Gourmet Garden

During lunch with FoodnTravella last Sunday afternoon, we were told by her friend that there was a fish head curry in the Zim Sum Restaurant premises on Anson Road that operates in the evening. And of cause after getting wind of the stall, we decided to try out the fish head curry a few days ago after running some errands and meeting some clients.  The stall is run by an uncle and his assistant (worker lah), and it offers fish head curry, fish meat curry, fried balacan chicken and omelette.

The curry is made to order and there are a few sizes to choose from in terms of fish head size and pieces of fillet required. The one we had was RM22 and it was quite a big piece of head and belly, as you can see from the following photos. The fish head was bigger than the size of my wife’s palm and there were lots of okra, tomato, onion strips and mint leaves. Taste wise it is not very exclusive or unappealing; it was actually comparable to some of the more “famous” curry fish head businesses in Penang. The curry was predominantly sour with a sweet after taste and was not too spicy. The longer the fish sits in the curry gravy, the thicker it gets. Even though the curry was made from curry powder, the gravy was neither sandy nor grainy in texture.

Other than the curry, we also tried their balacan chicken which ranges from RM5.50 to RM11.00. The chicken is also made to order. The taste of balacan was light and the texture of the chicken was crisp on the surface and tender in the inside. If you are not a fan of fish head curry, you could try their balacan chicken, egg and rice set which I saw quite a few ordering. Address: 35, Jalan Anson 10400, Penang

Business Hours: 7pm to 11pm daily and closed on Wednesdays.

Overall experience:

• Taste & Texture: 3.0/5
• Money Value: 3.75/5
• Service: 2.9/5
• Cleanliness: 2.5/5
• Atmosphere: 2.5/5

Popularity: 7% [?]

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Have you heard or try Savory Tang Yuan before?

It is truly a “Forgotten Recipe” from Hakka & Cantonese Dialect. We have received many readers request about this savory tang yuan recipe since we’ve posted the winter solstice from 2008.
Other than we talk about the sweet version which has tones of fans, we rather share those who are forgotten and unique from the rest.
We have prepare the steps with photo and recipe below, and do enjoy the cooking and happy winter solstice to you & your family

Step 1 & 2. Begin of the Yellow Bean & Anchovies Soup Base

Step 4. Chicken Gizzard to Give the extra texture

Slice Pork & Spring Onions

Tang Yuan In Bean and Anchovies Soup

Savory Tang Yuan Soup

Tang Yuan:

I don’t really know what and how to make the tang yuan dough, but all I know is using glutinous four to makes it up…heee

The only tips that I can share is, cook the tang yuan in boiling water and wait until its float on top of the water, and its cooked. And throw them immediately into Ice Water. This step is to make the ball springier and doesn’t go lumpy /mushy.

We don’t really measure what we cook for this Soup, and is all according to the taste

Soup base (basic soup base for wonton noodle soup):

Handfuls of Dried Soya Bean

Handfuls of Dried Anchovies

Chicken or Pig born

Water for soup

Ingredient:

Cabbage (coarsely shredded)

Chicken gizzard (thick slices)

Pork belly 600gm or more (in whole pcs)

Spring onion (4cm in length)

Home fried shallots

Step by Step:

1. Put Soya Bean & Anchovies into soup bag/sachet. Don’t insert the bag too full, when it cooks, the beans will be bloated. The ideal portion is 1/3 of the bag. Or put those 2 ingredients in 2 different bags.
2. After filled in the Soya Bean & Anchovies in the bag, put them all into boiling water and cover the lid, with medium to low heat, and cook about 30min or until you can smell the aroma.
3. Take out the soup bag. Leave the soup aside.
4. Boil water in another pot, to poach the whole pcs of pork belly and chicken gizzard until it’s done or tender. Take out and drain. Cut them into thin slices when it’s cooled. Set both aside.
5. Warm up the Anchovies soup and throw the cabbage in and cooked till tender. Add Salt to taste. Drain the Vege and set aside.
6. Basically the cooking step is all done.

Eating Step:

Just heat up the soup, scope all the precooked ingredient, tong yuan, cabbage, gizzard, pork belly, spring onion, and pour the steaming hot soup into the bowl and top with some homemade fried shallot. Enjoy!

Those precooked ingredient and soup can keep into the refrigerator and you may heat up for the next day. Except tang yuan, its good when eat its fresh.

Popularity: 7% [?]

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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. Our Friend, Wong  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.

Interested to try out the fish? please contact

jason@gourmetgarden.com.my

gill@gourmetgarden.com.my

Chinese Version:

马来西亚最贵河魚 – Empurau 忘不了, 槟城有得吃！

Popularity: 100% [?]

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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: 3% [?]

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上个星期接到一个厨师朋友 Wong 的电话, 叫我们夫妻两人去他的餐馆喝茶。我们去到的他的餐馆, 他就问, 您是否听过, “Empurau”或“忘不了” 鱼吗? 那个香港食神梁文韜（韜韜）来馬來西亞品嚐那条几千令吉的河鱼呀?!

我回答说, 看过一些部落格和网上报刊几篇报道, 倒没见亲眼过如此贵的鱼!

他笑着对我们俩说, 我这里有! 给你独家放上网! 他二话不说就飞进厨房那着那条8公斤的野生“忘不了”出来给我们拍照. 我们瞪了瞪眼, 开心不已, 没想到可以”亲身体验”如此昂贵的鱼!!! 看了一会儿, 我们问, 他有什么特别呀? 别怪我们啊, 咋们不是行家, 看起来只不过是一条普通的鱼, 为什么它的价格会那么超贵?!

黄先生说Empurau翻译后的华文名称有 “忘不了” ，“往不了”，“恩不老”。Empurau是伊班名，英文名是“Mahseer”是大马目前最昂貴的河魚！

这野生Empurau由于愛吃風車果 (buah gabang), 因此其肉質帶有果香味及油脂, 口感極佳，沒魚腥味，肉質鮮美滑嫩香甜，入口即溶，擁有淡水魚中少見的特殊口感. “忘不了”的最佳煮法就是清蒸, 讓人一嚐難忘。而甲必Kapit河捕捉的野生“忘不了”更实属佳品。

野生 “忘不了”是目前最昂貴的河魚，更是每公斤叫價1600令吉至1800令吉。 河魚之王──“忘不了”（Empurau），主要在急流河中生長的生猛河鮮。由于野生河魚越來越少和難以捕捉，即使有錢，也未必吃到新鮮的“忘不了”。

黄先生是砂拉越人, 对这野生“忘不了”是有一定程度的认识。 有些吃过“忘不了”的人, 连它真正的一面也未成见过。 所以很多时候都会被骗, 也避免不了。单是提供给砂拉越人, 皇族和大官贵人已是供不应求, 就算是有錢都未必买得到。更别说是西半岛的我们吧?

黄先生辛托他的砂拉越 – 甲必(Kapit) 朋友先让出两尾 “白色”8公斤的野生“忘不了”, 要不然就寥寥无期。 单是运输就叫你冒汗, 想象一下, 从“忘不了”原產地, 乘搭直升機, 坐几個小時四輪驅動車到詩巫, 乘搭飛機到古晉, 转飛機到吉隆坡,最后才运到槟城。

黄先生再说,“忘不了”的特征是魚頭比較尖、魚頭與背的連接處呈現小駝峰，肚子部分也有肚腩。

Empurau 鱼头,鱼唇,最棒!

