DRAGON CITY - VILLAGE CUISINE

Bukit Tinggi New Village (BT) is located between the foothills of Genting Highlands and Berjaya Hills along the Karak Highway. What used to be an unassuming little village where the chickens run wild and fresh vegetables & fruits are cultivated, is now a major layover for hungry travellers plying that stretch. I have lost count of the number of seafood restaurants in this village - each time I visit a new one seems to have sprouted up. During the weekends, the village can get really crowded. What entices the crowd besides the cheaper prices is the availability of live fishes and fresh vegetables.

If you would like to enjoy food from BT but hate crowded places (like me), check out Dragon City. The chef had recently ventured out from the Village to set up this restaurant in Setapak. And I was told that his supply of vegetables still comes from there.

Their piece de resistance is definitely the Steamed Chicken (味林鸡), which must be ordered in advance. The free range chicken (specially brought in from BT) could explain why the meat is extremely succulent and tender which more than justifies its premium price. The heavenly Blended Ginger & Spring Onion Dip (味林酱) complements the chicken meat very well.

Check out their Steamed Fish and Stir-Fried Fresh vegetables while you are here. They appear to use a premium grade of Soy sauce which is sweet (less salty) that flavours the steamed fish and vegetable dishes very well. For the more adventurous, I will also recommend trying their Claypot Terrapin (沙锅水鱼) and Steamed Wild Frog meat (清蒸田鸡).

Steamed Chicken 味林鸡 (RM45.00 for whole chicken)

Blended Ginger & Spring Onion Dip 味林酱

Stir-fried Sweet Potato Leaves 清炒树苗 (RM11.00)

Stir-fried Kangkung 清炒马来风光 (RM11.00)

Stir-fried Fresh Mushroom with French Beans 生菇甜豆 (RM18.00)

Golden Fried Tofu in a Pot 锅子豆腐 (RM24.00)

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Dragon City Restaurant (新龙城)

Address: No. 18, Jalan Rampai Niaga 3, Medan Niaga Rampai, 53300 Kuala Lumpur.

Contact number: 012-3180399

Reservation: Not required

Opening hours: N/A

Cuisine: Chinese (non Halal)
Must order: Steamed Chicken (味林鸡), Steamed Fish (蒸鱼), Stir-fried Fresh Vegetables (清炒菜)

Must not order: N/A
Budget for 4 pax: RM100
My verdict: 4 stars

EL CERDO - PIGGING OUT

El Cerdo is Spanish for The Hog and understandably, their menu in one way or another is dominated by pork. The cuisine at El Cerdo is not exclusively Spanish though, a potpourri of other European favourites are on the menu including German, Italian, and Greek fare.

El Cerdo is located along Changkat Bukit Bintang, a street now littered with fine restaurants and bistros. Parking is limited on this street. But not to worry since for a mere ten ringgit, car jockeys will gladly pick up your vehicle and deliver it after your meal.

As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted at the door by Ham-ona Lisa before being whisked away to our table by the very attentive staff. We were the first diners to arrive but an hour later at 7.30pm this cosy little restaurant was practically filled up. Hence prior reservations are highly recommended especially during weekends.

Ham-ona Lisa - she is always at the door to greet visitors.

We made 6 picks from the main menu (excluding the 2 jugs of Sangria) and 2 picks from the kids menu. Our orders were delivered to the table, sandwiched between a complimentary cup of Cream of Asparagus Soup to start off the meal, and a complimentary shot of Vodka with Lemon to end our meal. Total bill came out to four figures!

The Hickory Smoked Ribs was by far the best dish, edging out even the star attraction. Marinaded in spices, fine herbs, chutneys and rum, the flavour infused all the way to the bones (I'm not kidding).

The Iberico Shoulder Loin Steak was not bad too. First time I ever laid my fingers on the meat of an Iberian Black pig, which did not disappoint. The meat was very tender and tasted more like beef than pork.

The main star, a little pig that came all the way from Segovia in Spain (Cochinillo Al Estilo Segoviano), received full points though for the accompanying entertainment. As opposed to the Chinese-style Roasted Suckling Pig, here the piglets receive very little marinade. So, expect to get the full flavour of the pork. I was a bit disappointed though that thick layers of fat accompanied the meat (probably baby fat since this little pig can't be more than a month old). We were told that the piglets were drenched in white wine prior to roasting to give it a crunchy and crispy texture. To prove that they were true to their word, they gave away plates to a few of us to help carve the pig. And in Greek tradition, we get to smash up these plates after the carving session for good luck. Opa!

El Cerdo may not be the place to visit every weekend but it'd get my vote should you be looking for a place to splurge on a special occassion, especially when pork-u-pine.

Rose Raspberry Sangria (RM95.00 a jug).

