Good Food in Glenmarie.

When I first move to Shah Alam U8 few months ago, the main thing that worry me is the food. I hardly see any hawker center, or even restaurant. Just one or two mamak shop hanging around. I can not just eat those for the rest of my life. I dun wanna have roti chanai face or Maggi goreng hair one day. :)

I was lucky to notice that there are few chinese restaurants at a commercial area in Glenmarie. If you come from Subang Jaya into Glenmarie, take the left turn when approach a tee-junction. There are few row of shop houses at the left hand site (after 2 traffic lights). Two large mamak shops facing the main road, and the shop I am going to talk about is situated at the back.

There are few shops in a row all offer reasonable food. Picture shows this shop's specialty: curry mee (curry mee again?! Yeah, my favorite food maaa). I like its thick curry soup and the ingredients (mostly Yong Tofu). It is not cheap (around RM6 per bowl), but I have no complain at all. The taste of the Yong Tofu is very strong. I believe its Hakka style. I like the fried row the most.

Besides the "house recommended dish" I found their Hakka Mee not bad as well. The noodle was nicely prepared (springy and elastic) and the gravy was superb with lots of minced meat. The noodle come with "lobak" soup. How often you have that in food stall?

If you love Ansun Chee Cheong Fan, theirs also not bad, in fact quite nice. Besides the smooth "cheong fan", I like the gravy and chili sauce.

When we first had that, my mum told not to put in the sauce. She afraid spoiling the tasty looking "cheong fan". But towards the end of the course, we finish all sweet sauce and chili sauce.

Good Food, Good Life!

I always thought that when you pay such a high price in a restaurant, we should expect good service with good food. Nothing to shout about.

The challenge we are having always, is searching for good and cheap food.

I dun mind waiting for hours and squatting just to get some great dish. When price over quality meets my expectation, I will be happy for the entire day.

Good food makes life, a little better.

Since I started my mission to write about food, I had started a new habit to eat my food abit slow and feel abit deeper. I started to analyze and compare. And always explore for the better. Suddenly, I see a lot of things I never notice before.


Life's turning so good. And my weight shows exactly so!!! My family started to complain about my beary body shape. And I started to notice that my pants become smaller for me. I guess my next mission is... to still continue enjoy food, but a little bit healthy one laa.

Hey! Good food, good life right?!

Picture shows my second batch of Florine Drink. My friend, "The Kiasu" asked me to reserve some for him. I would like to apologize to him that all first batch liquid had been digested completely. The second batch is running low. But I am expecting the third, which is the best, to be ready by the coming CNY.

Cheers! "The Kiasu"

Happy Xmas to all my friends!

Although I am not a Christian, I do enjoy celebrating Christmas. Not that we can get crazy and have lots of beer and parties until we forget who our father is. But the songs, the joy, the peace, the foods and the friends we have and we will have.

We should celebrate for the goods that we have done for the past. We should celebrate for the prosperous that we will create for the future!

Good Life to all my friends!

PS: The pic taken in my favorite place, The Irish Pub, Bangsa during Xmas eve, with someone special.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Dinner.

Christmas 2005, how should we celebrate? Good food, nice restaurant must be.

So, my colleagues and I went to this restaurant, La Gourmet in The Curve for our celebration dinner with one huge turkey.

The environment was nicely put with band singing lovely song. I saw few Chinese radio DJ having their great time there as well.

For me, I always thought that if you pay such a high price, you should always expect great cuisine, best atmosphere. The challenges I am having is to find superb food with reasonable price for this blog (good food, good life... by paying less).

With such a big occasion like this, most of the Christmas set dinner offer by restaurants will always be "set". All dishes were pre-prepared, cold, waited to be taken, re-heat, then serve on the table. Typical mass production type of operation.

So, you can guess what am I going to comment on this. Beside great environment and atmosphere, the food was not up to the expectation. My salmon was overcooked and too tough. The turkey was undercooked and too raw.

Maybe as a typical China Man, I am not used to these kind of western cuisine. So, please do not laugh at me while you are celebrating this wonderful Christmas with a great year coming ahead!

