Here’s a thought

It has been stormy. As things are trying to settle itself in this new environment, emotionally life was shaken by the few takes. Over the weeks, while I’m swamped with work and maneuvering the unusual, surprises bite me. Few times.

But before that, the last gastronomical adventure took me around Pengkalan Weld. The place is famous for the houses in stilts, built along the straits and and categorized by clans and Chinese surnames.

Walking on the wooden planks, every steps creaks and to the residents it became daily rhythm of life. The creaks vary by speed, weights, walking style and of daily routine sorts. (ahem!) And while I walked out from the neighborhood, I spotted this little restaurant, Kar Bee Cafe with a line of people waiting. It is a seafood place servicing noodles and porridge, where you pick your choice of seafood, carb, soup base (or porridge) and wait.

That evening I feel like having Tom Yum with thick beehoon (rice vermicelli), prawns, fried fish and squids. Using the plate stacking system, I’d say they are pretty fast for a restaurant with just one cook. And the continuous buzzing gas-flame that whirrs loudly, a sign of a good ‘wok hei’ (a very hot stove, to a point of slight burnt, significant in Chinese cooking).

So I slurp away my noodles, and first thought it felt like under salt. Or not. Second slurp, I could taste the sweetness of the fresh seafood. And later it all came in harmony it was perfect. Perhaps over the years, I have gotten use to stronger stock that it somewhat camouflaged the freshness of ingredients used. Here, it reminds me of the ‘just-right-subtleness’ stocks and it brings out the seafood flavors better. Kinda like my grandma’s cooking, slightly under salt but the protein taste better.

So the meal came up to about RM 15++ with generous portion, definitely fresh and wholesome. Twas a good meal!

Kar Bee Cafe,

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And about the emo-surprises.
1) I missed an accident by inches on one of my drive back from Penang to KL. Mr. Sleepy 3 tonne lorry decided to sway to my lane at 1am. My massive honking woke him up or otherwise, catastrophic.

2) I had fever, and I pop in aspirins, thinking it would go away. But it didn’t, next day woke with a woozy feeling strange metallic taste in my mouth and sores on my tongue. Couple of hours later, my tongue hurts and it bleed. Then I lost my sense of taste for few weeks. Doctor couldn’t find anything wrong about it and told me about tongue cancer and ask me to observe for and anomaly. Tongue cancer!? Thankfully, the sores went away 2 weeks later and I regain my taste bud again. But during that period, it’s was depressing. I didn’t even know how to share it and kept it to myself for that 14 over days. Depressing shit.

 
3) The passing of an inspiring musician that I had briefly work with, Brian Tan of pancreatic cancer (during my 2 weeks of tongue/mouth observation). Depressing that he had left and more depressing thinking about what will happen if it I had cancer. Sounds silly, but I couldn’t escape thinking about death, funeral, love, family, friends and all.

Geez, it’s far off the usual foodie post, but it did wake me up on life. Still recovering from the depressing thoughts, but have set some priorities right too. Stay tuned !

From the pearl of orient

And it has been about 3 weeks now that I’m living in Penang. Yup, if you didn’t know already, work sent me to this lovely island and I’ll be based here for some time. I do miss Klang Valley but settling here isn't too bad. To begin with I got a lovely condo by the sea. The layout of the place had all the rooms and the living room with sea view.

So when I’m not work, and not staring blank at sea from my room, I go stuff myself silly. Well, it’s Penang folks, there is always something to munch on, every corner, all the time. So last weekend I went to look for char kuey teow. I have sampled few including the notorious ones, the hidden ones, the dancing ones and so on, and I think I found my favorite.

This is char koay teow @ Sin Guat Keong Kopitiam. They only sell from evening to late night, and it’s char koay teow with a twist; by adding deep fried mantis prawns at RM 5 per plate.

From a distance I could already hear the clanking of their wok and when I got to their stall, the air is filled with aroma of chilies, charcoal and awesomeness. So I ordered my portion, and before anything, it’s served. This is fast! Super fast! The glistening flat rice noodles is packed with flavours, of being spicy, salty and this unexpected sweet-ish taste. The fresh prawns with the plump cockles and the meaty mantis gives a lovely combination to the oily charcoal scented noodles. Makes me salivate just to rewrite the experience again.

And unlike the other infamous notorious yet arrogant char koay teow stall, this guy is very very friendly. His wife and his workers have a welcoming gesture despite swarming with orders and work. And they love sharing their stories whenever they can. I chatted with the wife, shyly but proud she told me about all the media feature they had over the years. Their char koay teow stall has been around since his grandfather’s time. That’s like 3 generation ago, and the same night I was there, his teenage son is helping and honing the cooking skills under the watchful eyes of his parents.

Then I asked about the speed, how could they serve it so quickly. The trick is pre-fried koay teow. As part of the preparation he would pre-fried plain koay teow and upon orders he would refry them again with the rest of the ingredients, plate by plate. That way they could serve it faster and at the same time keeping the ingredients cook time and taste, just right.

