Masak masak

First up this post has nothing to do with the famous flog (food blog) of the same name. It's just a pictorial documentary (if you can even call it that) of my cooking attempt one hungry Friday night.

Let the cooking...begin!!!

Ze raw materialz

Let's boil some noodles

And then we toss them

Oil the pan and wait for it to heat up

Toss the sausages in but be careful!
The skin will tend to 'pop' and splatter hot oil all over

Next throw in the bacon!
I used back bacon here but streaky bacon works as well

I'm actually using 'Maggi Mi Goreng' here
so go ahead and mix in all the seasonings

Toss it into the pan and give it a quick fry
using the leftover oil

Dinner is served!

The result was delicious! As I expected the noodles soaked up the (pretty much bacon and sausage flavored) oil very well, giving it a 'special' taste. Of course it's not going to be healthy with all that oil...BURP!!!

Dawn of Durian II: A Return to SS2

After the durian feast last week, we decided that a durian feast is not a durian feast without ingesting the legendary "Mou Shan Wong" (Raja Kunyit). So three durian lovers (Andrew, Kok Hua and myself) set off on another foray into the wild wild world of SS2 durian stalls.

First stop was the famous SS2 Durian place (Ah Wai's stall) near the BHP petrol station. Kok Hua arrived first (very fast) and scouted the place for any available Raja Kunyit. Alas, luck was not on our side as there was only one left and the quality was sub-par (but then why are they still charging normal price for it - RM22 per kg?) So we three settled down for an appetizer of 2 XO durians (RM10 per kg, total RM32). The XO durians were as good as last week, presenting our tongues with a rich, creamy taste with some underlying bitterness. Plenty of flesh too!

Nekkid XO!

Andrew: Mmmmm...mmmmm...

Kok Hua: Oh yeah this is good durian yeah!

After cleaning the plate (or the shell?) we went over to another stall located just opposite the Hong Leong bank (formerly Lim Mee Yoke). This time we lucked out as the stall did have Raja Kunyit in stock going for RM25 per kg. Our medium sized durian cost us RM60 but it was worth every cent. Truly this was the King of Durians with superb taste (rich cream custard with a superb balance of sweetness and bitterness) and loads of flesh due to it's deformed thin seeds. If only this stall accepted credit cards...

Legendary

HO CHAK!!!

I licked the seed clean!

YUMMEH!

The aftermath...

And thus our mission was accomplished! We then went over to Medan Selera 223 for half-boiled eggs and nasi lemak...again! LOL!

The Quest For Siew Yoke

Now one might have heard of the legendary siew yoke (roast pork) hidden somewhere in the depths of Pudu. One might have even read many reviews raving about it on various famous food blogs. Spurred on by the mouth watering reviews, I journeyed to Pudu one fine Saturday morning to search for it. And found it I did! (Google Maps is really helpful)

I arrived at the restaurant (which has a really small signboard by the way) a wee bit too early, so I decided to go have breakfast. As luck would have it, there was a pretty famous Hakka Yong Tau Foo place nearby!

Yup, it's Yap Hup Kee

I remember coming to this places ages ago with my ex-gf. I was glad that the food here still tasted as good as ever. Unfortunately, prices have gone up but I guess that is to be expected.

Let's get ready to eat!

Interior of the place

Crispy!

Crunchy!

Smooth!

Total bill for 7 pieces of yong tau foo, one plate of chee cheong fun and one cup of chrysanthemum tea hit my wallet for around RM11. So I'm guessing the yong tau foo here go for about RM1 per piece also, similar to Margaret's. The yong tau foo here looses out to Margaret's in term of size but the texture and taste of the fish filling used is different (probably due to the addition of pork). Whether or not it tastes better certainly depends on individual preference but I enjoyed it. Oh yes they do have a branch at Damansara Utama located on the same row as the Ship.

Yes their signboard is really small...

So I walked over to Restaurant Wong Kee to wait for the legendary siew yoke to appear. Then I noticed a very large and very new sign...

12.30?

After confirming with the Indonesian staff it seems that the siew yoke will only go on sale from 12.30 p.m. onwards. and it was just 11 a.m at that time! Since I was already around, I ordered up a drink and settled in comfortably to wait. This attracted the attention of the owner's wife and the Indonesian helpers...they must think I was a real fan of the roast pork...LOL! I noticed the restaurant is pretty much deserted (minus the odd customer or two who are there for the roast chicken and char siew) but it quickly fills up around 12 p.m.

It has arrived!

The siew yoke came out around 12.15 p.m. and the aroma was superb. It certainly made my mouth water. Everyone's attention was focused on the siew yoke but the restaurant will not sell it before 12.30. Talk about keeping to your timing!

The master at work

It certainly looks good!

A closeup, drooling yet?

Double the skin, double the crunch!

Fluffy!

One bite of the siew yoke and I was hooked. Truly the reviews I've read were spot on when they mentioned this was probably the best siew yoke they ever had. The skin was airy and crispy, with some pieces having two layers of skin at the top and bottom for double the pleasure. No uneven cooking here as I didn't detect any hard or chewy skin, every slice was perfect and crispy. The meat was tender but not mushy with the layers of fat (not as much as I thought) provided a silky smooth contrast. I loath to use the overused 'melt-in-the-mouth' phrase here but I think it best describes the experience. The rice was pretty good too (surprisingly) with a nice fluffy texture. It went well with the chili sauce provided.

However, don't expect such good stuff to come cheap. The total bill for siew yoke (portion for 2), one plate of rice and two drinks came up to around RM30. Uh huh...RM30, which seriously can buy you probably close to a KG of siew yoke from other stalls. But hey, I'd say it was worth every cent I paid.

The (corner) restaurant is actually located at the junction of Jalan Nyonya and Lorong Baba. It's approximately behind Times Square, past what used to be an abandoned project site (which has currently been resurrected). Just be there early to book your seat, but not too early! Happy eating!

A return to Kin No Uma

When I said I would return to Kin No Uma I meant it (the discount vouchers certainly helped though). So it was on a fine (but hazy) Saturday evening that the four of us journeyed all the way down to the Palace of the Golden Horses for another smashing dinner. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

I'm loving it

Solitary tower

We dined here!

Sashimi and sushi, always fresh, always good

The oysters did not disappoint

Tempura prawns were as good as ever,
unfortunately there was no squid this time around

Hot grill action!

The result of said hot grill action
Meats were tender but lacking in taste, no marinade at all!

Surprisingly spicy soup with assorted musrooms
A winner!

Miso soup and chawanmushi
No regrets here

Smooth oh yeah!

Assorted appetizers...yeah I know I should have started with these
Pretty good but not exceptional

End the meal with ice cream
(which was abundantly available this time around)

Pretty coarse shaved ice, they should really sharpen the blades

Expresso, double shot
Kept me up all night

This second visit proved that standards can be maintained provided the restaurant works hard at it. There were a couple of misses (namely the overuse of salt in a couple of dishes like the garlic fried rice) and the teppanyaki corner still didn't feature on-demand cooking (which to me doesn't really seem like authentic teppanyaki anymore) but the overall experience was a notch up from our previous visit. Oh, check out Wei Siong's review here!

And since the manager was kind enough to give away more discount coupons...we'll be back!