Restoran Ping Wah @ Paramount Garden, Petaling Jaya

I remembered going to this Hainanese restaurant about 10 years ago, and suggested my colleagues to come here for lunch, since Paramount is one of the convenient location for us. . 

Simple, old restaurant yet keeps you coming back 

I barely remembered what I had previously, but I remembered it was good taste of home-cooked food. As one stepped in, one would realized there's nothing fancy about the restaurant but plain simplicity. The service was certainly one of the quickest that I've experienced in a restaurant.  

For choice of vegetables, we went with the option recommended which was the Kailan with Salted Fish. It was indeed one of the best I've tried. The Kailan was so fresh, and tasted crunchy, has strong wok-hei and good amount of salted fish within. 

Kailan with Salted Fish. Price-RM15

I'm pretty fascinated by how this fried egg was made. It was made with layers of egg white with choy pou ie. preserved radish. The egg were so soft and as we cut through, the raw egg yolk that tops it, melts through the egg. Yummy.. I can finish this all by myself. 

 Choy Pou Egg.  Price-RM15

The Threadfin Fish @ Ma Yau, was deep fried and texture of skin was so crispy. The simple soya sauce with oil was used as seasoning, and the freshness of the fish was apparent. The thinly fried sliced shredded ginger gave it extra ummph. 

 Mayau Fish.  Price-RM27

Potatoes is one of my favorite food.They sliced it thinly and braised it with sliced pork - the potatoes was just nice - soft enough, and the sauce was just perfect to go with our rice. The taste was tad sweet, but it is fine by me.  

Potato with Pork. Price-RM15

I absolutely loved all the 4 dishes, which I believe will be the same dishes that I will order for future visits - next round will come with more people so that we can try more dishes. 

Verdict : 
The place to go to, when you want a taste of home cooked food. 

Restoran Ping Wah 
31 Jalan 20/16, 
Paramount Garden, 
46300 Petaling Jaya 

Business Hours : 11.30am - 2.30pm, 5.30pm-9.30pm (Mon-Sat) 
Closed on : Sundays 

Tel : Joe Hoo 012-2848754 / 016-366 8866; Madam Suan 012-284 7540

More details, vist their website 

Awesome Canteen @ Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya

Awesome Canteen. What a lovely name to a F&B outlet. The presence of this restaurant cum cafe had somehow lifted the image of the otherwise old looking shoplots at Taman Paramount. 

Ideal for photo opportunities 

The glass door and window used permit lots of natural sunlight into the cafe, whilst the lights that are hanging from the ceiling gave a more natural feeling and warmness to Awesome Canteen. 

Love the use of light boxes with artistic images, canteen like seating, especially the chairs, and lots of plants within. 

Inside Awesome Canteen 

Inside Awesome Canteen 

While waiting for all to reach, I had their Carrot Cake. It had a good balance of carrot and raisin, fluffy enough, with tinge of cinnamon smell, and completed well with cream cheese frosting. 

Carrot Cake. 

I liked their teabag tea that offered me just the right balance of taste and smell between the lemongrass and ginger. 

Lemongrass & Ginger Tea. Price-RM9.90 

Who wouldn't be a happy with a plate of fries for sharing? Love the thickness of the fries, dipped in the special sauce. 

Basket of Fries. Price-RM8.90 

The beef burger served with Rocky Blue cheese tasted absolutely delicious. Meat was so juicy and marinated so well, accompanied by fries and coleslaw gave my lunch mate a fulfilling meal,  

Beef - Rocky Blue Cheese Burger. Price-RM26.90 

I had their butterfish. Grilled to perfection, I could feel the firm texture of the fish. The fried sweet potatoes and grilled prawns were absolutely yummy, and the sauce that accompanied this dish definitely deserved a thumbs up.

Paleo Butterfish. Price-RM27.90 

My SIL highly recommended their Tofu Salad which was certainly something outside the norm. It was a delight to tried this salad. It was filled with sengkuang, tofu, lettuce, almond, pine nuts, purple cabbage, and cucumber. I perhaps missed out some ingredients too, but importantly, this was soo extremely good. The sauce striked a balance between sweetness and sourish. 

Tofu Salad. Price-RM19.90 

Verdict : Awesome place to chill with friends. Nice homemade cakes, and one of a kind Tofu Salad. 

