What really caught my attention among all was this Italian Herbs Spaghetti @ RM8.90. It was one of the two available spaghettis to choose from, with the other one being Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce. Because the dish looked really great on the menu, we couldn’t resist ordering it. And the chef did a good job preparing it.

The spaghetti tasted nice and was packed with flavor. But, what surprised us was the spiciness level in the dish. Apparently chili oil was also used as one of the seasoning, which we only knew when we noticed traces of red chili oil on the plate. To be honest, the spaghetti is better than some so-called Italian restaurants can dish out. Bravo.

Curious on how the sharkfin soup’s taste will differ from the restaurants’, we ordered a bowl just to try. It cost RM5 and preparation time is long (about 15-20 minutes) Luckily Snowy Dessert Home’s seatings are situated next to the windows where you can see the activities in Sunway Lagoon’s Theme Park. Else, we wouldn’t even bother.
Sadly though, the sharkfin soup was a disappointment. Glass noodles are used instead of real sharkfin (what did you expect for RM5 lol) and it was quite salty. There were plenty of other ingredients like chicken and black fungus as well but the saltiness essentially spoilt the whole thing.

We also had a stick of curry fish balls @ RM3. Quite nice but each ball cost 50 cents each, kinda pricey.

Since we didn’t have any drinks, we had a nice dessert instead - Sago in Mango with Black Glutinous Rice @ RM7.90. It was the perfect dessert and well worth the price too considering the amount of fresh mango given. Being a huge mango fan, I wouldn’t mind eating it again and again and again lol.
For me, the spaghetti and dessert alone are reasons enough give Snowy Dessert Home a try. And emm.. for those who love cosplays too, lol.

The variety of dim sum at Pan Ki is wide and they have a big steaming station. Bamboo steamers stacked as tall as a man are used to cope with the huge customer turnout. I had to wait for a while before finally getting a table for two.
But the short wait has proven very worthwhile. The Har Gao was nice with succulent prawns wrapped in thin translucent skin that didn’t break easily - a proof of the chef’s skill.

Other steamed dim sum like Siu Mai and Har Mai are pretty good too.

Deep fried minced meat dumplings were crunchy and delicious. Most importantly, it did not have the undesirable odor from reused cooking oil.

‘Gai Wo Bao’ (鸡窝包) is a specialty of Pan Ki and it was promoted in many Chinese dailies before. The bun has a curly shape with lots of different fillings inside like glutinous rice, chicken, mushroom and salted egg.
So, basically it’s like ‘no mai gai’ wrapped in a bun. Even the taste is quite similar.

Hong Kong style fried radish cake is also a popular item in Pan Ki. But, I didn’t really liked it because it was quite oily.

Then, we finished off with a small bowl of rich porridge which looked authentically gluey. If you like dessert, Pan Ki also sells good ‘Sai Mai Lou’ but you gotta be early before it finishes.

A meal like this consisting of 10 different items including a pot of Chinese tea cost RM30.40. After working out the cost, the dim sum is priced roughly around RM2.50 to RM3.00 each. Pretty reasonable if you ask me, highly recommended.
In case you didn’t know, Janbo the restaurant that serves dim sum buffet is situated just a bit further down the same road.

Map: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=3.0684009&lon=101.6908479&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

Technorati Tags: dim sum, breakfast, restaurant

Since then, eating here is a thought that would have never crossed my mind. So, the only reason I went back for the noodles was solely for nostalgia’s sake. Sitting in the coffee shop while looking at the old abandoned cinema and people carrying out their daily lifes on the market streets sure brought back some fond memories.
My first ever experience of going to the movies was here too - I went to see Terminator at Cheok Sah. At that time, where got GSC, TGV or Cathay? LOL. And our snack would be cotton candy and those round keropok resembling steering wheels in a cone shaped packaging.

Like any other soup based noodles, the problem with Cheok Sah’s Hokkien Mee lies in the soup. It might be due to the rising cost of ingredients and the owner trying to keep the price as low as possible. So, the soup was very diluted and you can’t really taste much prawns in it. Kinda pity eh since it seemed like quite tasty from the looks.

Next to the stall is Yoong Kee Restaurant, which is famous for their Teo Chew dishes. Actually, one of the reasons I am posting this even though the noodles does not taste that good is because I want to fish comments from my fellow BM kias, lol. Any BM kias reading this reading mind telling me where to look for good Hokkien Mee in BM? Sri Rambai? Taman Bukit? Berapit? Kampung Baru? Name it and I will try it on my next trip home during the Raya holidays. Kam siah!

Technorati Tags: Hokkien Mee, Cheok Sah

Farmland serves steamboat sets and ala carte items can be ordered separately as add-ons. A two-person mixed set that comes with some seafood, vegetables, meat balls, dumplings and fish noodles cost RM27.80. The portion wasn’t too big but it should be enough to satisfy two average eaters.

