Gong Xi Fa Cai! Have you had your Yee Sang yet?

Well I had, in fact, I had it thrice in 3 successive meals last Monday evening to Tuesday night. First one was with ex-uni mates, then a bunch of Chinese colleagues at Ducking, and finally with Mell at Lucky Loke (one of my favorite tai chau places) the very same night after that.

Mell is a yee sang addict

Yee Sang is originated right here in Malaysia and Singapore (yah I know wikipedia stated Sg., but I don’t care). For the uninitiated, the ingredients include raw/smoked fish (usually salmon), daikon, parsley, crackers, capsicum, jelly fish, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Of course, there’s the all important sesame oil, salt and peper, and plum sauce

Toss em up and yell some auspicious verse while leaving the table super messy is a must (I ended up with yee sang on my hair on my first session). Then enjoy, it’s yummy!

the fried pork belly is super yummy at lucky loke

After the very delicious yee sang, we proceed to order the fried pork belly and spinach with herbal soup to go with rice. That was, of course a little bit too much for just the two of us following a pretty big portion of the auspicious dish.

The fried pork belly was as awesome as usual, with 3-layered meat, a bit of cucumber, some onion, green onion, and generous amount of chili padi, it was hot and very addictive. The spinach too was very good.

Meal for two with Yee Sang – RM 45
Having a good relationship with ex – priceless

By the way, I was going into the cinema last night and there was this guy who got stopped at the entrance.

ticketing guy: “ahh you’re not allowed to bring outside food, what are these?”
chinese dude: “this one is.. yee sang, and this one is.. yok kon lor”

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

Address:
Lorong SS3/59E
Petaling Jaya
47300 Selangor
GPS: 3.109577, 101.611776

Tags:  chinese-new-year,  kopitiam,  lucky loke,  mellissa,  pork,  yee sang

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »

Meng Kee Steamed Soup is one of those places where I’ve been to so many times that I had always thought that I wrote about it before. A quick search revealed that I haven’t, and there were actually at least a couple sets of pictures taken from this place from quite a while back.

more than half the menu consists of various steamed soup

Meng Kee is located by the Taman Paramount Giant Hypermarket and Post Office, right next door to one of my other favorite Chinese “tai chau” – Ming Heong.

There are a couple dozen tables sprawling around the area with about three quarter of them totally alfresco style. I wouldn’t go there when it’s raining or even just drizzling, however, on any other given night, you usually have to wait for a table. It is a very busy little corner.

various types of steamed soup and herbal soup, and other dishes

Once you’re seated, it is usually quite a challenge to get the attention of the waiters and secure a menu. Over half of the dishes offered here are steamed soup. You can find anything from “tung kwai”, chicken soup in coconut, peanut, pork tripes, ribs, ABC, black chicken, to ginseng soup.

Most soup come in a single-person serving, with a handful of them for twin sharing. I’ve tried at least half a dozen different types of soup here and for the most part, they’re rather awesome, but perhaps with the exception of pork tripe soup. For a good bowl of pork tripe soup, I’ll head to Weng Soon Jaya at USJ instead.

steamed chicken, 3 colored steamed egg, Mellissa

Other than soup, they serve a few steamed vegetables, tofu, pretty awesome lamb curry, steamed chicken with oyster sauce, and my favorite – three colored steamed egg (with normal egg, century egg, and salted egg).

With the exception of the curry, deep fried and asam fish, almost everything from Meng Kee is steamed or soup. If you’re looking for a healthy meal that is also easy on the wallet (most soup starts from RM 4 to RM 8, and other dishes not over RM 10) too, you know where to go now.

Address:
Jalan 20/22,
Taman Paramount, PJ,
Selangor
GPS: 3.107553,101.624141

In a not so related note:

I like the feel of the new Blackberry 8520 I got from XBerry party, it feels pretty good in my hand. Small, sleek, and rather light even if compared with the normal “dumb” phones.

