Sometimes last month I got an invitation for a food review EEST, Westin. As it turned out, the PR lady, Yoke May, had invited Suan to the same session. Which made logistics a simpler matter to sort out since it was to be on a weekday evening.
The decoration of the restaurant was nice and inviting, an open kitchen, a bar seating area, a section of raised floor, comfortable chairs, big round tables, and a beautiful view.
the slightly eccentric but very friendly Chef Kuan
Our mission of the day was to try their Hurry Slowly Signature Lunch Box. The eccentric (not in a bad way) and very friendly Chef Kuan explained to us that they have 5 different cuisines – Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnam, and Thai. Each type comes with its own type of soup, main dishes packed in a lunch box, and dessert.
We were to sample the three most popular lunch boxes, Malaysian, Chinese, and Japanese. Since there were basically only two of us in the review session.
refreshing mint drinks, char siu pau, har kao, siu mai (dimsum)
To start, I was served with this refreshing mint drink to open up the appetite. I can’t remember what was the ingredients, but there were definitely mint (like duh!), and some mixture of juice that tasted not exactly unlike umbra (kedondong.)
We also sampled their char siu pau (chicken), siu mai (also with chicken meat), and har kao (prawn dumpling). I gotta say that they actually tasted quite good despite the lack of pork as this is a Muslim friendly restaurant like most other hotels.
Eest lunch box – Malaysian cuisine (with wagyu beef cheek rendang!)
Our next serving was the Malaysian cuisine lunch box that comes with soup soto, spring roll, rojak (pasembur in Penang), fried bean sprout with salted fish, and nasi pulut with rendang.
The beef rendang was actually made from wagyu cheek and was officially the best tasting rendang I’ve ever had. In one box you get a taste of typical Malaysian Chinese, Indian, and Malay dishes at the same time, and with good quality ingredients too.
Japanese cuisine – tempura, miso, salmon, tofu, garlic fried rice
The Japanese lunch box came with a bowl of miso soup with straw mushroom, three huge prawn and a few other types of tempura, garlic fried rice, grilled salmon, and tofu with spinach.
I particularly like the spinach tofu, silky smooth and the spinach really added a different dimension to its taste. A dash of ebiko gave it a bit of texture and the Japanese touch too. Grilled salmon was excellent as well.
Chinese lunch box, love the black chicken herbal soup
Then there’s the Chinese lunch box, with soup, dim sum, three cup chicken, brocolli, and pickled cucumber and jelly fish. The three cup chicken was very tender and packed a kick with it’s dried chili, I liked it. I think it’ll go well with just a bit of rice.
The dim sum was of good quality too, about as best and you can have it without any lard/pork in it. However, my favorite item from the Chinese lunch box has got to be the soup. The double boiled black chicken herbal soup was very sweet and fragrant, reminded me of the way mom used to cook them.
the three different desserts and chef’s special smoked salmon
Just about when we were filled to the brim, came the three types of desserts for the lunch boxes.
Ice kacang for Malaysian cuisine, longan tong sui for Chinese, and the Japanese box came with mochi black sesame ice cream. They were all quite tasty, but I think the sesame ice cream a bit more special.
Chef Kuan was in a very joyous mood and specially created a dish not found on the menu for us – smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, salmon roe, flying fish roe, truffle and beetroot oil. The salmon, with the combination of other ingredients was so savory and tasty I was literally in heaven! Thanks chef!
KY and Suan at EEST, Westin Hotel
The lunch box is priced at RM 42++, quite a decent value considering the ambiance you get and the quality of food provided. The restaurant is only opened from Wednesday to Friday, 12pm – 2.30pm. The ingredients of the lunch boxes may vary from week to week (probably according to Chef Kuan’s mood), but I trust that they will be equally good.
Address:
Eest, Westin Hotel
199 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.147758, 101.714591
Tel: 03-2731 8333
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Despite staying only 5 minutes away, it somehow took me this long to get to know about this famous nasi lemak at Seapark. Located just next to Maybank at Petaling Jaya’s Seapark (SS21), this Mamak stall opens at around dinner time till late.
nasi lemak with excellent fried chicken
After missing my first chance of eating at this place due to a completely full stomach some weeks ago, I decided that we should give it a try even though it was “Human Day”, 7th day of Chinese New Year. Kerol was complaining a bit, but since she just had some awesome Japanese food at Raku Zen for lunch, nasi lemak should be a perfect choice for dinner (as I explained to her). So the six of us went to the stall and each of us ordered nasi lemak with fried chicken.
outdoor setting, make sure it is not raining..
