Tag / kuih
Well, it’s that time again. The holy month of Ramadan starts on the 18th June, 2015, our Muslim friends fast during the daylight as one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
As a nation of people who loves our food, many restaurants and hotels also offer Ramadan buffet in this period to allow Muslims and also non-Muslims to enjoy a meal together.
Ramadhan at GTower, Anura certainly enjoye
This year, G Tower started early and invited the media to have a sample of their buffet spread more than a month prior. I was happy to be part of the group.
First, the most important bit: the buffet will be held at GTower from 20th June till 14th July 2015 and priced at RM 95 NETT for adults.
traditional kuih muih on the spread
Like many such buffet offerings, GTower will be serving traditional Malaysian cuisine with quite a few live cooking stations under the direction of Chef Sherry, who has more than 20 years of experience in the kitchen.
ulam, salted egg, and salted fish
Starting appetizer, there’s assortment of salad, kerabu pucuk paku, sambal, keropok, papadum, telur masin, ikan masin, jeruk, and a pretty good selection of ulam-ulam as well. I was slightly disappointed by the lack of tempoyak, but I’m hopeful they will have it on the actual spread.
traditional dishes that goes well with steamed or briyani rice
Many main dishes are served in clay-pot to keep retain the freshness, and they comprise of rice selections such as nasi briyani, fragrant rice, nasi ulam, and so forth. Ayam panggang berempah, daging masak hitam, and dagang salai masak lemak cili api, sambal udang petai (i love this!), ikan pari, tenggiri masak asam, and more can be found.
The best dish of the night for me was their ayam percik istimewa, and for the fans of roast lamb, kambing bakar enak is available (seemingly every Ramadan buffet places now has roast lamb).
pastry, roast lamb, popiah, and other goodies
Not all the live cooking stations were available for this tasting session, but there will be mee rebus, mihun sup, rojak singapura, and popiah basah upon request. The rojak wasn’t something I enjoyed though, as I prefer the Penang version.
Overall, the spread should satisfy anyone who loves Malaysian cuisine, and the pricing seems to be in-line with the location and dishes offered. So if you’re planning a buka puasa event, GTower should be in your consideration.
Address:
GTower
199 Jalan Tun Razak,
50400 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.1590, 101.7200
Tel: 03-2168 1919
This is the 6th review on this buka puasa buffet 2014 series, and this time we check out the Balik Kampung Buffet at Grand Hyatt KL’s JP Teres restaurant right here in the heart of the city.
at JP Teres, Grand Hyatt KL with Rizal & Shabana
Grand Hyatt is located right between Mandarin Oriental and the KLCC Convention Centre right on Jalan Pinang. In fact, you can walk from KLCC to the hotel within a few minutes.
While the lobby and flagship restaurant is located on the top floors of the hotel, JP Teres, the restaurant that specialize in local cuisine is on the ground floor to the right as you walk into Grand Hyatt KL.
a variety of kurma, ulam, acar, and salad
Like the whole of Grand Hyatt, JP Teres is a pretty classy and beautifully decorated restaurant. There’s both indoor and outdoor seating areas, with several open concept show kitchens not unlike the arrangement at Thirty8.
The Balik Kampung buffet, priced at RM 148++ for adults and RM 74++ for children, is available from 30th June to 25th July 2014.
Malay kuih, ice cream roti, kek lapis Sarawak, and the all important tapai
While many hotels try to have a mix of Western and even Japanese cuisine in their buffet spread, JP Teres concentrate solely only local delights.
I personally love this idea and believe that this is the direction that will help keep our traditional food culture in Malaysia alive. If you have friends from outside Malaysia and wish to bring them for some local cuisine in a classy place, JP Teres should be pretty high on the list.
dhal tadka, nasi, lamb curry, chicken tikka masala,
paneer makhani, bhindi, do pyaza, sambal, chicken curry
For the Balik Kampung buffet, there are hundreds of dishes to choose from.
Starting from the cold selection you’ll find rojak buah, ulam-ulam, acar, kerabu daging, kerabu udang, kachumbar salad, tofu salad, and more.
To go with the ulam, there’s sambal balacan, cincacluk, air asam, cili kicap, budu, sambal kelapa, and chutney. The only thing missing is tempoyak.
ikan bakar, roast lamb, otak otak, and freshly made pohpiah
Like most every respectable buffet for this holiday season, there’s roast lamb. In addition to that, JP Teres also serve very delicious chicken rice (strongly recommend), freshly made pohpiah, ikan bakar, nasi briyani, satey ayam & daging, and even otak otak (which I don’t quite recommend).
daging masak cili padi, labu masak lemak, ikan tenggiri masak tau choo,
meehun goreng, kepah berlada, sambal telur itik, sup ekor, bubur lambok
The main dishes here are separated into three sections – with Malay, Indian, and Chinese hot sections.