我和Empurau 忘不了， 哈哈哈

Wong 和 Empurau 忘不了

Penang槟城, 现在有得吃大马最贵河魚 – Empurau 忘不了,还等什么? 现以每公斤1500令吉以上出售野生Empurau 忘不了.要一尝它的滋味? 请联络:

Jason@gourmetgarden.com.my

gill@gourmetgarden.com.my

英文版:

The Most Expensive Fresh Water Fish in Malaysia, Empurau (Mahseer)!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

以上资料是从各报章和部落格寻找:

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2010-01-16&sec=malaysia&art=0116mb61.txt

http://www.www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2009-08-28&sec=malaysia&art=0828mb85.txt

http://spotlite.com.my/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=2852

http://www.carilubang.com/viewthread.php?tid=7511

“忘不了”河魚在東南亞多國，如印尼等地，都可尋獲其蹤跡，惟在砂拉越的“白色”忘不了，味道是最美味，價格也是最為昂貴。

“忘不了”生存在深山乾淨清澈的河水，若河水受污染，就會“搬家”。由于面對毫無節制的伐木活動、河水受污染，魚吃的風車果也瀕臨“絕種”等因素，國內價格最貴河魚“忘不了”，產量越見越少。

舉凡3公斤以上的野生河魚，出售价以每公斤1500令吉以上；半野生的河魚，如在2公斤以下重量，則以每公斤550令吉至750令吉出售。一條重量達一公斤的“忘不了”河魚，需花費3年時間飼養。

河魚的骨較多，1公斤內的河魚不適合上桌，必須等最少2、3公斤（2歲至6歲），才適合上桌。河魚與海魚不一樣，河魚再大肉質也不會變粗硬，依然保留其鮮美及香味。如要論肉質之鮮嫩，則須選擇8公斤至10公斤重的。

網上業界的譯法是“馬西爾魚”或“紅吉羅”。忘不了魚的用途可多了，它可以充作觀賞魚，魚油含有豐富的Omega成分，魚身曬乾后可制成化妝品。 “在大馬，我們只把這種河魚之王，送到餐桌上或是充作觀賞用途。”

Popularity: 51% [?]

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腊肠

润肠腊肠

近几年来, 在年尾时段总会听到余仁生在某家电台打广告. 你是否对 “腊味风一吹, 收工快快去”留下印象? 好一个朗朗上口的词句.

听到这句时, 表示冬至就快来临,也意味着旧的一年将会结束. 到时候炎热的大马, 刮起阵阵年尾北风,凉快非常, 这就是我最爱的季节和气候! 已往大概11月左右北风就会刮起, 然而今年的气候变化不定, 几天前才稍有微风的踪影,可算是迟来的北风。

每当北风到来, 华族必定想念那垂咽三尺的腊肉腊味. 那浓郁带有酒的悠香,咸咸甜甜的味道…叫人难以忘怀, 腊味配上现时盛产的芽菇一同蒸熟, 绝对是家家户户的座上佳肴。
腊味的品质与季节有莫大关联，每年就只有秋冬季是最佳的时刻进行生产，提前或超出此时间生产出来的腊味，会失去腊味独有的风味。

腊味是季节性食品.它和过冬吃汤圆是扯不上关系。
每年的12月22号是冬节, 吃汤圆是传统习俗, 象征家庭和谐、吉祥。“汤圆”是冬至必备的食品，是用糯米粉制成的圆形甜品，“圆”是意味着“团圆”及“圆满”，冬至吃汤圆又叫“冬至团”。民间有“吃了汤圆大一岁”之说。冬至团可以用来祭祖，也可用于互赠亲朋。
若你有兴趣做汤圆, 你可游览我们去年2008所写的英文版本的汤圆食谱。

腊鸭腿

何谓「腊味」？
「腊」是一种肉类食物的处理方法，把肉类以盐或醬腌漬后再风干。农历十二月称为 “腊月”，中国天气转冷且干燥，肉类不易变质且蚊蟲不多，加上秋冬季风较大, 适合风干制腊味，因以為名。

发源地
广东省的西北部连州, 地理位于河床谷地，秋冬季风力较大，干燥的北风，正是连州特有的气候和地理位置，成了别具一格、风味独特， 浓香可口的腊味。

历史
腊味流传至今已有300多年，远在清朝初期，人民生活富足.当时的猪肉屠宰剩余,一次偶 然的机会，当地有一位村民把剩余的猪肉用食盐铺撒面上，次日又将用盐腌制了一夜的猪肉用绳吊挂起来，时值冬至，连日大雪，无法出门，那户人家便将腌制的猪 肉取下煮食，却发现味道不同一般，咸香可口。从此，用盐腌制猪肉做成腊味的工艺便流传开去。
时至今天, 腊味的品种更为丰富和多元化，有腊肉、腊肠、腊鸭肠、腊鸭、腊鸡等之余还有没在大马吃过的, 如腊鸭胗、腊鱼、腊田鼠、腊狗、腊蛋呢!
腊味主要有生抽味、老抽味、酒香味三种味道。有吹干, 烘干, 晒干, 烟熏等做法。

中国腊肠
把肥瘦适中的猪肉切条或跺碎，用生抽、烧酒、盐、白糖腌制大约10分钟，然 后把肉碎灌进干肠衣去，用筷子头压实，然后把灌实的肠衣截成一段段，用细绳扎紧，拿去晾晒大概一个星期即可。

广式腊肠
口味偏甜，主要配料包括油、鹽、醬油、糖、酒等。作方法是將豬肉切粒腌製，然後塞入腸衣（一般用豬、羊等牲畜的小肠制作）风干，顔色比較鮮豔。

若你喜欢又想自己做腊肠, 敬请留意下一集 的”动手做家常腊肠”.

祝您有个美满和幸福的冬节!

Popularity: 10% [?]

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After reaching KL from Penang, we headed to Rocket United for a very late dinner and call it a day, last night. Today, we had skip breakfast to get some work done. For lunch we had quick and easy one somewhere around Desa Petaling, chicken rice was what we had. I don’t know the road name but here’s the coordinates to the place.

The chicken rice shop/stall that we had our lunch was call ‘Sang Kee’. They serve poached and roasted chicken, ‘suen choi’ or sour vegetables soup and ‘char siew’. The chickens that they have are quite big in size and very meaty, plus customers can choose from either farmed chicken or free range chicken depending on your preference.

On that hot Friday afternoon, we only had desire for poach free range chicken and ‘char siew’ with a side order of ‘suen choi’. The poached chicken skin was yellowish in color similar to those seen on Hong Kong serials, ‘wong yau kai’ or direct translation yellow oil chicken. The last time I had chicken that looked like this was last year in Setiawan and Pangkor Island while attending wedding dinners of relatives. The poach chicken at ‘Sang Kee’ was quite meaty but a bit bland for my taste buds. The skin was firm and rich though.

As for the ‘char siew’, it had quite a good ration of lean meat and fats, and the taste was above average with a sweeter after taste. A must have for me, if we do go back again.

I can’t speculate about the ‘suen choi’ for I was afraid that my stomach acid was acting up again, but from Gill’s feedback was that it also have an above average taste.

The chicken rice was normal, it had a very light seasoning with chicken essence which some may not have even tasted its presence if he she is accustom to out side food.  And the accompanying broth was very light, clear and sweet, with a hint of cabbage flavor in it…very comfortable soup. And that was all we had for lunch.

