Nasi Campur @ Ole-Ole Bali

Nasi Campur

Other than the Ayam Bertutu and the Kambing Bumbu dishes, Ole-ole Bali was also famous for its Nasi Campur (Mixed Rice). This is obviously a rice; in this case its white rice instead of briyanni. Catering to the meat-cravers, this dish comes with the choice of Beef Reandang or Chicken Rendang. The Nasi Campur is hence served with rice and meat with a combination of Grilled Squid, Grilled Dory fillet, Sambal spices, fried Belacan Kang Kong

The rice was just any other ordinary fragrant rice. However, our opted choice of Beef Rendang was good; tastefully rich and lean. Savoring the fresh grilled squid and Dory fillet too was very satisfying. The seafood were fresh, and grilled to perfection! What I loved most about this dish was the Satay Lipit. Its satay fish I presume, and every chew of it was memorable.

@ RM25.00++, I'd rate this dish a 5/5. Although having a comparable price to western restaurants such as TGIF or Itallianies, my vote's towards Ole-ole Bali because Ole-ole Bali serves fresh chef cooked food rather than pre-cooked and reheated food! Thumbs up to Ole-ole Bali! x

Rakuzen Kitchen @ Waterfront, Desa Parkcity

Just a week ago, while my brother was still here in KL visiting, we played host to him for lunch at Rakuzen Kitchen at Waterfront of Desa Parkcity. The offerings here were abundant, and based on my standards, considered to be somewhat  pricy. Take for instance a single piece of Unagi Maki which would usually cost about RM2.50/pc at other chain sushi outlets (ie. Sushi King, Sakae Sushi), would cost RM5.00/pc  here at Rakuzen.

 

 

Probing into the pricing matter, I queried the restaurant manager and was told that the restaurant only imports meat produce of sushi fishes from reputable dealers of Taiwan and Japan. Unlike other chain sushi outlets here in Malaysia which bulk-buy these produce with very competitive prices from countries like China or Vietnam, the imported meats from Japan and Taiwan are bound to be much more fresh. I can’t say for sure whether I got psyched or not, but the sushi here did indeed taste very fresh, and the texture felt really good too. In fact, the wasabi served here at this restaurant is 100% natural, without any artificial flavorings. (I can be the best taster for proper wasabi as I am somehow allergic to artificial wasabi). Above is a picture of the Sashimi  (Sushi platter).

 

Above is a dish of the Maki Salmon and Maki Tuna, served with real tasty preserved gingers.

 

Also for appetizer, we ordered a dish of unsalted edamame (Green baby soy beans). I would believe that this was an overpriced dish, as I recall purchasing these beans for only RM5 for 500g of them. Unfortunately, this is how most sushi restaurants operate, in ripping off their customers.

 

Seen above is the Salt Grilled Saba Fish. This dish can be catered to a your personal preference of Salted Grilled or Sauteed Grilled. In my case, I requested it to be Salted Grilled, but requested them to stinge with the salt! This is a must try dish if you ever swing by Rakuzen. If you’re a fish fan (like me), you’ll ought to love it.

 

Above is a picture of the Cha Soba (buckwheat noodles) dish. Notice the black bowl with the pigeon egg on it? This dish is meant to be eaten by dumping all the spring onions, Japanese seaweed and the raw pigeon egg into the bowl which contains the soba dip; and then dunking the cold soba noodles into the dip.

 

Having the urge for some real good sushi? Check Rakuzen out!

PS: It would be probably 1.5 times the price of other chained sushi restaurants. But as they say, what you pay is what you get! Quality and serviceability is surely their style! 

Perth, Australia – Day 9

Located on Mends Street at South Perth is one of Perth’s longest running Italian restaurant – Spaghi. As the shop’s name suggests, it serves strictly Italian. Spaghi incorporates the “no-booking” policy, hence being a part of a long queue at the outside of the restaurant during dinner hours is merely a mundane ‘pre-appetizer’. Submitting to the 6 o’clock dinner crowd, we instead opted to only be there at about 8-ish, in time for the “finals”.

