Lobster is one of those sea creatures that usually means slightly different things to different people. The image of lobsters that we’re familiar with are usually the spiny lobster, which is quite a bit more prevalent in Chinese cuisine and local seafood restaurants.
The Lobsterman, however, serves only Homarus Americanus, or the American lobster, which is easily identified with their iconic big claws. Lobsterman is in fact the only lobster specialty restaurant in the country.
The Lobsterman. Homarus Americanus
My only previous visit to this restaurant was some 7-8 years ago, prior to the birth of this blog. I’ve been longing to head there again for a while now, so for Haze’s birthday, we went there for dinner.
The menu at Lobsterman is quite extensive (you can find a full listing on their website). Other than lobsters, they serve beef, chicken, salmon, cod, and a couple lamb dishes too.
Lobsters are priced according to weight:
this sweet lobster was our dinner, your life will be well delicious
However, the best deal would be their lobster special menu priced at RM 128. For that you get baked escargot/half dozen New Zealand mussels, soup of the day, live Atlantic lobster (550 gram) prepared in style of your choice, seafood rice/pasta, dessert of the day, and tea/coffee.
If I remember correctly, I ordered the same deal during the first visit and it was something like RM 98 then. Marginal increase in price over the years, plenty reasonable.
baked escargot and cream of mushroom
We ordered the special set with and upgraded lobster (700 gram for extra RM 20 just cos the ran out of 550 gram lobster) and an Uruguayan tenderloin (RM 56) to share.
First to come was the baked escargot and it was much better than expected. The escargot is shelled and served in a special plate. Plenty of cream, cheese, and the snail goodness. We loved it.
The cream of mushroom soup tho, was very ordinary, and I wouldn’t recommend ordering if it wasn’t part of a set.
700 gram lobster, char broiled the traditional American style
We had our lobster prepared the good old American way – char-broiled.
Alternatively you can have it prepared HK style (garlic), Japanese (sashimi or soup), American (stuffed, simmered), France (Terragon butter baked), Italy (lobster thermidor), local (stir fry salt & pepper or XO sauce), Chinese (braised yee mee, steamed, lotus leaf), Indian (curry), Thai (tomyam) and more.
I’d recommend sticking to methods that involves less spices in order to enjoy the natural taste of the seafood. I had tried lobster sashimi before and it was really good.
the birthday girl was obviously enjoying the lobster much
The char broiled style too was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the lobster. It was fresh (obviously), firm, and flavorful. There was a side of butter to go with the lobster but I find it unnecessary, it was really good on its own too.
we also ordered the filet mignon, pleasantly surprised with how well it was
The Uruguayan tenderloin was a slab of prime barrel cut filet mignon at 220 gram. Haze loved it rare and that was how we had it. We ordered it with the sauce on the side and ended up not touching the sauce at all. The meat was tender and really turned out to be much better than anticipated.
It was probably one of the best non-wagyu/kobe beef that I’ve ever had. Would probably go there again when I am in for some good beef. 
Horng, Suan, Yuki, and Kerol came in to surprise the birthday girl
After the dinner, Suan, Horng, Kerol and Yuki came in for a little surprised cake for the birthday girl. I had to delay our departure from the restaurant to make this happen as the guys were stuck in traffic, but alas it was a real surprise.
A good dinner, and pretty reasonably priced (I wouldn’t say affordable). Everything ended up around RM 250 (with drinks & taxes), but it was well worth it.
Address:
Lobsterman Homarus Americanus
53 Jalan SS 2/30
Ss 2, 47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Website: lobsterman.com.my
GPS: 3.114334, 101.621717
Tel: 03-7877 6772
My little project in looking for a good bowl of Kampar Fishball Mee continues after the encounter at Kedai Kopi Khoong in Sea Park.
The Kampar Noodle stall at Sun Hin Loong was recommended by @AquariaKLCC via twitter (in fact, the whole topic of kampar noodle came from there).
Kampar Noodle at Sun Hin Loong kopitiam, SS2
So I headed over there twice to get a taste of what the fuss is about. First was the soup version of Kampar Fish Ball Mee, and the second visit, their dry variety.
Kampar fishball noodle – dry version
Both versions cost the same (RM 5.50 if I remember correctly), and you get five different types of fish ball / fish cake ingredients that comes with the soup. The dry version serves the noodle (or meehun, or kuih teow) separately with dark source, but otherwise they are the same.
