Cheng Leong of xes.cx, avid wall climber, the original Melbourne shuffler, and lawyer extraordinaire only goes to several places for food. Village Park, Pappa Rich, Yut Kee, restaurant O&S, and maybe Cristang.
So when we met up for breakfast a couple weeks ago, it was over one of these handful of restaurants.
Village Park at Damansara Uptown
This wasn’t my first time to Village Park, but to be honest it isn’t exactly one of my favorite places due to the fact that it is always packed on the weekends, and parking is a bit of a nightmare at Uptown.
They do, however, serves very good nasi lemak and really awesome roti bakar (toast bread).
nasi lemak – chicken drumstick, cuttle fish, sambal, peanuts and anchovies
The claim of fame for this place is their nasi lemak. A full set of this signature Malaysian original comes with beef, cuttle fish, chicken rendang, sambal prawns, and all the other typical nasi lemak ingredients such as sambal, fresh cucumber, anchovies, peanuts, hard boiled egg, and of course, fragrant rice cooked with coconut milk.
The ful set costs RM 15, but if you don’t include all the main ingredients, they do come a bit cheaper. While a tad on the pricier side, it is really one of the best high end nasi lemak you can get.
nasi lemak, half boiled eggs, soto ayam, roti bakar
The other absolute must-try dish from Village Park is their roti bakar (RM 2). The difference between their toast bread and those you get from other places is simple – the bread here is sliced twice as thin as typically done. Extra crunchy, and of couse twice the amount of kaya and butter over amount of bread.
Cheng Leong & Angeline, Haze & KY
I’ve tried their Soto Ayam (RM 5.70) and it turned out to be pretty decent. The restaurant also serves prawn mee, ipoh hor fun, curry mee, asam laksa, and other local dishes. Try those at your own risk, I’ve not heard very good things about them though.
Other notable nasi lemak include the one with minced pork at 6-10, the triangle nasi lemak at 223, the seapark nasi lemak with awesome fried chicken, and nasi lemak tangling.
Address:
5, Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.137784,101.623358
Tel: 03-7710 7860
Snickers is at it again with another online contest! This time it si the Hunger Buster Challenge!
This can’t be a more appropriate name, Snickers is one of my favorite condense pack of energy bars. A stick of Snickers is the most convenient food one can get when you’re on the go: hiking, trekking, or very handy especially in one of those late night candle burning sessions. After all, going out to eat late at night can prove to be pretty disastrous these days.
Hunger Buster, therefore, is very a aptly chosen title.
First and foremost, the prizes. After all, that is what everybody’s interested in when it comes to contests, right?
Snickers does not go all “kiam siap” in this department. There are 18 Sony Playstation 3 (I wanna play GT5!) to be won, another 36 Canon IXUS 95 IS camera, 18 Sony Ericsson W995 mobile phones, and more! In total there are over 600 prizes. Now we’re talking!
The story of Hunger Buster Challenge goes like this:
The city of SNICKERS has been robbed of its SNICKERS bar. People in the city are out of energy now. Your task is to help restore the people of its energy!
The game is simple, find the hidden Snicker bars and feed it one by one to the people of Snicker city. Do this as fast as you can with your mouse/touchpad/touchscreen or whatever. All you need is sharp eyes and really fast hand.
Oh, proof of purchase is not required to join this game, all you need to do is register (if you’re from Malaysia, Singapore, or Philippines, read T&C from snickergames.com)
I managed to complete in slightly less than 19 seconds after several tries. With practice and a little bit of luck I shall be able improve it further. Rawrrr
The contest runs until 21st August, I still have some time yet!
By the way, that is only the first of two games.
Game 2 is the Bonus! Hunt for the Golden Snickers bar across the world wide web. There are clues available on the clue board, Snickers facebook page, as well as @snickersgame on Twitter. Find the Golden Snickers bar and win! It’s that simple (or complicated, depending on how well you read clues)
I was all proud at my sub 19 second result, then I checked on the current leader board. Apparently the top player this week scored a time that’s short of 8s. Daymmeee! I shall not give up!
So, head to snickersgame.com and good luck to you too (just leave a PS3 for me ok!)