 

The host, waiters and waitresses and the chefs were all Italians. I guess this is a definite enhancement to the Italian authenticity for this dining experience. Together with its authenticity are the skills and techniques of the chefs, to make their own pastas and pizzas from scratch. Above is a picture of the Traditional Home made Pizza.

Below are shots taken of our meals. Enjoy!

 

Entrée

Above: Pizza Bruchetta

 

Above: Garlic Breadsticks

 

Pasta

 

Spaghetti Alle Vongole – Spaghetti in garlic, olive oil sauce with fresh tomato, chilli, spices, herbs and fresh Aussie clams.

 

Taglierini Bianchi Con Porcini – Home made spaghetti pasta with porcini mushrooms in light cream sauce.

 

Stelle Ripiene – Pasta with prawns, scallops, herbs and spices with mussels, clams and crab meat.

 

Secondi Piatti

Cotoletta Parmigiana – Pan fried crumbed veal topped with tomato and parmigiano with saffron rice and vegetables.

1st Day of Chinese New Year (初一)

 

Playing host to my Singaporean cousins who travelled all the miles for this Family Reunion, I  sought out for their entertainment and couldn’t afford for them to feel bored. Hence as every ticking second of the clock started to have an expression Ritardando, I suggested that we make a trip over to 1 Utama.

 

While the girls were treasure hunting in the shop boutiques, clangs, chimes and drum rolls came amplifying my way. We quickly identified the source and came to realise that the Lion Dance performance was about to commence. Saving the hassle of having to jostle through the crowds, I turned on my camera’s live view, and started to capture shots from the first floor tip-toed. Above is one of the very few pictures I got of the Lion looking my way!

 

After our shopping spree, we made Delicious our next stop for refreshments. Above is a picture of my cousin Suet Mei pouring in  heaps of honey into her lemon tea.

 

As re returned home, we still had some photo-shooting time to spare. This was definitely a not-to-miss opportunity as both my photographer uncle and photographer cousin  were willing to vouchsafe us some skills of theirs. Above is a picture of my cousin, Amanda peering into my other cousin, Daniel’s camera.

The day ended with a Chinese New Year reunion feast. The Yee Sang picture at the beginning of this post was taking during this very meal.

The Apartment @ The Curve

Curiosity kills the “Juin”. Time after time, as I strolled passed “The Apartment” whilst being aimless with my walking, I tend to be very much intrigued by this boutique. It was always a difficult task of ascertaining what service this “boutique” offers. Does it sell furniture? Is it a show house? I’ll usually get drowned by my own queries, and be subdued to this IQ demanding “game”.

No matter, based on gut feel I somewhat guessed this to be a restaurant.

 

Today, my mom and I revived the adventurous receptors of our tastebuds and barged right into The Apartment without pondering a second thought. Being skeptical was against the rules of this adventure. Above is the architectural plan of the restaurant’s foods (in layman’s English, the MENU).

 

The ambience of this restaurant was inarguably unique. Its interior was made to look like an “Apartment”, hence its inherited name. You had a choice of dining in the hall, the bedroom, the study, or the bathroom! Different sections of the restaurant were designed to have a facade of the fore-mentioned rooms. Above is a picture of the bar counter.

 

We were extremely spoilt with the wonderful hospitality provided by the service staff. They relentlessly ensured our comfort and dining experience. After a snappy pick from the lunch set menu, we placed our orders. Soon after, it was.. BON APPETITE!

 

Salmon Laksa – Linguine with salmon cutlets in Laksa soup.

 

Tandoori Chicken Wrap – Chicken breasts marinated with tandoori spices, wrapped in tortilla wraps.

 

This meal, comprising of 2 set lunches summed up to a decent amount of RM 38. To our delights, this restaurant is levied the 5% Gov tax too!

