Ahhh, durian, the king of fruits. The one thing that people usually really hate or really love, just like Hillary Clinton. Fortunately enough, Mell and I are both into this whole durian eating business, though she is quite a bit more hardcore when it comes to this. (remember durian flavored gelato at Freddo?)

aptly named DurianSS2.com

So last Monday we decided to head to SS2 for some durian love at the stalls behind BHP petrol station (intersection of SS2/75 and SS2/24).

I remembered a couple years ago there were two durian stalls side by side enjoying equally brisk business. Then in a moment of epiphany, one of the stalls created a website and put up a big banner saying DURIANSS2.COM. Their business immediately shot up and they’ve been by far the busiest stall ever since. This was also the place we went on Monday.

hand doesn’t smell if you wash it with water from the husk?

The place is a semi permanent set up with plenty of tables and chairs, a basin, and free filtered water to wash down those glorious fruit. There’s quite a big selection of durians, from Raja Kunyit, to the more common D2, D24, and Udang Merah, you can pick you choose. Of course, they are priced differently, as high as RM 22 (for Raja Kunyit), or RM9/RM10 all-you-can-eat buffet style.

Not knowing what we should go for, we told the operator to get us something that is half bitter and half sweet and ended up with XO durian. The relatively thick meat was soft and very flavorful, part bitter, and part sweet. There were about 8-10 pieces of flesh in each of the two durian we had (1.4 and 1.5kg). It was absolutely delicious!

KY and Mell enjoying some durian goodness

Total damage was RM 37, which worked out to be about RM 13 per kilogram for the durian we ordered.

Mell insists that washing the hand with water off the husk of the durian will make sure that you don’t end up with leftover durian smell. I’ve heard about that many times and still find zero scientific basis to the whole exercise, besides, what’s wrong with how your hand smell if your breath is going to be the biggest concern anyway?

the durian stalls are located behind the petrol station

Address:
DurianSS2
intersection of Jalan SS2/24 and Jalan SS2/75
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.117794,101.623943
Tel: 012-234 5619 (Ah Wai)

Tags:  durian,  mellissa,  SS2 SS3 SS4

Posted by KY | 33 Comments »

I first heard about the Otak-Otak Place from suanie who said “the food is good loh”.

It would not be so significant if the statement was from anyone else, but suanie is from Batu Pahat, which is very close to Muar where they sells the best otak-otak. So when Mell and I found ourselves in Tropicana City Mall a couple days ago, I decided to pay a visit to this restaurant.

otak-otak place, quirky but old school design

Otak-otak place is decorated in a very quirky but old school way, there are old black bicycles, furniture designs from a couple generations ago, and even Ding Dang and Tora snacks for sale.

The selection on their menu is actually quite wide. There are half a dozen types of otak-otak to choose from (steamed, bbq, “cucur”, dumpling, roll, etc), with fish, squid, or prawn fillings. Local favorites like nasi lemak, ayam perchik, pulut, roti jala, mee rebus, asam laksa, curry laksa, soto, fish head noodles, bakso, and more are available too.

steamed otak-otak, roti jala, mee bandung muar, bbq otak-otak

We ordered steamed otak-otak (squid), 5 sticks of BBQ otak-otak (fish), mee bandung Muar, and roti jala for dinner. While waiting for food to be served, we amused ourselves with the Happy Families card game on the table, anyone still remembers the rules?

We managed a few games before the steamed otak-otak (RM 3) arrived, and it was actually very delicious, I’d rate it better than the one at Kopitiam, 1-Utama. The BBQ stick otak-otak too tasted very close to those suanie brought from Muar, though at RM 5.50 for 5 sticks they are quite a bit more pricey than the Southern counterparts, but someone has to pay for air conditioning and mall rental.

KY and Mell

Mee bandung Muar (RM 7.90) comes in a clay pot with prawns, meat, egg, vegetable, and half a lime. I asked for mee with meehun. While I don’t really know how the “authentic” mee bandung Muar tastes like, this one cuts the cake for me. The soup was flavorful and ingredients aplenty, but those who can’t handle spicy food should take caution though.