Famous Curry Laksa in Kuantan

This photo updated on 1 July 2007. A better resolution photo taken shows tastier food. But the quality can be assured to be consistent even after years.




Since I was very young, my family had been bringing me to this shop in Kuantan having curry laksa breakfast. According to my mother, her mother also did the same to her family when they were very young. So, you can guess how long had been around for the shop already.

I thought I have not yet discover a shop in Klang Valley selling only curry noodle. This shop in Kuantan (Teng Haw) only sell curry noodle. So, when you sit in, the waiter will only ask you:"you want mee, kuewtiao or beehun?" No other choice. And you think how often for the entire family to have same kind of food for breakfast? Well, go have a look and tell me if you see anyone else eating other stuff.The restaurant will always full from as early as 7am until noon, when they finish sold out.

I had been eating the same, consistent style of curry laksa for more than 20 years and I am amazed that when the parents pass the recipe to their children, they keep the secrete well.


So, what is so special about the laksa?

For a good curry laksa, the soup is the main course. If you overcooked the santan, you will have a very thick, oily and off ordour taste. Furthermore, the curry must not be very thick, not full of the spices that you could not appreciate the santan. However, it should not overspill with santan as well. Finally, a good curry must be hot and spicy. Otherwise, why you go for curry?

Beside the good based soup, the bowl come with very nice ingredients as well. I like the yong tou fu, which stuffed with fine fish paste and pre-fried well. I also crazy about the 2 pieces of white "smooth" chicken serve in the curry. I found that white chicken serve with curry laksa create the best combination.

There is another thing about this laksa I like, it does not serve with mints leaves. I just could not stand those strong mints, spoiling a fine cooked curry. Mints are meant for Penang Laksa, where the gravy cooked with fish. You use mints to offset some of the stich fish flavor.

The shop I mention here is situated at the junction of Kuantan Garden. Very easy to locate.

I like this Nasi Lemak stall, so do many people.

Two weeks ago my friend told me that there is one nasi lemak stall in SS2, PJ damn good. The stall was introduced by his boss's taxi driver. It opens from 6am till about 10am, or earlier when they sold out all the rice.

If you found good food, must go explore and sharing right? So, I went there on 12 Dec but could not find the so call long queue stall. I thought it was a holiday and the owner must have been taken a break. Disappointed but eagerly waiting for another chance.



On last Saturday, I woke up early and head straight to PJ SS2, area beside SEA Park Polis Station, found the road side stalls and walauuu... a long queue of people waiting patiently there.



After about 20 minutes of queuing, I finally got my nasi lemak. The stall runs by an middle age man, Malay, with 3 young man (looks like his son). It serve nasi lemak with ordinary dishes like curry chicken, rendang, sambal petai, chilli prawn, etc. The specialty is the rice. Stored in an old wooden barrel, the rice was firm but not too hard, soft but not sticky. The santan was not thick and I can appreciate the nice aroma of the rice, not over shadowed by any heavy santan.
Such a great break fast that makes my day full of joy!



PS: Oh! By the way, the teh tarik sell by an old Chinese couple at a stall beside also very nice. Must support!

Chicken Rice, near LDP.

I think the most popular food in Malaysia is chicken rice. In almost every corner, you can find stalls or restaurant selling chicken rice. We have Chinese style, Malay style, some even Indian style. Recently, there is one chicken rice fast food chain expending rapidly in every corner in major shopping malls. The main reason for this is chicken, as a white meat, is halal and suitable for all races here. Not like beef, most Indian and Chinese do not consume that.

So, since we have so many stalls and availabilities, how should we classified the good one and the best one?



My personal taste is, white chicken meat must be tender, soft, juicy, full of chicken flavor and most of all, "smooth" chicken. To prepare such meat is not an easy task. The Hainanese is the sifu in preparing steam chicken. However, other people thought to obtain such tender meat, they only need to dip the chicken into a luke warm water until the outer layer looks cook. Unfortunately when you bite it, near the bone area, all the muscle is under cooked and full of blood. I don't like such appearance. Seems very unhealthy. Who knows you can find Salmonella and end up in hospital intensive care unit later?