Most everyone who are originally from Penang is a fan of Char Kueh Teow, myself included. While this particular dish hasn’t really found its rival outside the island, there are actually several places right here in Klang Valley that are certainly more than good enough to satisfy my cravings from time to time.
Robert Char Kueh Teow at Restaurant Say Huat
I’ve heard and read about Robert Char Kueh Teow quite for quite a while, but for whatever reason the few kopitiams at Seksyen 17 remains to be pretty unexplored to me.
I got the cravings again the other day, and this time I made it a point to head over to this famed stall.
glistering char kueh teow with prawns and lap cheong
The stall is located amongst the dozen of so other offerings within restaurant Say Huat with the friendly owner, Robert, busy frying away. I made our orders, 2 plates of Char Kueh Teow with everything.
Some 10 minutes later, we got our servings. The plate of Char Kueh Teow comes with all the ingredients: flat noodle, bean sprouts, chives, prawns, lap cheong (Chinese sausage), egg, tiny bits of salted vegetable, and of course, lard too.
KY and Haze enjoying char kueh teow
I must say that Robert CKT lives up to the expectations. The combination of all the classic ingredients, and the availability of pork lard of course contributed to the overall “original” Penang CKT taste. Now if only they could add massive prawns….
Address:
Restaurant Say Huat
1083, Jalan 17/29
46400 Selangor
GPS: 3.128818, 101.635305
The last time I did a movie review on this blog was almost two years ago. Every once in a while there is a film that’s good enough I thought I’d blog about it, but inevitably always change my mind. In the world of Twitter, facebook, and all it’s instant short feedback capability, movie reviews sorta took a back seat in this blog.
That is, until a movie like Inception comes along.
Ever since I first heard about Inception, the mere knowledge that is is directed by Christopher Nolan and lead by Leonardo DiCaprio. I know it is something that shouldn’t be missed. While I expected a good film, the movie delivered way more than what I had expected.
If you’re familiar with Nolan’s work, I can only summarize Inception as having the twists of Memento, the drama of Prestige, and the spectacle of The Dark Knight.
While I could never pen down the intricacy and complexity of the movie on this blog, for those who does not want to have the slightest spoiler, you should stop reading now, and immediately make sure you get the tickets to the next screening.
Don’t miss it!
In essence, Inception is an original sci-fi film with a heist theme, but I’m doing injustice to the multi layered plot and all it’s intricacies here.
DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, the Extractor, a man who specializes in subconscious security, invading dreams and stealing ideas in corporate espionage. In his team there’s Gordon-Levitt as the Point Man, who researches the target. Ellen Page was recruited as the Architect to create the scenes in the dream. Then there’s also a Forger, and a Chemist.
Ken Watanabe plays Saito, the client who hired Cobb, but instead of stealing ideas, Cobb is asked to plant a new idea in the target – Robert Fischer (by Cillian Murphy). The difficult part is of course, ideas has to be original, and when it is not, you always remember the origin.
It is with this premise that the movie develops its multi layered plot that demands and ultimately rewards 100% concentration to every details and development in the entire film. The last hour or so of the movie is nothing like I’ve ever seen before, the climax that never ends. (reminds me of pigs’ orgasm)
While the visual effects (with computer graphics only when absolutely required) are spectacular, it was never blowing things up for the sake of blowing things up. Everything shown is necessary and every aspect of the film adds up to make a viewing experience unlike anything else.
The excellent cast and sound track definitely carried out the story beautifully. Leonardo DiCaprio did not need to carry the weight of the movie, but delivered an excellent performance yet again, Ellen Page and Michael Caine sorta did their usual roles, and Marion Cotillard must have left one of the strongest impressions while not having that much screen time.
Just when you think the movie industry is void of creative ideas with studios seemingly only keep investing on sequels, prequels, and reboots, Inception is definitely a very strong reminder that all is not lost.
I hate to sound like a fanboy, but Christopher Nolan really did outdone himself in this one. I haven’t yet manage to find a weak point in this movie, and will definitely watch it again. Right now it’s a 10/10 for me.
p/s: Got the screening tickets from Nuffnang, thank you Robb!
