Gourmet Garden

Previously we have posted about the infamous ‘Empurau’ fish in mandarin, but up until now I still do not have the time to compile my research on the fish that we did. So to make things easy for those who do not read mandarin you may go to this link to an article which was published by The Star; http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/3/28/sundaymetro/5920257&sec=SundayMetro.

The ‘Empurau’ is freshwater fish which is native in Sarawak, and has its habitat in clean/clear fast moving streams. This fish has tender and rich textured flesh with special aroma which is mainly due to its special diet of ‘Buah Kabang’ or Engkabang(as in The Star). For the fish to be suitable for the table, it needs to be at least 3kg and above so that the flesh would have firm body. Anything below 3 kg would result in soft texture flesh which is due to the high fat content. The older and heavier it gets the flesh would firm up but the essential fats are still maintained.

The price of this is mainly due to its availability of quality catch that mainly comes from interior areas in Sarawak. The Empurau can be found wild in Bakun and also Kapit, but the later produces the best fish amongst the two. There are also entrepreneurs that are beginning to  farm this fish on the Malaysian Peninsular in view of the price tag that it carries, but the quality of the flesh is yet to be determine. There are also cases where the so called ‘Empurau’ is being imported from our neighboring country, Indonesia.

So far places that offer ‘Empurau’ in Penang that we heard of are Ocean Green, Bali Hai and Pearl Palace(where we got the information and pictures from). Mr. Wong of Pearl Place has his home town in Sarawak, and thus have the resources to acquire wild ‘Empurau’ from the Kapit region which is said to be to have the best quality fish in Malaysia

Popularity: 68% [?]

Somewhere during January, we were in Kuala Lumpur to follow-up on some un-finish business and we chance upon this unique tea house Off Jalan Genting Klang. This eatery is located on the second floor of a shop lot unit, but that did not stop the steady stream of customers patronising their place. It has Taiwanese charm with soft playing music, similar to that of our clients in Penang.

Hakka Yam Abacus 客 家 手 工 算 盘 子 RM 6.90(S)  RM 12(M), this is actually the reason we came to this place. The abacus yam balls are supplied by our new found friend Sze Yin which I have blog about on her effort to create a business out supplying this delicacy. A simple and inexpensive abacus yam balls in the hands of a passionate and perfectionist artist has made this delicacy shine with the assistance of some common ingredients that we see daily like dried shrimps, black fungus, chili, spring onions and fried shallots. Honestly, we have tried to duplicate the flavours during Gill’s Family Chinese New Year Reunion dinner, but failed to achieve perfection. I guess I would need to make my down to KL again to savor this delicacy again. The texture of the abacus yam balls were firm and springy and taste was light and savory without overwhelming the the distinctive sweet yam taste.

Shifting through the stir fried abacus yam balls, we came up with a suggestion to try deep frying with batter. They did, and some more details still have to be worked out before it can be reach perfection in terms of texture and taste. It needed some more saltiness and spice to bring out the original flavours of the yam.

After we were introduced, to the husband and wife team entrepreneurs of this homey eating outlet, as food bloggers from Penang, we were introduced to more of their specialties that they have in their menu. This was all thanks to Sze Yin! Another trip is needed to sample all that can be dished out by this hospitable couple.

We were ill prepared for what that were served consecutively! But it was an opportunity that I would not missed out if given a second chance. We could taste the heart and soul place in preparing each and every dish served. We are admire and respect people who take pride in their profession and strive to create perfection in what they cook.

Cheese Baked Chicken Spaghetti 芝士鸡肉意粉 RM 8.90, this is fairly an Asian style pasta which consist of just chicken slices, spaghetti, home made tomato base pasta sauce and cheese.  The pasta was al dente and the tomato sauce tasted very localised or Asian, which would be acceptable by many especially for those who do not like the taste of Western herbs like Bay Leaves, Oregano, and so on. The torched cheese gave it an extra richness in flavour.

Tom Yam Fried Rice 东 炎 炒 饭 Rm 6.50, consist of fragrantly fried rice pearls coated in the flavour of light Tom Yam and accompanied with egg, chicken slices, fresh juicy prawns and garnish with sprinkles of spring onion. the fried rice was not a bit too oily or over spiced, just nice for light eaters.