Here you find dishes such as ayam goreng berempah, ikan merah greng berlada, kepah masak lada hitam, sayur lodeh kering, ayam masak ros in Malay hot section.
Lamb curry, fish amritsary, chicken tikka masala, vindi do pyaza, dhal tadka, paneer makhani (this is a must try!), and nasi briyani can be expected from Indian hot section.
At the Chinese hot section, there’s ayam mayonnaise with Thai sauce, ikan tenggiri masak tau choo, sotong masak oat, kailan ikan masin, meehun goreng, and so forth.
In addition, there’s also a Tandoori station serving roti india, ayam tandoori, udang tandoori, shish kebabs, and talapia merah.
more dishes from Malay, Indian, and Chinese cuisine
Apart from the hot stations, there are a number of stalls located at both indoor and outdoor dining area at JP Teres that offers anything from lemang, ketupat, makanan laut, gulai kawah, asam laksa Johor, curry laksa, prawn mee, roti canai, yong tau foo, and even murtabak.
In fact, they cover most everything you can expect from local cuisine, with most of the dishes being of very high quality. I enjoyed them.
there are also various cooking stations, including rojak buah at JP Teres
The dessert area is perhaps the only place where a few Western pastries and a few selection of Japanese mochee creep into this otherwise 100% local spread. There’s Malay kuih, ais krim roti, fruits, Malay biscuits. roti jala, cendol pulut, sago gula Melaka, and more to be expected.
If you’re looking for local delights in a classy place in town, this is definitely a place to check out.
Address:
JP Teres
Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur
12 Jalan Pinang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.15381, 101.71234
Tel: 03-2182 1234 ext. 2333
Continuing with the buka puasa buffet 2014 series, today we look at the buffet offering at Paya Serai, PJ Hilton hotel. This year, the restaurant is headed by executive chef Ridzuan Malek, who has over 20 years of culinary experience to present a buffet spread of local specialities in unique ‘kampung-style’ stalls and live cooking stations.
The spread here is impressive, and definitely the largest of the lot that I’ve sampled in 2014 with over 300 local delicacies to choose from. You can come back here half a dozen times and not taste the same dish twice.
roast lamb, chicken curry laksa, asam laksa, fruits, at Paya Serai, PJ Hilton
The Ramadan buffet promotion runs from 7pm to 10pm daily and are priced at RM 139++ per adult and RM 79++for children. For the last five days of Ramadan (July 23 – July 27, 2014), the same spread is priced at RM 119++ per adult.
For the selection you get here, it is worth what you’re paying. On top of the food, there’s also entertainment from a local traditional music group from Bale Bale Entertainment to add to the festivity.
mussels and prawns on ice, salted fish, ulam-ulam, lemang, and even tempoyak
Now lets talk about what you’ll find at the buffet spread, I make no attempt to list down all the dishes, but you should get an idea of what they offer.
Pretty much everything you can find at any Ramadan buffet spread, you can find here.
Starting from appetizer, you have Thai beef salad, Vietnamese chicken salad, gado-gado, rojak, over half a dozen types of kerabu (ikan, ayam, kerabu jantung pisang, mangga muda, nangka, perut, pucuk paku, etc).
There’s also a huge selection of ulam to go with sambal belacan, cencalok, budu, sambal gesek, sambal nenas, sambal mangga, and my personal favorite – tempoyak chilli.
If you like the even more traditional appertizer, you can find ikan masin goreng belada, sambal hijau, telur masin, kacang tanah goreng berlada, petai, paru lembu, pedal ayam, hati ayam, and bergedil. These are definitely closer to kampung than the city, I love it.
chicken, beef, seafood, lamb, vegetable, in Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Western style
Main dishes too is represented by classics from various states and even international cuisines. There’s fish head curry, rendang tok, ikan bakar melaka, whole roasted lamb Malay style, serawa durian and pulut, kerabu gamat and apam balik.
There’s also Chinese style mushroom and vegetable, curry prawn, asam prawn, nasi briyani, roast chicken, and more.
there’s also Madras corner, Kampong Melayu corner, China Town, and Western food
I would guess that perhaps about 70% of the dishes available here at Paya Serai consists local cuisine originated from Malacca, Penang, Perak, Kedah, and Johor, with the remaining 30% Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Western, and other origins.
The team of 13 chefs definitely managed to impress.
satey, Mongolian BBQ, grilled fish, tempura, and kerang too
Of the various live cooking stations, I was most impressed with the Mongolian BBQ (not that I actually managed to try all of them, to be honest). Here you basically choose one or many main ingredients such as beef, chicken, or seafood, and the chef will cook it up with an assortment of vegetable such as carrot, celery, mushroom, bell peppers and so forth.
