Restoran Kee V and Kajang Satay

On my first night after checking into the Bangi Equatorial Hotel, we were not familiar with the surrounding areas, but thank goodness for Cui Cui's buddy Yunting who is a regular in that area, she brought us to this wonderful place, Restoran Kee V.

Although not serving any 'beautiful' looking dishes, it certainly made up for it in the taste department. We ordered a claypot of their signature Spicy Pork Soup. This peppery, tasty broth is ready to make you sweat, especially when the shop is also hot as an oven. No complains from me though!

Slowly, but surely, i'm beginning to enjoy having salted egg yolk in my diet. The creative dish of Salted Egg Yolk Bitter Gourd is absolutely heaven. The egg yolk just melts on your tongue as you put it into your mouth and is well-balanced by the bitterness of the vegetable.

Next is also a quality dish of Kungbao Chicken. Although not as famous as the previous two dishes, this also packs a punch on its own. It's spicy and the chicken is tender. It also helps that it is served in a claypot, keeping it warm for our slow enjoyment.

Must go for Kajang Satay, since we're just a stone's throw away. After such a long wait, i finally found my beloved Rabbit Satay! Wahahahaha..... Nice lor...

And Malaysian ABC is a must. This one comes with a generous scoop of ice cream also. Gembiranya...~

Zen Japanese Restaurant, Sunway Pyramid

One of my first lunches in KL was this Japanese restaurant - Zen in Sunway Pyramid which Kiyaw and Crispy brought me to. If you're not familiar with the shopping center, this would be a challenging place to find. It is tucked in a corner which is only accessible via a hidden escalator on the outside :S :S

The restaurant faces the sun, and so the management thoughtfully shuts the curtains and we dined in absolute comfort :) They also give us thick wet towels once we sit down.

Start off with some fresh salmon sashimi. I shuddered at the thought of eating raw fish just 2 years ago, but now i can absolutely swallow the whole plate without getting the slightest tummy upset. Looks like i've trained myself well!

My sis always orders Edamame , a dish a Japanese peas boiled in water and lightly salted.

Some Japanese fried chicken? This was taken so long ago i couldn't remember what it was. Anyway, i hardly take fried food except KFC.... ! I suppose Ki yaw must've wiped this plate off :)

Ahhh...sushi! MmmmMmmm....although they don't look so nice in this photo, they are pretty tasty. Their vinegared rice for the sushi was very fragrant too, as i recall. Not too bad, can pass!

Our lunch was actually a set which came with side dishes like fruits and chawanmushi.

It also came with dipping sauces and mashed sweet potato ( or was it pumpkin)? Anyway, it was great having all these variety but we later discovered this meal is just not enough for the three of us.

And so, we ordered another extra sashimi salad for poor Ki Yaw to enjoy. Their sashimi salad is fresh and full of flavours, but still way behind if you compare to the one served by Sushi Tei.

Juju Hokkaido Hotpot

Ever since having buffet lunch at Tao Restaurant next door, i've been waiting for a chance to dine in at the sister restaurant Juju Hokkaido Hotpot next door. Finally, after work there was a chance! The hotpot came with a starter of Semi-Boiled Golden Egg with House Starters. Hmmm....not bad not bad... for a cold egg. The salmon roll was tasty too.

My pick was the Premium beef hotpot. This is the platter, came complete with my favourite thinly-sliced beef, broccoli and golden mushrooms! Yippeee....

My friend ordered a seafood set...wahh...the serving looks generous and with a wide variety. Although it came in generous heaps, the ingredients were so-so only, nothing to rave about. The soup was a little salty for me.

Each set also comes with five flavours of frozen dumplings they call Assorted Rainbow Dumplings. I must say this really exceeded my limit. I had trouble finishing the first platter, let alone 5 dumplings! And they were not that nice anyway, somehow they split open when i throw them into the hotpot...bah...

Just after you wipe away you dinner, the wait staff whisks out two cups of Ice Plum Vinegar to let you ease your stomach after the very heavy meal.

My friend's dessert - Fresh Fruit Sago.... Hmm...the fruit fresh meh?

My Chocolate Parfait fared better. At least it had better taste and i could finish it with no trouble :)

 

The best part was going up to Mount Emily just behind where we had the hotpot to have Taiwanese Lychee Beer at Wild Rocket. I love the taste of this girly beer! The hardcore beer-drinkers hate this beer but me like! It's like mixing lychee syrup with beer! It's so nice, i bought a bottle home too. This place is really rustic and nostalgic. It is an old colonial house with lazy rattan chairs at the patio. While i'm enjoying my lychee beer, free-roaming cats were sitting by my side....

Kage, JB (Part 2)

 

 Dragon roll - one of my favourite kinds of sushi. It is rolled with mango and contains fried prawn within the sushi rice. Nowadays, many Japanese restaurants serve this, the other kind of dragon roll would be the one rolled with avocado, but i prefer the mango version. Recently, my friends and I tried one that contains chocolate ice cream inside! It sounds weird, but one of the better experiences we've had with creative sushi!

  

To be honest, the shishamo here were pathetic. The fishes were tiny, has an odour and is soggy, not crispy. Skip!