The seafood was fresh and succulent, definitely the nicest thing about dining in ala carte steamboat restaurants. You just couldn’t get as fresh seafood in buffet style steamboats. And the meat balls and dumplings are prepared from Farmland’s kitchen with their own recipes. So, there’s minimal factory processed food consumed. Even the vegetables tasted nice and sweet after cooking in the porridge broth.

Clay pot is used so the food won’t lose too much moisture and to prevent the broth from drying up too fast. By the way, an extra RM3 will be charged extra if porridge is chosen as the soup base.

The broth is quite watery at first, but after cooking for a while the texture will become smooth and tasty after absorbing all the ingredients’ flavors and goodness.

I particularly Farmland’s homemade dumplings and ordered extra - RM5 for five pieces.

Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for the fried youtiao @ RM4. It was stuffed with a lot of meat and was extremely crunchy alright. But, it tasted way too salty, even after being “washed” in the porridge for a very long time. This was mentioned to the boss when we paid for the meal, I hope they take notice.

In overall, I preferred Eastern Delight’s porridge steamboat. It was slightly cheaper, had more choices and somehow felt more authentic to me. I hope the restaurant would still be there when I return next time. Anyway, Farmland’s main branch seems to be at Jalan Pudu and most people went there instead. Maybe the porridge steamboat tastes better there? I dunno, lol.

Address: No B-G-09, Block B, Perdana Selatan, Taman Serdang Perdana. (Opposite South City Plaza)
Tel: 03-8941 9719
Map: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=3.0285086&lon=101.7110395&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2

Technorati Tags: porridge steamboat, steamboat

I ordered the dry version which cost RM6 for the smallest order. Price wise it was kinda expensive if compared to the ones I could have had in KL. Anyway, the preparation was really simple - by adding dark soy sauce and chopped garlic with oil on it. Sad to say the noodles tasted pretty bland - I could only taste dark soya sauce and nothing else.

For dry beef koay teow, the beef meats are served separately in a bowl of beef soup. It tasted quite good with plenty of ingredients. I think I could have enjoyed the soup even more if there weren’t so much chopped coriander leaves in it. Although I don’t particularly dislike coriander, the amount was just too much and overpowering for my liking.

If you can read Chinese, you will see that they serve bull penis as well, just add RM8. Well, I am not that daring yet lol.

There aren’t many Beef Soup Koay Teow stalls in Bukit Mertajam. So, unless you are willing to travel to Butterworth or Penang island for the really good ones, Kang’s is still quite OK to satisfy some cravings for beef koay teow soup.

Map: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=5.3540448&lon=100.4714298&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

Technorati Tags: Beef Soup Koay Teow, Beef, Koay Teow, Bukit Mertajam

Ehh.. is that some hair on the meat? LOL.

We were there early about 5pm and the restaurant was not prepared for any orders yet. They needed another 45 minutes to get ready so we enjoyed some Chinese tea while waiting.
I usually choose Tit Gun Yam for tea, or Hiong Pin (Jasmine Tea) if the former is not available. Drinking tea is a must for me when eating Bak Kut Teh to “wash” down all the meat consumed. Besides, tea also helps in the digestion later!

Well I couldn’t be drinking tea for that long lol. So, I decided to snoop around the restaurant since it was pretty empty. There were some newspaper cuttings about famous chefs along with TV crews who travelled all the way from Hong Kong and Taiwan just to try the Bak Kut Teh in Seng Huat.
The documentary about Bak Kut Teh filmed by the crews was aired in Astro before, it was quite interesting. I know because I watched it like twice, lol. Apparently Ah Xian was here before too, can you spot him?

The prices are nicely displayed on the wall along with another newspaper cutting of Hugo Leung, 梁文韬. A successful chef back in Hong Kong, he is more famously known as “God of Eating” - 香港食神. It says he was in Seng Huat twice for the delicious Bak Kut Teh. BTW, this guy was featured as the food taster and narrator in the Bak Kut Teh documentary I mentioned earlier.

Finally, it was time for the sifu to cook and for us to get our much awaited clay pot of Bak Kut Teh.

Although it was not the best Bak Kut Teh we had in Klang, it did not disappoint. The meat was nice and tender which to me, is the most important factor for good Bak Kut Teh. You can have the nicest tasting herbal soup in the world but if the meat is tough, it still fails. Nothing is worse than have to eat tough meat because it’s a torture.

On the “Under the bridge Bak Kut Teh” name, this photo explains it all. And I think it’s a good idea to come early before 6pm, before the number of customers start to grow.

At 5:19pm, no one at all.

At 6:04pm - restaurant was almost full with patrons including the restaurant’s extension.

