Halal Dim Sum

Recently, I keep having the feeling that I miss doing some of the things I used to do in the past. And one of the main ones, aside from swim, bike or run, is to have my weekly sunday morning dim sum breakfast. Oh I miss that!

Rewind to five years or more ago, if I don't have a race or long ride or run on a Sunday, that would be my weekly dimsum outing. And if I do have an event, sometimes that Sunday would be replaced with a Saturday. Seriously miss that.

Now the only thing that come close to this is I keep looking out for halal dimsum as and when I can and bear with the MSG-laden taste if I'm unlucky. Otherwise, pay a hefty sum to get a superb-tasting one.

And recently, I found one at CHINA TREASURES - a halal chinese cuisine restaurant sited at the Sime Darby Convention centre in Bukit Kiara. It was one of those 'discount coupon' thing which caught my attention. RM27 per pax(something like tat) for an ala-carte dimsum buffet. So bought 5 for the 5 of us from the office and finally we went last week.

I was expecting something like the one I get in Holiday Villa Subang's Chinese restaurant, but this was fantabulous. The variety and even the taste. But of course, the price per plate is also more expensive. Thank goodness we had the voucher.

At this place, it averages at RM9 per plate. Steep pricing, but if really no choice, this is really delicious, actually. Equavalent to those non-halal places. (In my opinion-lah)

So when the bill came, between the 5 of us, we had 30plates, and thats a whooping RM270, if ala-carte. However, we already paid for the voucher at RM135 and that's really a 50% saving. In actual fact, they do have that ala-carte buffet but it is at RM48+ I think. Can't remember. Which I think is also quite a good deal. Eat more than 5 plates, and you're equivalent already. Hahaha sound so greedy!

Anyway, if you're craving really good halal dimsum and don't mind paying, this is the place to go. Sorry, too busy eating and no photos taken. One unique dish was the salted egg yolk bun - which is actually a steamed pau, black in colour (yes, its black) with really nice creamy salted egg yolk filling. I can't describe it more, but just super delicious.

I will return! Likely with mum in tow. :)

Something about Saigon

Vietnamese spring rolls

OK OK, it's not 'something about Mary' :)

Somehow, FB seems to be inaccessible from here. Lappy or phone both can't. I wonder why. Even Wifi from another location seems unsuccessful.

anyway, so I post up pics here instead.

A few days before I left for Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), another colleague of mine who just got back from a really really short trip to Hanoi complained she had nothing to eat. Yup, apparently Hanoi had halal food-drought. Well, I was more of the opinion that she wasn't as adventurous and she had a group of other colleagues (international, I must say) with her, so it made it harder for her to go food-hunting alone. So to be safe, although hubby has been here before, he told me to just pack 2 cans of canned food, just in case.

I'm staying right in the heart of town, right smack where all the branded shopping outlets are. And to my surprise, the street right across the hotel is the 'halal' street. Another street not too far away seemed to be the 'Japanese food street' complete with karaoke entertainment outlets.

2 of the 3 halal eateries are owned by Malaysian. But this one (Halal@Saigon) was my choice cos it had local fares.

The other, D'Nyonya was more of a Malaysian fare. I didn't come all the way to eat Malaysian food :)

My less than RM1 bottle of Coke...only if they had Vanilla Coke :)

What is that?

A very much delayed posting.

The picture doesn't do much justice as I keep forgetting and only took the photo at night. I'm not good at night photography (not that I was any good in any photography for that matter ;p)

Take a guess - what did I make? take a guess....It's not shaped like it's supposed too!

Savoury scones - aubergine, chicken ham and cheddar scones. My first attempt and it wasn't too bad. Though the dough turned out to be not as thick as it should be (it should be able to be rolled like bread dough but turned up not) it still tasted fine. I wasn't bothered to actually add more flour to make it thick to its required consistency, fearing that I might do something wrong and also the fact that I would then have too many scones!

Turned out I has scones with lots of stuff! :) Attempt #2 is in the queue...tonight or tomorrow!

Sashimi on a Wednesday

Chinese New Year, birthday & everything nice

AIR's rainbow cake

the steamboat affair from the balcony into the living room after it rained ;p


Chinese New Year came and gone (the first few days lah). While we were also busy preparing for open house cum birthday celebration for AIR1, many were travelling back. Thank goodness this year we decided to just stay here and not go up north. Mum & Dad came.


CNY was kinda quiet. With most of my friends up north we just relaxed at home with a steamboat dinner on the eve. 1st day CNY which usually is spent at home while my relatives visit was still spent at home. Relaxing with family and entertaining the kids. 2nd day was when the ‘full swing’ came. Since it wasn’t a huge affair, things were kept simple.