A wonderful dining experience it was! I’d say that The Apartment is a restaurant of a niche for niche customers in possession of niche tastes and expectations! ie ME! =D

Me Treasures Have Arrived!

The shipment from Shanghai has finally arrived! We awaited our “treasures’ ” arrival at our new house at Desa ParkCity at 10am. Thank God, nothing was damaged, and my piano was still in tune! This marks the begining of a whole lot more deliveries and moving which are to come forth my way.

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Lunch at La Casa @ Desa ParkCity Waterfront

In midst of the waiting, our tummies turned on us disobligingly, demanding to be fueled with food. Hence, we had to ditch our monitory duties and went scavenging for our prey “restaurant”. Eventually, we spotted our prey and dived into La Casa to Italian-fy our tastebuds.

 

As I’m currently trying my best to live up to my theme of “boycotting franchise (chain) restaurants”, I decided to give this low profile restaurant a chance. The entrance of this restaurant wasn’t that grand, with only a simple overhead banner saying La Casa. As the old wise tale goes, “Do not judge the book by its cover”, the interior of the restaurant clearly testified the idiom. Above is a picture of the cozy woody “booze shelf” and the dessert bar.

 

The offerings here were abundant, with extreme flexibility, catering to your very tastes. (You know how fussy I am when it comes to food). The prices of food and beverages were also reasonable (not a rip off like Itallianies). My Entree (Primavera Fetuccine) in the picture above, possessing a sinful gluttony portion was tagged with a price of RM 17.00. In fact, the final bill had the exclusion of 5% Gov Tax!

Wonders: why would such a small scare restaurant levy this 5% while big-time chain restaurants don’t ?

A happy customer I was indeed! Thumbs up!

Lunch with Lilian @ Ding Tai Fung (鼎泰峰)

Today together with my cousin sister, we revisited my all time favourite Chinese Restaurant located at Yu Garden (豫园) -- Ding Tai Fung (鼎泰峰).

As they all say, one of the must agenda when visiting Shanghai is to allow your taste buds to crazy over the Chinese Dumplings (小笼包). Hence, after darting from tourist spots to historical spots, we finally ended up at this restaurant with rumbling stomachs. To our overwhelming satisfaction, the restaurant was ambient with serviceable staffs, and the food was spectacular.

The thing I find intriguing about this restaurant is that it has paintings of Hong Kong stars on its walls. In fact, they would invite these starts to the restaurant to leave a trace of their signature on their painting.

PS: note my favourite HK star, Charmaine Sheh (red blouse).

Here are some frozen delicious moments of the foods:

Above: Vegetable Pau

Above: Vegetable Dumplings

Above: Glutinous Rice

Above: Prawn with pork Dumplings

Thank your for the wonderful lunch Lilian Jie Jie =D

Hairy Crabs Feast

My cousin sister from the US who is currently based in Macau, dropped by Shanghai to pay us a visit. My dad hosted dinner tonight at "田园家", a Shanghainese restaurant not far away from ours.

The main entree was the hairy crabs! Being sinful for the second time this week, I indulged in this oversupplied-cholesterol food. As the hairy crabs were in season, they were all filled with crab roes, their flavours were tantalizingly magnificant!

Above: The arrival of the hairy crabs

Above: My serving of hairy crab

Above: The beheaded hairy crabs

Thanks Giving @ Shanghai

My timely presence in Shanghai coincided with this Thanks Giving Dinner held last night, at the home of our fellow Malaysian.

The night was wonderful, being able to meet new people, especially fellow (bright) Malaysians in Shanghai as expatriates. Not to mention, the wonderful full fat foods.

We had Beef Veal that was smuggled in from Seattle, and a 19kg fatso turkey!

Above: Gravy on Turkey

Above: Served Turkey

Above: Beef veal

Above: Sawing of the turkey

After eating to our hearts' content, everyone was up for a group photo session. Sadly, again I'm not in there!

Above: Group photo of the ladies

Above: our Philippina-American Chef and the 2 sporting Japanese men.