Food Fair/Bazaar/Flea Market @ Hell's Kitchen (9th Avenue), NYC

16th May 2010....another glorious day in NYC. Stumbled upon another food fair, this time in Hell's Kitchen.

Hell's Kitchen was getting very busy that afternoon.

There were many such bbq racks in the shape of a tepee where they hung slabs of meat to cook/smoke on the fire underneath.

A stall selling a potpourri of spices. Very attractive.

A stall selling soul food....

....which consisted of grilled octopus....

....and lobsters, shrimps, clams.

Mexican food stall...

....plantains, pork ribs, slabs of meat...

A very big slab of bbq-ed meat.

Deep fried pork ribs with rind.

Pancakes filled with mozarella.

Blood sausages.

Another stall selling an assortment of spices in plastic bottles. 2 bottles for USD5.00.

Berry pie.

Cup cakes and creme brulee.

Aged USDA prime beef. Apparently, beef is like fine wine, it needs to be aged.

The pack of giant strawberries I bought. USD2.99 for 454g.

Luscious!

Big like an apple.

My lunch....a mouth-watering Philly Cheesestake with extra liquid cheese (USD10.00), it comes loaded with beef. Yes, as long as the TV remote.

Biggest sandwhich I've eaten to-date.

New York...there's no other place like it!

The Nyonya One Restaurant, Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur

Back in May, before I left on my Manhattan sojourn, I read this article in The Star. It was about a Nyonya restaurant in Sri Petaling, and since it wasn't too far away, hubby and I decided to check it out. I am a big fan of Nyonya food, after all.

The restaurant is located just opposite/across the road from the Shell and Esso petrol stations in Sri Petaling.

The very friendly proprietor Madam Leong recommended I try the Nyonya Teh Tarik (RM2.50) which was basically milk tea with pandan juice. The pandan was very fragrant, but the milk and tea could have been thicker, methinks. I do think that this combo was a rather unique idea nonetheless.

We both had the pandan rice (RM3.00) which came sans santan, and with some dried shrimps and sambal on the side.

The BMO Chicken (RM8.50) had really strong contrasting flavours. Chicken coated with basil, mint leaves and sweet oyster sauce in a very hot mini wok....it was definitely memorable. 

We also ordered the sambal pucuk paku (RM8.00) which according to the cook, had no belacan. It contained fermented soya beans instead....which was unusual.

The otak-otak kadok (RM12.00) came all wrapped up in banana leaves. It was unlike the one that I'm used to (the Penang version), this one was drier and according to the cook, this dish also contained no santan. I fancied it a tad hard in texture, or maybe it's because my palette is so used to the Penang version which is almost custardy.

The bill amounted to RM37.50 for the 2 of us. I would say the restaurant does try to impress, but I do not quite understand the rationale for not using santan and belacan in their dishes when these 2 ingredients are pretty important in Nyonya dishes. Health concerns perhaps?  

The Nyonya One Restaurant

23, Jalan Radin Anum,

Bandar Baru Seri Petaling,

57000 Kuala Lumpur.

Mobile: 016-7028511 (Madam Leong)

3-bams!

Restoran Makanan Laut Wang Chiew, SS2, Petaling Jaya

We were searching for a place to take grand-uncle and grand-aunt out to dinner when we stumbled upon this restaurant in the Popular Food Guide @ Malaysia book. It's in a little known area of SS2 Petaling Jaya, but when we went on a Saturday evening, the restaurant was jam packed with customers, right up to the shoplot corridors.

The good thing about this place is that they have menus in English with some pictures and prices which made it alot easier to order. They've got 2 shoplots, one with airconditioning and the other without. Tables were also laid out all over the sidewalk, and at 7.00pm, they were all occupied.

First up, we ordered a choy sum garlic stir fry (RM8.00). Simple and tasty.

We tried the salted pork trotter (RM20.00 for small) which was a chef's specialty here. The pork trotter was very lean with crispy crackling and alot of meat although we ordered a small portion.

The pork trotter came with this special dipping sauce which had a pungent sour-turmeric-peppery taste. Very unique. Grand-aunt wasn't too fond of the sauce, but the rest of us didn't mind it. An acquired taste, perhaps.

The steamed beancurd (RM12.00) with mixed vegetables had a very eggy taste. Very good for bean curd lovers.

This dish was my favourite. The cereal deep fried mantis prawns had a batter that was rich with salted egg yolks (RM12.00). I loved the crunchy, flaky, spicy and salty texture/taste, and ate even the curry leaves interspersed within the crumbly goodness.

The meal came up to RM62.10 (inclusive of rice and drinks) for the 5 of us. They've got an extensive menu, and an exciting crowd of people. This restaurat is very popular and we're surprised not to have discovered it earlier. We'll definitely be back here to sample more of their very reasonably-priced food.

Restoran Makanan Laut Wang Chiew

30 Jalan SS2/103,

47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel : 603-77223662

Mobile : 6-012-6455139

This restaurant is in the SS2 area that is opposite KDU college, across from the LDP highway. If you know where the SS2 Fire Station is, then this is not too far away. If you are on the road (in SS2) parallel to LDP Highway with the SS2 Fire Station on your right, then go all the way straight. Jalan SS2/103 will be one of the roads on your right.

3-bams with alot of potential for more!

Mun Kee Steamed Fish Head, Happy Garden, Kuala Lumpur

Hubby and I discovered this restaurant some time back, pretty much by random...we went to the pasar malam at Happy Garden and since we were in the vicinity, we decided to grab some dinner.

Seeng a large crowd at this (literally) road-side restaurant which coincidentally bears my granduncle's name, we decided to give it a try. We've been back several times since, and it is always crowded on weekend evenings, sometimes to the point of their steamed fish heads being sold out, so it is always a good idea to go earlier.