Cream of Asparagus Soup (RM0.00) - complimentary Soup of the Day.

Oyster Kilpatrick (RM96.00) - the bits of ham that decorated the oyster was delicious.

Hickory Smoked Pork Soft Ribs (RM68.00) - Full of flavour (best dish on the night).

Iberico Shoulder Loin Steak (RM88.00) - tender.

Roasted Suckling Pig (RM219.00 for whole piglet, RM118.00 for half piglet).

A staff member demonstrating how to carve the Pig, with a plate.

Some of us got to show off our carving skills.

The carving plate gets smashed up - Greek tradition for good luck.

Alio Olio with Seafood (RM28.00) - delicious.

Seafood Paella (RM95.00) - colourful.

Vodka with Lemon (RM0.00) - complimentary after-dinner washdown.

The cute little Iberian pig impostor was a take-home gift for the birthday celebrants.

Waste not - Piggy bag for the leftovers.

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Restoran El Cerdo at Werner's Place

Address: 43 & 45, Changkat Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Contact number: 03-2145 0511

Reservation: Highly recommended (especially on weekends)

Opening hours: Lunch & Dinner (Sun - Fri), Dinner only (Sat)

Cuisine: European (Non Halal)
Must order: Hickory Pork Soft Ribs, Iberico Shoulder Loin Steak, Roasted Suckling Pig (for the entertainment)

Must not order: N/A
Budget for 4 pax: RM500
My verdict: 3 stars

SEOUL KOREA - A G-RILLY GOOD PLACE

Soon after soap dramas such as Winter Sonata and Dae Jang Geum had hit our shores, Korean restaurants could be seen mushrooming in every nook and corner of the Klang Valley, a trend which later spread across the country.

Korean cuisine is synonymous with barbecue. A couple of months back, my parents introduced me to Seoul Korea Restaurant, which serves not only good barbecues but they also have in their menu some good traditional Korean dishes as well. I found Seoul Korea to be even better than Dae Jang Gum (my favourite Korean hangout before I was introduced to Seoul Korea).

Popular meat dishes for the barbecue include bulgogi (thin slices of beef, pork or chicken that is marinated in a concoction of soya sauce, sesame oil, garlic and sugar) and galbi (ribs of beef or pork that can be marinated or unmarinated).

The thing that really fascinates me about Korean Barbecue is the Banchan (side dishes) that is served (free) with any order of barbecue meat. Kimchi (fermented cabbage seasoned with chilli peppers and salt) which is an essential part of the Korean meal, is a definite Banchan that you will get as part of your meal. Other types of Banchan may include anything from vegetables to bean curd, meat, anchovies, eggs and pancake - basically whatever the cook can get his hands on in the market on that day. And Banchans can be replenished until your hearts content. My favourite Banchan served at Seoul Korea is their Namul or green vegetables that is seasoned with sesame oil, salt, vinegar, sugar and garlic- which gives it a wonderful sweet and sour taste.

Some of their traditional dishes available here which I have sampled and can recommend include Nak-Ji-Bokum (an octopus dish seasoned with hot sauce), O-Sam Bulgogi (barbecue mixture of pork and squid), Hae-Mul-Pa-Jeon or Hae-Mul Kimchi-Jeon (Seafood spring onion or kimchi pancake) and Bibim-Bab (rice cooked with various vegetables in a stone pot). For those game enough, they serve an excellent Yuk-Hae or beef sashimi too.

The only dish I would avoid is their Sam Gye Tang (A soup boiled from chicken stuffed in sweet rice, red dates and ginseng) which I found to be rather tasteless compared to the Chinese-styled double boiled soups.

To end the meal (similar to other Korean restaurants), Seoul Korea serves a complimentary dessert combo of water melon slices and their own brew of rice drink boiled with ginger and red dates.

Bul-Galbi (Spareribs marinated with traditional sauce)

Banchan (side dishes)

Namul (Green vegetables seasoned with sesame oil, salt, vinegar, sugar and minced garlic)

O-Sam Bulgogi (BBQ mixture of marinated squid and pork)

Yuk-Hae (Beef Sashimi)

Hae-Mul-Pa-Jeon (Korean Seafood Spring Onion Pancake)

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Seoul Korea Restaurant

Address: No. 1-1, Plaza Danau 2, Jalan 4/109F, Taman Danau Desa, Kuala Lumpur.
Contact number: 603-79824607.
Reservation: Recommended.
Opening hours: 1100-2230.
Cuisine: Korean (Non Halal).
Must order: Everything on the menu.
Must not order: Sam Gye Tang.
Budget for 4 pax: RM140.
My verdict: 5 stars.

WEEKEND BRUNCH AT IKETERU

Nihon ryori ga suki desu. Oishii!