Awesome Canteen 
19 Jalan 20/13, Taman Paramount, 
46300 Petaling Jaya
Tel : 03-7865 8048 

Business Hours : 11am-10pm (Tue-Sun) 
Kitchen Close : 3-6pm 

FB link, here

Frontera, Sol of Mexico @ Jaya One, PJ

For a special dinner with my BFF, I searched for some ideas of recommended eateries around PJ. Read some reviews on Trip Advisor, and Frontera at Jaya One seems to have gotten many positive reviews. 

In fact, I have passed by Frontera countless times in the past, thus these reviews that I read online did help in getting additional businesses for some F&B outlets. 

The feeling I got when I stepped in was it was very simple, with minimal decorative items that represent the feel of a Mexican restaurant. We chose the inside seating, with apparent bright orange color walls that exudes warmness and cosyness of Frontera. 

Entrance of Frontera

My BFF started with plate of Caesar Salad. This was a plate of fresh romaine lettuce served with their homemade Southwestern Caesar dressing, and topped with some tortilla strips to add in the crunchiness to the tastebud. Some shaved Parmesan cheese were also included in this salad. 

Overall all their food were presented in a absolutely neat manner. Nice. 

Southwestern Caesar Salad. Price-RM11.95

All main meals came with Mexican rice. Main ingredients to make consisted of white rice, tomatoes, garlic and onion. 

One of my dinner companion had the Tex-Mex Burrito, whereby it was homemade flour tortilla filled with shredded chicken (option available for beef too), refried beans and cheese. 
Very tasty with the cheesy wet cheese accompanying each bit of the tortilla filled with chicken. 

Tex-Mex Burrito. Price-RM19.95 

The Enchiladas Nortena is corn tortilla wrapped with fillings, and this particular one that we ordered was the roasted beef. The entire corn tortilla was oven baked, and then served with more slow roasted beef, topped with cheese. This style of cooking made the beef much softer, and the juiciness of the beef was truly satisfying to the stomach. Sides included the beans, cooked in a nice sauce, pico de gallo (tomato salsa), and Mexican rice. 

Enchiladas Nortena (Beef). Price-RM32.50

Me and my bff had seafood, and throughout eating, we were just nodding our head, with sense of satisfaction apparent on our faces. 

She had the maple glazed Salmon, whereby the salmon was flame grilled, cooked to just the right level, to bring out the pure taste of salmon. It was then glazed with maple chipotle, served with Mexican rice, and saute vege. 

Maple Glazed Salmon. Price-RM37.50

I was craving for prawns thus went for the Seafood Skewers. One of my best choice of food I ever made. It came with 3 skewers, with each consisted of 2 big prawns, 2 chunks of salmon, bell pepper and mushroom at one end of the skewer. I was highly satisfied with the portion, and the taste. It tasted divine, with just the right balance of aroma and natural sweetness of of the ingredients. 

The sides consisted of guacamole and pico de gallo. Healthy and tasty. The combination of the Mexican rice, the skewers and the sides were just right to deliver a satisfactory meal. 

Seafood Skewers. Price-RM39.50

It has been a long time since I had such an awesome dinner. We were all very pleased with our food, and am certain to be back to repeat the same order, and try out their other offerings. 

During my dinner, it was apparent that most of its air-conditioners weren't working well, and for the one working that was close to where we were sitting, it has some water leakage. Overall, it was rather warm. The interior and furniture seemed a little over-used, and some slight touch up wouldn't definitely give their patrons a much better experience.

Food - 10/10
Price - 9/10
Service - 8/10 
Ambiance - 5/10

Frontera, Sol of Mexico
18-G-2 Palm Square, Jaya One, 
72A Jalan Universiti, 
46200 Petaling Jaya 
Tel : 03-7958 8515

Business Hours : Tue-Sun 12noon - 12mn (Fri & Sat close at 1am)

FB link, here

Sozo @ Sunway Giza, Kota Damansara, PJ

I don't really fancy buffets, but being a regular to visit to Groupon website, this particular deal caught my attention. Priced at RM56.90 per person for Japanese buffet, I found this deal enticing, as 1 order of few kinds of sashimi could have costed us this much. 

For a friend's birthday celebration, I suggested to try out Sozo buffet. I liked the fact that this is an entirely ala-carte buffet, whereby all orders were made fresh upon ordering. For those who prefers non buffet, they can select from their ala-carte menu, however, in comparison to the prices, its very much worth it to actually go for their buffet. 