There was once my friend (who must eat chicken rice once a day, everyday... according to him, chicken is the only animal meant for eating?!) told me that a good chicken rice depend on how the person chop the meat. Each pieces must chop into size just nice to bite. Ways of debone must be correct. And the cutting angle must be accurate so that the meat muscle serve will be at its best serving condition.



This Bentong Kie chicken rice stall in Yat Yeh Hing, which located along LDP, just after Kelana LRT station (coming from 1U side), at your left hand site, offer one of the best chicken rice. The food meet all the criteria mentioned above. The stall only operate at noon for lunch. At night, people eat steam boat at the same shop.

Food Court in Tesco Shah Alam

When my family suggested to have our dinner at the food court in Tesco Shah Alam, I have no idea that I am going to discover something interesting there.

9 out of 10 food court offer similar food with average quality and high price. Because of high rental of the property owner, the stall operators have no choice but to charge a bit higher for business survivor.


However, at the place mentioned above, RM3.50 you can get a bowl of tasty kari mee. The bowl of mee I had came with little ingredient (half egg, few slice of fish cake and toufu pok only). But the soup was nicely cooked. Not very hot. Not very full with santan. Just thick enough to entertain my taste bud.



I saw lots of people eating "toufu bakar" there. The side dish also cheap and special: RM1 per piece of toufu stuffed with vegetables and topping with rojak gravy with lots of peanuts crush. I think it is the good rojak gravy that makes me ordered another piece.

Kaya Kok by Seremban Siew Pao.

I am going to write about these lovely kaya kok from Seremban Siew Pao. If you look at the boxes come along with the pastry, you will notice that a sign of Malaysia Book of Record printed on it and stated that they are having lots of branches across the nation. Yes! Good food is not necessary exclusive for certain area and number of people. It is not also must be very hard to find. Some people manage to mass produce while maintaining good quality.
The brand of Seremban Siew Pao is Wa Sifu. And I enjoy its kaya kok because of not very sweet of the kaya inside. The pastry is always fresh and soft and puffy in your mouth. I personally took 3 in one shot with a cup of nice coffee in my house. How about you?

Chicken Curry Puff, Special One!

In PJ SS2, there are few howker centers selling various foods for all hungry patrons. In one of the particular shop near the closed Maybank hide a small stall call Homi, selling factastic chicken curry puff. The puffs are big and freshly deep fried, batch by batch. Thus, you can eat the very hot and fresh curry puff straight from the fryer.


I love curry puff. This stall's specialty is its puffy skin. I like the layers of crspy skin when I bite it into my mouth. The internal stuff was just normal with lots of potatoes and little chicken meat.




There are another great curry puff seller call IKEA. Anyone share the same thought with me?

Terengganu Style Nasi Dagang in USJ

From the place where I came from, our breakfast was usually nasi lemak or nasi dagang. Sometimes just some kuih-muih or chinese style chee cheong fan, kari mee, etc. I had used to this kind of foods.

When I first came to KL, I could not find my nasi dagang at all. Stalls at road side are all selling Malay kuih, nasi lemak, fried noodle or beehun.


One day when I traveled to Penang, my friend told me that he will buy nasi dagang for me for dinner, I was so excited that I finally found this delicacy at some other place. Unfortunately, their nasi dagang is "REALLY" nasi dagang. White rice with all the dishes, mamak style.



Finally one day I met with a friend from Terengganu and stayed in KL for years. He told me that there is one stall in USJ section 15, which sell this traditional food for breakfast. As it is rare in the area, normally it will finish its stock before 10am.

Yesterday morning as I woke up too early, I decided to go there to have it to fulfill my dream. I still could not figure out how the makcik cook the rice. It taste like "pulut" but looks like normal white rice. The rice is rigid enough to be separated. I found some ginger and spices in there. Nasi Dagang always serve with "kari ikan". And you can only use one particular type of fish. My mum said the fish call "blooded fish". Its big and the body round in shape. Taste abit like sardine or tuna. With quite a lot of bones but the bones are large enough to be separated when you eat the fish. The fish cooked in sour kari with fresh chili and santan.



