After lunch at Red Silks in Chinatown, like most people who has nothing better to do, we look for a cup of after meal coffee and a place to chill out. We headed up north a couple blocks to QV (Queen Victoria Building), a rather popular hangout area that houses several restaurants and a couple grocery stalls

Max Brenners at QV

Coffee drinking is actually quite a big thing in Australia. The annual coffee business amounts to some $3 billion, that is plenty of coffee for a population of some 21 million people. The market is a lot more mature than KL, with plenty of privately owned businesses and a few international chains.

In Malaysia, you’d go to Starbucks or Old Town, but in Melbourne, the defacto choice is Max Brenners (although you can find Starbucks, and actually even Old Town Kopitiam!), it is just convenient that there is an outlet located right in the middle of QV with a nice outdoor seating area that is sheltered from sun and wind.

milk suckao and cappuccino

The place is almost perpetually full, we actually had to wait for a couple minutes before landing ourselves a table. Since I was basically a tourist and Max Brenners is famous for their chocolates, Mell ordered a Milk Sukao for me, and from their website:

Suckao is the espresso of the chocolate drinks. It is a small, dense, concentrated shot of rich chocolate. The term “Suckao” is made up of two words that describe the utensil and the unique drink it contains: Suck – to draw the dense liquid through the metal tube. Kakao – the Spanish word for cocoa beans from which this rich chocolate drink is made and which determine its quality.

It is basically fresh milk (refillable) warmed by an aroma therapy size candle with chocolate chips on the side to mix. The quality of chocolate was rather high and I really liked it, not bad at all for $6.

latte, KY, milk chocolate

Mell got herself a milk chocolate ($5) that comes in a “HUGMUG”. The cocoa used is originated from Venezuela, creamy and tasty. The hugmug is specially designed for chocolate drinks at Max Brenners, to be used for hugging with both hands, perfect for the rather chilly weather when we were there.

Carol, Margaret, and Mellissa with her hugmug

Carol and Margaret got themselves Cappuccino and Cafe Latte ($3.30 each), and both the drinks were better than the same offered by the likes of Starbucks or Coffeebeans in Malaysia. Part of the reason being that the milk used here is so much fresher and tastier.

We ended up going to Max Brenners a few more times, meeting up friends and sampling different types of drinks along the way (the coconut + lychee drink was awesome, and the magic waffle balls very interesting). It was sort of a meeting point for Mell and her friends there, for obvious reasons. Good drinks, nice environment, affordable prices.

Max Brenners is located at the heart of QV

Max Brenners has over a dozen branches in Australia, a couple in New York, Philippines, Israel, and there’s even one in Singapore at Esplanade Mall on Raffles Ave.

Address:
Max Brenners
Queen Victoria Building
25-27 Red Cape Lane,
Level 2, QV Square,
210 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
GPS: -37.810657,144.965587
Tel: +61 3 9663 6000

Tags:  chocolate,  coffee,  kerol,  margie,  melbourne,  mellissa,  QV

Posted by KY | 42 Comments »

On the first day at Melbourne, Mell and I met up with Margaret and Kerol. Margaret is a dear friend who came to Melbourne more than two years ago to study and was last seen on this blog on the pudu Mongolian Steamboat place we went for her farewell.

It has been over a year since we met in KL, I think I still had a different (and some said very tragic) hairstyle then.

KY, Mell, Kerol, and Margaret at Red Silks, Chinatown @ Melbourne

Chinatown at Melbourne is located at Little Bourke Street from the intersection of Swanston (the busiest street) to around the intersection with Exhibition or Spring Street. Red Silks is technically not really in Chinatown anymore as it is located in a little mall at Bourke Street half a block away.

The closest tram stop to the place would be Swanston/Bourke.

braised preserved vegetable with pork belly, eggplant, clay pot tofu with seafood

The restaurant offers quite a wide variety of Chinese foods; from noodles to single serving vegetable-on-rice to the more common “tai chau” style dishes, they have it all. As a licensed bar, they do serve beer & wine too.

For lunch, we ordered 3 dishes to go with steamed rice for the four of us.

lemon honey tea & iced milk tea, glorious fatty pork belly

I of course, ordered the braised preserved vegetable with pork belly (mui choi kao yok). While slightly too salty to be eaten alone, the dish goes very well with steamed rice with its fatty pork belly. If only they had chili padi..

The eggplant with minced pork was quite a strong tasting dish that goes well with steamed rice, I do find it a bit too heavy after a while though.

The clay pot tofu with seafood came with good size prawns, cuttle fish, scallops, crab sticks, green peas, and a generous portion of Japanese tofu in classy yummy gravy. This dish was as good as I’ve had from anywhere else.

Bullens Lane is at the heart of Chinatown

The portions were quite large and we actually did not manage to finish all three dishes. The bill came to about A$17 per person, still rather affordable in Melbourne standard. Other dishes in their lunch specials menu goes from $8 to $10.5 and like most other places around here, water is free.

