Photo First, Food Second!

Strip done through stripgenerator.com

Photograph : a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.

~ Ambrose Bierce

Funky Villa @ eCurve

Having caught up with some floggers whom I've not seen in awhile during the Jaya One food crawl, I took up an invitation to join in for another floggers gathering and food review at Funky Villa, eCurve.  This time round....just one stop (not 6!), hahaha...Unfortunately, I made a boo boo and somehow didn't copy some of the pics that I took at Funky Villa.  The shots that I took of the restaurant are missing and I have no idea where they are.  I can only "say" that Funky Villa is filled with funky colours and just as the name suggests, offers a fun place for friends to gather at this bistro cum pub to fill their stomachs or just to chill.  Fortunately, the pics of the food were found safe and sound in the folder. Phew! So, with a sigh of relief...let's dive straight into the food and we're talking about LOTS of food! :o)

Pomelo Salad with Chicken, Shrimp & Cashew Nuts (RM15).  Apparently pomelo from Thailand is used for this dish as it's sweeter compared to the local ones.  Tangy and sourish, I rather enjoyed this salad.

Cat Fish Mango Salad (RM22). Having eaten similar Cat Fish Salad in Thailand itself, I've always wondered why the cat fish salad comes so fine and crispy.  Not that I'm complaining, it makes it a fish dish that I would eat but on the other hand I can't tell it's catfish.

Hard-boiled Eggs Wrapped in Fish Cake (RM13).  This was such a cute looking dish (it's a specialty of Funky Villa) and another fish dish I would eat.  Fish cake that's fried and wrapped over the hard boiled egg with my favourite garnishing makes this a winner.

Eat, Drink & Be Merry @ Jaya One - Part Two (Final)

(Continuation)
Location of gathering : Jaya One, No. 72-A, Jalan Universiti, 46200 Petaling Jaya

So, off we went for our main meal at our 4th stop

Kinnaree Thai Restaurant
12-1, Palm Square
Tel: 03-7957 3910
Email: kinnaree.jayaone@thaiinspired.com
Web: http://www.thaiinspired.com
Business Hours:
Mon-Sat: 12pm -3.30pm & 6.00pm -10.30pm
Sun: (Dinner only) 6pm -10.30pm
Signature Dishes : Pomelo Yam Som O, Deep friend Boneless Fish with Tamarind Sauce - Pla Sam Rod, Tom Yum Prawn - Tom Yum Gong

Lovely deco adorns the wall of Kinnaree and sets the mood well for a cosy and relaxed dining experience.  I like the way they had set the table and made us looked forward to tasting the Thai food here.

Eat, Drink & Be Merry @ Jaya One - Part One

Having Jaya One near to where I reside, I must say that I have only managed to patronize a handful of the establishments there. When I received an invite to cover 6 in one night, I decided to check them out. Furthermore, this meant a gathering with other floggers and when floggers get together, we always have a great time!

Location of gathering : Jaya One, No. 72-A, Jalan Universiti, 46200 Petaling Jaya



1st stop
Brisik Restaurant
10-1 Palm Square
11.00am – 10.30pm daily
Tel : 03-7958 6681
Email: brisikdagang@gmail.com
Web: http://www.brisik.com.my
(Note : No corkage charge)
Signature dishes : Satay Serai, Tahu Telur, Ayam Penyet, Sundanese Flying Fish

The colourful and cosy restaurant, serving Sundanese & Siamese cuisine

To Ipoh We Go - A Tale of 5ive Floggers & 1 City (Part Four - Final)

So, what do 5 floggers (that's food bloggers for the uninitiated) do when they get together? Eat, of course and eat and eat !  ;o).  How do we do it?  Why, apart from the fact that some of us are 'larger than life' that make this task easier, we follow a simple rule of not ordering full individual meals at each round but more like a bowl or two shared by the five of us (in this case) but ever so often what will probably "knock us out" are the drinks as we tend to down them more to quench our thirst and our stomach will be bloated with water rather than food.  But as they say "The show must go on!" ... and so it did :o)





To ensure that our stomach had a short break before springing (more like expanding, I would say...hahaha) into action, we dropped by Seng Kee to pack a few packets of their delicious Heong Peah, read the earlier post on Seng Kee HERE.