This time, we tried the salted egg, deep fried chicken wings (RM12.00). See the scrumptious bits of salted egg yolks sticking to the salty batter.....lovely! Since I absolutely love salted eggs, the crunchy and savoury taste of the chicken wings was a winner. Finger licking good!

 This style of steamed fish head is popular with customers who frequent this joint (RM20.00). A fleshy slab of freshwater fish head steamed/garnished with soya sauce, ginger shreds, sliced birds eye chillies, scallions, coriander  and garlic oil, this dish's simplicity belies its wonderful, tasty freshness. We try to eat fish regularly....fish is, after all, good for the brains. And when the craving starts, it's off to Mun Kee for us!

Fish Head King Steam Fish Head (Mun Kee)

New Happy Garden Food Court,

43-A (Gerai), Jalan Lazat 1, Taman Gembira,

58200 Kuala Lumpur.

 Alternatively.....

Chinese Village Pasarakyat (Jalan Imbi),

No. 8, Jalan Melati, Off Jalan Imbi,

55100 Kuala Lumpur.

Mobile : 016-2987876

We love the tasty freshness! 4-bams. 

Chok Dee Thai Restaurant, Jalan Burma, Penang

On February 14th 2010, we celebrated hubby's grandma's 96th birthday at Chok Dee Thai Restaurant in Penang. It was also Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year, so this restaurant had its CNY Set Menu for 6 persons at RM198.00 + 10% Service Charge (rice and beverage not included).

It's a cosy little restaurant on Jalan Burma, same side of the road as, and not too far from, Heritage Hotel.

There were 5 of us consuming a set meal meant for 6, the portions were indeed generous. We started with the Seafood Tom Yam Soup, which the waiter efficiently divvied up between the 5 of us. They were pretty generous with the prawns. This was good although it could have benefitted from a more sour and lemongrassy tang.

The appetizer was fish/prawn cakes. These were pretty darn good, with a lot of fish sauce tastiness. I liked how the chilli dipping sauce complemented the savoury cakes.
 

The stir fried Thai style mixed vegetables was a simple dish, but very tasty and teeming with scallops.

This was my favourite dish of the night, stir fried chilli paste squid with salted duck eggs. Pieces of salted duck egg yolk were crumbled all over this dish....almost like a treasure we were all looking forward to finding in each spoonful of squid.  

Another hit was the Thai style lemon steamed fish. Loved the sour, sweet and spicy gravy on this dish. In fact we loved this gravy more than we did the Tom Yam, and ended up drinking this gravy like a soup!

So engrossed was I in the dining experience that I actually forgot to take a photo of the last dish, Thai Curry Paste Prawns with glass noodles. It was a big serving of wok fried large prawns and noodles in gravy that tasted like Chickadees (really!). Very addictively good! Too bad I don't have the photographic evidence here.

The meal, with rice and drinks, came up to RM246.30 for the 5 of us. Slightly pricey, but it was Chinese New Year + Valentine's Day after all.  

Address: 231-D Jalan Burma,

10350 Penang.

Tel: 04-2291492

 

4-bams for a terrific meal in cosy ambiance.

Eating At Home

Sunday night's grub was simple and somewhat traditional....but oh so satiating!

We had bean sauce tofu  with fresh brown button mushrooms which hubby cooked beautifully without breaking up the soft, delicate tofu too much. We topped it with a generous sprinkle of scallions.

We had some ladies fingers left in the fridge so a simple stir fry using the savoury Maxchup stir-fry sauce (yellow bottle)  we bought from Thailand was really the simplest thing to do.

I recently bought a whole bag of turmeric roots from Tesco at reduced price (RM1.50 for 656g!) and was trying to figure out how to use them. Maybe I'll plant a few turmeric roots and see if they grow. In the kitchen, however, we decided to try our hand at cooking Nyonya Acar Fish using senangin fish, following one of the Nyonya recipe books that I've religiously collected. This sweet and sour (and mildly spicy since we took the liberty of  adding bird's eye chillies)  dish is a hit....fried fish bathed in a vinegary oil infused with a strong aroma of turmeric, garlic and ginger! Yummy!

Restoran Felice, New Town (PJ State), Petaling Jaya, Selangor

I first read about Restaurant Felice which boasts authentic Malaccan Portuguese cuisine and seafood, in the newspaper. We went to check it out with hubby's family not too long ago.

We had the belacan brinjal (RM8.00) which I think was baked and then topped with sambal belacan paste. The brinjal's texture was still firm and each slice tasted really buttery. This was my favourite dish of the night.

The Portuguese Roast chicken (RM13.50) was had a gravy that was reminiscent of tau eu bak, except cooked with chicken and green peas. It was tasty fare, stir-frying the roasted chicken in a soy-based gravy enhanced its taste.

Curry dabel (RM13.50) was a very thick chicken and potatoes curry which had a salty tang to it. The paste was obviously made of grounded fresh herbs as opposed to curry powder.

The fried Japanese tofu here (RM8.00) teemed with prawn pieces.

Another hit was the sambal squid (RM15.00) which would have been even better with petai thrown in! Spicy, tangy, fresh.

I really liked the baked senangin fish (RM32.00) which tasted very much like fresh otak-otak, courtesy of the thick gravy that topped the fish. Lovely!

The total bill for the 6 of us totalled RM95.00. Prices here are pretty reasonable, and for folks who like spicy and authentic Portuguese food, this is a good spot.

The restaurant is next to RHB Bank in PJ State, facing the MBPJ building.

Restoran Felice

7, Jalan 52/8, New Town,

46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: 03-79545587

Mobile: 016-6489843 (Eric Mong), 017-6866412 (Elaine Mong)

Closed on Thursdays.

A high 3-bams!