Spicy Noodle With Chicken Chop 麻辣鸡扒面 RM 7.50, as the name has it, this noodle dish had quite an amount of heat, but that did not deter us from savouring every single stand of noodles. The heat and sweetness was well balanced and had a hint nutty flavour. Another surprise was the tender and succulent breast of chicken which was deep fried till golden brown. I am a breast person, and it is one of the observation points when I judge the skill of the chef or cook. Not many can keep breast meat juicy tender through deep frying.

Sweet Chicken Wings 瑞 士 鸡 翼 RM 4.50, it tasted like Taiwanese style stewing. If I am not wrong it had rock sugar, garlic, spring onion and shallots. The wings were tender enough to fall of the bones but still able to retain its shape and consistency. This would be great for kids and adults a like, and best enjoyed with bowl of steaming white rice.

Prawn Toast 芝 麻 虾 多 士 RM 5.50, is one of the finger food that we tried but in a mix platter that contains a variety of snacks that they have on their menu. The bread topped with a succulent prawn and coated with fragrant sesame seeds and deep fried to golden brown. I would personally like to have a taste of this toast without the mayo to experience the original flavours, but mayo is more of a mass market taste that many would not mind having to give it a richer taste and some moisture.

Otak Cheese Sandwich 乌 达 芝 士 三 文 治 RM4.50, was not my cup of tea. There were mixture of east and west in this sandwich which had the locally produced otak-otak and complimented by either cheese. I guess my acquired taste for original flavours or well matched and compose fusion tastes had influenced my judgement on this sandwich. May be there are people who may well like this version of otak sandwich.

Italy Omellete 意 大 利 蛋 卷 RM7.90, was one of my favourites there. In the omellete, it had tomato chunks, shredded onion, mushroom chunks and cheese. A simple dish yet it left quite and impression in my taste buds, the white sauce did not overwhelm the eggy flavour and did not over enrich the taste of this egg dish. The cream sauce would be a great pairing with seafood base pasta due to its balanced flavours and sweet ending.

Apart from using their homemade white sauce on their omellete, we also suggested that they try using it and thicken with cheese to produce the cheese baked French fries which we have been searching all this while. They took our suggestions seriously and tried a hand in satisfying out desire, but some fine tuning would be needed before it could place in their menu. Their version was 60% near to what we were searching for, it is now the matter of the process of which goes in first to create the perfect cheese baked fries.

The bottom photos depicts the conversation and mingling that we had with Susan, while her husband toils in the kitchen.

After a wholesome meal at Cannes Tea House, we had the a groupy photo taken to remind us the time that we had in their tea house and the passion we found in their food.

To sum up our experience at Cannes Tea House:

Taste & Texture: 3.9/5 (passion was put into their dishes)
Money Value : 3.5/5 (KL pricing)
Service: 3.0/5
Cleanliness: 3.2/5 (the landlord has to do its part)
Atmosphere: 3.5/5 (homey with soft music)

Address: No. 16-1, Jalan 2/50C, Off Jalan Genting Klang, 53300 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 40226578
Business Hours: 11:00am to 11:00pm.
GPS Coordinate: N03◦11’43.4″ E101◦42’40.0″

Popularity: 21% [?]

It has been years since we last visited this roti canai or Indian pan fried bread stall. With time to kill before our appointment after church yesterday morning, it was our second stop for breakfast. This stall used to be housed a few meters down the road in an open compound under a big tree which has been removed. My favourite was their ‘roti kosong’ (plain bread) and ‘roti telur bawang’ (onion and egg bread) and drench in their homemade curries (mixed).

The roti kosong was pan fried till crisp on the surface and still fluffy on the insides. The dough or roti itself had a savoury taste which I can’t quite find in many other roti outlets now a days.

The roti telur was full of that fragrant eggy aroma, minus the onions. The roti as usual, was crisp and the egg just well done with soft whites and sandy yolks.

The mutton curry was pungent with the flavours of spices without the heat and the meat was off the bone tender.

The beef curry was a bit of a let down though. It used to thicker and had more taste of spices. The current beef curry was sweet with a slight sour (tomato) lingering after taste.

Price wise the roti was not too over price like some who charge RM0.80 for just a roti kosong.

The roti shop has even been featured by the local Chinese daily.

The recent experience with the Seikh Usman or Argyll Rd. Roti Canai:

Taste & Texture: 2.8/5 (the roti was fluffy, crisp, fragrant and flavourful but the curries tasted different from previous times)
Money Value : 2.5/5
Service: 2.5/5
Cleanliness: 1.0/5 (Table was oily, the floor was soiled with curry sauce and the most unbearable was water dripping from the washed plates on to the lower shelve that houses the cooked curry pots)
Atmosphere: 2.4/5 (warm at times)

Popularity: 16% [?]

