Category / Halal Food
May 20, 2013
Peruvian food isn’t exactly one of the more popular foreign cuisines in Malaysia. Prior to visiting Peruvie Peruvian Grilled Chicken at TTDI, my previous experience in this brand of food consists of the lone visit to the Peruvian Gastronomy Week at Ritz Carlton.
Peruvie at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
The restaurant took over the bulk of the premise previously occupied by Penang Village at Lorong Rahim Kajai 13, which is conveniently located behind Maybank and Hong Leong Bank at TTDI. Parking isn’t usually a painful affair.
Inside, a small open kitchen sits at the corner. The interior is decorated with many quirky cultural artifacts that I presume have something to do with the South American country one of my colleagues came from.
grilled chicken with two sides, not the most original idea but it works
The menu is pretty similar to those you find at Nando’s. Ala carte 1/4, 1/2, or whole chicken (RM 9.90, RM 18.90, RM 36.90), and chicken with 2 side lines (RM 15.90 for 1/4, RM 24.90 for 1/2).
The sides to choose from includes fries, corn coconut rice, garden vege, coleslaw, potato salad, butter sweet corn, tomato & cucumber salad, and fresh salad.
Other than grilled chicken and sides, there are several extra dishes you can order here. Chicken soup, sausage, chicken salad, and burritos are among those items, we didn’t try any of those though.
love the sauce at Peruvie
The grilled chicken took probably 15-20 mins to get ready, and I assume this is because they only started cooking when you order. I find the taste of chicken and its marinate to be not entirely different from satey, which to me, is a good thing. The meat were tender and skin flavorful with a strong hint of spices, but it isn’t spicy.
There isn’t any complains from me when it comes to the sides either, though I’d love to have more variety of potatoes to choose from since that is supposed to be a hallmark of Peruvian cuisine. I’m quite sure Peruvie is one of these places where I don’t mind visiting again, so if you’re into some grilled chicken that isn’t Nando’s or Kenny Rogers, this is a place to check out.
Address:
Peruvie Peruvian Grilled Chicken
1, Lorong Rahim Kajai 13,
Taman Tun Dr Ismail,
60000 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.153722, 101.622639
Tel: 03-7725 7223
Web: www.facebook.com/Peruvie
May 14, 2013
Several weeks ago I managed to convince the girls to try a new place, and we ventured out to the land of gangsters that is Kepong. We past by the glamorous Desa Park City and turned into the older part of Kepong where steamboat restaurants are aplenty and finally arrived at where we were going to have dinner – Jan Jan Thai Restaurant.
Jan Jan Thai restaurant at Kepong
There are in fact, two Thai restaurants within 50 yards from each other here. Directly opposite Jan Jan is the older and almost equally as busy Thai restaurant by the name Janwa. According to the locals, the head chef from Janwa left to open Jan Jan as a competitor (similar to Rakuzen and Jyu Raku at Subang Jaya)
There’s an on-going healthy debate as to if Jan Jan or Janwa offers better Thai dishes, but for the purpose of this trip we’re not going to worry too much about that.
excellent tomyam and steamed barramundi
Once we found an empty table and made our order, which took a while on a weekend, food did not take very long to be served.
Seafood tomyam soup (RM 16-29) comes in either clear or red, and we opted for the latter, more chili laden variety. It was hot, spicy, and filled prawns, squid, fish, tomato, and more. Perfect dish for us since it was raining so heavily.
The Thai style steamed barramundi (market price) turned out to be pretty good dish too. The fish was fresh and the soup positively sour and flavorful. This dish is not quite De Chiengmai‘s standard, but it holds its own.
the lala was great, green curry not so much. Yuki, Haze, KY, Kerol
Thai golden lala (RM 17) was my favorite dish of the night. The shellfish were big and juicy, and I particularly love the unique Thai style sauce that the dish came with. It was a combination of sweet, spicy, with a hint of sourness. Very different any Chinese or Malay style preparation.
The disappointing dish turned out to be the Thai green curry (RM 12). I love my green curry thick and flavorful, but this one was just watery and very sweet. We took a few spoonful but otherwise left the dish almost untouched.
There are definitely more dishes at Jan Jan Thai that I want to try on other visits – petai prawns, deep fried brinjal, paku with belacan, mango chicken, bbq crab and Thai curry crab all sounds very enticing. I’ll just have to remember not to order their green curry again.
Address:
Jan Jan Thai Restaurant
No.33, Jalan 5/62A,
Bandar Menajalra, 52000
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.193859, 101.631517
Tel: 03-6277 7598
April 28, 2013
Haze and I both knows how to enjoy a piece of good beef, but unfortunately good beef are usually only available at very up class restaurants (such as Prime or Mandarin Grill); and speaking from experience, those from the more affordable places often disappoints.
Then there’s Las Vacas, a no-frill restaurant and retail that offers prime cuts of beef and lamb at very decent price.
Las Vacas at Kelana Jaya
Las Vacas is basically a meat shop with professionally trained butchers and a kitchen. They stock a wide selection of meat and you can either buy raw to grill at home, or dine in.
There’s Angus, Wagyu, grain fed, tenderloin, ribeye, sirloin, lamb shoulder, and even salami, sausages, and burger patties.
grain fed tenderloin and wagyu ribeye
We went there for the first time a few weeks ago, I ordered a medium rare tenderloin, while Haze asked for her Wagyu ribeye to be prepared rare. Prices of meat is indicated at the display per 100 gram, and normal cut is usually 280-300 grams, though you can always choose a bigger/smaller portion according to appetite.
