Undoubtedly many of you has noticed that there is a renaissance in the fast food business in Malaysia. In the last few years, we have the introduction (or reintroduction) of chains like Carl’s Jr and Subway. I think this due to consumer’s acceptance to higher priced fast food, higher price in hawker offerings, and the general deterioration of hawker food standards in Klang Valley.

The latest that came on board would be Wendy’s at Sunway Pyramid, the restaurant opened on the 5th of April and I just came back from my 3rd visit this afternoon.

Wendy’s at Sunway Pyramid

During my stay at the States, Wendy’s was one of the few fast food restaurants I used to go on a regular basis. I would put it second on my list after Chick-fil-A, but above A&W, Arby’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway. The reason was simple, it was relatively cheap and the food tastes good.

juicy burgers with beef, chicken, and shrimp, fried chicken too

I was overjoyed when Wendy’s opened here, and the first thing I tasted was of course, the 1/2 Pounder Burger. Two patties of 1/4 pound beef (a big Mac has slightly less than 1/4 pound beef in total) with a cheese in between sandwiched by soft but firm bun. The quality was just as good as I remembered, very juicy and flavorful. In the subsequent visits I tried their Shrimp Burger and Spicy Chicken Sandwich, both the items were equally good and I do attribute it to the quality of ingredient used. The shrimp burger nullified my complain of McDonald’s not serving their shrimp burger in Malaysia (they do have it in Bangkok and Tokyo).

Wendy’s is in between Carl’s Jr. and McDonald’s when it comes to pricing. A small set goes for 7.99 (nuggets) to 17.99 (3/4 pounder), add RM 1 for medium and RM 2 for large, and additional RM 1 if you want Ribena instead of soft drinks. Not a bad deal considering the quality, give it a try!

check out my hand drawn wendy’s logo!

Wendy’s have plans for outlets in IOI Mall, Jaya One, and Berjaya Times Square.

Address:
Wendy’s Pyramid
(opposite McDonald’s)
Tel: 03-5637 1059

Tags:  1/2 pounder,  burger,  dining,  eats,  fast-food,  restaurant,  shrimp burger,  sunway pyramid,  wendy's

Posted by KY | 38 Comments »

It has been a gluttonously satisfying weekend, I had plenty of Kalbi at Kangsane on Saturday night, and this superb hairy crab dinner last night at Restaurant King Crab. I couldn’t possibly ask for more.

can you see the crab roe?

Hairy Crab, or Chinese Mitten Crab (大閘蟹), an invasive species that is wrecking up river ecosystem in Europe and North America, is revered in Chinese cuisine not unlike sharks fin and abelone. I guess one person’s pest is another person’s delicacy. The fatty roe and sweet crab meat is highly sought after. Yang Cheng Lake, about an hour away from Shanghai, is said to produce the best hairy crab.

The hairy crab season starts from around August until December where the crabs are packed with roe and supposedly most fatty and delicious. Since King Crab is having a 5+1 promotion on hairy crab, we ordered 6 crabs (3 male, 3 female), with steamed fish (海底鸡), pork ribs, and spinach to go with rice for dinner.

they only serve live seafood here

The only one way to prepare hairy crab is by steaming it as to preserve the natural sweetness and not overpowering the taste with any spices. Sweet vinegar and slices of ginger accompanies the dish. At the restaurant, a waiter is in charged of shelling our crabs and prepare them for consumption, nice.

The taste of the roe, coupled with some vinegar, was just amazing. It was very succulent and rich, carrying a taste factor not unlike having foie gras for the first time. The crab was not overly cooked and the meat retains the sweetness that is similar to fresh lobster tail. The roe of the female crab was great, but the meat of the bigger male crab doesn’t lack behind either. It was very good, the best crab I’ve had so far.

the hot chick is obviously enjoying her food

After the crab, we had rice with the other dishes that includes steamed fish, pork ribs, and spinach with soup. The quality of these dishes were pretty good too; but after those mouth watering crabs, everything else just doesn’t excite the taste bud as much.

other dishes include vegetable, fish, and some good old fashion pork

Price of hairy crab at Restaurant King Crab are at RM 38/58/88/118 each. Our crabs were priced at RM 58 each, 150 gram for female crab and 200 gram for male crab respectively. The entire dinner was a little over RM 400 for four. Certainly not cheap, but it is a taste that is to be experienced at least once in a life time. Alternatively, you can fly to Shanghai next season.

Now where should I go this coming weekend?

King Crab restaurant is situated just opposite the Kelana Jaya LRT station

Address:
103-107, Jalan SS25/2,
Taman Mewah Jaya,
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 03-7805 3282

Tags:  chinese cuisine,  Chinese mitten crab,  crab,  hairy crab,  king crab,  restaurant,  shanghai

Posted by KY | 28 Comments »

For whatever reason, it has taken me this long to write about Kangsane Korean Restaurant in Ampang despite having been there numerous times since more than a year ago. In fact, this is the Korean restaurant I most frequent in recent times, and there is a reason for it: simply the best Galbi (marinated beef ribs) anywhere!

nice ambiance, illustrated menu

Kangsane Korean Restaurant is situated right in the middle of Little Korea at Ampang, that interesting commercial square where you can find dozens of Korean restaurants, grocery stores, and even optical shops. This place is to Korean like Brickfields is to Indian. Parking is usually not an issue here.

kimchi jjigae (soup), samgyeopsal (pork belly), and Galbi (marinated beef ribs)

Just like most other Korean BBQ restaurants, Kangsane serves various BBQ meat, stews, bulgogi, and of course, all these comes with plenty of Banchan (side dishes) that is the signature of Korean food. The must-order dish here would be the Galbi, I just couldn’t get enough of the succulent and perfectly flavored beef ribs.

