On my first trip to Melbourne last April, I tried to avoid food that are available here in Malaysia. I sorta ran out of options rather quickly, so on the second trip, I was ready and more than willing to have some of the meals usually associated with students living here instead.

In a way, instead of having a traditional holiday to Melbourne, I spent the 10 days I was there like a typical student would. I ate the same food, watched a bit of TV series, and even went to a lecture with Mellissa!

Ying Thai 2, rather authentic and very tasty

So when Mell and I were meeting Pinky and Kah Kit, we had it at Ying Thai 2 instead of a place that serves “western” or Australian food. The last we met was April, at Notturno (which happens to be just across the same street), and at Supper Inn for, well, supper.

Ying Thai 2 is a Thai restaurant run by, at the face of it, mostly Thai people. When we got there at around 8pm on a weekday, it was still fully packed. We had to wait for some 30 minutes before securing an alfresco style table. Luckily the outdoor heater was on.

tomyam, green curry, and minced pork with basil

We quickly made our orders, and as usual, being the least picky eater in the group, I let the others do the honor. This also means that I get to enjoy different tastes most of the time, instead of always ordering something I am familiar with.

We asked for 4 dishes: seafood tomyam, green curry chicken, minced pork with basil, and chicken in pandan leave. We also ordered coconut rice instead of normal steamed rice to go with them.

coconut rice and chicken in pandan leaves

It took quite a bit to get our food as the place was extremely busy, to make matter worse, we had to deal with the smell that comes off from the restaurant with our empty stomach. It was a torture, but it was also well worth it.

The green curry chicken and the seafood tomyam was no different from those you get at any good Thai restaurants. The curry rich in coconut milk and come with all the ingredients you expect, while the tomyam is not overly spicy, it was full of seafood ingredients and still manage to provide a small kick.

Mell, KY, Pinky, Kah Kit

The pandan chicken was even better, on par with some of the bests I’ve had. Soft and very flavorful, they go well with the extra fragrant coconut rice, I like the rice a lot more than normal steamed rice or even sticky rice.

However, the best dish of the day had to be the minced pork with basil. It was spicy, it had the flavor of pork, basil (one of my favorite herbs), red chilli, and whatever sauce the chef put in. The result was something with a kick, it was spicy, it was tasty, and it was very addictive.

It was a good dinner session, with great food and of course, Pinky is one of my favorite persons whom I got to know via Nuffnang over a year ago. Incidentally, Mell worked with Pinky during her internship and that was how we got to know each other.

Address:
Ying Thai 2
110 Lygon St,
Carlton VIC 3053,
Australia
GPS: -37.804329,144.966424
Tel: 03-9639 1697‎

p/s: I have a few more Melbourne food posts to complete before the memory escapes my mind, so bear with me.

Tags:  kah kit,  lygon,  melbourne,  mellissa,  pinky,  pork,  thai-food,  tomyam

Posted by KY | 27 Comments »

A little while ago I received an invitation from Andrea from Restaurant Coca for a food review session. It was quite a while since the last time I had Coca (for steamboat) and remember the experience to be a rather good one. Anyhow, Suan, FA, Ringo, Tim, and I went to the session on a particular Tuesday night last month and gorged ourselves silly.

the five free loaders at Coca and our juices

Most of you might have been associating Restaurant Coca with their higher end steamboat dinners, while this is still true, our review session was to try on their newer Thai inspired dishes instead.

Most of us ordered juices to start the meal, and I just had to get the pretty curious Roselle drink the moment I saw it on the menu. For the uninitiated, it is a type of Hibiscus (ala our national flower) with the drink that is sweet in a different way. The Roselle tasted fresh and very juicy to the bite too, I love it. Unfortunately Andrea said they imported this particular ingredient from overseas and they aren’t available at the stores.. bummer.

pandan chicken, stuffed prawns, deep fried calamari

Next came three appetizer dishes: pandan chicken, stuffed prawns, and deep fried calamari.

Out of the three items, the stuffed prawns were a bit disappointing, but perhaps maybe it was the presentation. They look so awesome but at the end the taste was just average, a case of visual over hype I suppose. Deep fried calamari was one of Tim’s favorite appetizer, the fresh squid and the taste of batter was a good combination. As for me, I have to go with the pandan chicken, it was probably the best I’ve had, better than the “paper wrapped chicken” at balakong and even the same dish at De Chiengmai. The chicken very succulent and the marinate was just perfect.

seafood tomyam, steamed fish with thai sauce, tofu with scallops, kailan

After the pretty heavy appetizers, we had seven main dishes to go with rice. Steamed siakap with Thai sauce was very good, the sour and salty soup mixes well with the fish and garnish. Fried kailan provided a fresher taste, while the clay pot tofu carried a very strong sweetness from scallops, very nice.