So, friends from the West Coast, if you would like to try this "original recipe" of nasi dagang, East Coast style, go get it in USJ Section 15!

Hokkian Mee & Lala

There are lots of hawker stall selling hokkian mee around the town. For my estimation, at least over 500 stalls serving thousands of patron in Klang Valley alone.

So, what is this hokkian mee all about? The one which I am going to discuss here is no way similar to hokkian mee in Penang. The Penang's hokkian mee is prawn mee with soup. I have no idea at all why they call it hokkian style. Maybe one day when I visit Hokkian State in China than I could tell you guys which is the "original version". Our version of Hokkian mee cooked in black soy source, thick gravy, thick yellow noodles, some prawns, vegetables and the most important deep fried pork fat.


Sometime, certain stalls fried with chacoal instead of gas flame. People said it will taste better. I thought this is marketing gimmick. The main criteria for good cooking is the ingredients and the chef's skill in controlling the timing and heat.

This stall which I am going to introduce selling great hokkian mee and fried lala is situated in Paramount, PJ. A corner shop call Mei Yun. You could easily locate it along the main road towards Section 15 at night. Their noodle was well cooked, with very tasty gravy. Its hot and the aroma and texture just nice. Their lala was also quite nice. If we are lucky to have fresh lala supply. I don't think you will not come back again and again for the shop.

Fish Ball, Anyone?

Last Sunday when I was wondering around in Kota Kemuning for food, I saw a big fish on top of a sign board. Something interesting?

The shop called Jin Man Noodle House and it is specialized in fish ball. I dun know why the boss don't wanna call his shop Jin Man Fish Ball House.

Anyway, the noodle was just as normal as you can find in any street.

If I could remember well, there is only one thing in the menu, fish ball, no other choice.

All of us must think that fish ball sure made of fish paste right? Not really true. Most of the fish ball nowadays mainly made from starch with a little surimi (fish paste). So you hardly taste any fish there. You are basically eating starch ball.

The fish ball here made from Ikan Tenggiri (as shown in pic). Appearance white and clean. Very spongy and taste fishy. I would say it is high quality.



So, go try it and let me know if I am wrong lah!

Kemaman Kopitiam in Kuantan

I am a heavy coffee drinker, but not a very good coffee taster. I just need coffee to keep me awake all the day. However, I know Coffeebean suck and Starbuck is Okay. Nescafe is for lazy dummy like me to fulfill my very need at home. But most of the coffee sell in the eating shop suck. You order Kopi Gao and they really give you very thick coffee until you can find half of your cup full of particles. The aroma? Nothing at all.

So, if you wanna drink coffee at a good environment, the only choice is Starbuck and pay a high price?

In Kuantan, recently open a coffee shop call Kemaman Kopitiam. At RM1.50 per cup, you can get the best local coffee ever. The aroma was just nice. Not thick, but its strong enough to make you wanna have another cup.
There were pictures all around the shop showing celebrities drinking there. I certainly not feel like a celebrity when I was there, but at least I knew I am not alone liking the coffee.

On 17 Dec, when I back to Kuantan again for a friend's wedding, I went back to this shop to have my cup of coffee once again. This time I was together with my family and we ordered packed nasi lemak, fried beehun and ikan bakar as well.

I must warn you that although the coffee was cheap and nice, those other food are not. 1 single pack of nasi lemak cost me RM2.50 (which I had in 1U for RM1.80). The fried beehun "lagi teruk", beehun fried with beehun and they charge me RM2.50 per plate as well.

So, I had decided to only have my belove coffee there but no other food. Me "kiasu"? I thought I am just very particular about price over quality, only.

Updated on 30 Dec 2005.

Seafood Beehun

Two week ago I was traveling up north to Penang for work. As my colleague staying in Sungai Petani, I had to stay there for a night. Sg Petani is a medium size town with lots of paddy field.
As we all know, there should be food, good one, as long as there are human staying there. My friend took me to a small stall and we ordered seafood beehun. I thought nothing special. I had use to eat seafood beehun in Kuala Selangor and in Telok Gong. There are all fried seafood beehun, with crab and some clam or lala.
However, this one was steamed. The whole plate of beehun with crab, prawns, clams, lalas, etc. Steamed in a metal plate with ingredients such as ginger and asam. What's the difference? The beehun had taken up all the sweetness of the ingredients during steaming. We got very tasty steamed beehun. The seafood? Still fresh and taste because there were just nicely steamed.
Maybe the sifu was using very fresh seafood. Or there are other method cooking this food. It seems easy, but the result was great!