Last year April I wrote about the morning hawker food stalls at Kedai Kopi Seng Thor, today we after Sunday service we made our way there again to try out something that we have not noticed before, Loh Mee.

We actually got win of this stall from Facebook and because we a lot of time to kill before we met up with the owners of Jurin Express to discuss about the dishes that they provide for our gathering, thus we decided to go food hunting for breakfast. The stall is run by this young chap, an aunty and an uncle. We normally frequent this place in the late afternoon for the ‘wantan mee’, thus we no idea of their existence.

The Loh Mee was served up quite fast after ordering. A standard order would cost RM2.50 and the large serving would be RM3.00. The ‘loh’ or gravy was silky smooth and could maintain its thick starchy texture a lot longer compared to the gravy served by the stall at Kafe Hai Beng on Jalan Masjid Kalitan Keling. Taste wise it was blend, it lack that ‘Five Spice’ flavour and needed some sweetness and saltiness to give it more taste. Even the chili and raw garlic could not do much to save the taste of the bowl of loh mee. But all was not loss, their stewed hard boil egg was very flavourful and full of texture.

My current experience with the Loh Mee stall at Kedai Kopi Seng Thor:

Taste & Texture: 2.7/5 (the egg offered some relief in terms of flavour and the gravy could hold its form longer)
Money Value : 3.4/5 (lots of noodles and quite filling)
Service: 3.0/5 (fast)
Cleanliness: 2.4/5 (the kopitiam is sometimes quite oily)
Atmosphere: 2.4/5 (warm at times)

GPS Coordinate: N5*24′91″ E100*20′07″

Popularity: 13% [?]

Our first night in Hong Kong, we were treated to a scrumptious dinner on a floating fish farm(鱼排) which is just a stone’s throw from mainland China by Gill’s uncle-in-law. The seafood that we had were very fresh, in fact they still swimming in the sea when we were deciding the dishes that we wanted to try.

When the boat touch base at the floating fish farm, we noticed that one of their clients had just caught a live cuttle fish. And the not so shy me started to get my gears ready to capture the not often seen, live, sea creature in Penang.

After taking a short walk through the fish farm and choosing the ingredients for the night, we settled down to our wobbling table. Each time a boat passes through the area, the whole place would wobble, but not too violently though. To quench our thirst, we got ourselves some beer and soft drinks that were foreign to our eyes. One of the beers that we had was ‘Blue Girl’, a German beer brewed in Hong Kong. This beer was smooth and malty. It had a slight sweetness to its end. Too bad it is not found in Malaysia, or else Carlsberg & Tiger would be knock out of spot by this German lass.

As the drinking started, the dishes also begun its course. The first to come was the poach cuttle fish. The cuttle fish flesh was tender and sweet, and when dipped into their soya sauce the sweetness was even more distinctively brought out by the saltiness of the sauce. In Penang, live cuttlefish is hard to come by the market place!

Then we had freshly harvested clams. The texture was firm and the taste was sweet and earthy, which the sauce did not overwhelm..

I am no a crab person, but when it come to tasting I will get my hands dirty. The crab that we had was definitely fresh as the flesh was still firm and juicy, taste wise it was sweet to the end.

Up next on the table was another clam species. This one was cooked with less heat in it, it had a nutty tasting sauce. This clam is almost similar to the ‘kappa’ that we have in Malaysia. It tasted sweet and earthy with a firm body.

On our diner list there were 2 types of scallops served, one seen here is the more common type that we may find in Penang or Malaysia which is the ‘Fan Scallop’ (扇贝).

Then there is the second type of scallop which shell looks like the horns of a bull and triangular in shape. This scallop dish was prepared by just steaming and then seasoned with their in-house sauce. Savory, nutty and sweet.

Then there is the fish, which we did not put much attention to as were almost full and were busy chit chatting and drinking. The only thing I can remember was that the fish was steam to just near cooked in the mid section. Thus, we were asked to start picking from the sides to the middle.

The ‘kailan’ with salted fish was a bit too salty and the texture was fiberish and chewy.

Chicken was different from our local chicken species. It had a yellowish skin colour and the meat firmer, but the version served here was just average, nothing to shout a bout.