Thumbs up for char koay teow @ Sin Guat Keong Kopitiam.

86,Lebuh Kimberly, 10100 Georgetown, Pulau Pinang

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Restoran Bukit Tinggi BBQ

It has been my fourth trip to this place and I am just about to blog it. Qwazy Monkey introduced me to this place, and it instantly become one of my favourite place, despite it’s arrogant flair. VERY.

About 40 minutes drive from Damansara to Bukit Tinggi, (not Klang) through Bt. Caves then Karak Expressway (towards Genting Highlands), you will quickly escape the bustling city and be greeted with greeneries as far as it goes. You will come to a small very-Chinese village which is easy to spot on your right and soon after it’s the exit to Bukit Tinggi/Janda Baik on your left. The restaurant is right behind this BHP petrol station. Confusing? I’ve  attached the goog-map for your convenience at the end of the post.

So the 10 of us arrive at noon, and we quickly being asked to sit. They don’t allow you to choose where you want to sit, and you have to follow their instructions instead. Being a regular, Qwazy Monkey ordered their signature dishes (almost all of them actually) till the captain stop us for ordering more. Yeah, they stop you.There’s a policy of no over ordering as the crew just do not tolerate wastage, and there is no take-away policy too. Cannot tapau!

While waiting for our food, I was drawn to the ceiling. They are filled with umbrellas. No idea what about it and I dare not to ask why either. All the umbrellas had signatures and messages on it and they are hung upside down. I couldn’t stop imagining if there is a sudden strong gush of winds blowing and how the dust, debris and possibly dead insects that has been accumulating would fall upon us. Since no questions allowed, the hanging ceiling umbrellas remained mystery.

  
The walls are pretty ‘bare’ where it’s constructed by sandwiched planks of wood with empty wine bottles, liquor bottles and sometimes bicycle’s rims. Interesting shades of greenish-colour they form. And looking at the conditions of the bottles, it could tell that the restaurant has been around for quite a while. Again, no questions asked, so the age of the place is equally a mystery.


Then first dish is served, spotting this quirky Cantonese name: “wu li dan dou” which means ‘chapalang’ or very-mixed matched. Doesn’t look as appetising, but this rice dish took me by surprise. With a mystery (you will see frequent use of this word throughout the post) stock, and grilled vegetables and gourds, it's comforting. It’s a lovely consommé with cooked rice and it is paired with the earthy flavours from the cabbage, mushrooms, grilled peppers and pumpkins.


Proteins are served next , and we have the “hoi sin bou”, roast juicy chicken and roast rack of lamb.



“ Hoi sin bou” which is a pot of seafood is a simple steamed seafood dish. On different occasions, you get different potpourri of sea produce, depending what’s the fresh the cook could get. It is steamed over a refreshingly mystery stock and I can definitely taste a hint of chinese cooking wine. Served along with the steamer pot, it is kept warm till you finish the last bit of it.

Then the roast chicken came. I love the smell, the color, the charred-crispy skin and the ohmygod-juicy meat. I am guessing that it involves a two-step cooking process here. First it is cooked in a hot oven covered with a foil. This helps to make the meat juicy and produce more essencely-sauce. And toward the last cooking mile, the foil is removed and with a honey glaze rubbed on the top, and a high oven heat,  it gives a lovely skin-crisp hot chicken! And the chicken-juice. Itellyiu, it’s awesome!


Then, roast lamb is served. The rack of lamb used is imported from New Zealand, and it is given an interesting twist; to me it's like a combination technique of the West and Chinese way of roasting. The meat is superbly tender with it’s distinct lamb-slightly gamey and the skins reminds me of skin of a Chinese roast duck. And that zing! from the homemade mint sauce. It is sharp yet tangy and cuts very well with the lamb fat. Zinggg!!


And with that much meat, we need some green balance. Something unusual from your regular veggies, this is stir fry green chillies with garlic and a dose of soy sauce. It spots a lovely crunch with a mild heat and a surprisingly sweet after taste. When the dish is being served, a friend forgotten about the no questions policy and he started to ask if this is “yong toufu” (stuffed bean curds/veggies) dish, and he got the sharpest gaze from the server and in her high pitched fortissimo reply, my friend was warned, if he ever wanted “yong toufu” he can go have it in some other restaurant! And then there was a moment of silence!

Chomp Chomp Chomp!

And remember the earlier “hoi sin bou'”
 
…once we finished the seafood, they took the steamer pot back to the kitchen and the cook make a lovely water cress + oyster mushroom + “tien chat'” ( seeweed-like) soup. With the earlier stock plus the excess sweet drips from the steamed seafood, this is really good.