  

Ahhh, sotong! Haha... looks very appetising and it still retains the Q-ness too!

 

Some mixed tempura for us to share. The batter was not too bad, overall the cooked food at Kage passes the grade :)

  

We ordered yet another plate of mixed Yakitori. Their grilled food was also exceptionally tasty, especially the pork. We ordered several servings, of it, in fact.

  

Boon Choon was especially disappointed with this buffet. The rest of us thought that for the money we paid, it was decent but obviously this place is for quantity, not quality.

Kage, JB ( Part 1)

 

 The gang visited JB some time ago, and Lisa brought us to have ala carte buffet at Kage, a Japanese restaurant. Started with some tempura. I never liked fried food much, hence did not try this. My friends lapped it up though.

  

For us girls, Chawanmushi is a must starter for a Japanese meal. At least the chawanmushi is silky and smooth. Pass!

  

Having Japanese food in JB is definitely cheaper than in Singapore. However, we do feel the pinch due to the lower price. The raw fish is probably from frozen sources. Here you can see the various sushi (Suzuki, Sime, Sake, Maguro, Tataki etc.) were slightly off-colour. 

 

 Fried mushroom - tasted quite crispy and non-greasy. I think the fried stuff fared better at this place, but i am no longer a Japanese-cooked dish fan, I'm more of a sashimi fan these day...ahhh...how things have changed since my first Japanese meal.

  

Tako Balls, or octopus balls. I also left this dish for my hungry friends to wipe off. Their verdict was that it's so-so only :(

 

Everybody ordered a Sashimi platter for themselves. The assorted sashimis were served in an ice big bowl. The fish were fresh, but detected a frozen after-taste and it did not have the 'bounce' of normal sashimi.

 

Hotate (scallop) and Buta Hotate (Pork) grills. The pork was great!! Alas, a good dish we were all singing praises for.... We had too many dishes that lunch, so stay tuned for Part 2. I'm getting lazier and lazier at updating my blog....haha

Famous Phuket Banana Pancake

 

Banana pancake is a famous fixture in Phuket. Most of the stalls selling it are Muslims and they are dotted along the beaches in Phuket. This particular one, is smacked right outside our hotel. We passed by it several times and day, each time reminding ourselves we will patronize it one fine day.

 

Being a banana + pancake fan, i'm so elated by this snack. All of us ordered a Banana Nutella Pancake. See how much Nutella he's putting on the dough!

 

It is fried on a hot plate, very much like our Roti Canai/Prata back in Malaysia and Singapore.

   

In goes the main ingredient - Bananas!!! The whole car is stocked with bananas...i'm wondering how much sales he generates every day?

  

After the banana goes in, the pancake is folded and topped with butter :)

  

It is crunchy on the outside, sickly sticky and sweet on the inside. I must say i haven't enjoyed a streetfare as much as this for a looooong time. If you ever go to Phuket, do try this, and it's cheap too !

Kantok

Our first meal in Phuket was at Kantok in Burasari Hotel. It is a highly recommended restaurant in Phuket and is just next door from where we were staying. It was raining, but the live music and performance managed to just lift our spirits.

   

Their signature dish, Roast Red Duck Curry, are scrumptious plump pieces of roast duck in a fiery coconut cream red curry sauce. It was a bewildering experience to be eating duck curry, but a pleasant one. Surprisingly, the tastes blended well and it wasn't an awkward match.

 

We wanted to order clear Tom Yum soup, but placed a wrong request. Instead, we got this Tom Kha Kai, which is chicken in coconut milk soup. Well, this soup is slightly bordering on the creamy side for me. Wished that we had ordered the Tom Yum though.

   

Whenever i have Thai, I always crave for this, but not all Thai food establishments serve it. Kantok offers Thai street food Fluffy and Light Thai Fish Cakes with sweet chilli sauce. It's an addictive mix of herbs and fish meat fried to perfection. It instantly boosts your appetite for more to come!

  

 Lastly, a nice dish of mixed vegetables wrapped in omelette. Finally, a dish that is not spicy for the sake of Tze Ching's stomach....haha.... It was OK, but the other dishes were far more superior. However, all of us were starving so every single dish was wiped clean and enjoyed thoroughly.

Malacca Celup

Since i was in Malacca two years ago, i sorely miss their Satay Celup. It is especially hard to find in Singapore, and not long ago, there was a Groupon deal for a shop in Joo Chiat called Malacca Celup. The coupon for its ala carte buffet costs $10.90 each and i decided to try.

U can either order alacarte or you could go to its vegetable station and get ingredients like mushroom, kang kong and baby corn.

They also have a large refrigerator with things like fishball, crabsticks, and quail eggs.

Once you think you've gotten enough, it's time to immerse them all in your own pot of boiling satay sauce. Wow, i can't believe how awful one can make satay sauce... it's the most watery and tasteless satay sauce i've ever come across in my entire life.

At least its seafood is fresh :)

 

I also ordered some fried stuff and beef, but thin-slice beef still go better with broth, rather than satay sauce.

Stay away from this place, i can imagine if i pay the full price, i would've probably burned down its shop sign !