Well that was the end of our first day in Hong Kong. Next up would be Day 2 and our exploration at Tai O and Tai Yu san.

Popularity: 6% [?]

On the 5th of March we were invited to review a newly establish specialty shop that sells everything(almost) about beef. The invitation was extended by Steve through Steven Goh to us to try out the beef steamboat and other dishes that focus on beef as the main ingredient. If coming from Jalan Tan Sri Teh Ewe Lim or the  Jelutong Police Station to Perak Road, the shop is on the right hand side  just a few hundred meters from the junction. Before we began digging into the prepare food, we shared some small talk and we found out that the owner of this Kang Beef House is somewhat related to the other Beef Noodle stalls that we have wrote about previously. There was also an Mandarin version that was written by Gill.

The star attraction for the night was their beef theme steam boat. But if you are dining alone or light, there are also other choices to choose from. The steamboat is priced at RM20 per head count with a minimum order for 2 persons, and it includes ‘牛腱’( tenderloin, muscle or shank meat), brisket, tripes, tendons, 2 types of beef balls, thinly sliced beef, Chinese Lettuce and Enoki mushroom.

We have been having this cut of beef in our daily beef noodles, and yet I have yet to find out its true name. Some call it tenderloin, I though is part of the shank or muscle section due to the existence of the transparent gel type casing. But in Cantonese it is call 牛腱 or ‘ngau jin’ (腱子肉是大腿上的肌肉，有肉膜包裹的，内藏筋，硬度适中，纹路规则). Anyway, the meat is tender and the gel type casing gives it a smooth and springy texture after it has been poached in the the accompanying beefy soup.

Another meaty side dish is portion from the bell which can either come from the brisket, plate or flank area. This meaty portion would contain meat fats and some tendons, thus the texture is slightly chewy and flavorful due to the fats. In Cantonese this part is call 牛腩 or ‘ngau lam’ in general (即牛腹部及靠近牛肋处的松软肌肉)

Another side dish is the beef tripe. The tripe is usually made from the rumen (smooth tripe) and the reticulum (honeycomb and pocket tripe). These two tripes forms the series of 3 stomachs chanbers. Taste wise is slightly blend and texture is crunchy and slight  chewy.

Another body ‘parts’ that we had was the beef tendon or 牛筋. It is firm and rubbery, but after poaching it turns to a soft and slight slimy texture, like firm Jello. Taste is also blend.

Then there the bovines’ balls. It is actually beef meat ball made the Chinese way. There are 2 type on the plate, the darker colored balls have a tastier and beefy taste but rougher on texture;  and the pale color balls are slightly blend but finer and crunchier on texture.

Then there is the thinly sliced beef fillets. The thickness is standard, thus one does not need to poach it for too long. I my prefer the slices with the egg, but it is there to give it additional smoothness. When the egg was introduced into the soup,it changes the taste of the otherwise light and beefy soup into a sweeter and eggy pot of soup.

Our Beef Steamboat experience:

2.5/5 for value (assuming the portion that we had were for six persons and per pax is RM20, it is equitable)
2.7/5 for taste & texture (darker beef balls and the tendon was my favourite)

Beef Koay Teow at Kang Beef House goes at RM6, 8, 10, 12, and RM15 for serving size. The soup stock is similar to the steamboats, but without the reddish and Chinese pickled vegetables(咸菜). The one we shared was the largest serving size (RM15).

Our Beef Koay Teow experience:

2.4/5 for value (slightly out of my means)
2.8/5 for taste & texture (taste better then some of my previous experiences in other places, plus there was less contamination of taste by the noodles)

Actually the steamboat session began, were introduced to a few fried and deep fried items that they serve. We began with the Crystal Beef Fried Rice. there was sufficient wok sear and the rice was individual and the had an infusion of the beefy taste. In addition to the soft gluteny pearls, there were also crispy bits of deep fried rice which gave an additional texture. The beef slice in this rice dish was tender and glistening with juices.

Our Crystal Beef Fried Rice with Beef Ball Soup experience:

2.5/5 for value (RM12.50 for fried rice is a bit on the high side for me, but with beef balls and soup it may be worthwhile) (we did not see the portioning of the beef balls)
2.9/5 for taste & texture (good wok searing and tender beef slices maintain their juices)

Stir Fried Beef with Black Pepper sauce has serving sizes ranging from small at  RM15 to big at RM28. Texture of the beef slices were soft and tender and the sauce was not overwhelming to many. But I personally do not like heavy a sauce that will cover the natural flavor of the main ingredient. The accompanying capsicum and chili was still crunchy and firm.

