Since Jackson's been running Pick n' Brew in Shah Alam, I've made several visits to that place, with flogger friends, non blogger friends and family. As a matter of fact, I've had breakfast, lunch and dinner there! I've actually enjoyed my meals here.....and am probably the last of the lot to post about the meals with the floggers. Much has been written about this place and I guess since my meals here were mostly with them, I won't have to say much and I'll just link their blogs! hahaha.....Please note, I didn't eat all these food in one sitting and neither did I eat all of these in several sittings. I have personally tried the American Breakfast, Lamb Tikka and the Gold Medalion Of Beef, desserts and lovely coffee!
BREAKFAST
Muffin - American Set
Breakfast Steak
American Breakfast
Read about Pick n' Brew breakfast sets and dinner from Lyrical Lemongrass
LUNCH
Ethan's Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad (RM17/USD5), tossed Romaine with Caesar dressing topped with croutons, bacon bits, shaved Parmesan cheese.
My "Cappuccino" Wild Mushroom soup (RM12/USD4), that's the foam of mushroom. Lovely soup.
Mom's Grenobloise Salmon Fillet (RM30/USD10), boiled potatoes, roasted vegetable and capers with lemon butter
Owen's Oven-Baked Oats and Almond Crusted Snapper with roasted vegetables and potatoes, served with chunky basil tomato (RM28/USD9)
Ethan's main Moussaka, oven-baked minced lamb with brinjal and cream cheese (RM20/USD6)
Collection of cakes (Clockwise from Top) Blueberry Cheesecake, Warm Strawberry Cheesecake, Carrot Walnut Cake, The Drive For Food inspired Apple Crumble Cheesecake and Banana Walnut cake. Selection of cakes varies daily.
Here's the "inspiring" video of the Apple Crumble Team again.
I gave my appetizer to Teckiee, she seemed to enjoy the Salmon Gravlax (cured with salt, pepper and dill) with Scallion Cream and Parmesan Tuille.
Jason loved his Lamb Tikka with Pilaf Rice (RM17/USD5), the marinated spice lamb pieces were so flavourful. I should know as I had this for lunch on another occasion.
My Grilled Medallion Of Beef, with infused oil and coffee bean mustard (RM35/USD11). The beef was tender and loved the gravy and the coffee bean mustard!
Precious Pea's Herb Crusted Rack Of Lamb with apple mint yoghurt (RM33)/USD10)
Splashie Boy gave two thumbs up to his Chicken Chimichanga (RM19/USD6) , deep fried tortilla stuffed with diced chicken and tomatoes.
Jackson's Angel Hair Marinara (RM22/USD7), served with prawns, green mussels and squid
Both Boolicious and Lyrical Lemongrass had this which was on the special menu at that time, Seafood Galore On Feta Spinach (RM40/USD13), which also includes a glass of Lorina Sparkling Juice). This was spinach baked mussels, prawn thermidor, grilled fish - finished off with olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes.
Jackson's Latte Art Masterpiece
Our latte art masterpieces - we give a new meaning to the words "Art Attack"! Hahaha... (From Bottom Left to Right : Precious Pea's, Teckiee's unfinished art, Lyrical Lemongrass', Teckiee's finished latte art, and yours truly poor attempt of Jackson's masterpiece).
I miss the lovely rose bud tea! Not available on the menu, it was a special item on one of the days we were there. Hope it will be a regular item soon.
Pick n' Brew will be opening its second outlet in 1 Utama, F233 1st Floor Promenade (above SOHO) on Mar 30, this Sunday.
Pick n' Brew Cafe (click HERE for location map) No. 2, Jalan U1/17 Seksyen U1, Hicom Glenmarie Industrial Park 40000 Shah Alam
Mon - Fri : 8am - 8pm, Sunday :8sm - 3pm (Close on Sat and Public Holidays)
Be a coffee-drinking individual - espresso yourself! ~ Author Unknown
After a seminar in Sheraton Subang, the group of us were hungry and decided to just head across to the shops right opposite the hotel. It was already 9 plus and we decided to have a meal at Taj Curry House. They have two sections; non-air conditioned and the other with or one can choose to dine al fresco style. We ordered a Naan each and 2 Chicken Tandoori to be shared by the four of us.
I think this is my first time seeing the naan being baked in a one of this metal "oven" exterior (clay on the inside). I have only come across the ones which are totally made of clay prior to this place.
The garlic naan that I ordered was nice. It was soft, fluffy and had just the right amount of garlic bits to spice things up ;o).
When we first took a bite into one of the Chicken Tandoori pieces, we were pleasantly surprised that it tasted so yummy. The meat was tender, well marinated and it had the smoky flavour to it. So much so, the four of us ordered another round of Chicken Tandoori.
Eversince then, if we're not at Kafe Bawang Merah, we'll be here at Taj Curry House...eating our Naans and Chicken Tandoori :o).
Taj Curry House 11 Jalan SS12/1B (opposite Sheraton Subang) 47500 Subang Jaya
21st March is a day I will remember for a long long time (till old age sets in and I start becoming absent minded...oh wait, old age HAS already set in and I am already absent minded! Hahaha...), the day where my 80s craze got its ultimate fix. Here & Now 2008 concert was held in Genting at the Arena Of Stars (on 21st & 22nd March) and I manage to somehow find my way there, when one of my friends won tickets to the show on Friday night. Now, what's this Here & Now 2008 all about? Well, it's a just about the greatest thing that can be for an 80s music fan. I've grown up listening to my fave English singers/bands and having a chance to see Limahl, Johnny Hates Jazz, Paul Young, Howard Jones and Bananarama live in Genting was quite surreal for me.
It didn't matter that it was more than 20 years ago when I was so entranced in the English wave; New Wave, New Romantic, the Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW) era and the time when synthesizer music was the rage. I was in love with them back them and still is. I have always preferred English music as compared to American music as I found the former more exciting with their strange, unique or cheesy ways. I'm sure you can tell they were so even from the band names; Flock Of Seagulls, Haircut 100, Visage, Soft Cell, Spandau Ballet, Toyah, Kajagoogoo (of which was the band Limahl was from. They are reuniting!!!), Madness, Stray Cats, Altered Images, Human League, Bucks Fizz, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Heaven 17, Blancmange, ABC, Culture Club, Orchestra Manoeuvres In The Dark, Tears For Fears, Pet Shop Boys, WHAM, Thompson Twins - some of the bands I remember off the top of my head. For other 80s music fans out there which singer or band was/were your fave?
We arrived there near to 8pm but the venue was still quite empty but maybe that was because of the fact that it was raining for the past 2 hours and maybe it just took a little longer for "aged" 80s music fans to make it up to the highland :o). We waited as I scouted for the best way to take photos, standing near the stage at the side. Suddenly, a familiar face walked up to me...it turned out to be Lyrical Lemongrass who was sitting in the VIP area with her Bald Eagle (her hubby - not the once endangered but now reclassified to threatened bird). Goes to show that we made no mistake giving her the award of "Celebrity Blogger Of The Year. She had two VIP tickets left and asked if I wanted to have a sit instead of standing (I was in the standing area). Few minutes later, my friend and I were seated on the first row in the VIP section. Wah! Thanks again, Lyrical Lemongrass (who by the way is also an 80s music fan but she said that I was more hard core fan than she is, hahaha....).
The concert started around 8.30 after people started streaming in, it was a decent turnout despite the rain and it being a Friday. First to start off was Limahl. He looks good for a guy who is 50 (or did I get it wrong?). We sang along and wanted to dance but we had to restrain ourselves as we were on the first row and didn't want to block the people behind us. So, we ended up dancing in our seats. They all sang great though Johnny Hates Jazz lead vocalist Danny Saxon (who replaced Phil Thornalley who replaced Clark Datchler) couldn't hit some of the high notes. Paul Young was the only artist who danced the most and showed us that he was still nimble. He never danced much in the 80s but now he was like this entertainment machine, what a guy! Howard Jones was the best of the best as his vocals was great, he sounded exactly like he did back in the 80s and he has a "recording" voice though he was singing live! Bananarama came out with two toy boys and got the crowd up to their feet for the finale of the night. It ended at about 11 pm (with a 10 minute intermission) and a deejay took over and started spinning hits from the 80s and got us dancing in no time. However, the deejay suddenly had a "bad spell" and soon ran out of steam and the dance crowd started to dwindle. As we made our way out, he put on Limahl's Neverending Story and then another song from Howard Jones. He should have played hits from the night's artiste line up from the start (which he had not at all) to capitalise on the good vibes the crowd got from the earlier part of the concert. Anyway, I loved the concert and I still find myself breaking into one of their songs now and then :o).
I took quite a number of photos that night, here are some from that night and I've added a YouTube video of a song I wished each of them had performed that night but didn't.
Limahl Limahl (did you know Limahl is actually from an anagram of his real last name, Chris Hamill?). He sang Too Shy, Ooh To Be Ahh, Hang On Now, Rio ( a Duran Duran song as his tribute to Nick Rhodes for helping Kajagoogoo get signed on under the EMI label), Only For Love, Neverending Story.
I wished Limahl sang "Love In Your Eyes"
Calvin Hayes - Johnny Hates Jazz Mike Nocito - the American part of Johnny Hates Jazz stayed out of the spotlight throughout. Hence, this blue shot of him. Danny Saxon, the lead vocalist of that night sang I Don't Wanna Be A Hero, Turn Back The Clock, Different Seasons, Heart Of Gold, Shattered Dreams
I can't remember whether they sang this but this is what I would like to hear again, "Don't Say It's Love"
Paul Young Paul Young sang Come Back & Stay, Love Of The Common People, Senza Una Donna, Tear Your Playhouse Down, and Everytime You Go Away. Did he or did he not sing "Where ever I Lay My Hat"?
I wished he sang "Oh Girl"
Howard Jones, he was the only singer who made an effort to thank us for coming to the concert in Bahasa Malaysia. A commendable effort though he read it off a piece of paper. He sang What Is Love, Like To Get To Know Well, No One Is To Blame, New Song, Things Can Only Get Better and Pearl In The Shell.
I wished he had sang "Everlasting Love"
Keren Woodward -Bananarama. She's also Mrs Andrew Ridgeley of WHAM fame.
Sara Dallin -Bananarama. Such a nice toy boy! Grrr....
They sang Venus, Love In The First Degree, I Heard A Rumour, Nathan Jones, Cruel Summer, Robert De Niro's Waiting and ended with Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye). I wished they sang "Help" The video is funny and has French and Saunders in it; the two madcap British comedians.
Look what I got from the concert! Limahl handed out signed CDs and photos and yours truly ran up to him and got my hand on one of the signed CDs. Yay!
Such a blast from the past but that's one of the periods I really treasure...to Limahl, Johnny Hates Jazz, Paul Young, Howard Jones and Bananarama -Thanks for your part in making those times precious and for a wonderful night. I love music from the 80s and wish there would be more concerts like this here. The folks in UK have it good, Here & Now tours around UK often with different line up. Let's hope for another concert of the 80s in a year or two!
Got a call from Nigel asking me whether I was free for dinner. It's been awhile since we met up and I looked forward to some catching up time with him. Jason joined us too and we decided to do dinner in Midvalley. I was 45 minutes late, no thanks to the horrendous jam (due to the heavy rain earlier) which had built up just before the toll which exits to the Federal Highway. Fancy paying to use a highway where it was a bumper to bumper crawl! I called Nigel to apologise and asked him and Jason to decide where to eat and let me know so that I can head straight to the venue. As I finally stepped into Midvalley, I got a call..."We're heading to Cova, see you there!". Great! I looked forward to trying the food there since I read this review.
Most people chose to sit out in the alfresco area, leaving the indoor area almost solely to us three (there was a couple at another table).
Right behind where we sat was this, the artsy "partition" separating the restaurant from the public area in the mall. The overall place has a minimal yet modern interior, a nice ambiance to me.
Nigel and I brought our big cameras and soon enough a photography class was in session. He was patient and kind enough to give me some pointers as I am still rather clueless with the new camera. (I've been so busy that I haven't really had time to figure it out yet). Jason had to listen to all that camera talk, poor guy. Anyway, I'll still be using my old Panasonic Lumix to take food pics as sometimes it's just more convenient (and a whole lot less conspicuous! Hahaha...). I will definitely use the biggie for my travel pics for sure.
Of course, we had ordered first before we had all that talk else we'll starve to death! We had the Cova Platter (RM23.50/USD7.40) for starters which is made up of grilled items whereas there is another Cova Combo Platter which is made up of fried items. We opted for the grilled option. Coincidentally, the combo platter of four different grills mix came served in 3s, just right for us.
The beef rolls were lovely though it needed a bit more salt. However, you can dip them into the accompanying sauce and it can be forgiven :o). Lovely enoki mushrooms wrapped with a tender slice of beef. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
I gave my share of mussel away to Jason as I'm not a fan. So I can't comment on how this tasted but I didn't hear them two complaining :o).
Hey! This isn't grilled! The most ordinary item (and tasted ordinary too) of the four, It was like some samosa filled with shredded turnips.
Skewered Grilled Chicken was tasty, even without any sauce. The meat was well marinated, tender and moist.
Jason already told Nigel that he knew what I would order (while they were waiting for me) and he was right. It definitely had to be the Duck Confit Vermicelli with garlic and mushrooms (RM28.50/USD9) for me. There were asparagus too with the pasta and it was simply delicious with a generous amount of duck confit which were tender. If you order this, tell them to cut down on the oil (as in all duck confit pasta, there can be a bit too much). However, I would still rate this better than the duck confit in Delicious.
Nigel wanted something of a local flavour and ordered the River Prawn Noodle (RM28.50/USD9) and he enjoyed it; thumbs up! The prawns were huge!
Jason's Grilled Honey Chicken sandwich (RM16.50/USD5.20) was a lovely sight. It came with thick fries which impressed Nigel. Jason enjoyed the sandwich and finished it without a single bread crumb in sight (except for some fries as he was really full!).
The three of us had a great time catching up and enjoyed ourselves that night. The staff here were friendly and service was prompt. I would definitely come back again for the food or even to chill as I like this place. Plus the corporate set lunch here is quite a deal at RM28+. You'll get the soup of the day, main course, dessert of the day and a glass of fresh lime juice! In addition, Cova gets cookie points for opening till midnight from Wednesday to Saturday (few restaurants do in Midvalley/The Garden)!
Cova - cafe.lounge.bistro Lot F-226-B, 1st Floor The Gardens, Mid Valley Lingkaran Syed Putra 59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-2287 6260 Opening Hours : 10 am till 12 midnight (Wed to Sat), 10 am till 10pm (Sun to Tues)
"Life is a combination of magic and pasta." - Fellini
I wore a yellow t-shirt the other day and thought of you The fun we all had, the memories we created in school Though time has passed, and life goes on Your memories remain in my heart, vivid and strong
UPDATED : NO LONGER IN OPERATION AS SONS RUNNING THE PLACE HAVE MIGRATED.
Wong Siong Wong Bak Kut Teh in Sunway Mas has always been a place I go to when I feel like having something soupy. Once feeling a bit under the weather and down with a cold, I dropped by this place for lunch. And what soupy food did I order?
I was in a hurry to drink the soup and kinda mess up the bowl before I took a pic of it. A simple and nice soupy bowl of Bak Kut Teh Soup (without the bak "Meat" for me!)with Mee Suah (fine wheat noodle), some button & enoki mushrooms, foo chook (Beancurd Skin) and taupok (fried tofu puffs). And if you're not in the mood for rice or noodles or BKT, how about some yummylicious Herbal Soup with Chicken Drumstick served in a claypot?
