The Best Coffee Jaunt in KL

Hubs - the coffee addict, as all his friends know it, is extremely fussy over his coffee. His favourite is black, plain espresso with hot water. He is so fussy, I'd let him add his own water. Too watered down, he'll complain, overroasted , complain again.. Haih.. hard to please this fella. Lucky I don't serve him coffee at 

home. He serves me instead :D :D

He's found He's found this jaunt - Spazzio's at Pavilion KL, and he's hooked. Spazzio serves illy beans and Rohit, the  barista makes a perfect cuppa with passion -  americano, espresso, cappuccino, latte, you name it, he presents every cuppa with excellent showmanship. Here's to show what he did with our servings of cappuccino and latte we had :

 

The beautiful froth doesn't go down after a a few sips. A cappuccino can only be perfect if the foam is firm and not watery. Milk foam is created by steam and milk and it takes skill to get it right. Too much steam will cause milk to be watered down and tasteless and lack of steam doesn't bring up a good foam. So, it's really a balance of skills and Rohit does it so well

 

Rohit makes a mean and thick latte, creamy, milky and with sufficient caffeine to jolt you back to reality, unlike some latte which tends to make me fall into la-la-land. Latte makes me sleepy, except this one.

 

I had a cappuccino and a latte.. and oh.. have I mentioned ? They are running a promotion now , from opening till 6pm, you get a free pastry or another cuppa coffee with every coffee purchase. Good eh ?

Rohit says 'hi'

So, if you yearn for a good cuppa, go to Spazzio and look for Rohit. Spazzio is at Level 3 Pavilion, exit Tangs Department Store from the Ladies Dept and you'll see Spazzio right across.

Chun Kee Hakka Da Pu Mien

I was watching Axian's show one night and this particular episode on Chun Kee's Hakka Da Pu noodle caught my attention. I picked up some ideas on how to fry minced pork.. I precook a lot of minced pork at home for Amber's lunch of noodles, rice or porridge.

The secret to their ever tasty minced pork is adding some dried flounder fish powder and fish sauce to the minced pork. Hmmm.... another trick I pick up... dried flounder fish !!!

I thought the Chun Kee's noodle must be tucked somewhere in rural Malaysia. Nothing around KL is authentic anymore but I was wrong.  Chun Kee's is at Jalan Sayur off Jalan Pudu. I quickly noted down the address and bugged my roomate, a wantan mee fansee to check out the place.

Our trusty Garmin directed us to Jalan Sayur but it's a lane off Jalan Pudu. It's impossible to park at Jalan Sayur (aka  Pudu Wai Sek Kai). We took a turn to the left at the traffic light junction and found a car park and walked back to Jalan Sayur.

The stall was busy, very! and next to it is a shop with doors closed but that's where they make the noodles, by hand. Take a sneak peak and you'll see the sifu kneading flour and eggs by hand and using a long bamboo pole to knock down the mixture to a smooth dough.

 I ordered a small and roommate ordered large. He'll never miss and opportunity to top up his tummy on occasions like these :D

Verdict ?

TO DIE FOR !!!!

Authentic springy bitey egg noodles smothered with tasty minced pork. The noodle is QQ but not too Q and no taste of alkali. The minced pork sauce lends just sufficient flavour to the noodles. No dark soy sauce needed. I can't find similar noodles as such in KL and I think this is as close as you can get to kampua noodles. Annie, if you're reading this.. you must try Chun Kee!

Their pickled chilly is nice too. Very green, fresh and crunchy, unlike the other pickled green chillies from other wantan mee stalls.. Pickled to deadly yellow color !

The roommate literally licked his bowl clean ! LOL !

