Gourmet Garden

Last Thursday we were given the opportunity to scoop for a better understanding of Hard Rock Cafe, its origins and “culture”, which I would leave for my next post that would be quite tedious to compose in view of the long recording and research that needs to be carried out. Before we go bonkers with all that, let us introduce the ‘Set Lunch menus that will be launched this coming Monday. The sampling of some of the main courses available in the set lunch menus was part of our first experience at Hard Rock Cafe. The set lunch menus are priced at RM28.00++ for a three (3) course lunch, which to be frank is quite reasonable if one would look at the location, service and portion.

There are four (4) different sets of menus that will be rotated on a weekly basis. Each menu would have the chosen recipe of the week for the three (3) main meat groups which are seafood, chicken and beef. Therefore, every set of the lunch menu would provide a sample of what could be experienced in their usual ala-carte menu at an affordable price to all.

The set lunch menu for the coming weeks in sequence is as follows starting from Monday (12th July 2010):

For the exclusive sampling, we had the opportunity to taste their Hawaiian Hamburger, Grilled Fish Fillet and Chicken Chop. One would notice that we only had the main courses and not the full set as we had other items in the list of sampling apart from these set lunch items.

The Hawaiian Hamburger patty was made with Angus beef at a ratio of 80% lean meat and 20% fats, lightly seasoned to keep the natural flavours of Angus, and grilled to medium-well to prevent any possibility of contamination. The well caramelized patty sandwiched between fluffy potato buns with whole leaf lettuce and a slice of grilled pineapple had a sense of tropical taste with the strong beefy flavour of quality meat, it is a burger made for the local taste buds. The pineapple gave the burger extra sweetness and twang that would appeal to the many Malaysians who like strong tasting foods.

Another set lunch main course that we had was their ‘Grille Fish (salmon) Fillet’ served with garlic mash and fresh greens. It may look simple and available through out any decent western restaurant in Penang, but don’t be deceived by the simple outlook. The simpler it is, the harder it is to deliver! First take a look at the fillet, the lightly seasoned and grilled until crusty fillet was still tender and moist with all its original flavours intact. The topping of the compound garlic butter sauce was fragrant and full of body, due to the careful ratio control of red and white wines.  It paired surprising well with the subtle sweetness of the fish and savoury taste of the seasonings without overwhelming either.

The side of garlic mash was something that I would not miss. The potato mash flavoured with the paste of baked garlic and topped with some green herbs. The potato used is from the Idaho or Russet Burbank variety that has an elongated shape with rough, netted skin and few eyes. The texture is characterized as fluffy and soft with optimal level of moisture, and was not over dairy. It is one of the good mashes that I have had in recent times.

The last main course from the set lunch menus that we sample was the ‘Chicken Chop’. It is a choice selection for those who are wants something that is recognizable and comfortable with. It was a no fuss simple all time favourite poultry dish for the many Penangites. It had crisp golden brown batter crust encasing a sweet and tender leg of chicken and topped with brown sauce. The key to this chicken chop is the sauce; the brown sauce had a balance of flavours and the optimal or standard consistency, neither too runny nor too starchy. Just nice! The accompanying coleslaw had a distinctive sweet taste and tang to it from the addition of cranberries.  This main course is for those who prefer strong tasting food.

To sum up our review of the Hard Rock Cafe Set Lunch main course:

Taste & Texture: 4.0/5 (sauces, meats and side dishes were up and over expectation, but there is still room for improvements)
Money Value : 4.0/5 (quite a big portion and very filling, service was good and friendly, location is in the beach belt of Penang)
Service: 4.5/5 (warm, fast and prompt service from the waiting crew)
Cleanliness: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 4.5/5 (was all’s well except when certain variant of tourists that are in season)

Address: Hard Rock Cafe Penang, (c/o Hard Rock Hotel Penang), Jalan Batu Feringghi, 11100, Penang, Malaysia
Restaurant Hours: Daily 11:00AM to 02:00AM (Kitchen last call closes at 10:00PM)
Telephone: +60-4-8811-711
Fax: +60-4-8812-155
Contact: info.penang@hardrockhotels.net

Popularity: 22% [?]

近日遇上了新相识的”同行”,大谈食经,兴喜非常. 论到10多20年的那个找不回的味道,难免大感遗憾.

