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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meat+vege/fruit-combi

Interesting how a random lunch outings lead to series of discovery of similar taste buds and crave for good-ol’ hometown-ish cookings. I think this is also the ‘northern’ thingy, where most Penang’ites, Kedah’ans, Perlis’ian and Perak’ian share in common. They so love their food. Wait I think all Chinese do. Including the partial Chinese, and the dan lain-lain (pun intended and, and not being racist). <—these days say something discomfort even at your own blog you ‘may’ get RM6m legal suit.

So after a heavy lunch, the conversation goes on … and it’s mostly about food. Actually just about food. And without question, it sparked up my let’s-rush-to-cook thingy. Dashing off from office with the unusual amazingly smooth Thursday traffic, I got happier when I’m able to get all the ingredients I had in mind from my trusty lil-vege-shop. The plan for dinner is to make stuffed bitter gourd with salted fish + pork marinade and pineapple prawns.

So once I got home, I start to cut the bitter gourd into 2 inches length wise and cored the seeds. After washing them, soak them with same salt just to cut away excessive bitterness. Thaw minced pork, while waiting get into chopping garlic, slicing ginger, julienne half an onion, diced a handful of carrot, and chopped some 2 chilli padi away. While waiting for the frozen pork to unfroze itself, peel the prawns, slice the pineapple and pop some rice into the cooker of course. And do something decent with the coriander. 

Then, next 20 minutes while watching TVB drama on TV, knead the minced pork with a dash of sesame oil, two quick rounds of soy sauce, pinch of pepper, half a teaspoon of oyster sauce, half a teaspoon of molasses sugar, and a teaspoon of corn starch. Once it get all mushy, add in a pinch of chopped garlic and ginger. Add in the diced carrots too. Now at this time, scissors in sufficent mui heong salted fish into the meat loaf. Lastly sprinkle some wolfberries. See the whole idea is simpler than the name of the dish - ‘Stuffed bitter gourd with salted fish + pork marinade. So what’s next is merely assembling, by stuffing them into the earlier brine-soaking bitter gourds. Arrange them on a place and steam it. For about 20 minutes or just when the bitter gourd turn pale and soft. You don’t need any other sauce preparation as, the steam and the dish itself will work it’s magic to allow a sufficient shallow sauce. Seriously simple !

And the next dish, while waiting for the gourds to steam, coat the clean prawns lightly with corn starch that has been mixed with black pepper and salt. Coat them lightly, which is like, pick up the cleaned prawns with chopstick and front-back-dip-repeat onto the flour and sizzle them into the hot frying pan like. Do not overcoat. Nasty and rubbery they would be. And pan fry the till golden crisp, all curled up and set aside.

Then the simple sauce, sauté ginger and onion, adding in garlic and chilli when it get aromatic. Slide in the pineapple, and I use the canned pineapple rings here, as they spot a sweeter flavours from their sweetened marinade mix. Once it gets sizzling, add in like 4 table spoon of the earlier can leftover syrup. Add in a pinch of salt then the stems of coriander together with earlier crispy plump prawns. A quick stir fry and throw in the balance of the coriander leaves. Then serve-lah.

The dish today is inspired by meat+vege/fruit-combi. Both dishes have the right mix of both vegetables / fruits and protein. And just so you notice, there is no exact measurements mentioned this time. I just feel the best rule of thumb is cook by taste. Your own taste.

Here, try your version and drop me a feedback!

Cheerios.

re-Starting

I have been bad!

My apologies being being un-disciplined, uninspired and being missing in for the past months. There is a long list of belated festive greetings and interesting food and places that I have ventured yet to be featured. And to feel even worse, I still get visitors stopping by and read the old posts and hoping for new posts.

Chaokar Smokes would be a two years soon, since I started in Feb 2009.

2010, is a great year. And for 2011, I am going to adhere to how things started. *Fingers crossed

The Perak invasion #1: Anson Food Company

Everyone have this spot for homey hearty meals. Most of the times, they are simple food prepared at home with lots of love, passion and usually for the longing return.

