The streets of Bangkok is dotted with many hawkers selling all sorts of food for those with an appetite for adventure. While noodles and rice dishes are mainly found in food courts and small restaurants, many hawkers offer bite size snacks at road side. From the more mainstream sausages to cold drinks to fried insects, you can find virtually anything.

Bacon Stick for 20 baht each

I noticed that many snacks choices consist of pork. There are pork sausage, bacon sticks, grilled fried pork, deep fried pork skin, roasted pork, ah, it was good for the pork lovers, maybe not exactly so great for health, however.

My favorite would be the bacon stick we had at the Chatuchak weekend market. For 20 baht (around RM2), you get mini sausages wrapped with bacon on a skewer. The union of sausage and bacon was a match made in heaven as the juice and slight saltiness from bacon compliments the texture and taste of the sausage oh so well. You have to try this if you manage to find the stall!

grilled pork strips on a ring

Grilled pork strips on bamboo string is a pretty common snack that can be found at many places. The meat is marinated and carries a pretty salty taste, while pretty good, eating too much of these will make you very thirsty.

deep fried pork skin

Another sinful snack would be this little bowls of deep fried pork skin that goes for 10 baht that we found at Chatuchak. These are very crispy and goes well with a little bit of Thai chili sauce. Now imagine having this with a cold beer watching your favorite football teams on a big LCD TV, with the air-cond full blast, and maybe a hot chick dancing on the side…

roasted pork (siu yok)

Roasted pork isn’t usually served on rice over here, you just have it as snacks to munch while walking around the weekend market. I guess we deserved it since we were getting enough exercise from walking under the searing hot April weather in Bangkok anyway, right?

colorful Popsicles

Then there’s the Popsicle stalls. The popsicles are actually made on location, usually with bottled fruit juice poured into a metal mold. A wooden stick is added as the handle. The mold is placed in a contraption consisting two parts, a top with little holes to hold the molds, and the bottom container filled with dried ice.

The seller often stirs the top part of the popsicle maker attempting to freeze the products faster. A stick costs something like 5 baht, and they were perfect for the weather.

fried mini banana (including the skin)

Other than the meat items, I also tried this curious little deep fried banana Terence bought. It was basically some species of mini banana sliced down in the middle, deep fried. While they look rather uninspiring, these things were actually very sweet and rather tasty. It is similar with our own “pisang goreng”, but sweeter and more concentrated.

Of course I enjoy every bit!

You can do a fair share of walking and eating in this city. Next up would be the various type of meals I had to sit down to eat. Stay tuned!

Tags:  bacon,  banana,  bangkok,  bite,  dining,  food,  fried,  ice cream,  pork,  streets

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

I have wanted to try Carl’s Jr. ever since it was reopened in Malaysia last year, but for one reason or another, I didn’t manage to try it until just a couple of days ago when my colleagues suggested that we should have lunch at the joint at Sunway Pyramid. When I saw the tag line on one of it’s posters saying “Screw the Diet“, I started to like the place already.

Think of Carl’s Jr. sitting in between Chilis/TGI and Burger King/McD. While it is set up as a fast food joint, the quality is far above BK & McD, and priced accordingly too.

unlimited refill of drinks (including ice lemon tea, coffee) and pickles/onion

Being my first time there, I didn’t really know what to order. I had wanted to get the Portebello Mushroom Burger but they ran out of stock, so I naively followed my colleague and ordered myself a medium size SuperStar double combination, or something like that.

I got my cup and filled it up with some coke while waiting for the burger to be served. The one thing I like about Carl’s Jr. is the fact that other than soft drinks, they have unlimited free refill for coffee, ice lemon tea, pickles, onions, and even slices of lemon.

it was a big meal

When the burger came, the size of it makes the Whopper look like a White Castle sandwich. The taste was actually rather good as well, the two charbroiled beef patties were juicy and tasty. While I prefer the real bacon, this halal version did not disappoint either. I actually had to waste more than half of the fries as my stomach was totally stuffed up after finishing the awesome burger.