Chun Kee Hakka Da Pu Mien
446 Jalan Sayur, Off Jalan Pudu
Kuala Lumpur

Open from 6am till 10pm. Runs on three shifts by 3 brothers  - morning, afternoon and night. An elderly man who shared our table told me the night shift's tastes best :D

Along Jalan Bunga Raya

Last weekends trip to Malacca was an eye opener for me. We stayed at Renaissance Malacca, located at Jalan Bendahara and we spent some time walking around, discovering new places of interest makan interest around the hotel.
Adjacent to Jalan Bendahara is Jalan Bunga Raya. We walked via the side lane of Renaissance Hotel and crossed over to Jalan Bunga Raya.

There's lots to see at Jalan Bunga Raya, on one side is the riverfront and Majestic Hotel. This brings back memories of my first trip to Malacca back in the 80's. I kepoh-ed along with my sister and her colleagues to Malacca for a nights stay. We were looking for accomodation and walked in to the old Majestic Hotel. Back then, before YTL bought over the properties and the giant transformation, Majestic was very run down and managed by a couple of elderly Chinese staff. We had to swing through the cowboy doors to get into the hotel. They quoted us RM60 for a nights stay but it looks so ghostly, we left as quick as we can blink.

Today, Majestic Hotel stands grand and spells luxury. Too deep for my pockets ! Back to Jalan Bunga Raya, we came across many old sundry and household shops. I bought lots,  dulang- made of pleated bamboo for drying ikan bilis, mushroom and what nots.. foldable bamboo mats and classic can openers used by mamaks (the one where you puncture a hole in the middle of a condensed milk tin and swiftly and firmly turn the can around to produce and opening.).. Hubs bought a big kite and giganto pulley (with ball bearings, hubs claims it's really really canggih.. impossible to find in KL - now, let's just see when he takes us to 'main wau', LOL )... It was like a balik kampung shopping trip for me.

Walking down Jalan Bunga Raya, we came across a small but busy looking desert parlour and after a long walk, all we want is iced cendol. We found - Min Chong Hygienic Ice Cafe
at :

43, Jalan Bunga Raya, Melaka
Opens from 10am - 7pm.

Funny name ! The place is authentically run down and small. Only 3 or 4 tables available but there was a big family there digging in to their cendol and so I'd think it shouldn't be that bad.

We ordered a cendol for Amber.. currently her favourite desert. She loves the gula melaka , ice and santan and hates the slimy green cendols and kacang merah (just like me !)

Amber walloped with no complains.. She shared it with hubs with her taking the ice+gula melaka+santan and hubs finishing up the cendols, nuts and beans.

I personally think the cendol is just average. Nothing to shout about and with so many cendol stalls around Malacca, we're spoilt for choice. I wouldn't purposely make a trip here for the cendol but my rojak, was different.

It's less sweet compared to the KL rojaks and heavier on the 'hae koh' - prawn paste. Really yummy. I almost wanted to order a second plate until the hubs reminded me we have a long food trail ahead.

Would I come here again ? Definitely but just for the rojak and only if I'm around Jalan Bunga Raya. :)

Healthy Breakfast

I go to work with a little devil.. The little devil who's seated next to me. The little devil who drives me to work. The little devil named 'HUBS'... 

He'll tempt me with invitations for  Nasi Lemak at Dang Wangi, every other day !

Politely turned him down thrice and yesterday, he 'tak boleh tahan' and parked his car aside and asked me to get a take away pack for him. I politely did and packed '1 bungkus nasi lemak tapau, tambah telur'

The little devil named hubs even offered to share a pack with him.

'no' ...No cravings .. I'd rather have wholemeal crackers or toast with coffee and here's what I had this morning :

 

Wholemeal toast with passionfruit preserve and freshly brewed Americano.

I heart the Passion-ate preserve from Australia.  My kind dear friend from Perth gave us a jar. Bursting with passionfruit tanginess, it's a perfect pick-me-up in a rainy morning.

I hope I don't succumb to the nasi lemak temptation anytime again.

Cheese Galore

My brother got us these lovely cheese from Melbourne when he visited us in April. Absolutely love it !