To sum up our experience at Sang Kee Chicken Rice:

Taste & Texture: 3.0/5 (Chicken was slightly bland and the rice was just mediocre)
Money Value : 3.0/5
Service: 3.0/5
Cleanliness: 3.0/5
Atmosphere: 3.0/5

In the early evening we had attended the AFC preview party at NEO, after which we headed Jalan Kasah for ribs at Ribs by Vintry. We have been to that area for Italian food, but not to either Ribs or their sister restaurant Vintry.

We were told ribs, be it beef or pork, were their specialty at  Ribs by Vintry, so for our mains we ordered 2 variations of pork ribs. One was their ‘Saute Butter Cream Sauce Ribs’ and the other was their BBQ pork ribs. And for desserts we shared their, also specialty, ‘Tiramisu’.

Gill was praise for the ‘Saute Butter Cream Sauce’ which was different, or fusion in taste. This variation of cream sauce was surprisingly fresh with the usage of some Asian herbs (lemon grass and some hint of orange peel) and not too overwhelming in terms of the after taste. The accompanying sautéed potato was equally tasty and creamy with a fluffy texture, but not much could be said about the side vegetable salad. Ribs wise, my only complains are that there were not enough meat on them and there was a hint of that ‘frozen’ meat taste left in the ribs. I was told that the ‘frozen’ meat taste was the effect of importing the ribs from Europe to acquire the the cut and taste that the chef wanted to present to their customers. Local pork ribs could have been sufficient, but then it is hard to get consistent supply of the cut and texture that the chef want. We too also have found that same cut of pork from different pork sellers in different areas have varied taste and texture. This may be due to the feed, age and condition of the pigs reared in.

The BBQ pork ribs also shares the same ‘frozen’ taste problem and insufficient meat on the bones. Taste wise, it tasted similar to the common BBQ ribs offered else where except the extremely smooth potato mash that was hidden at the bottom of the ribs.

The ‘Tiramisu’ was at first the most criticised item we had for the night at Ribs by Vintry. The ‘Tiramisu’ was bland(no cheesy richness or taste), no liquor taste and the biscuit was already soggy. This biscuit actually reminded me of water soaked dry corn cereal(Nestum). And it was one of the reasons or products that gave us a better insight of the confidence and responsibility of the staffs of the restaurant. After we made our complaints known on paying, we were assured that our grievances will be looked into. And immediately the cashier, Edmund, went into the kitchen to look into our feedback and brought another glass of their signature ‘Tiramisu’ for us to reevaluate. We tried it and it was a lot better than the glass that we paid for. The cheese taste was richer, there was a stronger hint of ‘Kahlua’ flavor and the biscuit was still firm.

To sum up our experience at Ribs by Vintry:

Taste & Texture: 3.3/5 (The pork ribs were slightly hard in texture and lack meat, but the fusion type sauce was something refreshing to our taste buds)
Money Value : 3.0/5 (not a whole lot, but sufficient to last out the whole bowl )
Service: 3.9/5 (not much attention during our dining due to under staffing, but the effort to answer our complains were main decision maker in our grading here)
Cleanliness: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 3.5/5

Popularity: 7% [?]

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Siong Ho Fish Head Bee Hoon has ceased operation at Weld Quay in Penang and has moved to Johor.

Some months back, we were given the opportunity to taste the skills of Mr.Teh who had 20 years of experience in cooking fresh seafood noodle and porridge. And of course, using fresh seafood is a must in his rule. You can choose from the variety of ingredients available to create your own taste preference and bowl of noodle or porridge that you would like to enjoy. The food is prepare almost instantly upon your instructions and choice.

The available option of ingredients to choose from: Prawns, Crabs, Squids, Fresh Grouper Fish Head, Fresh Grouper Fillet, Fried Bass Fillet and Head, Frog, Minced Pork Meat, Pork Kidney, Meat Balls, Fish Ball and Fried Soy Bean curd Sheet

Noodle options to slurp for: Thin Rice Vermicelli, Thick, Rice Vermicelli, Wheat Flour Vermicelli (mee suah), Instant Noodles and Porridge.

Then the soup stock options to cook your choice ingredients in: Clear Soup & Tomyam. Pickled Salted Vegetable and fried garlic bits are used for the Clear Soup toppings.

Fresh Fish Fillets and other ingredients.

Fresh Naked Frogs, almost the same length with my palm

Big fresh white prawns

Perfectly fried sea bass fillets and fish heads.

The Boss of Siong Ho. Mr.Teh (Ah Ho) prepared the noodle for us personally.

We were served with Cold White Nutmeg Juice with Plum – RM1.70 per glass

Once the hot bowls arrived to the table the cameras were like bees to honey…. lol

Clear Soup with Fried Bass Fillet & Thin Vermicelli – RM5

The fish came in chunks rather in fillets; we can still taste the freshness from the fish meat although it has been deep fried. The clear Soup is pretty clear with some natural sweetness.

Prawn Tom Yam Soup with Instant Noodle – RM9 for 3 large prawns

Here comes the tom yam with big prawn. A point to put forth is that the tom yam soup is not so oily, and it taste milder and smoother compare to the others.

Based on Mr.Teh said he had the tom yam powder and paste further enhanced to achieve their version of tom yam that he wants to serve. I personally prefer this kind of tom yam with less oil with a smoother soup “texture”. I dare not consume the “Fiery” type of tom yam soup; I would easily choke and cough to death.

Clear Soup with Prawn and Thin vermicelli – RM9 for 3 large prawns

You can taste the seafood ingredients’ sweetness in the soup!

Clear Soup with Squid & Instant Noodle – RM5

The squid was cooked to just the right firmness without the chewy texture. The combination was with instant noodles, which were soaked a little too long in the soup, and thus making them soggy. The instant noodles do not go well with squid.

Fresh Grouper Fillet Porridge – RM7.50

The grouper fillets were fresh and came in thick flaky slices. The Porridge they served here uses cooked rice that are further cooked in their clear soup stock with the selected choice ingredients to produce a piping hot bowl of porridge. Usually preserved vegetable or “dong chai” will be added in this type of porridge to give it a special sweet and salty flavour.

Frog Porridge – RM12 (RM6/100gms)

See the naked frog? The chunky frog meat tasted sweet and fresh. Is was far more tastier as compared the to the frogs that we had at “Sin Gelang Claypot Frog Porridge”.

we thought that was all, then came another batch of noodles….

Clear Soup with Crab & Thick Vermicelli – RM10 (RM5/100gms)

The sweet taste of the crab was in every mouthful soup that we had. Even with just a small sip of the soup, you could tell the distinctive crabbiness.

Clear Soup with Deep Fried Bass Fish Head &  Wheat Flour Vermicelli (mee suah)

I like the fried bass fish head a lot. It was tastier then the bass meat fillet that we had….heee

Mixed Seafood Tom Yam Soup – RM17  (based on selection of ingredients)

This mixed tom yam had additional fish, prawns, squid, meat & fish balls and oyster mushroom, and flavoured with extra mint leaves, chillies and tomatoes.

Jian with her lively picked crab say “cheese” before the crab say goodbye to the world….lol.

On average, I would rate :

Taste & Texture: 3.8/5
Money Value : 3.5/5
Service: 3.8/5
Cleanliness: 3/5
Atmosphere: 3/5

Personal liking Item/match:

1. Clear soup with bass fish head & thick rice vermicelli

2. Tomyam Soup with Prawn & Instant Noodle

Venue:
SIONG HO FISH HEAD NOODLES AND PORRIDGE @ VILLAGE CAFE
Address:
107-A, Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay), 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon-11.30pm
Contact: 019-458 8693 (Mr. Teh/Ah Ho)

How to go:

If you are coming from the ferry terminal, keep an eye on the landmarks on your left, you can slow down your car or get a parking lot right after the Mixed Surname Jetty. The shop is just few doors away.

