It never ceases to amaze me how communication technology brings people together. Ever since my old batch of ex-housemates moved out of my place over a year ago, we actually haven’t met for the longest time.
It wasn’t until a week ago when Huey Fang finally joined facebook that Carol decided that we should meet up again after such a long lay off. So we did just that last Saturday.
Horng, Heuy Fang, KY, Carol
Just as we were struggling to find a venue, I received an sms from Xaviera inviting us to Bondai Grill & Pub‘s soft opening at Curve. Perfect timing, so Horng, Huey Fang, Carol, ah Chan, and I went there right after dinner and joined by Suan, Ee Laine, Bob, and Jack.
Of the three ex housemates, I’ve known Horng (also known as Honry) for 24, Huey Fang for 15, and Carol for 12 years and counting. They are some of my best friends whom I know I could count on for anything, and I do mean anything.
ah Chan, Jack & FA, Xaveira and Suan
I’ve known Suan virtually for at least 8-9 years and in person for over 5 years, FA for just a bit shorter than that, and Xaveira, ah Chan, and Jack pretty much before the conception of this blog. They’ve all been very good friends over the years.
I haven’t had such a great time since forever. Lotsa laughters, lotsa chit chats, and even a few heart to heart sessions. Thank you guys, and here’s to friendship.
p/s: We need to do this more often.
p/s 2: facebook album here
p/s 3: I wish I have one, with LCD tv please
Ahhhh.. life in this valley can be pretty hectic. For example, a typical week can be something like this:
Eat, work, play, eat, work, play, it can be pretty hectic, with too much caffeine and isotonic drinks, not to mention the occasional drops of alcohol in between. Not particularly relaxing for the body and soul I’d say.
And then I was introduced to Lipton Hirameki.
Hirameki basically means “Get Inspired”. How does tea relate to getting inspired? Well, black tea leaves contains theanine, an amino acid that has been shown to have the effect of reducing stress and promote the feeling of relaxation. When you’re able to relax, the brain will be able to get properly rested, and generate more creative juice thereafter.
I think I should learn to sit back, have a cup of tea (and I like mine black, without sugar), and relax a bit. Bliss!
There is also a contest currently on-going with Grand prizes like an Asus EEE PC 904, Sony Digicam and weekly prizes with Sony Ericsson W580i phones MP3 players, and more! Check out canyouplaythecorporategame.com
When I was young, GUINNESS® was always the drink of choice to go with a good meal for my late dad. The association of the world’s No. 1 international premium black beer with good food etched into my memory since a long time ago. However, it was only many years later that cooking with GUINNESS® caught on in Malaysia with the now classic GUINNESS® pork ribs.
ze chef in black Emmanuel Stroobant working his magic
Little did I know you can cook way more than just pork ribs with GUINNESS®, as demonstrated by the famous Chef in Black from Asian Food Channel, Emmanuel Stroobant. Cheesie, Kenny, and I attended the Guinness Gastronomic Workshop at Mandarin Oriental to find out just how the celebrity chef gets it done.
We even got our hands dirty busy and tried a little kitchen magic ourselves.
ze assistant Antoine Maillet preparing tuna
Chef Stroobant and his assistant Antoine Maillet get things kicking by demonstrating the preparation a starter, tuna tar-tar taco with GUINNESS®. This dish is pretty straight forward and you can try it at home without having a degree from kitchen academy.
my team and I making the tuna tar-tar
Why don’t I just tell you how to do it instead, very simple really.
The ingredients:
Just mix all ingredients and serve on taco!
cheesie grilling chicken
The two chefs then demonstrated a slightly more complicated dish – Kakuni style braised chicken with GUINNESS®, fresh herb risotto and GUINNESS® poached oyster.
It is a dish with a touch of Japanese style in preparing the chicken, having the skin crispy while not over cooking the meat. A pint of GUINNESS® Foreign Extra Stout is used, with other ingredients such as sugar, soy, garlic, ginger, and black pepper to complete the dish.
kenny with his risotto
The risotto is pretty straight forward, with risotto rice, olive oil, onion, parsley, chives, chervil, salt and pepper cooked in chicken stock and some white wine to perfection. It actually goes really well with the braised chicken.
After the good chef demonstrated to us the preparation of the dessert – GUINNESS® sorbet (it was actually very good!), it was time for us to get ourselves busy.
We were split into four teams of three and tried cooking the dishes above in front of at least 200 people! It was actually a little bit intimidating. My team did the taco tar-tar, Cheesie had to dodge some burning oil in preparing the chicken, while Kenny tried hard not to under cook the risotto. It was some experience, and lucky we didn’t burn down the kitchen (fire extinguisher was available)
parmesan crusted chicken, chicken liver parfait, Guinness sorbet
After the cooking demonstration, the good people at GUINNESS® treated us to a sumptuous dinner with GUINNESS® infused dishes inspired by the celebrity chef himself, Emmanual Stroobant (probably just in case we were not able to eat our own creation?).
