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
A week ago I was invited to Opus Bistro for a revisit, this time around it’s an event organized by MilkADeal, the group buy website that not coincidentally, is having a good deal for Opus Bistro right this moment. Details of the deal at the bottom of this post.
My previous visit at Opus Bistro was a wine tasting event with Montana wine while this one is a purely food oriented session with all the dishes here available on their menu (Opus’s website).
Opus Bistro at Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar
We were seated on the first level, a tastefully done dining area fit for private functions as well as cozy dinner without the usual noise associated in a busy restaurant.
Many of you aren’t necessarily interested with the thickness of chair cushion and how many replica pantings are on the wall, so lets go straight to the food, shall we?
seafood antipasti platter
Like most finer dining places, we started off with some bread that you dip in olive oil and balsamic vinegar while sipping a glass of white wine, but that is pretty dull to describe, move on to the first dish then – the seafood antipasti platter (RM 45.)
Here is a dish with some of my favorite ingredients – squid, scallop, tiger prawn, and clam. All perfectly prepared but come in different texture and flavor that compliment each other rather well. I love it.
risotto ball, seafood spaghetti, grilled lamb cutlets in red wine sauce
Then there’s the risotto ball (RM 22), something that is quite unique to Opus. It is sort of a vegetarian “meatball” that the health conscious should love, but meat lover such as me find slightly lacking.
The seafood spaghetti (RM 22/36) is a delightful dish especially if you didn’t have the antipasti platter to start off dinner. Here you find mussels, prawns, squid, and clams accompanying the pasta in olive oil and herbs, almost healthy.
The grilled lamb cutlets with rosemary in red wine sauce (RM 58) is a dish that can satisfy anyone with a huge appetite for meat. There’s a choice of mint sauce too if red wine sauce isn’t your thing. The meat is tender and succulent.
aglio olio with smoked duck, roast cod, tiramisu, chocolate desire
For those who love to venture into the slightly wilder side, there’s linguini aglio olio with smoked duck (RM 17/30.) The smoked duck breast carries a slightly salty smokey taste that will satisfy your curiosity.
We also tried both versions of roast cod (RM 58) at Opus. I personally favor the one with white wine sauce over the lemon caper sauce but truth be told, both were excellent.
For desserts we had tiramisu (RM 16) & chocolate desire (RM 20). The hot chocolate in pastry combine well with the cold vanilla ice cream to serve as the far better dessert for the night.
Haze, KY, Ringo, Kerol, and Suan at Opus Bistro
Opus Bistro is in effect, a place with pretty good food at a still affordable pricing, a poor man’s fine dining restaurant if you would.
The good news is, in the next 6 days (till 10th of May, 2011), you can get a deal from MilkADeal that maks Opus a must-visit place. The deal is – RM25 instead of RM74 for a Main Pasta + Wine / Fruit Juice / Soft Drink. Click on it, purchase, redeem, and enjoy!
Address:
Opus Bistro
67, Jalan Bangkong
Bukit Bandaraya
59100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.138116, 101.669197
Tel: 03-2092 4288
Non-halal Japanese Ramen used to be a bit of a novelty in this country. For a long time, Wisma Central’s Tenka Daiichi and Ton Chan at Wisma Cosway were two of the few places that serves it.
Mai Ramen at Jaya One
But with the seemingly rapid maturity that Japanese cuisine enjoys in this country over the last decade or so, I’m glad that there are now more ramen shops that don’t feel like they have to make compromises to capture a wider demographic.
Mai Ramen is one of such places, a relatively new comer to the scene that serves ramen as intended – with pork!
chasiu ramen, always my go-to ramen of choice
I ordered basically the measuring stick of any ramen place – chasiu ramen. If you ask for a set, it comes with 3 pretty tasty gyoza, a somewhat forgettable salad, and some interesting salty+spicy vegetable on the side that goes pretty well with the ramen.
As for the bowl of ramen itself, it was certainly not a disappointment. The broth was pretty thick and flavorful, the noodle palatable, and the chasiu were commendable too. It was actually, quite good.
I think we might have over ordered..
Yuki had ramen that comes with unagi. The unagi sauce certainly made the eel tasted as good as any. The 3/4 boil egg in the ramen too were perfectly done. Good stuff.