Popularity: 9% [?]

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Last Thursday, there was an impromptu request to cook dinner; on the list were the aging prawns in our freezer. As prawns were not that fresh, the method would then be something that can over come this problem. The easiest way out would be curry, but the paste that we have was only for fish.

First thing I did was to shell the prawns and “freshen up” them with some sugar and corn flour. Then to the hot oil they go. The prawns were deep fried until just cooked so that any fishy taste would not affect the curry.

Before cooking the curry, we had to prepare some other additional such as onions, lemongrass and fresh tomato. The curry paste that we used was the fish curry paste from Mak Nyonya. The curry paste had a strong spice aroma, and lemongrass was quite predominant.

To begin cooking the curry gravy, I started to brown the chopped onions in the pot and oil used to fry the prawns earlier.

After the chopped onions were browned, they were transferred to another pot for further cooking process. Do not wash the frying pot, add some water to deglaze the pot and keep the sweet juices left by the prawns and onions.

In the new pot, put in the julienne onions and lemongrass and begin aromatise them in hot oil.

After the onions and lemongrass begin to emit their fragrances, add in the curry paste and continue stirring.

While still aromatising the curry paste, pour in the deglazed juices from the earlier pot. Remember not to pour everything at one go, too much would dilute the curry paste and flavours.

After the paste has reached the right consistency (according to what you like) and have begin to emit the curry fragrance, then it is time to add the coconut milk. No fresh coconut milk was available, so boxed type had to suffice. Boxed coconut milk does not have the taste and essentials that fresh coconut milk has.

The second last step is to pour in the tomatoes wedges.

After the tomatoes have softened, it is time to let the prawns join the curry gravy and let them soak up the spice and fragrance of the curry gravy ingredients.

The curry prawns’ textured was not bad although they have been kept in the freezer for almost six months. The sugar and corn flour helped to firm them up. The freezer was also played an important role. The taste of the curry was spicy with slight sweetness in it. Other than the curry prawns, we also had roast duck brought all the way from KL. The roast duck was sweet and tender although it had been on the road for a few hours.

Popularity: 10% [?]

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We have heard a lot of the Xuan Xin Restaurant which newly established its self in the prime location at Gurney Plaza’s New Wing, some said their food & service is good and some said lousy. So who is the winner?

I ‘m now going to tell my true experience that we’ve encounter. The answer is Not Too Bad. Would it be due to the lesser dinner crowd as compared to the lunch’s crowd?

The Menu

We’ve choosen the Sliced “French Style” Smoked Duck @ RM12 to start our palate.

4 pcs of smoke duck breasts with it 4 steamed mantou (chinese steam bun), cucumber and fried beancured skin. I just wonder why they put the red sauce on top of the smoke duck? And the sauce is tasteless, its serve no purpose may be just color for presentation. By the way, the duck meat is pinkish in color.

Here is how I stacked the mantou first with smoke duck slice, followed by the cucumber, crispy beanchurd skin and of course top with the other half of the mantou. We did not get any instruction on how to eat this appertizer, is this the correct way? Shouldn’t they guide us to how best savour their dishes?

The mantou was moist and fluffy and dense, also good on its own. (oppss..sounds like gardenia slogan huh?) The smoke duck had a light smoked flavour and hint of saltiness. It is best eaten with only with the steam buns, not ideal to pack everything together. The fried beancurd skin was crisp and crunchy, but i find it was a little too thick for the combination.

The first bite you should experience the warm and soft buns covered with the crunch and salty beancured skin, refreshing cucumber and the smokey duck flavour, it should be wonderful. But our experince at Xuan Xin, the beancured skin is way thicker and saltier then the smoke duck, some how or rather the smokey duck flavour was loss  (main subject). Dragon-i smoked duck is still my first choice.

Suggestion: It would be prefect if reduce the bean cured skin layer, and the enhance the duck meat flavor and moister.

Sliced “French Style” Smoked Duck: 3.8/5

Stir Fried Hor Fun with Sliced Beef @ RM12

My all time favourite “Stir Fried Hor Fun with Sliced Beef”. When I saw it in the menu, I had to order it.

The Hor Fun is slightly different from the local ones, its thinner and its cut similarly like koay teow shape, Bean sprout head and tails were picked (its a standard in Hong Kong Restaurant), slice onion, julienne slice scallion and thinly slice beef meat.

Wok hei comes from the first sense, second would be the sweetness from the dark soy sauce  and caramelized onion. Hor Fun good in texture and smooth. Beef was bit of a let down as it was not Beefy in taste and the amount was countable, just aroun 8 slices. The Scallion was fiberish and doesn’t help much as it was pretty irritating and stuck in between the teeth.

Suggestion: Beef hor fun should have the beefy flavour. Priced @ RM12 should have more slices.haha… Should take note on the scallion.

Stir Fried Hor Fun with Sliced Beef: 3.8/5(for the wok hei and soya sauce taste)

New launch Food Items which separate from the menu.

We ordered Braised Crispy Noodle with Curry & Roasted Pork Belly @ RM12

Errrg…look at the presentation. It doesn’t look appertising ya?

Thick curry gravy poured on a bed of perfectly deep fried crisp thin noodles, served with long bean and roast pork belly chunks. Ok, did you see the different from the Menu and the presentation here? hah.

The only items that i like from this dish is the crispy noodle. I think they wish to do the similar of Japanese curry, but it doesn’t taste right to me. Its starchy and less spice from the curry. And the Roast pork belly was rough and dry. I personally doesn’t like the dish.

Something to praise, is the noodle has been cut like pizza slices which easgave ease in consuming it.

Suggestion:

The name of “Braised Crispy Noodle with Curry & Roasted Pork Belly” doens’t sound rights to me, as the noodle was not braised in curry but poured on. It would be right to name it  ”Braised Curry Roasted Pork Belly with Crispy Noodle”, sounds better right?

I don’t know how to put a suggestion on this curry, may less starchy and more local flavour infuse in the curry.

Braised Crispy Noodle with Curry & Roasted Pork Belly: 3/5

Poached Chinese Spinach with 2 Kinds of Egg in Superior Stock @ RM12.80

This soup was delicious and the most enjoyable for us that night! We both enjoyed it till the last drop. The Spinach poached to just the right consistency where one could still feel the crunchiness. There were more then 2 kinds of eggs in this dish, it has chicken egg whites, century eggs and salted eggs and 3 of them has its unique taste, all flavor combine with the good soup stock….it was very delicious. This is far more better then many restaurants.

Poached Chinese Spinach with 2 Kinds of Egg in Superior Stock: 4.2/5

On average, I would rate :

Taste & Texture: 3.95/5
Money Value : 3.8/5 (its Reasonable, with the consideration of the price, location, serving)
Service: 3.7/5 (at least they asked your feedback for the newly launch menu. Fast and efficient when press the service button. btw, they served the appetizer at last, why?)
Cleanliness: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

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Popularity: 9% [?]

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Last Saturday on (13th June 2009) we revisited Blue Reef, the fish n’ chip joint at 32 Permai off Vale of Tempe that we visited early this year. The revisit to Blue Reef was partially to meet a friend and also to find out whether their quality food is still consistent to that we had early this year. We had to find out for our selves because we have read some ‘not so good’ comments of the place.

It has been almost 6 months since we set foot in Blue Reef, and we didn’t know what to expect from them. Not much has changed since then, the only thing that we notice is the little drawings that were pasted on one side of their wall. It is good to see that our ideas were accepted and used, but the actual idea was to have the photos of patrons and their fun moments captured and enshrine on their wall. At least the idea was used in some way!

Currently there is an offer for a full meal option, excluding dessert, for an additional RM1. It is a good promotional strategy at this current economy phase. Many are looking for bargain and money saving deals for their daily needs and wants. With an additional RM 1 added to the cost of the chosen main course, I was served with a glass of ice-lemon tea and a bowl of the soup of the day.

The soup of the day that we had was their green pea soup. It tasted kind of earthy, nutty and sweet. There was some sandy texture to the soup which I find to my liking. Served with the soup, was piece toasted garlic bread. On seeing it, we thought that the bread would hard to consume due to the thicker shaped. But surprisingly the bread was quite manageable because it was crisp on the surface and moist and soft inside. Thus, it was not crumbly and hard to bite into.

For the main course, I had their Salmon Burger. The flaky salmon patty was well caramelised on the surfaces and yet retaining the juicy moisture. The seasoning of the salmon meat was well choreographed as it did not totally overwhelm the distinct taste of salmon. The crisp and soft sesame seed bun and the sauté onion toppings was a good combination to the salmon patty. There was only one thing that I felt bad about the burger was the amount of tartar sauce. I would personally leave the tartar sauce out and may be sauté the onions with some balsamic vinegar to give the burger some added flavour.

Gill had their Aglio e Olio as usual. But it was a bit of a disappointment for her because they have substitute the pork bacon for the anchovies as they are now a pork free restaurant. With the anchovies, it tasted a bit weird to us. We asked Chris why not use beef bacon, and he told us that it did not have enough flavour. Anyway, I guess we would be going back for try their Aglio e Olio again because the Chris mentioned that they might change it to Seafood Aglio e Olio. The previous trip to Blue Reef, the Aglio e Olio was excellent and the pasta strands were firm and springy.

Our friend had their famous fish n’ chips and their Caesar salad. One of the not so good comments that we read was that the batter for the fish n’ chips were a soggy. But from the looks of our friend’s serving, it was perfectly coated and deep fried till gold brown. Although minutes have passed, the beer batter coat was still firm and crisp. And the serving portion for below RM20 was, as my friend puts it, value for money. He said in Kuala Lumpur the portion would have cost him at least RM35.

As for his Ceasar salad, I am not the position to comment as I did not taste it.

At the end of the lunch cum discussion, our friend ordered their Orange Crème brûlée. Crème brûlée is a rich custard dessert topped with a layer of hard caramel that is formed by the burning of sugar by any means of heat source. Traditionally the custard base is normally flavoured with just vanilla, but at Blue Reef they have prepared their version flavoured with orange. The cream was not too dairy or creamy, and sweetness was just at the right note. But the caramelise sugar coating was slightly coarse for the silky smooth textured custard. May be fine sugar should be used instead.

On average, I would rate Blue Reef:

* 4.1/5 for value
* 3.7/5 for taste & texture (because of having to choose pork free)
* 4.1/5 for service (Chris and his staffs are always attentive to our comments)
* 4.1/5 for cleanliness(still clean and neat after in bussiness for more than 6 months)
* 3.7/5 for atmosphere

Address : Permai 32, No.22 Lebuh Lembah Permai 4, 11200 Tanjung Bungah, Penang.

Tel : 04 8999128.

Business Hours : 11.30am – 2.30pm and  6.30pm – 10.30pm. Closed on Mondays.

GPS Coordinate : N 05*27?16.38?   E 100*17?25.4?

Popularity: 7% [?]

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What do left-over ingredients like sea cucumbers, bacon chips and ABC soup mean to me? EXPERIMENT! The raw sea cucumbers were left idle in the freezer since Chinese New Year and the bacon chips were acquire like two to three months back, couple with no other fresh vegetables and meat produce on hand I decided to make a quick dish out of these idle ingredient sitting in the freezer.

First thing is to do is to thaw the sea cucumbers, then boil it in just hot water and a few pieces of ginger to remove that fishy smell and taste. After boiling for a few minute, transfer it in to a colander to drip dry. Then it is time to put the thawed bacon in to a dry warm pan. Why dry warm pan? This way I would reduce the oil splatter. When the bacon is dry add in the cooking oil (was using peanut oil) and cook them till brown after which throw in a few cloves of garlic (here was using only 3).

After the bacon chips are brown or firmed up and the garlic starting emit that garlicky aroma, pour in the sea cucumber and stir fry until the liquid dries up. When the liquid is evaporated, I proceed to scoop some spoonfuls of last nights ABC soup to braise and further tenderise the sea cucumber and also to infuse more flavour into the sea cucumbers. The ABC soup is actually soup made of carrot, potato, onions, meat and flavoured with crushed white pepper corns. This time the soup had an added ingredient of sweet potato. In a way, this soup could also be used as soup stock to cook other dishes if the pepper corn is left out. 

When the soup is almost fully evaporated, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and flavour with some oyster sauce. 

Once the soup is all evaporated and what are left are just oil and some gravy, it is time to remove the pan from the flame and serve. We actually left the oily gravy in the pan and tossed our instant cooked noodles in it. Then we had the sea cucumber and bacon chips with our noodle. It was better than using the powdered seasoning that came with the noodles. And that was what we had for dinner! 

Popularity: 9% [?]

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It was on a busy afternoon, we just came back from a food review at Agryll Road and we had to rush for another gathering in Island Glade area. It was a pot-luck cum fellowship with the church’s young adult group. For our part, I decided on this untried recipe which I saw in the tele, which I modified to suit the ingredients that I had on hand.

It is a simple but time consuming recipe, pan sheared scallops and bacon. I begin by placing bacon strips in a shallow pan to just brown them on both sides, and also to collect the bacon drippings for my scallop.

After the bacon strips have been browned on both sides I then removed them and placed the bought boiled scallops on the pan glazed in the bacon drippings. The scallops were season with some freshly crush rock salt and black pepper. It would be best if fresh scallops are used as it produced a light sweet taste. Boiled scallops would normally have lost that sweet taste, and it is most often prepared with something that can give them flavour like the sweet sauce the Japanese uses for grilling.

After both sides of the scallops have been browned, remove the scallops and deglaze the pan with seafood soup stock, liquor or white wine. At this instance I was using vodka to deglaze the pan, but from the experience I would prefer wine because it would then infuse that fruity taste of wine in to the scallops. Vodka was a bit blend for the boiled scallops.  

After deglazing and evaporating the alcohols from the liquer put the scallops in and toss them in the natural gravy until it is all soaked up. Then you may proceed to construct the tapas with a tooth pick. Each tapas stick consists of one scallop and one piece of bacon. And that is all that you need to do for these simple tapas.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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We have been hibernating for the pass weeks, and I guess it is time to post some articles. Or else Steven Goh would bug me about our idle blog again. This one is for you Steven!

Last weekend (15th March 2009), four of us (Steven, Criz, Gill and me) went to Kuala Juru to try out the famous mee udang beings served there. We started our journey at around 3:15pm from Tesco Penang and drove to Kuala Juru in about 30 minutes. The weather was cooling with intermediate heavy raining, thus the journey was a comfortable and cooling one. For the trip we planned to try out the fehmes mee udangs from two places, the first one we went to was the ‘Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru’ and the next was ‘Warung Pak Su’.

When we arrived at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru, it began to rain cats and dogs, thus we quickly rush into the typical Malay kampung style restaurant. This particular place is located right at the end of Kuala Juru, the main entrance faces a play ground and hill and its back is to a river mouth, which I guess is Sungai Juru. Anyway, it is a good place to do some sight seeing of the wetlands, fishing village, free flying eagles and swiftlets. A place to relax and enjoy what earth has to give.

At Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru, we left the ordering to Criz as he is familar with it has to offer. We had their Mee Udang (Prawn’s Noodle RM6), Mee Udang dan Ketam (Prawn & Crab’s Noodle RM6), Nasi Goreng Udang (Prawn Fried Rice RM6) and Nasi Goreng Paprik (Paprik Fried Rice RM4) and some drinks (RM5), which only cost us RM 27.00. I am not familar of the prices here, but it seems to be quite cheap to me to have crab, prawns and sotong at this price. Of all the dishes that we ordered at the Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru, my favourite was the Mee Udang (Prawn Noodle) and the Nasi Goreng Paprik (Paprik Fried Rice with squid a.k.a sotong and Vegies). The gravy or soup of the Mee Udang tasted like our Chinese’s Hokkien Mee (Prawn Soup Noodle), in fact it was even tastier than the Hokkien Mees that I have had before. The sweetness and fragrant of prawns was mush more intense than our Hokkien Mee, but there was one set back due to the prawns wasnt fresh. I guess may be our timing could have something to do with it! Anyway, at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru the prawns used are of the Udang Rotan(thick greenish shelled) species as informed by Criz.

4.5/5 for taste & texture

The Mee Udang dan Ketam (Prawn & Crab’s Noodle) did not fare as well as the Mee Udang in terms of the gravy taste. It did not permiate the sweetness of prawns that we enjoyed in the Mee Udang. And the ketam or crab was also not as fresh as we wanted it to be. But in terms of price, the mee udang and mee udang dan ketam offered here is considered cheap from point of view.

3.5/5 for taste & texture

The Nasi Goreng Paprik with Sotong and vegies was one of our favourites at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru. The fried rice was well seasoned and spiced, it was fragrant and tasty to the last grain of rice. And the accompanying stir fried ‘sotong’ or squid was equivalently tasty, the squid rings were  juicy and tender.

4.2/5 for taste & texture

The other dish that we had was their Nasi Goreng Udang. It was the rice version of the Mee Udang, but the gravy is a bit eggy due to the use of egg in their gravy. And the fried rice was not as tasty as the Nasi Goreng Paprik.

3.8/5 for taste & texture

On average, I would give Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru:

* 3.9/5 for value
* 3.9/5 for taste & texture (the Mee Udang gravy and Nasi Goreng Paprik saved the day)
* 3.0/5 for service
* 3.0/5 for cleanliness
* 4.2/5 for atmosphere (becasue of the river view)

GPS:5.340084, 100.408500

After feasting at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru, we headed back out on the Jalan Kuala Juru to Warung Pak Su which is more conveniently located. This place is said to be the more famous Mee Udang restaurant around the Juru area. They were even featured in a newspaper.

When we began to enquire about the Mee Udang here, we were told that they have 2 version, one with gravy the other without gravy and prepared like mee goreng. The Mee Udang Goreng or Fried Prawn Noodles(RM10.00) has a sugary sweeter taste  and the prawns were fresh and crunchy. But my preference on taste is still with Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru for the prawny  flavor and taste. We had an idea to have the best of both worlds, get the prawns from Pak Su, which are of the Udang Kertas(thined white shelled) species, and buy the noodles and gravy from Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru, and mix them togather to get a plate of sweet and tasty prawn flavored noodles with fresh and jucy prawns! Anyone who tries that, do let us know the verdict.

4.0/5 for taste & texture

The gravied version of Mee Udang(RM6.00) at Warung Pak Su was blend in flavor without much taste of prawns in it, but the prawns was very fresh though.

3.6/5 for taste & texture

At Pak Su’s, we also got the opportunity to try out the Malay grilled Siakap fish a.k.a. Perch (RM 30.00) on banana leaves and chicken satay as when we reached there they preparing for the dinner crowd to come. Criz decided to order the grilled fish because the fish looked very fresh. We were glad that we ordered the fish as it was really fresh, and is was nicely grilled to perfection with all the juicies and sweetness still intact, and slightly permiating a smokey aroma. Unlike the grill fish we had at Teluk Tempoyak on the southern tip of the Penang Island, were the fish is normally over grilled and the banana leafs sticking to the meat. At Pak Su’s, we did not have to work through the burnt banana leaf to get to the fish meat and did not have to endure the burnt aroma and taste.

The end product of Grill Perch.

The siakap marinated with chili and spices and wrapped with banana leaves and grilled on top of the charcoal. The dish accomplish with a plate of sauce, and it usually contain chili padi, onions into soury sauce. infact we do really enjoy the chili spices with the fresh fish, and the sauce would abit too much to match with the taste.

4.4/5 for taste & texture

We also got to savor the chicken satay(RM0.60 per stick) as when we arrived at Pak Su’s the satay man just delivered his satay stock to the place. The chicken satay are similar to the chicken skewers or kebabs. The chicken meat was juicy and tender, but slightly a bit to sweet for me. Normally, Malays prepare the satay without the skin intact, but this one kept the skin which gave the meat skewres the moister and fats it needed. The accompanying dipping gravy was also a bit sweet for my liking, but overall the satay was nice if you ignore the sweetness.

4.2/5 for taste & texture

This are the cockles waiting to be ordered and grilled. We did not order the cockles because it did not looke fresh to us.

On average, I would give Warung Pak Su:

* 4.0/5 for value (Due to the freshness and quantity of prawns)
* 3.5/5 for taste & texture (It would have been 3, but points were added because of the grilled fish and satay)
* 3.8/5 for service (Because the staff were able to reccomend what was available and fresh)
* 4.0/5 for cleanliness (Excep the toilet)
* 3.0/5 for atmosphere (Kampung style)

GPS: 5.326817, 100.414767
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Popularity: 17% [?]

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Some time back on December 20th 2008, me and Gill by curiousity drop by the new place in 32 Permai off Velle of Temp, Blue Reef Fish & Chips. In fact we were forwarded their online flyer by one of my good friends weeks before their opening. The business is run by two beautiful persons, Swen and Christopher. Blue Reef Fish & Chips as the name has it is specialised in fish and chips, but not the common everyday road side or cafe type fish and chips. A brief introduction to what I call true fish n’ chips, the Fish n’ Chips is a popular take-away food that originated in the UK. It consists of deep fried fish, traditionally of cod or haddock, that is coated in batter or bread crumbs and served with deep-fried chipped or slab-cut potatoes. At Blue Reef you are able to savour both batter coated or bread crumbs coated fish fillets deep fried till golden and served with chips, not french fries. Up till now we have only tried their special beer batter coated fish n’ chips.

We are more interested in the beer batter coated fish n’ chips because I have tried my hand in preparing it before quite some time ago. It was a recipe that I concocted myself after I saw it on the television. It was successful at he beginning, but the crispiness could not stay long. The choice of fish used is also very important other than the composition and preparation of the batter. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 33% [?]