 

The flavored soft cheese goes so well with crackers and the vintage ones were kept for special occasions, paired with a good selection of heavy bodied wines.

We're all cheese lovers and Amber can't wait to get her teeth into a slice.  We should be able to introduce cheese to her diet by mid of next year, when she has met the 1 year mark of abstinence from allergic food.

Thanks Bro ! Danny likes the fruit nut and brandy flavored cheese best. *hint*

Lor Mai Kai

Lor mai kai is our family favourite and I always have a stash in my freezer, for just-in-case occasions when Amber is hungry and wants a little bite.

Since she is only allowred very limited food due to her allergy condition (no eggs, dairy, yeast and fungus, including mushroom), I try to suit her palate and cook extra of her favourites.

I have a very simple lor mai kai recipe :

 

Glutinuos rice - 250 gm, soaked overnight and steamed for 30 minutes

Deboned chicken thigh, sliced to bite size portions, marinated with ginger juice, oyster and soya sauce and dash of sugar

Char siu slices

 

Sauce for rice - 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon cooking oil, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce and dash of chinese rose wine (mei kuai lu)

 

Stir over steamed rice

Place a slice of chicken and char siu over aluminium cups and top with premixed steamed glutinous rice

Steam over rapid boiling water for another 30 minutes.

Tadaaaa .......

 

A small portion of lor mai kai.. just perfect for supper.

 

Century Egg Jewels

A good friend got these for me :

 

All the way from Hong Kong, the famous Yung Kee century eggs. I've heard so much about it and I love century eggs, yums & slurp.  :D  :D  :D

 Neatly packed, 6 eggs in a box with pickled ginger.

Knock and peel the shell off to unveil the 'black gold'

Ohhh.. yumz.. the yolk is translucent and runny.

I love it so much... and the 6 princely century eggs were slowly devoured by me and hubs.. one by one.. slowly, relishing every bite !

Thanks Jac !

Chatime Craze

The hubs and I love bubble tea. There's something about biting into the dense and chewy pearls. It's addictive. Our usual haunt was Little Taiwan until Chatime opened it's new outlet at Gardens. Most bubble tea kiosk concocts their drinks with all powder and flavouring but Chatime uses as much natural ingredient as possible and that's what gives them an edge above others in the bubble tea mix.

I love their latte for very simple reason - freshly brewed coffee (read - not instant coffee) and fresh milk (read - not creamer). 

I've tried the Pearl Milk Tea, Caramel Milk Tea, Grapefruit Pearl Tea and Iced Latte Pearl. I'd say all are nice but if you need a the chilled caffeine kick, go for Iced Latte. Only RM5.90 with pearls and slight sugar.

Be forewarned though, the wait time for Chatime is very long. I was at the Pavilion outlet last Friday at 2pm. Was told to wait for 20 minutes for my drinks. I shopped around and came back after 25 minutes and my drink was still not ready. I had to wait for almost an hour for my drink. Crazeee !!!  Next time, I'll preorder my drinks first.  ;)

Pining for Pineapples - The Yan Kee Variety

Pineapple has many health benefits. It contains bromelain enzymes that helps breaks down meat protein, manganese, anti-oxidant and host of vitamins. More information on pineapples available here. I always make sure the family has pineapples when we take a lot of meat especially during barbecues or festive dinners like Christmas or the New Year.

We're all fan of pineapples. Me,hubs and the in laws. We're always on the lookout for nice, sweet and juicy pineapples. I remember the first slice of pineapple I had was horribly sour, cuts my tongue and yet, I finished the whole slice. I was 8yrs old then and I bought a slice of Morris from the school canteen. There's a small bowl of salt with a piece of cut chilly for us to slather salt with and I'd slowly relish the slice of sour and salty pineapple.

Many years later, sweeter and juicier types pineapples appeared were available, namely the Sarawak pineapple and Johor pineapple and later the Josapine (hybrid of Sarawak and Johor pineapple).

