For those who work in the vicinity of KLCC and haven’t discover Wisma Sentral yet, this entry is especially written for you. The more seasoned workers around the area would most probably have visited this particular mixed rice outlet for years.

a wide selection of dishes for your choosing

There are at least five eateries in Wisma Sentral offering Chinese style chap fan, and each have their own unique properties to stay in business. For example, the one closest to the Japanese ramen shop has the pretty hot owner’s daughter working; another ground floor outlet is semi outside with a smoking area; yet another serves vegetarian food, etc etc.

My favorite is “Ah Sou” on the first floor closest to the polyclinic (at front-left corner after the stairs). The selection is huge, the dishes are tasty, and they are very reasonably priced too.

each plate of rice was less than RM 5.00

There are at least some 40 dishes to choose from to go with rice or porridge at Ah Sou on a daily basis. I particularly like their luncheon meat, Chinese sausage, stewed pork belly, steamed egg, tofu, and curry chicken. Other yummy dishes include tofu skin (fu chuk), herbal chicken, fried roast pork, and more. To be frank, I haven’t had anything that disagree with my taste buds from there yet.

Ah Sou also started a trend that spread through the other mixed rice outlets at this building by providing self served free soup and Chinese tea (with ice too) to go along with your rice.

map to Wisma Sentral

I usually don’t have to pay more than RM 5 for lunch there. The dish with half a Chinese sausage, 2 pieces of curry chicken and potato, vegetable, and a portion of steamed egg was RM 4.50. Doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I wonder if we’re going there again tomorrow. emmm…

Address:
Ah Sou Chap Fan,
First floor, Wisma Sentral,
50088 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.158728, 101.714473

Tags:  klcc,  lunch,  rice,  wisma-sentral

Posted by KY | 26 Comments »

A few weeks ago suanie asksed if I wanted to join her in a food review session at 1901 Hot Dog at KLCC, being someone who is aware of 1901 but have rarely been their customer, I reluctantly joined in out of convenience (it was at KLCC, my workplace).

My expectations weren’t sky high, but I came back rather impressed not only with their food, but their company philosophy in a whole. I am glad took up suanie’s invitation.

1901 hot dogs: Deutsch Doodle Dang in pau, Cheezy Carbonara, Coney Dog in pau

My first taste of 1901 was some years ago at one of their outlets in Mid Valley, as recommended by my buddy Damien. To be honest, I thought the dogs, while tasted good, would have been better if the sausages were deep fried instead of steamed.

It was during this little session that I learned about 1901’s philosophy in thier food, as explained by the very friendly Zakir (CEO and co-founder), Afzan Adenan (Brand Manager), and Raymond (Marketing Manager).

suanie & KY having a dog, Zakir proudly show off the aidil fitri promotion

While often being compared to fastfood behemoths like McDonald’s, KFC, and the likes, 1901 is a true Malaysian homegrown business that operates nothing like the big chains. The conventional assumption is that fastfood is usually greesy, salty, and unhealthily delicious while packing a tonne of calorie. 1901 challenges that idea and came up with a rather healthy version of fast food.

Everything here is steamed, the bun, the sausages, and set meals come with orange juice instead of normal soft drinks (you can only get Diet Coke here, no “full flavor” ones). The result is a brand that actually sets up quite a few outlets in hospital lobbies.

Had the gourmet platter with some colleagues

During the review session, 1901 also shared with us their CSR (orporate Social Responsibility) programme in feeding the homeless. In a nutshell, they give out some 250 packets of nasi lemak every week to the homeless people.

The entire team from HQ are directly involved in this, and they do really try to get the homeless out of their current situation instead of merely giving away free food, Zakir was telling us the different categories of homeless people and what they can do to help them, very heart warming. Check out their website on CSR.

More businesses should be run like this, no?

Tags:  hot dog,  klcc,  suanie

Posted by KY | 31 Comments »

The most common complains among the new arrivals working at the twin towers and the surrounding area seems to be the price of food. From fast foods such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King, to the food courts and restaurants within KLCC and Avenue K malls, you often need to spend at least around RM10 to get a decent meal.

Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia

However, if you are willing to walk just a bit, there are hidden gems littered all around the KLCC vicinity. Warong Kak Fauziah with its excellent ikan bakar (grilled fish) is one of them.

Hidden behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia (opposite main entrance of the twin towers), the little zinc roofed shack is tricky to get to. The safest bet is to walk from the back road of Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, and just follow what your nose tells you. There is usually a healthy crowd during lunch time on weekdays.

freshly grilled fish with rice comes to less than RM 6

There are three types of ikan bakar available here, ikan kembung (hardtail), ikan keli (catfish), and ikan pari (stingray). My favorite is always the ikan pari due to mainly the fact that there is no bone to deal with. For lunch, in addition to the fish, I also grabbed an omelet and some ulam (raw vegetable) to go with rice.

As with many ikan bakar places, you can find at least 3-4 different types of condiments to go with the fish, sambal belacan, chili with soya sauce and lime, cencaluk, and so forth. I usually like to mix them up.

KY and Chew (who wants a gf)

The ikan pari here was simply delicious. Rich, oily, and generous portion of very tasty stingray meat mixed with the spicy sambal with that bits of burnt fish skin, there isn’t many thing that is so down to earth, no nonsense, halal and unhealthy. I love it. Best of all, the plate of fish, egg, vegetable, and rice was less than RM 6 in total.

Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia

Good food, great price, there isn’t nothing not to like about this place. Well, except maybe the lack of air conditioning, but that is pushing it, no?

Address:
Warong Kak Fauziah,
behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia
Jalan Ampang, KL
GPS: 3.160088,101.711941

Tags:  chew,  fish,  ikan-bakar,  klcc,  malay-food,  stingray

Posted by KY | 23 Comments »

Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave (cos you probably don’t use any currency in the cave) for the past year or so knows that we are in a massive economy slow down. The scary part is, most analysts agree that things will get worse before it gets better.

At times like this, it is usually advised that over spending isn’t such a good idea. So, take the bus/LRT to work, hold yourself off buying that sparkly new toys, not getting a new car, and of course, don’t spend too much for lunch.

But this does not necessarily means that you are confined to roti canai or mixed rice at Wisma Sentral if you work at KLCC, there’s the McValue Lunch! I’m sure most of you already know by now that McDonald’s is the first fast food restaurant to push out the RM 5.95 McValue lunch meals a couple months back.

The news is, there is now two other McValue Lunch line ups that had been in my wish list eve since I found out about this whole McValue promotion - Spicy Chicken McDeluxe (from RM10.55 to RM 7.95), and Big Mac (from RM 10.20 to RM 7.95).

I’ve been a fan of Spicy Chicken McDeluxe for quite a while now, the juicy spicy chicken is really one of the bests and actually quite unique to McDonald’s in our country, catering perfectly to our preference in hot food. It’s good to see this burger joining the McValue promotion.

Here’s the line up from 27th April onwards:

McChicken med meal – RM5.95
Filet-O-Fish med meal – RM5.95
Big Mac med meal – RM7.95
Spicy Chicken McDeluxe med meal – RM7.95

The McValue Lunch runs from 12pm to 3pm EVERYDAY and is valid for Dine-in, Drive Through, and even Delivery. I think a lot of people wrongly assumed that this promotion this promotion only runs on weekdays.

So I went to McDonald’s at KLCC’s 2nd floor food court with a buddy of mine the other day to try this for myself. We got ourselves 2 Spicy Chicken McDeluxe sets. (I do notice that the queue at McD in KLCC food court became quite a bit longer these days, not surprising since they offer the cheapest full lunch these days)

2x Spicy Chicken McDeluxe sets – RM 16.70 including tax

The best thing about the McValue Meal is that you still get the normal medium size drinks and fries to go with the burger. It was the same set, nothing reduced other than the price, a very very good value. Of course, it is still the great taste (I seriously think the spicy chicken is one of the best burgers out there) that I crave for every so often.

In conjunction with the McValue lunch, there’s also a contest that gives out an Apple iPhone for blogger!

The contest tagline is “Have you McValue LUNCH-ed this week?”, you can use the logo on your blog during the contest period (April 27 to May 31, 2009), and create a video or photos to express your experiences with McValue LUNCH in a creative way. Winner gets the iPhone 3G!

Have you McValue LUNCHed this week?

p/s : Check out their facebook fan page

Tags:  klcc,  lunch money,  mcdonald's

Posted by KY | 31 Comments »

December 17th, 2008 was the second time I went to Little Taiwan at Avenue K for lunch, it was also a rather significant date as that was the day I conned Mell for her phone number and suggested that the nuffies to join me for lunch over there. My intention was of course, to meet her. She didn’t know the whole udang di sebalik batu then, hee-hee.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Little Taiwan, with the glorious braised pork!

Anyway, a little known fact about KLCC is that there is no pork served at any of the restaurants or either of the two food courts. The nearest pork fix for me would usually be Wisma Sentral, or Avenue K.

I had initially thought that Little Taiwan would be one fo those halal Chinese food outlets, until I saw their menu and immediately started drooling over the pictures of the glorious braised pork. It has since become one of my regular venues whenever I crave for those unhealthy and yet delicious glistering fats.

zha chiang noodle, pork ribs noodle, braised beef with rice, salted fried chicken

For weekday lunches, the outlet offers a quite a selection of set menu priced at RM 9.90 to RM 14.90. The set lunches come with a main dish (either with rice or noodle) and a choice of either green tea or red tea. This would only be around the price of a typical meal at Burger King.

My favorite at Little Taiwan would be their braised pork. Three pieces of very tender and rather fatty pork braised to perfection, rice is served with a dash of mince meat sauce, and there are also a bit of fermented vegetable as well as a couple slices of fresh cucumber and tomato to go with it. This dish is certainly not for the more health conscious diners.

KY, Mell, and Yat

I have also tried their braised beef and salted fried chicken, I find the beef pretty tender and the meat portion generous. As for the chicken, it lacks the more intense (and salty) taste I prefer of the same dish at Fong Lye. Other dishes generally receive pretty decent comments too.

Avenue K is located right opposite KLCC, accessible via the LRT station

Overall Little Taiwan offers a pretty good value and some rather delicious dishes. If you’re at KLCC and crave for pork, you know where to go. The restaurant is located just an escalator ride away from the KLCC LRT station.

Little Taiwan also has outlets at Mid Valley, Subang SS15, Pavilion, and Pearl Point (Old Klang Road)

Address:
Little Taiwan
Lot No. UC-3B & 3C,
Upper Concourse Level,
Avenue K, 156, Jln Ampang,
50450 KL
GPS:
Tel: 03-2161 4118

Tags:  avenue k,  chingy,  klcc,  mellissa,  taiwanese,  wendy,  yat

Posted by KY | 28 Comments »