Our Stir Fry Black-pepper Beef experience:

2.7/5 for value
2.8/5 for taste & texture

Their version of Crispy Beef Balls was the only deep fried dish that we had the whole night. Each beef meat ball individually encased in crispy golden brown croutons.

Our Crispy Beef Ball experience:

2.9/5 for value
2.9/5 for taste & texture (Crispy outer shell and tender soft meaty chunks in side)

Address: 474, Jalan Jelutong, Penang, Malaysia, 11600

To sum up our experience at Kang Beef House:

Taste & Texture: 3.0/5 (average with room to improve)
Money Value : 2.9/5 (may need to look at the portioning of the steamboat and beef noodles)
Service: 2.5/5
Cleanliness: 3.5/5 (still new, lets wait and see)
Atmosphere: 2.4/5 (noise from the busy traffic and the hot and humid feeling from too many burners turned on)

Most probably I would return for their beef koay teow, Crispy Beef Balls, Crystal Beef Fried Rice, and Dry Stir Fried Hor Fun with beef slice.

Popularity: 14% [?]

On June 7th last year we were invited review to Ko Fu Loft in Gurney Plaza for an invited review which did not really went down well with our taste buds. After the review, me and Gill visited the restaurant on 2 more occasions which was also quite an eye opener for us. And from the memorable experience, we gave them about 6 to 12 months life span in this prominent mall which is also slowly loosing its grip on standards. And on the 2nd of March 2010 which is about 10 months after Ko Fu Loft started operating in the mall, it has finally call it quits and have lowered their shutters for the last time.

It is a pity that Ko Fu Loft had to abandon its initial concept of Dim Sum in a mall, which we also had when we saw the place after the Food Loft also met its demised. I guess it is rally true that same ideas and concept will have different result in the hands of different people.

Basically, the most noticeable reasons for the abrupt closure of this Dim Sum restaurant was because of:

• Right concept poor execution,
• Inconsistent and poor quality of food served,
• Lack service initiative by the service crew,
• High level of wastage that ultimately eat into the margins,
• Lack of right experienced management to lead the operations and oversee the kitchen activities,
• Inefficient Marketing Strategy and Tactics,
• Inefficient control of budget and expenses,
• Low participation of stakeholders,

Therefore to succeed in creating and operating your own successful restaurant, you need to have the right concept, good practical planning, proper execution, good management and leadership direction, cost efficient control methods, sound targeted marketing strategy and tactics, and most of all adaptable to criticism.

Next on our observation list would be a newly establish typical Hong Kong style tea house or ‘茶餐廰’ in Gurney Plaza. We had a dining experience there once, and I would say that Kim Gary would fair better compared to them. It has a retro type of decor but is uncomfortable to a certain degree and the food is worst off compared to Kim Gary.

Popularity: 10% [?]

We have found a new Japanese Restaurant in town. The exact location is the junction of Macalister Road and Madras Lane. The restaurant serves fusion Japanese Cuisine. The taste is more suited for the local tongue rather than Japanese.  For a quick dinner, we had pork chop rice, noodles and a stir fired chicken rice.

As usual, for starters at a new Japanese restaurant, I would try out one of their basic dish which is their pork chop rice or tonkatsu don. It was average to my standard. The pork chop was breaded and deep fried to slightly over brown, but it was still tender inside. May be they should look into the oil temperature or the lifespan of the frying oil. Taste wise was a bit more salty comapre to the ones I have eaten.

As the stir fry chicken rice that Gill had, taste was also on the heavy side of savory and sweet. The pairing of  french beans gave the dish a fresh and crunchy feeling. For rice lovers, it went well with the bowl of plain white rice.

Our business associate had a bowl of their noodle. We were busy talking and rushing for time, thus I did not had an opportunity to taste or ask him of what he felt about the noodle.

To sum up our experience at Jit Xin:

Taste & Texture: 2.9/5 (average with room to improve)
Money Value : 3.8/5 (price wise is quite cheap with a standard portion for my tonkatsu don)
Service: 2.5/5 (need to be more pro-active)
Cleanliness: 4.0/5 (still new, lets wait and see)
Atmosphere: 3.0/5 (quiet)

Popularity: 19% [?]