We also had the imported Dole pineapples from Philippines, very sweet, juicy, consistently shaped and easy to handle. As more and more pineapples were available in the market, our tastebuds for pineapple upgraded from Josapine to Dole. Dole is the most expensive and can cost around RM6-RM9 per fruit.

MIL gave us one 'Yan Kee Pineapple' recently , very unique coneheaded pineapple. Initially she didn't know what it was called, she just said... funny shaped but very delicious !

I searched and googled and found nothing until I saw some at the OUG market last weekend and the lady told me it's called 'eng kee wong lai' and from Klang.. That too yields nothing from the search engines until I typed Klang pineapple and found out here that it's known as Yan Kee or Selangor Super Sweet Pineapple

The Selangor Super Sweet or YanKee pineapple. I picked up 3 large fruits for RM20. It's seasonal and do pick up one if you chance upon it. It's juicier and sweeter than Dole and less fibrous. I give my thumbs up to Yan Kee !

Coming up - how to peel a pineapple !

Yut Kee Moving Out

Yut Kee, the old Hainanese coffeeshop at Jalan Dang Wangi is one of our lunch haunt. I've been frequenting Yut Kee coffeeshop since my days of working at the bank nearby 20 years ago. Now, 20 years forward, my office is also within walking distance from Yut Kee. 

Hubs and I like to pop by on mornings when we are exceptionally early. We'll share a dried beef noodle and teh-si. Hubs will order an extra egg and toast. I'll pack a whole kaya swiss roll but stopped since Amber was diagnosed with egg allergy. Amber loves the kaya rolls and I'll be very cruel to be chomping down pieces after  pieces with the little one staring at me ... salivating .. :(

I saw in the Metro headlines last week about Yut Kee relocating. I'm glad they are only relocating to a stone's throw away and not moving out or worst, close shop. Read more here 

Jack, the bubbly specky guy who inherited the business from his father will be running the show again at the new location, which is just behind current Yut Kee. It'll never be the same again,even with same menu, chef and pricing. I like the current old kopitiam look, the old chairs and the crowded but airy coffeeshop.

If you are running out of place to eat this weekend, pop by for their famous pork roast with potatoes and apple sauce. Available only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for brunch.

 

Tempted ? 

I think I shall have roast pork for lunch today :)

Brussels Beer Cafe

It's been a long time since I did a food post. I didn't think I wanna splash my blog with boredom about what I eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner unless it's something worth noting, a place worth going and food worthy enough to go again and again.

One of our clients made some neat money in the recent IPO and offered to buy us dinner. She's also a dear friend and mom of a very dear friend of ours.
She mentioned 'pork knuckles' and hubs and I jumped at the chance.

The dinner was at Brussels Beer Cafe, Ampang Outlet.  When we stepped in, we liked the place immediately. It's clean, bright and comfortable and most important, we do not leave the place smelling like the kitchen. Very important this one, I hate it when the ventilation is bad we leave a restaurant with food smell all over our clothes.

For starters, we shared and had :

 

Garlic bread..self made garlic butter paste. I can bite into the minced garlic.. I like !

 

Roast pork platter

 

Sausages wrapped in bacon

 

Pork knuckles and a whole generous portion to be shared by all

and  Amber absolute loves her meal of roast pork, sausages, pork knuckle and roast vegetables

 and for the mains, here's some pics of what we had :

 

Hubs had grilled ribs

 

I had grilled pork loin. Very lean and healthy alternative to the heavy starters

 

Our friend had the pork burger

with so much good food, we can't afford a little pocket of space for desert, hubs and I had coffee. Illy coffee ! My favourite and another good reason to come back here. :D

Sambal Belacan

My waisek-ness got the better of me yesterday and I tried making my own sambal belacan. Sometime ago, I read Jomel's blog on sambal terasi and that, has got my saliva glands working overtime and talking to my brain that I really should go make my own sambal belacan. Cravings ! cravings !