Overall I think Seng Huat’s Bak Kut Teh was a good try and it did live up to its fame. There’s one thing I am not sure though - is Seng Huat really where Bak Kut Teh originated from? Some said it is while some claimed it’s actually another restaurant.
Well, I don’t really care which restaurant is the original one as long as the food is good. But I would really like to know. So if you have the answer, please drop me a comment and I will plan a trip to Klang again to try it. Thanks!

Address: Kedai Makanan Seng Huat - 9, Jln Besar, Klang.

Other Bak Kut Teh restaurants I have tried in Klang before:
Fong Keow Bak Kut Teh
Hok Lai Bak Kut Teh - reviewed when I was a real noob

Technorati Tags: Bak Kut Teh, restaurant, Klang, Chinese tea

The mee goreng has all the flavor - sweet, sour and spicy. Sweetness from the gravy used to fry the noodles, hint of sourness from the lime and spiciness from the delicious cuttlefish. Ada kick! The ingredients used are pretty simple as you can see, just like those used in any other Indian fried noodles in Penang .
So, the only things that can make the difference are the gravy and cuttlefish. They are really the main contributors to the noodles’ tastiness that made it stood out from the rest.

The stall seemed to be manned by two young cook and although they looked damn cincai when frying the noodles, the outcome was not disappointing at all lol. Besides mee goreng there are also mee rebus and other types of fried noodles. But usually people come here for their famous mee goreng. Only RM3.50 for a plate of satisfaction, guaranteed.

Arggh my stomach is growling by looking at the photo alone, and I just taken my dinner! Sigh, those in Penang are so lucky.. I can’t even find a great mee goreng here in Seri Kembangan. Well, some are quite good, but not as great as Hameed’s.
One thing you need to be careful while enjoying your mee goreng here, the birds especially crows. There are PLENTY of them and they like to hang out in the trees in the food court’s premise. So, if you don’t want your noodles to have extra “toppings” you better watch out where you sit lol.

Map: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=5.4200561&lon=100.3428286&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

Technorati Tags: Mee goreng, Penang

After long consideration, I chose the Tiger Prawn with Lamb Cutlet which cost RM51.90. Expensive stuff.. in fact it was the most expensive ala carte dish I’ve ever ordered. Well, luckily it was well worth the price tag because of the huge portion of lamb. And most importantly, the lamb cutlet was very meaty and tasty - that mattered the most.

The tiger prawns were a little let down though, they taste like those freshwater reared ones. I would have expected San Franciso Steakhouse to actually serve tiger prawns captured from the sea which definitely have better taste and texture.

Potato Skin with Goat Cheese dip @ RM8.90. Nothing spectacular about this, the one I had at Ribs in Penang was much much better than this.

Some warm buns and “President” butter were served before our mains arrived. Even though they looked like nothing special, they tasted damn good to me lol.

Another main we ordered was Salmon with Fillet Steak @ RM35.90.

The salmon was nice but the same can’t be said for the steak. The fillet steak was a bit bland and dry and there wasn’t any sauce or gravy except its own juice.

Pineapple and orange juice - RM8 and RM9.50 respectively. So, the classy meal I wanted to have cost a total of RM131.35 inclusive of 5% tax and 10% Service Charge. This means RM17 alone was solely for tax and service charge.. that’s a lot! I probably won’t return again because the food wasn’t really that great. I felt like I was paying for the nice decor and ambiance more actually.

Technorati Tags: KLCC, steak, San Francisco Steakhouse, Malaysia, restaurant

It was one of the most expensive dim sum breakfast I ever had - RM30. My own mistake actually, I didn’t ask for the price before taking all the expensive stuff, lol.

The dim sum at Eden are either placed inside the bamboo basket or on a small plate. Those in baskets are higher classed ones with more and extravagant ingredients like abalone, scallops and clams. Therefore they are more expensive, RM6-7 depending on the dim sum you choose.
Well, if I knew the price earlier I wouldn’t have taken so many baskets lol. But at least the dim sum is quite special and most of them are new to me like this one - four medium sized prawns stacked on each other, delicious.

Another expensive dim sum, topped with scallop. Taste wise was so so because the scallop was kinda rubbery.

This one is nice - mini abalone, prawn and meat wrapped in a thin translucent har gao skin. I probably won’t order it again because its price but it was a damn good try, abalone leh!

Moving along to the normal stuff @ RM3 per plate lol. Har gao and mini egg tarts, both also very tasty.

Deep fried bean curd skin rolls with prawn fillings.

Char Siu Sou was so so. The puff pastry was nice and crispy but the char siu fillings tasted a bit weird.