It was a dish that I consumed on regular basis while working for a Chinese restaurant in US, this brought back the memory, and the execution was spot on.
KY & Shabana as well as Jean enjoying some durian to end the night
To end your buka puasa session for the night, there’s an assortment of fresh fruits, air batu campur (ABC), cendol, a variety of traditional kuih, custards, mini pastries, hot desserts, cendol santan kepala muda, and last but not least – durian!
Yes, they serve durian at buka puasa, which was just brilliant.
If you’re looking for one of the biggest Ramadan buffet spread in town, check out PJ Hilton’s Paya Serai.
Address:
Paya Serai Restaurant
Hilton Petaling Jaya
No 2 Jalan Barat
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.10235, 101.64087
Tel: 03-7955 9122 (ext 4260)
Many of us are willing to travel far in search of good food, but if we just look more closely at places surrounding us, there are gems we often missed, and there’s probably a Chinese proverb that explains this.
The nasi lemak at Wisma Genting Food Court (between Wisma Genting & Wisma Cosway) is one such places for me. It is often regarded as one of the best nasi lemak in KL, but for some reasons it took me almost two years to finally try it despite working just a stone’s throw away.
food court between Wisma Genting and Wisma Cosway
Wisma Genting food court is situated right between Wisma Genting and Wisma Cosway, and sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Wisma Cosway food court. It is a semi open area that was probably first designed as a walkway in the architect’s drawing.
The nasi lemak seller is situated at the stall closest to the entrance, and you really can’t miss it. There’s almost always a line of office workers queueing up at the stall.
piping hot and very fragrant rice, reasonably priced as well
The nasi lemak here is comes steamy hot, and there are plenty of different side dishes you can choose from to go along with the basic – rice, hard boiled egg, cucumber, anchovies, peanuts, and sambal. For my breakfast, I chose cuttle fish, alternatives include fried chicken, fried egg, fish ball look-alike-thingy, curry chicken, and more.
The nasi lemak is a bit wetter than usual, and definitely much warmer than the “usual” ones. It was delicious and all those ingredients compliment each other perfectly. For those who appreciate breakfast to be warm and full flavor, this is a place to be. I think it is also right up there with other popular nasi lemak places such as Village Park at Uptown, Nasi Lemak Tanglin near the National Mosque, and Nasi Lemak CT Garden at Kampung Baru.
nasi lemak, kuih, curry puff, and meehun too
Other than nasi lemak, the same stall also offers quite a good choices of traditional Malay breakfast dishes such as currypuff, meehun goreng, begedil, and more.
If you work around the area, check this out, if you don’t, find an excuse to go there before 10-11 am to give it a try.
Address:
Wisma Genting Food Court
Wisma Genting, Jalan Sultan Ismail
Bukit Bintang, 50540 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.150407, 101.711326
A week or so ago when I was downstairs getting ready to go for lunch, a huge Land Rover Discovery suddenly stopped right in front of me, the driver side window rolled down and the driver who turned to be my colleague yelled:
“Hey KY jump in, join us for lunch”
Restaurant Rose 911, authentic Negeri Sembilan food
So I joined 3 of them who were already in the car, and we were on the way to Restaurant Rose 911, an old school restaurant in the older part of the city that specialize in Negeri Sembilan food.
Before that day, I didn’t even know there’s a different version of Malay food from Negeri Sembilan, one of Minangkabau influence, my colleague mentioned.
fish, santan laden vegetable (rendang pegaga), and sambal
While the restaurant doesn’t look much from the outside, it actually has an air conditioned area, a semi alfresco main dining area, and curiously, another smaller dining area that appears to be empty.
According to my colleague, that area’s usually seated with drivers & such when their “bosses” dine at Rose 911. Interesting, and sure enough the clientile consists of kampung folks and high ranking business execs alike.
ikan kembung bakar, dessert (badak berendam)
As for the food, more than half of the dishes to choose from were milky yellowish in color – meaning highly laden with kuah lemak (coconut milk base), turmeric, chili and such good stuff.
I particularly love the rendang pegaga, a type of leave cooked with chicken feet, gizzard, liver, and of course, plenty of santan. The ikan kembung bakar with chili and two other small portions of vegetable were all very old-fashion-good too.
For dessert, we shared a plate of badak berendam (soaking hippo), a traditional Negeri Sembilan kuih made of glutinous rice flour, grated coconut, palm sugar, and of course, more santan. It was delicious as it was sinful.
My rice with drinks came up to RM 8, pretty reasonable. Give it a try, this is definitely different from your usual nasi kandar. Opens for lunch till about 4pm everyday except Sundays.
Address:
Restoran Kak Rose 911
No. 25, Jalan Satu
Kampung Pandan
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.143901, 101.737293
Tel: 03-9281 2996