My earliest memories of sambal belacan was those made by my good friend Liz's mom. She runs a chicken hor fun stall at Brickfields and is never stingy when it comes to ingredients. She'll fry the shallot oil for crispy and fragrant shallots to garnish the hor fun, something you hardly see now. Most stalls will buy prepacked shallots that lack oomph and I've read over the internet that some unscrupulous traders even add plastic straws when frying the shallots, so to maintain it's crispiness.

Back to Liz, her mom makes rocking kick ass sambal belacan. The ichiban stuff ! After she retired, Liz misses her mom's sambal very much and once her mom made her a tub to bring back to Singapore and she gave me some. That small pot of sambal belacan was devoured like gold, a little bit at a time,nothing wasted and the remnants of sambal juice will be wiped over with some white rice.

From thereon, I got hooked but could hardly ever find good sambal belacan, one that rocks the dining table, that is.

Worst are those so called sambal belacan or 'mah lai chan lat chiu' offered by many pan meen stalls. They are watered down and anything but belacan or sambal.

I bought 3 main ingredients - red chilli, kalamansi and cili padi from Giants yesterday. Added with some shallots, I gathered my bouquet ala sambal.. No need to follow recipe,, just agak agak, around 5 chillies, few sticks of chilli padi for the extra oomph, 3 shallots and a knob of belacan. I heard Malacca and Penang belacans aren't the same and mine was the Cheong Kim Chuan belacan I got from Penang last year. BIL claims the premium variety is very very fragrant and I used those. It was blackish and creamy and I toasted it till almost crispy and yes, its very very very fragrant. In fact my house stinks of belacan now, from the living room up to my bedroom, so you can imagine - this is GOOD STUFF !

Then came the big adventure. I was willing to make do with just average sambal by blending the sambal instead of tumbuk - or pounding - the traditional and 'a must' when making the belacan.

Firstly, I toasted the belacan till very dry and fragrant. Then, I used a mini chopper claimed from Cosway  - Empress brand. Set up everything, put in chilli and shallots and ready to  brrrrrrrrrr...
Dang ! that chopper didn't 'brrrrrrr' as expected. Checked power supply, ok. Everything ok, my chopper koyak-ed.. Can't believe the lousy chopper. So if you wanna redeem Empress mini chopper from Cosway, think twice, thrice.. and better still, just don't waste your coupons, this chopper is lousy !


So, I had to dig out my mini pestle and mortar and do it the hard traditional way. I soo miss Sopheak, my helper, while pounding. I never touched the pestle and mortar since the day she left. I had very nice thoughts of her while I was pounding the chilli. Then, the juice.. ter-PIAK up to my eyes. OMG !  chilli + onion + belacan juice in my eyes


At that point, I don't feel much burning yet. I took a tissue paper to wipe it off. Washed it and dripped cold Eye-Mo. Then I felt my eyes burning, so painful and I cursed myself for adding the few chilli padi !  Can't cry coz the eyes were already tearing. I wanted to cry Sopheak ! Sopheak ! pls come back !


I still went back to the pestle and mortar, but this time smarter, I wore my sunnies ! Slowly and patiently 'tumbuk-ed'.. I got these :

Add some salt and squeeze in a kalamansi, it's as good as a Nyonya's (ahem.. . .. gloating a bit here but that's what hubs said.. 'authentic and very Nyonya)

We had it with rice and tau yew bak (soya sauce pork)  :

 Braised tau yew bak I cooked the night before

and steaming hot rice and cold cucumber slices.

Lip smacking dish on a boring weekday night !

That's my first epi on sambal belacan and my good pal, Linda Phua has given me some 'petua' to improve on it. More to come.

but not until i get a bigger pestle and mortar or a good chopper.