… and they are good! The ingredients were all tasty, and I do like the chili paste that was served with as well. I constantly wish that there were more of every type of those fish ball thingy though. It was never enough!
the five different types of fish ball / fish paste items
The only “problem” that I have is that Sun Hin Loong can be a bit too hot in the afternoon, and sometimes a bit too crowded too. Then there’s the SS2 parking situation…
Any other Kampar Fish Ball Noodle you’d recommend?
Address:
Sun Hin Loong
65, Jalan SS 2/64 ,
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.119926,101.62125
Remember a couple years ago, when suddenly out of nowhere there was this huge donut craze?
Big Apples and J.Co donuts (and later Krispy Kreme) were popping up everywhere, accompanying each new branch was always a long queue of customers eager to get a taste of fluffy pastry with a hole in the middle, it was quite a phenomena, well, at least until we got tired of it and the whole thing sort of tapered down.
The same thing is happening all over again, but this time around it is them Bubble Tea.
Chatime, only took a photo, wasn’t too impressed
Bubble tea is of course, nothing new in this country. The difference in these new establishments are not revolutionary, but they seemed to inject a breath of freshness in this old product.
Places like Chatime, Gongcha, and Ochado has one thing in common – they use updated ordering system and allows you to customize each drinks with different sugar and ice level as well as extra ingredients should you choose to add (pearl, grass jelly, etc). The tea are also brewed each day (or every few hours), no powdered form is used.
A fancy plastic seal is used to seal the drinks, only to be popped open by the oversize straw 2 seconds later.
Price wise, they are somewhere in between your average cup of Old Town drinks and Starbucks coffee, which means from around RM 5.90 to RM 7.90 or so, depending on the type of tea, additional pearl/jelly/milk froth, etc.
As of writing, Chatime has the most branches in Malaysia with a total of 15, you can find them as far as Melaka and Penang (check the listing here). I tried their milk tea with pearl and frankly, wasn’t too impressed. The tea tasted alright, it wasn’t too sweet, but at the same time didn’t give me any ummph I was hoping for. I wouldn’t line up for 20 mins to get a cup of Chatime bubble tea, but if I’m thirsty and there isn’t a line, I’ll probably still grab one.
Address:
Chatime
G-K9, SSTwo Mall,
No. 40 Jalan SS2/72,
47400 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.12093, 101.62727
Website: Chatime at facebook
Gong Cha at SS 15, one of Haze’s favs
Then there’s Gong Cha at SS 15 and Mid Valley, just like Chatime, it is another Taiwanese chain that was started in the mid of last decade and recently arrived in Malaysia. Gong Cha is not nearly as prolific as Chatime, but I find their drinks quite a bit better in quality, especially those with perforated milk.
Their grass jelly and one particular winter melon tea were quite lovely. Lucky SS 15 is some distance from where I stay and they only open till 10 pm, otherwise I’d spend too much calorie quota at this place I think.
The white pearl (extra RM 1.50) at Gong Cha has a nice texture to it, but I couldn’t distinguised their standard black pearl (RM 1) with those from pasar malam, so no more black pearl for me.
Address:
Gong Cha
No 3, Jalan SS15/7,
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.07629, 101.59040
Tel: 03-5638 3328
Website: http://www.gong-cha.com.my
Ochado at Pavilion Tokyo Street is good, Suanie & Cheesie agrees!
My favorite of the lot though, is Ochado at Pavilion’s newest 6th floor section – Tokyo Street (that also house the popular ramen place – Hokkaido Santouka.
Ochado isn’t Taiwanese bubble tea, but Japanese instead (though this brand actually started from Singapore last year). To me the tea actually tasted a bit better, and so does their grass jelly. I’ve also tried their coffee with a type of “coffee pearl” that was simply marvelous.
When Cheesie tested it, she went “OMG IT HAS IKURA!“. The coffee pearl pops in your mouth and release concentrated flavors in small doses, I love it.
However, being in Pavilion also means that Ochado is slightly more expensive than the other two brands, but not more than extra RM 1 or 2 for similar drinks.
Address:
Ochado
6.33.00 & 6.34.00, Level 6, Pavilion
Jln Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Website: Ochado at Pavilion KL
For those who likes bubble tea, this is a good development. However, just like the donut craze, the Old Town & other modern kopitiam craze before, and the HK cha chan teng craze before that, eventually the bubble tea craze will come down and settle on a plateau. I’ll give it 1-2 years.