从劳动时期, 越过脚踏实地的年代, 到了经济起飞的今天. 经得起”风浪”的食档已是寥寥无几.  劳苦小贩,为求两餐,踏实地烹调出他们对自己谋生的执挫. 以材料足够为根基, 精神和心机, 配上炉火纯青的经验, 就是那区区的一碟的炒粿条,加哩面都让您难以忘怀好几十个年头.

无论你是富裕或是贫穷, 简单而踏实的味道是最令你感觉满足和亲切不过。

你是否回想过, 那一家老食店或小贩曾经是你的最爱? 他们还存在吗?

为了推荐买少见少的家常老广东菜, 特地与这个老号做个简单的专访, 希望能与大家分享.

亚世饭店坐落在Hotel China Town Inn 后面

后巷里的家常老广东菜 – 亚世饭店  (世记)

这个位于吉隆坡闹市, 塘人街某个后巷里的老号. 自祖父至今已是第三代入橱作息.

从小跟爸爸(亚世) 学橱艺的现任老板兼主橱的黎雄威 (哥哥), 曾经在加拿大港式快餐店当过4年橱师. 回大马后再次与黎父并肩作战, 直到黎父享年62岁.  由黎雄威接班至今仍然保存着老广府抄的特色, 不跟随朝流, 什么奶油虾,非洲鱼…在这里绝对找不到!  世记是个家庭式生意,  一家大小在这个后巷埋头苦干了30多年.

老板兼主橱的黎雄威 (哥哥)

黎祖父是土生土长的中国人. 飘扬过海到南洋, 在吉隆坡落地生根. 龙蛇混杂的塘人街挑起担子买白切鸡饭, 抄粉面饭. 生活极度贫困.  黎爸爸年轻时也身无半文, 时常没钱交房租,被人赶出街.  后来“世记”于1962年正式在这条鸦片巷落脚.

大家是否回有些疑问, 为什么世记呆在后巷呢? 他有什么特别之处? 漆黑狭窄后巷谁会来呢?

以”老就是宝”的道理, 保留着上一代的传统风味, 绑着老顾客的心, 以人传人的方式能留传到今日, 全以”口碑”两字建立.  黎雄威细说, 跟爸爸十多年, 客户还是要爸爸亲下手. 一边炒菜一边喝黑狗啤, 还能和顾客一边聊天呢. 有时还 “串人”…”要快呀, 吃生的囖”…个性率直另他结交了不少朋友.

黎妈妈未去世前是个蒸食妙手, 现在由做楼面的弟弟黎成威替上打河.

哥哥黎雄威与弟弟黎成威

又漆黑又肮脏的后巷, 初期在这里用餐还蛮不习惯.  来多几次才发觉现并不然. 后巷路灯光亮了, 也干净许多.

除了火后十足的老滋味, 食物份量够大, 价钱的确实惠. 我们4 人吃进大大碟的4菜1汤, 有鱼,大虾,肉, 都不到RM100. 若比起吉隆坡闹市一般的价格, 他们实属超值.

亚世饭店的拿手小菜全都印在名片后面:

矮瓜虾球, 豆腐焖鱼, 鱼滑靚汤, 冬菜蒸猪肉, 三黄蒸蛋, 烧肉抄凉瓜, ……..全是家常菜色.

看那粗糙的鱼滑就知道有多”家常”啦. 平时少吃蚕菜的我, 一但配上他们的靚汤…却令我爱不释口! 可选择不同蔬菜配搭那清甜的鱼滑汤

矮瓜虾球 – 矮瓜=茄子, 大虾捞上香浓的balacan酱, 流口水了没?

豆腐焖鱼 – 香煎马友鱼, 豆腐和豆酱一起焖煮, 相当惹味!

冬菜蒸猪肉 - 别看平庸的卖像, 要新鲜的肉和油份量配搭恰当, 蒸的火后一点儿也不能忽视.他们的冬菜最赞.

现年45岁的老板黎雄威叹息, 因孩子刚满5岁, 年龄相差太远, 恐怕没人接班, 是末代了.

这条毫不起眼的后巷, 还有很多和亚世走过黄金岁月的同行, 如隔壁卖饮料档和街头的 煮抄都是第两三代的传人.

既然是末代, 要吃就趁早囖!