Amy Heritage Nyonya Cuisine

We bumped into a Peranakan lady at Dr Wong's clinic by chance. We were waiting for our turn and I overheard 2 chinese looking ladies conversing in Malay. Naturally curious naturally kaypoh, I chatted with them and found out they were from Malacca then, subject of 'food' came about. I almost went through a whole list of Nyonya food that I wanted to try in a day (but have no stomach space!!) and she told us to forget the touristy places and go to Amy's for good Nyonya food. The place is not easily located using GPS but search for Alliance Bank at Melaka Raya and you'll get to Amy's, just a few blocks away.

Amy Heritage Nyonya Cuisine (halal)

 75, Jalan Melaka Raya 24, Taman Melaka Raya.

06-286 8819.

The proprietor, Amy Koh is a Malaccan nyonya (quite obvious!!) and she was an ex dental nurse. She opened this restaurant 3 years ago upon retirement and she did well, judging from the framed credentials on the walls of the restaurant.

She was invited by United Nations to cook for the Malaysia-Melaka food festival at New York. Don't be afraid of high prices with her international exposure. Her husband, Lim , claims they have not increased their prices for the last 3 years.

 She even glazed the United Nation stamps. Isn't that something to be proud of ?

At Amy Nyonya's, you get very personal service. Her husband, Lim took our orders and I left it to him to suggest dishes except for ayam pongteh I specifically ordered just for Amber as it was not spicy. He warned us we may have to wait a while for our dishes as they cut and cook the vegetables fresh for each order, except for ayam pongteh  and oooh.. that sounds very promising of a fresh and delish dishes coming up.

The rice was served in this whatchamacallit basket.. laced with banana leaf.. and FREE FLOW too ! A delight for my fan thoong hubs !

Here's what we had : 

 Ayam pongteh.. 

slightly sweet.. but very tasty and fragrant. Amber liked the ayam pongteh here compared to the other Nyonya food we had the following day.

Sambal jantung pisang.

This is sooo delish. They take pride in being the very rare restaurant which serves sambal jantung pisang. I can't make out the ingredients but I can taste some cincaluk or belacan.

 Kangkong Kobis Keledek Masak Titik Lemak 

Very very appetizing dish. The gravy was very delish, a nice blend of sweetness and saltiness. Goes oh sooo well with warm rice. Can't say more, you have to try this dish.

 Cincalok Omelette.

Appetizing. Now I have a new idea to cook omelette. Must make a note to buy some cincalok from Malacca next time.

 Pie Tee

Top hats were very crispy and the radish salad filling did not drown the skin. Just nice.

 Sambal petai udang.. 

Another ooh la la dish.. Can't say more.. you just have to try this.

Hubs, Amber and I were very very happy with our dinner. The dishes were all typically and traditionally Nyonya. Lots of care and fussiness put in it, from the way the vegetable is cut, the correct blend of spices so as it's not overly sweet, spicy or salty but just perfect.

We had no room for desert but when Amy suggested a bowl of her homecooked bubur kacang merah and pulut hitam that's not on the menu, we couldn't resist and shared a bowl.

You wanna see the proof of a good dinner ?

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Our plates licked clean !!! Only 2 of us and we had THAT MUCH !!!

Amber and Amy Koh, the proprietor of Amy Nyonya Heritage.

We'll surely be back, I have yet to try the other items.. Itik Tim, Udang lemak nenas, kari kapitan... gosh.. I'm sooo greeeeedyyyyyyy.....

On a sidenote, we went to another Nyonya restaurant with the in-laws the following day. It was a last minute decision as all other chinese restaurants were full, the 8th lunar month is popular for weddings and hence we could not find a place to eat. FIL suggested Nyonya !

This other place, Bibik Neo's was also a popular one at Melaka Raya but the service and food is a far cry from Amy's. Prices ain't cheap either. I popped in to their kitchen and it looks more like a 'tai chow' kitchen on the backyard of a shophouse, unlike Amy's kitchen which is clean, orderly and proper and Amy is always inside supervising.

Yes, I'm a busybody, I like to visit kitchens !!!    :D