Are your eggs.. safe?

Egg, telur,  蛋， easily one of the most important foods in our everyday diet. We gotta respect the first prehistoric human who looked at the egg and said “I’m gonna eat that liquid chicken!”

From that fateful day many thousands of years ago until very recently, the production, preparation, and consumption of eggs hasn’t really changed that much. Until now..

so when is an egg not an ordinary egg?

But before we get to that, here’re some trivia on eggs that you might find interesting:

• Malaysians eat an aeverage of 305 eggs per person per year
• The longest throw of a fresh egg without breaking it is 98.51 meters
• The older the hen, the larger the egg
• A fresh egg will sink in water while an older egg will stand up.
• The average hen will lay an average of 300-325 eggs a year, taking 24-26 hours to lay a single egg
• A raw egg will wobble and a cooked egg will spin freely if you spin it
• It is estimated that there are 4.93 billion egg-laying hens in the world. China is the world’s largest egg producer with approximately 20.25 million tonnes
• The only pasteurized eggs sold in Malaysia are “Safegg” from Safe Food Corporation, available now at all leading hypermarkets

Healthy Living talk show, and the launch of Safegg

Last week I was invited to attend the “Healthy Living” talk show with the launch and cooking demonstration of Safeegg, which brings us to the latest method of egg production and preparation – pasteurized shell eggs.

The talk show and speeches were given by YB Datuk Hajjah Rohani Haji Abdul Karim, the deputy minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Yong-Sik Cho, CEO of Safe Food Corporation (SFC), Professor Gulam Rusul Rahmat Ali, University Sains Malaysia, and Maverick Lee, MD of SFC, and Mr. Kong Vee Hong, GM of SFC (I went to uni with him back in the States!)

the nasty Salmonella bacteria

The picture above shows the nasty Salmonella bacteria under electron microscope, this is the very bacteria that infect 142,000 Americans and causes some 30 death yearly. Basically one of the major causes of food poisoning that leads to diarrhea, dehydration, and in more severe cases, death.

This nasty stuff can be found in contaminated egg whites, you don’t really want to mess with it.

Safegg live cooking demonstration

To be honest, before attending this event, I didn’t even know that pasteurization of shelled eggs even existed. The technology is actually from Korea to treat bacteria at low temperature, without the need of chemicals. During the process, the eggs are also coated with a protective layer of food grade mineral oil to prevent cross-contamination and keep the eggs fresh longer.

Through this method, harmful salmonella bacteria are killed but the nutritional value and tastes of the eggs remain.

The tell tale sign of a pasteurized egg is that the egg white appears to be slightly opaque instead of completely transparent.

the eggnog was absolutely fantastic

After the show, we proceeded to the Safegg cooking demonstration where I helped myself to a few omelete, “mata kerbau”, desserts, and that addictive eggnog. They were delish!

Safegg is now available at all major hypermarkets in the country.

red meat at Prime, Le Meridien

Last week Haze and I went to meet Ciki for some catching up and plenty of red meat. The location was Prime, one of the five star restaurants that isn’t exactly known to be budget friendly.

We went there anyway only because Ciki promised a 50% discount she was getting from the friendly Director of Communications, Cheryl, whom I also met over the fabulous review session at Favola, the Italian restaurant at Le Meridien.

the irresistible  wagyu prime rib

Torn between a lavish self indulgence and not bursting budget, we ordered a bottle of wine and the wagyu prime ribs (per kg RM 478) to share among the three of us.

Prime ribs and filet mignon are my two favorite cuts when it comes to red meat. While I had filet mignon a few times since coming back from the States, this was the first time I had my beloved prime ribs since 6-7 years ago.

served with wedges, and just look at the pink center of the beef

The prime rib is the cut of meat between the 6th and 12th ribs of a cow, and in this case, Wagyu beef. This cut usually has quite a lot of fat marbled muscle that makes it very tender and juicy.

Needless to say, the Wagyu prime rib was excellent. We had it prepared medium rare, Idaho steak fried potato , wild forest mushroom friscassee and light black summer truffle jus are accompanied the dish, we didn’t really need them to enjoy the beef though. It was already so good as is.

The portion was huge too, the three of us actually had trouble finishing it.

red wine, spinach and mozzarella salad, lobster bisque

As we were about to finish, Cheryl joined us “for a drink”. The one drink turned out to be two extra bottles of red wine, and she ordered the spinach and mozzarella salad (RM50) and lobster bisque (RM 45) for us to try too.

The salad came with Master Kobe that were grilled perfectly, figs, aged balsamic vinegar dressing and of course, very delightful mozzarella cheese. The lobster bisque did not disappoint either, I especially like the combination of golden pastry and the bisque, sophisticated.

tiramisu, crème brûlée, chocolate pecan mud pie

After all the meat, salad, and soup, we activated the second stomach for desserts. The Illy Coffee tiramisu (RM 30) was perfect for someone who loves their dessert with plenty of alcohol (Sambucca liquor), texture wise it was a lot softer than normal tiramisu. Of course, the alcohol is added only to request, I recommend it.

