Tuesday 28 August 2012

Gastro Cafe @ SS15, Subang Jaya

Was really in the mood to try Hainanese Chicken Chop today and I tried Google to see if I can get any good recommendations ...and many suggestions pointed me to this restaurant in Subang Jaya.

Gastro Cafe at SS 15, Subang Jaya
Well, I felt that since many people out there recommended this place, surely it has to be good. We set out late evening heading to this place for dinner. It was not so difficult to find as I had the full address and used my GPS to guide me all the way to the doorstep.

They occupy two shop lots and at night, most of the other neighboring shops are already closed, hence they are the only visible strong lighting that you may be able to sight and this is a plus point when your driving and looking out for this place.

Simple and cosy interior


Parking was not difficult at night. Inside the restaurant, it was simple and cosy. The lady boss greeted us and I can see that she is the owner and she tries to build rapport with her customers. Not sure if she does it to all or only to a selected few as I was one who was carrying a huge SLR and was already taking photographs of her shop from outside.

Endorsement by the Jalan Jalan Cari Makan Team


There was a huge signboard outside the shop, a marking that the Jalan Jalan Cari Makan Team had already visited this shop and endorsed them. That was cool and I was pleased as I was on the right track in search of good Hainanese food. 

As for me, my mind was already made up as to what I wanted to eat. I glanced through their menu and was impressed they served quite a number of Hainanese food options. Without further hesitation, I ordered the Hainanese Chicken Chop and Angie ordered Hainanese Curry Mee. 

Hainanese Curry Mee @ RM 6.50
The first to arrive was the curry mee. It surely looks delicious and the aroma was great. Angie was surely pleased with her curry mee but in an honest note, it is not the best I have tasted. I would rank this 7/10 which is still a good score.

Hainanese Chicken Chop @ RM 10.00
Within a few minutes, came the chicken chop that I had ordered. Yes, it does follow the usual Hainanese style and it comes with a slice of bread. The chicken portion is large and it comes with the usual add ons of potato's, peas and onion gravy. However, my benchmark is always set to the Chicken Chop available at my hometown, as to which I have posted an entry a few days ago. I would always rate the latter at 10/10 and this I will give a 7/10. Anyway, most of the Hainanese Chicken Chop available in Kuala Lumpur is fried instead of it being grilled.

Cendol @ RM 5.00
After dinner, called for a cendol as desert. As you can see from above, the cendol was good and decently priced at RM 5.00 .  Taste was 8/10 . 

On the whole, this is a great place in Subang Jaya where you can get good and decently priced Hainanese food. Surely would recommend to try this place.

Address:
No. 4 & 6, SS 15/4B,
47000 Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: +603 5611 3171


Sunday 26 August 2012

Restaurant Sri Paandi @ Brickfields

It has been ages since I went to Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur for a meal. One of the many reasons that I have always avoided this place was specially after the renovations and making the roads into one way streets, the traffic has become horrendous there.

Brickfields At Night
However today, we decided just to head there and catch up with some good Indian food at Sri Paandi Restaurant. It was a rainy night and you know what that means in KL...crazy jam. However, we managed to reach there in an hour. 

Somehow, we managed to get a parking and we head to this restaurant. To my amusement, instead of only dining inside the restaurant, today they have tables placed all over the pavement and this restaurant seems like a food court now. No longer like the stand alone restaurant that it used to be.



Business as always here
Most of the customers dining here were also foreigners, and a number of locals too. However, I did see the foreigners getting 'special' treatment here especially when they requested for beers and liquor, the waiters in this restaurant went across the street to Sri Kota supermarket and got them what they had requested....perhaps must be for an additional charge. You can say its business sense but if I would have requested for it, I am pretty certain that I would have not got it. 



Brickfields at night
Seats all over the pavement














The entrance to the restaurant




Now coming back to the restaurant. The owner seemed to be there too, just like years before when I had been here, incessantly shouting at his boys to get work done faster. 

Man making Puttu







As mentioned before, you can see here in the photo on the right where all the tables and chairs are placed on the walking pavements and the authorities do not seem to take any action on them. Very interesting right.

Everyone seemed too busy to take orders. I had to wait close to 20 minutes until I could actually flag a waiter who was rushing to deliver food to take my orders. Business is surely very good. Now, I was wondering if the taste was still the same. Definitely they had a whole lot of variety to offer. Some of the items available here are Puttu, Tosai (Rava, Plain, Masala, Ghee etc), Idli, Barotta (Plain, Chicken & Mutton), Mee Goreng and Banana Leaf meals too.

My Idli with Chicken Curry and Mutton Varuval

Mutton Kottu Barotta

At this hour, I wanted to go light so I ordered Idli for myself and Angie ordered Mutton Barotta. Barotta is very difficult to get in Malaysia and it is a common street food in India. 

Thats me enjoying my Teh Tarik
Finally after another long wait, my food arrived and within another 10 minutes, Angie's food arrived too. The taste....definitely still the same...it was great and worth the wait. No wonder there are so many people here at this restaurant and all the others seem deserted. 




The food was surely good and I would still recommend this place after all these years. I hope that even with the huge increase of customers, they still maintain the flavors in the years to come. 









The Address of this place is:
No. 254, Jalan Tun Sambanthan,
50470 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: +603 2274 0464

Tuesday 21 August 2012

E & L Restaurant @ Tanjung Malim

This entry is about my hometown, Tanjung Malim in Perak. This little town is located around 64 Kilometers away north of Kuala Lumpur.

This dish is a novelty dish of my hometown. This Hainanese Chicken Chop recipe belongs to the Eng family who previously used to manage the Rest House for more than 5 decades. However, after the recent amendments to the local council law which requires a Bumiputra to run the rest house, they have been told to leave and now they operate from his late brother in laws shop here. 

Restaurant E & L also has been around for more than 40 years. At its inception, it used to be a watering hole among the local police officers but today after Mr. Loo's demise, it had been taken over by Mr. Eng who is the brother in law of Mr. Loo.

Luckily the tradition continues. As we are old timers here, all we need to do is to call in a few hours before hand and inform what time we would be coming and the number of pax. It is a very basic restaurant, the deco still being the same from yesteryears...but the food...simply delicious.

The Hainanese Chicken Chop here is different to the others we find in Kuala Lumpur. Those in Kuala Lumpur are deep fried whereas this, is grilled to perfection and has the lovely onion sauce and green pees as toppings.

The Hainanese Chicken Chop

Here the chop prices have not increased much over the years. When I was in school, it used to cost around RM 6 per plate and today it cost a mere RM 10.00 per plate. 

Just about to start with our meal

To find this restaurant is easy. Just drive on Jalan Besar, which is the main street of Tanjung Malim until you reach a Hindu Temple. From this Hindu Temple, you would be able to see the famous Yik Mun Pau shop. This restaurant is at the other end of the same row of shops.

All ready to attack my food...hehehe
This set here, as with other Hainanese Chicken Chops, comes with toast and slightly salted butter. A lovely combination. I do hope many of you out there would be able to try this delicious dish from Tanjung Malim soon.

Parents enjoying their lunch
The address :
Lot 12.1, Jalan Besar,
35900 Tanjung Malim,
Perak.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 1700

Monday 20 August 2012

Scott's Pub & Restaurant @ Frasers Hills

It was during the Hari Raya break that we decided to take a drive up to Frasers Hills which is located in the state of Pahang, Malaysia and it is from this drive, that we located this wonderful restaurant.

Scott's Restaurant in Frasers Hills
This lovely restaurant sells only western food. I was going through the menu and found that they have a great variety of steaks, chops (chicken and lamb), sandwiches and typically anything that one would get in an English Tea House.

My brother going through the menu

At the time I was there, it was around 5 pm and it was full house. The waiters...just two of them were running helter skelter taking orders and delivering them. In fact, we had to wait more than 20 minutes before our order was taken and I would surely give credit to the Captain for this as he was still observant and knew who had arrived first and who later and he attended to all accordingly.

Waiting for the orders to be taken

Finally came our turn. Firstly he was apologetic and then he took the orders. For us it was quite simple, as it was already after our lunch time and still early for our dinner, we decided to go for some sandwiches. While waiting for the food, as other people's food was being delivered to their tables, I could observe the lovely food and great aroma going around. The steaks and lamb chop here is definitely worth a try.

A pose at the fire place

Besides the lovely food available here, the deco was also beautiful. It looked like a typical English cottage. Must have been an English man's banglo some time ago and converted to this restaurant. By the way, they do have wifi too but it never works :p

Our egg sandwich
Finally, after an hours wait, our sandwiches arrived. Honestly at this moment, I felt we should have just ordered dinner :) Anyway, the sandwiches were heavenly...seriously good. 

All too hungry by now
By the time the food arrived, we were just whacking through...sorry guys, no time to pose decently. We were too hungry by then.

At Scotts Restaurant


On the whole this is a great place to visit when you are in Frasers Hills.

Address: Located just beside the food court. Cant miss it.
Opening Hours: 1100 - 2200 (Close on Wednesdays)