Restoran Chin Seng @ Ipoh

I ended up in Ipoh last Sun, an impromptu plan which came about while taking photographs at Kuala Kubu. What the heck. Life is short - "Just Do It".

Was a little sleepy that afternoon, after having to woke up so early, and luckily I have Janis, the "younger" one to drive all the way to Ipoh. Hehe..

She took me to Taman Ipoh Jaya, to have noodle and yong tau foo.

Upon reaching Restoran Chin Seng, appetite was boost up upon looking at the variety of ingredients available. Each was combined with their home-made fish paste.

Yes, yes, yes - take this, this, and this too. Greedy..

Won't go wrong if you see this lady at the stall

Once the fried items are served, can smell the aromatic-ness of fried taufoo, suikow, beancurd skin, and one fried stuff that was made of 'sengkuang'. It was unlike the usual yong tau foo that I've tried as the crispiness and the strong fragrant smell that came out of this yong tau foo was simply better than those I've tried in the past.

RM0.60-Rm0.70 per piece

A bowl of kuey teow soup to go with the yong tau foo items

RM0.60-Rm0.70 per piece

Behind the coffee shop, was some of the items filled with fish paste prepared, ready to be sold. They all looked so appetizing. Wish I have bigger capacity stomach to fill them all.

The fish paste combined with cuts of carrot, black mushroom and spring onion makes it even pleasing to the eyes.

Black mushroom with fish paste

Tau foo pok

Taufoo

Chilli and fish paste. Chilli - RM1.20 (was told chilli is expensive nowadays)

Restoran Chin Seng (near Billion pasar raya)
Jalan Rokam 11, at Pekan Gunung Rapat
Taman Ipoh Jaya

(My actual visit here : 270909. Total Bill - RM8.60)

Aun Kheng Lim @ Ipoh

Each town has their specialty - and one of Ipoh's specialty is the salted chicken.
Asked a local friend previously, and he highly recommend the salted chicken from Aun Kheng Lim.

A whole salted chicken cost RM16. Not too bad compared to price we have to pay for chicken when dining outside.

I have always love salted chicken - but just that I do not know where to find good ones in Klang Valley.

This herbal chicken steamed with rock salt, and then baked under the rock salt was simply delicious.

After keeping it in fridge for 3 days, it still taste good.

The shop from the outside

Their "picture gallery' - of artistes, or program host that have been to Aun Kheng Lim

The process of baking the chicken with rock salt

Aun Kheng Lim
24 Jalan Theatre,
30300 Ipoh, Perak

Tel/Fax : 05-254 2998 (can also call to order)

Business Hours : 11am - 6pm

(My actual visit here : 150809 & 270909)

Funny Mountain @ Ipoh

Ipoh is a real food heaven. My last visit to Ipoh was 2006, and has been planning to go Ipoh for makan-makan trip ever since. Had the opportunity to go twice in the last 1 month, 1 during mid Aug, and 1 just yesterday (made an impromptu trip).

This little shop by the corner of the road is so popular, and is never short of customers. Its location also allowed Funny Mountain to offer 'drive-thru' facility where drivers can just be seated in their car, and the drinks/tau foo fa will be delivered to them in the car.

Funny Mountain, across the road

Visit in Aug : Aloy and I (don't even know why this 'cool' pose come about)

Visit in Sep : Me (somehow always with 'weird' expression when having tau foo fa) and Janis, the cheery one

Constantly busy

Love to have my tau foo fa, together with soya bean drink. Love the combination of smooth tau foo fa, and the slight coldness of the soya bean drink. The tau foo fa is just so smooth that it seemed to just glide through my mouth.

Tau foo fa with soya bean drink. Price-RM0.80

No matter how full I am, this is something that can't be missed, since I've came all the way to Ipoh town.

Funny Mountain (since 1952, and they also cater for private gathering & function)
49 Jalan Theatre,
30300 Ipoh, Perak
Tel : 012-516 1607
Contact : Cliff Tan

Email : funnymountain@hotmail.com, soyaboy@streamyx.com

(My actual visit here : 150809 & 270909)

Ah Tuan Ee @ The Curve

Friday lunch is the day that extra effort is made to drive out for lunch. My office area is one of the area where we felt lack of choice of places to eat. Went to Curve one of the Fridays ago, and with the 1000x more choices of places to eat, the 3 of us being frickle-minded at first (reallyyyy frickle-minded), settled for Ah Tuan Ee. Despite it being opened since Curve was first opened, this was our first time.

Like the Peranakan styled restaurant

The first being served was the assam laksa. First thought was, it was really small serving - the 'lai fun' was so little. Overall taste so-so. Sourish and though with quite a lot of fish, the soup is a little watery than the usual assam laksa I had in the past.

