While walking to our original intended target – the pork free food court between Wisma Cosway and Wisma Genting, a few colleagues and I chanced upon this new little restaurant by the name of Siamese Cafe located just behind the interesting Yashi-no-mi Japanese cafe.
the glorious siamese nasi lemak with chicken, squid, petai & prawn
The restaurant has only some 10 tables that sits 2-3 people each, and on the menu there are less than 10 items on offer. This is fine by me, the bigger the menu usually only means the bigger the confusion and time taken to order.
The choices are simple, you can either have nasi lemak, or Siamese mee hun to go with fried chicken, Kristan chicken (a type of thick curry), ikan kembung, assam squid, sambal petai prawn, or kerang (cockles).
there’s siamese mee hun too, and those anchovies are darn good
Everything is priced at RM 8, except for Nasi Lemak (or meehun) special that comes with squid, petai assam prawn, and fried chicken, that is at RM 10. The set comes with an ice lemon tea, and the sides that includes half a hard boiled egg, peanuts, some potato + onion thing, and fried anchovies.
and here is winnie, as your eye candy
While the meehun tends to be a little on the dry side, the nasi lemak was fragrant and full of santan flavor. The chicken, petai, and squid were all very good too, and I particularly love the sweet and spicy fried anchovies they serve at the side.
The special set is really value for money at RM 10 with drinks. Business seems to be quite brisk at this new place, and I certainly hope this cafe is here to stay.
Address:
Siamese Cafe
Ground Floor
Wisma Cosway
Jalan Sultan Ismail
50540 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.150875, 101.711812
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By now, many of you are probably familiar with MilkADeal, a local discount site where you often find incredible deals on all sorts of stuff, like food, spa, travel packages, adventure activities, photo album, car tinting, and more.
Do check out the site for stuff that you need and many that you want for a steep discount.
And while discounts are neat, I want to highlight what that MilkADeal is also using their site as a vehicle to do good. There is a TLC Promise Me campagin that is running right now, and you can buy the “deal” at RM 20 with 100% of the money going to Rumah Aman Children Home, an orphanage that needs their electrical wiring and lightning protection upgraded.
For those who donate over RM 100, you can even request a receipt for tax exemption too.
p/s: this is not the first time MilkADeal runs community service “deals”, I remember there was one for Japan earthquake too.
When I first heard about My Elephant sometimes last year (or 2 years ago?), I’ve been telling myself to pay a visit. But for some reasons that did not happen until just a couple weeks ago, and boy I wished I had done it way earlier. This place really lives up to all the hype circulating online.
My Elephant Thai restaurant at PJ Seksyen 17
My Elephant is situated at Happy Mansion, on the ground floor of the first of three really old school apartment blocks. The restaurant really does not fit in to the area, but that only adds to its charm. This is just a block from Food Foundary, a place that serves really good mille crepe.
We went at on a Wednesday night, and even then the place was packed with diners. A good sign, the three of us were seated, and then we made our orders. The restaurant is air conditioned, comfortable, and decorated with little ornaments and drawings that looks to be from Chatuchak, but not in a good way.
fish cake, seafood tomyam, brown rice, deep fried chicken
We ordered 5 dishes, and had brown rice to go with. I usually dislike brown rice (RM 3/pax), but over here they are rather fragrant and adds to the overall flavor when eaten with the other dishes.
The fish cake (RM 
was slightly salty and not hiding any Thai “flavors”, a good dish to start.
When in a Thai restaurant, a must-order is usually the tomyam, and over here they serve up a pretty mean bowl. While not overly spicy, the seafood tomyam (RM 20) we was packed with mushroom, prawns, squid and more.
The deep fried chicken (RM 15) is my favorite dish of the evening. They were cut in small chunks with plenty of crispy skin accompanying each piece, and together with strong marinate and curry leaves, man, you have to really try it to realize that deep fried chicken can be this good. I like this more than KFC, and that is saying a lot, I love my KFC.
paku pakis, gai tod gratiam prik thai duck salad
The vegetable dish I ordered was paku pakis (fern, RM 15). I first tried fern at Lala Chong with cheesie and instantly loved it. The version here is even better, *yums*
Our last dish was Thai duck salad (gai tod gratiam prik, RM 15). A pretty typical Thai style salad that is sour, spicy, and work your tongue to its limit. We liked it too.
If you love Thai food and haven’t tried My Elephant yet, pay a visit. For weekends it is advisable to call for booking though.
Remember, consumption of awesome Thai food will leave you wanting more 2 days later, when you feel them coming out. 
Address:
Block C-G4, Happy Mansion,
Jalan 17/13, Seksyen 17,
46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.122486, 101.634747
Tel: 0 10-220 1283
Thai food is of course, more than just tomyam and pad thai. However, there are certain dishes that are quite rare in Malaysia since most Thai establishments are set up with providing halal food in mind (Ying Thai 2 at Melbourne serves a good one). So this is one dish that isn’t particularly easy to find around here, but luckily, it isn’t difficult to cook it up at home either.
Yes, the recipe for this post is Kapraw Pork, or minced pork with chili & basil.
note: you can actually substitute pork with chicken.
kapraw pork – Thai style chili basil pork
The ingredients are simple:
ingredients for kapraw pork – pork, chili, fish sauce, basil, garlic
Instructions:
For purely aesthetic purposes I also saved half a green & red chili and sliced them instead of having all crushed. You don’t necessarily have to do that.
The result is a dish that is spicy, slightly salty (from fish sauce), and savory at the same time. Best served with rice.
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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. 
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