I also think that the touch pad is actually pretty nifty. While others might prefer the more traditional BlackBerry trackball, I think the touch pad has more longevity and a lot less headache when you’re at a beach (fine grains of sand getting into the trackball can be quite a pita to clean)

If you missed buying the 8520 at RM 888 during the launch, Xpax is now selling the package at RM 998, completely unlocked. Get a unit and join the club yo!

Next up: updating BBM!

Tags:  chicken,  egg,  mellissa,  soup,  taman-paramount

Posted by KY | 25 Comments »

One of my favorite dinner Bak Kut Teh destinations was always been at PJ old town. For the longest time, I actually didn’t notice the existence of Meng Kee Bak Kut Teh despite having been to Heng Kee just a stone’s throw away in numerous occasions.

Meng Kee Bak Kut Teh with all sorts of ingredients to choose from

Meng Kee is located right opposite Public Bank at Old Town at a corner shop that is basically almost all alfresco with no table within the walls. The whole set up is more old school, quite a lot more disorganized, and even busier than Heng Kee.

On the Monday night we were there, it was packed and we actually had to wait for some 10 minutes before a table was available for the six of us. It took a further 20 minutes or so before our food was served.

pork ribs, vegetable, 3 layer fatty pork, braised mushroom

Just like the other Old Town bak kut teh, the dishes are served in plastic bowls instead of clay pots. Personally I don’t find any distinction between having my meat in a clay pot or a bowl. You should eat bak kut teh fast enough that the soup stay warm irregardless of the type of container used.

We ordered 3-layer fatty pork, ribs, braised mushroom, vegetable, a small portion of intestines and tripes, and tofu.

KY, Ginny, Mellissa, AmCheong, Yee Hou, Firdy

The meat, fatty pork, ribs, innards, alongside with the teow chew style bak kut teh soup was good, on par with some of the bests out there. The mushroom and vegetable was alright too, though not particularly special. Tofu was a little too oily but I think it was due to the fact that they rushed it.

There are people we claimed that Meng Kee is better than Heng Kee, but honestly speaking I find no significant difference between the two and would probably prefer the latter’s slightly more comfortable dining experience. That said, Meng Kee does have the more old school nostalgic feel to it that works in its favor for that all important psychological effect.

Meng Kee BKT is located opposite Public Bank at PJ Old Town

Address:
Meng Kee Bak Kut Teh
Jalan Pasar 1/21
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.086565,101.646044
Tel: 017-291 1745

Tags:  amcheong,  Bak Kut Teh,  bkt,  firdy,  ginny,  mellissa,  old-town,  yee hou

Posted by KY | 31 Comments »

With huge influx of international students each year taking advantage of some of the region’s best education system, Melbourne CBD is a place that is heavily influenced by what these students demand. When it comes to food, you can find almost as many Japanese, Korean, and Chinese food as you can with Western/Australian establishments.

Oriental Spoon, Korean Cuisine

Oriental Spoon, located just right across Melbourne Central on La Trobe, is one such places. Though labeled Korean Cuisine, like many Asian restaurants around the city, this place has assimilated to the demands of Australian and Asian alike.

What you get is not exactly authentic Korean food, the portions are huge, the kimchi less strong tasting, lesser variety of banchan, and generally tastes that are more “mainstream”. This isn’t something you’ll ever find in Korea, or even the little Korea in Ampang.

banchan, beef casserole, spicy pork bulgogi

While the purists might argue that it is a waste of time visiting a place that served heavily localized (some might even go to the extend of using the word bastardized) food, I prefer to leave the verdict after tasting the food. If Mellissa and friends like this place, it should mean something.

Even though it was a weekday night, Oriental Spoon was already packed when we got there. Customers consist of probably 60% Asian at this place. We waited for some 15 minutes before securing a table.

a big pot of boiling beef casserole, best for winter weather

Like most Korean restaurants, they offer a variety of grilled meats such as a few choices of beef, pork belly, and even seafood. There’s also your standard bulgogi, kimchi soup, bibimbap (mixed meal) and so forth.

Even though there was only two of us, we ordered a beef casserole ($30+) and a spicy pork bulgogi ($18 or so) to go with some steamed rice.