I suggest that you always give them a call to make sure that the supply of Galbi is ample before heading there. We had to go for pork galbi on the last visit as the beef version ran out of stock, while it was still very good, the beef ribs is simply irreplaceable.

the many banchan (side dishes)

The other commendable dish is the samgyeopsal (pork belly), do start with this dish first if you also order galbi as the pork carries a more subtle taste that might be overpowered by the beef if you reverse the order.

Of course, a good Korean restaurant must also serve good banchan (side dishes), and the good thing about Kangsane is that they always have different banchan every time we go there. From anchovies to tofu, kimchi to some funny looking vegetables, they are always very delicious and accompanies the main dish very well. I also absolutely love their kimchi jjigae (kimchi soup)

good food is to be enjoyed with friends: Kim, Kelvin, Pinkpau, ST, Kenneth

Price wise, this place is pretty much in par with similar Korean restaurants. Some BBQ meat dishes, stews, and maybe some dumplings will usually cost around RM 40-50 per person for a table of 4-5. Very worth it though.

Kangsane is situated in the Little Korea at Ampang, KL

Address:
C5 Jalan Ampang Utama 1/1
One Ampang Avenue
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-4251 2598

Tags:  Ampang,  dining,  kangsane,  kimchi,  Korean-BBQ,  korean-food,  little-korea,  restaurant

Posted by KY | 15 Comments »

Lucky Loke tai chau (大炒) stall is situated just a stone’s throw away from where I live, and naturally I have been there on quite a number of occasions. However, due to the poor quality of pictures taken on previous visits, I have not had the chance to post about this place until now.

glorious garlic fish, not to be missed

Lucky Loke is quite an established tai chau place, always the busiest among the 3 places that are around the same area. We decided to have some decent dinner there after coming back from a rather enjoyable karting session last Saturday.

But first, allow me to digress a bit:

• In the morning, Kelvin asked Kerol “hey wanna go kart?”
• “huh? I don’t have, why do you want it?”
• We were quite puzzled until we figured out that she didn’t have Gold Card, only Silver Cards..

sorry kim, you missed the dinner

Anyway, for the 3 of us, we ordered the must-eat signature dish that is the garlic fish (siakap), asam prawn, and a plate of Hong Kong kailan. Naturally, we have white rice to go with these dishes.

garlic fish, HK kailan, and asam prawn

The garlic fish was excellent as usual. Served with plenty of raw garlic and chili padi on top of the deep fried fish with their special sauce (tasted like fish sauce with some vinegar and other ingredients), the texture of the fish and the taste was just right. Having it deep fried also mean that we didn’t have to worry too much on the bones.

The asam prawn was surprisingly good too, the asam base was very thick and flavorful. There’s garlic, egg plant, and tomato as garnish to the main item, the big size tiger prawns. It was just as good as the one served at restaurant Hoowan at Kelana Jaya. The Hong Kong kailan tasted a bit old this time, but it was still alright.

Lucky Loke is at Restaurant Kean Fatt

The dinner costs about RM 17 for each of us, not the most economical meal there is, but we are still plenty satisfied, it was just so good. Lucky Loke is also famous for their pork rib (phai kuat wong, 排骨王), you should give it a try if you haven’t yet.

Lucky Loke is located at Restaurant Kean Fatt, just directly behind the Taman Bahagia LRT station in SS3. The same restaurant also serves the famous pork noodle for breakfast and lunch.

Tags:  asam-prawn,  delicious,  dining,  food,  garlic-fish,  lucky-loke,  restaurant,  ss3,  tai-chau,  yummy

Posted by KY | 10 Comments »

I went to this place in Chow Yang area of SS2 thanks to my house mate Kerol having to spend Jack, who has helped fixing her computer numerous times thanks to her attraction to the world of spyware, worm, and computer virus. Being hungry at the same time, I accidentally got a free meal too.

a standard kopitiam “tai chao” set up

After deliberating for a few minutes, we decided to go to Restaurant Shanky, a tai chao (大炒) place on the same row as KAYU Nasi Kandar at the SS2 Chow Yang area. The restaurant is of a typical kopitiam set up but kept rather clean and hygienic looking.

We ordered 3 dishes for, well, 3 of us. A Thai style deep fried fish with Siakap, spinach, and pork belly with salted fish (咸鱼花腩). All these to go with steamed rice.

Thai style fish, spinach, and pork belly with salted fish

Food came after about 15-20 minutes, pretty standard waiting time for a tai chao place. The Thai style fish was really good, the fish deep fried to a crispy texture, and it came with Thai chili sauce and plenty of garnish such as parsley, shallots, and red chili. The combination of the sweet and spicy sauce with the crispy fish meat was pretty addictive.

The spinach is topped with some “silver fish” just like the one from Ah Leong’s fried rice at the nearby mamak square. An interesting combination. Lastly, the pork belly with salted fish is just as good as I’ve tasted from any other places, a very sinful dish that will nullify 3 hours of intense badminton.

restaurant shanky is situated on the same row as Kayu Nasi Kandar

The bill came to around RM 50 for the 3 dishes. Pretty reasonable, I’d say it is inline with the nearby new Chow Yhang restaurant in terms of food quality and price.

Address:
20, Jalan SS2/12
47300, Petaling Jaya
Selangor

Tags:  chinese-food,  chow-yang,  restaurant,  salted-fish,  shanky,  SS2 SS3 SS4,  thai-fish

Posted by KY | 3 Comments »