Luckily we were not extremely ambitious so not much leftovers like the previous time.


AIR1 loved his Upin& Ipin themed cake and he just wanted to ‘eat’ them. The next day he woke up and saw the cake gone, but later I showed him the portion I saved and he said to me ‘Ipin sleep’. He ate the ‘eye’, ‘head’ and some of the alphabets. :)


Beautiful cake, but a tad too sweet. The icing and even the cake itself was very sweet. Otherwise I’d have wallop every remaining bit of it, I guess. haha


Over the weekend, nothing much happened. Had indian mutton briyani. Superb! that was lunch. Dinner another mutton/lamb meal. Oh boy...talk about lamb overload! :)


Sunday dinner was another family gathering. Thought of balinese-style food, we went to Subak, only to realise it's actually western. Should have gone to Bora Ombak or Bora Asmara, but nevertheless though Subak was slightly pricey, ambience and food was superb. I guess AIR1 enjoyed it most as it had so much space for him to explore!

Banana Spring Roll

I thought it was just plain spring rolls but it turned out to be banana spring roll. No, not the one closest, the one in the far end of the photo. It just looks like regular spring roll (popiah) but its got a strip of banana inside. ;p

One of the things available in Lahad Datu only ;p

Halal BBQ Meat

The CNY season is here again!

Sometimes looking at some of the delicacies which I have previously enjoyed, I do feel that someone should come up with a halal version. Thank God I don't have that many of those food which I miss, because generally those waxed meat are not my favourite.

However, I do miss the ocassional floss and BBQ meat.

1-2 years' back, there was this outlet DQ Meat which sells halal BBQ meat and floss. Chicken, beef, lamb and some fish products. I was overjoyed. But then again, these don't come cheap. But because of the craving (once a year during CNY not enough, even before this), I will just buy a bit, enough for myself, because hubby doesn't fancy these.

And not too long ago, the DQ meat outlet in MidValley closed down. Kinda expected that to happen. Now I wonder if the stall in Pavillion is still in existance. And so there goes my only source of halal BBQ meat.

Yesterday, suddenly one of our suppliers gave us 2 boxes of halal BBQ meat and guess where they're from? Kyros Kebab! Yipee!! instantly I searched the web for more info, and I will go grab some this weekend! Can't wait. Check them out here.

I'm overjoyed!

BTW, I digress! Where do the chicken floss used in those bakeries which sell buns with floss come from? They're supposed to be halal, so where can I find them? Or IS IT actually halal?

Sabah Chicken Rice

Sounds very erm 'grand' but the menu and the shops seems otherwise. It actually sells more than just chicken rice. hah!

But, the rice isn't very tasty. The chicken's quite nice and this place is actually erm like a typical Chinese 'tai chow' place. There's the one-dish-meals and ala-carte dishes you can order and have with rice. Nothing to shout about lah, but kinda pricey for a small town.

RM7 for a small portion of mix vege, RM4.50 for one portion of roast chicken, RM6.50 for a portion of clay pot noodles. Price is more like what I get in KL. Maybe we'll just go for the road side stalls tomorrow. Wanna see what the locals have here.

It's amazing that these people just like to do business in the dark. No street lights, but they will set up stalls by the road side. Nothing much to explore but luckily not all shops close at 9pm anymore. 1 more night to go.

Hungry again...

Why is it that everytime I bring food (not limited to rice only) from home (for lunch at the office), I will always feel hungry almost immediately after?

If I tapau from the stall outside, even if its just mixed rice and nothing fancy, once in a while I do get that feeling. But if I eat outside, I don't get that hunger immediately.

Mmm maybe I must try eating at my desk instead of in the pantry. Pantry can be quite cold.

Oh well....

Food during Ramadhan

It's been a lazy Ramadhan for me!

The only thing I've cooked was spagethi and that was only once and ate for 2 sahurs. :) The rest - we've been tapau-ing.

Technically its not exactly being lazy, but everytime I feel like/want to cook, with the tod wanting attention and sometimes disturbing, I find it easier (for now) to not cook. We have very different sahur patterns also :) No 'proper meal' is required. Thank God for that. So saves alot of hassle.

Teringin jugak to cook especially when I see those food many keep posting showing what has/had been cooking in the kitchen, but I guess that, for me perhaps will be next year! Since I managed to do it even when I was preggy with AIR1, not being pregnant also for sure can lah!

So no food pic to show! :)

Happy fasting!

Sugar cane

Haaa notice that? Know what that is?