However, I find the seafood tomyam a little too “lemak” (though milk is used in substitute of coconut milk/santan) and didn’t enjoy it much. To me, tomyam should be sour and spicy instead, so I find the experience a little strange. The green chicken curry, though lemak as well, tasted pretty good as that was how it should be.

deep fried mantao and chili crabs, butter prawns

The big ticket items were the butter prawns and chili crab. The buttery batter used is slightly different from usual, with more Thai inspired spices and thus carries a stronger taste that I find very nice. I had extra since Tim, being a noob, doesn’t eat prawns.

The deep fried mantao went really well with the sauce from chili crab dish. As for the crab itself, while not very impressive in size, was fresh and tasted pretty good.

the desserts: mango with glutinous rice, red ruby, sago in coconut milk

As our stomach started to expand like a hot air balloon and already having quite a bit of leftovers due to the impossible amount of food served. Andrea decided that the meal wouldn’t be complete without trying their desserts.

We had red ruby, sago in coconut milk, mango with glutinous rice, and ice kacang. I only tried a few spoonful from each of them. They were quite good, but to be honest, I was already over stuffed to the point of losing my sense of taste.

It was a pretty good dinner, and I do think that most of their Thai dishes were pretty good (especially the pandan chicken). While the price is a little on the high side, Coca offers a very nice ambiance with pretty good quality ingredients.

Address:
Subang Parade,
Subang Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.082109,101.585416
Tel: 03-5632 8766

Tags:  cheesie,  chicken,  crab,  FA,  fish,  ky,  prawn,  squid,  suanie,  thai-food,  tim

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

After SeeTho brought us to the fantastic duck noodle place for our first meal at Krabi, I thought it’d be pretty difficult to follow up with an equally impressive dinner, but I guessed wrong. We spent some wet time at a hot spring waterfall and walked around Krabi town (more on those in upcoming posts) in the evening, then we were brought to this curious little place that looks more like a garden/forest reserve, which incidentally also serves as the entrance to Ruenmai Thai Restaurant.

beautiful garden setting

The restaurant is also a garden, with huge trees, small streams, little nicely decorated huts, and plenty of plants and flowers everywhere. Hidden among the vegetation were statues and antique objects, very nicely done. We were seated on one of the slightly elevated platforms right in the middle of the garden.

chicken with cashew nuts, ulam, and mango salad

Food was served by the friendly waitresses while we were busy snapping pictures of the beautiful place (and the food too, of course).

Appetizer was the classic mango salad with generous amount of lightly grilled cashew nuts. Then there’s also the Thai style ulam (salad) with cencaluk (preserved shrimp sauce). These two dishes definitely got our saliva flowing.

wild leave vegetable, siakap fish, clear tomyam soup

The main dishes were deep fried siakap fish (baramundi) with sweet and spicy Thai sauce and plenty of cilantro on top. The fish was very fresh and the sauce went well with fragrant steamed rice. There’s also stir fried chicken with onion, spring onion, and cashew nuts.

Of course, there is the rather delicious clear tomyam soup (similar with normal tomyam sans chili oil) laden with all sorts of seafood. However, the one dish that captured my attention was the stir fried “wild leave” that tasted very different from any other vegetable dishes. The leaves were slightly tougher to chew but carries a pretty unique ‘raw’ and authentic taste which I really like. You should try it if you have the chance.

Kim & myself, Nicole, Kel Li, Nigel

It was a really good Thai meal that ended with some mangosteen as dessert. SeeTho had it all planned out nicely, we got there just before sunset but half way during dinner, the sun retired for the day and the whole place was lit up with incandescent bulbs giving it a different and more romantic feel.

A more high end place, definitely costs a bit more than the duck noodle. Then again, it would be probably be half of what you’re expected to spend for an equivalent meal in Malaysia.

GPS: 8.07725, 98.90829
Tel: +6607 563 1797
Tel: 07 563 1797

Tags:  kel li,  kimberly,  krabi,  nicole,  nigel,  thai-food,  Thailand

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »

I was at The Curve last Friday after work with a few friends, since a couple of them has already eaten, we decided to go to some place less lavish and ended up at Thai Express on The Street.

