Old Man Restaurant 老吔海鲜饭店 @ Taman Kajang Impian (Sungai Chua)

Dinner with family, aunties, cousins and nieces. Ventured to a new place as the usual one at Bukit Mewah had ceased their evening zhichar operation apparently.

The Old Man's restaurant is spacious and diners can opt for upstairs dining as well. With elderly folks, naturally we won't be climbing any stairs.

interior

You can bring your own bottle here but am not sure what's the corkage fee as the dinner was sponsored by cousins. At other places in Kajang, the corkage is RM8.

Had purchased an Argentinian Malbec a couple of days ago from Giant supermarket for RM38. An impromptu buy as I kind of like the taste of Malbec which is smooth, gentle with some spice.

Argentian red

Passed it to the restaurant staff, and voila; wine bottle in an ice-bucket.

just chilling for now

Colour was deep ruby and tasted fine though it had a bit of dregs in its bottom half. Nice and drinkable.

tofu soup with tiny shrimps

The soup texture was reminiscent of 酸辣汤 (sour spicy soup) but without the sour and spicy part. Eaten with a dash of black vinegar.

tummy warmer

In Malaysia, seems like we always order the '4 heavenly kings' or 四大天王. The version here has french beans, okra, brinjal and petai. It's like légume du jour.

4 heavenly kings of greens

egg furong 芙蓉蛋

The egg furong has diced char siew, onions and some tiny shrimps in it. But the omelette was so flat and a tad burnt.

The steamed tilapia was good. Big enough portion for 13 pax, yet the meat was so soft and silky.

steamed tilapia with minced ginger

quick fry mixed vegetables

The other vegetable dish with lotus roots was tasty. The celery and lotus roots were crunchy.

Simple dinner with family, a gathering of cousins and nieces. Till next year, take care.

Home Cooked Porridge

How do you prefer your porridge or congee to be done? My preference is towards smooth congee but not till its so gooey that it looked like glue.

My mom and sis prefers to have it with lots of garnishes including fried taukwa dices, chopped spring onions, deep fried bee hoon and the fragrant fried onion oil.

At home, we called this type of porridge as "有味粥" in Cantonese as it has been adequately seasoned and flavoured, usually by the pork and chicken that is cooked together with the rice.

tasty smooth chicken and pork porridge without garnishes

plenty of side-kicks to choose from

Voila! Yummy, tasty congee

Usually, I'll have the 有味粥 plain, with chopped spring onions. Comfort food.

正月初七 - 人日

Happy Human Day! Hope you've had your share of 七彩魚生 (yusheng). May good fortune and happiness come your way~

yusheng salad with mandarin oranges

Sate Kajang Haji Samuri @ Kajang , Selangor Malaysia

The most famous food that one can find in my hometown Kajang, is satay. Delicious grilled meat skewers that taste of spices and sweetness, dunked in a spicy bowl of aromatic peanut sauce. Satay and Kajang is almost like a synonym. According to wiki, Kajang is also informally known as "Satay Town". And when you want to eat satay Kajang, one would usually head to these two places; Haji Samuri or Restoran Malaysia.

Sate Kajang Haji Samuri is located at Bangunan Dato’ Nazir, which used to be Kajang's old public library. Parking could be problematic at times with limited lots. Self-order at the counter and make payment. It feels like a fast-food joint nowadays. However, they do deliver the food to your table.

for large groups

In the olden days, you order satay and a bunch of meat skewers are delivered on a plate to your table and you eat what you want. At the end of it, the seller will come and count the sticks and charge in accordance. The uneaten ones are then taken back to re-grill and served to other customers. Thankfully, this was no longer practiced since aeons ago.

ayam (chicken), perut (cow's stomach) and daging (beef) satay

peanut sauce with a dollop of sambal

ketupat (rice) and timun (cucumber)

Though the satay nowadays is not as good as 20 years ago, the ones that we recently had at Haji Samuri was still tasty and flavourful. A major grouse would be that they do not seem to have sugarcane water on every visit. Satay and sugarcane goes hand-in-hand! Must haves!

closer view of beef satay

If you are ever in town to try Kajang Satay, you must must order the 'perut'. That's cow stomach (tripe) satay. First had it when I was a kid, and it tasted like cheese. Really. Of course now, it doesn't taste like cheese but is still as splendid. Yums!

perut satay (right)

Chicken satay here comes with a bit of skin, which is just the way I liked it. The beef was a tad tough. Also tried the fish satay and it turned out to be fine. Sweetish and not mushy. But give me tender juicy chicken satay that's not miniscule, plus some perut and I'm happy.