I love eating sugar cane 'raw'. It's been eons, perhaps about 20 years since I ate it that way, and suddenly this Ramadhan, seeing the sugar cane water stalls selling sugar cane, I was tempted to ask for one length of it. And yesterday, hubby came back with this. I was thrilled and happy but have yet to chew into it yet...tonight will be the night.

Now, how did I come to have that 'eating habit'? When I was a kid, during the 9th day of the Chinese New Year, the Chinese will pray to the God of Heavens (Tnee Kong) and there will be sugar canes offered. After prayers, my mum used to cut them up into segments (and smaller) and then keep in the fridge. Then, when we felt like it, we'll take it and chew on it. It's really nice, some have alot of juice and some are just hopeless. Not worth the effort.

And I do miss 'eating' sugar cane :) Now, I will re-live this....hehehe

Infant Formula

How do you find the best infant formula, presuming that budget is not a restriction? Does the most expensive mean the best? Well, it is usually equated to that.

So does it mean if you can't afford expensive milk, your baby would be deprived of nutrients or the better stuff? Sounds like it...

It's kinda sad, isn't it? Since having AIR2, I've been pondering on what formula should I give her when I go back to work. The nursery do not want to take EBM, only formula. Well, I guess with many kids around, formula is easier to handle.

Milk prices have increased tremendously. When AIR was an infant, up to 12 months, we gave him 'expensive formula' as it wasn't THAT expensive at that time, and we had a family friend who was working in the company and was able to purchase it at almost 30% off the rack-price, and so that saved us a lot in the long run. Considering how much a baby boy takes, it definitely did save the pocket.

Now, the princess though doesn't drink much, but the substantial increase in costs, at almost 25% (and if compare this to the staff-price, it'll be almost 55%), THAT's ALOT of $$$!!

So, back to the question - how do you determine which is the best? Some have DHA-ARA and whatever-A and some gangliosides, some iron, some dunno what other enhnaced vitamins etc etc

Can it be concluded that the general rule of the thumb still lies in the more u spend, the better it is? ;p

Restaurant Hj Shahrin Low

Finally we set foot here. With the whole family for lunch.

I guess from its location, its not much of a lunch-place as when we were there, there were only a handful of tables occupied. So we ordered BBQ Duck, Salted Egg Crab, Sweet and Sour Fish, Sze Chuan soup, vege and Yam Basket. Enough to feed 8-10 people but there were only 4 adults and AIR1 was asleep.

Our verdict - cooking style very much like a Chinese restaurant. Duck was normal, nothing to shout about, but its rare to find a halal shop selling duck, hence my excitement. Crab was quite good (though i don't take crab) but it would've been better if not for frying in dough first. Fish and vege and yam basket were all good. Soup - I guess it's been a while since I had something like this, so its not too bad. Overall, ok la, can go again for the other dishes. It's nothing exceptional here, its just that it is HALAL so there's alot of variety. Food price - exclude the fish and crab, and its very reasonable. Even the price for the fish and crab weren't exorbitant.

Macaroons finally

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

And finally i sunk my teeth into many macaroons :)

I actually purchased those in Pic 3 first from Whisk in Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang. A tad pricey as they were slightly larger than our 50sen coin and cost me RM18 for 10pcs or RM2 each. But for the sake of trying, I bought 10. Too small to actually enjot the uniqueness of the dough.

Pic 1 & 2 were ordered online. Ga-teaux.blogspot - her web and she's got lots of nice and unique goodies...Now I know where to get my cakes from. Much larger, the way I imagined it, and so can enjoy the taste and texture. At a minimum order of 24pcs, I took AIR2's fullmoon as an excuse to buy, so can share with my relatives. Otherwise when else can I finish 24pcs?? That too, I still brought home about 10 pcs. Not much of a sweet-tooth person with many reasons bout health etc...

Now that I've tasted it, I do like it, but need to find 'kaki' to enjoy it with me la :)

Macaroons

I've this sudden urge to want to eat macaroons.

Adoi, it's so difficult to find. Found one online, but when I sent an email to enquire, no reply. Then another, I've got to drive out to Jln Tun Razak so that'll have to wait.

Hmmmm no, I'm not going to attempt to make them cos the ingredients are different from what I have on hand and abit more tedious in preparation.

Guess it'll have to wait!

'Chang'

That's my brekkie this morning. The supposedly 'original chang' but for RM2, I guess it's Hainan relative is more worth it (@RM5+ for 2 with 2 pcs chicken, 1 whole shitake mushroom, 1 salted egg yolk and lots more dried shrimps).