While the price is a little high at RM 10+ to RM 20+, I think the size and taste factor do make up for it. I’m going to get the Portebello Mushroom Burger next time!

You can find Carl’s Jr. in Sunway Pyramid (new wing), Mid Valley, 1-Utama (old wing), and Pavilion KL. I’ve heard that they’re going to open 40 outlets between Singapore and Malaysia, can’t wait!

Tags:  6 dollar burger,  bacon,  beef,  burger,  carl's jr,  carl's junior,  chabroiled,  sunway pyramid

Posted by KY | 35 Comments »

I was first introduced to this latest “invention” of traditional Chinese sinful treat that is the bak kua (肉干), or dried meat in Hokkien, by Kelvin. He handed me some bacon bak kua （钟无艳肉干）from Kiew Brothers to save his own arteries from clogging up, and it was so good that I finished it within a few minutes. Naturally I had to buy some for myself so that I could snap some pictures to share with you (not that I mind eating more anyway).

best of both worlds, bacon bak kua!

I don’t think there is a lot to describe about this. You know bacon is good, and you know that bak kua is great. What happen with you combine the two? A snack that doesn’t need any preparation, melts in your mouth, and tasted just super awesome! Beats any other type of bak kua I’ve ever had.

However, this thing doesn’t feel very healthy if consumed too much. I have been trying to pace myself to not have too many pieces at one go.

I love this stuff

As far as I know, this version of bak kua is only available from Kiew Brothers at the moment (update: bee cheng hiang has it too). I got mine from Pavilion, but they are not available on every location due to lower demand and shorter shelf life of this new product. The bacon bak kua is slightly more expensive than the other variety at around RM 70+ per KG.

Address: (HQ)
30 Jalan Hang Lekir,
50000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2078 2536

Tags:  bacon,  bak kua,  dried meat

Posted by KY | 25 Comments »

The “new” Chow Yhang, as it is written in Chinese character 新朝阳, is actually own by the the same boss that once operate the restaurant of the same name located at where KAYU and Mee Yoke are now. Years after selling off the two corner lots, Chow Yhang now run the new shop just a stone’s throw away from the old location.

always packed but there’s air contioner

We got there at about 8:30 on Saturday night and there was a healthy crowd at the restaurant, luckily we got a table just as the previous diners were leaving. Though stripped of it’s former glory of spanning across 2 corner shop lots, the new Chow Yhang is still nicely set up restaurant, it’s no frill decoration is clean; and rather comfortable with air conditioners keeping the temperature at check.

oyster omelet, tofu, vegetable, and soup

For 5 of us, we ordered an oyster omelet (蚝煎), a basic fried vegetable (蒜米豆苗), tofu with minced meat (王金豆腐), seaweed soup (紫菜汤肉碎), and the unique dish - fried bacon (炸华腩).

To my delight, the first dish came in less than 10 minutes after ordering. However, the subsequent dishes did not exactly come fast enough, so we ended up almost finishing the first before the last one arrived. Not so great at planning, I suppose, but I’m not about to complain too much.

the fried bacon with Thai sauce, yummmm

The food though, was top notch.

Instead of normal white rice, fragrant rice is used, nice. The oyster omelet fried just nice and goes well with the chili paste provided. The tofu, soup, and vegetables hold their own in terms of taste as well as presentation, not too salty nor blunt. The fried bacon though, was excellent, if you happen to be the sort of person who loves bacon. The crispy pork bits with plenty of raw shallots, lettuce, and Thai sauce blends very well to create a pretty unique taste and texture. It is rich and not for the faint hearted.

Just a couple of turns away from the expensive LDP

The bill came to RM 73, a pretty good deal considering it was less than RM 15.00 for each of us. The most expensive dish was only RM 15 (fried bacon). Would definitely go there again.

Address:
135 Jalan SS 2/6
47300, Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 03-7876 8767

Tags:  bacon,  chow-yhang,  dining,  Eats,  food,  hungry,  ky,  SS2 SS3 SS4,  tofu

Posted by KY | 10 Comments »