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Just a few days ago, I brought a Malay colleague to one of my favorite lunch hide outs in KL, the really old school and slightly run-down medan selera (DBKL food court) behind Fahrenheit 88. The initial plan was to order a plate of sotong halia and telur dadar for lunch, but as fate would have it, my favorite stall, Adik Tomyam, was not open for business.

I took a seat at the same far end of food court nonetheless (nearer to Lot 10), and this was when I discovered Gerai Cak Anam.

Gerai Cak Anam at Medan Selera behind Fahrenheit 88

The stall is operated by a couple Indonesian ladies (I assume) and offers quite a few selections of Indonesian food – bakso, soto ayam, gulai kambing, rojak lontong, tempe + telor penyet, bebek (duck), lele (cat fish), ayam, belud (eel), babat (tripe), bandeng (milk fish), and ikan sardin to be exact.

That’s what the signboard says, but I also spotted some prawn fritters as well.

bebek penyet (smashed duck) with excellent sambal

Being a fan of duck, naturally I ordered the bebek penyet. For RM 6 you get a plate of rice that’s enough to feed a fleet of construction crews, decent serving of deep fried duck (I’m not sure if it’s “flattened”), raw cabbage, cucumber, and sweet, spicy, and delicious sambal that I love.

The dish does turned out to be pretty good, which leave me wanting to try their other meat/fish choices next time. Halal duck meat isn’t something you find very often, so if you’re hungry for some, here’s a place to check out.

Address
Gerai Cak Anam
Medan Selera at Jalan Padang, Bukit Bintang
GPS: 3.145101, 101.713108
Tel: 012-3538 440

One of the hawker dishes that is always in my list whenever I go back to Penang is kuih teow soup (粿條汤), and especially those those that serves duck meat.

You can find pretty good substitutes for char kuih teow, hokkien mee, and even curry mee and laksa in KL, but when it comes to kuih teow soup, there’s very little choices in Klang Valley (I can only think of Penang One and O&S)

satu satu tiga is the name of the kopitiam

So on my previous visit to Penang a couple weekends ago for my sister’s farewell, we decided to have this for breakfast. Our initial destination was the famous kuih teow soup stall at Anson Road wet market (tried it once, my mom tapao, was excellent) but the eccentric operator wasn’t selling that day. So we decided to head to the shop at Lebuh Carnarvon, which was originally from Lebuh Armenian.

We turned into Lebuh Melayu to park the car, and that’s when we chanced upon this other kuih teow soup place by the name of Satu Satu Tiga (太牛后) and decided to give it a try.

kuih teow soup with fish ball & duck meat, we ordered extra duck meat/skin

We ordered three bowls of kuih teow soup and a plate of extras with “everything” in it to share.

The kuih teow soup was excellent. The soup subtle but has that sweet savory taste in it, duck meat soft, tender, and fish balls bouncy and flavorful. It was as good as anywhere.

my sister got an organ donor card too

The extras though, was even better! There were plenty of duck meat, skin, and intestine on a bed of crunchy bean sprouts with some fried garlic sprinkled on top. Anyone know where I can order this outside Penang? I miss it!

The same place also serves koay chap, they are open for business for breakfast and lunch. Try it if you’re in Penang.

Address:
Kedai Makan dan Minum Satu Satu Tiga
113, Lebuh Melayu,
10100 Penang
GPS: 5.414283, 100.334341
HOurs: breakfast & lunch

Nasi Lemak Itik Salai, now that’s something that you don’t commonly see. We are used to nasi lemak having sotong (squid), ayam goreng (fried chicken), daging rendang (beef), and for the non-halal version, even pork; but itik salai (smoked duck)? That’s pretty interesting so far as Malaysia’s national dish nasi lemak goes.

note: this place has moved. new address is at No 70 jalan Pekaka 8/3, Kota Damansara Section 8
(Same row with jabatan pendaftaran and hospital Pusrawi)

Izwan Woon Abdullah, located just behind Taman Bahagia LRT station

The restaurant that offers this dish is Izwan Woon Abdullah, located just behind Taman Bahagia LRT station at SS3, a few doors down from the famous pork noodle and Luckly Loke tai chao at the corner.

nasi lemak itik salai, you don’t see this very often

The restaurants offer nasi lemak and a few other more traditional Malay dishes, but I had to try their nasi lemak itik salai.

The plate comes with fragrant nasi lemak on a slice of banana leaf, a side of sambal, anchovies & peanuts, half a hard boiled egg, smoked duck, and some brown sauce for the duck.

