Everyone in a while, Kerol would come over and pick us up for brunch over the weekends. Being from Penang, this not-terribly-young lady is a truly picky when it comes to choosing her food. So whenever she brings me to a new eatery, it is most often one worth the stomach.
New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice at Jalan Gasing
A couple weeks ago she brought myself and housemate Rachel to the New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice at Jalan Gasing.
I am quite a fan of chicken rice, from Malay stalls, Ayamas, air-conditioned restaurant, to the famous Fatty Loh Chicken Rice in Penang, I’ve really tried them all. However, none of the above mentioned outlets is as big as this place.
pork meat balls, bean sprouts, roasted pork, steamed chicken
Since arriving at PJ from Ipoh in 1977, New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice has expanded to four shop lots with tables on both levels. There were at least 30 workers including servers, hosts, cleaners, cooks, and kitchen helpers in the very efficiently and rather clean restaurant. Order is done with an assistant of a PDA connected wirelessly to the kitchen too.
For the three of us, we ordered roasted and steamed spring chicken, roasted pork (siu yok), six pork meatballs, and a portion of bean sprouts.
Rachel, Kerol, and KY enjoying some chicken rice
One very important thing at any chicken rice places is the quality of it’s chili sauce, and in this regard, New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice did not disappoint. The chili does pack a kick, and minced ginger is available too.
The chicken was really delightful, even the breast meat was rather smooth and rather tasty, but of course, I still prefer dark meat anytime. Bean sprouts were fat and juicy, providing a nice contrasting texture to the meat. The meat balls were, although famous and tasted pretty decent, isn’t at the same league Wan Hou Steamboat‘s version. The roasted pork too, was alright but isn’t something I would recommend strongly, I had wish we ordered more chicken instead.
New Restuarant Ipoh Chicken Rice is pretty close to Federal Highway
With everything we ordered, lunch came to about RM 10 or so per person. Not exactly the cheapest meal but a pretty satisfying one. The place opens from 7:30 in the morning till some 11pm at night daily. Interestingly, there’s another chicken rice shop right next to it that is more old school, and as Mell said, her grand dad’s favorite. I shall check out that particular Satellite Chicken Rice shop soon.
Address:
New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice
107, Jalan Gasing 10/1
46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.107456, 101.65334
Tel: 03-7956 0958
At the time of writing, the world human population stands at about 6.77 billion (source: wikipedia). So when someone tells you that you are “one in a million“, he or she is necessarily saying that you are exactly the same as almost seven thousand human beings. Not so special after all, heh?
With the world population expected to increase to 9 billion in another 30 years, being able to separate yourself the other jokers out there will be that much harder. So how do you not lose yourself in the crowd?
How do you differentiate yourself? By getting noticed in photos would be a good start, and here are 8 ways to do it. 
be at the highest point
Well, sometimes it helps to start young. For example, when taking pictures, make sure you stand at the highest possible point, especially if you were height challenged like me. Interestingly Horng‘s method of positioning himself at the lowest point with a 100plus works pretty well too.
stupid gesture works too
When that is not possible, having a silly and stupid gesture will also help make you stand out in a photograph. Look at me saying “OHAI EVERYONE” while the cameraman snapped this picture. Smashing isn’t it?
stand in front of everyone
Sometimes being vertically challenged has it’s advantages. For example, in this picture taken at my schoolmate’s farewell party (who migrated to Australia), I had the opportunity to stand in front of everyone. Oh, wearing a different color from everyone else helps too.
Again, Horng tried to steal the limelight with his food in mouth action. Not terribly effective, I suppose. Location, location, location!
having a different hair style
Here I was in the dorm at my beloved alma mater quite a few years back. The two mat sallehs are Nick and Kyle who stayed with me on the same floor. I rediscover some of these jokers via facebook years after I graduated.