The nasi lemak came within a couple minutes, with all the ingredients still very warm. There’s the traditional ikan bilis (anchovies), fried peanuts, fragrance rice, sambal, with the not so traditional fried chicken and a very nicely done sunny side up egg.
The sambal was not overly spicy and carried a slightly sweet taste, which goes pretty well with the fried chicken and egg. The chicken itself was actually very delicious, deep fried with crunchy skin and very nice marinate. As for the egg, anyone who loves a runny yolk would not want to miss this.
the nasi lemak stall is located at Seapark, not far from the old KFC
Other than nasi lemak, I have heard that the mee goreng is pretty special as well. A plate of nasi lemak with fried chicken goes for RM 4.50, a pretty fair price I think. Do make sure that it isn’t raining when you go there as the place is completely outdoor.
Address:
Jalan 21/11b,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.109920, 101.622301
Masak-Masak also reviewed this place before.
Restaurant Chef Loong (龙师傅) is probably the second successful dessert place at the PJ food hotspot that is SS2. If memory serves me correct, this particular restaurant has been in operation for more than two years, and usually packed with customers at supper hours since day one.
their famous xiao long bao (小龙包)
As with most dessert places that caters for those “yum char” customers, this restaurant is separated into the indoor and outdoor sections. Smoking or air conditioning, take your pick. The interior decoration is simple yet tasteful, with some random Chinese calligraphies on the wall, and pretty comfortable seats.
Their pictorial menu is very simple to read, and you don’t even have to know mandarin, just point to what you would like to have to the servers will do. We ordered their claim of fame, the xiao long bao (小龙包, soup dumpling), lotus root pancake, and salad prawn just to satisfy the itching tongues at the wee hours.
salad prawn and lotus pancake, yummm
The xiao long bao here is still one of the bests I’ve tried, really juicy and packed with tasty meaty fillings. The skin is not too thick either. The lotus roots pancake is pretty crispy and sweet, just like how it should be. As for the salad prawn, you’ll love the crunchy skin and the big savory prawns. To make it more sinful, make use of the mayonnaises dippings. Don’t ask me if this combination is any good for your health though.
Chef Loong is situated at the same row with the Police Station
Together with 2 drinks (ginseng herbal tea and winter melon drinks), the bill came to RM 21.90 including a 5% service charge and 5% government tax. Not exactly the cheapest yum char session, but definitely worth the money.
Address:
86 Jalan SS2/60,
47300 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.117151, 101.622344
Tel: 03-7877 4826
Undoubtedly many of you have heard of Madam Kwan restaurant at KLCC (and other branches.) My colleagues and I decided to have our lunch there after getting tired of Isetan take-outs. We usually did not consider the place cos it isn’t exactly budget lunch, and it is always packed with way too many patrons, but since we head out a little earlier today, we thought we could avoid the crowd.
Jabot (top left) so happy with her noodle
We got there at around 12 and already we had to be put on the waiting list. Luckily it didn’t take us long before a table was available. A big crowd did build up outside the restaurant approaching 1pm, however.
We ordered noodle with mushroom & chicken (basically like dried wantan mee but with chicken and mushroom,) char kuih teow, and cantonese noodle (滑蛋河 – wat tan hor.) The mushroom was very good, however the noodle might be a little to the salty side. Lucky it came with the soup, so you can always blunt it abit.
The cantonese noodle and char kuih teow are cooked with chicken, shrimp (look at the picture below), and squid. According to my colleagues, they are pretty good. The serving is pretty big, so prepare a big stomach and don’t be like Shah, wasting more than half a plate as she was a bit over confident and had a serving of mushroom soup as appertizer.
Shah (bottom left) enjoying her mushroom soup
The price is quite reasonable, an entree with a drink costs around RM 20. Madam Kwan is at the 4th floor of Suria KLCC.
p/s: I even know mandarin, are you impressed? 😀
GPS: 3.157581, 101.712102