Ulu Yam Loh Mee

Recently I discovered a new shop open at SS2, near Rothman roundabout. The row of shop at the junction between SS2 and Rothman roundabout, on 9 o'clock, if come from PJ SS2.



Actually I am just okay with Loh Mee. However, the signboard looks like its a branch of a famous food in Ulu Yam. So, what the hek, just go in for a try lah!



I ordered the famous Loh Mee (in pic, sorry for dark pic as my camera phone lousy) and the recommended fish cake. The Loh Mee preserved with vinegar. The noodle seems like homemade as it was very springy. Not too salty. Just nice. Although this RM4.00 bowl of noodle did not came with lots of stuffs, such as prawns, sotong, abalone, or shellfish, but I finish until the last drop of the soup/ gravy. Maybe next time after you taste it you might tell me is it really taste good, or just my taste bud had problem.



The fish cake was very springy also. I could taste the fresh fish flavor. Not cheap, RM4.00 for a piece, but I think it worth very much of it. There are few other dishes, which looks special. So, let me try it out later and post it for you guys. Or maybe somebody can go there and help us explore?

My very first Chrysanthemum Wine

I was thinking of brewing my home brew beer the other day. However, things didn't turn right as I do not have enough ingredients. 

So, instead, I boiled some  chrysanthemum drinks.

The chrysanthemum was abit special (I bought it in Genting last year). The shop's lady told me that those was wild flower. Their also looks different, very small flower.

Well, I am not sure if it is really the wild flower, or I got coned, but it did taste abit bitter.

Okay, back to the topic. The idea suddenly came to my mine that why not brew some flower wine instead. So, I went to the market and bought some special sugar and yeast and started making some home brew wine.
After 2 weeks, it seems ready for drink. I tried that few days ago and it taste good. I show it to my friend and we finish the first bottle.

Last night, we finished all and I am brewing the next batch.

As we all know about wine, the longer it keep, the better it taste. The taste improved very much just after few days between the first test and the second. I think if I am able to keep it abit longer, I might end up jumping around (too excited after drinking the cooling and sparkling wine).

Oh, by the way, as the law here forbid us to brew alcohol, I need to clarified that I only make it in very little quantity for "home cooking" only.
Maybe have a little extra for 1 sip. Or abit extra also to serve my very dear friend? :)

The Ultimate Clay Pot Chicken Rice

Since 8 years ago when I first arrived in KL and had my very first clay pot chicken rice in Pudu, I could not find another stall do it just like that. It is not the special recipy or funny ingredients that make you excited. But the basic know how of cooking rice. Nowadays you eat clay pot chicken in shopping mall, in food stall, in tepi longkang, etc. What the seller interested is to serve it fast, cook it rapidly so that you will finish your food fast and leave.

So, what they do? They precook the rice first. Then they put the cooked rice into the pot and add the gravy and chicken and whalaa.... clay pot chicken rice. What the .... If you wanna sell clay pot chicken rice, don't you think you should cook the rice inside the pot?


So, today I finally found a stall, which I am very much appreciate the owner to be so stick with the principle. Sila tepuk tangan.... Clay Pot Chicken Rice in Asia Cafe in Subang Jaya. The food bazaar near Inti College.



The taste. Wonderful! The chef added salted fish and "lap cheong". The source is okay, but the chicken was nicely cooked. Not too tough and not too soft. "gam gam hor". So, if you would like to eat the, well, "original" clay pot chicken rice, and happen to be in Subang Jaya, no harm go there for a try.

The Best Goreng Pisang in Town

I had tried many times. Whenever I bought this goreng pisang to my friends, the first feedback was always:" Yayaya... goreng pisang, normal laaa...."