I’ve heard and read about the famed Uncle Cheng’s Special Beef Noodle (at Seksyen 17 then) for quite some time, and always meant to give it a try. That mission somehow eluded me, then one day, I saw the bright and shiny UNCLE CHENG special beef noodle signage on the shop lot right next to the pet fish store I always frequent at Alisan.
Uncle Cheng moved to within walking distance from my house, marvelous!
Uncle Cheng’s special beef noodle, new location at Alisan
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area, this area called Alisan (Alison) is actually at the tail end of SS 2, intersecting SS 3 and SS 4, within a stone’s throw away from Taman Bahagia Station and quite a distance away from the more familiar SS 2 square (with wai sek kai, McDonald’s, and the likes).
beef, tripe, and beef ball – RM 7.50
Uncle Cheng serves Johor style beef noodle, and this is quite a bit different from the usual Central version that we are familiar with (like ngau kei at Tengkat Tongshin, song kee at lot 10 Hutong).
The soup version of beef noodle comes with clear broth that’s slightly salty, a choice of laifun, horfun, or meehun, beef, tripes, and beef balls, a bit of salted vegetable, and served with home made chili sauce that carries a kick.
This is the basic version at RM 7.50, with the amount of beef stuff, it was certainly well worth the money.
beef noodle, dry and soup, with laifun & meehun options
The dry version is served with the same ingredients but with the addition of sesame seeds and peanuts, a slightly sweet, starchy sauce completes the dish, with a small bowl of soup at the side. I’ve tried both and personally favors the soup version, the dry one is not bad but slightly too starchy for me, but it does certainly have an interesting texture with the sesame seeds and peanuts.
There’s also beef noodle with dry meat (RM 8.50), beef, tripe, beef balls, dry meat (RM 9), tenderloin meat (RM 9), beef + tripe + beef balls + dry meat + tendon (RM 12), I tried the latter before, and boy it was a feast.
check out the special beef tendon, the size of it!
For those who loves beef tendon as much as yours truly, Uncle Cheng sometimes carry a special type of beef tendon not easily available anywhere else. The chef personally introduced this big slab of tendon to me. Served in a bowl of saltier broth, it was sticky, super flavorful, and absolutely heaven for anyone who loves tendon. I was lucky.
A separate bowl of tendon goes for RM 6 or RM 12. You can also order shank, brisket, and even bone marrow in bowl or clay pot.
Uncle Cheng is open for breakfast and lunch everyday, and dinner too on weekends. The good chef/owner is still tinkering a bit with the menu I think, but whatever that is described here are always available.
I’m gonna walk there more often.
p/s: this place is pork free.
Address:
Uncle Cheng Special Beef Noodle
Jalan SS 2/4a
SS 2, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.111731,101.611218
Tel: 012-303 0626
Most of us associate Kilkenny as one of those premium beers you get from fancy pubs and restaurants, places like Bernard’s and Sid’s Pub, and indeed this is true, Kilkenny draught can be found in all those places.
But now, one the fastest growing beer in this country has just gotten even more accessible, we have Kilkenny in the bottle!
Kilkenny can now be found at food courts like Ming Tien!
I was just at Ming Tien the other day, taking a break out of all these home cooking activities and just decided to have a light meal and a bit of relaxation during the week. We ordered a couple bottles of Kilkenny to go with asam laksa and takoyaki.
Penang asam laksa, takoyaki, kilkenny
The beer came in a bucket of ice to keep chilled, and two small glasses. I actually like small glasses cos you don’t ever let the beer go warm (I don’t drink fast enough I guess).
The best part was, it only costs RM 18.80 for the two bottles. A pretty good deal for premium beer if you ask me.
So far as taste goes, it was still the same Kilkenny good taste that I’m familiar with, but with one small distinction: The draught version is nitrogenated to give it a smooth, creamy head. However, the bottled version enjoy the ability of staying chilled in ice bucket and only pour as you drink, I really can’t pick a favorite here. At the end of the day it is still essentially Kilkenny.
KY & Haze having a good beer over supper
The laksa though, wasn’t exactly premium and can’t hold a candle to it’s Penang counterparts, or even the Kedah laksa at Alison nearby, but they don’t sell Kilkenny there, hehe.
Takoyaki wasn’t the best either, but at least it was a decent snacks since my favorite fried dumpling stall at Ming Tien was not in operation that day.
You can also find Kilkenny at selected pubs and bars, food courts, restaurants, and cafes such as Kepong Food Court, Frontera Bar & Grill in Jaya One, Station 1 cafes and more.
Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658