Crème brûlée (RM 25) was made with Tahitian vanilla beans and served with fresh berries, we finished it.

My favorite dessert of the day, however, was the pecan mud pie with chocolate sauce (RM 30). It was very rich, flavorful, and absolutely sinful.

KY, Haze, Ciki

The girls spent the next couple hours talking about anything and everything while I made my limited verbal contribution from time to time. It was an awesome dinner and great hang out session that only made better by ….. the fact that Cheryl signed off the bill!

So thank you Cheryl, and when I’m loaded, I’m gonna go to Prime more often.

Address:
Prime
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470
GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7888

Xhin Fhong Bak Kut Teh at Sungei Way, PJ

The restaurant business is sometimes like real estate, the whole “location, location, location” mantra can be as important as food and services itself.

This couldn’t be more evident when it comes to Xhin Fhong bak kut teh at Sungei Way. Though located just a stone’s throw away from Ah Sang bak kut teh, this home converted BKT restaurant is little known. I didn’t know of its existence till I read it on Sue Lynn’s blog.

Xhin Fhong bak kut teh at Sungei Way

The restaurant consists of some 10 tables arranged at the drive way of an old house, with the “kitchen” neatly tucked at a corner. While they serve all the typical bak kut teh ingredients, unlike a typical kopitiam, you can’t really expect a full fledge drinks menu.

One thing that I really like about Xhin Fhong is their service. The aunty is ever so friendly, additional soup is served without even asking. Same can’t be said about most other bkt places.

Yao Char Kuai, Enoki mushroom, clay pot Bak Kut Teh

We ordered a clay pot bak kut teh with everything in it, a bowl of yau char kuai, and a serving of enoki mushroom as side dish to go with oil rice (white rice available too)

The soup was fragrant and rather “kao”, and the meat and innards cooked to perfection. Our bowl of goodness includes ribs, pork belly, meat, pork tripes, intestine, tofu pok, vegetable, and a little bit of mushroom.

The yao char kuai was crispy and makes a good appetizer while waiting for BKT to be served. Enoki mushroom, well, tasted like enoki mushroom, but the serving size here was really impressive.

Kim, Haze, KY, FA, and Horng

We definitely had a good brunch, and the total bill came to around RM 10 per person, which was pretty reasonable considering we also ordered canned drinks (BKT best goes with tea, I know, I know, but the weather was way too hot)

To get to Xhin Fhong, I recommend parking near the Indian Temple, walk up the inner road to the right side and take the first left turn, you should then be able to see Xhin Fhong just a few houses down from the intersection.

Give this place a try especially if you’ve been to Ah Sang, Xhin Fhong is definitely worth a visit.

Address:
Xhin Fhong Bak Kut Teh
557 Jalan SS9A/2
Sungai Way 47300
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.088408,101.615671
Tel: 03-78744154

Project Alpha at Tambun!

So some of you might have heard of Project Alpha by now, but for the rest of you who didn’t realize this blog owner has somehow managed to get on Full HD videos shot by professional camera crews. Though stranger things have happened, this is still pretty amazing, at least when it comes to yours truly.

Here’s the very short version of the story and what has happened last January.

Jojo, Cheesie, the crews, Kim & Gareth, and Cheesie pretending to be a diva

So our shooting location was chosen to be the Lost World of Tambun at Ipoh. To be honest, I had initially anticipated it to be boring. What’s with this lost world thing? Is it another tiny amusement park that couldn’t make it?

We made our way to Tambun, and to get the day started, we stopped by the very yummylicious dimsum place that is Ming Court at Ipoh. (my all time fav dimsum place)

and they put make up on me, wtflux :S

But as it turned out, Lost World of Tambun was this huge amusement park that has a huge water park, lots of attractions, hot spring, a petting zoo, free running horses, and even live Siberian tigers!

It was an amazing location to do the shoot and I think the #porkgang should seriously plan a day trip there one of these days.

the snake took some getting used to for cheesie & jojo

We did quite a lot of our shootings at the petting zoo, and even managed to sorta cured the snake phobia of Jojo & Cheesie at the same time though the latter screamed like Shrek on speed on burning charcoal when I first put the lovely albino python on her shoulder. (check out the video below)

Gareth and I were able to take some lovely shots when the girls finally settled down with the poor animal.

raccoon’s cute, slithering snake by my shoes, awesome Siberian tiger

I somehow volunteered myself to go into the Serpentarium and almost got myself bitten by a reticulated python, but it was all fun and my Chinese zodiac namesake didn’t do me any harm. We also visited the raccoons, the monkey that bit Cheesie’s blackberry, and the really amazing Siberian tigers. They were so awesomely magnificent.