See, the different hairstyle (some said tragic) that I had definitely put me as the awesome one in this picture. Yey.
be the boss of the floor
Apart from physical attribute, another way to stand out is simply be the boss. At our dorm, I was the Resident’s Advicer taking care of 50 university kids. I had to make sure they don’t consume alcohol in their room, not be noisy, doesn’t get into fights, etc etc. (please ignore the bottle on the previous picture)
When you are the boss, you stand out, people pay.. er.. respect (usually in the form of free beer and house party invites). It was awesome.
wearing a funny shirt
Sometimes an interesting T-shirt gives you the competitive edge when it comes to standing out. This picture was taken in Melbourne, and the T-shirt bought from Reflections Hotel during the trip to Bangkok with Mellissa. That’s RM 20 well spent.
or maybe an interesting pair of pants?
If the T-shirt isn’t enough, there’s always the pants. Here again I present you my awesome Moody pants I wore to Nuffnang Music Bash earlier this year. Although I must say that Kim’s Village People outfit might have been a bit more outrageous in this case.
Then again, I could wear this pants to KLCC, I doubt Kim would dare to go there with a fake mustache and construction hat. Emmm..
have a good looking girlfriend
Last but not least, if you’re not terribly blessed when it comes to facial features and physical built, having a girlfriend who is extremely easy on the eyes will make you stand out too! Having her dozing off your shoulder while enjoying a huge burger at a busy place like QV in Melbourne certainly raises your credit.
So there you go, now everyone will look at your pictures in facebook and find you before having to go through all the tagged names!
Weekends looming, and Mell is coming back in a week, wheee!
Lygon Street in Melbourne, also known as Little Italy, is littered with quite a number of gelati shops. Between Queensberry and Grattan, there are some five such outlets. However, there is only one award winning gelati shop out of the five: Il Dolce Freddo.
Yummy gelati, with wide variety of flavors
It is also the only gelati shop Mellissa (and everyone else that I know of) swears by in Melbourne. We made it a point that I must try out this place during my trip, so went there I did, with Mellissa and Zehan (hello single and available guys out there please go and buaya her ok)
check out the their famous durian flavored gelato!
Freddo offers quite a variety of gelati flavors, but the one absolute must-try flavor would be Durian. Yes, good ol’ spiky stinky durian flavored gelato. There are other interesting flavors such as Pandan, various types of berries, rocher (with Ferraro Rocher), mango, lychee, passion fruit, and the more conventional chocolate, green tea, and coconut. Over 20 flavors in all.
KY, Mell, and Zehan
I ordered a cup with a scoop of Durian and Pandan flavored gelato for $4.80 (prices range from $4.80 to $7.80). It was lovely, the durian gelato actually made a very fair representation of the fruit, sticky, flavorful, and taste exactly like what you’d expect from the king of fruit. The pandan gelato too was quite lovely, sweet and fragrant.
The weather was quite lovely that day, if not just a little too cold. Then again, the temperature did keep our gelati in good shape and not turn into puddle of colored sweetened milky syrup so it was all good.
Can’t wait till I go there again this winter.
Address:
Il Dolce Feddo
116 Lygon St,
Carlton, VIC 3053,
Australia
GPS: -37.80424, 144.966488
Tel: 03-9639 3344
The last time I wrote an entry about Ming Tien was over a year ago on the Bak Kut Teh and Dumpling. To be frank, I am not a very big fan of this big hawker center despite the fact that is is located within walking distance. I usually go there out of necessity.
I went there with my housemate Rachel a couple weeks ago with Rachel due to laziness to drive for a quick dinner. Not knowing what to order, I took up Rachel’s advice to share a pot of Curry Fish Head.
Curry Fish Head stall at Ming Tien Food Court
Apparently this particular Curry Fish Head stall is pretty new at Ming Tien that escaped my notice the last time I went (months ago).
For the two of us, we ordered a pot of curry fish head with rice.
a big clay pot curry fish head, yums
The fish head came in a clay pot, which is actually pretty nice to keep the warmth in. Other than pieces of fish head and meat, there are long beans, okra, tau pok (deep fried tofu), and brinjal. The broth is santan (coconut milk) based, and I find that it could be slightly spicier. Then again, I am from Penang and we generally like our food to be spicier than native Klang Valley dwellers.