Then, when they saw the fried bananas they would said:"looks so small, what type of pisang is that? Wow! Why you bought so much? How could I finish it? You better eat more..."

And then, after the first piece, they took the second one, and the third and forth and...
After finishing all, comments came:" I think its the flour the matter."

"It may because of the type of banana they use. Looks so small. Mnn.... must be the banana."
"How can it be so crispy ha?"

So, this is Azmi Goreng Pisang in Shah Alam. A stall selling goreng pisang near the commuter station (section 15) in Shah Alam.


As you can see, they are frying the banana by using 8 big wok. I never seen people selling fried banana like that. And usually you have to wait and long queue.



Normally people buy RM5 or RM10, RM20 of fried banana. Wonder why they bought so much? For 20, 30 packs? For you info, RM1, you will get more than 10 pcs. And I dun know if its my problem or else, I could eat RM2 of Azmi Goreng Pisang alone.

How Beer is produced?

The brewing process consists of nine key components: Malting, milling, mashing, brewing, cooling, fermentation, racking and finishing.

Malting is the process of getting the barley ready for brewing. Each step of the malting process unlocks the starches hidden in the barley.

Step 1. Steeping
The grain is added to a vat along with water and allowed to soak for about 40 hours.

Step 2. Germination
The grain is then spread out on the floor of the germination room for about five days where rootlets begin to form. The goal of germination is for the starches within the grain to breakdown into shorter lengths. At the end of this step, the grain is called green malt.

Step 3. Kilning
The green malt now goes through a high temperature drying in a kiln. It is important that temperature increases are gradual so that the enzymes in the grain are not damaged.
After kilning, the result is a finished malt. There are different types of malts: pale malts are dried at a low temperature; mild ale malts are kilned to a slightly higher temperature and produce a deeper color in the final beer. The highest temperatures are used to produce very flavorful and aromatic malts.

Milling is the cracking of the grain which the brewer chooses for the particular batch of beer. Milling the grain allows it to absorb the water it will eventually be mixed with (in order for the water to extract sugars from the malt).

Mashing converts the starches, which were released during the malting stage, to sugars that can be fermented. The milled grain is dropped into warm water in a large cooking vessel called the mash tun. In this mash tun, the grain and water mix to create a cereal mash. Because water is such a vital part of the brewing process, the water itself is a key ingredient. This sugar rich water is then strained through the bottom of the mash and is now called wort.

Brewing. The wort now goes to the brew kettle where it is brought to a boil. The boiling stage of brewing involves many technical and chemical reactions. During this stage, important decisions will be made affecting the flavor, color and aroma of the beer. Certain types of hops are added at different times during the boil for either bitterness or aroma.

Cooling. The wort is transferred quickly from the brew kettle through a device to filter out the hops, and then onto a heat exchanger to be cooled. The heat exchanger basically consists of tubing inside of a tub of cold water. It is important to quickly cool the wort to a point where yeast can safely be added, because yeast does not grow in high heat.

Fermentation. After passing through the heat exchanger, the cooled wort goes to the fermentation tank. The brewer now selects a type of yeast and adds it to the fermentation tank. This is where the "real magic" of brewing happens- where the yeast ferments the wort sugars into alcohol.

Racking. During this phase, the brewer moves, or racks, the beer into a new tank called the conditioning tank. The brewer then waits for the beer to complete its aging process.

Finishing. The last step in the brewing process is filtration, and then carbonation. Next the beer is moved to a holding tank where it stays until it is bottled or kegged.

Mr Ho's Fine Food in Mid Velly

It always been full house and I wonder what's so special about this restaurent. So, finally last week I went there with a special friend and took its Octoberfest Special, which was rosted pork and an imported Germany beer. You got to try it! The beer was so special and the meat was fantastic. We seldom taste such rich beer. I could still feel the fullness of it.
Anyhow, the beer was just imported, not that special for some people. But the chef made a wonderful job on the fresh meat. We used to eat rosted pork rice here. However, the texture was tender and juicy. It was merinated just nice. Most of the ingredients in the shop are imported. The owner spend time wondering arround the globe to bring in special drink in bottle, meat, and even the cook.