Suria Cafe at The Saujana Hotel

For those who are unfamiliar with The Saujana Hotel, it is located close to the old Subang Airport. The hotel has a beautiful 18 hole golf course right next to it that provides lush green views from most of its rooms and restaurants, including Suria Cafe.

Unlike most hotels in the city, parking space’s ample at The Saujana, and they are free. The only downside is that traffic along Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance during rush hours due to the LRT extension constructions lately. Something that might not be a problem anymore when you read this.

prawn baduma, lamb black pepper curry,
cashew and drumstick meat mitikirata, chicken red curry

From the 17 June to 27 June 2013, you can get a taste of Sri Lanka at Suria Cafe as the hotel brought three of the best chefs from Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo to provide their expertise in Sri Lankan cuisine.

Executive sous chef, Chef Clifford, senior sous chef, Chef Wijesiri, and chef Chandana lend a hand at the kitchen of Suria Cafe  are the three Lankan-teers at work for this period. The two sous chefs combined to have over 60 years of cooking experience, so you know you’re not getting your food from any amateurs of the industry.

traditional festive yellow rice, beef curry, fish stew, Sri Lankan desserts

While this was the first time I had proper Sri Lankan food, it really did not taste unfamiliar. So far as ingredients and cooking method is concerned, it shows pretty big influence from South Indian cuisine due to geographical proximity and common colonial history.

Festive yellow rice looks similar to briyani but tastes a lot more subtle in flavor due to the lack of meat, it does however, go very well with stronger tasting dishes such as prawn baduma, black pepper lamb curry, or chicken red curry.

chicken and vegetable kottu, plain hoppers with lunu miris

While many of the dishes has some heat in it, they are generally not overly spicy for those who are already well versed with Malaysian food. One of the noted dish that I find quite unique was the cashew with drumstick curry, drumstick here is the seed pods for Moringa oleifera and not your favorite piece of chicken meat. Soft cashew and the distinct taste of spices brought a new experience to my taste buds.

whole lot of other selections on the buffet bar too

Chicken and vegetable kottu is a dish that looks pretty similar to the Nyonya “jiuhu char” but instead of cuttle fish and mengkuang you have shredded roti, vegetables, and chicken. It was pretty good.

My favorite dishes of the evening was the Sri Lankan hoppers, something that looks like our Indian Apom but comes with “lunu miris” – mixed of chili flakes, red onions, sea salt, lime juice, etc. It was like a spicy version of apom/pancake thingy that I wish I could get for breakfast by the streets. You can have hoppers with an egg in the middle as well.

the men behind the food on top, KY & Shah were only there to eat

In addition to Sri Lankan dishes, the buffet spread at Suria Cafe still includes many of the local favorites and some international dishes such as bread, cheese, apple crumble, soup, cakes, and more.

Flavours of Sri Lanka ends 27th June 2013 and priced at RM 90++ for buffet dinner, RM 70++ for buffet lunch.

Address:
Suria Cafe
Saujana Resort, Jalan Lapangan Terbang SAAS,
40150 Selangor
GPS: 3.108849, 101.578474
Tel: 03-7843 1234
email: info@thesaujana.com

lor mai kai and otak otak, an unlikely breakfast combination

Then there’s otak-otak, or to be more specific, the Penang style otak-otak. Perhaps it is because I am from Penang, I prefer this over all form of otak-otak. It is fragrant, soft, and very easy to eat. The combination of fish, egg, coconut milk, and betel leaves works in harmony in this dish to create a taste that is unmistakeably Nyonya in its origin. I love it.

the same stall also sell pau, bak chang, and nyonya kuih

Yong Len kopitiam at TTDI happens to have a stall that offers both these two dishes at the same time in the morning, and both are some of the bests I’ve tried from anywhere. The lor mai kai comparable with the one at Redang Island which we love, and the otak otak is as good as any I had in Penang.

The two items added up to around RM 7 or so, and you can also find one of the best Penang prawn mee at the same kopitiam too.