Iketeru is definitely for you if like me, you have fallen in love with Japanese cuisine and look forward to the weekend buffets BUT ........

* dislike dining in noisy and crowded Japanese buffet restaurants where you have to shout in order to speak to your partner.
* get put-off by the sea of people queuing up to rush in as soon as the restaurant doors open at noon.

* can never get your hands on the grilled scallops, cod fish, unagi, tempura, oysters and other crowd favourites because there are always 50 people ahead of you in the queue.
* loathe hot food that arrives on your table cold.

* detest seafood that is so unfresh that even Tom decides to stay away.
* don't want to stuff yourself until you have no choice but to loosen the buckle.

and finally,

* get annoyed when after spending RM100, you can't remember what you have eaten at the end of the meal.

Here at Iketeru, food is selected from a menu and served to the table. Their well-rounded menu consists of 100 different contemporary and traditional Japanese dishes, ranging from sushi and sashimi to teppanyaki, grills, tempura, steamed dishes and desserts. The cuisine in Iketeru is innovative without being unnecessarily complicated, and freshness is guaranteed with the best ingredients being imported from Japan.

During a recent visit to Iketeru, I started off with the customary sashimi of yellow tail and salmon, but avoided the maki (hand rolls).

Next I sampled from their steaming selection, picking out mussels, cod fish in white wine and cawan mushi (steamed egg).

Moving on to their teppanyaki, grills and deep fried selection: the soft shell crab, grilled cod fish, scallops baked in cheese, deep fried oyster, grilled saba fish (mackerel) in light teriyaki sauce, teppanyaki prawns and scallops, and ebi tempura (not in picture) caught my attention.

And I rounded up my selection of savoury dishes with a bowl of salmon fish head soup, okonomiyaki (pancake) and a delicious pan fried beef.

To cool-off, I sampled almost every available ice cream flavour on offer - macha (green tea), goma (black sesame), lime sherbert and red bean. Complemented with a plate of fruits (not in picture) and a bowl of mochi, the brunch turned out to be wonderfully satisfying without being overly filling!

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Iketeru @ Hilton Kuala Lumpur

Address: Hilton Kuala Lumpur, 3 Jalan Stesen Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur.

Contact number: 603-22642264.

Reservation: Recommended.

Opening hours: 1200-1430 (Saturday and Sunday).

Cuisine: Japanese (Halal).

Must order: Everything on the menu except for their Mochi.

Must not order: Mochi.

Budget for 4 pax: RM392++ (food only).
My verdict: 5 stars.

Check Out Prizes Or Prices - Our WeekEnd Past-Time!

When we are not out there hunting for prizes, we would be out there checking food and their prices and more precisely, value for prices. Here is one place that I think gives good value for money until that one fateful Saturday evening.

We ordered all the wrong stuff. It happens once in a while doesn't it? When you are not really hungry but still it is time to have your meal - and then you are inundated with choices but your disinterested appetite is betraying you and clouding your brain.

We were at this famous place in Brickfields, along the main Jalan Tun Sambanthan - called Restoran Sin Kee. This place was a small crowded zinc-roofed shop for a very long time in a spot next to a former Shell station (run by Singhs) - now an entrance to Sentral. It moved to a shoplot opposite Shell in the early 90's and then to this current corner lot in the early 2000's. Back then, it was famous for one specialty - the ginger-laced steamed fresh fish tail.
But today, it is more famous for western food cooked oriental style - (see the two Chinese characters - not those on the ground - the ones within the brackets on the signboard? That's oriental and western). The more famous oriental-western dishes are their chicken chop and pork chop - very traditional Hainanese style - the way the British taught the Chinese cooks back in the 40's and 50's. Just looking at the dish gave me nostalgia (I used to cook my own pork and chicken chops in my teen days)!

I looked around and almost every table had some kind of western food. But not ours. We decided to stick with the traditional and ordered that famous steamed fish and a few other food for the kids.

Somehow it turned out to be the wrong choices - have a look at what we ordered - would you pay RM55 for these (3 adults, 2 kids)?

One would think the fish looked okay - but it wasn't to be. The fish was stale (soft and disintegrated at the touch of the spoon). We complained about it, and got a small discount - RM3.00! The owner said "the fish arrived this morning". I guess it forgot to get back into the tank!

We packed the fish and took it home to feed our canine friends - who would not know any better. I cleaned off the ginger and the bones first. The dogs loved the "fish paste"! Hope the SPCA is not reading this.

The "mun" chicken/braised pork rice was interesting but not very special in taste. Ordinary was the verdict. The vege was ordinary and so was the fried rice (with stuffed pork sausage). We did not finish eating everything except the vegetable.
But the place was bustling with customers - almost every table was taken up by the time we were ready to leave. Each table was ordering some 5 to 6 dishes and people were still coming in when we headed for our car. These "locals" must really know what to order and I did not spot any of those that we had.