Mell liked the roti jala (RM 5.90) she ordered too. I took a bite, and while the roti jala was good, I thought the chicken curry could be a bit thicker.

Tropicana City Mall is located between LDP & Sprint

The meal came to around RM 25 for two of us, including drinks. There is a 5% service charge but no government tax imposed. You can find Otak-otak place at lower ground floor, new wing of 1-Utama shopping complex.

As a bonus, there’s yogurt ice cream at Tropicana City Mall too, and now that GSC is opening there, it has become my all time favorite hang-out place especially when the weather is too hot.

Address:
Otak-Otak Place
Lot L1-58, 1st Floor
Tropicana City Mall
3, Jalan SS20/27
47400 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.130757,101.626421
Tel:03-7728 0403

Tags:  mee bandung,  mellissa,  otak-otak,  roti jala,  tropicana city

Posted by KY | 27 Comments »

My ex-housemate, Kerol, came over last weekend to pick myself and Horng up for lunch again last Saturday. As usual, we were not able to come up with any suggestion that could satisfy the girl. At the end, she decided to drive us to one of her favorite lunch places at PJ when she used to work.

The little hidden food court at PJ state located right opposite the big police station (if you have an accident anywhere in PJ, you usually end up there).

old school food court ala Medan Selera style

The place is a municipal built public food court that reminds me of those at PJ old town (with chicken rice), Seksyen 14 (with popiah), and the nasi lemak Tanglin. With plastic tables and chairs affixed on the floor that was as trendy as it was unpractical, especially if you have a larger group of people visiting at the same time.

We located stall number 4 that says Mee Bandung Muar (no I didn’t manage to try their mee bandung, perhaps next time) without much trouble and ordered lunch.

asam ikan pari and telur dadar

They serve three different types of asam fish: kembung (hard tail), pari (stingray), and tengiri (mackerel). But for some reasons, everyone asked for the stingray that day, most probably due to the fact that we’re a bit lazy to have to deal with any bones. We also ordered telur dadar (Malay style omelet) and rice.

the food court is located right opposite PJ State police station

The asam fish itself was pretty nice but I thought it could be slightly more spicy and more sour. I think this suits the KL taste a bit more as compared to the northern version that tends to be a bit stronger tasting. Adding their kicap (slightly sweet version of soya sauce) made it taste quite a bit better though.

Overall, it was still a pretty satisfying lunch for only RM 6 each per person, including rice and egg. Maybe it’s time to try a bit more from the same food court.

Address:
Store 4, Mee Bandung Muar
Medan Selera, PJ State
Jalan Lampan 8/3,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.099046, 101.640412

Tags:  asam fish,  food-court,  horng,  kerol,  pj state,  stingray

Posted by KY | 13 Comments »

Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave (cos you probably don’t use any currency in the cave) for the past year or so knows that we are in a massive economy slow down. The scary part is, most analysts agree that things will get worse before it gets better.

At times like this, it is usually advised that over spending isn’t such a good idea. So, take the bus/LRT to work, hold yourself off buying that sparkly new toys, not getting a new car, and of course, don’t spend too much for lunch.

But this does not necessarily means that you are confined to roti canai or mixed rice at Wisma Sentral if you work at KLCC, there’s the McValue Lunch! I’m sure most of you already know by now that McDonald’s is the first fast food restaurant to push out the RM 5.95 McValue lunch meals a couple months back.

The news is, there is now two other McValue Lunch line ups that had been in my wish list eve since I found out about this whole McValue promotion - Spicy Chicken McDeluxe (from RM10.55 to RM 7.95), and Big Mac (from RM 10.20 to RM 7.95).

I’ve been a fan of Spicy Chicken McDeluxe for quite a while now, the juicy spicy chicken is really one of the bests and actually quite unique to McDonald’s in our country, catering perfectly to our preference in hot food. It’s good to see this burger joining the McValue promotion.

