I found myself at Plaza Damas last weekend. After several hours of attending to certain business, it was suddenly dinner time. We decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to explore something at this comfortably small but elegant mall instead of heading elsewhere to quiet down the little growling sound from my stomach that is starting to get annoying.

“Fish Satay” in lemon grass

We past several restaurants before deciding upon Penang Village. Being from Penang island, I am always skeptical towards restaurants that claim to serve Penang food. However, I was feeling a little adventurous that day, and whatever food I could see from those customers that are already eating certainly looks inviting.

nice ambiance and surprisingly good food

The menu is simple and illustrated with enough photos of the dishes to guide those who can’t read English or Malay. We ended up ordering 5 items for the two of us, nasi lemak with beef, nasi tomato with lamb, kailan (vegetable) with salted fish, fish satay, and otak-otak.

beef nasi lemak and lamb nasi tomato

Even though it was a weekend evening, the food didn’t take more than 10 minutes to come. The nasi tomato and nasi lemak came with pretty good meat curry (rendang and kurma), the rice tasted very authentic and even the presentation was rather high class. A small glass of acar accompanied the rice.

The otak-otak served is of the Penang variety, for the uninitiated, it is a type of steamed fish paste with mixture of traditional spices. The otak-otak was not oily and nor over powering, just nice and a good companion to the rice dishes.

I especially like the interesting “fish satay” served on a lemon grass stick. It reminded me of the same thing I had at Bumbubali (a Balinese restaurant at Puchong), very succulent and delicious. The taste of fish cake and the core infused with lemon grass aroma was simply brilliant. This would be my must-order at Penang Village.

Penang otak-otak, kailan with salted fish, fish satay

The rice dishes were around RM 12+ each with the other dishes slightly cheaper. The dinner costs RM 60+ for the two of us, 5 dishes and 1 drink. A pretty decent price for the quality of food and location. I am not too sure about their other classic dishes like Char Kueh Teow, but if they can have similar quality it wouldn’t be disappointing.

Plaza Damas is located at Sri Hartamas

Other than Plaza Damas, Penang Village has branches at USJ 9, TTDI, Alamanda Putrajaya Mall, and a couple other locations at Indonesia too.

Address:
Hartamas Shopping Centre (Plaza Damas)
Lot G8B&9, Sri Hartamas, KL
GPS: 3.163548, 101.656076
Tel: 03-6201 9816

Tags:  dining,  fish cake,  lemon grass,  nasi tomato,  nasi-lemak,  otak-otak,  Penang,  satay

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »

As a gesture of appreciation for helping a buddy out, I was promised a good dinner at Mont Kiara a few weeks back. After the assignment, as we were figuring out what to have, I spotted this nice little place called Zakuro on the ground floor of Plaza Mont Kiara. Since I’m such a fan of Japanese cuisine, the decision only took a planck time.

Ahhhhh, Sashimi Moriwase, yumm

To satisfy my stomach for this occasion, we ordered a Sashimi Moriwase, some tempura, kaki furai (deep fried oyster), and the BBQ squid. The free appetizer was, I believe, a slice of pumpkin, and our we ordered a bowl of fried rice and normal Japanese rice to go with everything else.

nice ambiance with comfortable chairs as well

The food took a while to come, but I guess that was only because they took the time to prepare with attention to details. The sashimi dish was arranged with some very good cut of fresh salmon, surf clam, tuna, butter fish, and some other stuff I can’t name.

The BBQ squid and tempura were similarly satisfying, crunchy and juicy respectively, and prepared with fresh seafood. However, the most delicious item has to be the kaki furai, this was only the first time I had tasted oyster prepared this way. The oysters served here were really hugey, the crunchy texture of the breading contrasting with the juicy and not overly cooked oyster was just perfect gastronomically satisfying stuff.

sashimi, tempura, squid, and oyster

The bill came to be RM 140 for everything. The sashimi was RM50, tempura & the oyster dishes were RM25, and the squid RM12. Pretty reasonable price for the quality of food as well as the rather nice dining environment.

