Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen at Grand Central Terminal

We were super excited when we heard about the Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen event that will be held in Grand Central Station's Vanderbilt Hall. It will be a two day event (Nov 5 & 6, 2010) and it's organized by Malaysia Kitchen for the World. The main purpose of this event is to introduce Malaysia (it's sights, sounds and most importantly, food) to NYC. We missed some of the past events organized by Malaysia Kitchen for the World (Night Market in Chelsea, Night Market under the Manhattan Bridge...etc), but we heard that they were awesome. So, we made sure that we would not miss this event, no matter what.
The event is split into two sessions per day. Lunch starts at 11:30am and it goes on til 2:30pm. The vendors then takes a break and the second session resumes at 4:30pm - 7:00pm for dinner. We arrived at Grand Central Station bright and early on Saturday for lunch. We wanted to get there early to avoid the crowds and stuff. We were glad we did cos by the time we left, the whole hall was just packed to the brim!
This is what part of what the hall looked like. With the bright colored umbrellas and stalls, it somewhat reminded me of the pasar malams (night markets) back home in Malaysia. We were also greeted by lovely smell of freshly cooked Malaysian food...ahhhh pure bliss! :D
As we walked around, we noticed that a lot of the popular Malaysian restaurants in Manhattan as well as Queens and Brooklyn turned up in full force. Among some of the participating restaurants were Bentara, Betel, Cafe Asean, Double Crown, Satay,Taste Good and Spot Dessert Bar. Even the big boys like Nyonya and Laut had stalls set up. This is the best thing ever. We had the chance to actually walk around and compare food from various Malaysian restaurants in the Greater NY area without having to actually travel and visit each one separately.
There are three really popular Malaysian grocery stores in NYC (one in Chinatown and two in Queens). Old Town Asia Market is located in Queens and they too set up stall at the event. They were selling all kinds of Malaysian groceries, from Aik Cheong coffee to various curry mixes. I have extra happy to see my favorite snack on sale....MAMEE!! I am a big fan of MAMEE noodles, I literally grew up eating MAMEE :P It's been a while since I ate a pack of MAMEE, so I just HAD to buy a few packs. I believe they were selling 3 packs for $1. Taking a big bite of MAMEE instantly took me back to my primary school days. I still remember smuggling packets of MAMEE in our uniform pockets and secretly nibbling on it during classes. It was like the coolest thing to do back then.
Apart from stalls selling all kinds of food and groceries, they also had entertainment lined up. There were cooking demonstrations by various chefs and Malaysian personalities. We managed to watch a cooking demonstration by Susheela Rhagavan, the author of the ever popular Flavors of Malaysia cookbook. She also had a book signing session later on that day.
Apart from cooking demonstrations, there were also cultural dance performances by the cultural dance troupe. There were too many people in front of me for me to take any decent pictures of the performance but I managed to slip backstage and took this picture when they were posing for official press photos. I just pretended to be part of the press! :P See, the things I do for this blog.
Alright, now it's time for some food!! We really wanted to sample some of the food from Laut. For those of you who don't know, Laut was recently awarded one Michelin star. It is the first Malaysian restaurant in the whole of US to receive that prestigious award. To receive such a huge culinary honor, they must be really good. So yeah, we were pretty stoked to try their food. They were selling Nasi Lemak that afternoon. We could choose between Chicken Curry ($5), Beef Rendang ($5) or both ($6). We tried both. The Chicken Curry and Beef Rendang came with a serving Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), sambal ikan bilis (anchovies in chili paste) and some cucumber. The Nasi Lemak was rather good but truthfully, it wasn't the best. We tried some of the Nasi Lemak from Nyonya and it was way better than Laut's Nasi Lemak.
We also tried some Mamak Mee ($7) from Satay. The reason why we chose to try the food from Satay was because Satay is located in Flushing, Queens. We wanted to know if the food was good or not. It doesn't make sense for us to go all the way to Flushing to check them out, only to find out that they are not that great. I'm glad that we tried their food. You know why? Well, cos the noodles really wasn't all that great :P LOL! It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best either. The fried noodles came with some vegetable achat and peanuts.
Apart from all the yummy Malaysian food and entertainment, another good thing about such events is that you get to meet a lot of other Malaysians living in NYC. We managed to make quite a lot of new friends that day. It's always good to meet up with fellow Malaysians, especially when you are so far away from home.
Overall, it was an awesome event! Very well planned out and organized. The best thing that we took away from this event was this booklet. A restaurant guide to all the Malaysian restaurants in the NY tri state area! Not only does it list out the restaurants, complete with address and phone numbers but it also comes with reviews of each of those places. Also, they would point out some of the more popular dishes from each restaurant. I did a quick count and there are over 50 restaurants in the tri state area that serves Malaysian and Malaysian inspired food! Looks like we have to work our way down that list and try to visit each and every one :P So yeah, we had a great time at the 2010 Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen and we will definitely look forward to the next event hosted by Malaysia Kitchen!