Most of the waiters at Eden are teenagers and they are an energetic and friendly bunch. Food and quality wise it is one of the better ones out there, price is reasonable too considering it’s in KL. Just remember the dim sum in baskets are double the price of the normal ones ok.

Location: Menjalara Business Centre, opposite Plaza Menjalara
map: Wikimapia

Technorati Tags: dim sum, breakfast

First things first, I am not defending the restaurant but merely expressing my very own experience. Lets start with their signature dish - Carlsberg Mantis Shrimp. In my opinion this is a must try if you ever come to Mantis Prawn Village. If you are willing to pay, you can choose the biggest mantis shrimp they have to prepare this delicious dish.
Why? Because mantis shrimps already do not have a lot of meat.. and the meat will shrink a little after being deep fried. I always order this dish and it never disappoints with its sweetness and freshness.

makan said: I went there foo lunch also, so it’s open for lunch and dinner together. The calrsberg shrimp not bad, i like it…yummy…but too bad i don’t have photo.

Well, I have the photo now

For fish, do try their special Baba Steam style - a bit sourish and spicy. The gravy is nice to eat along with rice, very appetizing.

Claypot Japanese Taufu. Nothing special about this dish.

Stir fry Abalone Mushroom with Broccoli. This dish rocks! Abolone mushrooms’ texture is really a bit similar to the real abalone.

The Salted Egg Crab was a failure as we should have opted for meat crab instead of flower crab. It was our own mistake, flower crabs are only good for sweet and sour or curries.

As usual, our drink would be a jug of dragon fruit juice. Based on this meal, I can say that most bad comments were unjustified. So unjustified I am starting to wonder if the comments were left by competing seafood restaurants nearby, lol.
And because I already knew about the bad experiences other people had before, I paid extra attention to certain details especially the service and cleanliness. Now, for the bad comments (my response in bold):

disappointed Man said: Firstly, the restaurant service. The person who served us is the captain of the restaurant. It was our first visit to this restaurnt. I would like the captain to introduce some famous dishes of the restaurant. She did but in a very rude manner. She was looking down on us. (Maybe because we are driving a non-branded car and only put on casual wear) She was not willing to introduce us about the dishes. She asked us just order whatever we want to eat. When we ask how is the taste of the dish, eg sweet, sour or spicy. Again, she answered us in a rude way. Some more, the way she serve us make us feel that she is forced to serve us. This makes us not comfortable to have food there.

We were also driving a non-branded car, also casual wear t-shirt and short pants some more lol. I didn’t notice anything rude about the captain.. she answered everything we asked just like a normal person would.

disappointed Man said: The most famous seafood of the restaurant - mantis, it is tasteless!! We ordered medium size mantis but we were eating small size mantis. For other seafood, they are acceptable (from the aspect of taste) but not fresh.

I believe the mantis shrimps are openly displayed in the aquarium tanks within the restaurant, and you can clearly see their sizes before ordering. Even the price for each mantis shrimp is very clearly stated. Having to know all these before you placed the order, I don’t understand the complaint.

disappointed Man said: Thirdly, about the price. Dear all going-to-visit consumers, this is a kindly remind to you. Please make sure you have credit cards. If you are paying cash, please make sure you bring more. Mantis Shrimp Village Seafood charging is extremely expensive!!!! If you try to compare their price with other seafood restaurants, you will find that this restaurant is charging at medium size price (in fact, they served us with small size dishes). Furthermore, if you compare taste + service Vs price to other restaurants, it is not worth to visit at all.

I don’t know about you, but Mantis Shrimp Village’s prices have been fair for me. If you looked back my previous post, my meal cost a little more than RM110 including beer! Try ordering the same food in other restaurants, I am sure it’d cost much much more.

pipi said: salted egg yolk crabs = for those fans of salted egg yolk crabs, you would be disappointed, that was too less salted egg yolk but too much sugar added.

Yes I do agree their salted egg yolk crabs is not a good choice already.

pipi said: calrlsberg prawns = tasteless, couldnt tell what was that tasted like.

They taste sweet and fresh Seriously, they are not tasteless!

Quan said: NO! NO! NO!
THis restau serves good Salted egg yolk crabs, but NO!! no!!! and NO!! THIS RESTAU IS SUPER DUPER DIRTY!!!! Full with FLIES!! and the waitress are SUPER RUDE!!! cannot tahan with them, must boycott!!!!

This comment is certainly a whole load of bull****. The restaurant is one of the cleanest you would find in Bukit Tambun. During my entire meal, I didn’t even notice a single fly!

After receiving so many bad comments I won’t recommend anyone to go to Mantis Shrimp Village anymore. Honestly, I don’t dare. But I would still continue to patronize them because my dining experiences with them so far have been positive!

Technorati Tags: Bukit Tambun, Mantis Shrimp Village, mantis shrimp