Being a mom has one of the toughest job descriptions ever. In this upcoming Mother’s day over the weekends (see? even their “day” falls on a weekend so they don’t get days off from work), it’s time for a role reversal and cook her dinner instead.
But for those who can’t or otherwise not capable of doing so, bringing mom for a nice meal would be a good alternative.
Utara Coffee House at Armada Hotel, Petaling Jaya
Last weekends a few of us were invited to Armada Hotel’s Utara Coffee House to sample their Mother’s Day promotion – Loveably Mama:
Mothers also dine for free (subject to 2 moms per group of 10, call for more info). On top of that, the first 10 moms get to have free caricature drawings, plus there are goodie bags, games and prizes too.
the usual buffet spread – fresh oysters and prawns among the dishes
OK, now on to the food choices at Utara Coffee House.
The buffet spread, while not the biggest I’ve been, does offer pretty decent selections considering its price point.
there are some exquisite entrees too, the girls preparing laksa
There’s the raw bar with fresh oysters, prawns, as well as sushi and a selection of sashimi (from their Shokudo Japanese restaurant I assume).
There are also those exquisite little salad and prawn thingy served in a shot glass, cold cuts, satey, and even a noodle bar where you make your own nyonya laksa.
wide variety of food, including many local delights
For the Peranakan promotion that they are having, you’ll also find otak-otak, nyonya chap chai (mixed vegetable), ayam pong teh (stewed chicken), kiam chai ark (salted vegetable duck soup), jui hu char (fried cuttle fish, or nyonya hokkien sengkuang), loh bak, ayam buah keluak, sambal petai, and so forth.
Desserts include kuih kochi, sago gula melaka, kuih onde-onde, pulut tekan with kaya, ang koo kuih, pasembor, and pulut tai tai.
we tried their duck soup, sashimi, sushi
I had some oysters, salad, and cold cuts from the buffet (normal everyday line up), then for the review, we were served several items that were going to be available for Mother’s Day.
We started out with kiam chai ark (salted vegetable duck soup), and it was as authentic as they come. Slightly spicy and absolutely flavorful, something I’m used to growing up in a Penang Hokkien family where Nyonya food is our staple.
The asam sting ray (wish I took some rice) and jiu hur char (sengkuang with cuttlefish) too tasted very similar to what my mom used to make, I really liked them.
asam stingray, nyonya hokkien sengkuang, pulut kuning and rendang, dessert
I enjoyed the pulut kuning too, and while the ayam rendang was good, I must say that I am more used to curry chicken as a companion dish instead. Sushi and sashimi that we had were decent, but as with most buffets, they aren’t exactly going to be those type of offers a life changing experience.
My takeaway from buffet at Armada was that it was genuine, with food true to the origin (Chef is an experience guy originally from Penang and had extensive working experience overseas), and offers very decent value for money.
More photos at facebook page
Address:
Utara Coffee House
Hotel Armada Petaling Jaya
Lot 6, Lorong Utara C,
Section 52, 46200 PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.104199, 101.640964
Tel: 03-7954 6888 (ext 4557)
Hokkaido Ichiba at One Utama and Mid Valley Gardens are two of the latest restaurants to be opened up by one of the largest Japanese restaurant chains in the country – Super Dining.
The group started out with their Raku Zen restaurants at SS 15 and other locations, then ventured into lower end conveyor belt style restaurants in Sushi Zanmai, a Japanese pasta chain in Pasta Zanmai, a higher end hotel-restaurant in Kura, and now, sitting between Zanmai and Raku Zen – Hokkiado Ichiba.
Hokkaido Ichiba, One Utama branch
The menu at Hokkaido Ichiba is rather extensive, there are sushi, sashimi, various bento, maki, ramen, udon, and even small side dishes that you normally wouldn’t find in ordinary Japanese outlets.
California temaki, anglerfish liver, spicy oyster ramen
For the two of us, we ordered an oyster ramen, a chirashi sushi, California temaki, and something that I haven’t eaten since 5 years ago in Vietnam - anglerfish liver.
The service was pretty brisk on a weekday night at One Utama, and we got our dishes within 15 minutes or so upon ordering.