New Paris Restaurant - PJ, Malaysia

My family back home in Malaysia eats out almost everyday. Both my parents work and ever since my grandmother (she was the one that used to cook for us everyday) passed away more 10 years ago, we have been more or less eating out every day. You can imagine the headache of trying to figure out where to go to for dinner, every evening. There are times when we don't even know where to go to anymore. However, there are a few restaurants that the whole family enjoys eating at and New Paris in SS2 is one of them. In fact, we go there so often, it's like an extension of our kitchen! :P
Paris Restaurant started off as a humble little shack, selling super yummy home cooked dishes and rice. The food was good, the price was affordable and the service was really fast. It soon became really popular and they expanded from that little shack to their current location. Hence the new name - New Paris Restaurant. New Paris today is no longer a humble little shack. In fact, it's far from that. Taking up four shop lots and I believe four stories high, they definitely have come a long way. However, a few things still remain. Their good food and really fast service. They really put a new meaning to 'fast food'. I have no idea how they do it but you can see dishes just coming out from the kitchen at lightning speed! :D Totally amazing.
One of our favorite dishes from New Paris is their Home Made Tofu (RM12 = US$3.90). It is one of their signature dishes and a favorite among their regulars. Silky home made tofu deep fried and then topped with some soy sauce and minced meat. Very very yummy. As a little girl, Ashley would only eat this, whenever we go to New Paris. It was her absolute favorite dish! I believe it is still one of her favorite dishes up til today.
The Chinese believe that in every meal, there must be a balance. A little bit of meat, a little bit of vegetable and a little bit of rice. This is the mandatory vegetable dish. Truthfully, I am not really into vegetables (I am currently trying my best to grow to like them more and more :P). However, I totally love this vegetable dish. Stir Fried Spinach with Garlic (RM9 = US$2.90). A simple but yet flavorful dish. Another family favorite.
Ahhhh another 'must order' whenever we have dinner at New Paris. Their curries totally rock! We would usually order vegetable curry but today, we ordered Fish Curry with Vegetables (RM25 = US$8) instead. Really really good. It comes piping hot in a metal bowl. Large chunks of fish with green beans, eggplant, okra and onions. I could eat this everyday, its so good. All I need is a bowl of rice and some of this curry. That would make me a very happy girl!
Now, this is the main attraction! Deep Fried Pork Knuckles (RM38 = US$12.30) with a side of plum sauce. Check out the crispy skin! It's so so sinfully good. Of course we do not order this everyday (really high in fat content and pretty unhealthy). It's so good, I only wish that we could though. Unless of course we are all looking to get a heart attack from clogged arteries in the near future, this dish is only ordered occasionally as a special treat. I highly recommend this dish and it's one of my all time favorite dishes in New Paris.
Mmmm mmmm mmmmmm, look at all the empty dishes. There are rarely any leftovers whenever we go to New Paris. It's not because their servings are small (on the contrary, actually) but it's because their food is oh so good! Our dinner for 5 people came up to a total of RM102.40 (approx US$33). Not too bad at all, considering that we had a huge serving of pork knuckle and curry fish. Oh I love new Paris, oh yes I do!

