Last night the infamous #porkgang had our first ever annual dinner at restaurant LYJ. Even though we’ve been having lunches, dinners, and activities like go-karting and such for quite a number of months, it was actually the first time all of us showed up all at the same time.

A little bit of background.

It all started on Twitter, we were organizing dinners and had too many people’s twitter nickname to include on every replies, in a flash of epiphany, I came up with the #porkgang hastag since we love to eat pork, and the group name was formed.

The members are: Kim, Gareth, Suan, Kerol, Eric, Jac, Cheesie, Horng, Ruby, Terence, Haze, FA, and of course, yours truly.

at restaurant LYJ, they serve pork lard with rice, as Kim pointed out

Anyway, for the dinner, Jac and Kim came up with the idea of Poon Choi. Poon Choi (盆菜) is basically a whole lot of top dishes served in a basin (traditionally wooden) to be shared with a bunch of hungry souls.It was said that the origin of Poon Choi came from the people serving their best delicacies to the Song Dynastic’s young emperor and his soldiers who fled from Mongol troops.

Though we’re not fleeing from anything, we felt like we deserved to eat like an emperor at all time, so Poon Choi it is then.

When it comes to Poon Choi, the one place that consistently came up from search result (and recommendations) is Restaurant LYJ at Sungai Buloh. Naturally, we went there.

yee sang is a must, the first one for #porkgang

The restaurant is located at a pretty old school part of Sg. Buloh, parking isn’t the easiest, nor finding the place without the help of GPS assistance, but it is one place that is definitely worth a visit or three.

Since it was still Chinese New Year, (the thirteen day, with thirteen members, how apt) we started off with yee sang (RM 28) – for prosperity, health, and wealth!

glorious poon choi, what you see is only the top layer

Everyone arrived at the dinner table at around 7:30pm, and by 7:40pm the glorious Poon Choi is served!

The RM 238 package comes with 1/2 boiled kampung chicken, 1/2 crispy roast duck, 12 salt & pepper prawn, brewed ma-yao fish, sea cucumber, stewed pork, fish maw, abalone, pork knuckle, chicken legs, and mushroom; while the RM 480 package adds brewed oyster and pork ribs, a whole can of Australian abalone, 12 scallops, and shark’s fin. A plate of vegetable (in this case, kai lan) is served with the Poon Choi.

Naturally we went for the RM 480 package for the 13+2 of us.

kai lan, the glorious pork lard rice, and the second layer of poon choi

The dish is separated into two layers, with the dry ingredients (scallop, chicken, duck, prawn, ribs, abalone, oyster) on top and the soupy stuff at the bottom layer (mushroom, chicken feet, pork knuckle, fish, fish maw, stewed pork). The entire thing were rather delicious, the only criticism, if any, were that there were a bit too much arrowroots for my liking.

As we called ourself the #porkgang, we naturally ordered their pork lard rice (RM 3) to go with everything. It was probably the most impressive rice that I’ve ever had, just very very flavorful. Cheesie said she’s already missing the pork lard rice even as we were having it, I certainly could use a bowl now!

the whole porkgang, all 13 members showed up for the first time

With the yee sang, 10 bowls of pork lard rice, six beer, and that basin of goodness, total bill came to RM 620 for the 15 of us, or just short of RM 42 per pax. It was an awesome feast and I couldn’t wait to go back there again!

restaurant LYJ isn’t too difficult to get to

Address:
PT 11, Jalan Perkhidmatan,
Kg Baru, 47000 Sungai Buloh
Selangor
GPS: 3.196949, 101.569118
Tel: 03-6140 2698
Operating Hour: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm, 6 to 10 pm, closed on Mondays

Tags:  cheesie,  eric,  FA,  gareth,  haze,  horng,  jaclyn,  kerol,  kimberly,  lard,  poon choi,  pork,  porkgang,  ruby,  suanie,  sungai-buloh,  terence

Posted by KY | 37 Comments »

A couple weeks ago I received an email from one of my readers by the name of Von who asked if I could do a review on Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant.

Her exact wordings include:

“I found the green curry at that place just excellent, and hope that place won’t close shop as not many people know about it. It will be a waste to let such good food close shop.”

The email came across to me as pretty honest, so last week I suggested to some #porkgang jokers that we should give it a try, and we did just that.

Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant, so authentic it’s in the name :S

Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant is located on the same row as Kayu (which serves pretty good roti tissue) at the slightly less glamorous side of SS2, the Chow Yang area. Parking is usually not a terribly difficult exercise in this area.

When we arrived, there were only a couple other tables occupied. It was pretty quiet, but I wasn’t deterred. With it’s rather bland interior decoration and cheap plastic chairs, it’s not hard to imagine the lack of attraction to potential uninformed customers.

seafood tomyam, fried kai lan with mushroom, green curry with chicken

For the 8 of us, we ordered up quite a feast. Seafood tomyam and the recommended green curry were a no brainer, we also had vegetable, steamed fish, egg, squid, and pandan chicken.