Back then when I come back from the morning school, I always wonder what mom is cooking. And I could instantly tell through the lovely smell while walking up the stairs. Opening the blue plastic-net-like cover would reveal what I smell and initiate the hungry nerve reactions.

Similarly now whenever I ‘balik kampung’, it is the hearty nostalgic meals and lots of ‘makan’ session (and family of course) that is meaningful the long driving distance.

Jenifer invited the few of us to sample her hearty ventures, in Section 17. Known as Anson Food Company, it is also under the same management of the nearby Food Foundry. To get as homey as it could, Jenifer is from Teluk Intan (Anson) also the chef hails from the same town too.

Nyonya acar (RM 7) is a good way to start with its tangy and spicy flavors; tossed with chili sauce, crushed peanuts and topped with toasted sesame seeds. The ‘bakkien’ (RM 8) which translates as pork rolls is a common dish during festive seasons is the next dish. You get seasoned pork with minced pairing vegetables all wrapped up in a bean curd skin and fried to golden crisp.

There is the aromatic crispy duck (RM 25) which is pretty much interactive food. You get to wrap together in their home made popia skin with minced roast duck with cucumber, spring onions and sweet sauce.

More appetizers coming in with the sesame prawn toast (RM 6). A simple white bread covered with sesame seeds with prawn fillings. This is new for me, and I immediately love the aroma from the sesame seeds. There is this crunchy bite with the sweet prawn filling which would make this dish great for an all day snacks. While we’re almost full with the appetizers, the mains are served, we’ve got steamed pork with salted fish (RM 18), sweet sour pork (RM 19), stir fry vegetable (RM 11), Hakka pork belly with yam (RM 26), curry chicken (RM 19), steamed fish with Anson sauce (RM market price), Anson braised duck (RM 26) and Assam Seafood (RM 30). This is one heavy lunch!!!

Overall I like the appetizer choices and the pork dishes. To sum up, Anson Food Company is inspired by memories of a childhood filled with good food. Their menu comprises home-style Chinese dishes, with Nyonya influences. They currently serve lunch every Tuesdays to Sunday.

Anson Food Company
619, Jalan 17/10
46400 Petaling Jaya

Tel : 03- 7955 2336

 
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On Blending

I’ve always wanted to get a blender but never seem to found the one I liked. Well, I do have a food processor, but I wouldn’t want to mix the usage as most of my cooking tend to use strong herbs and ingredients. And a random field work last Friday around Shah Alam, found me a blender. A blender with a bloody good deal.

Supposedly working, we then happen to be in the compounds of the renowned home appliances warehouse sales, where it’s up to 80% off the usual retail price. Instantly a colleague of mine got herself hooked to the ‘cult’ (apple-lah) accessories and I was browsing around aimlessly. And little did I know, I am standing at this special ‘Happy Hour’ section.

Out of no where, a pallet of mixed home appliances were park right in front of me. I reached out for the blender, and there was this tornado of people pushing me left, right, centre and out of the radius. Apparently the ‘Happy Hour’ section is where random selections is being sold at a even cheaper price. Discounts plus more discounts.

I hugged my blender. Tightly. And I should have hugged that bloody deep fryer too. Or that LED TV. Or that Micro Hi-Fi. But seriously RM39 for a blender that is retailing for RM129.90, I am happy!

Since then, I have been blending up concoctions I could think of, and be merry with it. Banana + milk on Saturday, Banana + orange juice + evaporated milk on Sunday and I have been reading about Aguas frescas too.

Wikipedia: Aguas frescas (Spanish for "fresh (cold) waters") are a combination of either fruits, cereals, or seeds with sugar and water, blended to make a beverage.

 

Aguas Frescas: Termerry = (watermelon + strawberry)

So for Tuesday’s blend I have a combination of any preferred amount of: orange juice + watermelon + strawberries + ice

Method: Blend everything and served chilled.

Perfect for the hot weather.

Curry crab + prawn

And over a wedding dinner, an ex colleague whom I’ve not seen for months said, so you don’t update anymore? It’s straight forward statement and yeah, I was being lazy and I blame the recent hot weather and the spoilt air conditioner which only I got it fixed yesterday. It’s just sweltering hot recently and I couldn’t blog. (I am attempting tactical excuses here! LOL.)

And so, I was at this sales conference recently, and seated among the seniors during lunch time. Now to have meals with senior management, one must hold back, somehow eat lesser and laugh gracefully. But the good curry I had keep appearing in my mind during the second half of the full day conference. The hotel serve this good blue crab curry!

I love crabs and knowingly I would mess up my white shirt, I had to take a small piece of it. Freaking small piece. So on the drive back, I decided to make dinner and it’s going to be the crab curry I had earlier.

Curry crab + prawns

2 blue crabs

200gm prawns

2 medium sized eggplants

2 onions

Pounded paste of 2cm ginger + 3 cloves of garlic + 1cm turmeric + 1 buah keras + a few white peppers

1 bruised lemon grass

Thick curry paste (5 tablespoon of Adabi crab/prawn curry powder + 2 tablespoon of cili boh + enough water for a thick paste)

100ml of evaporated milk

 

Heat up wok with oil and sauté the pounded paste till aromatic. Add in the lemon grass and a teaspoon of mix spices (cumin + mustard seeds + 2pc of cloves). Then add in the onions and the curry paste. There’s this change of colour you can easily spot when making curry, it turn darker and that is the time to add in the protein. Once it come to boil, lower the heat and add in some water and the evaporated milk. Then put in the eggplants and let it simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.

Blue crabs make great seafood stock and adding prawns make it even better. The curry spot this a sweet hint and creamy gravy from the evaporated milk. I didn’t bother making another dish to go with it so there is just white rice and curry.

Long Weekend

And so with the Hari Raya holidays making it a long weekend, my parents make their way to visit me, and went for their shopping spree as well. Coming over to the Klang Valley during Hari Raya holidays seems like a yearly affair since they always like the city without its usual bustling crowd and traffic. And when they are in town for visits, I get goodies. Kampung goodies.

So mum brought me two chickens and a basketful of dokong.

Knowing how I like things certain way, mum get the chicken cleaned, chopped up and froze in containers. All sealed in a polystyrene box all the way from Kelantan. And unlike the usual chicken you get from the supermarket, I know mum has definitely chose the best and the freshest of all.

Fresh ingredients make a huge difference even with the simplest way of cooking it. So I thaw the chicken, and prepared a simple sauce for steaming.

 

Steamed Chicken with dong quai

1 chicken (cut and cleaned)

3 slices of dong guai (adjust to your preference, more if you like it more ‘herby’)

Sauce mix (a tablespoon of soy sauce, a dash of black pepper, a dash of sesame oil, a tablespoon of Shaoxing wine and two to three tablespoon of water)

A few slices of ginger

A teeny bit of garlic (a clove, chopped up)

The garlic and ginger on the base of a heat proof place, then arrange the chicken on it. Pour the sauce mix over and slot in the dong guai slices evenly. Steamed for about 20 minutes or till the chicken is tender.

 

 

And like all meals, balanced it with vegetables.

I call this,

Cabbage crunchies

200gms of cabbage, sliced

100gms of carrots, sliced

A handful of wood ear fungus, sliced

A teaspoon of dried shrimps

A teaspoon of chopped garlic

A few slices of ginger

In a hot wok, fry the ginger, and the dried shrimps with a mix of sesame and cooking oil. Add in the garlic and fry ‘em till it's sweet smelling. Then add in carrots and the wood ear fungus. Add in teaspoon oyster sauce, then put in the cabbage. Stir fry till its soft, then add in a dash of soy sauce, nampla and pepper. Plate it.

A simple dinner with awesome kampung goodness. Yumz.