New Paris Restaurant - PJ, Malaysia
62-64 Jalan SS2/72,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 7955 9180, 7955 0186

Restoran Teow Chew Meng - PJ, Malaysia

When you talk about Malaysian food, one would automatically think of Nasi Lemak, Char Koay Teow, Satay...things like that. You can pretty much find those delicacies anywhere in Malaysia. However, there are lesser known regional favorites that can only be found in certain areas in Malaysia. For example, there is the choon pneah (egg rolls), roti babi (stuffed deep fried bread), cheh hoo (a slightly spicy chinese salad) and my all time favorite, mee suah tow. Those dishes originate from Penang and you can pretty much only find it in Penang. In fact, unless you know somebody from Penang, there is a high chance you would not even have heard of those dishes before (yes, I am not just talking about foreigners but Malaysians from other states too!). As a little girl, I would look forward to lunches at the cafe in OFA with my parents. In my opinion, they made some really kick ass mee suah tow! Oh, sorry, for those of you who don't know, mee suah is flour vermicelli and mee suah tow is mee suah cooked in a starchy broth, somewhat like sharks fin soup.

After we moved to PJ, the only time we could get to eat mee suah tow was when we were back visiting Penang. You cannot believe our excitement when we saw a Teow Chew Meng branch in SS2! Yes, SS2! That's like 5 minutes away from my parents house in Damansara Jaya. Teow Chew Meng is well known for their uber yummy mee suah tow! They originally started selling their mee suah tow in a small shack somewhere in Butterworth and their children expended the business to an air conditioned shop in Pulau Tikus, Penang. From there, it continued to grow and they now have branches all over. This SS2 branch is not located in the main busy SS2 square but it's over on the quieter side of SS2, at the Seapark/SS2 border. It' faces the housing area and it's on the same row as Lobsterman.
Apart from the yummy mee suah tow, they have quite a lot of really good side dishes that you can order to share too. My favorite is the Apple Beancurd (RM10 = US$3.20). Deep fried beancurd topped with shredded granny smith apples, dried shrimp and a sweet thai influenced sauce. Really really good. The octopus with rojak sauce (RM10 = US$3.20 for small, RM15 = US$4.80 for regular) and seafood roll (RM10 small, RM15 regular) is good too.
My dad is not a big fan of mee suah tow (even though my mom, Ash and myself simply adores it). So, he would usually order the Seafood Fried Rice (RM10 = US$3.20). I tried a mouthful, it's not too bad. Nothing really to shout about though. It's just regular fried rice with some shrimp, squid, chicken and egg..topped with some spring onions. You could also order porridge, noodles as well as oyster noodles if you do not like mee suah tow.
Ahhhh here it is. A huge serving of Sharkfin Mee Suah Tow (RM11 = US$3.50 per person). This portion is for three people. Mee suah cooked with large shrimp, crabsticks, fish maw,fish slices, bamboo clams, squid in a flavorful thick seafood broth. It is then topped with sharkfin and fried garlic in oil. It is originally served with a whole bunch fresh cilantro and spring onions on top but we told them not to add that to ours (not a big cilantro fan :P). Mmmm mmm mmm, nothing beats a big bowl of piping hot mee suah tow, complete with black vinegar. So, the next time you are in SS2 and what to try something new, head over to Teow Chew Meng and order yourself a big bowl of Mee Suah Tow!

Restoran Teow Chew Meng - PJ, Malaysia
33, Jalan SS2/30
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 7877 9298