Coconut husks used in the process of making Heong Peah

After we were done shopping, the next "action" took place at Dai Shu Geok (a place I've been to before, read my earlier review on this place HERE).  No noodles for me this time round just my fave Sar Kok Liew (Fried Stuffed Turnip).

However, we found them oilier on this visit and cold - we probably missed the fresh batch and hence not totally satisfied.  We put in an extra order of Popiah (Fresh Spring Roll) which I found just average  ...

To Ipoh We Go - A Tale of 5ive Floggers & 1 City (Part Three)

Well, what do we do after sweating it out in a lane for a photo shoot? We go eat again of course! Hahaha...We let Jason decide and we ended up in Sin Yuan Hong.  First order? We were really thirsty and ended up with ...

... a Kopi Ping (Ice Coffee with milk) each.  Which we later kinda regret as that meant we were full of water, hence less space for food! :p

We then ordered a set of Poached Eggs On Toast .... I tell you, a work of art it is!

To Ipoh We Go - A Tale of 5ive Floggers & 1 City (Part One)

Before Precious Pea left Malaysia to build a new life over in Melbourne, the few of us practically "swore" to make a trip to Ipoh together but it didn't materialise.  Well, not until Precious Pea left and returned for two months, to grace our shores again during Chinese New Year did we seriously plan for it ...

And so, we did it....making a one day trip to Ipoh finally when the five of us (Jackson, Jason, Andrine, Precious Pea and myself) set off towards our destination one early Saturday morning.  We had made a trip to Ipoh (sans Jason) previously during The Star's Drive For Food Contest back in 2007 and we looked forward to the trip this time round as a complete unit :o)

Our memorable trip back in 2007

Arriving around 9am, our first stop was Simee market for the delicious egg tarts (see my previous blog post on Choy Kee's stall).  I took it easy here while the rest of them went through the usual photo session of the place.

Ipoh folks enjoying their Saturday morning

Can you spot the floggers? ;o)

Chinatown Essentials - Petaling Street KL (Part 2) Final

(NON-HALAL)


Continuing from Part 1 of Chinatown Essentials....we move on to Madras Lane (opens from 8am to 4pm daily but quite a lot of stalls are closed on Mondays).

I haven't been in here for ages and it seems this place hasn't really change through the years (well, at least not to me). Walking passed the meat stalls was definitely a challenge for me as I'm one that doesn't like handling raw meat and the sight of all these raw meat would definitely affect me.

See the leg sticking out at the bottom left of the pic ? Hahaha....It was an adventure for me indeed but I'm glad I made my way in there as I had forgotten how it was like. And now, I remember... it was this thought of wanting to remember that made me forget the fact that I was surrounded by all these raw meat and I could even stop to take photos! Documenting this place was more important and that made me overcome my fear! Hahaha...I know Mrs Pitt will surely stay outside and can do without the memories :p.

After passing all those stalls, we got to the food stalls and then decided to order some noodles to try...

Chinatown Essentials - Petaling Street KL (Part 1)

(NON-HALAL)

I was looking through my archives and found that I didn't blog on a momentous trip that a group of us made to Petaling Street for a food crawl. Now, we are talking about way back in late 2007. This is REALLY old news :o). But I guess better "old" than never and thought it would be good to blog about it as this memorable trip would then be recorded in my blog "history". I guess I decided to finally do so as I realised that places like these aren't that many in Klang Valley. Some have disappeared in time and I had wished I was around earlier to have taken photos of them.

I particularly recall my fave ice cream stall located at the coffee-shop opposite the old Rex Cinema. What is that place being used for now? Oh, how I missed being surprised by furry rodents scurrying around our feet as we watched the stars on the silver screen.... LOL! Those were the days. I remember that whenever a blockbuster is shown, the queue for tickets would be extremely long and winding. Right from the inner building and out onto the streets! Hahaha...and there would be touts selling tickets for double the price for those who would like to skip the line. Once in awhile, we would be blessed to see a familiar face right up in front of the line, then we would "tumpang" and get our friend to buy the tickets for us. Ahhhh...perforated tickets with our seat numbers written with red crayon. Where first class at the balcony was RM3.50 and those below would be RM2.50! I miss those days..... :o) What else do you remember about those days? How about the Toong Fong, Foh Hup and Sri Jaya buses and the notorious Mini Bus??? :p Oh well, I seemed to have gotten carried away .... back to the food, I say!

