than what we had in Bangkok, and we didn’t even save up anything for my buddy Douglas who came late. The worms were a bit like soft shell crab (as described by Sammy), and the crickets still juicy inside while crispy on the outside. Very nice.
There’ll be another short video for this where Rachel and Kim ate the bugs raw, stay tuned!
I’m so going to prepare this again for the next x’mas eve party!
This is the best issue that SURF magazine has published so far, why? Cos you there is a 2 page story on yours truly as well as articles on my buddies ShaolinTiger and Boss Stewie from Nuffnang. Remember, remember, go get Issue #9 of SURF!
yeay KYspeaks is there!
This is actually the first time I appear in a magazine, previously there was a little article on NST for my Nokia N82′s Soul of the Night involvement, and then of course there’s the old Kosmo article on my Koi Pond. Now anyone wanna get me on TV or radio? hee-hee
Mouth Wide Open
The article carries quite a narcissistic tone, it is mostly about myself and this blog. There’s how I started the blog, what sort of food I like most, how I do reviews, and even my age is revealed *gasp*.
Of course, there is a similar 2 page article on the mat salleh ShaolinTiger, and a pretty good article on the two local blog advertising firms including Nuffnang, with yet another photo of Boss Stewie plastered on main media.
Get a copy yo!
Some of you might recall that I absolutely love the popiah at Melaka that comes with the very sinful fried lard. Well, now I have finally found one worthy Halal version here at PJ thanks to Kelvin.
the very old school food court
This popiah stall is located at the wet market food court next to the PJ Digital Mall at Seksyen 14, for those who are a bit challenged geographically, it is one street behind the opposite of the new Jaya 33 mall.
According to Kelvin, the popiah stall has been in business more than some bloggers have been alive. Still with the same owner serving the same very best popiah basah (wet spring roll).
ahh, glorious popiah!
At just RM 1.00 each, the popiah comes with the traditional ingredients of bean sprouts, tofu, and I believe Chinese turnip (mangkuang), kunyit and perhaps a few more ingredients I can’t name. A sweet brown sauce topped the roll and you can have chili paste according to taste as well. I usually love mine a bit spicier than normal, I think it goes very well with the brown sauce. The juiciness and the satisfaction from this traditional snack is something worth way more than the RM 1 you have to pay.
now you know how to get there from Federal Highway
The stall is open on afternoons, give it a try especially if you find yourself at Digital Mall.
GPS: 3.109652, 101.635863