Kanna Curry House - Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

One of my all time favorite South Indian delicacy is the Banana Leaf Rice. I have yet to find a banana leaf rice restaurant here in NYC (if you know of any, please please please let me know!). Therefore, every time I am home in Malaysia, I would make it a point to eat as much banana leaf rice as I can. There are only two banana leaf rice restaurants that I would usually go to (I think they have the best banana leaf rice ever!). One of them is Nirwana Maju in Bangsar and of course, the ever popular Kanna Curry House in Section 17. Nirwana Maju is located right in the heart of Jalan Telawi 3, just opposite Bangsar Village. Since Kanna Curry House is located nearer to my parents house (compared to Nirwana), I would usually end up in Kanna.
Kanna Curry House occupies two shop lots at the fringe of Section 17., near the Rothmans Roundabout There is an air conditioned non smoking section inside and there are also tables and chairs under the big shady trees opposite the restaurant (I guess you can call it the smoking section :P). Yup, if you choose to smoke, you will have to brave the heat and sit outside! Parking is always a pain at Kanna. It's quite normal to see cars double (sometimes even triple) park along the streets and back streets around Kanna. We once spent almost half an hour just circling the neighborhood, looking for a spot. You know what? The food in Kanna is sooooo good, it was worth it!
For those of you who are not familiar with whole concept of banana leaf rice, here's how it works. A huge pile of steaming hot parboiled rice will be place on top of a banana leaf in front of you. Yes, the leaf is your plate! Three (sometimes four) different types of vegetables will then be scooped onto your leaf. They can range from cooling cucumber salads to potato chutney. Usually, crispy papadams will be served too. The rice, vegetables and papadams are free flow, so if you want seconds or even thirds, you can just get the waiter to top it up. The rice and vegetable combo in Kanna cost RM4.80 per person (approx US$1.50). It's almost the same price in Nirwana but you get something extra. They serve the best deep fried bitter gourd ever! Seriously, that's the main reason why I would go to Nirwana. It's all about the deep fried bitter gourd. Really good!
Alright, so now you have your rice and vegetables. Next, the waiters will bring out different types of curries. This is complimentary and you can help yourself to as much as you want. Most banana leaf rice restaurants would serve the usual three types of curry - fish curry, chicken curry and dhal (a non spicy dried lentils curry). In Kanna, you get two extra types. They are famous for their crab curry and salted fish curry. Now, THIS is the reason why I come to Kanna. The crab curry as well as the salted fish curry is AMAZING! I would usually mix all 4 (minus the dhal) curries together and just pour it on top of my rice. Thinking about it now makes my mouth water. Sooooo good. You must be thinking, wow, four curries at one go? I thought you always say that you have a weak stomach and have a low tolerance to heat? Yeah I do. However, this is so good, I would just go for it and then chug about half a bottle of Pepto Bismol later :P
Some people are just happy with the curries and vegetables but most people would order some dishes in the middle to share. The waiters would walk around with small plates of meat and curry and we could just pick out what we wanted. We chose a plate of mutton chop curry (RM5.50 = US$1.80) to share. The curry was really thick and the mutton was tender. Pretty good. There is also a deep frying station outside, where you could pick whatever meat/seafood that you want and they would fry it on the spot for you. There are all kinds of stuff to choose from. You can get pigeons, calamari, fish eggs, various types and cuts of fish, potato croquettes, shrimp or just regular fried chicken. We chose three pieces of chicken drumsticks/thighs (RM14.40 = US$ 4.60), two fish cutlets (RM9.60 = US$3) and a portion of deep fried fish eggs (RM5 = US$1.60). I loveeee the deep fried fish eggs. Super high in cholesterol but super yummy! I guess it's alright to eat some once in a while, just don't make it an everyday affair.
The total bill came up to RM62.50 (approx US$20) for four people. This includes 2 iced lemon tea, 1 hot milk tea, 1 mango lassi and a banana (yup, my dad ordered a banana for dessert :P). A little pricey for lunch (especially for Indian food) but I guess it's worth it. You cannot put a price tag on good food, can you? Oh and for those of you who are not familiar with Malaysian banana leaf rice culture, here is a little trivia for you. After you are done with your meal, the way you fold you banana leaf tells the owner of the restaurant if you enjoyed your food or not. If you were to fold the leaf inwards (towards you), it signifies that you had a good meal. If you were to fold the leaf in the opposite direction, it shows that you didn't enjoy you food. So yeah, the next time you are at a banana leaf rice restaurant, remember to fold your leaf correctly after your meal. We don't want the poor owner to think that he did a bad job when in reality, he didn't! :P

Kanna Curry House - Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
29, Jalan 17/45
Section 17, Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: (603)7958 4814
Fax: (603)7958 2829

Beef Noodles @ Kedai Kopi Lai Foong - KL, Malaysia

If you were to ask me where you can find the best beef noodles in KL, I would have to tell you that, in my opinion, nothing beats the beef noodles in Lai Foong. I know quite a few people who thinks that the Ngau Kee beef noodles in Tingkat Tong Shin is the best ever, but I beg to differ. Sure, it's good. In fact, better than good. We would usually head out there in the wee hours of the morning, right after a night of clubbing and partying. A big bowl of beef noodles usually hits the spot! However, I still firmly believe that the beef noodles in Lai Foong is way better than the Ngau Kee beef noodles. Yup, Lai Foong wins hands down! :D