Address:
C-OG-02 Plaza Mont Kiara
2, Jalan 1/70C, Mont Kiara
50480 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.165637, 101.651956
Tel: 03-6201 6626

Tags:  ika,  Japanese-Food,  mont-kiara,  oyster,  restaurant,  sashimi,  zakuro

Posted by KY | 9 Comments »

Every once in a blue moon, I get to be invited to sample a restaurant, this is one such occasions. Brian (Thanks!) from All dat Jazz contacted me via email and told me about Groove Junction, I immediately agreed to the free food. I had initially thought that there would just be myself and a couple of other friends I bring a long, but it turned out to be a bigger occasion with Riz, masak-masak, and Lemongrass there as well. This is also the first time I met the friendly bunch.

nice place, good food, bloggers at work

Groove Junction is actually a rather new place that has been in operation for only a couple of months. The Bistro and Cafe sat right on top of Karma in Sri Hartamas, just a stone’s throw away from the ProJet petrol station. The ambiance of the place is very nice, slightly darker compared to normal restaurants, but fits perfectly with the stage up front where live bands play Jazz nightly. A very relaxing and rather classy setting, perfect for bringing your special ones there.

Ellena’s Lamb Steak, Sonny Rollins (chicken), Billie Holiday (fish), Dexter Cordon (chicken corddn blue)

But when it comes down to it, the most important thing for a restaurant is still the food, so how does Groove Junction fair?

Since this was a food tasting session, we actually got to try quite a number of dishes from their extensive menu. Starting off with Yam Nam glass noodle and a piece of mushroom bruschetta as appetizer. These two items actually made me even hungrier than I had started out, they were actually very good, the glass noodle was spicy and has a tangy taste, while the creamy mushroom bruschetta offers contrasting texture and taste that fits perfectly.

lamb curry with toasted bread, and some desserts

For the main dishes, we sampled a total of six dishes. A (Ellena’s) lamb steak that is one of their best sellers, the really excellent chicken with orange seasoning wrapping some asparagus that they call Sonny Rollins, Dexter Cordon (Chicken Cordon Blue), pan fried sole fish named Billie Holiday, and Beef Panne - the grilled beef prepared with herb sauce. Of these 5 dishes, I like Sonny Rollins and the beef the most, but the other three were very good too, it’s just a tragedy not having a big enough stomach to eat more than a few bites from each dish.

Being a Bistro, Groove Junction offers some finger food as well. We had the Chickalina’s, marinated chicken in black sauce, and the lamb curry with toasted bread. These stuff will go down very well with some beer.

And as if there was any space in my stomach, we had desserts. The Roll Morton (hot banana “pohpiah” with ice cream) was actually very addictive with its contrasting temperature and texture, Riz ended up having like 3 or 4 of those. The cheese cake and tiramisu were reported to be very good by the ladies, but I just couldn’t fit another bite by then.

The price of food at Groove Junction is pretty much in line with any restaurant of its class. Finger foods at around RM 15 and main dishes from RM 20+ to RM 30+. Considering the great atmosphere and the accompanying fabulous live Jazz, this place offers pretty good value for some really good food. I’ll return as a paying customer for sure.

address:
Groove Junction
1-1, Jalan 22A/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.162777, 101.652557
tel: 03-6201 8990

Tags:  bistro,  groove-junction,  hartamas,  Jazz

Posted by KY | 11 Comments »

Of all the different types of meat available for consumption, my favorite has got to be pork. The versatility is second to none, from dried pork and bak kut teh, to siu yok or even using the fats to accentuate and compliment the taste of steamed fish, I can’t think of any other meat that tasted so good in so many ways.

