From time to time, I like to go into a restaurant totally devoid of any idea what is being served there. Last weekend was one such occasion. Haze and I were near Leisure Mall and hungry, we drove around a bit, parked the car, and decided to head into Restaurant K.T.L – which stands for Kwong Tau Lou (光头佬, bald guy)
steamed tilapia and steamed egg are the must order items
The reason we chose this particular restaurant was that it looked cheap, almost unfurnished, and yet filled with mostly older diners & families. To me, these are a sure sign that good food is available, and it won’t break your wallet.
After seated, we asked for recommendations from the wait staff and ordered a steamed tilapia with tao chio (beans), steamed egg, and a plate of vegetable. Total dishes to choose from was very limited, there’s 2 types of fish (other being haruan), always steamed but with a few different variations, eggs, steamed ribs, and a few types of vegetables. Just as well, makes ordering quite a lot easier.
check out how smooth is the steamed egg, slurps!
Dishes didn’t come quick, and you have the pleasure of seeing them catch the tilapia that’ll end up on your table.
But when it does, boy, the fish was great! The tao chio sauce was very flavorful and quite a bit spicy too, they even stuffed it full in the fish’s cavity too, a nice touch for sure.
The steamed egg was on a big plate but very thin, and very very soft. Imagine the softest chawanmushi, and this was 3 times softer. It tasted very simple yet awesome, with soya sauce and a hint of sesame oil on it. (I tried to replicate the steamed egg at home the other day and failed miserably)
The only let down at the place was the vegetable. Well, it wasn’t bad, it was average, but after the fish and egg, this was slightly disappointing.
The dinner came to be slightly less than RM 20 per person including two Chinese tea. For fresh fish and excellent dishes, it was a steal. Definitely will go there again.
Address:
Restaurant K.T.L.
Gerai No.3A, Jalan Manis
Taman Segar
56100 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.088250, 101.743231
Tel: 017-872 7567, 012-308 7311, 014-322 3613
Haruan fish (common snakehead) is often “prescribed” to those who are recovering from external wounds. Since Haze is recovering from her ankle fracture and subsequent surgery, her mom brought us a haruan fish and some herbs for the exact purpose.
We had initially been told to boil the fish with herbs (and maybe add some salt) and be done with, but that would be boring and not terribly palatable. I remember having a dish of awesome steamed haruan at Yap Yin at Seri Kembangan, so I thought perhaps we could prepare it in a similar way. This is my version of steamed haruan with chickene essence.
preparation – cleaning and cutting the haruan
Ingredients:
- haruan fish (duh)
- garlic and ginger
- salt to taste
- some chinese herbs (optional)
- a bottle of chicken essence
- parsley for garnishing
and a bottle of chicken essence for extra goodness
Instructions:
- clean the fish throughly, haruan can be very slimy
- slice the fish deeply as shown in the photo so that it is faster to cook and much easier to eat
- cut ginger into strips and garlic in slices
- rub some salt onto the fish
- place everything on the plate and steam the fish together with a bottle of chicken essence (open it first or risk explosion, *gasp*)
- steam in medium heat for about 15 minutes, then stop the fire and rest for 4-5 minutes
- add garnish as you please, I find a little bit of parsley does the trick
- pour the chicken essence on fish before serving
Haze and KY enjoying yet another home cooked dinner
The result turns out to be quite lovely, the chicken essence does add quite a different dimension to the fish, providing a bit of savory taste to counter the fishiness of haruan. Try it.
Happy cooking!
Last Sunday a bunch of us went for a good go-kart session at KartQuest located at MAEPS, near UPM. After sweating our collective butts off and myself sustaining a big blister on my palm from two 10 minute sessions of hard work on the track, we proceed to reward ourselves with a very good lunch at Restaurant Yap Yin & Bak Kut Teh at Seri Kembangan.
We ordered 7 dishes for the 8 of us at Yap Yin, a bit too much food heh?