And that was almost the end of the dishes, and we wanted more. We asked to have another dish added, but the captain refuse to put our order in. He insist that we should finish up everything on the table first. And when we did, we asked for him again. This time after inspecting our table, he just walk away after we said we wanted another tofu dish. The thing is, there were no acknowledgement of our order, no eye contact and he just walk away. That left us wondering for the next 15 minutes until they brought us the signature tofu.


Looking simple, this is one of the best tofu dish I had so far. The tofu as fresh as the morning dew (quoting Iron Chef’s dub, as I am typing this) is paired with a kungfu-fried sunny side up (or INSIDE, in this case) and a generous drizzle of the local Bentong soy sauce. Spoon a sandwich of tofu + egg + soy sauce, and you will get the silky runny egg yolk oozing out with glory. I can’t help but to order a bowl of rice to go with it. Ah, heavenly!


Despite their eccentric and arrogant flair, this restaurant is one of the best kept secret. Be prepared to deal with the not-so-friendly and in-your-face service staff and the cook, but for the great food that they have, I’d say it’s worth the tolerance.

Here’s a summary on how to deal with the restaurant:
1. Sit wherever you  were told to, even if there is aplenty of tables to choose from or even if you wanted a table with good ambient lighting for photography, you can’t choose. Just sit as instructed and sit quietly.
2. DO NOT walk into the kitchen! Friends who was curious walked in to take pictures and they were chased away by the cook that was watching some HK TVB drama on his DVD while he grills the fish.
3. DO NOT make comments about the dish in front of the service crew.
4. DO NOT tapau or takeaway. It’s strictly prohibited
5. DO NOT be surprise if they walk away out of a sudden, abruptly. Even before you finish your sentence.
6. ENJOY YOUR MEAL!

Restoran Bukit Tinggi BBQ
PT 15792 & 15793, Jalan Bukit Tinggi, Bentong, Pahang, 28750
Tel : 09- 233 0330


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Ramadan Bazaar, Kg. Sg. Penchala

During Ramadan, food bazaars sprouts out in every corner, campaigning like the Malaysia Mega Sale. Whether you’re fasting or not, streams of hungry people would double park, pushing their way, just to check out the mishmash of Malaysian food. So, despite the sweltering heat of a hot Saturday afternoon, I make my way to Kampung Sg. Penchala to let myself willingly ‘seduced’ by the abundance of food medley.

Swaggering around with joy with hungry ‘eyes’, the folks in the bazaar greets with excitement and inviting note for me to photograph them. Well, much to my knowledge there were journalists earlier there that goes around snapping away for Sunday write ups. That is why there’s flair of volunteering poses for me to photograph their food and stalls.

While snapping away and like all impulse purchases, I bought too much than what I could handle.

 

And. Stuff. Myself.

I feel like a thanksgiving turkey.

BURP.

Now, which Ramadan bazaar should I go next …. Decisions, decisions.

Bayan Indah

I was talking to qwazy monkey about how blogging has actually leads one surprise to another. From getting invites, to meeting people that I’ve been reading their blogs and to getting to know even more friends. Through the recent the Hot Can event, I got to know  Babe_in_the_city_KL through FatBoyBakes, and after a chain of e-mailing, it leads to this cooking session with Rohani Jelani. And of course I met even more people and made friends.

So on that Saturday morning, I ventured through the Kampung Sungai Penchala looking for Bayan Indah, the cooking school. Despite being close to the city, Bayan Indah sets in this calm kampung environment with it’s charming kitchen and lovely herb garden.

 

I got there slightly late, with the rest of the bloggers and cook enthusiast waiting while chomping down cucur udang and FBB’s lovely cake. After a quick round of ice breaking session, we were then spilt into 3 groups and being briefed about the menu. After the briefing session, we then put on our denim apron and head to our work stations.

Menu of the day:

Nasi dagang with acar timun and ikan tongkol masak lemak

Rendang ayam

Soto ayam

Mee rebus

Kuih talam

Kuih bengka ubi

 

And I shall let the pictures do the rest of the ‘bloggin’

Whisk’ed

Yet another new mall, with more interesting food joints mushrooming, when I explored the Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang Jaya, SS16. I came across to this cafe Whisk, and you got to love the flooring and the decor. Whisk is a cozy espresso bar that serves freshly brewed coffee, lovely pastries and other menus.

 

Feeling full from late lunch and the difficulty to resist a cake and coffee, I ordered a Hummingbird cake and cafe con leche.

The cakes taste fresh and the coffee is a perfect pairing. The cake has a strong banana-ish aroma and the cream cheese icing is gentle and not overly rich. My vote goes to the coffee, cafe con leche. According to Whisk, this is a breakfast staple among Cuban. To me, this is like a stronger kick of cafe latte. Love it!

Yut Kee

Overly blogged, talk about and frequent. I shall let the pictures do the talking.

 

Yeah, all these for breakfast.

Sometimes it is stressful to dine there. You have like crowds waiting in front of the shop, and they are staring at your food.