While breakfast is served pretty fast at Yong Len, I usually end up chatting with the prawn mee’s boss for extended period of time. He’s a fellow bike enthusiast and we talk about bike news and such, always a good start to the morning.

Address:
Restaurant Yong Len
Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1
(opposite Perodua showroom)
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.141630, 101.629243
Hours: Morning and Lunch, Closed on Mondays

My last steak dinner was at Las Vacas at Kelana Jaya, a restaurant with minimal frill and good steak, and it was also where I found out about El Fresco at Jaya Grocer from Lance & Enoch (hello neighbour!) from feedbacks on facebook and Instagram

El Fresco at Jaya Grocer, pick your meat

El Fresco is located at Subang Empire Mall’s Jaya Grocer, and yes, a restaurant within the big grocery store where the tables and seats are arranged pretty close to isles where you find racks of .. well, groceries.

The concept is simple, go to the meat section (or fish if you want to have salmon steak, for example) and pick your steak, then proceed to El Fresco’s counter and hand the meat over and have them cook it. There is no cooking charge for anything over RM 20, and just like Air Asia, if you want extras, you can always add on (salad, mixed vegetable, fries etc)

Angus tenderloin, one with salad, the other with mixed vegetables

Standard cut for steak is usually at around 250-300 gram here, and prices stated at the butchery is by the kilogram. We chose Angus tenderloin (mid-high in price, RM 189/KG) and each slab cost us just under RM 42.00.

In a way, you can go expensive, or you can go much cheaper as well. Lamb rack at RM 85.90/KG, and beef anywhere from RM 99/KG to RM 359/KG for some Wagyu with good marble ratings.

I like mine medium rare, and they executed it perfectly

I had my Angus tenderloin medium rare with mixed vegetable, and Haze ordered hers prepared rare with salad. While wait time was a little long (25 minutes) when we were there, it actually wasn’t too bad, you can even walk around and shop a little bit in the mean time.

The steak came out excellent and I really liked my steak pure as is and without any sauce or extra seasoning. The meat tender and juicy, and for under RM 50? An awesome value.

The pizzas & salmon steaks from El Fresco looks good too, and I have a feeling we will be back there pretty soon.

Address:
El Fresco
Jaya Grocer, Empire Shopping Gallery
47500 Subang Jaya
GPS: 3.082109, 101.582716
Web: jayagrocer.com/fnd_elfresco.php

The perfect solution? Fish head noodle style but with deep fried fish fillet instead. This is one of the options you can get at Restaurant 6868 at Taman Kobena, Cheras.

Restaurant 6868, a very Chinese kinda name

Restaurant 6868 resides in one of the older shop lots at a relatively quiet part of Cheras. The two shop houses have seen better days, but the premise is rather cozy and hygiene standard is decent.

The menu is written on the wall, you can choose from “normal” Chinese Carp fish head noodle, Ma Yau fish head noodle, “4 Kingdom”, yin yeong, fish paste, and more. Prices are from RM 7 to RM 16 each bowl, a small bowl of Chinese Carp fish head noodle cheapest, and big portion of Ma Yau at the other end of price spectrum.

instead of fish head, we chose “ma yau” fish filets, fried suikao too

I had a small bowl of Ma Yau fish fillet noodle (RM 10) without the evaporated milk. It came with 3 chunks of pretty good size fillets. They were deep fried and fragrant, but what made it so much better was the sambal belacan that came with the fish, it was spicy and very addictive! I think I had about 3 extra servings of those belacan.

the sambal was most excellent

The version with evaporated milk were very good too, if you’re the type of prefers it that way. Big portion with Ma Yau fish costs RM 16 but you get 5 pieces of fillet instead of 3. I think we’ve decided that ordering big with less noodle might be the way to go next time.

We also ordered some deep fried suikao (RM 1.80 each) for sharing and they were of good quality and packed with ingredients as well. You can have these with the accompanying chili sauce, but I prefer to down em with even more sambal.

I shall go come back here and perhaps try their fish maw soup next time.

Address:
Restaurant 6868
No. 12, 14, Jalan 5/92B,
Taman Kobena, 56100
Cheras Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.11670, 101.73008
Tel: 016-215 3667, 03-9281 1889
Hours: Mon-Wed-Fri (8 am to 11 pm), Tue-Thu-Sat (8 am to 6 pm), Sun (7 am to 5 pm)

Cape Mentelle wine and food pairing at Neo Tamarind, KL

Cape Mentelle is one of Margaret River’s ‘founding five’ wineries, and pioneered many of the region’s wine styles. The brand is a benchmark for the quality of wines from Margaret River, or in short, if you aren’t exactly well versed in wines but want to make sure you get something that’s appropriate for gifts for a party, this would be a good choice.

For the night, we were presented five wines from Cape Mentelle’s collections – Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2012, Chardonnay 2011, Cabernet Merlot 2010, Shiraz 2011, and Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 in that order.

prior to dinner, finger foods & Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2012

We started off with Sauvignon Blanc Semillon as apéritif and there were several canapes to go around. Black ink risotto with salmon roe, deep fried crisp calamari cajun, spicy sauce Angus beef, tataki with chili roasted rice, and tomato bruschetta. I think I had 2-3 servings of those Angus beef.

The Semillon was sweet and proved to be fitting as the first wine for the night.

steamed white cod with coconut herbs reduction, Chardonnay 2012

Unknowingly, I seated myself right next to the viticulturist of Cape Mentelle himself – Ashley Wood. His job is to ensure that Cape Mentelle grows quality grapes which directly affects the production of the wines. This requires extensive knowledge of soil type, diseases, pests, when to harvest grapes and more. Not exactly your backyard grape grower.

Our first of the four-course dish was the steamed white code with coconut herbs reduction, paired with Chardonnay. This was an easy pairing, citrusy and well balanced wine contrasts well with the coconut based sauce of the craft-fully prepared fish. I enjoyed this, and oh, the skin of the cod is faced down and was my favorite part of the dish.

roasted chicken with garlic bulb, Cabernet Merlot 2010

Next up was roasted chicken served with garlic bulb, whipped potato, apple sauce & chicken jus. Cabernet Merlot was the wine of choice to go with the poultry.

The wine was plenty fruity and carries a hint of red fruits, aniseed and tobacco bouquet. The chicken was perfectly prepared, smooth and smoky, and that garlic bulb was easy one of my favorite part of the entire dinner. It was just excellent execution that brought out the flavor of garlic without any of its harsh characteristics. I managed to convinced Eiling to eat almost half her portion even though she normally wouldn’t touch it.

The one other place I know which serves garlic bulb this way is the old school ramen shop at Wisma Central by the name of Tenka Daiichi.

roast duck breast with red cabbage puree & mustard sauce, Shiraz 2011

Duct breast is one of my favorite ingredients ever, and while the roast duck breast with red cabbage pureer & mustard sauce here looks excellent, the meat itself was a slight disappointment. I think a combination of having a very thick cut and slight under cooking contributed to the chewiness of the red meat. Good potential, and quite easily fixed though.

Shiraz is one of my favorite red wines, and the version at Cape Mentelle did not disappoint at all. The peppery and spicy palate has good depth and carries a rich nose of pepper and aniseed with berries. With this, I somehow finished the duck breast anyway.

grilled beef tenderloin with Eryngii mushroom, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

The fourth course was the grilled beef tenderloin with Ergyngii mushroom, scallion oil & beef jus. Medium rare and plenty juicy, the beef was a welcoming redemption after the disappointing duck breast, even though if I were to be critical, it was just a tad slightly overcooked.

Cabernet Sauvignon accompanied us for this last dish, a full bodied wine with good complexity, with black fruits, subtle flavours of chocolate, plum and aniseed and hint of oak on the palate. A very fine ending.

with Eiling and Wei Zhi, the dessert

No course dinner shall end without dessert, and so we had green tea crème brulee as the final dish.

This was also probably the last food review session that Eiling and I are sharing before she makes a permanent move to Belgium. Interestingly, she is also the one of my first “blog friends” when we met for the first time and went to Peony Garden 5 years ago (unfortunately that place has since closed down).

Address:
Neo Tamarind
19, Jalan Sultan Ismail,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.15292, 101.70829
Tel: 03-2148 3200
Web: tamarindrestaurants.com
Hours: lunch and dinner daily except Monday

Then there was Abduction, giving us a sneak peek of the super sleek, all new AMG A45 machine that generates 355 horsepower. That was quite a treat.

In this latest video, a janitor at MERCEDES AMG-PETRONAS lab set his eyes on the new AMG machine and the PETRONAS lubricant powering it.

So there it was, the awesome power of the AMG A45 came from its collaboration with PETRONAS SYNTIUM. The SYNTIUM 7000 spotted in the video is the result of advance R&D carried out by PLI as the official technology partner to the Mercedes GP PETRONAS Formula One Team.

This fully synthetic lubricant combines high fuel efficient characteristics with optimum engine protection at all weather condition. It is truly the type of lubricant that is worthy of high performance cars like the A45.

Back to the story. The janitor then sneakily took the A45 AMG out for a ride to satisfy his curiosity on the machine’s performance.

And as it turns out, the janitor wasn’t exactly a janitor, the alien within can’t handle the intensity and was beamed up to the mothership, but not before bringing along a bottle of PETRONAS SYNTIUM with him.

The combination of the machine and the lubricant is so advanced even extraterrestrial beings want to get their hands on it.

Remember Liquid & Metal? It finally made sense isn’t it? The machine and the lubricant working together as one.  I can’t wait for the final product to hit the market and see what this product of love between AMG and PETRONAS is capable of.

This very simple soya sauce chicken recipe was taught to me by Haze’s aunt, who cooked for us a couple weeks back. If you get it right, and it’s easy to get it right, the resulting chicken is tender, juicy, and absolutely delightful to go with steamed rice. I recommend having sambal balacan as the accompanying condiment.

chicken, Chinese cooking wine, cooking oil, soya sauce

In this example, I only used two quarter chicken (thighs) because it was only for Haze and myself. The original recipe calls for a whole chicken. Increase the portion of ingredients appropriately.

Ingredients:

• 2 x chicken thigh with leg piece
• 1/3 cup Chinese wine (1 cup for whole chicken)
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1/3 cup soya sauce
• 1 teaspoon starch (windmill brand)

soya sauce chicken, easy to prepare and delicious to eat

Cooking instructions:

• put chicken in a pot or wok with lit
• add Chinese wine, soya sauce, and oil
• simmer in low fire with lit closed, turn over the chicken every 10 minutes for 40 minutes, add some water if liquid gets too low
• cut the chicken and placed on a plate
• add starch into the remaining sauce and stir for a minute
• pour sauce on chicken
• success!

More recipes can be found under KY Cooks category. Enjoy and happy cooking!

Astro On The Go Explorer Live Explorer at Sunway Pyramid

Participants gathered at Sunway Pyramid starting just before 10 am, they were then paired in groups of two and were geared with Astro On The Go brochure, iPad, and mobile 4G wifi dongle, tools they will need to complete their adventure of the day as explorers in Pyramid.

contestants figuring out what they have to accomplish at this station

Each team has a pilot and co-pilot, the aim was to figure out the clues and then find the booth/station in which the team had to answer questions and/or perform certain tasks.

There were 10 stations in total, scattered at different places in Sunway Pyramid. Do remember that Sunway Pyramid is the 9th largest mall in the world with over 4 million square foot, so it is quite challenging.

juggling the ball isn’t exactly a very simple task

The ten stations represent some of the channels on Astro On The Go, for example - Sports, Maharaja Lawak, Geng Bas Sekolah, Hanna Montana, Korean Series and so forth.

I went to the Sports booth located outside the ADIDAS store to check out what was happening.

At this booth, the participants basically had to juggle the ball at least 3 times, answer a question regarding the sports channel available on Astro On The Go, then snapped a photo and upload it on twitter/facebook. Some groups really struggled quite a bit on the juggling part, but everyone eventually got it right and no display window was broken.

it’s a carnival like atmosphere at Sunway Pyramid with Astro On The Go

Pearl Harbour, Love and Hate, Empress in the Palace

Oh My English! is everyone’s favorites

Lunch was served after every team had completed their tasks, and a long line up of performances followed on the main stage to treat guests and participants. The cast of Oh My English! was there, and there were Aaron Aziz, Johan Raja Lawak, Ajak Raja Lawak, Ila Damia, and more too.

There were also sketches including Pearl Habour, Love and Hate, and Empress in the Palace. The crowd was thoroughly entertained.

the winners walked away with Nexes 7, iPad Mini, and Galaxy S4

Then of course, there’s the announcement of winners.

Grand Prize  went to Blablablabber & Leonhart90 who won a pair of Galaxy S4. 1st Runner Up were Pena Berkala & By Rawlins and they walked away with a couple iPad Mini. 2nd Runner Up, Mahamahu & Miracikcit, won Nexus 7 for each of them. The bonus prize for top-tweeting team were Eyriqazz & oh-alicewonderland, who walked away with RM 500 cash.

The winners also had a RM 800 cash bonus if they are Astro-On-The-Go subscribers.

Overall it was a very well received event and one that certainly many enjoyed and entertained. Lets have more!

For more information, please visit www.astroonthego.com.

• tastes
• portion
• price

The little corner stall at New Yew Sang in Kelana Jaya (also have good Thai food at night) is one of the few that scores in all three areas.

the “siu chau” stall at New Yew Sang, Kelana Jaya

The siu chau (小抄) has been a staple at this kopitiam for ages. Among the dishes offered are fried rice, Cantonese fried (horfun or yin yeong), Thai style fried rice, and loh mee. They open for business for breakfast and lunch, and the kopitiam is usually pretty busy on weekday lunch hours.

Parking situation around the restaurant isn’t the best, but nothing too troublesome for those who don’t mind walking a few steps.

kungfu yin yeong with crispy fried noodle at the bottom

My favorite here is their Cantonese Yin Yeong (廣府鴛鴦 RM 5.50), a combination of horfun and deep fried noodle at the bottom covered in thick broth that is pretty similar to egg drop soup. Prawns, pork slices, and vegetable makes up the rest of the ingredients.

They definitely do a good job on this pretty difficult to execute dish, and for less than 6 ringgit a plate, the portion is definitely more than enough as well.

their fried rice is pretty good too

The standard fried rice is also priced at RM 5.50, and for extra RM 1 you get a beautifully done sunny side top egg. The fried rice comes with pork, prawn, egg, and finely chopped carrots & long beans too. The only way to make this better is if you have some awesome sambal belacan from Penang to go with, but sometimes you can’t ask for too much.

Address:
New Yee Sang kopitiam
Jalan SS 6/8
Kelana Jaya
GPS: 3.106717, 101.598178

In another news, if you haven’t noticed yet, NuffnangX is now Imotiv.ly [ee-moh-tiv]. It builds upon NuffnangX and does what NuffnangX could do and more.

The application (also available on iOS & Android devices) can recommend new reading material based on what’s relevant to the user, especially if you sync it with your facebook/twitter account. There’s also an Explore panel that contains a collection of blogs ready for browsing.

Users are also kept informed of actions their friends have taken, such as liking or commenting on blog posts. Check it out at Imotiv.ly and add kyspeaks.com in your readings list.

So you could say that I was a little bit intrigued by what’s in store for us when I was invited to a wine/cocktail pairing dinner at Bulgogi Brothers.

Bulgogi Brothers at Paradigm Mall

Bulgogi Brothers is a pretty big chain of Korean restaurants that has its presence in Korea, the Philippines, Canada, and Malaysia. There are currently four branches located at Paradigm Mall (this review), Pavilion KL, Mid Valley Megamall, and e@Curve.

The one key difference between Bulgogi Brothers and most other Korean restaurants is that they are pork free.

banchan, including kimchi, lotus roots and even kangkung

Like pretty much all Korean dinners, we were served several dishes of banchan, or small Korean dishes to start.

The variety isn’t fantastic, there’s a bowl of corn, sweet potato & edamame, then there’s kimchi, lotus roots, and a few types of vegetables. They tastes alright, but if you expect to have a dozen different types of banchan like it is often served at other Korean places, you will be disappointed.

makguli goes well with haemul pajeon (Korean pancake), spicy chicken maekjeok

Our first real dish of the night was haemul pajeon, or Korean seafood pancake (RM 27.90). The pancake is packed with ingredients such as prawns, mussels, squid, and green onions. It wasn’t too thick nor soggy, and I thought it was done very nicely.

We had makguli cocktail, the milky Korean rice wine with strawberry puree to go with it. The wine is unfiltered and made from fermented rice, wheat, and water. I would describe it to be like a powered up vitagen, tasty!

The makguli is priced at RM 25 per bottle, and a jug of makguli cocktail at RM 27.90.

soju needs no introduction, the corn soup was creamy and delicious

Next up was soju and paired with spicy chicken maekjeok (RM 20.90). The chicken on skewer is not entirely unlike our satey but carries a slight tangy, sweet, and spicy taste to it. The dark meat is soft and juicy, and the stronger taste of meat goes well with the clean and natural taste of soju.

The soju is served chilled, RM 19.90 per bottle (Chum Churum brand), or if you prefer, in a sort of Korean mojitocalled soji-to at RM 14.90 per glass.

Bulgogi Brothers also served us a bowl of thick and creamy corn soup that was beautiful.

galbi kkotsal – boneless marinated beef short ribs

No Korean meal is complete without some good old fashion Korean BBQ.

Our galbi kkotsal (RM 72.90), or boneless beef short ribs marinated in special bulgogi sauce, came with a bit over a dozen pieces of meat, garlic, onion, and mushroom. In comparison with other places, the price is on the high side, and according to our host, this is due to the better cut of beef chosen.

I thought it was perhaps just a bit too sanitized and didn’t taste quite as flavorful as other places. It was decent nonetheless, but at over RM 70, one might think twice choosing this from the menu. It went well with soju, however.

bulgogi brothers special with black raspberry wine

Next up was Bulgogi Brothers Special (RM 81.90), a combination of Unyang and Gwangyang-style bulgogi. In another word, beef patties and thinly sliced beef, with the latter fried in combination with green onion and garlic.

The beef were pretty juicy and not lacking in flavor, portion wise this dish isn’t too bad either. The pairing was a bottle of wine made from black raspberries and plums, very sweet and absolutely delightful, the type of wine that is perhaps more appropriate for dessert, but I’m not complaining. It was delightful.

The wine was Bokbunjajoo and priced at RM 58.50 per bottle.

chicken bibimbap, KY, Haze, Hitomi, Marcus

Our last item in the tasting menu was chicken bibimbap (RM 26.90), a popular Korean dish with meat, vegetable, and a raw egg all mixed together in a stone bowl. I never quite find a taste for bibimbap and this experience did not change my mind. Others said it was perhaps a tad too dry, I’m not qualified to comment though, I didn’t like it.

In conclusion, I think the ambiance and dining experience in Bulgogi Brothers is certainly on par with some of the nicer restaurants, food wise it isn’t exactly top notch, but if you have a taste for some Korean alcohol experience or if you’re looking for a decent pork-free Korean restaurant, this chain isn’t a bad place to start.

Address:
Bulgogi Brothers
The Boulevard, Paradigm Mall
Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.108806, 101.59564
Tel: 03-7886 3543