Here’s the line up from 27th April onwards:

McChicken med meal – RM5.95
Filet-O-Fish med meal – RM5.95
Big Mac med meal – RM7.95
Spicy Chicken McDeluxe med meal – RM7.95

The McValue Lunch runs from 12pm to 3pm EVERYDAY and is valid for Dine-in, Drive Through, and even Delivery. I think a lot of people wrongly assumed that this promotion this promotion only runs on weekdays.

So I went to McDonald’s at KLCC’s 2nd floor food court with a buddy of mine the other day to try this for myself. We got ourselves 2 Spicy Chicken McDeluxe sets. (I do notice that the queue at McD in KLCC food court became quite a bit longer these days, not surprising since they offer the cheapest full lunch these days)

2x Spicy Chicken McDeluxe sets – RM 16.70 including tax

The best thing about the McValue Meal is that you still get the normal medium size drinks and fries to go with the burger. It was the same set, nothing reduced other than the price, a very very good value. Of course, it is still the great taste (I seriously think the spicy chicken is one of the best burgers out there) that I crave for every so often.

In conjunction with the McValue lunch, there’s also a contest that gives out an Apple iPhone for blogger!

The contest tagline is “Have you McValue LUNCH-ed this week?”, you can use the logo on your blog during the contest period (April 27 to May 31, 2009), and create a video or photos to express your experiences with McValue LUNCH in a creative way. Winner gets the iPhone 3G!

Have you McValue LUNCHed this week?

p/s : Check out their facebook fan page

Tags:  klcc,  lunch money,  mcdonald's

Posted by KY | 31 Comments »

One of my all time favorite Chinese dishes is roast duck, the glistering fats and crispy skin makes for a perfect combination in texture and taste. Being someone from Penang, a place famous for it’s hawker foods and Nyona dishes, I must confess that the standard of roast meat (be it roast pork, chicken, or duck) is generally far superior in Klang Valley than my home state.

roast meat galore

One of the most famous places when it comes to roast duck (and goose) would be Soon Fatt Peking Roast Duck. A hawker stall with make shift zinc roof tucked below a big tree by the busy road that is Jalan Pasar in KL. There is no luxury of air conditioning, table cloth, or even leveled ground; but I am always prepared to sacrify a little in comfort for delicious food.

soon fatt peking duck

Our initial goal coming to this place was to try their famous roast goose (which I wrote blogged here), but as luck has it, they did not get their supply for the day and recommended that we try the sesame roast duck instead.

We took up the recommendation and went for half a duck, a portion of roast and bbq pork, and a serving of sour and spicy vegetable to go with some yau fan (oily rice) for four of us.

sesame roast duck, sour and spicy vegetable, bbq & roast pork

The sesame roast duck was one of the best dishes I’ve tasted in a while, my previous experience in this type of preparation was confined to sesame roast chicken at wedding dinners, but this duck was heaps better. The aroma of sesame fused with perfectly roasted tender duck meat and that crispy skin makes for a wonderful combination that tasted so well even sans the plum sauce.

The bbq pork (char siu) too is on par with some of the bests in town, and while the roast pork (siu yoke) wasn’t overly impressive, it still held up pretty good in the taste department. The sour and spicy vegetable (xuen lat choy) provide a departure from the greesy and meaty taste that is very welcoming.

the waiter’s probably been on this job for decades

The meal came up to around RM 50+ for four of us, it was a very fulfilling lunch despite the fact that we did not get the goose. I’m planning for the next trip where I get the roast goose and sesame duck all in one meal!

Address:
Intersection of Jalan Pasar and Jalan Yap Hin,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.135315, 101.716479
Tel: 012-212 9018

Note: This article also appears on Klue online as part of the Blogger Exchange program, check it out. I have more Melbourne food posts coming up soon too, watch this space.

Tags:  duck,  hawker-food,  jalan pasar,  pork

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »