On a lazy weekend morning a few weeks ago, I was looking for a lunch buddy and happened to see Lorna coming online over MSN.

“Lunch?”
“Why not?”
“Let me bring you to this Malay chicken rice place”

I said okay with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, then proceed to get ready and wait for the lady to pick me up. (sexual equality, right? :P)

Lorna sipping her syrup ais

As it turned out, the nasi ayam bakar special (special roasted chicken rice) place is located pretty close to where I stay, at SS5 just next to the big Kelana Jaya Giant. The Malay food court area was not as busy in the afternoon as it is at night, there were only a few tables occupied.

drum stick, rice, soup, satisfying

We ordered two sets of nasi ayam bakar with drum sticks, and another extra drum stick for good measure. To properly Malaysianised the meal, we had iced syrup to drink.

The bbq chicken was rather unique, I could only describe it as a cross between roasted chicken and the chicken tandoori with the sauce that is somewhat similar to paprik style, slightly sweet and a little spicy. The rice was cooked together with other chicken parts (such as neck) and I presume, fats; thus carry a very fragrant smell that goes very well with the meat. It was very unique and certainly delicious. We finished devoured everything to the bones.

If I remember correctly, the chicken rice was less than RM 5 per portion and only available during lunch. The same place also have a big sign board that says “steamboat”, I wonder how Malay steamboat tastes like, maybe another time.

Address:
Jalan SS6/2,
Kelana Jaya, PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.101791, 101.598172

Tags:  chicken-rice,  lorna,  lunch,  malay-food

Posted by KY | 18 Comments »

While the KLCC area offers quite a variety of lunch choices, one eventually gets tired of them, that is when we decided to head down to Bukit Bintang area to hunt for something more satisfying and ended up at Ka Soh (家嫂) Restaurant. This little restaurant actually sits right in a parking lot opposite Ritz Carlton hotel.

big prawn *drools*

The place is famous for their fish head noodle, but for this session, we decided to go for their dishes with steamed rice. For the two of us, we ordered some big prawn with dark sauce (明虾), a tofu dish, and fried Hong Kong choy sam (菜心) vegetable. A standard dish of delicious achat (pickled vegetable with crushed peanuts) was served as appetizer.

The food didn’t arrived in less than 15 minute’s time and were served pretty much all at the same time. Taste wise, they were all excellent, the prawn very fresh and sweet, and the brown sauce was probably just a simple combination of dark soya sauce and some other seasoning; but proved to be very effective as the compliment to the succulent seafood. The tofu too was very smooth and the sauce not over powering. Lastly, there must be something about Hong Kong and Chinese vegetable that is just so juicy and sweet (”organic” fertilizer maybe?) that made the simple choy sam dish so delicious.

The simple trick to ordering is to provide a varying texture and taste across the dishes. In this case, the firm texture of prawn, the smooth tofu, and the slightly crunchy vegetable, we also have the taste of seafood, fresh vegetable, and the more subtle tofu.

three dishes and an appetizer

This wasn’t a cheap lunch (their fish head noodle would be cheaper), the meal costs a little over RM 30 per person. However, the 6 big prawns were huge and would probably cost over RM 10 each if you order them from the mamak stalls. Locals usually aren’t ready to pay this type of price for Chinese food but will happily shell out more for foreign cuisine, which is somewhat of a puzzlement to me. This place is totally worth it though, you will find photos of celebrities dining there on the wall as a testament to the good food served here.

Ka Soh is just right opposite Ritz Carlton Hotel

Address:
205, Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.147619, 101.715835
Tel: 03-2148 2207/3207

Other Branches:

• 136, Jalan Kasah, Medan Damansara, 59490 KL (03-2093 0905)
• no. 59-G, The Boulevard, Mid Valley City (03-2287 6328)

Tags:  Bukit Bintang,  dining,  Ka-Soh,  ky,  lunch,  prawn,  ritz-carlton

Posted by KY | 5 Comments »

It’s been a while since I had any decent Yong Tau Foo (釀豆腐) like the one at Ampang, so we headed to Segambut for the famous Jalan Ipoh Yong Tau Foo last weekend. The name might be a little deceiving, for this restaurant is not exactly located at Jalan Ipoh, but at Jalan Segambut, just off Jalan Duta.

much better set up and parking situations than Ampang

We got to the restaurant at about 2pm in the afternoon, purposely avoid the heavy lunch crowd. As the restaurant is a converted bungalow, there are ample parking space, unlike Ampang Yong Tau Foo’s dreadful parking situation.