What's inside? I forgot to take pic laaaa, but there's only half a shitake mushroom (the ones that are dried and then soak in water before cooking) and one piece (miserable piece, if I may add) of chicken and some dried shrimps. Somehow the chicken in this is better than the Hainan one, though they look the same and are from the same manufacturer. The latter seemed to have more errmm msg taste.

Neways, this was the closest frozen chang I could find. But oh well, unless mum decides to be rajin (well, I overheard a convesation between her and my aunties wanting to make some this year), beggars can't be choosers and I will have to just make do with this.

Fong, if that happens, I'll reserve some for you ;p

I do miss Ah Ma's 'action-packed' chang and all the other varients which she used to make......

Oh maybe mum can make Lor Mai Kai after my confinement? ;p kekeke

Dim Sum galore

That was Round #1...the must haves :)

Round #2 - forgot to take photo, mostly fried stuff

Round #3 - not so many but there were a few more

There were few more rounds, (well technically not rounds cos we only took one or two additional at one time) which this time was significantly less than the one we had on Mother's Day. Tummy no space already :)

Planning/Scheming for another trip there preferably before D-Day! :)

Pasta Carbonara

I love creamy pasta and the easiest and yummiest of all (from my point of view) is the carbonara.

Many tries of many different recipes but they all don't taste as good as the ones you get when you have to pay lots of $$$. Or is it that my cooking is horrible? Until I chanced upon this recipe. Somehow those that use milk and add eggs didn't turn out as nice as I expected it to be. This recipe (unfortunately I can't get the link again) uses cream and no eggs (ideal for preggies) and turns out superb. The orignal recipe for carbonara uses milk and eggs but there have been many variants to it and this happens to be one which Chef Wan cited and now I love it.

Aaaaah can't wait to sink my teeth into it again lunchtime today!

Bumbu Desa vs Waroeng Ayam Penyet

Relatively new outlet in Curve. Seen it few times but haven't tried it out.

First impression - it looked like a buffet setting, but actually its more or a 'nasi campur' kind of setting. Dishes are displayed but after you have chosen they will prep/heat it for you. There's also a menu for the displayed dishes and other sides and drinks.

From the display, it looked just like dishes you'll get at the Waroeng Penyet or even Wong Solo. Aside form the array the chillies (3 types), patin asam peda and another variety of rice, the rest looks quite typical of the menu you'll get at Wong Solo. I wasn't too impressed.

Quite pricey.

Taste? We (Mum and I) had ayam bakar (tasted like the one in Wong Solo except its slightly bigger), gado-gado (better at Wong Solo) and fried baby kailan (nothing to shoult about). My verdict - the only plus point is that the portions are catered for the number of people, unlike in Wong Solo where you have small and medium only (or was it medium and large) or the Waroeng.
Variety? They have a few varieties of chicken and fish preparation. Compared to the other 2, better.
Price? Waroeng is still the cheapest among these 3.
Ambience? This place is quite nice tho abit dark, but tables are a tad too small, the indoor is quite warm and congested.
Service? Amidst lunch time and they can tell you the soup has finished and the kangkung is not ready (though the display is set, without the vege). The crew are all indons and do not speak our Malay at all (or even a little). So if people like my mum go there alone, she will have no idea what they are blabbing about.

My point is, I wouldn't go back there again on my own or recommend it to people. Yes, that's true because there's nothing to shout about at all.

Now I digress. If at work, then I'll choose Waroeng (its just one floor above Bumbu). If I'm at home, it's closer to go to the Ampang outlet of Wong Solo (there's another in Kg. Baru).

Food and Mother's Day!

I was babbling away yesterday but I never posted up that in my blog. Hah!

Today, am I at it again? Kekekeke

Was looking for a nice pic to put up, tapi tak jumpe. The nicer ones had me making weird mouth & funny faces or it was blur. Hmmm

So, what’s up for Mother’s Day? Oh yes, the gathering at Superkids!! Will be there. But the day before, I’ve booked a Dim Sum breakfast for my mum & myself (hubby outstation) and of cos AIR. Ahhhhh can’t wait. I’m thinking of the Lor Mai Kai, steamed lamb (ala ‘pai kuat’) and the chicken feet. Kekekeke it may follow with dinner with relatives after…oh well, we’ll shop it off after that!

Gosh so much eating! No wonder tummy now expanding. At times, when Jr kicks, I feel like my tummy is bursting. Especially when Jr does the slow s-t-r-e-t-c-h! Adoi!!

Guess it'll be a rather quiet Mother's Day except for the eating!