The California temaki was Haze’s appetizer and reportedly quite tasty. The anglerfish liver though, was a tad too dry for me, though still retaining that distinctive taste that I can only describe as a blend of liver with a fishy (in a good way) undertone and has a texture between that of foie gras and pork liver. If you haven’t tried it before, this is a place to do so in an affordable way.
The spicy oyster ramen was a pretty decent dish as well, spicy and rather flavorful, though slightly lacking when compared to dedicated ramen shops such as Santouka or Marutama. This is perhaps due to the home made ramen used in other outlets, or the amount of effort poured into the making of ramen broth.
chirashi sushi, with scallops, amaebi, salmon, ikura
My chirashi sushi though, was a steal at RM 30. It has two amaebi (sweet shrimps), hotate (scallops), ikura (salmon roe), salmon, and a couple crab sticks. The ingredients were pretty fresh and I thought it was a very good bowl of chirashi sushi especially considering the price point.
Haze and KY at Hokkaido Ichiba Japanese restuarant
Overall, Hokkiado Ichiba really does find a niche in this pretty saturated Japanese restaurant market. The food is pretty good, prices reasonable (RM 77.70 for everything, including green tea). If you are at One Utama or Mid Valley Gardens looking for reasonably affordable Japanese food and not wanting to fight with the crowd at Sushi Zanmai, this is a place worth checking out.
Address:
Hokkaido Ichiba
Lot T-201, 3rd Floor, The Gardens,
Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 KL.
Tel: 03-2283 1060
Hokkaido Ichiba
Lot LG 101, Lower Ground Floor Promenade,
1 Utama Shopping Centre, No 1, Lebuh Bandar Utama,
Bandar Utama Damansara, 47800 PJ.
Tel: 03-7727 0020
There’s a new diver in town! Haze just did her PADI Open Water certification at Pulau Sembilan, which is a cluster of small islands half an hour’s boat ride away from Lumut. The underwater condition, and thus diving, was subpar at best. Visibility was quite poor except for one of the dives, and there wasn’t exactly a lot of exotic creatures to spot either.
However, for whatever that is lack in diving, the couple dinners we had at the area more than made up for it.
Hai Tien Di Seafood Restaurant, Sitiawan
On the second night of our stay at Lumut, Haze and I joined our fatty dive master James, together with fellow dive buddy Alan to Hai Tien Di seafood restaurant at Sitiawan with the promise of awesome fresh oysters and yummy seafood.
It was about a 20 minutes drive away from where we stayed at Marina Island Pangkor, and we were not disappointed.
check out the size of fresh oyster there
We ordered 10 big oysters as appetizer (RM 5 a piece), and just check out their size! They fleshy part of the oysters were as big as my palm, easily the biggest oysters I had.
Coupled with the fact that these creatures were actually alive in the tank prior to being served, they were absolutely delicious. A dash of lime or some Tabasco sauce was all it takes, and try not to make the mistake of putting it in with one mouthful lest you wanna make a full of yourself having oysters spilling out at the corner of your mouth.
Positively tasty.
steamed prawns, they were alive moments ago
Our biggest main dish was the steamed live prawns. At Hai Tien Di, you get to choose between the “normal” frozen prawns, or the live prawns from the tank. We of course, went for broke and chose the later.
With live seafood, the simplest cooking method is usually the best. This is to preserve the essence of the taste, so for this dish, we have it steamed, as recommended by the operator.
The prawns sliced in halves, and steamed with a bit of ginger, fried garlic, spring onion, light soya sauce, and Chinese wine. It was delightful, packed with that seafood sweetness. At RM 65 this was definitely not cheap, but worth it nonetheless.
fresh oyster, fried vegetable, steamed grouper
A seafood meal is not complete without fish, so we ordered a live grouper, steamed teow chew style (RM 35). It was of course, absolutely fresh and went well with steamed rice.
We also had a plate of vegetable (RM8) to satisfy the vitamin c/fiber requirements. You must always have a serving of vegetable at every meal, no?
we sure did have our stomachs stuffed
The service at Hai Tien Di was pretty good, food came quite fast as well. I can’t say that this is a place that is economical (for a small town), but the quality of fresh/live seafood here was stunning, and those oysters were absolutely delicious.