There’s a cooking fee (RM 15 if I remember correctly) on top of the price of the meat, and you get a small serving of salad (quite forgettable) and a piece of pretty decent garlic bread on the side.
love that my tenderloin was cooked to perfection – medium rare
The meat did take a while to get prepared, and I believe it was because they actually let it sit before serving to ensure they are properly moist. There’s Dijon mustard and A1 steak sauce if you like, but I love my steak as is with nothing but basica salt & pepper seasoning to fully enjoy the unadulterated taste of meat.
The result was excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Dinner ended up at around RM 180 including a couple bottles of premium carbonated drinks. Pretty reasonable for what we got, will visit again.
Address:
Las Vacas
No.23, Jalan SS5A/11 Kelana Jaya
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
GPS: 3.095934, 101.604719
Tel: 03-7874 0711
Web: lasvacasmeat.com
Hours: Tues – Sunday, 10am – 10pm
April 5, 2013
Just a few days ago, I brought a Malay colleague to one of my favorite lunch hide outs in KL, the really old school and slightly run-down medan selera (DBKL food court) behind Fahrenheit 88. The initial plan was to order a plate of sotong halia and telur dadar for lunch, but as fate would have it, my favorite stall, Adik Tomyam, was not open for business.
I took a seat at the same far end of food court nonetheless (nearer to Lot 10), and this was when I discovered Gerai Cak Anam.
Gerai Cak Anam at Medan Selera behind Fahrenheit 88
The stall is operated by a couple Indonesian ladies (I assume) and offers quite a few selections of Indonesian food – bakso, soto ayam, gulai kambing, rojak lontong, tempe + telor penyet, bebek (duck), lele (cat fish), ayam, belud (eel), babat (tripe), bandeng (milk fish), and ikan sardin to be exact.
That’s what the signboard says, but I also spotted some prawn fritters as well.
bebek penyet (smashed duck) with excellent sambal
Being a fan of duck, naturally I ordered the bebek penyet. For RM 6 you get a plate of rice that’s enough to feed a fleet of construction crews, decent serving of deep fried duck (I’m not sure if it’s “flattened”), raw cabbage, cucumber, and sweet, spicy, and delicious sambal that I love.
The dish does turned out to be pretty good, which leave me wanting to try their other meat/fish choices next time. Halal duck meat isn’t something you find very often, so if you’re hungry for some, here’s a place to check out.
Address
Gerai Cak Anam
Medan Selera at Jalan Padang, Bukit Bintang
GPS: 3.145101, 101.713108
Tel: 012-3538 440
April 1, 2013
There isn’t many seaside kampung style restaurants that have the honor having a Crown Prince to attend the opening ceremony, Kedai Makan Rahmat at Pasir Gudang is one of them (or perhaps the only).
Officially launched by Duli Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Mahkota Johor, Ibrahim Ismail Ibni Sultan Iskandar in 1986, Kedai Makan Rahmat remains a very popular lunch destination for those who works around Pasir Gudang.
Kedah Makan Rahmat at Kampung Pasir Putih, Pasir Gudang
It is usually a wise idea to call ahead and book for a table before visiting Kedai Makan Rahmat, we did not do that and ended up waiting for about 20 odd minutes before a table is vacant, and already considered ourselves pretty lucky.
The restaurant is located at Kampung Pasir Putih, between Tanjong Puteri Golf Resort and the MMHE Yard. Parking isn’t usually a big problem, the restaurant is always very busy, but manage to maintain a pretty high standard of cleanliness. I only wish that the beach where the restaurant is built upon is half as good.
and that’s our lunch, dig in!
Almost everyone comes here for essentially the same dish – Siakap Goreng (deep fried barramundi fish). For the five of us, we ordered three pretty good size siakap goreng, a portion of udang goreng (deep fried shrimp), a couple plates of kacang with sambal, two plates of petai with ikan bilis, and a serving of kacang panjang (french beans) to satisfy our vitamin C quota.
kacang panjang, petai, udang bakar, and siakap goreng
The good thing about Rahmat is that even when really busy, food doesn’t take very long to be served once you’ve ordered and seated.
The siakap was as good as advertised, steamy hot, super fresh, and with absolutely soft and delicious flesh. The skin is usually discarded as the scales aren’t removed (I hope they did..). Mixing the fish with sambal petai, kacang, or sambal belacan proved to be the solution to the mystery of why this place is so damn popular. It was yummeh!
While the kacang was a bit lackluster, I also really enjoyed the petai.
KY, Shamsul, Radzi, Azman, and Zahirah
It’s also wise to order their pre-made lime juice that comes in jars. They are very refreshing and does a wonderful job of neutralizing the spicy sambal.
I was more than satisfied by the food at Rahmat, and the wait time was certainly well worth it. Food and drinks came to about RM 25 or so per person, and considering the three big and fresh siakap fish we got, it was of pretty decent value as well.
I definitely would love to go back there again.
we stopped by a kampung style cendol and keropok lekor
After lunch, we stopped by a kampung style cendol and keropok lekor place a couple streets down for something cooling. The cendol with crushed ice (since they don’t have a the ice shaving machine) and pulut was pretty decent, and that keropok lekor you see in the picture was only for RM 1. Great value, but unfortunately not exactly super tasty.
By the way, another place worth checking out at Pasir Gudang is the Ayam Penyet at Restoran Selera Sambal.
Address:
Kedai Makan Rahmat
No 3. Jalan Pantai,
Kampung Pasir Putih,
81700 Pasir Gudang, Johor
GPS: 1.434596, 103.930997
Tel: 07-271 1770 / 019-740 8847
Hours: 10.30 am – 3.30 pm