The yakitori (grilled stuff) at Mai Ramen, on the other hand, were a pretty disappointing affair. They somehow tasted a little old and you don’t get the flavor and punch you’d expect from good yakitori such as those you can get from the excellent Sumi Ka or Hyotan at SS15.
Horng, Yuki, Kerol at Mai Ramen
A dinner at Mai Ramen would come to about RM 20-30 inclusive of drinks. The best ramen I’ve had in the region is still Santouka in Singapore, but Mai Ramen is certainly not a place to be dismissed if you’ve got that pork ramen craving coming. Now I just wish they don’t take nearly as long to serve…
Address:
Mai Ramen
D-13-G, Block D
Jaya One,
No. 72A, Jalan Universiti,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.117537, 101.635680
Tel: 03-7957-6689
I’ve pretty much totally forgotten about this place until horng tweeted about it several days ago. Dug through the photo album uploaded from my old phone, and viola! There are materials which I had failed to share from the awesome roadside hawker centre at Jalan Sayur.
So this post is brought to you by the procrastinator in me, enjoy!
tofu bakar at Jalan Sayur night food court
I’ve written about the pork intestine porridge and chee cheong fun at this place, but here few more things you should definitely check out if you ever find yourself at the vicinity.
First off is the tofu bakar & prawn fritters by this aunty in red t-shirt (aunty not always in red t-shirt, however). The sauce is home made and very different from anything I’ve ever had. A strong hint of belacan + prawn paste in it, and definitely come with a kick.
Can’t remember the price, but not more than a few ringgit per plate. She also offers grilled cuttle fish, but those things can be pricey.
one of the better char kueh kak (fried radish cake) in town
The tweet from Horng though, was the char kueh kak, or Penang style fried radish that comes with egg, bean sprout, and a bit of finely chopped salted vegetable (choi pou).
You can often find char kueh kak stalls at various pasar malam, but most of the time the quality is a bit of a suspect. This was why I had only written about one other char kueh kak place in Penang on this blog. The version sold here is as good as any decent one you can find on the island, plenty of “wok hei”, flavorful, and satisfying for the char kueh kak fan in me.
pork noodle, fish noodle, Horng, KY, Rachel, Kerol, Shiang
During the same session, others had pork ball noodles and fish noodle from another stall that turned out pretty good too. There is still one other stall selling fried chicken that I have yet to try at Jalan Sayur hawker centre (always a super long queue), so perhaps next trip!
Address:
Hawker center at Jalan Sayur
off Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.135208, 101.713051
Pan Mee is one of Suanie’s favorite local dishes, a few weekends ago I joined her and a few others to one of the newer Pan Mee centric restaurants that sprung out these few years. We went to Cha Cha Pan Mee at Aman Suria.
Cha Cha Pan Mee at Aman Suria
I must say, pan mee isn’t one of the dishes that jumps to my mind when it comes to hawker food. Being from Penang (you virtually can’t find pan mee there), it took a little while for me to get used to, but I’m starting to like it more now. Especially one with good chili sauce to go with.
original pan mee with poach egg
Cha Cha Pan Mee is located just by Jalan Bukikt Mayang Emas with ample parking space right in front of the restaurant. The restaurant itself is air conditioned and clean.
I ordered the original pan mee with poach egg (RM 6.50). It came with minced pork, pork slice, anchovies, mushroom, fuchok, and of course, the potato leave found in all proper pan mee. It was actually pretty good, and the chili paste was lovely too. My only complain would be the serving size, it was a bit too massive!
stew pork, dried pan mee, seafood ramen
Haze ordered the stew pork with rice (that curiously served with a side of anchovies) and gave very positive feedbacks. The others had seafood ramen and dried pan mee. No one had any complains but most of us couldn’t finish our portion.
Cha Cha is a pretty decent place if you’re looking for a comfortable hawker dining without all the sweat and hassle of a kopitiam. The extra RM 2 or so per dish is well worth it.
Address:
Cha Cha Pan Mee
K-G-1 & K-G-3, Jalan PJU 1/43
Aman Suria
47301 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.12009, 101.59465
Tel: 016-660 0971