As the name suggest, this is an “express” restaurant that has a limited range of dishes. The interior decoration is simple and clean, without much fuss.

nice looking menu

After looking over the illustrated menu, I decided to go for the curried soft shell crab rice and a glass of Thai Pina Colada (non alcoholic version). Kelvin ordered the BBQ fish rice, while the other two jokers only ordered desserts and drinks as they have already eaten.

We didn’t need to wait long for the dishes to be served. I was more than delighted to see two pretty good size soft shell crabs covered with good-smelling curry sitting right next to the steamed rice. As the taste of soft shell crab (argh i kept miss-spelling it as software crab) is pretty standard, it came down to the curry to differentiate the dish from the simple deep fried soft shell crab, it was not a disappointment. Kelvin’s fish dish was pretty decent as well.

ahh, the soft shell crab rice!

The Thai Pina Colada is basically some mixture of mostly pineapple juice with a big scoop of the excellent ice cream. Then there’s the traditional glutinous rice with mango, red rubies, and more coconut ice cream (sweet temptation) we ordered.

The highlight of the evening was when I looked at Kimberly’s half chewed mango skin, and she explained:
“I was wondering why this mango is a little weird until I saw the skin… “
Basically the girl ate half the mango skin without realizing what she was chewing, this girl never cease to surprise us.

kim with her half-eaten mango SKIN

As for price, the food, while not cheap, weren’t too expensive. The curried soft shell crab was RM 17.90++ and the fish RM 15.90++. However, the drinks are a little pricey at RM 7.90++ for what I ordered, and even mineral water will set you back at RM 2.90++.

A decent place to dine in if you’re at The Curve, but for proper Thai food, I’ll go to De’ Chiengmai at Sungai Buloh.

Address:
Thai Express Restaurant
G50, Jalan PJU 7/3
The Curve, Mutiara Damansara
GPS: 3.157699, 101.611540
Tel No: 03-7710 9629

Tags:  damansara,  express,  soft-shell-crab,  thai-food,  the-curve

Posted by KY | 13 Comments »

The mat salleh suggested that we go to De Chiengmai Thai Seafood restaurant at Sungai Buloh after reading the Malay tomyam place I posted on monsterblog a few weeks ago. Together with Kelvin, we promptly did that the following weekend.

very nice ambience

Getting to there is no trivial stuff, the restaurant is located deep in a kampung at Sungai Buloh. However, with the senior’s memory and a little luck, we finally reached there after only one wrong turn. For the readers here, you guys are lucky, there’s now, of course, a map (see below)

The architecture of the restaurant reminded me of cultural centers and museums more than a place to cure hunger. Nicely decorated and quiet, De Chiengmai offers a good ambience for dining. There are also ample parking space.

tomyam, otak-otak, steamed fish, pandan chicken

We ordered 4 dishes for the 3 of us. A must-order steamed siakap fish (bass), seafood tomyam, otak-otak, and pandan chicken. It didn’t take long before the dishes were served, with the more aromatic Thai rice to go with them.

real charcoal, and super fresh vegetable

The steamed fish turned out to be the best dish of the day. With plenty of garlic and ginger, the fish simmers in a sourish and spicey soup base and being kept warm with slow burning charcoal. Don’t miss out on this dish if you go there. The tomyam was pretty good as well, not overly spicy, but with plenty of squid, prawns, and other seafood items.

The otak-otak, well, is not anything we would call otak-otak in a Malaysian sense. This dish is a mixture of seafood in the otak-otak “sauce”. With plenty of fish meat, prawn, and squid. It was very rich and satisfying though. The pandan chicken tasted as how they should be, and provided a good alternative to all the seafood dishes we ordered.

location map of de’ Chiengmai Thai Seafood Restaurant

The restaurant definately offers one of the best Thai food anywhere, and with the great atmosphere and reasonable pricing (RM 112.88 for all those). It is really hard to beat. Especially now that you know how to get there, there is no excuse not to give it a try.

Do order some vege dishes too (we probably should have), De Chiengmai grow their own vegetables so that all the vegetables are super fresh and of top quality.

Address:
De Chiengmai Thai Seafood
No 34, Kg. Sentosa, Bt. 13 Sg Buloh 47000
Sungai Buluh Selangor
GPS: 3.224241, 101.568655
Tel: 03-6156 3225

Tags:  de-chiengmai,  gareth,  pandan,  siakap,  sungai-buloh,  thai-food,  tomyam

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »