Kum Kee Chicken Rice, Kuchai Lama Kuala Lumpur

(Non-Halal)

Glorious Jade has been on a strict diet for about 3 weeks now (due to some herbal medication she's taking) and I've been missing the times where we would be hunting for food during lunch hour especially. With photos of some of our meals together sitting in my archives, I shed a tear as I recall the memories....Hahaha! Nowadays, floggers seem to break out often into songs - sung to the tune of "The Way We Were"

"Memories...of the food we use to eat
Driving round to all the places
That's what I...now miss"

We found this place back in June when PL brought us there (must thank Glorious Jade for introducing us a new makan kaki, PL). Picking up PL from the Bukit Jalil Sports School (our dear PL is a national sportswoman!), we headed off to Salak South in two cars; Glorious Jade, Candy, PL and I in one with Ash and TJ following in the other. PL had been telling us for weeks before that about the place where we could find some nasty (in a good way!) char siew (BBQ Pork). However on arrival, the shop was closed much to our dismay...Big Sobs! I mean after the heightened anticipation, it felt like all the energy was zapped out of us. After driving around in circles wondering what to eat then, PL decided to take us to another place for a meaty lunch in Kuchai Lama. This time round, telling us that the siew yoke (roast pork) is the crowd puller.

Kum Kee Chicken Rice Stall is actually located in a corner coffee shop, Kedai Kopi & Makanan Mooi Mooi (Little Sister).

With PL's navigation, I really had no idea how I ended up here after all the circling and turning but here's the map from Kum Kee's name card. I hope you'll be able to find the place with lesser help as I still would have to ask PL to take me there again as I can't remember the way! Best landmark is that it's right next to a rather big Buddhist temple.

Arriving there during office lunch hour, the stall owner was extremely busy cutting and slicing the roast meats.


We all agreed that the Siew Yoke (Roast Pork) was good. With bit of fats (not too much), its skin was crispy while the meat was tender and moist. It was still warm when it was served to us. PL sighed with relief to know that our drive to this place was not wasted. The siew yoke was polished off in record time and we ordered another plate to really ensure that our trip here was worthwhile! Great lip smacking stuff!


The Roast Chicken was quite good too. Again, the meat was tenderly moist and was quite aromatic. This takes second spot.


The BBQ Pork here though was just average to me. They put in an order for lean meat despite my pleas for some fat! Hahaha...The meat was slightly tough and I felt that the taste was mild. Definitely third placing for this dish.

While Pudu's fame siew yoke still reigns, the stall owner here is definitely more amiable and the prices cheaper. Anyway, the real star of this place - the siew yoke (roast pork) shines and shine brightly it does. With the bad attitude I encountered in Pudu, I'll pick Kum Kee anytime (now, if only I can memorize the directions to Kum Kee!).

Kum Kee Chicken Rice
No. 94 Jalan Rukun 2
Taman Gembira
Kuchai Lama
58200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 7982 4902 or call Kit (the son) at 012-6338614

Remember, if you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns!
~Allison Gappa Bottke

Good Food Hunting In Ipoh, Part 4 - Final

Early next morning, we stopped by Canning Garden for our usual Chee Cheong Fun but JC and mom shared a plate and they decided to eat curry noodles at Yat Yat Seng in Ipoh Garden later. Before that, we headed off to the nearby Simee Market as I was told that the egg tarts from Choy Kee are delicious.

They looked really good but I thought the crust looked a bit too thick. So before we decided on how many we should pack, we ate one on the spot! Hahaha...Surprisingly, the thick appearance of the crust was an illusion as a bite into one of the egg tarts revealed the crust to be of many thin layers which were light and flaky. The egg custard part was smooth and aromatic. We packed a dozen of these babies back! Hahaha....

Well, few minutes later we were sitting in Yat Yat Seng. I tried a bite and yet again, the curry noodles didn't score high with me. Seems that my Ipoh trip this time round could not produce a winner for best curry noodles. While Czar and I were having our drinks as JC and mom ate, a cute elderly woman asked me to try their Caramel Custard. Now, I was suppose to go to Thean Chun for this treat as advised but we had no plans to go to that area later, so I ordered one to try.

From egg tart custard to another custard, this was just plain caramel custard to me, standard stuff I mean. I am now sitting here, as I'm blogging on this post, wondering how the caramel custard in Thean Chun taste like and asking myself whether I've missed out on a great dessert and if I should kick myself!

Feeling a bit disappointed, we ended up at Sam Po Tong Temple to seek the answer to life or should I say, the direction to good curry noodles and caramel custard! Hahaha...Nah, Czar wanted to drop by the temple to pay her respects to her mom while the rest of us just tagged along and hope that the walk around the area would help us digest the food in our tummies faster.

There were plenty of tortoises around. Apart from the ones on land, can you spot those with their heads bobbing out of the waters too?


We dangled the Kangkung (morning glory) into the pit, trying to get their attention as there is a grill separating us and we could not get near to them. There was a tortoise mini race of some sort but since we didn't have the whole day to see it end, we decided to throw the vegetables near and far so that most of them would get a chance to chomp on some.

After feeding the tortoises, it was time again to feed ourselves and we headed off to Dai She Geok ("Big Tree Foot"!) in Pasir Pinji for Yong Tow Foo. JC and mom opted to eat at the newer Yong Tow Foo stall which is just next to the original.

There are other stalls operating here too and I spotted Curry Chee Cheong Fun with Chee Pei (pork rind) which I just had to try. From this moment on, the photos turned out greenish as we sat under the green canopy and I still haven't figure out how to adjust the settings!

The rest of them ordered kon low (dry) noodles to eat along with their Yong Tow Foo selection. I found the Yong Tow Foo and the noodles here to be pretty standard with the kway teow (flat noodles) being nice and smooth. Of course, they had a lot of Yong Tow Foo variety which is most probably their selling point. And what about my Curry Chee Cheong Fun?

It was just alright. Maybe I had set too high an expectation and felt somewhat let down. But I guess if one had tasted the Curry Chee Cheong Fun with pork rind from Wai Sek Kai, Pudu, you would concur with me. Maybe the green chillies shouldn't be there, it was kinda weird. The curry gravy was not thick enough for me. Maybe the stall owners were having an "off" day. Maybe...

After lunch, it was time to start our journey back home. However, the four of us had a twinkle in our eyes and soon found ourselves for one last round of Tau Foo Fah from Funny Mountain. Hahaha...that and a few boxes of Aun Kheng Lim's Salt Baked Chicken too which followed us back to Kuala Lumpur that evening. We made more plans to travel during that journey back :o)

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~Hilaire Belloc

TVB's Heart Of Greed / Moonlight Resonance cast - Dinner @ Noble Banquet, Bukit Bintang

I had been following Astro's Wah Lai Toi "Heart Of Greed" TVB series when I sighted a contest being held to meet with the cast of the series over dinner in Kuala Lumpur. Checking out Astro's website, I clicked on AstroLife and entered the contest. Couple of days later, I told Mom about the contest and she was skeptical that I would be able to win her the chance to meet with the cast. I like the drama but I entered the contest more for my mother as I know she would be thrilled to meet them up close and personal.

I had forgotten about the contest till I received an email from Astro...

" Thank you for participating in the recent "Heart Of Greed" Contest organized by AstroLife and TVB. We are pleased to inform you that you have won 2 invitations to the溏心夜宴Heart of Greed Dinner with the invited 溏心风暴Heart of Greed stars (Ms Louise Lee (李司棋), Mr Ha Yu (夏雨), Ms Michelle Yim (米雪), Mr Moses Chan (陈豪), Mr Raymond Lam (林峰), Ms Tavia Yeung (杨怡) and Mr Louis Yuen Siu-Cheung (阮兆祥) at this event.

Please find below for the details of the event:

Date : 16^th August 2008 (Saturday)
Time : 7.00pm – 10.30pm
Attire : Smart casual
Venue : Noble Banquet 阳城宴会厅, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur"

(L-R) Raymond Lam Fung, Tavia Yeung, Louise Lee, Har Yu, Michelle Yim, Moses Chan Ho, Louise Yuen

I was excited for my mom but couldn't let her know till the next morning as she had already turned in for the night when I read that email. I was wide awake that night and had trouble falling asleep and was already up at 7 am. When I finally got hold of my mom on the phone and told her the good news, she didn't seem to believe me! It took me a couple more minutes to go over the news before it jolted her senses and she was indeed happy!

So, came August 16 (we had to "abandon" my sis and Aly, who were here in Malaysia visiting) and made our way to Noble Banquet. We were speculating how many people will be attending and thought maybe there will be about 7 tables and hopefully one TVB star will sit at one table each. Well, that was wishful thinking...

When we reached there we found out there were 50 tables of invited guests (500 people in attendance!!!) and my hopes were dashed to take photos of them, let alone WITH them. Security was rather tight and I managed to shove my camera in an opening along with many others to just click away at whatever was there! They were sitting in enclosed section with some VIPs and media folks, taking photos with the VIPs and signing autographs away.

Hahaha...Moses Chan saw me at one point and he decided to smile and pose for me, so sweet of him. With that, he won me over and I'm now a fan of his! Here's a collage of Moses Chan's pics (the ones with the vertical strips in the background were the ones taken through a small gap, the other two from the stage).

A shot of Moses Chan having a chat with Louise Lee through the opening too!

Here's part of the cast of Heart Of Greed / Moonlight Resonance. Of course if you had VIP access, one would have been able to take a proper shot like this! Hahaha...

We were then told to take our seat as dinner would be served shortly. At the same time, Episode 39 and 40 (the finale) of Heart Of Greed would be telecast on the big screen and LCD TVs for all to see (a couple of hours earlier than the actual screening time for Astro subscribers that night). The 7 cast members then made their way to stage and I decided to take a chance and rush towards the front and had the opportunity to stand on the first row! Here are some of the photos I took...Precious Pea, there's Moses and Tavia for you ;o)

Raymong Lam Fung & Moses Chan Ho

Tavia Yeung & Michelle Yim

Three Men & A Baby - Louis Yuen, Raymond Lam Fung & Moses Chan Ho. Seconds after this shot was taken, the baby was crying for his mother! I'm sure most of us won't cry if we were in Raymond Lam Fung's arms! Hehehe...

The photographers asked Tavia Yeung, Michelle Yim and Louise Lee to give the thumbs up and say something good for one of the sponsors, Wong Lo Kat (the herbal drink)!

Tavia Yeung kinda reminds me of a younger version of our Malaysian Michelle Yeoh.

Tavia Yeung, Michelle Yim, Louise Lee & Har Yu

Raymond Lam Fung - who sang a song for us during dinner

The food at Noble Banquet was good! Here's some shots of the food
From 12 o'clock (anti clockwise)
Individually foil wrapped Abalone with mushroom and wheat gluten resting on a bed of stones set on fire with alcohol (pic right below); Deep Fried Fish Fillet drizzled with Wasabi Mayonnaise served with diced Honey Dew Salad; Pumpkin Ball with sweet peas, celery and carrots; Individually wrapped Lotus leaf rice; Salt Baked Chicken and for dessert, Chinese Pancake and Custard Sponge cakes.

At this point, I was just happy that I got the opportunity to take photos of the TVB cast on stage. Astro had a photographer going round taking photos of the guests from each table. It was nice of Astro to take note and send the photos to us via email after the event. Here we are, Table 40.

Towards the end of the dinner, the emcee made an announcement that there will be a lucky draw to pick three table numbers and the winners will be able to take a group photo with the cast. I encouraged the rest of the guests on Table 40 to chant our number...The emcee called out, "9". Our heart sank a little. Then he said "9+1, 10!", our heart sank further. We kept chanting, "40, 40, 40, 40, 40...till he called out, "Lastly 20"! We were disappointed and I was telling myself that we should not have been deprived of taking a pic with the cast. Then suddenly, the emcee announced, "We still have a bit more time left and have decided to draw another number to take a group photo with the cast". Our faces lit up and we started chanting again...till the emcee said "40!!!!". Everyone at Table 40 squealed in excitement and couldn't believe our luck!

All the guest at Table 40 went home happy that night. So, I manage to take photos of the TVB cast and also take a photo with them. Albeit not alone, it was still a privilege as not many had a chance to. Mom even manage to shake hands with Moses, Tavia, Michelle and Louise! We left Noble Banquet happily and I was happy that Mom was happy. Like my brother said, "You made Mom's day, no...you made Mom's year!". Hahaha....and Astrolife helped me ;o) Now, I'm looking forward to seeing the TVB cast again in Moonlight Resonance.

Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy. ~Gretta Brooker Palmer

Good Food Hunting In Ipoh, Part 3

"The night wasn't over yet as we just had to get a bite of another delight that is only available at night and it was after all, our one and only last night in Ipoh that night!" - Last paragraph from Part 2

Now, this delight is one of the highlights of the Ipoh trip when all four of us unanimously agreed that it was a great delicious find! It's so good that I am going to just write this one item in Part 3 of my "Good Food Hunting In Ipoh". With a tip from Jason of Ipoh Mali Talak Sombong, we headed of to Pusat Makanan Man U at Jalan Raja Ekram for the last food stop of the night.

We came here to look for this stall...

Mr Wong and his two sons (occasionally) runs the popiah (fresh spring roll) stall. His two sons are such nice boys - they were so proud and happy to see me take pics of them, the stall and the food! :o) Mr Wong himself is also friendly and nice.

A paragraph from the wikipedia describes popiah as this : -

A popiah "skin" is a thin paper-like crepe or pancake made from wheat flour (rice flour is sometimes used) which is covered with a sweet sauce (often a bean sauce, a blended soy sauce or hoisin sauce or a shrimp paste sauce (hae-ko, POJ: hê-ko)), and optionally with hot chilli sauce before it is filled. The filling is mainly finely grated and steamed or stir-fried turnip, jicama (known locally as bangkuang), which has been cooked with a combination of other ingredients such as bean sprouts, French beans, and lettuce leaves, depending on the individual vendor, along with grated carrots, slices of Chinese sausage, thinly sliced fried tofu, chopped peanuts or peanut powder, fried shallots, and shredded omelette. Some hawkers, especially in non-halal settings, will add fried pork lard. As a fresh spring roll, the popiah skin itself is not fried.

Well, what's special about this stall is that Mr Wong does both the normal wheat flour skin and also an egg skin variety which Jason told me that it's a must for me to try it out.

Egg skin for the fresh spring roll

I love popiah and enjoy rolling up a few of these during popiah parties, the hard part is the slicing, dicing, grating, shredding, julienne-ing the ingredients ;o) The normal popiah skin are easily available from the market. Well...the rest of the steps are easy after that.

Slather on the sweet "hoisin" sauce/chilli sauce...

Then place bits of the ingredients layer by layer

Then just roll it up (tucking the sides in first) as neatly as you can. Mr Wong does a very good job at ensuring that enough ingredients goes into it to make it yummy roll but at the same time making sure that it's not overloaded else the popiah would literally fall apart when it's being rolled and/or cut. At RM1.70/USD0.50 a roll, this popiah packs a punch. Its aromatic egg skin and the mix of the flavourful ingredients was an ensemble that ended our night on a sweet note.

Popiah Stall at Man U Food Court (Pusat Makanan Man U)
Jalan Raja Ekram
Daily from 8 pm - 12 midnight
Call Mr Wong to check (just in case) - 016-5395969


To Be Continued...

Exotic Enigmatic Egypt! Part 10

My sis and family are in town for just a week and I've been accompanying them in a whirlwind of activities for the past 5 days. Anyway, here's a quick and short Part 10 of Egypt which features photos of two temples. Click on the highlighted words to learn more, I'm off to bed soon :o).

Temple Of Kom Ombo and here's the story

The next day, we took the horse carriage to the Temple Of Edfu




Listening to our guide, Mohamad as he tells us the story of Horus as depicted on the walls.


Deciphering Hieroglyphics


Statue of the God of Horus made from black granite


Hypostyle Hall


More story telling inside the temple.


Small passageways with steps inside the Temple. I took this photo while taking a breather!

To Be Continued ...

Good Food Hunting in Ipoh, Part 2

After resting in the hotel for awhile, we were soon out the door again. This time, heading off to Indulgence (14 Jalan Raja Dihilir, formerly Tambun Road -Tel : 605-255 7051) for a coffee break. After reading in the blogosphere that their desserts fare better than mains, we decided to do dinner later at an old favourite haunt instead.

Stepping into the big white mansion, the interior of Indulgence was vibrant with colours. Indulgence is also a boutique hotel with different themed rooms on the upper floors of the restaurant. We were ushered to our table as soon as we entered; we found the service to be prompt and friendly though we were just there for coffee (thought I should mention this as I had read that service was rather bad). It was a quiet late afternoon weekday with about 4 other tables being occupied.

Of course, apart from ordering coffee like The Fluffy (espresso with milk and lots of foam!)...

...we couldn't resist sharing a slice of Tiramisu (RM14/USD4.20) which is usually the safest and yet boring choice when one has trouble deciding. The cake slice was rather messy and we weren't sure whether they meant to serve the cake with the strawberry stuffed into the side of the cake like that! We found it to be extemely milky. So, milk lovers would love it while those who aren't or lactose intolerant would be advised to steer clear of it!

After chatting and sitting around long enough, we headed off for dinner at one of Czar's favourite place, The Mushroom Stop Food Court (I don't know the real name!) at Jalan Lengkok Canning which is just next to Wooley's Food Court and quickly ordered our favourites as per our previous visit HERE.

Sotong Kangkung (Cuttlefish with Morning Glory) - RM10/USD3

Deep Fried Mantis Prawn (RM10/USD3). Not too much batter, these were tasty!

Ice Kacang, was also a winner but melted way too fast in the Ipoh heatwave!

We tried other stuff for the first time ...

Beef Noodles (RM5.50/USD1.70). I kinda like this as this was the first time I had Beef Noodles with a broth that was akin to the herby and spiced Bak Kut Teh soup! I love the Beef and especially the beef tripe, cooked just right - leaving it springy and yet tender.

JC decided to order a bowl of curry noodles and shared it with her mom. She said that the curry noodles I had that morning fared better.

Another discovery, deep fried tiny crabs. These tiny crustaceans were simply wonderful! Dipped into batter with added sesame seeds and fried, they were extremely crispy and addictive! Good snack for beer drinking sessions! Hahaha....

The night wasn't over yet as we just had to get a bite of another delight that is only available at night and it was afterall, our one and only last night in Ipoh that night!

To Be Continued...

Awesome!

I had an awesome Friday night, watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic 2008. China showed and reminded the rest of the world why almost everything we have is Made In China :o).

This reminds me to help out a friend of mine, Mr Yau, who teaches Mandarin -Beijing Standard! It can be as personalised as teaching in your home; having one student, husband and wife, family, group of friends or employees of corporate companies. If you're interested in learning Mandarin, do contact him (details below). Do let him know you found out about him from the internet ;o)

Hope everyone had a good weekend...it's gonna be Monday again and I'm looking forward to it because of Yu Yu Ice! Hahaha....

Good Food Hunting In Ipoh, Part 1

(NON-HALAL)

Before I can even finish my posts on Egypt, I'm taking you all on a trip, in Malaysia itself..Ipoh! Late last month, JC decided to take a drive to Ipoh with her mom for some good food hunting; Czar and I ended up following her for a 2D/1N trip.

We started off rather late, leaving for Ipoh close to 11a.m. We arrived in Ipoh town at about 1.30pm :o)

We ended up at Sin Lean Lee, Old Town (Jalan Bandar Timah) as we were famished by then and we just had to eat!

Needing immediate food intake, Czar ordered something to snack on first; deep fried shredded turnips with chives. Nice crunchy stuff; eaten with chili dip - it gave us temporary hunger relief.

Then we had Foo-chook rolls (beancurd sheet) served with curry soup. These were yummy (I do hope on their own merit and not because we were starving!)

Of course I had to order Curry Noodles, we found the version here to be okay by Ipoh standard - no wow factor. However, it would be quite good by KL standard :p. I did enjoy eating my curry noodles with slices of char siew (BBQ pork) and slices of siew yoke (roast pork). The soup did not have a lot of coconut milk and reminded me of Sarawak Laksa oddly. It's been a while since I last had curry noodles in Ipoh and couldn't recall the taste before. At RM2.80/USD0.85 a bowl, I had no complain about this bowl of noodles.

Now, THIS had the WOW factor! This plate of Fried Kway Teow (Flat Noodles) was a beauty to behold when it was served. We waited quite some time for this (we had finished all the other food before it finally arrived at out table!). It was full of wok hei, resulting from food cooked in a wok over high flames like this photo for example. But no, the flames weren't as high as that in the pic ;o) Slightly wet and not that big a serving, it was still wonderfully delicious for just RM3.50 (USD1)! I love the way they have the egg mixed with a small portion of the noodles, fried and served on top like that, hence the nick; Golden Noodles! Motormouth however doesn't think much of it though...

Next stop, dessert! We ended up driving to...

...Funny Mountain (Jalan Theatre) for the silky smooth Tau Foo Fah (Soya Bean Custard), RM0.80/USD0.25 a bowl.


The sun was out in full force and we decided not to get down from the car and join the line of cars, waiting for our turn to be served. At this stall, one can pull over by the roadside-park-order-get served-eat-return bowl-pay-drive off! I was happy to have gotten to eat another bowl of this again after my earlier adventure with my flogger friends in Ipoh last November.


After that, we checked into Heritage Hotel...

and on the way there, the Indulgence mansion caught our eye. We then planned to go there for coffee later...

To Be Continued...

Yu Yu Ice, SS2 Pasar Malam

It's Monday...I look forward to Mondays as it means that I can eat my one of my fave desserts, Yu Yu Ice. The pasar malam (night market) at SS2 every Monday makes me very happy; well one of the stalls there makes me very happy :p Moreover on hot days and nights like nowadays!

I usually go for a combo of my two favourite flavours; red bean and sweet corn! Yu-Yu Ice makes me feel like a kid again each time I eat it as it brings back lots of childhood memories for me.

No Preservatives and Natural flavours, it doesn't melt as fast as the normal ice-cream and yet still have a slight ice crunch to it. It's much lighter than ice cream (therefore, one can eat scoops and scoops of it! Hehehe...). I have eaten Yu Yu Ice from other places but this is my favourite stall as I find the Yu Yu Ice's sweetness spot on; not too sweet unlike other stalls. Another plus point is that the lady and her son who run this stall are very nice folks.

At RM2.20 for a big cup (my usual order!) and RM1.20 for a small cup; I'm happy to know that there are still such wonderful treats in life at such wonderful prices and that such a simple thing can bring such a smile to my face :o). I love Mondays now...hahaha (I just discovered that the chocolate flavour is really good too!).

The stall is located at the corner area in front of Island Cafe. Go...go on and feel like a kid again! ;o)

My Mondays are nice; it's because of Yu Yu Ice - wmw

My Weekend Comicstrip - 4

Click HERE for a larger image

Have a great weekend everyone!