We should have taken the hint when the "owner captain" answered "western lah" when we asked what's good here. Our lesson for the day : Ignore good advice at your own peril!

BTW, parking is along the road - just keep a sharp ear open for shouts of "Bandaraya" - not often, but you never know, otherwise you have to contemplate whether to increase the "price" of your dinner!

Restoran Sin Kee

Address: Jalan Tun Sambanthan (main road), Opposite Sentral.
Contact number: N/A
Reservation: 1st come 1st served
Opening hours: N/A
Cuisine: Chinese (Non Halal)
Must order: Western Dishes (chicken or pork chop a must)
Must not order: Be careful when ordering steamed fish - ask for guarantee on freshness first.
Budget for 4 pax: RM60
My verdict: 3 stars (actually can be 4 stars if only we had ordered the "recommended dishes").

TAIWAN, TAIWAN

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today,
I want to be part of it - Taiwan, Taiwan,
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray,
Right through the very heart of it - Taiwan, Taiwan.

...... a familiar Big Apple (modified) tune that I was humming away in my mind during the 45 minute cab ride to KLIA back in March of this year.

I've always wanted to visit Taiwan - the country that has it all: museums, temples, mountains, nightmarkets, fashion streets, ex-tallest building in the world, betelnut beauties (檳榔西施), aborigine culture, Jolin Tsai, a wonderful cuisine spread, and the list goes on. So when I found out that a big chunk of my Enrich points were expiring this year, I realised that I could no longer procrastinate on my travel plans to this wonderful country. And the two things that truly Touched My Heart about Taiwan were its friendly disposition and delicious cuisine, ranging from the simple biandang (便當) to the more exquisite Shanghai dumplings.

Fast forward to 7 months later, when I chanced upon this restaurant, Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant, sitting pretty in the third floor of The Gardens Mid Valley with a modern white deco and friendly staff to boot, I just could not resist going in.

Browsing through their menu, one can immediately tell that they tend to promote more of their set courses. Their sets consist of one main dish, one soup of the day, one side dish and a bowl of the Taiwanese minced meat rice (台湾卤肉饭). Their main dish is uniquely served over a small fire to ensure it remains piping hot throughout the entire duration of the meal.

Not exactly on the economical side price-wise, Fong Lye however did not disappoint in terms of being flavourful.

Taiwanese cuisine relies on an abundant array of seasonings for flavour - the common ones include soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, black beans, radishes, chilli peppers and oriental basil. Because of their generous use of seasonings, some may find Taiwanese cuisine to be a tad oily and salty. But heck, since this is not something I consume on a daily basis, it would not be something that I would be overly worried about.

One of their signature dishes is the Three Cup Chicken (三杯雞), a pungent Taiwanese favourite that derived its name from its three main seasonings - sesame oil, rice main and soy sauce, complemented with a few stalks of fresh oriental basil. Another dish worth mentioning is their Beef in Scallion sauce, another flavourful dish served with generous helpings of tender beef, scallion and ginger slices.

Ending the meal with a pot of their fragrant Oolong tea will help wash away the oily after-taste of the main meal. And for desserts they serve a variety of icy snow mountains which I would not recommend to those who are very particular about their sugar-intake.

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Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant

Address: Lot T208, 3rd Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Contact number: 03-22828699
Reservation: 1st come 1st served
Opening hours: 10.00-22.00 (Daily)
Cuisine: Taiwanese (Non Halal)
Must order: Three Cup Chicken (三杯雞), Beef in Scallion Sauce
Must not order: N/A
Budget for 4 pax: RM140
My verdict: 3 stars

Bombs Away At This Palace!

Have you been to the Bombay Palace lately?

I believe it has been quite a while for many of us.

I enjoyed my outing there with some colleagues to celebrate the completion of a milestone in one of my projects. The ambience is still authentically grand. You do feel "majestic" when you are in there. The people there make you feel that way too. The price? How's RM600 for 6 persons - for food, drinks and desserts?

Thought I share these images with you guys and maybe some of you will go there to savour the famous unique taste of Northern Indian cuisine again.

I especially like the kulfi (Indian yogurt ice cream)! The silver is real! We had 5 types of bread!

Address: 215 Jalan Tun Razak 50400 Kuala Lumpur
Contact number: 03-21454241/7220
Reservation: Usually not required for lunch, but may be required for dinner.
Opening hours:Daily

Noon - 2.30 pm ( last order)

6.30 pm - 10.30 pm (last order)
Cuisine: North Indian
Must order: Their exotic breads (try them all). Kulfi. Masala Tea.
Must not order: None
Budget for 4 pax: RM100.00
My verdict: 4 stars