Laksa Assam Lemak. Price-RM13

The char kuey teow tasted alright. Not too wet and quite fragrant.

Char Kuey Teow. Price-RM11

The tang hoon has a touch of tom yam taste. Made us felt like there's not too much skill required to prepare this, except for just adding in the tom yam flavouring.

Fried Tang Hoon. Price-RM11

The overall taste was just average. Don't think will return here again, especially since there are so many choices of places to eat.

ah Tuan ee's Place
The Curve, Level 1, Western Courtyard,
Mutiara Damansara, 47800 PJ
Tel : 03-7710 3603/03-7710 0603

**Halal

(My actual visit here : 110909. Total bill-RM43.45)

Senjyu Sushi @ Cineleisure, Damansara

Cass & I were due to meet up - taking our birthday celebration as the 'reason'. She suggested to have dinner at Senjyu located at Cineleisure. I liked the overall ambiance inside the restaurant.

Senjyu has quite an interesting range of menu, and I like the combination of ingredients used, such as mango with salmon, various varieties of chawan mushi etc.

Senyju was having birthday promotion where those whose birthday fall within July-Aug, are entitled to a buy 1, free 1 promo, of items on 'gold plate', which cost RM8 each. Worth it.

Leaving to Cass to do the 'main' ordering

Overall, I really liked the food here - all suit my tastebud just well. Plus the items here were also reasonably priced.

Unagi sushi - RM8

Top & bottom - part of the 1+1 deal - RM8 per plate (original price), middle - Salmon Mango Hana - RM8

From top left - Soft Shell Crab. Price-RM12.90, Ikura Lobter Roll. Price-RM16.90, California and Kani Cavier Temaki. Price-RM4 each

The fried chicken tasted just nice-not too oily, however, was told by Cass it tasted better during her last visit. We wanted to try the not so ordinary chawan mushi, thus order the Ikura chawan mushi. I think this is so so only, not as smooth as I expected, plus the Ikura just doesn't taste as good, eaten with the egg.

Tori Karaage. Price-RM6.90, Senjyu Ikura Chawanmushi. Price-Rm8.90

We were really full at the end of the dinner, but can still share a scoop of the black sesame ice-cream. This was really good. Can smell the fragrant black sesame.

Black sesame ice-cream.Price-RM8.90

Overall, the food was satisfactory, HOWEVER, the service level on that night was really poor. They could be a little under-staffed, but we would expect a better level of service. And it was really difficult to get them to attend to us.

Me & Cass - can't really smile that night, affected by the service *<>*

Senjyu Sushi- The Curve
(just next to McD)
Lot G2&G3, GF, Cineleisure Damansara,
2A, Jln PJU 7/3, Mutiara Damansara.
Tel : 03-7727 9028

(My actual visit here : 160909. Total Bill-RM112)

MG's Cafe @ Sri Hartamas

It's always a good idea to drive out once a while, but where to, is always the question. After much thought, brought Candice and Beng Suan to try out MG's cafe - its actually a bakery at the outer part, and cafe inside. From the outside, most people may not realize that vegetarian food is actually served here.

Part bakery, part cafe

Ordered 3 items for sharing.

With salted vege and the soup broth that was a little of sourish and slight spiciness, this formosa style noodle really 'opened-up' our appetite. The vegetarian meat also tasted really good.

Formosa Style Noodle. Price-RM7.50

The honey char siu donburi rice is also highly recommended. This vegetarian char siu really tasted quite close to the actual char siu, and the sweet sauce enhances the overall taste.

Honey Char Siu Donburi Rice. Price-RM8.90

Of all, the miso soup udon tasted the most 'clear'. This bowl of udon comes with dried beancurd, carrot, seaweed, and vegetarian meat... overall, a little tasteless. Not something that I'd order on my next visit.

Miso Soup Udon. Price-RM9.9o

After makan, each of us bought their swiss roll. Taste really good, and healthy. Bought the durian flavoured swiss roll and bamboo charcoal cream cheese swiss roll. All of us brought back to be shared with family, and gone in less than a day...

Bamboo Charcoal Swiss Roll. Price-RM12.80, Durian Swiss Roll. Price-9.50

MG's Cafe
Sri Hartamas
38-G, Jalan 27/70A,
Desa Sri Hartamas, KL
Tel : 03-2300 3118

Business Hours :
10.30am - 10pm

URL : www.mgscafe.com

(My actual visit here : 010909. Total Bill-RM30.80)

Pondok @ Kota Damasara

Kota Damansara really has so many eateries to offer. This area seem to be a cluster of all the restaurants.

Janis heard so much about Pondok, and despite us being full after dinner at Central Cafe, we still drop by Pondok. Love the cosy environment inside Pondok.

