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!

Dim Sum @ Corner Club Restaurant, Gurney Drive, Penang

Located next to Evergreen Laurel Hotel on Gurney Drive, it's hard to miss Corner Club, a bungalow with a large parking space in front. Since we were doing the whole food-trip repertoire, we took dad along to this restaurant for breakfast.

The prices for the dim sum dishes at Corner Club varies from RM2.20, RM2.50, RM3.00, RM3.50, RM4.50, RM5.50 to RM6.00. Pretty affordable for an air-conditioned "yum cha" restaurant, methinks.


Dad's favourite pau is the nam yee pau, with a fat slab of pork belly inside. So we ordered a basket of it. Having tasted it, dad maintained that Balik Pulau still has the best nam yee pau on the island.

Lor mai kai, they were generous with the meat and Chinese sausage.

This was one of my favourites. Deep fried large, springy prawns wrapped in crispy beancurd skin. Superb!
Fired radish cake with lots of eggs and pickled vegetables. Good!

Yam basket prawn salad. Dad and hubby feasted on this, since I fancy neither yam nor mayonnaise.

Hubby had the Hong Kong chee cheong fun with big prawns wrapped within, topped with a dollop of dried shrimp sambal and deep fried shallots.

Steamed pork ribs, very tasty and not overcooked.

Har kow (prawns dumplings), very good, this. The skin did not fall apart upon contact and the prawns were yummy.

Prawn siew mai, excellent! As you can see, I have a prawn fetish.

The total bill for the 3 of us came up to RM43.05.....very reasonable for good quality dim sum at a comfortable venue, cheaper than what this would have cost in KL.

Corner Club Restaurant

55, Gurney Drive,

10250 Penang.

Tel: 04-2282888

Fax: 04-2275764
Mobile: 016-4400868 (Alan Chew, Captain), 016-4066627 (Alice Tan, Captain)

A high 3-bam!

Siang Seng Seafood, Pemandangan Indah Jalan Tun Sardon, Penang

Dad, hubby and I were on a round island-cum-food adventure! Since hubby had never been to the other side of Penang, Dad took us round Penang island. On the hilly road somewhere between Balik Pulau and Relau, we stumbled upon this brand new gem of a restaurant when we stopped to get a bird's-eye view of the scenic Balik Pulau coastline at sunset.

It was opening day (this was on 4th April 2009) for this restaurant perched upon the apex of a hill, what serendipity! Done in traditional "kampung" hut style with dry coconut foliage draping the roof, the restaurant had a certain rustic charm to it.

That's the signboard.

Alot of fresh fish on display.

Live crabs and mantis prawns scuttling about in the tanks.

What a view it had.....the sun setting over the sea at Balik Pulau.

We ordered dry curry prawns (RM20.00) which were really fresh, juicy and had a lovely curry flavour that permeated the springy flesh.


Another house specialty was the braised spare ribs in lotus leaves (RM18.00). The portion was huge, and both dad and hubby were really digging into this dish, which was rich with chestnuts, mushrooms, carrots, and of course meaty pork ribs.

Seafood tofu (RM8.00) with crabmeat was excellent too; eggy, smooth and loaded with bits of crab meat, my ultimate favourite bounty from the sea.

We also had a big pot of watercress soup teeming with pork ribs (RM6.00), shown here is my tiny portion of it, dished out onto a smaller bowl.

Sweet, spicy and luscious bamboo clams in bean sauce at RM10.00, what a steal! They were super fresh, still alive in fact, just minutes before.

Food served here was hearty in portion, great tasting and value for money to boot. Total cost was RM65.00 for the 3 of us, and we had a feast! We'll definitely return for the good food and fabulous view the next time we are in Penang.

Siang Seng Seafood

Lot 0417 Mk5 Pondok Upeh, (somewhere along the hilly road between Balik Pulau and Relau)

Pemandangan Indah Jalan Tun Sardon,

Penang.

Mobile: 012-5646858

This delightful discovery definitely merits a 4-bam rating!

Robson Heights Seafood Restaurant, Off Federal Highway, Kuala Lumpur

It was hubby's birthday (I'm so late in blogging this) and we went for a meal at one of our favourite restaurants with granduncle and family. There were 6 of us that night.

We tried to eat healthy :D, so stir fried crunchy asparagus it was (RM12.00).

And of course, our usual favourite, the four heavenly king vegetables (RM15.00) in sambal belacan.
8 succulent slices of their signature baked spare ribs in honey sauce at RM72.00. This is my most favourite dish at this restaurant.

We tried their deep fried butter squid (RM15.00), good, but I still prefer their version of deep fried salted egg yolk sotong, alot tastier.

Since hubby loves steamed fish, we had a very expensive carp fish dish (RM104.00) steamed in Teochew style. It actually cost RM60.00/kg. It was super fresh, but methinks a tad too expensive for a fresh water fish. But never mind, it was hubby's birthday!

The meal cost RM229.00 for the 6 of us, inclusive of Chinese tea.

Robson Heights Seafood Restaurant

10-B, Jalan Robson, Off Jalan Syed Putra,

50460 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-22746216

For directions, please refer to our first posting on this restaurant.

Always a steady 4-bams here.

Tony Roma's @ Siam Paragon Mall, Bangkok

It was dinner time in Siam Paragon Mall, and there were 4 carnivores at large.

Ok, it's a tad sad, but this was actually our first time eating pork ribs at Tony Roma's. And how I wished then that I was not nursing a tummy bug, I could have eaten one whole rack of ribs in my peak form.

The Tony Roma's Bangkok menu: http://www.tonyromas-mms.com/files/menus/Bangkok%20Menu.pdf

Complimentary bread & butter.

We dug in to the Appetizer Sampler : Potato Skins, Fire Wings and Mozzarella Sticks with three dipping sauces (THB415). The fire wings and potato skins topped with cheese were super tasty, and deep fried breaded mozarella was definitely a new experience for me!


Our main course consisted of 2 full slabs of ribs. Slab #1 was The Original Baby Backs (THB595). Tony Roma's award winning baby back ribs were invented in 1972 in Florida, USA. They are world-famous for these babies. Cut from the tenderloin and basted with Tony Roma's original BBQ sauce, the restaurant considers them the “filet mignon” of ribs.

Slab #2 was the St. Louis-Style Ribs (THB595). A very special cut of spare ribs, the St. Louis-style ribs rank high in the thick, juicy and meaty departments. We tried it with Tony Roma’s Red Hots sauce; a zesty blend of chili pepper, black pepper, crushed red peppers, chipotle peppers and Tabasco sauce.

Rib entrées are served with cole slaw and a choice of baked potato, french fries, ranch style beans, rice, corn on the cob or tomato pesto.

Of the two types of ribs, I had a preference for the St. Louis-Style Ribs probably cos the marinade was smokier and sweeter, it had more zing to it.


The aftermath of our attack (which set us back THB1775). Burp!


Tony Roma's
Unit S 21,
Siam Paragon Shopping Center,
991 Rama 1 Road Pathumwan,
Bangkok 10330,
Thailand.
Website: http://www.tonyromas-mms.com/en/index.php?q=menu


Exceptionally great ribs! 4 bams, no less!