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What an interesting post title! Kangsar Road Tender Soft Poached Chicken Cheaper & Tastier Than Cintra Street??

Many of you would asking,  sure or not? ~

i guess you have to prove it yourself as i & Jason were really unsatisfied with the value of money and quality has been served at the Cintra street’s chicken & fish porridge. A bowl of porridge yet just have few pieces of thinly slice fish meat it cost us RM5. Same serving and price for the chicken as well.

They are using LOWEST GRADE grain of rice (or even is crush rice) to cook the porridge. Just simply make a comparison with theirs and your home-cook porridge, and you would know the different of low grade and high grade of grain for the porridge.

If you are around town and have the urge and craving for chicken rice at night, should give this kangsar road corner coffee shop house chicken rice a try.

Kangsar Road is a slip road to the Kimberly Street & Kuala Kangsar Road, which just opposite the chowraster market exit.

Corner coffee Shop

Banner hanging in front of the stall.

Banner Wrote: Beautiful Sister’s Chicken porridge and Rice,

Available items: Chicken Drumstick Rice, BBQ Chicken Rice, Sweet Vinegar Pork Trotter, Stew chicken legs and some greens.

Operating hour: 5.30pm-10.30pm

Poached Chicken

The chicken is simply succulent, smooth & tender. The skin is slightly smooth and springy. Dash of fragrant sesame oil has added in the flavourful Soy sauce mixture and it was simply salty, sharp and appetising to match with the chicken, porridge & chicken rice too. Do opt for the whole leg if you love the smooth and tender texture. But for those who are unlike the pinkies near to the bones, do choose the breast portion, it has no sign of rough and tough feeling at all. And i like the way they serve the poach chicken with lots of finely julienne spring onions.

i would give 4/5 for taste & texture.

Chicken Porridge

They serve pure (only) porridge eat it with poach chicken separate OR porridge with finely chop chicken meat.

I would not say they are using quality grain to cook the porridge, but this would be definitely tastier and smoother then the cintra street’s porridge. Porridge came with humble portion, and it  has a mild chicken flavour (dont get me wrong, the chicken flavour is not from chicken stock/essence. the taste is genuine and came from the chicken itself) inside the porridge , and sesame oil, preserved vegetables (dong chai) , julienne ginger, spring onions & chinese cruller was served in the bowl.

Simple and nice, but the porridge can be watery pretty fast, so better finish it when its still warm.

i would give 3.8/5 for taste & texture.

Sweet Vinegar Pork Trotter

Ooo…the Pork trotter skin so shinny…

The aroma of the vinegar & the fatty trotter was so tempting. The meat was pretty tender, sweet & sour on the right balance without oiliness. A very good dish to go with white rice.

i would give 3.9/5 for taste & texture.

Braised Chicken Leg

Chicken leg without deep frying process, taste of mushroom slightly heavier compare to the others, but it was still good, the shitake mushroom & chicken leg braised until very tender, and the skin was very de smooth.

i would give 3.9/5 for this dish

They have several types of chicken for sale here other then poached. Here you have Crispy Fried Chicken with Plum Sauce, and BBQ Chicken.

Fried Chicken with Plum Sauce

De-boned chicken whole leg dipped into the batter to deep fried until perfection. Thin crispy layer batter, soft and smooth chicken drenched on appetising sour plum sauce. I found the chicken was not perfectly seasoned with salt, so its doesn’t brings up the flavour. Probably they wish to match the chicken with the sauce, but i would rather prefer eat it without any sauce, fluffy & crispy OR just dip in the sauce. The batter is not suitable for drench the sauce all in, and it would be soggy very fast. Anyway, is good to ask them to serve the chicken with the sauce separately. The taste vice is still alright.

i would give 3.7/5 for this dish

BBQ chicken

Pan grill chicken whole leg with sweet BBQ flavor. It taste like Char siew, too sweet to my liking, abit jilat….heee

i would give 3.3/5 for taste, texture would be 3.8

At the end of the day, they are still cheaper then the cintra street……….hahaha.

Btw, the stall is operating by 2 persons. The mother (the stall owner ), selling hokkien mee, pork trotter noodle (alot of varieties)…..etc in the morning to cater the Chowraster Market crowd. And at night operates by the daughter and sells chicken rice & porridge. Sure will try out the mother’s food in the morning one day.

P/s: The Kopitiam serve hawthorn berries (Shan cha) drink.

On average, I would give this place:

* 3.9/5 for value
* 3.9/5 for taste & texture
* 3.8/5 for service
* 4.0/5 for cleanliness
* 3.5/5 for atmosphere

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Popularity: 8% [?]

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‘Lo Shang’  is a Chinese Lunar New Year tradition that originated from Malaysia. It is normally practice during the 7th day of the lunar calendar, which we call ‘Yan Yat’ in Cantonese, or Human Day in English. It is actually a symbolic food or tradition practiced by Malaysian-Chinese to celebrate the ‘Yan Yat’, which mythologically, is the day when all humans were born. It seems to share some similarities with the Bibles the 7 days used by God to create the Earth and it’s every living beings. But through the years, it has become more of a celebration for better fortune, wealth, health and hapiness.

In the business circle, Lo Shang is the representation for the wish or hope of a better year a head. Better income, better business opportunities, better everything!

The higher the tossing action denotes a higher exceleration or better fortunes for the coming year.

The ‘Lo Shang’ is the action of tossing the ‘Yue Shang’, which translated from Cantonese means raw fish. This ‘Yue Shang’ dish consist of a few ingredients which represents the 7 colours of the rainbow,  pickled gingers, cloured crackers, shredded carrot, pamelo flesh, jelly fish, ground peanuts, seame seed and raw fish sashimi.The ‘Yue Shang’ also comes with its special dressing which would consist of a sweet and sour sauce and some fragrant oil(sesame seed oil).

Most of the Yue Shang plater would have sashimi fish meat.

The sashimi fish is then dressed with lime or lemon juice to take away any fishy taste and scent.

When all the ingredients are toss and mixed up it should look something like this.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Popularity: 28% [?]

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Here now, chulia street has added another Chicken / Roast Pork Rice Stall (Siu Lap Fan in conto) member just besides the Air Asia Office and but don’t be confused, this is definitely not Goh Chew Kee Chicken Rice (???) but they are neighbourhood.

Ching Tien Roast Chicken / Pork Rice (??) & Goh Chew Kee Chicken Rice (???) are the most famous along the road for many years…..but, i never try Ching Tien before due to the long que for most of the time! and Goh Chew Kee surely will not be my choice! famous doesn’t mean good…well, leave it to you to find out……heeee

Anyway, my uncle who is working in town’s hostel, introduced this newly opened Long Jiang Chicken & Roast Pork Rice to us, and mentioned about their big portion of Kiam Chai Boey been served without any charges and the chicken is good too. So, we decided to make our way to this yummy chicken on last 2 week, Saturday around 11am near to 12pm.

see the picture? Airasia office is just right to the next door. We were just wonder why just have few table having lunch inside the Long Jiang coffee shop but Goh Chew Kee has already crowded with “Fans”.

Anyway, since we were there to try my uncle’s recommendation, so we have ordered a plate of Roast & Boiled Chicken, Chicken Gizzards and Char Siew for 2. We didn’t order any Roast Pork is because it looks dried.