Unpretentious and relaxing, inside Pondok

The lady boss quickly walked to serve us, checking out what we'd like to have. So our reply was "we are really full after our dinner, so just thought of checking out what dessert you may have"... We were recommended the brownie, claimed to be one of their best selling.

Really love this shot of the vanilla ice-cream. The brownies with walnuts was being warmed up, and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream - it really taste good. Not forgetting to mention, its reasonably priced.

Brownies. Price-RM3.50, Ice-cream. Price-RM1

This was my first encounter with really super friendly owners, whom chatted with all their customers. The best part of all, they really seem to be enjoying it, and not just for PR reasons.

The super friendly owner - Mukhtar & I

Upon looking through their menu, can't resist the ikan bakar, so decided to order. Wanted the pari, but it was sold-out, thus opted for the kembong. This took about 20mins to prepare, and before it was out from the kitchen, could already smell the aromatic sambal. The piping hot fish, coupled with ladyfingers, tasted really good. The sambal really made whole lot of difference. Worth to try.

Ikan bakar - kembung and rice. Price-RM5.90

There seem to be so many choices to pick from, and should a customers need recommendation, there is also a TOP 10 list provided, where its based on the most ordered item, as per their cash register record. Everything looks good - from assam pedas Pondok, ikan bakar Pondok, mee rebus Pondok, nasi dagang, so on and so forth.

List of May's Top 10

The boss was really so nice, that he kept offering to be our photographer - taking from few angles at his restaurant. Their service level was really tip-top. Can't wait to be back to try out their other main dishes.

Me & Janis

Pondok
No 17-1, Jalan PJU 5/4, Dataran Sunway,
Kota Damansara, 47810 PJ
Tel : 03-6140 8170

Closed on Sundays

**Halal

(My actual visit here : 100909)

Central Cafe @ Kota Damansara

Was craving for chicken chop last week. And what better than to support a friend's business. Alice's parents has recently took up a stall at the Central Cafe, near Kota Damansara. Have heard of how good the business has been since they were opened 1 month+ ago. Therefore, sure la my expectation was raised.

The western food stall @ Central Cafe. 'Si tau poh' busy cooking

Central Cafe is themed around 'yellow duck'. Cute. Central cafe which occupies the main restaurant also have their own set of menu (similar to Kim Gary style), and serve drinks.

Little duck by the window. Cute

Janis tried their chicken chop, with mushroom sauce (there's also choice of black pepper sauce), and I had the fish & chips. The chicken was real succulent, and each bite was well marinated. Really worth it for the price. Apart from this, they also serve lamb chop, burger, breakfast set etc.

Chicken chop with mushroom sauce. Price-RM9.90

As for the fish & chips (i've also requested to add spaghetti), I don't quite fancy this. Dory fish was fine, yet I felt the batter was too thick. However, was told that some customers actually love this. Individual preferences.

Fish & chips, Price-RM9.90 + spaghetti (Price-additional RM1)

After the dinner, a Pug-tzu owner was there with her dog. So cute leh.. The dog can wish 'gong xi gong xi' when served food.

Pubbie, the lovely Pug-tzu

Central Cafe
(after Curve, turn in to Kota D'sara area on Right - like heading to Giant, then turn left at PJU5/2. Central Cafe is just by the corner)
27-1 Jalan PJU5/4,
47810 Kota Damansara, PJ

Business Hours :
5pm till late

(My actual visit here : 100909)

Warisan Cafe @ The Royale Chulan Hotel

During the Ramadan month, Buka Puasa buffet are made-available by most hotels/restaurants. Its such a treat for the Muslims to break fast with unlimited choices of yummy food.

We were invited by our client, The Royale Chulan together with the media, prior to opening up of their buffet to the public, to try out the Ramadan buffet spread.

Upon walking in, can truly felt the atmosphere of Raya - with Malay stalls serving different eatery at the open area outside the cafe. On the actual days, there will also be ghazal music played by Chark Khun Chak.

Covered open area

Nice & cosy atmosphere

When entered the buffet area, we seriously didn't know where to start. There were so much choices, of up to 800 local and international dishes, ranging from Malay, Japanese, local, appetizer, kuih, dessert etc.

Small part of the overall selection

More food

Cold dish. The oyster, crab & prawn was really fresh

The spread of Japanese food

Neatly displayed-sashimi

The yummy dessert, and fruits

I love this bowl of Malay laksa - a little sourish, with strong fish broth, not too spicy... really yummy

Malay laksa

From the past buffets that I've been, I think this is one of the best, in terms of selection and taste of the food. We definitely under-performed that night. Was really full after an average of 3-rounds, ONLY. hehe.

The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur Hotel
No 6,Jalan Conlay,50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-2688-9688

(My actual visit :210809. Price RM99 nett per pax. Thanks Client for the dinner)