Hon Kee Porridge - Jalan Hang Lekir

If you ever find yourself craving for some porridge for the soul in the early hours of the morning... this place opens at 5 a.m till about 1 p.m. There are several varieties here that one usually expects from a porridge stall.

Our bowls of delight ....

O'Briens Delivery Service - Officially Launched!

I was invited to attend the official launch of O'Briens Delivery Service a couple of weeks back at The Curve outlet where I also met up with several other bloggers. I had called Simon along as he was one of the few (or the only one!) I know who is free on certain weekdays. We were the first few to arrive and later met up with TheNomadGourmand, Coco and Wilson and we sat together with the media folks.

Can you spot Simon?

From Top Left : Mr Hugh Hoyes-Cock, CEO of O'Briens Sandwich Cafe - Asia Pacific, Mr Eoin Duggan; First Secretary of the Irish Embassy and Mr Brian Pua, Master Franchise of O'Briens Malaysia and also the Operations & Business Development Director. All 3 addressed the invited guests with a short and simple speech before the ribbon cutting ceremony...

It's Official!

Latest addition to O'Briens Happy Family - spanking new O'Briens delivery motorbikes

Attending 1st Food Blogger Wedding, KL Hilton

Over this Saturday weekend, a group of us food bloggers a.k.a. floggers attended our very first food blogger wedding held in KL Hilton. Lighting was rather dim...with romance in the air for the lovely couple and romance with the food for us floggers (but that meant some food shots turning out blur for me, hahaha...).

Cute magnets of various colours were placed on the table for the guests

Check out the menu!

Maximise Lunch @ Max! Kitchen & Wines

I still remember having this lunch with Nic and Xiu Long Bao (it's been a year! Hahaha...) and that's how long I've not been to Max! The floggers have had several different gatherings here, always enjoying the food and the hospitality of Max himself. Looking at these photos, I'm reminded to drop by Max! especially for the great lunch deals if I ever have the luxury of time to go downtown during lunch hour and also the extra time needed so that I can slowly savour Max's food! I would also like to check out what's new on the menu after a year. Not sure if these dishes are still available :p

Anyway, the three of us checked out Max! for lunch and had the set meals - A choice of a starter, main & ice lemon tea for just RM22! I have always enjoyed eating at Max! as I not only find the food very satisfying but a great visual treat too (and with lovely aroma! If only there were Scratch n' Sniff stickers of Max's food! Hahahah...). Not much words are needed....enjoy the pics! :o)

The usual bread that we totally ate up, dipping
into the olive oil and balsamic vinegar!

Smoked salmon served with mesclun greens,
capsicum salsa and balsamic reduction.

Nic opted for something out of the set menu -
the Seared Tuna Loin with Baby Octopus, a beauty!

Robson Heights Seafood Restaurant, Kuala Lumpur

(NON-HALAL)

It has been awhile since I last did dinner with The Flogger Sistas and when I eventually met up with them, it was a night of great company and of course glorious food! Precious Pea picked me up and drove to Robson Heights - thanks for always driving me around at night as you fear for my life (and yours should I be driving you instead!) due to my history of loss vision from the retina detachment episode I had :o).

After taking a wrong turn (sorry, I wasn't of much help since I'm hopeless with road directions and I had only been here once before and that was eons ago!), we manage to find our way after making several calls to Boo_licious and it turns out that it was rather easy to find as Robson Heights Seafood Restaurant is located quite near to the main road. Arriving there, Lyrical Lemongrass , Paprika and Boo were already there. After complimenting one another on how great we look with our recent new hairstyles (hehe...our girlie talk - it's been quite awhile) we proceeded to order. How did we go about that? Simple....just go with whatever is printed on their wet towel packet!