A plate of Oil Rice with hint of chicken broth flavour (original chicken broth not MSG), not salty & heavy, it goes well with chicken…

Rating: 3.5/5

Smooth and Tasty Boiled Chicken
Actually we have ordered both boiled & roast chicken but ended up just 2 pcs of roast chicken has been given….haaa. some how the roasted chicken was slightly dried and taste just normal, so we didn’t bother it much. And comes to the boiled chicken, the meat was pretty tender and smooth, and the skin can easily dissolved in your mouth! wonderful.
Rating: 4/5

Chicken Gizzards, kinda small in size, but very springy. The soy sauce on the plate was pretty appetising, it taste different compare with chicken sauce. tiny drops of chili would goes well with gizzards.
Rating: 3.8/5

wah…thinly slice of Char Siew and the meat evenly surrounded by lark….OMG. I believed they chosen the correct part of meat but unfortunately it was over flavour. Too sweet and the meat was cutted too thin, can’t really taste the meat but just the glace sauce only…..gee, really wasted.
Rating: 3/5

Popularity: 3% [?]

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First to come from the kitchen were the Summer Rolls or hand rolls Vietnamese style. In this category there are 8 varieties to choose from. There is the Traditional Northern Rolls (Prawn or Chicken Slices), Farmer’s Egg Rolls, Mini Prawn Paste on Sugar Cane (with some DIY wrapping action with rice paper), Crispy Gourmet Seafood Rolls, Crisp Fried Hanoi Rolls, Fresh Vegetable Rolls, Southern Fish Rolls and Classic Rice Flour Rolls.



   

Tham Chiak from PTP is seen here trying his hand in the Mini Prawn Paste on Sugar Cane DIY rice paper roll. I hope he had washed his hands! If not, I sympathised with person sharing that piece with him.

Wok Fried Flower Beef

Wok Fried Flower Chicken

Spiced Grilled Eel Cake / Villagers Grilled Snail Cake

Street Style Salty Soft Shell Crabs

Royal Seafood Skewer

I especially like the Wok Fried Flower Chicken/Beef and the Grilled Chicken T-Shaped. The Wok Fried Flower Chicken/Beef was stir fried with a herb which is commonly found in Vietnam. Thailand also produces this herb, Pergularia, which it is brought in from. It has nutty taste to it, and almost taste similar to Asparagus tip when it was fried with beef. When the Pergularia was cooked with chicken, this dish produce a light and sweet taste with the chicken taste still in tact. As for the Grilled Chicken T-Shaped, it taste unique with the use herbs spices, which the chef is not willing to part with, and the texture was a bit powdery because of the ground spices used.

The Street Style Salty Soft Shell Crabs was crispy to the bite and was filled with the taste of Dill. Something different from the usual method of cooking soft shell crabs. As for the Royal Seafood Skewer, the Salmon was slightly over cooked. The Salmon had already loss its unique rich oils and moisture and that is why it was dry and too firm. But if taken with the accompanying grilled fresh mushrooms and capsicum would have enhanced the texture and taste of the Salmon chunks.

Next on the new menu was the Salads category. The choices are Sour Green Mango Salad, Miss Saigon Salad, Cold Glass Noodle Salad, Crunchy Papaya Salad and Jelly Fish Salad. The salads did go down well with me and Gill, except for one which was the Miss Saigon Salad. The pineapple and prawns did not really compliment each other in taste and texture. All the salads had the natural sweetness from all the vege, fruit, fungus and seafood ingredients. They were also sour but not too sour, thus they quite an appetiser and ‘hoi wai‘ (start the gastronomic activity) in Cantonese. The roasted peanut toppings were also fragrant and crunchy. With all the various texture of smooth, crunchy and firm dressed with the sweet and sour taste, the salads are a must have any patronage.

After the salad section, next in line was the noodle section. In this section, one could choose from the choices of Crunchy Eel Glass Noodle Soup, Villagers Snail Noodle Soup, Traditional Southern Beef/Chicken BUN and Traditional Vietnamese Chicken/Beef PHO.

The Village Snail Noodle Soup was….. Actually I did not really try this one, I only had the snails. The snails are earthy, sweet and a bit chewy. A good compliment to a bowl of fluffy noodles.

The Traditional Bun is something like our ‘Kon Lou’ noodles, but without the dark soy and fragrant oils. It is sour with a hint of sweetness on its gravy/sauce. This noodle is quite a appetiser because the sweet and sour really opens up the stomach for more to come. The sourness is light and tangy, unlike the sourness from our local Laksaa. The condiments of mint leaves, bean sprouts and spring onions, compliments the silky smooth noodles with is rough texture and crunch, they also provide some of the sweetness that this Bun has to offer.

The last category on the new menu was the Sandwich section. There are only two to choose from, Vietnamese Street Baguette and Frog Curry with Garlic Spice Baguette. In between the two, I fancy the Street Baguette more because of the taste from the chicken pete(it is actually chicken liver pete) combined with the cold cut meat and the juicy tomato and fresh salad greens. The texture of the baguette was also something to look forward for, in fact the bread wasn’t the usual hard baguettes, it was replace with the softer French Loaf. The substitution was because of the hardness of the baguettes that will affect the enjoyment of the soft and smooth fillings.

As for the Frog Curry with Garlic Spice Baguettes, I was too busy mingling around and the baguettes were all gone. But from the looks of it, it should be Garlic Bread to the extreme. The Frog Curry, that I did taste a bit. It was creamy but not too rich and sweet with a bit of heat, unlike the curries here which are spicy and rich(lemak). May be the curry would taste better with the baguettes.

Overall the dishes that were presented to us was quite interesting in the sense of the composition of the aroma of the herbs and spices used in the dishes, taste of their unique seasoning, texture of the ingredients and the use of various vegetables to compliment almost every dish. Definitely I would try to make an effort to go try the Vietnamese Cuisien at Miss Saigon again. May be the whole range of the new menu again because me and Gill did not really experience what could be offered by the dishes, but not at one seating because the prices of certain items are a bit on the high side.

From this outing with this group of PFB, we can see that we are all doing it because of the passion we have on food. It was a great time to mingle arround and get to know one and another. But as a formal review of a business or restaurant, it was not quite a successfull one becasue we(me & Gill) did not really sat down and let dishes arouse our senses. After everything was over, I felt a bit guilty because Miss Saigon has taken the effort and time the organise this session, but no justice was done for them. Then PTP’s Huat Kuih and I got thinking, it would be better to have a proper procedure and pre-arrange with the restaurant so that we can make the best the opportunity and give a quality review rather than something which cannot justify the effort and cost on the restaurants part. To really savour and enjoy food, we must be comfortable and relax so that we can really experience what the dish can offer! Anyway, I would like to give thanks to Leslie from Miss Saigon and PTP for making this event happen.

On a more serious side, I can see that Miss Saigon still have long way to go to promote their Vietnamese cuisine and restaurant. As a marketer, my suggestions to them are, provide more education on the specialty and benefits of Vietnamese cuisine, tell people the history and culture that shaped and influence Vietnamese cuisien to what it is now, put more effort in the promotions. Entice people to try their food with special discounts, like happy hour or tea time treats to attract the crowd who are always there at their neighbouring Old Town or Starbucks, special Purchase-with-Purchase Deals, Bring-in-More patron discounts and etc. The food is healthy and wholesome niche market it to the healthy consciouss.

On average, I would give this place:

• 3.3/5 for value
• 3.7/5 for taste & texture
• 4/5 for service
• 4/5 for cleanliness
• 3.5/5 for atmosphere

Popularity: 4% [?]

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