Kusmi Tea@Café Zondag

Today I had a lunch appointment with a friend at Delft, we wanted to have bagels for lunch but the shop is no longer there. We dropped by a café called ‘Zondag’ nearby and what attracted me was the assorted teas they have in this café. The Kumis tea is a Russia and French mixed brand and blend. I ordered this Agothé tea, a blend of green tea with peppermints and seaweed which is quite refreshing and special. What is rather special is I decide on the amount of tea leaves I like.

Overall, good company, good chat and good tea. A rather relaxing way to begin the weekend.

KL Food: Purple Cane Tea Restaurant (紫藤茶艺)

5th February 2009

The Purple Cane Tea Restaurant (紫藤茶艺) – a healthy eating concept restaurant with a slogan such as ‘Tea brings feelings to life’ and almost all dishes they offer are cooked with tea leave or scented with tea.

We ordered the following:

Purple Cane Tea (紫藤茶) – since tea is their specialty, for a pot of tea we ordered we got two pots, one to brew the tea and one to pour the brewed tea to keep it. This is to prevent the tea from getting too bitter if it is left to steep for too long.

Pan fried egg with Anchovies and tea milli (银鱼煎蛋）- Basically omelets with little Krill (krill is smaller than anchovies). Very thin and crispy without much oil.

Green tea Rice (绿茶饭) - which is slightly brown in color as the rice is cooked in brewed tea. Bits of tea leaves are also found within the fluffy rice grains. Again taste wise, no taste of any tea involved except for the color.

Assorted vegetables (水仙罗汉斋) – a bit disappointed with this dish, as it is a bit too flat in taste and can smell or taste the tea.

Stir Fried black pepper beef in tea sauce (茶香黑椒牛柳) – both of us like this dish, nice bit size of tender beef and powerful black pepper spice up our appetite.

Stir fried bitter gourd with pickled vegetables and tea milli （咸菜凉瓜）- another healthy green dish, the combination of bitter gourd and salted vegetables did balance the taste.

We were there rather early that day as I need to work at night, so the restaurant was rather empty when we start eating. The dishes are very homely, not so much as a feeling of eating at home but the dishes (due to less oil and salt) gave a taste of home cooked food. The overall dining experience is acceptable, not particularly great in term of taste but the concept of healthy eating and healthy living with tea is rather innovative in Malaysia.



KL Food: Penang Fired Kway Tiaw (槟城炒粿條)

Penang fried Kway Tiaw (槟城炒粿條) or fried flat noodles Penang style. This dish could be spicy especially if there is more of the nyonya influence to it. But generally, a common dish we eat for lunch or dinner at the hawker stall. The common ingredients are prawn, Chinese sausage (non-halal stall), bean sprouts, fish cake, egg and clams. They are always oily but who cares when it come to great taste…

KL Food: Roti Canai Telur

Roti Canai, some kind of puffed bread served hot with curry or dhal. You can relate it to the French’s crepes. The people who sell this type of food is called “Mamak”, they are normally referred to the off spring of the intermarriage between the Indians and Malays.

There are different types of roti canai, this one that I ordered is called Roti Telur (with egg), if you want the extra oily and flavored one, you can order Roti planta (with extra butter). There are among other variety such as Roti Sardine (with canned sardine), Roti pisang (with banana) and the luxe version is called Mutabak.

KL Food: 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice

It's lunch time and I am posting some backlog blogs on food again...bear with me...

We ate at Ipoh Chicken Rice restaurant twice. The first time we feast ourselves with half chicken, bean sprouts, fish ball soup and the half chicken apparently to be too much for both of us. Anyway, the chicken was smooth and soft, very delicate. The fish ball is so crunchy that every bite I take, it spring in my mouth and the taste of the fish is so real. The bean sprouts are fat, short and juicy too...

On a different occasion, we learned our lesson and Johannes ordered just normal chicken rice for one person and I had this Ipoh shredded chicken rice stick(怡保鸡丝河玢）. Out of my curiosity, I also ordered this Stewed Pork Belly dish (梅菜扣肉). A rather fat and oily dish which I refrain most of the time, but if I just pick and eat the meat and let go of the fat, it is okay, at least for this home trip. The dish is very nicely done, it is not greasy at all and if you happen to eat the fat, it just melts in your mouth directly.