Seafood tomyam (RM 30) came in an old school steamboat and actually turned out quite good, we didn’t order it very spicy (due to several low tolerance member) but it still had a zing, and ingredients were plenty full too. The recommended green curry chicken (RM 15) did not disappoint at all either, the curry was very rich with santan and yet super flavorful.

Fried kailan with mushroom (RM 12) was just to satisfy vitamin C quota. Nothing too exciting there.

steamed siakap fish, fried egg with crab meat, Thai style squid, pandan chicken

The steamed siakap (RM 30) we ordered was prepared the traditional Thai style. Last I had this was at De Chiengmai at Sungai Buloh, and while the soup based here was very delicious, I find that the fish wasn’t very fresh nor was it prepared properly. Perhaps I am spoiled by super fresh “live” fish at Chinese restaurants, but I do expect this situation to improve if business turns brisk.

Fried egg with crab meat (RM 14) was very delicious even though we could taste little crab meat. The squid (RM 12) too was very rich in flavor with plenty of basil, chili, and even whole pepper; I could be happier if they removed the eyes and beaks off the squid’s head though.

Kim, Cheesie, Jac, Eric, Suan, Kerol, and 4-eye KY

Last but not least, we also had the pandan chicken (RM 30, 10 pieces). They were rather fragrant and pretty tasty, but we had too much food, and the portion was a bit too big. If you were ordering this, better specify the exact amount you need.

With rice, plenty of cold fresh coconut (RM 4.5), and other drinks, dinner came to RM 197 or about RM 25 per pax, pretty decent for what we ordered. I’m sure Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant is a place worth revisiting. *burp*

Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant is located the same row as KAYU

Address:
Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant
No.26 Jalan SS2/10,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.115587,101.616926
Tel: 03-7877 7659, 012-378 9618

kailan – 12, egg 14, squid 12, pandan chicken 20, tomyam 30, fish 30, coconut 4.5, logan 3, chinese tea 1. total 197

Tags:  cheesie,  eric,  fish,  green curry,  jaclyn,  kerol,  kimberly,  spicy,  SS2 SS3 SS4,  suanie,  thai,  tomyam

Posted by KY | 30 Comments »

The SS2 square at Petaling Jaya has always been labeled as one of the premier eating places this side of Klang Valley, new dining establishments come and go, the good ones stay, and the substandard outlets usually go away within a couple years, or sometimes months. It is a very competitive place for restauranteurs, and quite a heaven for food lovers.

甜品哥哥 has a really huge menu

One of the latest establishments at SS2 square is the aptly named Tin Pan Kor Kor (甜品哥哥), or Dessert Brother in Cantonese/Mandarin.

Tin Pan Kor Kor is operated by the same people behind Chef Loong (龙师傅) located just a stone’s throw away. While Chef Loong serves quite a fair bit of traditional Chinese snacks (including xiao long pao), Tin pan Kor Kor concentrates solely on desserts.

glutinous ball in ginger soup, walnut & peanut soup, sago with mango

The most impressive thing about this place is the sheer size of the menu. There are altogether 142 items divided into over half a dozen categories to choose from. Most importantly, every single item is photographed and presented in the menu with brief description in both English and Chinese, making ordering a slightly easier chore (if you consider going through 142 items easy)

pear stewed tendril, mango pancake, fresh milk with stewed hasma,
glutinous rice balls with peanut and black sesame

Just before CNY, the #porkgang went there after having dined at Hoho Steamboat. There were some 10 of us, but we managed to order 13 different items, in part thanks to Kim who doesn’t choose between item one, two, or three, she always take the “all of the above” option.

snow mountain and pomelo and sago in mango, apple pear juice, apple melon juice

Among the things we ordered (as you can see in the photos), the only disappointment was the mango pancaket. The cream were just a tad too hard and way too much in volume, we didn’t finish it. The fresh milk with stewed hasma was a tad weird and rather difficult to taste the hasma too.

The peanut/walnut soup was thick and flavorful, glutinous balls (both soup and the one covered with peanuts) were quite tasty, and the pear stewed tendril especially nice and chilling in a hot day. The girls were very happy with their variety of juices too.

some of the #porkgang members

Most items at Tin Pan Kor Kor is priced between RM 5 – RM 10, with the more exotic dishes like hasma costing slightly over RM 10. A pretty good stopover after dinner, if you can find a table that is, this place is getting pretty popular in a jiffy!