Kedai Kopi Lai Foong (Lai Foong Coffee Shop) is located at the corner of Jalan Tun H.S. Lee and Jalan Tan Cheng Lock, right smack in the heart of the city. Amidst all the smog, dust from the busy main roads and loud constant honking from the crazy KL traffic is where you will find this little piece of heaven. We would make it a point to head down to the city every time we are back home in KL, just for the beef noodles. Something like my very own beef noodles pilgrimage :P As you can imagine, parking can be a problem. So, there are two ways to go about it. One is to take the LRT (Putra Line) and get off at the Pasar Seni (Central Market) station. Just cross the road and walk up a few blocks and you are there. The other option is to drive to Central Market and park at the Central Market parking lot. Option two is a little bit more expensive, cos parking in the city doesn't come cheap. However, it's more convenient. What we would usually do is, drive to Central Market, walk around for a bit (while picking up a whole lot of souvenirs for the folks back in the States), walk over to Lai Foong for a late lunch and continue down the street to Chinatown/Petaling St after lunch. Yup, that's our usual "Beef Noodle Pilgrimage". LOL!
Kedai Kopi Lai Foong is a pretty cool coffee shop. Walking into that coffee shop is like taking a step back in time. With it's dated tile floors and wall to the marble table tops and wooden chairs, it's definitely from a whole different era. I was told that this historic coffee shop is almost 60 years old. Wow, it's even older than Malaysia! Even though it's really old, it's still bustling with activity. It gets really packed during lunch hour, so the best time to go would be just before lunch or after the lunch crowd. As you can see from the clock on the wall, we went around 2:20pm and managed to get a table without having to fight for one.
Ahhhh, this is the famous beef noodle stall. The guy with the hat and red apron is Thomas, the beef noodle man himself! His dad started the beef noodle stall in Lai Foong back in 1956 and he took over after his dad retired. After all this years, the beef noodles still remains as good as it was back then. The stock is still made with the same 80 year old Hainanese family recipe that was passed to his father from his grandfather. No wonder those beef noodles are so mmm mmm goood!!!
Here is it! The famous beef noodles from Lai Foong. Mannnn, what I would do for a bowl of that now! Tender slices of beef and tendon, yummy beef balls, chopped salted mustard greens, cilantro and noodles in a hearty flavorful stock. Soooooooooo goood! It also comes with a side of home made chili sauce. What I would do is just pour the whole dish of chili sauce into that big bowl of noodles. It definitely kicks it up a notch. The price starts at RM5 (approx US$1.50) for a medium size bowl and it goes up til RM8 (approx US$2.50) for an extra large with a whole lot of extra toppings. It's so good, it's worth every cent! Maybe even more :P So, the next time you are in KL, go check out the beef noodle stall in Lai Foong. Trust me, it's the best beef noodles in KL, hands down!

Kedai Kopi Lai Foong - KL, Malaysia
138 Jalan Tun HS Lee,
50150 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Tel: (603)2072 8123

TaiTong Seafood - Penang, Malaysia

As promised, here is another review of one of the many restaurants that we went to during our trip back to Malaysia earlier this year. We had quite a lot of seafood when we were in Langkawi but we didn't really manage to eat much seafood while we were back in Penang (too busy spending time with the extended family and eating a whole lot of awesome home cooked food!). We were not going to leave Penang until we ate some seafood, so, for dinner during our last night in Penang, we headed out to Teluk Bahang. Teluk Bahang is a quaint little fishing village located on the Northwestern tip of Penang Island. Unlike Batu Feringghi (a major tourist destination and entertainment hub, just a mere 5KM away), Teluk Bahang is a sleepy, quiet, small town. Nothing much really happens in Teluk Bahang. One would say that it somewhat reminds you of Penang, say 20 years ago. However, Teluk Bahang is well known for one thing, and that is it's fresh seafood!