I had a really quick dinner tonight as I still had work to do after that. Yeah, I've been busy and have not had time to do my usual round of blog visiting. I hope to be able to catch up on some blog reading soon. Well, back to dinner, I decided to head over to Wong Siong Wong with KA since we were nearby and I was hankering for my usual Bak-less Kut Teh. You read that right... Bak-less, no meat but a pot of soup from the bak with lots of enoki and button mushrooms, cabbage, foo chook (Beancurd Skin) and taupok (fried tofu puffs). That's how I like to have my BKT as I'm not really a fan of "boiled" meat and this is one of those places that has such an order in the menu. So, no strange looks from them should you ask for the vegetarian version. At RM7.50/USD2.40 per serving, it's a pot of goodness that will surely warm you up. Additional points if taken on rainy nights :o).
By the way, this pot of Bakless Kut Teh photo was taken with my new baby, Nikon D80. It's only two days old and I still haven't finish reading the manual. I'm still learning how to take photos with it, tinkering with the unfamiliar function buttons and dials.
Wong Siong Wong 21-1 Jalan PJU1/3F Sunway Mas Commercial Center Petaling Jaya Tel : 03-7805 1576
Opens from 10.30am -9.30pm Weekdays 9.30am-9.30pm Weekends
After having brunch earlier in Johor Bahru, we did some last minute shopping in Pelangi Mall and started our journey back to Kuala Lumpur. We had actually arrived in Seremban and wanted to go into town for dinner. However, upon turning into Seremban, we were caught in a massive jam! Then nature decided to call and soon from looking for our dinner place, it became a frantic search for the nearest restroom!
I recalled that Empayar Siew Pow (Siew Pow Empire) was somewhere nearby and suggested we detour there. Luckily enough, Munch had a rough idea where it was and soon we reached our destination. We jumped out of the car and made our way to the restrooms located there. We were all so relieved after that (I came out singing "What a feeling...."! Hahaha) and soon we wandered around the "empire". Well, it may be called an empire but the section that sold the famous Seremban Siew Pow (baked pastry with BBQ meat filling) wasn't "empire" huge :o).
We bought some siew pow and egg tarts home. The egg tarts (I heated them in the toaster oven) tasted better than the siew pow, maybe it's cause I overdosed on siew pow some time back...hehehe!
They also sell plenty of snacks for those interested in grabbing some other goodies
There was still a traffic jam out there (we could see the traffic from where we were) and we decided to abandon the plan of going into town. We saw quite a number of diners at the hall area of this place and decided to eat here to save ourselves the trouble. We had wanted to order some fried noodles as we weren't that hungry but were told that noodles weren't available. When we pointed out the nearby table of diners who were having it, we were told that they were tour guides and such food items are not cooked for "normal diners" during dinnertime (meaning it's available at other time?). We found it rather odd in a way, forcing customers to order a la carte dishes but of course this is a tourist stopover, hence such a policy.
We ordered the Special Tofu with Mushroom & Vegetables - The tofu is mixed with a paste of fish and prawn, dip in light batter and fried. This was actually very tasty.
Apart from ordering a standard plate of vegetable we also tried the staff's recommendation, Salt Baked Chicken. The kampung chicken was a bit on the dry side and there wasn't enough gravy. Seems that there are quite a number of special dishes whipped up by the resident chef. Check out the menu along with other info HERE.
So, dinner was okay and prices are higher than usual but this place serve its purpose well as being a one stop centre for us; toilet break, famous Seremban snacks and dinner!
Empayar Seremban Siew Pow LG1-57, Lower Ground Pasar Besar Negeri Sembilan Jalan Besar TBK 4 Taman Bukit Kepayang 70200 Seremban Negeri Sembilan
Tel : 06-60163089
Well, I arrived home and never felt more relieved to be sleeping in my own bed after that horrendous day I had in Singapore after getting ill. I must say, there's no place like home and after a few days of rest, I was all well in time for Christmas celebration. I know, it's March now and I still have lots in my photo archives ;o).
Where we love is home, Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