If you find yourself at Lumut/Sitiawan, this would be a place worth visiting.
Address:
Hai Tien Di Seafood Restaurant
522 Kampung Cina,
32000 Sitiawan, Perak
GPS: 4.190067, 100.684217
Tel: 05-692 4679
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I only have precious little memory of my late maternal grand parents. I remember tagging along with my late grandma to the wet market on most mornings. and after shopping, she would tapao a packet of my grandfather’s favorite oh chien (fried oyster).
Together with the day’s newspaper and coffee, that would often be a meal for the old man. He would then read the paper and update grandma on news, as she was illiterate.
the most glorious fried oyster (oh chien)
While my grandparents have passed on some two decades ago, their favorite oh chien place at Kedai Kopi Seng Thor on Lebuh Carnarvon is still going strong.
It must be years since I last had the fried oyster here, so over the CNY break back in Penang, I took the opportunity to do just that.
Kedai Kopi Seng Thor at Lebuh Carnarvon
By my observation (and most likely flawed), the dish is prepared in three steps – first starch & whatever concoction is placed on the frying pants; then eggs are added; finally, enough oysters for one serving is added and fried separately before being mixed together with the eggs, some cooking wine and fancy wok fire is involved too.
This way, the hawker can prepare 4-5 portions with one egg preparation stage, and at the same time ensuring the consistency as well as the number of oysters for each portion.
Three rounds of this was done before my dish was served thanks to the holiday crowd, but it was worth it.
the chili sauce is mixed with a bit of garlic too
The fried oyster was undoubtedly the best I’ve had, the omelette itself was so good even the oysters kinda became a bit of a second thought. The texture had a nice blend of crispiness with the familiar consistency of egg, and none of those sticky gooey half cooked starch that you sometimes find in less superior oh chien.
The taste too was spot on, and if you like it with a bit of kick, the chili sauce that came with is pure heaven.
The portion I had was RM 10, and I should have ordered more.
Address:
Kedai Kopi Seng Thor
160, Lebuh Carnarvon,
10100 Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.415495, 100.33468
This post is a little bit late, considering Christmas is actually sorta.. well, over, but better late than never, right?
A couple weeks ago I was invited to probably the biggest Merry Guinness event at Double Tree by Hilton in KL, featuring the winner of MasterChef Australia season 2 – Adam Liaw. Guinness & good food? I can’t resist, even though it meant that I had to braved the KL traffic on a weekday to get to this place.
Merry Guinness with chef Adam Liaw, Kelly Siew at lower right
A kitchen was set up in the main banquet hall, with chef Adam Liaw demonstrating how many of the Guinness infused dishes served for the night is created. While we waited for the dishes to get ready, unlimited rounds of Guinness were being served.
Good life yah?
oysters, chicken and egg terrine, squid, lamb shank pie, gravad lax
As for the food, we were actually served over a dozen different dishes over the course of the night, and yes, I was stuffed at the end of the night. Here’s the menu in two parts:
Chef Adam’s Inspired Menu
Guinness butter roasted chicken, Christmas vegetable
The second part of the menu, Christmas Feast:
roast pumpkin soup with julienne smoked duck,
Christmas pudding, BBQ wings
Many of the dishes were excellent, I particularly think that the sauce for gravad lax and oysters were executed to perfection. Chicken and egg terrine were interesting but tasted slightly foreign to me, and the wings & buttered chicken would perhaps be that much better if served warm (the room was too cold I guess, and they didn’t really serve it with heated plates).
The squid too was perfect as finger food to go with Guinness, but ultimately there were really just way too much food for my stomach that I actually skipped desserts.
desserts & drinks, Nigel, Michael, Wilson, and yours truly mucking around
This was another rather awesome event by Guinness, and it is a shame that we can’t order some of these creations by chef Adam Liaw anywhere in the country. Perhaps some pub owners will take note and incorporate some of the ideas into their menu (oysters & the gravad lax please!)
And by the way, hope you had a great xmas and Happy New Year!