One of the most popular (if not, THE most popular) seafood restaurant in Teluk Bahang is the "End of the World" restaurant. It's been around for ages and people used to travel all the way to Teluk Bahang, just to eat there. Over the years, the quality of their food has declined. In fact, it is now not even located at it's original location and is under a new management. We decided not to eat at the End of the World but at TaiTong Seafood (located really close to the original location of the End of the World). TaiTong Seafood is actually a residential house that has been converted into a restaurant. Nothing really fancy, just a typical Chinese restaurant with handwritten menus and Carlsberg beer posters hanging on the wall :P It's usually at places like this where you can find the yummiest food. No frills, just good food.
After we sat down, they asked us what we wanted to drink. Of course they had the usual Chinese tea, sodas, fresh fruit juices, local coffee, Nescafe, Milo, Carlsberg beer...the usual stuff that you can find in Malaysian coffee shops. I then saw a banner for this drink called "Authentic 3 Layer Tea". I have actually seen that banner quite a number of times before but never got around to ordering it. I believe that it is originally from East Malaysia (Kuching, Sarawak to be exact)and it's really gaining popularity all across Malaysia. So, I decided to order one, just to say that I have tried it. From the photo, you can actually see the 3 layers. The bottom layer is gula melaka (local palm sugar) followed by a layer of evaporated milk and it's topped off with tea. Surprisingly, it tasted really really good. For only RM2.80 (approx US$0.90), it's really a bang for your buck!
Since we were planning on stuffing our faces with loads of seafood, we didn't order any steamed rice to go with the dishes. However, if you noticed, Malaysians NEED to have some sort of carbs with every meal. We believe that you will not be full unless you have some sort of carbs with your meal :P So, we ordered a large plate of Hokkien Char (RM 12 = US$ 3.80) to share. Hokkien Char is actually fried noodles with soy sauce, Hokkien style. It wasn't really the best, but it wasn't bad either. Yellow and rice noodles stir fried with a few pieces of chicken slices, fishcakes, small shrimp, beansprouts, mustard greens and topped with some fried onions. Nothing really to rave about. Oh, we also ordered a small portion of fried rice (RM5 = US$1.60) but I didn't managed to take a photo of it. I can't even remember if it was good or bad, so I would have to say that it was errrr, forgettable?
We also wanted to have some vegetables to go with our seafood.. The waitress suggested Thai Style Stir Fried Mix Vege (RM10 = US$3.20). Eggplant, okra and four angled beans, stir fried with some minced chicken and tom yum paste. It was a tad bit spicy (I expected it to be really spicy but was pleasantly surprised) and it tasted great!! I guess it must be one of the house specialities, since the waitress recommended this dish. Very nice.
Now it's time to bring on the seafood! First up is a type of shellfish called Bamboo shellfish (RM18 = US$5.70). I am not really sure what's the real name of this shellfish but it's commonly known as Bamboo shellfish in Malaysia. It's given that name for the mere reason that it's shell looks like bamboo. The Bamboo shellfish at TaiTong was really hugeee and juicy. It was lightly stir fried in some Chinese wine and topped with some cilantro, green onions, carrot shreds, ginger and red chillies. A really tasty and well balanced dish. Just the right amount of ginger and cilantro to balance out the fishy smell that sometimes comes along with this type of shellfish.

Next up is the the Steamed Sea Scallops (RM27 = US$8.60). A very simple dish actually. Fresh sea scallops steamed with some seasonings and topped with some ginger, spring onions, carrots and cilantro. You can taste that the scallops were really fresh. However, we were quite disappointed with this dish because the scallops were really small! We had hoped for bigger ones. It would have tasted so much better if the scallops were a tad bit bigger. Oh well :(
Ahhhhh Kevin and my mom's favorite dish. Sweet and Sour Chili Crabs (RM87 = US$28)!! This is seriously Kevin's all time favorite Malaysian seafood dish. Whenever we are back here in the States, he would go on and on and on about how yummy the Malaysian Sweet and Sour Crabs were and how he wished he could eat them again. If there is one dish that he really misses from the days when he was living in Malaysia, this is it (well, Char Koay Teow too I guess :P). The Sweet and Sour Crabs in TaiTong was alright. Nothing really great about it but it wasn't bad either. For Penang standards (since Penang is the food capital of Malaysia), I would say that it was only mediocre.