请游览较早前的英文版

http://www.gourmetgarden.com.my/?p=470

亚世饭店  (世记)

哥哥 黎雄威: 012-3231499

弟弟 黎成威: 012-2906751

电话: 03-20782762

72号, 吉隆坡蘇丹街, 广汇丰茶行(后巷)

(后巷中段, 最大档, 最光亮的就是了)

营业时间:  下午4点至晚上11点

每逢星期五休息

Popularity: 18% [?]

Hakka cuisine concentrates on the texture of food, simplicity and the umami (旨味) or savoury flavour of the dish. As like other dishes or cuisines, Hakka cuisine is influence by the attributes of the environment were they settled down or has it roots from, which is one of the reasons behind the variety of dishes and flavours that are synonymous to Hakka cuisine. The Hakka’s has provided to the public at large some their more famous dishes that are dished our in restaurants across Malaysia, China and whole wide world, some of these dishes are your common ‘Yong Taufu’(釀豆腐)or stuffed bean curd, ‘Yim Guk Gai’ (鹽焗雞) or Salt Baked Chicken, Poon Choy (盆菜), ‘Suin Poon Tzi’ (算盘子) or Abacus beads and lots more.

A few weeks ago on the 10th of December we had an opportunity to document the making of ‘Hakka Abacus Beads’ by a new entrepreneur, Ms. Lai Sze Ying, in Kuala Lumpur. It is one of the ways that we try to do our part to keep the diverse heritage and culture of food that we have a live for our future generation.  By doing so, we also hope to help budding food providers that are making delicacies the way it should to grow and spread the wonders of old school food.

This post I will introduce the making of ‘Suin Poon Tzi’ (算盘子) or Abacus Beads. Abacus Beads are made from freshly mashed Yam which is then combined with tapioca flour to form the dough that is cut and rolled into the shape of an abacus bead. The difference between the traditional and current abacus bead is the content of Yam and the final abacus bead shape. The算盘子/ abacus when cooked has a soft on the outside and chewy on the inside texture, which could be served stir fry or in soup. The common popular version would be stir frying with either of the following ingredients; minced pork or chicken, dried shrimps, mushrooms, ‘choy poh’, black wood ear, etc.

Before the dough is form to make the ‘Suin Poon Tzi’ (算盘子), Yam is cooked to a consistency that allows it to be mash up like when one make mash potato.

After the Yam is cooked to the required consistency, it is roughly mashed and then combined with tapioca flour to form the dough base which will be knead, cut and rolled to shape.

Before the Yam cools down, the Yam and Tapioca flour mixture is traditionally hand kneaded until it forms the firm dough.

After the Yam dough is finally formed, it is then divided into smaller section to work with. The smaller section are rolled into a strand which then cut to size and form into the shape of a abacus bead, which round in shape.

Next, a small puncture or stamp is made with chopstick in the middle of each formed abacus bead. This the part which differentiates the product produced by this new comer to the F&B industry from the common abacus beads suppliers in the market. And it is because of the near authenticity that we were greatly interested to document and introduce this budding entrepreneur that met through our acquaintance in KL.

After the abacus beads were ready formed and mark with the distinctive nod in the centre, it is then moved to the cooking pot or wok in this case to be thoroughly cooked with just simple clean boiling water, and then blenched in cold or running water to give it that springy and chewy texture.

The end product is the drained and is ready to be stir fry with you choice ingredients.

Popularity: 59% [?]

Traditional method of making Kuih Kapit on top of red hot charcoal heat.

During the good old days, Kuih Kapit are normally family affair. The ladies would prepare the batter batch, then the adults, men and women, would be at the charcoal stove baking burning the whole day away baking the prepared batter, and the children would be there either to help fold the kuih kapit or to just wait for the reject pieces to fall out of sight and snack it away.

Traditionally, making of Kuih Kapit is a family affair where every body from the family helping out at one point or another.

But after my mothers passing, our family has stopped making our own kuih kapit. Now-a-days, we have resulted to buying them from commercial suppliers, but luckily we were able to find one that is still making the kuih kapit as authentic as possible. Other than the traditional triangle ones, now there are also types that have fillings in them like ‘bak hu’ or shredded dry meat floss.

The proprietor’s youngest son enjoy helping out his parents to make the Kuih Kapit.