The brown sauce though, was a waste of time, so we asked for more sambal instead, which more than made up for it. 😀

the sambal and the rice itself was quite awesome too

The sambal was top notch, spicy and very flavorful, and the duck tasted pretty close to Chinese style smoked duck but with a slightly different taste that I can’t exactly point out, it was good, and certainly a different experience being paired with nasi lemak. I find myself enjoying it.

they have nasi lemak ayam too, and the otak-otak is pretty good

Their nasi lemak with chicken was able to satisfy one of the biggest nasi lemak fan in Horng, and otak-otak Johor (RM 0.80 per stick) was delicious enough we ordered second servings (even Suan who was from Johor approved of the taste).

The restaurant has been in business some 2-3 months and I sure hope it stays. I’ve only been there a couple times but looking forward to head there more often. =)

Address:
Restoran Izwan Woon Abdullah
SS 3/59E Petaling Jaya
47300 Selangor
GPS: 3.109904, 101.611722
Hours: lunch and dinner

Koay Chiap, or braised duck noodle/porridge (鸭粥粿汁), is one of the lesser known Penang hawker dishes that is almost impossible to find outside Penang. (if anyone found one in KL, do let me know).

In fact, even in Penang itself, there are probably less than 10 stalls offering this unique dish, and it is not getting any more popular these days either. This is mostly due to the ingredients making up koay chiap, but incidentally, is also the very reason I love it so much.

lebuh kimberley koay chiap

As the name suggests, instead of normal noodle, koay chiap uses “koay”, the same substance with koay teow, but in a thicker, almost pan-mee style form. The “chiap” refers to juice, or a mixture of ingredients mainly made up from duck.

koay chiap goes well with the sweet peanut soup

In a bowl of proper koay chiap there’s duck meat, skin, intestine, blood, and braised duck egg. All immersed in a light herbal soup used to braised the duck. The dish is often served with a special chili sauce, but sometimes with chili padi too (like the koay chap at ayer itam)

this makes me a happy camper

The koay chiap at Lebuh Kimberley is as good as they come. It has everything that’s supposed to be in a bowl of koay chiap for RM 6, and unlike most hawker dishes in Penang, this one really fills you up. The meat are properly braised and soup isn’t bitter or overly flavored either. Best of all, the coagulated duck blood was simply superb.

I love it with a serving of sweet peanut soup (RM 1.30) to counter the meaty taste.

If you are in Penang and already had your fair share of laksa, curry mee, and char kuih teow, it is time to try something slightly out of the comfort zone, no?

Oh, while you’re at Lebuh Kimberley, check out this braised chicken feet place too.

Address:
Lebuh Kimberley (just before the food court)
Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.416537, 100.322473
Operating Hours: 6:30pm – 11:30pm, close on Thursdays

It’s been a while that this blog features any fancy dining experience, so the invitation from Tanzini Upper Deck came just at the right moment.

Situated at the 29th floor in G Tower, Tanzini Upper Deck features a double volume (ermm.. aka very high ceiling) dining room complete with custom made star-lights which. Coupled with the full view of the magnificent Petronas Twin Towers, the ambiance is about as good as one can wish for.

Tanzini Upper Deck at G Tower

Tanzini Upper Deck only offers 4-6 course degustation menu and private functions, if you’re looking for ala carte dining, that would be Tanzini just a level below.

While waiting for everyone to arrive, we started off the night with a glass of Louis Roederer Champagne, a non-vintage champagne comprises 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, and 20% Pinot Meunier. I’m not exactly a wine critic, but the fruity aroma and full texture of this drinks makes it one of the better champagne I remember having.

Lollipop Scallops, Halibut-Salmon “Mokume Gane”

We tried three types of appetizers, starting with a daring display of creativity in the lollipop scallops. It was in essence, grilled scallop on a stick encased with caramelized sugar. Sweet and savory, a departure from the normal preparation which tends to go towards the salty side. Interesting nonetheless.

Halibut-Salmon “Mokume Gane” is inspired by Japanese mixed metal patterns. In this instance, using halibut and salmon that results in the orange/white pattern. Served with house pickled ginger, lemon grass-calamansi granita, candied hojiso (shiso leaf), and horse radish. The taste was quite distinctly Japanese for me, and in a very good way.

Black Truffle Custard

Another choice of appetizer is the black truffle custard that comes in three parts – truffled egg-mushi, a squid ink cone with sweet corn, and finally, prawn noodle with trout roe.