This place actually got crowded close to 8pm, and I love their simple clean environment inside, and ample of outside seating available. 

Inside & outside of Sozo

With the 3 of us, we looked through their hundreds of items list in their menu. We do not want to overeat, thus we pace our orders according to capacity of our stomach. 

Actually arrangement of food are not in sequence of the eating time, as many food were served at the same time. 

The chawanmushi despite not being too smooth, tasted divine with generous portion of salmon roe on top. I love how the roes were crushed by my tongue.

As for the fried shrimp, crispy and aromatic. Good start to our dinner.  

Koebi Karaage and Ikura Chawanmushi

We were indeed very pleased with freshness of each of the items that were served to us. I loved their handroll with tempura prawn, filled with just enough amount of rice, wrapped with crispy seaweed. 

The appetizer being the Chuka Lidako (octopus), Chuka Kurage (jellyfish), Chuka Hotate (scallop) were all served chilled, and love the crunchiness of each.

The mango soft shell crab were absolutely fresh and the soft shell crab were fried till really crispy, with apparent size of it. It has a vinegar-ish taste of its homemade sauce.

The shisamos were in just the right size, and fried till real aromatic. I liked the feeling of biting the eggs in shisamo's stomach. Hehe..

 

From top left (clock-wise) : Handroll, Chuka Kurage, Chuka Hotate, Mango Soft Shell Crab Salad, Edamame, Chuka Lidako, Shishamo

 

We ordered a plate of the Sashimi Moriawase that came with 5 kinds of raw fish plus salmon roe, to be so-called taken as our starter. They were cut to generous size, and we could totally taste the original raw taste of the fish, which ranged from salmon, tuna, and raw prawns.

Despite it being a norm for Japanese meal to be well presented, the placement and effort on all these sashimis always gave me a much pleasant feeling. We absolutely can't wait to dig in. 

Served chilled on ice & what a lovely presentation

We also placed additional order of raw fish, salmon belly and oysters to fully satisfy our fondness of these raw goodies.

Second serving of sashimi, salmon belly and oyster that we had

The Saba Shioyaki tasted so fresh, that we could taste each part of its flesh. Pan fried till superbly fragrant. 

Oyster wise, it was truly lip smacking. To be frank, too small size makes you feel like you are not eating anything, but too big, will give the effect of overwhelming. Sozo served just the right size of oyster, that made us slurping them right into the mouth, yet chewable and tasted so rich in its vitamin. 

Also separately ordered another extra 5 pieces of salmon. Yummy yummy. 

Saba Shiyaki, Salmon & Oysters

To be frank, we were so enticed with their pictorial seen in their menu, and tempted to order more, yet, we had to suppressed our greedy desire, but gave in to one last order of the unagi roll. I loved the crispness of the bbq eel  that was used on top of this roll, and compact sushi rice wrapping around the crabstick and tamago (grilled egg). The entire roll was drizzled with teriyaki sauce to complete the 'look'. 

Unagi Roll

Upon the dinner ended, and despite the overfulfilled stomach capacity, we took some risk by still trying to squeeze in small scoops of ice-cream. Burp burp burp! 

This is definitely THE recommended place for Japanese buffet. As freshness and deliciousness of food is present in every way.

Food - 10/10

Price - 10/10 

Service - 9/10 

Ambiance - 9/10

Sozo 

13-G, Block A, Sunway Giza, 

Jalan PJU 5/14, Kota Damansara, 

47810 Petaling Jaya. 

Tel : 03-6143 712

Business Hours : 10.30am-10.30pm daily 

FB page, click here

Nosh-Up @ Atria, Damansara Jaya

I am indeed a little excited to check out the revamped Atria exactly 1 month after it reopened on 28 May 2015. I had an extremely good feeling stepping into the mall, and walking from one end to the other, I am caught with slight surprise that the space that used to be occupied by the previous Atria was indeed this spacious. 

As I walked pass Nosh-Up close to noon, I see that it is really packed. A good sign to try out this restaurant. From the amount of crowd, the ambiance of the restaurant, mix of its food offering, and when this came to my thought "Really, Rm10 soup?", I just felt that their price will not be throat cutting. PASS.. ENTER!

Nosh-Up has a very contemporary design, vibrant colors yet not overly done, and warm lighting. 