Errr....we couldn't have possibly ordered everything that was printed (there were 6 of us - Paprika's cousin arrived shortly after the food was served) and we chose a few. We were hungry and excited, anticipating the arrival of the goodies till we suddenly realised that we didn't order any vege dish and decided to leave it as that as we had definitely ordered enough. Whether we chose well and good or not, read on...I would like to point out that the photos are not too clear or taken at a bad angle as I shot them in a hurry - we were hungry and we didn't want to eat cold food as there were four of us taking pics and I couldn't take my time as usual!

First to arrive were the Baked Spare Ribs in Honey Sauce. It was a wonderful start - the meat fell off the bones and almost melted in the mouth. Highly recommended - just make sure you ask for not so lean ones as the lean ones will tend to have you chew on it more :o)

The Stir Fried Intestines with Dried Prawns and Chilli Padi came next - I'm not particularly fond of intestines unless it's the really crispy ones (the ones I usually eat with porridge, yumz!) and tried just a bit of this. While the dish wasn't really to my liking, I did like munching on the dried prawns, very flavourful. I even added this to my bowl for more oomph when I ate the next dish.

The Cooking House - New Zealand Natural Ice Cream Dessert Workshop, Part 1

A group of us had responded to an invitation extended to us by Babe_KL - to attend a baking class sponsored by New Zealand Natural Ice Cream. It was an invitation that I could not decline - Baking & Ice Cream plus with other floggers??? Sign me up quick! I look forward to the fun us floggers will have like we always do whenever we gather. Teckiee gave me a ride that Saturday and we were the first few to arrive after meeting up with Simon to lead him to The Cooking House in Desa Sri Hartamas.

Not only do we take notes, but we take photos too! Not being in a strategic place for photo taking, I could only take photos from the side. For more pics, do remember to check out the rest of the floggers.

Though we were there primarily for New Zealand Natural Ice Cream Dessert Workshop, The Cooking House got Chef Lee to take us through two simple recipes : - Chocolate Chiffon Cake and Butterscotch Cookies. After that, we were told to group ourselves and head on to our workstation and try our baking skills. Along with Precious Pea & Babe_KL, we had FBB in our group and we went about our tasks confidently. Errr....but later realised that we had put salt instead of sugar in our Chocolate Chiffon Cake! Horrors!!!!!!! But I must say that our Butterscotch cookies turned out yummy!

Tim Pun Gor Gor, Kepong

Food Adventure Series - Kepong, Part Three (Final)

After the long wait for our noodles at Seng Yuen, we needed to end our night in Kepong on a sweet note. During our 1 hour 15 minutes wait, Simon and CityGal mentioned a few places where we go head onto for some desserts. Since Jason and I weren't familiar with this territory, we just kinda went along - and we ended up at Tim Pun Gor Gor (Tim Pun - "desserts" and Gor Gor - brother).

We reached there near to closing time and sat outdoors as they were preparing to clean the indoor area. The dessert menu is rather extensive and we had a tough time trying to decide what to order, Simon especially, hehe...

The time we took to put in our orders were further delayed slightly as we took some time to take photos of ourselves too (me excluded in this pic, since I was the one taking the photo).

Simon, CityGal & Jason

Seng Yuen Fried Noodles, Kepong

Food Adventure Series - Kepong, Part Two

Sorry, been busy...so dropping an updated line to wish all readers and friends...

GONG XI FA CHAI,
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
&
SAFE JOURNEY

See you folks next week...

Having fed ourselves with duck satay earlier, Simon suggested we try out this place for fried noodles called Kou Lo Chow Fun (Cantonese for Tall Man's Fried Noodles) that he goes to once in awhile but not before he warned us that we might have to wait quite awhile before we get served as there's usually quite a crowd. I told him of my experience with Man Shook ("Slow Uncle")'s Fried Noodles in Jalan Tong Shin and about my 45 minutes wait for the order to arrive, so, I was prepared!

When we arrived at the coffeeshop lot, we were slightly taken aback to see the long line of tables on the shop pavement and five foot way - ALL TAKEN and with most still waiting for their order.