Chicken, fish, beef and tripe satay are RM0.80 per stick. Chicken gizzard and liver at RM0.70 per stick. For an adult male, expect to eat between 20 to 25 sticks, while adult females can usually do at least 12 sticks. A jug of drinks here are costly though at RM17 per jug. The orange drink was nice.

grilling yummy satay

Home Cooked

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Wishing you a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year~

Here's a couple of pictures of the food when am at home with family.

good 'ol bread, kaya and margerine

soy sauce chicken, fish head curry and stir fried greens

wobbly chicken feet with radish soup

the spread

hotpot

homemade pork balls

all in a pot

sweet sour fish, roast pork, steamed chicken, fried beehoon for lunch

Shandy - the must have drink for CNY

vegetarian on 1st day of Lunar New Year

tea

Keep safe, be healthy and have a good year ahead. Meh the force be with you.

Kyoto Fair 5 Feb to 11 Feb 2015 @ Tampopo Liang Court

Kyoto would be one of the destinations if I ever visit Osaka. When I think of Osaka food, takoyaki and okonomiyaki would come to mind. When it comes to Kyoto, tofu is the word.

Was influenced by the blog posts by The Silver Chef and Dairy and Cream. A good chance to try out Kyoto food. I think of it as a preview to the eventual, so as to manage my own expectations if I travel to Kyoto.

Kyoto Fair menu

Got the Gion dinner set @$78++. Pre-dinner drink, an Asahi please.

Asahi (bottled 330ml) @$9.95++

The 6 kinds of appetisers and the kyo-yuba uni were brought out to start the dinner course.

6 kinds of appetisers

 

daikon with miso

The tofu was quite dense. Similar to the one that I had at the Okinawan diner. Kyoto version was very light and with a dash of minced ginger while Okinawan version had sweet sauce.

Enjoyed the kyo-yuba uni. This should be placed permanently in the menu. Light, refreshing and for the first time, the uni tasted so fresh and creamy. That dash of wasabi was useful to wakens the senses. The small block of kyo-yuba here tasted like tofu or was that tofu? No idea as sometimes the substitution of ingredients do happen.

pretty kyo-yuba with uni

While they did not serve the fresh gluten cake with miso, the deep fried yuba dish that they brought out was fantastic. Served with an almost translucent jelly-like savoury sauce, this dish was easily likeable.

deep fried yuba with sauce

layers

The star of the dinner set; Kyoto Beef "Miyabi" A5 Shabu Shabu with Kyoto Soy Milk Soup served with udon, tsukemono and miso soup.

Kyoto Beef "Miyabi" set with udon, pickles and miso soup

as soy milk boils, you will find a film of fresh yuba forming at the top~

this is how an A5 wagyu looks like

lovely chewy udon

The course ought to be shared by two person. The soy milk soup and the A5 wagyu combined, was a very rich taste. As usual, loved the hakusai in any form of sukiyaki or shabu shabu. The soy milk was in its original healthy taste.

matcha fondue dessert

My friend helped with the desserts as I could not eat anymore. But the matcha fondue was like chocolate, tasty sweet and addictive.

petite desserts

It was an interesting experience.

Chinatown Food Street @ 335 Smith Street

Attended a Reunion Supper at CFS (Chinatown Food Street) yesterday. With Lunar New Year just round the corner, it felt like as though everyone had congregated in Chinatown! Long lines of humans thronging the streets, right from the start of Exit A of Chinatown Station. The walk to Smith Street took forever. Well, almost. At 930pm, Chinatown was bustling!

sought shelter, away from the crowd

Truth be told, it has been ages since I've been to Smith Street. Probably when it was still in its open-air era. Was feeling nostalgic already.

great turnout

congregation of stalls in CFS

Glad to be seated with familiar faces. Great to see everyone again.

waiting to start, must resist ngoh hiang  五香 temptation

let's start the prosperity toss 撈起 (lo hei)

Yusheng (鱼生) is a Teochew-style raw fish salad. Always liked it with grass carp, but guess it is more common with salmon nowadays.

yusheng, convenience style

一本万利, 财源广进 (pouring the oil of wealth~)

All together now, Huat ah! Live healthy and prosper!

After yusheng, we sampled some of the hawker fares available in CFS. Did you know that there are 24 hawker stalls to choose from? Let's see what we ate.

First up, Chong Chong Ngoh Hiang Prawn Fritter 忠忠五香酥虾饼. The prawn fritters stayed pretty crispy throughout. That ubiquitous plate of bee hoon was pretty tasty!

freshly fried ngoh hiang

economical bee hoon

Satay sounds like a perfect supper food, yes? How about this plate from Newton Circus Ahmad Ibrahim Satay. Chicken satay was nicely sweet and tender.

tender and sweet

Is that all for supper? Well, not quite. Here was what my table ended up with. Can you spot the dishes from Odeon Beef Noodles, Food Street Fried Kway Teow Mee, Joo Chiat Ang Moh Noodles House, Chinatown Enak Fritters, Katong Keah Kee Fried Oysters, Bugis Street Famous Hainanese Chicken Rice and Chinatown Food Street Hot/Cold Beverages?

now, this is supper 开动咯~

For a limited time only, from now till 18 Feb 2015, Chinatown Food Street will stay open for all the night owls, the curious and the hungries all the way till 2am daily for supper.

Now you know where to head to.

Happy Lunar New Year 新年快乐!