Like many restaurants around Seri Kembangan, on top of a rather comprehensive menu of Chinese dishes to go with rice, Yap Yin also serves Bak Kut Teh. This combination is rarely seen outside this area, usually restaurants are either ‘tai chau’ style, or they solely concentrate on bak kut teh.
Restaurant Yap Yin is located at a pretty busy part of Seri Kembangan, street parking is a bit tough to find, but they do have a couple dedicated parking spots, do take advantage of them.
Braised pork knuckle and innards, kung pao frog, steamed haruan fish
The claim of fame at Yap Yin is their steamed haruan fish (snake head, RM48). The preparation of the steamed fish here is pretty unique, the fish meat is sliced up to bite size, and 2 bottles of Brands chicken essence are poured to the fish upon serving to add to the flavor. It was well worth the price, very smooth texture and with the chicken essence adding a different dimension to the taste, very nice.
The kung pao frog (RM 20) was very flavorful and actually comes with the proper kung pao ingredients – bell pepper, dried red chili, cashew nuts, ginger, and the dark sauce. I’m sure Kim would have ordered an extra plate if she was with us.
One of the most sinful dishes we ordered has to be the braised pork knuckle with innards and chicken feet (RM 20), plenty of fatty porky goodness and chicken feet braised to perfection. Tender and juicy, best with some chili padi.
kampung chicken, tofu with mince pork, lotus root, bak kut teh
The kampung chicken (RM 12) was, well, tasted like kampung chicken, not fatty like normal chicken rice steamed chicken but otherwise not particularly interesting. Tofu with mince pork comes in a clay pot and dark sauce, silky smooth and rather flavorful. Very good value at only RM 8!
The sauted lotus root (RM 16) provided us with some sense of meat vs vegetable balance though in reality we should have ordered something in green to satisfy ourselves visually, oh well!
horng, KY, Adry & gf, Terence, Damien, Amy, Galvin
Just when we thought we had ordered too much, Galvin, being from Klang, couldn’t resist the temptation and ordered a pot of bak kut teh (RM 9). The herbal soup was thick and actually quite nice, but I wouldn’t say it is on par with the proper Klang version.
We well all stuffed silly after lunch, total damage came to RM 191 with drinks and rice included. About RM 24 per person for so many dishes, it was well worth it. Should go there again after next go-kart session!
Address:
Restaurant Yap Yin & Bak Kut Teh
No. 1231, Jalan Sekolah
43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor
GPS: 3.021839, 101.704372
Tel: 03-8943 5426
Hours: 11:30am to 10pm
BB Update
The Blackberry Bold, Tour, and Curve 8520 (from Xpax)
I was often asked what’s the differences between the few common blackberry models currently officially sold in this country as well as some “underwater” models too. So here’s the very quick comparison:
- Curve 8520 – one of the most affordable Blackberry models, the latest in the Curve series. EDGE, Wifi, touchpad, Media Keys, not that much bigger than a normal phone
- Bold 9000 – used to be one of the highest end Blackberry models, EDGE, 3.5G, Wifi, GPS. One of the biggest and heaviest BB smart phones. Bold 2 is coming soon, and I suspect would be rather pricey.
- Tour 9630 – even though positioned below the Bold (and now Bold 2) series, the Tour is sold over RM 2k in “underwater” market and not officially via Telco. EDGE, 3.5G, GPS, but no Wifi.
- Storm 9500 – the first touch screen Blackberry, EDGE, 3.5G, GPS, but no Wifi. Mixed reviews on the touch screen implementation, but Storm 2 is coming up, we’ll see how much it’ll be sold for.
Every model comes with the beloved BBM, push mail, and all the other messaging technology that earns Blackberry the nickname CrackBerry, they can get very addictive. Every model here works with Xpax BB prepaid too!
If you’re new to the BB world, the 8520 is certainly a good start as it is priced below RM 1000. What kinda other cool phones can you get for that price these days?