Nyonya Food: Nyonya Colors

26th January 2009

There is this nyonya eatery at Mid Valley that is nicely touched up by green, yellow, blue and vibrant nyonya colors and patterns. Each time I walked passed this place, I told myself or Johannes that surely I will come here and eat as much as I can. We did it one mid morning for brunch. Here is what we ordered….

(1) Nasi Kunyit with Chicken Curry – similar to nasi kuning or tumeric rice but this one is made of sticky glutinous rice. The curry is very lemak, not spicy but yet very rich in term of its aroma and taste.

(2) Cucuk Udang – some small pieces of prawn mixed with flour and various ingredients and then deep fried. Dip it in the sweet chili sauce before eating, Again, good old taste of childhood.

(3) Yum Cake - top with spicy sambal balacan, spice up my palate

(4) Small Nasi lemak Pandan – typical Malaysian breakfast where a simple version of nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaf. The ingredient is also down to earth, bit of rice, bit of sambal, a few peanuts and ikan bilis and half hard boiled egg. That would make my day for a hearty breakfast.

(5) Roti Jala with Chicken Curry – Roti Jala literally means laced bread, it is a rather common Malay and Nyonya dish.

(6) Otak-otak – You get this in many different versions, but this is the nyonya way, the wrapping is banana leave but inside you get this wonderfully done fish paste and cubes of fish meat with a bit of spicy touch and variety of herbs that create a great aroma.

(7) Curry Chee Cheong Fun – it is as if I have not had enough, I ordered this dish and opt for curry sauce instead of the classic sweet soy sauce. Again wonderfully done, the rice flake is nicely done, soft and tender, the dish is garnished with various spices and most importantly some dried prawn

and fried shallot that create the combination of fishy taste at the end. Nice one…

Sunset in Zoetermeer

A beautiful sunset that I couldn’t help but capture the beauty that the Lord has installed for us…

KL Food: Sinful Temptation BUT DeLiCiOuS

We have patron here a couple of time during our stay in KL. It is a rather cool and hip hang-out place. We didn’t eat here but were here for drinks and for the dessert.

Now here are some of the sinful desserts that we have tried.

For me, a classic Chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream, which is absolutely too rich and heavy. I didn't even finished half of it but I had the whole ice cream

For Johannes, he had this Mango cheese cake with Mango salsa. I had a taste of it, didn't like the taste of it.

KL Food: Tai Ping Lang Restaurant

My friend is from Penang and therefore it is no surprise that she brought us here for lunch. Tai Ping Lang Restaurant is located at Puchong and is famous for its northern Malaysian Hokkien home style cooking. Since she is a regular here and thus she ordered the dishes for us all.

(1) Mixed sour vegetable stew – Kiam Chai Buey (咸菜尾) - Hmmm I really missed this dish, used to be my favorite and I had this almost once a week.

(2) Shredded Jicama fried with cuttlefish - Bangkuang Cha (鱿鱼炒沙葛) - Nicely done and the way to eat this is to wrap a spoonful of the bangkuang cha to a lectuce leaf and take a bite...

(3) Fried Assam Prawn – exactly the way my mum used to make this dish, with a lot of seasoned the prawn with abundance of tamarind paste and sugar to taste. Yummy.

(4) Penang Assam Laksa Fish – The soup itself already reminded me of assam laksa.

(5) Soy sauce pork – tou yu bak (酱油肉), I am not so fancy with this dish as I find it a bit too sweet and the presentation doesn't appeal me either.

(6) Fried pork sausage nyonya style – Ba Kian (肉卷) is made with cornstarch and tapioca flour, five spice mix, oyster sauce etc and miex with minced prawn, pork, water chestnut, carrot, onion etc. It needs to be cool and frozen for an hour so that the meat absorb the taste and then wrap with bean curd skin and deep fried.

Now here is the interior of the restaurant. The restaurant is not too crowded when we were there, it has its own character and a mixed of straight chinese interior and also a very homely decoration as if we were eating at someones home.

KL Food: Ho Poh Lui Cha （河婆擂茶）

Also at the same stall at Oasis Food Court, there is this Ho Poh Lui Cha（河婆擂茶）on sale. Coming from Kuching, this is one of the most authentic dishes for Hakka. I am rather surprise to find it here in KL and furthermore in a food court setting.

Apparently, it only takes Johannes 3 spoonful to convert him to accept this good old time delicacy. In fact he is thinking of making this nowadays...

Again, it only takes 3 straight forward steps to enjoy lui cha.

(1) a bowl of rice topped with the key ingredients dried radish, peanuts, long beans, leek, tapioca leave, dried prawn etc

(2) pound green tea, basil and mint leaves.

(3) Just mixed (2) to (1) and it is ready to be served. Other prefers a spoonful of (1) and then takes a sip of the soup(2), just do what pleases you…

KL Food: Pan Mee (板面)

2nd February 2009

This is merely a bowl of noodles that we sampled at a food court, frankly speaking it is not just good but of great taste that we visited the same stall in Oasis Food court a couple of times just for the same Pan Mee (板面). One of my favorites.

The main ingredient for Pan Mee (板面) are flat flour noodles, dried anchovies, chicken/pork minced meat, dried black fungus and the special type of vegetables. If this is nicely done, the soup is full of the fragrant of the anchovies and no msg. I slurped up all the soup each time until the bowl is completely empty.

KL Food: Fong Lye Taiwanese Food

This is a Taiwanese restaurant at the Gardens, Mid-Valley. It was rather crowded on the evening we were there. We actually had to wait for 10 min before we got our table. The overall dining experience is just ordinary or meet expectation while Johannes found the fish is too sweet for him and the table is too small for such a complex set dinner tray, almost no place for side dishes and tea.

We ordered 2 set-dinners, hot tea and a side dishes:

• 3 Variety Supreme Diced Chickens （三杯鸡套餐)
• Miso Fish Set （味曾鱼套餐)
• Taiwan Style Fried Clam 台式炒啦啦
• Hot Taiwan 'Gui Hua' Oolong tea (热台湾桂花乌龙茶) that poppy hot and full of aroma

Baked cabbage with cheese, deep friend meat ball, potato prawn salad with mayonnaiseTea pot and cups, Johannes' soup, the taiwanese style fried clams, the miso fish

Taiwan styled fried clamMy set dinner - 3 variety supreme diced chickensMy set dinner, rice topped with mince meat, my bowl of soup, chicken close-up

Me enjoying my meal

Johannes couldn't wait but already tug in to his food.

KL Food: Madam Kwan's Restaurant (Revisited)

I am taking my lunch hour to upload a few blogs about the good food that I have eaten in my recent home trip.

On our last few hours in Kuala Lumpur, we had our last dinner at Madam Kuan’s restaurant again. I ordered the Nasi Lemak. I love the acar and the sambal that come with the nasi lemak, a real Malaysia taste for me …

While Johannes having tasted the Nyoya's curry after effect is now abstaining from chilies, and opts for chicken rice. Both dishes are equally good and of restaurant standard (so is the price tag :P).

Kuching Food: "No Name"

Uncle Simon Lo (my mum’s younger brother) cooked these 2 dishes for us one evening during the prayer meeting at home. These are just ordinary dishes with a bit of Hakka clan’s flavor and typical among Chinese community. Yet these are home cooked meal that one hardly get outside. I don't even know what they are called, the top is more or less like a spring egg roll with pork and the bottom is the special type of noodle fried with a special type of vegetable that not widely available else where.

Nyonya Food: Kuih Delights

Here are some of the Nyonya's sweets and savory we sampled while in Malaysia. Nyonya cuisine is derived from Peranakan or rather Baba-Nyonya (峇峇娘惹). They are the descendants of Malay and Chinese inter marriage. As the result of a unique Strait Chinese (Baba-Nyonya) culture and cuisine blooming in Malaysia especially the Melaka and Penang states. The key ingredients for Nyonya kuih are coconut, pandan and Gula Melaka (a sort of palm sugar from Melaka area with a distinct taste)

Kochi Santan

Sri Muka - two layered dessert with steamed glutinous rice

Ketayap

Roti Jala

Don't know the name of the last 2 :p