Li Yen @ Ritz Carlton, KL

I was 1/2 hour late for lunch appointment with my ex-client, JC and was panting when I stepped into Li Yen. He could still put on his smiling face, and said 'aiyo, you so late, and I need to rush le'. Despite my 'lateness', JC was gentleman enough, and waited for me to do the ordering.

Having used to get his approval for media planning job previously, I had my pick, and upon getting his nod, proceeded with the order. ^-^

After the quick order, only then I admired the ambiance within Li Yen, which in Chinese signifies 'Beautiful Garden'. Yes, I agree that Li Yen is indeed beautiful, with elegant interiors that offers touch of contemporary design. In addition, I also liked the fact that Li Yen also offers 'privateness' as it wasn't too packed with customers, and not too noisy, unlike some hotel restaurants.

Inside Li Yen

The first served was the deep fried prawn ball paste filled with cheese, coated with almond flakes. The almond gave the crunchiness, the melting cheese inside gave the strong aromatic cheese smell whilst the fresh prawn paste gave the bounciness texture. And me being a prawn lover, this was an instant hit for me.

Deep Fried Prawn Paste Ball with Almond Flakes. Price-RM12

The chunks of prawn with melted cheese inside

Luckily we did not order 2 bowls of the porridge as the portion was big enough for sharing. The porridge must have been cooked for a long time, as the texture was real smooth, just the way I like porridge to be done. The frog used was absolutely fresh. .

Porridge with Frog

The sharksfin dumpling was also very good. Filled with chunks of meat, and topped with thin cut of sharksfin, and crabroe, yummy!

Sharksfin Dumpling

JC doesn't fancy siu mai, and the staff was kind enough to customize this order, from 4 to 2 dumplings, for my consumption. This is what we called flexible enough to cater to customers' needs!! ^-^
I of course liked the siew mai. Compact with chuncks of meat, topped with crab roe, this siu mai was tasty, and filled with freshness.

Siu Mai. Price-RM10 for 4 dumplings

Being a char siu pau lover, this is 1 order ought to be missed. The skin was soft and fluffy, and filled with juicy char siu meat. I loved this tooo...

Char Siu Pau

The baked egg tart needless to say, also tasted good. The outer pastry crust was fluffy, filled with fresh egg custard. Love the golden yellow color of the egg custard.

Baked Egg Tart. Price-RM9

It was years back that I had lunch at Li Yen, and after this recent visit, it is no wonder Li Yen is a favorite of JC, and I couldn't agree more. With the beyond satisfactory service rendered by their staff, the relaxing ambiance and top quality food, why wouldn't Li Yen be ones's favorite. Thanks to JC for lunch, and his suggestion to come to Li Yen, as this would be a much better option than my earlier suggested hotel restaurant. :p

Li Yen
The Ritz Carlton
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-2142 8000

Business Hours :
12pm-2.30pm, 6.30-10.30pm (Mon-Sat),
10.30am - 2.30pm, 6.30-10.30pm (Sun & Public Hols)

Dumpling for Duan Wu Jie/Rice Dumpling Festival

For as long as I could remember, my mom has been making dumpling yearly, in conjunction with the Dumpling Festival, which falls on the 5th day of the 5th month, of the Chinese calendar. Every year, she will occupy her time by wrapping up the dumpling, for a good 5 hours or so, and then slow cook them with charcoaled fire.

The fact that my mom makes it, I have seldom tasted dumpling made by others... And having accustomed to the taste, which is slightly sweet-ish, I liked this way dumplings are made.

I like the dumpling made by my mom due to the fact that she puts in chunks of mushroom, pork (without the fat), chestnut, dried prawns and buah kundur, together with the glutinous rice.

The pot of cooked 'ingredients'

Getting ready all ingredients

Each bamboo leaves are chosen to make sure it is big enough to hold up all the rice and fillings.

Rice with fillings ready to be wrapped

Wrapping the dumpling is definitely a skill to acquire, which requires lots of practicing. My mom made it sound really easy 'Just cover the leaves on the top with right hand, left hand hold the dumpling, and to press the left, right, and front part of the edges, so that the triangle shape comes out well".

The wrapping process

At time of tying the dumpling, the string has to go 2 rounds at the edge of the opening, to ensure the dumpling is in tact.

Mom does it graciously

This bunch of dumplings was my first ever attempt in wrapping them. Of course since this was first attempt, I only use rice to wrap them.. Hehe..

My first attempt in wrapping dumplings

Dumplings ready to be boiled

The cooking in process

Unwrapped the dumpling

The ingredients wrapped within the dumpling, ready to be eaten

Dumpling festival is over by the time I post this, nevertheless, wish everyone had a good 'Duan Wu Jie'.. Happy Dumpling Festival!!

A short note on 12 June 2010

The slight hiatus in my blogging was due to me being tied up in my small little projects, in selling tiramisu and lunch box, which I kicked-off quite recently, making my colleagues, and close friends my first few batches of customers.

Today marks the "official" beginning of 'Sherlyn's Little Dream'.. Hip hip hurray!!

Separately, from now onwards, I look forward to be blogging more actively.

Ka Ka Ba Kut Teh @ Kepong, Metro Prima

Being a Klagnite, it will usually not be my option to have ba kut teh, at any other area, apart from Klang. And since there was craving from Jo, after her Australia trip, to have Ba Ku Teh, we headed to Kepong's famous Ka Ka Ba Kut Teh.

It was just after rain when we got there. Nice wet evening to have claypot of piping hot Ba Kut Teh.

Will be difficult to miss this restaurant

All 5 of us were at an absolute state of hunger when we got there.. (after an interesting luggage bag shopping for 1.5 hours prior to that). And the only person we wanted to speak to the very minute we were seated was the guy that took our order. We were impressed by the foreign worker that could take our order in Cantonese, and need not to write it down.

We ordered a plate of vege, yau char kuey, and choy kiok. The spicy and sour choy kiok cooked with dried chilli, tamarind peel, "khor chai" tasted really good, gave us the 'kick', and made us wanting to have more of it..

Vege, yau char kuey and choy kiok

The claypot pork was also yummy. This claypot was filled with cuts of tender pork accompanied by thick black aromatic gravy.

Claypot pork

The hero of the night was the claypot of ba kut teh. Combined with much ingredients, cuts of tender fat pork, button mushroom, vege, and pig intestine, it has a strong herbal aroma, with also very strong pepperish taste. The soup was definitely much more 'clearer' than the thick version of the typical Klang ba kut teh.

Claypot of yummy ba kut teh

2 very hungry yet happy people - Jo & Ah Lung

Alycia, J, and myself

For those familiar with this area, Ka Ka is just located opposite Medan Selera/Happy City food court, and CIMB. You won't miss it as it is brightly litted.

One point worth highlighting that the meal here is reasonably priced, with the total bill came up to RM77 for the 5 of us.

Had yet another wonderful evening with great bunch of people.. ^-^