After trying Jarrod & Rawlin’s pork sausage as dessert the same day I went to Bonjuk , I just had to go there for more. In my book, they serve the best western style pork sausages thus far.

burger, pork sausages, and choices of cheese

The second trip to Jarrod & Rawlins was for supper as well, just a couple hours or so after having dinner in KL. I ordered 2 sausages while Kelvin, who has a bottomless stomach, ordered a gourmet beef burger with bacon, blue cheese and mushroom. Obviously, with these kinda “yum char” session, teh-o-ais doesn’t suffice, I actually ordered a beer (beat it, suanie & FA!).

if you’re not drooling over these stuff, find a doctor

Though this place has less than a dozen tables, they really take their time to prepare the food. Everything is cooked meticulously without any rush. This is not to say that the wait was boring, but it’s probably not an ideal place to go if you’re starving to death.

When the sausages came, they were simple and no frill. Just 2 sausages on an empty plate, I ordered a pepper and a dynamite chili variety. They were seriously good stuff, the fillings were from good quality pork, with some chili padi in the dynamite chili version and some white pepper in the other. The taste was just glorious, with the chili version particularly addictive, especially if you are a person who loves hot food.

comfortable ambiance, and wide selection of wine and other drinks

As for the burger, it was ridiculously thick, with the beef patty at least 5 times thicker than Ramli’s version, a portobello mushroom as big as the bread under the beef, and a generous slice of blue cheese on top, with bacon and pickle in it as well, you can’t really ask for more. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to just pick the burger up and start biting unless you have a mouth as big as Steven Tyler’s. The beef was very juicy, and the mushroom, bacon, and cheese combined to be a really great gastronomical satisfaction.

Jarrod & Rawlins is located at the heart of Desa Sri Hartamas

The sausages came to only around RM 7, and the burger was RM 18, drinks are priced competitively with other restaurants of this sort. For the quality of food (all the sausages and meat patties are made there) and the taste, I’d say this place provides good value. Will definitely go there many more times.

address:
No. 36 (ground floor)
Jalan 27/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.162777, 101.649638
tel: 03-2300 0708

Tags:  gourmet-burger,  hartmas,  Jarrod,  KL,  pork,  Rawlins,  suasauge

Posted by KY | 15 Comments »

In an attempt to eat healthy for once, we decided to head to this Korean Porridge place, Bonjuk at Desa Sri Hartamas. I had thought that the parking situation would be pretty shitty on a weekend, it was. After a round of unfruitful hunt, I decided to just pay for it at the commercial car park just a block away for RM 3.00 that was totally worth it.

some seriously healthy food

Like most franchise, Bonjuk does not offer a very wide variety of dishes in their menu. There are, however, over a dozen types of porridge, and an equal amount of Bibimbobs (mixed meal), as well as some Korean pancakes to choose from. The pancakes aside, all the dishes were not fried nor BBQ, so far so healthy.

After scanning the offerings, I decided to go for the mid size seafood combination porridge. Since the porridge is cook to order, it did take a while before I get to start satisfying the stomach, luckily, the wait was worth it.

now you see it, now you don’t

The porridge was cooked with squid, shrimp, mussels, dried oyster, and octopus. It was actually very good, the taste of the seafood mixture blends into the porridge very well, if only some dried scallop were used as well, it would have been perfect. Then again, that ingredient would drive the price up by quite a bit.

Free flow kimchi and a plate of marinated beef came with the dish, a salty and slightly spicy chili paste accompanied the porridge too. The kimchi and beef were pretty good, I had like 4 plates of kimchi as it was just at the right level of rottenness for me. However, I gave a pass to the cold soup, that thing tasted like a mixture of vitagen and vegetable soup served cold, not exactly to my taste.

Bonjuk is just opposite Breakers and Soda

The porridge was an economical RM 14.95, and if I remember correctly, no government nor service charge added. I’ll definitely go there again, and I think you should give it a try too. The young and friendly Korean guy who run the place scored an A+ for customer PR skills as well.

Address:
No. 18, Ground Floor, Jalan 25/70A
Desa Sri Hartamas 50480 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.162584, 101.650164
Tel: 03-2300 2302

Tags:  banchan,  beef,  hartamas,  kimchi,  KL,  Korean,  porridge,  seafood

Posted by KY | 12 Comments »