We also ordered some cute mantau buns to eat with the crabs. 5 fried buns and 5 steamed buns (RM6 = US$1.90). Yes, I know. There are only 4 fried buns in the photo. I think my dad (or was it Ashley??) ate one of the fried buns before I had a chance to take a photo of it :P

Now, the pièce de résistance of our meal. A yummy, creamy, cheesy serving of Lobster Thermidor (RM165 = US$52.70). Chunks of fresh lobster meat and an assortment of vegetables, cooked with cream sauce and stuffed backed into the lobster shell. It is then topped with cheese and baked. It tasted great but the downside was that there were a whole lot of vegetables and just a few pieces of lobster. I would say that it wasn't really worth the RM165. However, I would still have to say that it was really really really yuuummmmyyy!
Our total bill came up to RM337.60 (approx US$108) for 5 people. It's not too bad really, putting into consideration that about half of that bill already went to the lobster. Overall, it was a great night. We had a great time eating some really fresh (and relatively cheap) seafood and more importantly, spending time with my parents and Ashley. Ooooohhhh we can't wait to go home to Malaysia again and stuff our faces silly with all that yummy seafood! Oh and of course to see our family too :P

TaiTong Seafood - Penang, Malaysia
4 Jalan Hassan Abbas,
11050 Teluk Bahang,
Penang, Malaysia
Tel: (604)885 1693
Cell: (6019)417 7969/(6016)481 4789
Hours: Mon - Fri (3:00pm - 10:30pm), Sat & Sun (noon - 10:30pm)

Hainanese Delights - Penang, Malaysia

When we were back in Malaysia for Chinese New Year earlier this year, we spent about 90% of our time there eating :P Malaysians eat all the time, in times of celebration, during family gatherings, when meeting up with friends, in times of sadness...anytime! Not only do we enjoy eating, but we also enjoy hunting down and discovering places that serves good food. I dare say that almost the whole nation is made up of foodies. Therefore, you can imagine the amount of places/restaurants we tried during our one month vacation in Malaysia. Over the next few weeks or maybe even months (hey, we went to a LOT of places to eat :P), we will try to feature at least one restaurant, once every few days. We hope that our reviews will help our Malaysian readers decide where to go to for their next meal and also introduce the various types of food found in Malaysia to our non Malaysian readers. Alright, so sit back and join us on our gastronomical tour of Malaysia.

We were back in Penang (my family now lives in KL but Penang is our hometown) to celebrate Chinese New Year. Like us, many families from all over Malaysia would return to Penang for CNY. Now, Penang is well known for it's food. So, you can imagine the crowds and chaos at eating places during this season. My dad was working that day (the last day before the long CNY vacation), so my mom took us and Ashley out to lunch. She said that if we wanted really authentic Hainanese food, we should check out Hainanese Delights. So, we braved the crowds and headed to 1926 Heritage Hotel. Hainanese Delights is located inside that hotel. On a side note, 1926 Heritage Hotel is pretty cool. Built in 1926, this row of link houses, with Anglo-Malay architecture used to be the living quarters for British colonial officers and local administrators. Today, they have restored 24 of those link houses and converted them into this beautiful heritage hotel. Cool eh?
As expected, there was a huge crowd at Hainanese Delights (even though it was way past lunch time). We managed to get a table and we were told that because of the CNY season, we could not order from the regular menu but we had to order from the set menu. The set consist of one appetizer, four dishes, steamed rice and one dessert. It cost RM38 (a lil over US$11) per person and we could mix and match a variety of meat, vegetable and seafood dishes. For our appetizer, we HAD to order the Choon Piah (egg roll). Apart from the Roti Babi (fried bread stuffed with meat), I would say that this is one of the most popular Hainaese appetizers ever. Stuffed with meat, crab meat and a host of vegetables, the Choon Piah is traditionally served with a dish of Lea and Perrins sauce. Mmm mmm mmmmm, so good. As expected, it was really good. You can travel all over the world, but you must always return home to Penang to get the best Choon Piahs. Yeah, it's that good.
We also ordered the Braised Leg of Lamb. It was served with some steamed ladies finger (okra) on the side. Juicy and tender, it was pretty good. Also, it was marinated really well and it didn't have that gamey smell that sometimes comes along with lamb dishes. A nice well balanced dish.
Ahhh another Penang favorite, the Assam Prawns (jumbo shrimps marinated with tamarind). The prawns were really huge but unfortunately, the portion was really small. We only had one prawn each :( However, that one prawn really really good. We had to like eat really slow and savour it's yumminess! LOL! Man, I wished the portion was a lil bigger.
For our vegetable dish, we chose the Stuffed Tofu with Broccoli and Crabmeat Sauce. The tofu was stuffed with shrimps. A very light and tasty dish. A nice change from all the other 'heavy' dishes.
We had two choices for our curry dish. We could choose between the Assam Curry Fish (a spicy sourish kind of curry) or Lemak Curry Fish (coconut based, thus making it creamier). Both the curries would be yummy but we went with the Assam Curry because Penang is more well known for it's Nyonya style Assam Curries. The curry was awesome, with really fresh fish and vegetables (onions, tomatoes, okra, lemongrass..etc). It was also served with some fresh mint on top. Boy, it tasted so good with the steamed rice. Yummy!