Though the fish itself was just average, overall taste was pretty decent. Not great, but not bad either. For around RM 10 per person, it was actually a pretty good value for money.
Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658
A couple Fridays ago, Eiling invited me to Cubes Chinese Restaurant at Jaya One for a food review session.
Jaya One is slowly becoming a pretty popular watering (and dining) hole in PJ, and it is not hard to see why. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, and pubs offering a wide variety of cuisines, and parking is relatively cheap and easy to find.
Cubes Chinese Restaurant
Yiling, Eiling’s sister, but not Ziling, (mystery of the EZY sister naming convention) and I reached the restaurant and had a good 20 minutes flipping through the menu and chatting before our Eiling finally arrived.
The interior decoration of the restaurant is modern, chic, very different from typical high end Chinese restaurants. We were greeted by the owner, Mr. Ang, who turned out to be a very friendly, funny, and fine host.
probably the best London Aromatic Duck….
So we got started with a serving of “probably the best London Aromatic Duck”. The server flossed the quarter duck confit to and we then wrapped the meat with very fine crepe, spring onion, julienned cucumber, and the special sauce. Their signature appetizer dish, and it was very yummy! Reminded me of the similar dish at Kensington, Seremban.
braised peanuts, juice, enzymes
Throughout dinner, we were served hot tea, a variety of interesting juices (vegetable juice anyone?); and since Eiling is a buddy of the restaurateur, we were also served the little shot glasses of “enzymes” which were fermented juice that tasted very close to being alcohol but not quite, it was pretty interesting. An acquired taste I must say.
double boiled soup, tofu with spinach and mushroom, tiger prawn with rice crisp
We then had the Double Boiled Scallops with Tong Sum Soup. The pork ribs, scallops, and herbs certainly works very well together to produce a very sweet and herbal tasting soup, I like it.
Tiger Prawn with Rice Crisp came next. The prawn itself was the size of my palm, deep fried in a way that still leave the meat very succulent. The pairing of rice crisp is to provide a different texture to the prawn.
Homemade Bean Curd with Spinach and Mushroom provided yet another dimension of taste that is typical of Chinese cuisine. Soft, smooth, and certainly not lacking in taste, the mushroom with it’s sauce and scallop bits certainly adds a bit of character to the otherwise plain tofu dish.
honey roasted pork ribs, stir fry lotus roots and celery, almond soup and black sesame tong yuen
The dish that was probably most amazing in the whole dinner was the Honey Roasted Pork Ribs. I mean, just look at it, a generous piece of ribs, doesn’t look anything more like a slab of char siew (bbq pork), but when you cut into the meat, ahh. The meat immediately breaks on impact and the aroma of that perfectly roasted pork come rushing out. It was really succulent and really, really tasty. This dish should not be missed.
We finally wrapped up the main course with Stir Fry Lotus Roots and Celery, the vegetable certainly provided a fresh change of taste from the seafood and meat. The lotus roots is prepared in two ways, deep fried and by normal stir frying. This provides a slightly different flavor, the deep fried version reminds me of deep fried bitter gourd you get in places like Kanna Curry House
Yiling, KY, and Eiling
After we were absolutely filled to the brim, Mr. Ang ordered us (and we denied at first) the Almond Soup with Black Sesame Glutinous Balls. I think the almond soup was a tad too thick and would personally prefer soya milk in this case, but the glutinous balls was very yummy. Reminded me of the version made by (well, reheated) Mellissa one particular night at Melbourne.
Overall, the dinner was only bested by the company at the table. Eiling and Yiling always made good company, and Mr. Ang, being a fantastic host, made the entire experience that much better. Price at Cubes would be slightly higher than your run-of-the-mill Chinese outlets, but the combination of food and ambiance made it all very worth it.
So if you’re looking for a finer Chinese cuisine not located in a 5-star hotel, this would be one of the very few places worth visiting.
Address:
Cubes
18-1, Block L1-1,
Palm Square Jaya One,
No. 72A, Jalan Universiti,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.118298, 101.635294
Tel: 3-7958 6616