Remember all those tours of factories, estates, or farms when we were in school? I’d always enjoyed those little trips when I was young, but never thought that they will be equally as fun when I’m 1/3 way into the described time it takes for an egg to turn black and super tasty.
High5 bread factory museum
The “lawatan sambil belajar” session to the biggest bread factory in the whole of South East Asia turned out to be so much fun! Together with a few other blog owners and members of media, I was invited by Malaysia’s very own High 5 to a tour of their bread museum, factory, and a baking session with Chef Ismail!
We started off by visiting the very interesting the Bread Town Museum that reminds me of those amusement park exhibits more than typical boring museums, and of course, we entered by saying the magic word to open the door – “High 5!”
Corny? yah.
Fun factor? max!
High 5 bread museum in Shah Alam
From the museum and the multimedia presentation, we learn about the history of bread making from the Egyptians to Iron Age to the Vikings era to modern time, and even a bit of speculations into the future.
There’s also some uber interesting toasters on display too. I wouldn’t mind one of those! Reminds me of latte art, except these would be High 5 bread art instead.
High 5 bread factory floor
The museum corridor led us over the High 5 factory floor.
The place is huge, and surprisingly manned with not very many staffs. Our guide explained that the factory is highly automated with a reason – to minimize human contact for better hygiene and to maintain consistent quality control too.
Dato Jackson Tan, KY & Chef Ismail, “cicah” with coffe
After the tour, we proceed to another hall and was given a short speech by the Group Managing Director of Silver Bird Group Bhd – Dato Jackson Tan. I don’t have the transcript nor I think you’re interested in reading them, but one thing he mentioned was the “Jom Rasa & Menang” contest that you should check out. Prize = Ipad!
With loud music and great fan fair, celebrity chef, Chef Ismail was introduced. The good chef got everyone’s mood up by forcing us to have an extended aerobic dance carrying two loafs of High 5 bread. It was hilarious and amazingly, fun at the same time. Kim couldn’t stop laughing from ear to ear, nor I.
Huai Bin, KY, Kimberly in a team!
We were then being separated to group of threes. Naturally, Huai Bin, Kim, and I got into the group, we felt invincible!
Before the baking demo got started, we were treated to a “cicah” with coffee session. A piece of High 5 bread dipped into hot coffee, the prototypical Malaysian way of enjoying the soft fresh bread. Ahh.. yums. Writing this reminds me that I should stock some of the bread at my office!
mini pizza with High 5
Right after that, Chef Ismail demonstrated, and we followed, the art of making mini pizza, with High 5!
The ingredients are simple:
and for the sauce, use plum tomatoes, diced onion, garlic, parsley, thyme, oregano, tomato paste, blackpepper mix with olive oil and salt & sugar according to taste.
Cook those in a frying pan, then apply the sauce to a slice of High 5 bread, then add the other ingredients on top of it with the cheese latest. Bake, and done!
Tastes surprisingly good, I was amazed.
home made sardin curry puff
Next up – home made sardin curry puff, or indeed, any type of curry puff you want to make.
Simply roll the bread flat, put the ingredients at center, and then join the edges of bread with flour paste. Deep fried (or bake if you’re health conscious all), and you’re done!
I kinda over stuffed mine, but I think it still came out tasting pretty yums!
High 5 bread tuna canapés
Our 3rd and last creation was the simplest – High 5 bread tuna canapés.
Toast the bread, sliced/cut in nice agreeable shapes, spread butter and mayo, place tuna and onion/tomato, and viola, done! Little piece of open sandwich perfect for any cocktail party.
bloggers and members of media with High 5
Before we leave, Brad and Zoe, the two High 5 mascots came out for a bit of photo op. The organizer gave each of us a big goodie bag with plenty of High 5 products too. It was all a very awesome experience made better with the excellent hospitality by High 5.
When’s another rombongan lawatan sambil belajar?
Don’t forget that if you want to stand a chance to win an iPad, join the “Jom Rasa & Menang” contest! Check it out now, the mechanic’s simple
For more information head to the contest site with the link above. Good luck guys! Now I’m gonna have myself a slice of Silverbird cake to celebrate 