On top of the set menu, we could choose to add on their house speciality, the Macaroni Pie (RM25 per pie). Their Chicken Pies are also really well known. You see, it's really difficult these days to find authentic Hainanese style Macaroni Pies. It was probably invented back during the colonial era by Hainanese cooks for the British officers and not many people know how to make them anymore. Therefore, if you can find a place that serves them, you HAVE to order it. So, we did! :D The kitchen somehow goofed up and we had to wait reallllllly long for it though. Was it worth it? Well, it was good but it wasn't exactly the Macaroni Pie that I remembered from my childhood. The top layer was the same but the filling was different. The filling in Hainanese Delights was more 'Asian inspired', where else the authentic ones were way creamier. I believe the last time I had really really good Macaroni Pie was in Hollywood Restaurant in Tanjung Bungah (it's long gone now) when I was a little girl. A little bit disappointed with the Macaroni Pie here.
For our dessert, they served us Ais Krim Potong..yay!! Another trip down memory lane. We used to buy this cheap ice cream sticks from the ice cream man on a bicycle after school. He would cut little bars of ice cream from a huge block and stick a skewer into it. Hence the name Ais Krim Potong (cut ice cream). The more popular flavors would be red bean, yam (taro), green bean, corn and durian (my fav!). Hainanese Delight served us some yam and durian ones :D Overall, I would say that the food was pretty awesome. Comfort food at it's best. The food in Hainanese Delights definitely brings you back to another era, to a time when the British ruled over Malaya but the Hainanese chefs ruled in the kitchen. The only downside is the price. The total bill came to RM185.85 (US$60) for four people! That's really expensive (especially since it's only for lunch), for Penang standards. Come to think of it, it's even expensive for KL. Oh well, I guess that's the price you have to pay for authentic comfort food these days.

Hainanese Delights - Penang, Malaysia
1926 Heritage Hotel
228 Burma Road,
10050 Georgetown,
Penang, MALAYSIA
Tel: (604) 226 1926
Hours: Open Tue-Sun 11:30am-3pm, 6pm-10pm

Roti Canai Ham & Cheese Roll

Remember my post about the Roti Canai Hot Dog Roll and Roti Canai Chicken Puff? Well today, I am going to make another really simple and quick recipe using frozen roti canai. This time around, I'm making Roti Canai Ham & Cheese Rolls.

Start off by taking out a piece of frozen roti canai from the freezer and allowing it to thaw on the kitchen counter for about 5-10 mins. Remember not to over thaw. We just need it to be pliable. If you overthaw the frozen roti canai, it will be very sticky, thus making it really hard to work with.

Next, brush on some egg wash onto the roti canai. If you notice, the first few steps in this recipe is exactly the same as the roti canai hot dog recipe.

Then, place a large piece of ham (you can use two or three pieces if your ham is really small) and one stick of mozzarella string cheese onto the roti canai.

Roll the roti canai up and tuck in the sides. Make sure that everything is nicely tucked in. If not, the cheese will ooze out when it melts. Once you have rolled it up nicely, you can then place it onto a greased baking tray. Remember to cut some slits on the top of the rolls. This is to allow steam to escape while baking.

After cutting the slits on the top of the rolls, brush on some egg wash. The egg wash will give the rolls a nice golden brown color when it's done baking.

Pop it in a 350F preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Once it's done, allow it to cool down for a while before serving.

There you go! A yummy looking piece of roti canai ham and cheese roll. You can cut it to half before serving. It's just perfect for an afternoon snack or something to munch on while watching TV. Not only are they really simple to make, but they are really yummy to eat!