So, we made our way into the shop...I felt like I was transported back into time or had made my way to a little place out of town. There were only two empty tables left.

Even the work station (located right next to the cashier's counter!) where the "tea" guy prepares the drinks order looks so nostalgic that it made me think of my childhood days when I followed my parents to the old Bukit Bintang market(which had to make way for KL Plaza/Lot 10!) and would go for our usual kopi ping (iced coffee with milk) or cham (tea mixed with coffee) after buying vegetables, fish, chicken and sundries. Ahh....I miss those days, I miss my dear ol' Dad :o(

Sen Kee Duck Satay, Kepong

Food Adventure Series - Kepong, Part One


When Saturday arrived again and Jason mentioned about meeting up for dinner, I had in mind to trek into some unfamiliar territory for some good food hunting. With the recent post on Lim Kee, KampungBoyCityGal had left a comment to "remind" me that they stay nearby to us too. So, at around 7.40pm, the three of us (CityGal sans KampungBoy) headed off to "unknown" coordinates. Why unknown? Cos even at that very moment, we still had not decided where to eat! After Jason and I had our usual brotherly and sisterly "argument" in the car with CityGal sitting at the back thinking where to go to, I suggested that we go in search of Sen Kee's Duck Satay in Kepong and take it from there. Problem was, none of us knew where it was or how to get there. Reading road maps and making calls to friends (to the extent of not only asking them for help with directions but to also those who were at home to go online and get us the address from VKeong's post on Sen Kee!) yielded no answers.

We decided to throw caution to the wind and just started heading towards Kepong. Quarter way through, we suddenly remembered that Simon stays in Kepong and we called him to see if he knew where Sen Kee is and whether he wanted to join us. He couldn't really figure out the directions over the phone but decided to join us. We pulled over at Carrefour in Kepong and waited for him...by the time he got into my car, it was already 9.30pm!!! But nothing can faze us and with Simon leading us towards Taman Desa Jaya, we arrived ... Aaahhh! I don't know about the rest of them, but for me it was like "Eureka!" - felt like doing a little dance there and then! Hahaha...

It's actually just a little stall located outside a Legend Garden Restaurant and since we had no intention of eating Chinese dishes, the four of us decided to sit on the lone table outside and eat duck satay and nothing but the satay...all forty sticks of it!

At 60 sen (USD0.15!)a stick, one has a choice of chicken, duck or lamb.

CityGal at "work" with her new DSLR!

Can All My Future Weekends Be Like This One?

I had an enjoyable weekend, starting with a food crawl with some floggers in Kepong on Saturday night- the first food crawl for 2009 ...

and ending my Sunday here...

Sepang Gold Coast

Stay tuned....

Here's To A Great Week Ahead!

Lim Kee, Off Jalan Kuchai Lama, KL

(NON-HALAL)

Sometime in 2008, both Precious Pea and Teckiee who stayed near me initially moved further away. I felt a tinge of sadness (cue music from the violin! Hahaha...) as my days for "sudden" (read : ad hoc) food adventures came to an end. But of late, my grey clouds have been lifted and such adventures are back with Jason moving up to Petaling Jaya and staying a stone's throw away from me!

So, it was one weekend when we decided to take a drive to an unfamiliar territory and try out this place that Jason had read about. He told me that the place didn't have a signboard but is known as Lim Kee. I forgot to ask how that name came about! It was rather ad hoc and I didn't bring my camera and had to borrow Jason's (we actually took turns to take photos with the same camera-I think this is something only food bloggers would understand!) to take these set of pics.

Located at a shack behind Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) building, I didn't really know what to expect but was briefed by Jason they were well known for dishing out yummy stuff. When I saw the crowd and saw what they were eating, I knew we were going to have a good meal.

We arrived there during peak dinner time. Our orders were promptly taken though and we just followed whatever Penny, the lady boss/staff (we never ascertain who she was) recommended. We wanted to try this and that and that and this and I think we ended up ordering more than enough for the two of us :p

The cook busy at work - a very busy kitchen area. Check out the cook's Japanese slippers ;o)