Guess I shall save writing more cos it’ll take forever, watch these videos instead!

Read the rest of this entry »

Silver Spoon Trattoria at Kepong

I can’t really claim that Kepong is one of my favorite places when it comes to food, getting there during rush hour can be quite a PITA, on top of that, I don’t exactly know many good eats around the area other than Kaka bak kut teh (they have pork kidney!), the original KTZ, and several other restaurants I don’t usually frequent unless I happen to be there.

To be honest, if it wasn’t for the fact that the invitation to Sliver Spoon Trattoria was from the owner Jessica, a long time friend, I would have probably skipped this food review session already. As it turned out, I was more than glad we made the session.

Silver Spoon Trattoria

Located at a pretty unassuming part of Kepong, Silver Spoon is sitting on the first floor of Wisma Manjarala. The decoration an ambiance of the restaurant rivals many 5 star hotel eateries, and yet a look at the menu pricing shows that the place actually live up to it’s name “Trattoria” – casual, affordable, and a hell lot less up tight than those so called haute cuisine establishments.

We were seated at the private room with a bunch of other usual suspects – fatboybakes, nomadgourmand, Gareth, Kim, Terence, Horng, and Haze. Our host was Jessica, someone I’ve actually known for some 8-10 years. According to Terence, she’s grown up rather well.

feta & olive foccacia, mozarella sticks & smoked salmon rice ball,
stuffed portobello mushroom

We got started with some feta and olive foccacia, the dough served here is home made and they really tasted subtle but good. I also love the mozarella sticks with it’s really hearty cheese in almost liquid form, the salmon rice ball was alright too, but I couldn’t really taste much salmon in there.

If I had to choose one appetizer, I’d probably go for the stuffed portobello mushroom. Sitting between a bed of salad and minced meat, the mushroom was really really yummy, I had two pieces despite eating on a budget due to the number of dishes to come.

wine, silver spoon special mock tail

For those who are familiar with Kepong, you might remember that there was a place called Chef Ken in the 90s. It was a place famous for really cheap but awesome Italian food. Well, Silver Spoon got Chef Ken himself back to run this place.

According to the “old timers” like Fatboybakes who used to frequent Chef Ken, this place retains every bit the originality of his foods, down to the famous tiramisu (about that later)

wild mushroom risotto, prawn & avocado stack, smoked salmon pizza

The other appetizer we had was the prawn and avocado stack. Grilled fresh local prawn served on a bed of avocado with other salad and probably some balsamic vinegar. Though the prawn itself lacked strong flavor, overall combination turned out quite well.

Wild mushroom risotto was prepared to cater a bit towards the local taste (meaning slightly more cooked than the “real” Italian style), I love it! The smoked salmon pizza too was pretty good, but I’d love to have a lot more salmon to go with the crispy crust (from freshly made to order dough). Then again, it’s hard to argue when the pizza is priced at less than RM 30.

duck confit, grilled baby snapper, seafood marinara

The 3rd main dish we tried was the delightful duck confit. Instead of just the drum stick, this one came with the whole 1/4 duck. I loved the taste, and made some sneaky moves to acquire quite a bit of duck skin. *slurps*

Grilled baby snapper was one of those dishes that doesn’t really seem to fit in. I’ve never seen whole fish served in such setting, with potato and beans on one side, and a slice of lemon on another. It did, however, turned out to be quite tasty, just not particularly very “italian” to me.

Lastly, there’s seafood marinara. The pasta came with generous amount of mussels, clams, prawns, squid and fish chunks on a tomato based sauce. I only had a couple bites and found that the taste was quite agreeable indeed.

chocolate pot, creme brulee, tiramisu

Then there’s the desserts. We had chocolate pot, creme bruelee, and tiramisu. I find the chocolate pot a tad too rich (but goes well with wine though), the creme brulee satisfying, and the tiramisu a must order if you like your dessert to be rather alcoholic, it was niceeee!

Of course, we finished everything.

Rebecca & bf, Kim & Gareth, Terence & Horng,
KY & Haze, Jessica, Joe & partner & Cheng Yi

We had loads of fun time at Silver Spoon, the food was great, drinks aplenty (Jessica’s dad even brought out the Royal Salute), and above all, the company was excellent.

I’m definitely going there again. The pricing was definitely very reasonable, lamb shank for RM 38, marinara for RM 29, desserts at around RM 15 or so, soup at RM 12. Great food, reasonable pricing, and awesome ambiance. What more could one ask for? Open a branch next to my house la Jessica!

Address:
Silver Spoon Trattoria,
1st Floor, Wisma Manjalara,
Bandar Menjalara,
52200, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.195364, 101.632456
Tel: 03-6277 0445