Address:
Red Silk Restaurant and Bar
101, 1st Floor
200 Bourke Street
Melbourne
GPS: -37.81284,144.967357
Tel: +613-9663 9922

Tags:  chinatown,  chinese-food,  kerol,  margie,  melbourne,  mellissa

Posted by KY | 25 Comments »

Our dear friend Margie suggested that we head out to the Inner Mongolia Restaurant for a session of Mongolian Steamboat as a farewell dinner before her departure to some strange place in strange land in pursuit of higher education. About 10 of us readily agreed and headed there. This was a couple of weeks ago, but somehow Margie is still in the country, we might just have another “farewell” dinner..

The herbal and spicy soup in ying yang pattern

The restaurant is famous for its unique Mongolian steamboat, but offers other cooked dishes too. Of course, we ordered as many different dishes as possible.

The steamboat soup is served in a ying yang pattern, with the herbal soup on one side, and the super spicy soup on the other. The spicy soup has a pretty thick layer of spicy oil on top. Both types supposedly share the same soup base.

steamboat items: prawn, mushroom, squid, frozen tofu, fish…

We started out with a cold dish of some sort of ham that went well with the sauce and proved to be a good choice for appetizer while waiting for the soup to boil. A couple big plates of excellent pork belly (Dongo Pork) and roast lamb chop kept us busy at the same time. The pork was just fatty enough, when having it with the fresh lettuce, the contrasting taste and texture was fantastic. The lamb chop too was not disappointing at all.

other dishes: lamb, pork belly, ham, fried rice

As for the steamboat, we ordered four big plates of thin sliced pork and beef, some shrimp, squid, mushroom, vegetables, quail’s eggs, tofu, and a few uniquely Mongolian stuff that are probably made of mostly flour. I personally can’t get enough of the hot soup, with the underlying herbal taste and the strength of the spicy oil, it gives a very good flavor to the food cooked in it. The clear soup was very good too, especially for those who prefer their food less oily, or those who can’t take hot food.

Instead of sambal or Thai chili with soya sauce, each person is given a special dipping sauce that tastes like fermented peanut. Pretty weird description on my part, but it didn’t taste odd, but rather quite fitting with the overall taste of the food.

the raw beef and pork, a must. century eggs as dessert

We ended dinner with the century egg as dessert. Overall damage was slightly over RM 300, around RM 30 per pax. I would consider that a pretty decent value for the experience, the amount, and the excellent taste of the dishes. The only thing we didn’t finish was Terence’s Mongolian milk tea, which tasted like tea with yogurt, just weird.

Map to Inner Mongolia Restaurant at Pudu

Other Reviews: masak-masak, eatinout

Address:
290 Ground Floor,
Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.139589, 101.709961
Tel: 03-2144 9688

Tags:  hotpot,  inner-mongolia,  margie,  mongolian,  pudu,  Steamboat

Posted by KY | 5 Comments »

Been a while since I last had this type of stupid riddle over here, and here. Since we are counting down to our great X’mas Eve Party 2006, it’s just fitting that I dig up this hot and spicy party photo from ST’s site and make this “spot the differences” pictures. There are a total of 7 differences, find them!

the first lesbian picture

the second lesbian picture

For the noobs, check the answer here. Come to the party!

Tags:  difference,  lesbian,  margie,  party,  photos,  sotong

Posted by KY | 14 Comments »

This is yet another hidden place in the middle of KL introduced by Kelvin. Contrary to the Kampung Atap curry fish head (another place introduced by the same bloke), Yee Sang Fat (易生发) is famous for their steamed fish head.

the gang enjoying good food

This kopitiam is not trivial to locate. Situated opposite the Pudu Methodist Church just next to Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Yew, the easiest way to get there is via Jalan Pasar. Since there are tables set up both in and outside this tai chau (大炒) place, you won’t miss it if you are on the correct road (Jalan Gajah).

fish head, brinjal, pork ribs, vegetable

We asked for the must-try steamed fish head, brinjal (egg plant) with garlic, pork ribs, soupy lala, fried kangkung, and a tofu dish recommended by the waiter. We pretty much ordered all the dishes that printed on their lighted sign board that also spot the shop’s name. Six dishes for ten person to go with rice.

It didn’t take too long for the dishes to be served. The lala came first, and we devoured it like there’s no tomorrow. Then it was the fish head, steamed with plenty of garlic, ginger, and spring onion. The portion was pretty big too, and more like 1/3 of a fish instead of just the head.

tofu and lala

The vegetable and pork ribs were pretty good, but my favorite of the day must be the brinjal with garlic. The soft and tender brinjal fried with some salt and lots of crispy garlic topped with spring onion. The contrast of the differing textures and the taste were just perfect. On the contrary, the tofu dish was pretty much forgettable.

not the easiest place to get to (NOTE: check comment #9)

This meal came to slightly over RM 120.00 for 10 of us, definitely a great value. Granted we did not order any fancy drinks, but there were fish head, lala, and meat as well. A burger meal with fries and coca-cola will cost you around RM 12 at Burger King. I’m sure we will go there again one of these days.

Address:
Jalan Gajah,
off JalanYew Pudu
Kuala Lumpur 55100
GPS: 3.132342, 101.717026

Tags:  damien,  dinner,  duncan,  fish-head,  gareth,  lala,  margie,  pork-ribs,  pudu,  tofu

Posted by KY | 15 Comments »