There were four types of banchan served, and seriously speaking, none of them worth a mention. The kimchi was especially disappointing.

best served with Korean steamed rice

The spicy pork bulgogi though, was absolutely marvelous. Generous portion of fatty stripes of pork soaked in spicy oil with some sesame, onion, and other seasoning makes the dish very rich and succulent but also come with a kick. It was very sinful yet irresistible. The pork went very well with rice.

The beef casserole is a rather huge pot of raw beef, mushroom, vegetable, glass noodle, and other ingredients stewed in a broth right on the table. The soup gets better and better with time and at the tail end of the dinner we had a very sweet and rather tasty broth to go with plenty of beef. It was very good, but it was also a bit too much especially for only 2 person.

Oriental Spoon is located right across Melbourne Central

We ended up having to bag some of the leftovers despite getting ourselves stuffed silly. It was a good meal and decently priced too. However, I think this place is best for a group of 4 and above.

Oriental Spoon is also not for you if you’re interested in really authentic Korean food, but if you want something different but yet still within most people’s comfort zone. This place is worth visiting.

Address:
Oriental Spoon
254 La Trobe St,
Melbourne VIC 3000,
Australia‎
GPS: -37.810017,144.961467
Tel: 03-9654 9930‎

Tags:  bulgogi,  korean-food,  melbourne,  mellissa,  pork

Posted by KY | 17 Comments »

A few weeks ago, I had to good fortune of receiving RM 150 after helping fixed a laptop. I had tried to reject the payment since I had done it voluntarily, but the guy insisted that I take the money and “buy your girlfriend a good meal”. So I did accordingly.

Angus House at Pavilion

So while walking at Pavilion during lunch hour, I took Mellissa to the sixth floor instead of the basement food court area despite the fact that it was actually just a weekday.

The first restaurant we saw was Angus House, a rather quite place for lunch but since the place looks inviting, price and menu looks good, and I was in the mood for beef, we decided to have a go with it.

soft bun, carrot soup, salad, and dessert

Surprisingly, the set lunch for such a posh place goes for as low as RM 26 (sauteed chicken with mozzarella).

They come with quite a lot of accompanying dishes, a hot bun with butter to start, then a bowl of carrot soup that was actually quite rich and tasty (soup might change from day to day). A plate of salad follows before the main dish is served. Since Angus House is a Japanese Western establishment, the salad takes a bit of a Japanese twist, it was almost no dressing sans some light vinaigrette, I liked it.

Japanese burger patty, beef tenderloin

After the three entrees, it was time for our main dish. Mell’s hamburg course (RM 35) was a beef burger patty with an egg on top, carrot, potato, and long bean on the side, served in sizzling hot plate with brown sauce. I took a bite of the patty and found it rather delicious, quite a firm and rich texture with the taste to match.

Since I was in the mood for beef, I went for 200g tenderloin set instead (RM 81). They also have sirloin, rib eye, tournedos steak and more at 150g to 300g variant. If you have a thicker wallet, there’s also waygu and kobe beef from RM 200 to RM 400.

KY and Mell at Angus House, Pavilion

Though not of Kobe or Wagyu caliber, the tenderloin held up very well, it was tender and very juicy. I had it prepared medium rare, the sides are similar to the other dish, but the sauce a bit more minimalistic. I think often times steaks come with too much sauce that sometimes the original taste of the beef is lost.

Since they were really proper set lunches, we still had a dessert to go before the end of the day. The cake (can’t remember the type, but I think it was cheese) was not something out of this world but still rather pleasant.

Lunch at Angus House is really value for money if you stick with the 4 cheapest lunch sets. The fish & chips goes for RM 30 and spaghetti set for RM 32, in addition to the chicken and hamburg sets I mentioned. There isn’t a lot of “almost” fine dining places that offers such value.

As a side note: Angus cattle refers to two types of naturally hornless cattle.

Address:
Angus Steak House
Lot 6.44 & 6.45,
Level 6,
Pavilion KL,
Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL.
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-2145 6015

Tags:  beef,  mellissa,  pavilion,  steak

Posted by KY | 22 Comments »