We started out with chicken liver parfait with GUINNESS® jelly, aged balsamic with small brioche. I never really liked pate (chicken liver), but the combination with GUINNESS® jelly was actually pretty nice.
Next came the GUINNESS® sorbet to cool things off a bit before the main dish was served, Parmesan crusted chicken with GUINNESS® dough baked green asparagus and tomato nage.
fraindises, chocolate tart with Guinness cherries, olive oil ice cream
We ended the night with soft centered chocolate tart with GUINNESS® cherrie and the rather interesting olive oil ice cream. It was lots of fun and certain gastronomically satisfying! I think some of the Western food places should start looking to adopting the idea.
My futsal buddy (don’t judge a person by his look, he’s a much better player than me) Shiang has been asking me for a dinner at his family restaurant Tram Car for quite a while. I finally managed to find time and two pretty ladies and headed there some two weeks ago for dinner.
Tram Car is actually run by the same people who ran the old Cable Car at Jaya just down the road (now Jaya 33)
Tram Car, the “new” Cable Car
Grace, Eiling, and I met Shiang at the restaurant on a Thursday night and business was pretty brisk. The restaurant is located just opposite the big Toyota showroom and service center at Seksyen 19 so you actually have a choice of pretending to be a pontential Toyota buyer and park your car there for free, or by the road, or pay for it at Jaya 32 for a safer choice.
Escargot, prawn cocktail, soups
We started off with garlic breads, salad, and a dozen escargot. The garlic breads were actually pretty nice, but I only had a bite in order to save my stomach for more. Escargot is always one of my favorites and I think I must have had close to half a dozen snails to myself while the girls finished the rest. I like the cream sauce that goes with it.
garlic bread, pandan sago dessert, salad
Next came three bowls of soup, sharks fin with crab meat, oxtail soup, and French baked onion. I find the soups pretty thick, and if I try to finish the whole bowl I probably could fill my stomach pretty good with the accompanying garlic bread and salad without going for the main course. They are, however, pretty flavorful though.
The nicest appetizer we tried was actually the shrimp cocktail. Generous portion of prawn on fresh vegetables with home made thousand island dressing and topped with ebiko. The dressing tasted very sinful and I think the ebiko is a really nice touch.
baked fish, steak combo, seafood platter
I think I was already half full when the main dishes came. Eiling got the baked fish (which is covered with white sauce and mushroom, plus a baked potato), Grace had the seafood platter, and I went for the the steak combo.
I took a bite of the baked fish (kurau filet), though aesthetically not very pleasing, I must say it actually tasted pretty nice. The steak combo I had was very rich, with two huge tiger prawn that are absolutely delicious, and a piece of steak that proved to be a bit too much for me. The seafood platter was not bad at all either, according to Grace.
,
grace, shiang, eiling
Tram Car priced themselves rather reasonably. The soups are from Rm 6.90 to 11.90, baked fish, seafood platter, and mixed grill are RM 17.90, 27.90, and 45.90, a dozen escargot for RM 26.90. Well, you get the idea.
Other than western foods, there are plenty of local delights like fried rice and various noodle dishes too. There are also lunch specials at RM 14.90 (and lunch can be quite packed)
Map to Jaya 32 at Seksyen 19, PJ
If you’ve been to Cable Car before, Tram Car would be very similar.
More photos at here.
Address:
B-11-01, 32 Square,
No. 2, Jalan 19/11
46300 PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.111131,101.631936
Tel: 03-7958 8588
When it comes to pork noodle, I usually visit the famous SS3 pork noodle as I stay just a stone’s throw away.
I was introduced to this particular stall at PJ state by my ex-colleagues one particular lunch session, who described it as “pretty good also!”. Since I am always game for new foods and new places, why not?
note: This stall has been moved/closed down. If you know the where it is now please do leave a comment here.
the sign board for the kopitiam is only visible at the back
The pork ball noodle stall is hidden inside Fook Yun kopitiam, which in turns has its sign board hidden and only viewable from the back of the building. However, it isn’t exactly tough to locate as this would be the kopitiam closest to the pedestrian-only streets opposite the MBPJ building.
Pork noodles come in either the soup, or dry version. The ingredients too, are slightly different, the dry version comes with marinated ground meat and a bowl of pork ball soup while the soup version has Lap Cheong (Chinese sausage) and pork balls. On the contrary, the SS3 version comes with meat, intestine, ground pork, and liver. So they are actually rather different.
ahh, glorious pork noodle
Taste wise, I find it to be pretty delicious in a different way. While the SS3 type is more oily and porky, this version carries the slightly sweeter taste thanks to the marinated ground meat or lap cheong. The pork balls were pretty big, has a firm texture to it, and tasted pretty good too.
As usual, you get to choose from vermicelli, noodle, kueh teow, or the combination of them as the filler.
Fook Yun kopitiam faces MBPJ building
A bowl of pork noodle here is slightly less than RM 5. I wouldn’t hesitate to eat there again.
Address:
29-31 Jalan 52/1,
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.099657,101.645154