Ordering the food is pretty simple here, they provide a form and you basically just fill in the numbers, like some of the dim sum places. This saves time for both the customers and the restaurant operators, I can only wonder why the other places don’t do this. For the five six of us, we ordered 72 pieces of goodness and some rice for the first round. Of course, we added 10 more for 2nd round.

don’t these make you drool? Yummm

If my memory serves me correct, there were 5 pieces of white tofu, 8 pieces of brinjal (egg plant), 4 bitter gourd, 10 red chili, 8 lady fingers (okra), 10 fish balls, 11 fried sui kow, 6 soup sui kow, 15 fried foo chok (bean curd skin), 5 rice, and some drinks. On top of that, we had a fruit rojak as appetizer. Quite a portion for 3 4 guys and 2 girls.

For the newbie to Malaysian cuisine, most Yong Tau Foo pieces are stuffed with fish paste. The exception being sui kow, fish ball, and foo chok.

we didn’t leave anything behind

The good thing about this place is that the food is served almost instantaneously, so you can satisfy your hunger right from the get go. As for taste, it is right up there with their Ampang counterparts, with the rojak being the exception. I guess Penangites are a little more picky when it comes to fruit rojak.

Price wise, at REM 0.70 a piece, it is very competitive. We spent only around RM 15 each after filling our stomachs to the point of having difficulty in walking.

This Yong Tau Foo place is just a stone’s throw from the Duta round-about

Good food, reasonable price, and a comfortable eating environment, this place is definitely worth repeating visits.

Address:
Ipoh Road Yong Tow Foo
67, Jalan Segambut,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.180645, 101.677523
Tel: +603-6252 6473
HP: +6019-309 8283

Tags:  Ampang,  lunch,  segambut,  sui-kow,  yong-tau-foo

Posted by KY | 23 Comments »

My colleague invited me to this talk thingy at Hotel Equatorial a while back, lunch included. Who would want to miss a free lunch at one of the nicest hotels, right? However, I didn’t expect the host to offer such a lavish lunch at Nippah CoffeeShop. According to my colleague, most of the time similar functions usually only offer fried mee hun and the like. Lucky me.

very nice ambience

Nippah Coffeehouse is located at the basement of Equatorial Hotel, a giant staircase from the lobby will lead you directly to the restaurant, as you can see from the right bottom corner picture above. The ambience is really nice, the quiet and calm environment provides a striking contrast to the busy afternoon. The round tables at the center are fitted with steamboat pots, while the surrounding tables are rectangular and do not come with such fixture. There are probably around 30 tables in total.

some of the buffet lines

While not as big and lavish as Jogoya at Starhill, Nippah CoffeeHouse does pack an impressive array of buffet lines. There is a raw and salad bar, with oysters, clams, and other cold dishes. A grill bar with grilled fish, oyster mornay, satey, steak, and seafood thermidor. Then there’s the local dish area with various types of curry and other local cuisine such as beef rendang and crab with curry sauce (highly recommended). There are also a line offering raw food for steamboat, and also a dessert bar.

fresh seafood steamboat, raw oysters too

The food itself was excellent. I particularly can’t get enough of the Oyster Mornay, freshly prepared by the chef. If you are sitting on a table with no steamboat pot, you can still pick the food from steambaot line and get a chef to cook it fresh, with a choice of tomyam or clear broth.

The curry crab is another must-try item, alongside with the mutton rendang and the grilled salmon, done in a perfect way with the inner part of the fillet still soft and not over cooked. You can even find air mata kucing as dessert. A slight let down though, was the lack of fresh juices or any variety of drinks with the buffet package.

just look at these oyster mornay!

The lunch was worth RM 75++ per person. According to the Equatorial’s website, the establishment won the Malaysian Tourist Development Board Award for Best Malay Restaurant (Cuisine). It certainly taste like it.

I think this is an excellent place to bring foreigners for a good buffet dinner that offers expansive local delights while providing a very nice dining experience with excellent ambience and interior decoration. You will probably like it too for a change from the usual Western (esp. Italian) and Japanese style buffets.

Hours (the restaurant, not the buffet lunch):
Sun - Thur 6.00 am - 2.00 am
Fri, Sat and public holidays 6.00 am - 3.00 am
GPS: 3.153575, 101.709216
Tel: +60 3 2031 3030

Tags:  Buffet,  lunch,  western-food

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »