Kota Bahru Food Trip Pt. 5

Well, it's time for the continuation of my Kota Bahru trip (interrupted by too many events, Chinese New Year holidays and festive food!). Well for Part 5 of this series, there isn't food involved as I made a visit to the 4 storey Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah (a.k.a Pasar Bulat "Round Market" due to the almost circular shape of the building which is more like a hexagon).

Most stall owners placed their goods on top of a raised cement slab and then proceed to plonk themselves right in the center, surrounding themselves with their goods.

Turtle eggs are still being sold openly despite it being illegal. I felt sad looking at these. The container at the bottom holds boiled turtle eggs, the one above are raw turtle eggs.

All sorts of salted fish being sold. The stall owner was kept busy having to keep the flies away!
Wonderful united colours of vegetables!

We then made out way out to look for some kuihs (local cakes) and I came across a medicine man peddling his "miracle" medicine. I was quite afraid of that creature he was holding in his hand. It looked like a cross between a crocodile and a monitor lizard. For those who are squirmish - don't look at the next photo. What was worse was another such creature (which was less fortunate) had its skeletal remains displayed in the plastic container (towards the bottom of this picture); soaked in some liquid! Yikes! Oh well, some of you just had to look eh??? Ha ha ha...The medicine is available in ointment and capsule form. I believe the medicine is made from this very sort of liquid.

Thank goodness we went to a different part of the market when one can find some snacks and kuihs. What caught my eye was this cone shaped banana leaf. I was told that it's called Nasi Tumpang. It has omelette, meat floss, chicken curry (mixed with some sweet gravy). I told myself that I'll should try one before I head back to Kuala Lumpur, which I did. More on this later...

To be continued...Oh, I will be away for 2 weeks, leaving this evening. So, there will be no updates till April 2. I will still keep moderating my comments (after the spam scare earlier at Kenny Mah's blog). So, do feel free to leave your comments though you might only see it appear after I get back. Do come back on April 2 to read about my escapade in Spain (hopefully if I have the energy)! Till then, "Adios, Hasta luego" - Goodbye, see you later.

Remember...

It's been a year since you left us. We aren't grieving but we still miss you, Jen.

Remembering you....always.

Hokkien Mee, Heng Kee - SEA Park (Non-Halal)

UPDATE : AS AT MID APRIL 2010, HENG KEE HAS SHIFTED TO SIMON'S DELIGHT located at 63, Jalan 20/7, Paramount Garden (opposite Sea View Restaurant).

I used to go to Jalan 222 for Hokkien Mee; waiting a long time for a table and again for our food to arrive. Somehow, the noodles didn't taste as good as it did and when they started charging for the extra crispy lard; we stopped patronizing the place. We then found a new haunt for Hokkien Mee in Petaling Jaya.

Heng Kee is located in the sunken coffee shop opposite DUMC (Damansara Utama Methodist Church) which used to be Ruby Cinema and facing Teo Chew Fish Ball in SEA Park. There are other stalls here; Bak Kut Teh, Porridge, Dim Sum and Fried Kway Teow. Heng Kee's stall is run by two brothers (I call them Tai Heng Kee "Big Heng Kee" and Sai Heng Kee "Small Hee Kee"). Big usually does the Hokkien Mee while Small cooks the Cantonese style. Not sure who does the other varieties of noodles though.
We really do like the Hokkien Mee here and it's our regular order. It's not as oily (nevermind the additional crispy lard that we ask for...ha ha ha) and doesn't have the usual "strong" yellow noodle taste; you know what I mean. It's tasty and full of "wok hei", high flames that is so essential in cooking Hokkien Noodles! Look at this photo - now, that's what I call high flames!

Big Heng Kee put up a "wok hei" display for me to take photos! Look at that! He even told me how he does it! (Not that I'll ever need to cook that way in my house-I'll set off the sprinklers! Ha ha ha...)

The tasty Hokkien Mee, yummylicious!

The Cantonese fried noodles is quite good too but I didn't manage to take a photo of it when we last ordered it as we ate it all up real quick, being too hungry at that time! :o) We tried the Bak Gou (Pork Meat Soup) before but it was just okay to us. Heng Kee doesn't have as many customers as the one at Jalan 222 which is a shame as I find the noodles here better. But I guess that means a shorter wait for us to get our noodles! ;o)

FUNNY BOOK TITLES:

1. EATING DISORDERS by ANNA REXIA

2. HOW TO GAIN WEIGHT by ELLIE FUNT

3. ITALIAN FOOD by PEPE RONI

4. MEAT EATERS by CARNEY VORE

5. LOW-FAT HOG RECIPES by LEAN BACON

6. CONTINENTAL BREAKFASTS by ROLAND BUTTER

Get more humour here!

Co Do, Midvalley Megamall

After coming across EatInOut's post on Little Vietnam, I decided to blog on Co Do where my friends and I normally have our lunches during our weekend gatherings. I had only noticed Co Do about 5 months back when my friend brought me there for dinner. It's situated above Little Vietnam (entrance to Co Do is at the side of it) on the cinema floor. One can actually miss it with all the traffic there on weekends! Apparently both are operated by the same owner - with a slightly different menu at each place.

I immediately took a liking to the cozy place when I first visited it. Co Do has a nice ambiance; it's the kind of place where you can dine with friends and have a long chat as it's not crowded. My other group of friends whom I caught up with twice chose to eat here as they like the place. Food wise, it's quite good - Vietnamese Dim Sum (have not really tried the whole range) is available along with the usual and typical Vietnamese noodles and rice.

With that and the other factors - ambiance, reasonable prices and pretty good service, this has become one of my fave places for dining and catching up with friends. We have had a 4 hour lunch here before!
We usually order the set meal for 2 (about RM35++ and includes 2 glasses of ice lemon tea) as it allows us to have a bit of everything. There are many pics in this post, so, the photos will be slightly smaller than usual :o). The Vietnamese Dim Sum/snacks are very tiny. Please bear in mind, these were served in a sauce plate (since food appear larger than normal in my posts!). The main meals were quite large portions though. The following pics are from one of the set.

The spring roll was tiny-it disappeared before I could even taste it! Ha ha ha....

The Lotus Root Fish Cake was not too bad with the usual fish sauce, vinegar and chilli dip.
I love this Dragon Fruit Salad; topped with nuts and with mild vinegarish clear dressing, it was refreshing.
Beef Ball Hu Tieu (chewy translucent noodles) - The noodles soaked up the soup pretty quick (also due to the fact that I took photos of it!), but they offered to refill the soup for us without us asking. Best of all, they served all noodles with a wonderful plate of chilli padi pulp in soy sauce!
Tomato Fried Rice - This plain looking fried rice turned out to be pretty tasty though I couldn't really taste any tomato.

After that round, we tried a different set for variety when we met up again in Midvalley about a month later. We couldn't think of a better place to eat and chat since we found Co Do!

Grilled Eggplant Skewers - Not really a fan of eggplant, so can't comment.
Steamed wrapped roll - minced chicken and mook yee (wood ear black fungus) topped with fried shallots. The filling was nice but the roll was cold. Maybe it was served warm but by the time I finish taking photos and in between our conversation, it went cold on us. Ha ha ha...

Golden Lychee Chicken Ball - This was good, not the usual chicken ball texture; something different. Wished it was bigger though ;o)
Spicy Beef Slice Hu Tieu - the soup was very tasty and spicy indeed. Great for those who like spicy food. The beef slices were tender too.

This set came with spring onion fried rice which was rather bland. There's another dish that we ordered. The Lemongrass Beef (which was nicely done) was served on a bed of shredded vegetables along with two small cups; one with two halves of a spring roll (see what I mean by tiny?)and the other; Chao Tom (Shrimp on Sugar Cane) which was just okay as it lacked spices and didn't have much taste to it. I couldn't really remember, but I think this set came with an option of rice or plain soup noodles.
Despite some shortfalls; we don't mind going back again as when we add up all the other plus points - Co Do still gets our vote of approval as we feel comfortable dining here.

"Food is not about impressing people. It's about making them feel comfortable."
Ina Garten - The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Bandwidth Exceeded!

I never thought this blog will have an increase flow in visitors when I first started this....This meant the monthly bandwidth allowed by Photobucket (where I store my photos) increased too. So, each time my pages load, bandwidth are being used. My current bandwidth's monthly quota is now exceeded (hence, the big big words "BANDWIDTH EXCEEDED" is seen rather than my photos). However, the bandwidth allowable resets itself each month and the older posts' photos should be viewable come this 16th. I apologise for the interruption. Ha ha ha....

Next is IE 7. Apparently those surfing the internet with IE7 would encounter problems if they view online videos on Windows Media Player that is not the latest version due to compatibility issues. It would either freeze (on XP or older versions) or shut off (on Vista). If you google IE7 problems you would see there are a lot of users with problems. After Boo_licious sent me an email, I finally made a decision to live without music in my blog. So, I will not be putting up the video at the sidebar like I use to till they come up with a solution. Firefox Mozilla users should be surfing the internet without such hiccups as it is trouble free. I'm still learning about all these technical issues in the blogging and internet world as I go along.

Or else, it's back to the drawing board......

Book Valley Grand Opening

It was only Friday night that I was sure that I would be going to Book Valley's grand opening. On Saturday morning, I met up with Precious Pea for breakfast - nice meeting up with you! After a relatively quick meal, I went off towards Klang with Lyn and Yuen. Of course, visiting Jackson's (Living In Food Heaven) store on such an auspicious day was a good reason to drop by there for the first time. Having asked for directions to Taman Eng Ann earlier from my associates, I found my way there easily.

Arriving there just before the VIPs did, there was already a lion dance going on at the ground floor entrance.

Once the VVIPs arrived and made their way to Book Valley on the 1st Floor (Wisma 1 Alliance, No. 1, Lorong Kasawari 4B, Taman Eng Ann, 41150 Klang) another performance started. The Festive Drum presentation by these young talented boys and girls was really entertaining. There was a very good turnout and seats were fully occupied.

YB Datuk Ong Tee Kiat giving his speech before officiating the grand opening.

When YB Datuk finally declared the store opened (I couldn't see how as the front was crowded at that time with the press and relevant parties), we gave a thunderous applause! With the ceremony over, the crowd then turned customers as we all browse through the books, magazines, stationeries, cards and other miscellaneous items as there was a special discount on the store opening day.
The books are mostly Chinese with a small section allocated for English novels. Book Valley enjoyed great sales that day as some customers bought basketful of books; with kids succeeding in persuading their parents to get them other goodies like cute stampers, games and other nice stuff like these below. I had to restrain myself as I love collecting items like these.

Cute fork and spoon set!Colourful handicraft foil wrappers
Cute paper storage boxes

The cafe area was closed to the public and was used to serve lunch the VVIPs, relatives and friends. The public was also treated to snacks to drinks at a different area. Jackson graciously asked my friends and I to help ourselves to the food in the VVIP section but I had to turn him down. We had already planned to feast on I-Po's roast duck, so we needed to leave some stomach room for the job! Ha ha ha...Jackson did talk to us a bit though he was rather busy, no need to apologise. We are understanding people, you know ;o). Oh, I managed to see Hitomi in the flesh! She is soooooo cute!

The delicious food laid out for YB Datuk and other VVIPs. I took this photo through the glass on the outside of the cafe . The cafe was not accessible then as YB Dato Ong was being interviewed in this area before lunch. Luckily I manage to take this shot before YB Dato sat down for his lunch. I don't think he would like the suprise of seeing this mad woman pressing a camera against the glass! Hee hee...
Relatives and friends helping themselves to the buffet after the interview was over.
It's great to see another book store opening to inculcate people to read more; like these kids.

I like the colours and the layout of Book Valley (Jackson's work!). I will be sure to visit Book Valley again when I next go Klang! Afterall, I signed up for Book Valley's membership! After about two hours there, we then headed off to Taman Bayu Perdana (with an additional two members, Eng and Wendy) for roast duck! More on that later...
Of course, I had to take a photo of Jackson. He was so smart looking in his formal wear! Girls...he's available! (Have not asked whether he has a girlfriend, if he does - Jackson's girlfriend, please don't be angry with me for advertising him).

Heartiest Congratulations to Jackson on the Grand Opening of Book Valley! Wishing you and your uncle every success and "Sang Yue Hing Loong"!

Restoran Teow Chew Meng, SS2

Had been to this place several times since a couple of years back but it wasn't until I went there again recently that I remembered I had taken some photos a couple of months back. I then added a couple more to it on my recent trip. Teow Chew Meng is located at the back of New Formosa Taiwan Restaurant in SS2. With branches in Prai, Georgetown, Pulau Tikus, Bayan Baru, Keopng and Subang Jaya, I guess it must be doing well.
I had earlier known the owner, Steven, when I ate at Lok Lok King Seafood in Desa Sri Hartamas back in 2001 I think. Business was good in the beginning but dwindle in time and soon it stopped operating. So, I was surprised to see him at Teow Chew Meng when I first visited this SS2 branch. He told me that Teow Chew Meng was his family business from Penang and he decided to start one in Klang Valley.
During my earlier visit, Euro decided to try the Mee Sua Tow (RM10 per portion) which is their signature dish. As it turned out, the shark's fin used for the Mee Sua Tow wasn't really the real thing (I think). I'm not complaining as I'm eco friendly! :o). This dish taste very much like shark's fin soup; best eaten with vinegar (I like lots of it!). It's a bit starchy and apart from the Mee Sua (flour vermicelli), they also add in fish maw, fish slices, crabsticks, prawns and mushrooms.
The Seafood Fried Rice (RM10 per portion too) was a disappointment as I could only find prawns, golden anchovies and some meat cubes (luncheon meat maybe). It could be the fact that it simply pales in comparison with the Seafood Fried Rice from Hau Kee (in the looks and taste department)! Take a look at this post and you can literally see what I mean! The Golden Seafood Frice Rice from One Noodle tastes better than Teow Chew Meng and it has scallops for the same price (post on that another time...)
Their Seafood Porridge had pretty much the same ingredients as Mee Sua Tow (oh, there are fishballs in the porridge). The rice grain is still visible, so it's not the mashy kind of porridge. I guess seafood lovers will love these two dishes. They also have Seafood Noodles and Tom Yam Seafood Noodles if you want something spicier.
However, my favourite dishes are not mains but the side dishes like the Seafood Roll. With salted egg yoke embedded in its mince meat, this roll is a delight to eat; especially with the Thai chilli sauce.
I like their Kerabu Mango too. Lots of chilli padi, so "thread" carefully if you don't want a nasty surprise. Yah! If your boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse accidentally bites into one of them and say "I'm burning hot", don't be that happy as you're not the object of their affection or the cause of it but this dish of Kerabu Mango instead at such a moment! LOL...

I usually come to this place when I'm doing a late lunch as they open throughout the day from 10 am till 10 pm (closed on Mondays). You can also read the review from Masak-Masak.

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
~ Author Unknown

More Home Cooked Food!

Well Chinese New Year is officially over and it's REALLY back to work this time round (though I'm probably dragging my feet...he he). So as all the celebratory lunches and dinners lessen (will always exist as us Malaysians usually find the slightest reason to celebrate with food!), here is the last post (I think) of a Chinese New Year meal from Czar's place again. She had another two rounds of dinner at her place, one pre Chinese New Year and one during.

She bought a box of Yee Sang and added a whole lot of other stuff of her own to it (adding some plum sauce of her own too).

We really needed a big plate for the Lo Hei. Failing to find one, we used a cake baking tray instead!

Wantans (before they were deep fried), they looked so cute, shaped like the Chinese New Year gold nuggets. Once cooked, the shape changes a bit.

Kung Pao Cuttlefish, a fave of mine as I like Sotong Rendam (chicken is commonly used for this style)

Another hot favourite, spicy Four Angle Beans with dried prawns.

Czar's delicious Indian Chicken dish (Varuval - thanks CH Teoh for the word) - love the spices!

Desserts were mixed fruits soaked in lemon juice

Czar's cousin's masterpiece, chocolate chip cookies! Looks like Famous Amos Cookies, don't they? Tasted nice too.

Czar bought and deep fried these mini (food always appear larger than life in my photos! Ha ha...) prawn rolls herself. These are dangerous! I normally take a handful of them and start munching away!

Okay, activities are back to the norm now...Mrs Pitt, we missed you during this Chinese New Year and I'm sure you missed the food, ha ha ha....Hopefully we'll see you soon! Here's wishing Prosperity to all for the rest of the year and more!

When prosperity comes, do not use all of it. ~ Confucius