Tin Pan Kor Kor is located right in the middle of SS2 square

Address:
Tin Pan Kor Kor (甜品哥哥)
No: 36, Ground Floor,
Jalan SS2/63,
47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.11878,101.621996

Tags:  cheesie,  dessert,  fatty,  gareth,  jaclyn,  kerol,  kimberly,  SS2 SS3 SS4

Posted by KY | 30 Comments »

Hoho steamboat is probably one of the earliest “pulau ketam” type steamboat in town, it has been operating for so long that Kim said her parents actually dated there. It is then safe to say that this place has been in operation for well over two decades.

Hoho steamboat, established since forever

Housed at the same premise as the pretty well known Ipoh Road Yong Tau Foo at Segambut just a stone’s throw away from the intersection of Jalan Kuching and Jalan Duta, the restaurant is converted from a former Bungalow with ample parking space. There are tables inside the building, under the tin roof (with fans and ample lights), as well as under the moon light. The usual ingredients for pulau ketam style steamboat.

steamboat set, deep fried dumplings, bacon strips

Most of the porkgang and two extra guests braced the traffic last Friday evening for a good steamboat meal thanks to the suggestion by Cheesie.

For the eleven of us, we ordered steamboat set for nine pax that includes dumplings, pork balls, fish balls, fish noodle, tofu, prawns, vegetable, tofu skin, eggs, noodles (yee mee), mee hun, quail’s eggs, and fish cubes.

Kim and Cheesie doing the hardwork

We added a couple plates of deep fried dumplings to munch while waiting for the soup to boil, and they are actually rather delicious.

Other extra orders we had were clams (to make the soup sweeter), quail’s eggs (cos Eric has low cholesterol), and of course, extra pork balls and some raw bacon. Hoho is one of the very few steamboat places that offers bacon strips, the concept is a bit new to me as I usually like my bacon fried, but the boiled version is actually pretty nice too.

Haze is a very happy girl. Jac doing the “cooking”

Due to a bit of miscommunication, we ordered both tomyam and clear soup for our pot. While the tomyam soup turned out to be pretty tasty, I usually prefer to have only the clear soup. Having the pot split down the middle with two soup base that has very different tastes is usually not a great idea as they tend to mix up quite a bit when boiling.

The sambal supplied by Hoho steamboat is rather potent and fragrant too. To me a pulau ketam steamboat is never complete without good sambal, and this place does not disappoint when it comes to that.

Though not the absolute best out there, the combination of price (less than RM 25/pax with drinks), taste, and experience does make Hoho steamboat a place worth visiting. By the way, they have the best URL too: steamboat.com.my

Address:
Hoho Steamboat
67, Jalan Segambut,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.180645, 101.677523
Tel: +603-6252 6473

Tags:  cheesie,  dumpling,  eric,  gareth,  haze,  horng,  jaclyn,  kerol,  kimberly,  pork,  Steamboat,  suching,  taka

Posted by KY | 29 Comments »

A few weeks ago I had a chance to go in front of a HD video camera for the first time of my life, with proper production and all that jazz. It was a shoot for the Astro (though only to be used online, but a commercial nonetheless). The video was used to promote Astro B.yond services during the blogger’s night out last week.

mic up, and ready to roll at Desa Park City

The shoot wasn’t too difficult, I had to do 3 takes. The first had a bit of discontinuity, and there were people walking behind the scene on the second, otherwise I’d say it went pretty smoothly. I guess having been acting on stage before gave me a bit of an advantage. It was quite fun even though the weather was melting us.

Check out the video below, Redmummy, Gareth, Kim, Cheng Leong, Nazwan, and Huai Bin were among the other actors in the shoot.

On the 13th of January, 11 of the #porkgang members went to the Astro B.yond blogger’s night, and the video was played in full HD. If you click on the HD button in the original video here, you’ll be able to see a pimple just below my nose. This whole HD thing is a bit too clear, gah!

we had a blast and Eric won the 32″ TV with 1 year’s Astro B.yond

The event was held and Modesto Hartamas and we had quite a blast. Eric, Horng, Gareth, Terence, and me also teamed up to participate in the “murder mystery” competition and came up on top. At the end we had to compete against each other and it was Eric who walked away with the 32″ LCD TV and a year’s subscription for Astro B.yond services. (He ended up spending us a big meal at Cristang)

We had quite a blast at the event, danced silly and basically didn’t leave till the whole place was almost empty. Haze, Jaclyn, Kerol, Cheesie, Ruby, Kim, and Kerol made up the rest of the gang. The OBC lady Miss Suanie, and the ganas FA were missing though, I’m still waiting for an event where all 13 (lucky number!) of us shows up.

2010 is going to be great!

Tags:  cheesie,  eric,  gareth,  haze,  horng,  jaclyn,  kerol,  kimberly,  party,  ruby,  terence,  video

Posted by KY | 29 Comments »