Preparing the mould for the next piece.

The liquid batter mixture is poured over the hot mould.

The moulds are place on top of hot charcoal heat to bake.

Great care is needed to ensure that the contents in the ‘kapit’ moulds are not burnt.

Constant flipping or turning is required to evenly baked and ensure that it is not burnt.

Sometimes cleaning or scraping of excess batter is required to ensure that next process is not affected.

After the Kuih Kapit is taken out of the mould, it is folded by hand.

Traditional Kuih Kapit are folded into triangles without any fillings. But this one is filled ‘bak hu’ or shredded dry meat floss and folded into a cylindrical shape.

I hope that one day, I would be able to carry out the tradition of making our own kuih kapit with the participation of everyone in the family. It is not the food that matters most, but the time spent together chatting away while making good food. It is to me the food for our soul.

Popularity: 25% [?]

After much talk by my father-in-law, we finally tried out this joint! This Koay Teow Th’ng with homemade fish balls is situated in this kopitiam along Jalan Burmah, just after the turn in from Penang Road. The kopitiam name is Hai Oan, which is also famous for its ‘chu char’ and Hainanese chicken chop.

The Koay Teow Th’ng(KTT) is actually a family business, that still sees the mother a her two sons still running this family trade. The main outlet is situated at the corner shop, Heng Seng Coffee Shop, off Lebuh Armenian and Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling(formerly known as Pitt Street). This outlet opens from 10:00am to 4:40pm daily except for Sunday and Monday.

The outlet we visited was the one at Hai Oan, which is being run by the one of the sons and his wife. This outlet is open for business from 8:00AM to 2:00PM daily except Mondays. It was only last Sunday we visited this makan stall after Sunday Service. After having a light breakfast at Lorong Macalister, we were not satisfied with the quality of food there, thus we decided to go for a second round. Or you could had our lunch at breakfast time. Hahaha….

What is so famous about this KTT business, is actually their homemade fish balls. But for Gill and me, their uniqueness doesn’t stop there. As our usual self, we stood there for sometime and observed the goings of the business, then finally I asked the wife and sister what is their specialty there. To my surprise they told me not only the fish balls are their specialty, even their mince pork patties are hand made. This I must try, because I have been searching high and low for the kind of mince pork patties that have eluded me for so many years.

When I was still living in Rifle Range, we use to get KTT from a stall opposite the Air Itam market for breakfast on certain Sundays. The stall was located next to the alley way, but during our recent food hunt last Monday, I found out that it has already disappeared. The taste and texture of the mince meat patties is still in my memories, juicy tender patties cooked to just the right with the optimum composition of fats and meat. The closes that I can get now is in Breikfeilds in KL, Peter Chu Yuk Fun.

The KTT soup served at Hai Oan is very light, but with the condiments of fried garlic bits and pork lard it is immediately transformed. Even the soya sauce dip is specially concocted with raw garlic, chilies and a special type of soy. I know the brand of the soya sauce from their description, but I obliged not to reveal. We used to use it at home when my mom was still around with us. It was her favourite. The way to best try the bowl of KTT is to first take it as it come without dipping in the soya sauce, you will experience the sweetness and freshness contained in the fish balls and minced pork pattie. After a few mouthful, then you may take it with the special soya sauce. That will be another taste experience from the same bowl that you had. The garlic and chilly gives it an extra punch for those who enjoy heavier taste KTT.

Why should they take pride of their business and food, is because everything is hand made. The fish balls are made from a species of eel that is found here.

The fishes is pain stakingly being de-boned. Only the vertebrae is de-boned at this stage.

Then the fish fillets are passed through this machine to separate the skin and small bones.

After the fish fillets are de-boned and de-skinned, it put through and special blending machine to start the mashing process. After the fish meat is blended and starts to produce the sticky substance to make the fish mash hold up togather, it is then hand moulded to your every day fish balls.

Even the minced pork meat are hand press to form the patties that are served there. Every individual piece shares the same thickness and consistency. Nice!

On average, I would give this place:

• 4.5/5 for value (hand made and much care is taken to prepare the fish balls and pork patties)
• 4.2/5 for taste & texture
• 4.5/5 for service
• 4.1/5 for cleanliness
• 3.5/5 for atmosphere

Popularity: 27% [?]