This was almost a 3-in-1 dish. I love the truffled egg (kinda reminds me of the foie gras egg in Gu Yue Tien, though they are different) and enjoyed the textures of prawn noodle with trout roe. The final third of the dish though, was overpowered by the sweetness of the corn that very little hint of squid ink was apparent.

“BLT” soup – bacon marmalade, lettuce m-sponge, tempura soft shell crab

Next up was a choice between the two soups we tried.

Chef Eugene’s interpretation of “BLT” was our first soup. Veloute de tomates, bacon marmalade, 30″ lettuce m-sponge, and tempura soft shell crab.

I’ve never tasted bacon, lettuce, and tomato quite this way before, and I gotta say it was very impressive and daring. The soup was like a very supped up (pardon the pun) version of tomato soup. It was quite delicious.

Smoked Oyster Tea

Should you choose the smoked oyster tea as the choice of soup instead, you won’t be disappointed. This dish was a demonstration of the perfect harmony in consomme of oyster, fenugreek (herb), smoked trout roe, ginkgo, and oyster kara-age (similar to tempura).

The soup is poured just before eating, and rightly so, because 2 minutes later the crispy skin of oyster kara-age would’ve become soggy.

Ox Tongue Yakitori and  House Muscovy Duck

After appetizer and soup, we moved onto starters.

Ox tongue yakitori and house-cured muscovy duck were the two dishes to be chosen from the menu.

On one hand, the fancier ox tongue dish comprises of miso-ginger infused ox tongue skewer, fennel in Yuzu dressing, asparagus kimchi, and fried béarnaise. The ox tongue was very good in its delicate taste and texture, fried bearnaise was interesting, but the asparagus kimchi though, was a surprise that wasn’t exactly in a good way. I felt that it was a little bit out of place.

the duck dish, on the other hand, was excellent! Plum sauce, pop rocks & melon galia, truffled potato stuffed bok choi, and litchi glass are the ingredients. Chef Eugene got this one perfectly executed, it just tasted very very good.

Redefined “Aussie Pie”

We had an intermezzo in the form of some sorbet which acted as a palette cleanser, after that was the main dishes.

Out of the 3 choices, I selected the Redefined “Aussie Pie” – glazed hilside farm lamb loin in house stock, kataifi, truffled mashed peas, vegemite orb, and sautéed vegetables. This dish was another display of art, and the good news was, it actually tasted rather good. The lamb loin was almost a little too dry for my liking, but that was just me nitpicking a little.

“Uncle Sam” Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks, Desconstructed English Man’s Treat

Haze had the “Uncle Sam” Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks – slow braised wagyu in rye stock, grilled king trumpets, dark chocolate crouton, and seasonal vegetable. This turned out to be one of the weaker dish, and we felt that it was actually a little bit of a waste to braise a good piece of meat.  Truth be told, it was a disappointment.

The third main dish was the Deconstructed English Man’s Treat, basically chef’s interpretation of the classic fish and chips, with fillet of marbled goby fish & carbonized batter, violet potato, glazed savoy cabbage, texturized garlic oil, and 62 Celcius organic egg yolk. Eiling, who ordered this dish, had this to say:

“This is a very complicated dish but I like the contrasting textures and the egg yolk certainly is a unique addition.”

Sweet Ending: Flamed Popcorn Gelato

The dinner ended with flamed popcorn gelato – hazel streusel, bruleed banana, black elderberry glazed fuji apples, and salted caramel toast.

The presentation of the dessert really placed an exclamation mark to the chef’s creativity. It was served with the smoke from dry ice overflowing the table, and some Grand Marnier poured onto the glazed apple for the flame. The spirit did make the dessert a bit bitter, but I actually love it bitter so that suited me well (not so for the girls).

KY, Eiling, Haze at Tanzini Upper Deck

All throughout the dinner, chef Eugene came out and explained the meaning and intricacy of each dishes, which made a world of difference. Service too was excellent throughout (but this is an invited food review, so your mileage may vary).

Most importantly, you might ask, is the price:

RM 155++ 4 course dinner

• Chef’s Special
• Choose one out of Appetizers, soups, or starters
• Intermezzo
• Choice of Mains
• Dessert

• Chef’s Special
• Choice of Appetizers
• Choice of Soups
• Choice of Starters
• Intermezzo
• Choice of Mains
• Dessert

Address:
Tanzini Upper Deck
Level 29, GTower
199 Jalan Tun Razak,
50400 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.1590, 101.7200
Tel: 03-2168 1899