Inviting entrance to Nosh Up

On their side wall, they use simple wording like 'Eat, Enjoy, Satisfy' to express what they are to deliver to their customers, and to the end of the premise, there lies a more colorful wall, that gives a rather 'homey' feeling. 

 
Their selection of food offering combines Asian Fusion which really gives comprehensive varieties whereby one can get to savor western choices of soup, salad, main meals that ranges from western to asian, breakfast set, western main meals, very good choice of desserts and many options of drinks. 

The fact that they have good amount of crowd at the same time, waiting time was rather reasonable, and I see that food is being served rather promptly.

I am happy with the choice of Minestrone soup as a starter. It was not the usual plain garlic bread that came together with the soup, but rather, it is 2 slices of bruschetta that is toasted with some cheese. They tasted really yummy, and the soup is even better. The soup is flavorful, with almost half of it filled with what is used to boil the soup. It comprises of celery, potato, zucchini, onion, and carrot. The ingredients are to my interpretation of what I see, as they are all mixed up with some carrying almost the same color. 

Italian Minestrone. Price-RM10

My friend ordered their Leek and Mushroom Chicken Pie. We love how the used the wooden flat board to present the food. It came with delicious bowl of creamy mushroom, chicken and leek, baked with cheese on top, the very flaky and light in texture pie, the greens, and a piece of some potato.

Chicken, Mushroom & Leek Pie. Price-RM22

I like some surprises within my food thus I order the Grilled Chicken Duxelle as it has mushroom stuffed in the chicken. My little heart is jumping with joy when I am presented with this compelling plate of very mouthwatering plate of food. 

First that went to my mouth is the salsa by the side. It was sourish enough to open up my senses to food. The saute vegetable taste absolutely divine. I am not sure what is added to marinate them, but the tastiness of this is insane! The most satisfying saute vegetable I ever had! 

I tasted the sauce before I poured them in, and it carries taste of spiciness. However, it worked out perfectly when mixed with the rest of the food. I also like the healthy baked sliced potatoes and some vegetables. 

There are lots of mushroom stuffed within the chicken. Mushroom is flavory, and goes so well with the chicken. Chicken taste is good, but because its chicken breast, I think much stronger marination is required, as the other parts of the food within this plate seems to overtake the taste of the chicken.

Grilled Chicken Duxelle. Price-RM29

The fridge that display their cake should be feeling proud by what it is displaying. The cakes  all look so alluring and the particular 2 that catch my eyes are the macadamia cheesecake, and their tiramisu coated with plenty of caramelized almond. Price wise, RM14-RM15 a slice is consider standard, and in fact, reasonable, given the fact that in return one gets to taste cake that is made with the best of ingredients. My stomach disagrees when I try to convince to take on some dessert. I like that I now know how to put a stop to the volume of intake. Haha. Soon, I will be back!

Cakes that looks heavenly 

I am pleasantly surprised when the bill came together with a 15% discount. This is being offered as their opening special which is valid till 30 June 2015. 

I can't wait to be back to try out their other offerings, with a bigger crowd, definitely. 

Food - 9/10
Price - 10/10

Service - 8/10 

Ambiance - 10/10 

Nosh-Up 
Atria Shopping Gallery 
Lot C33, Concourse Floor, 
Jalan SS22/23, 
Damansara Jaya
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor 

Tel : 03-7733 8238

Business Hours : 10am-10pm daily (last order is at 9.45pm)  

FB link, here

Boat Noodle @ Empire Damansara, PJ

When I first visited Empire Damansara due to a show I was watching at KLPAC, I was overall very impressed with the layout of the building. I love how the tall structure made me feel like I'm in a building overseas. 

Having seen how Boat Noodle has expanded in their business in Malaysia, I somewhat notice that amongst all F&B outlets in Empire Damansara, this distinctively show a busier patronage by walk in customers. Queues are a common sight, and the only difference is how long or short the queue is.

Not sure how much this is true, I've heard my friends said that amongst the outlets for Boat Noodle, this one at Empire Damansara is the outlet that serves tastier noodle. Hmm.. 

The concept of Boat Noodle are pretty simple, incorporating interior close to street food style, and I liked that they carry some Thailand-feel with its deco and Thai writing on its signboard etc. 

Inside and outside of Boat Noodle

Simple guide for ordering

They have the right marketing gimmick by introducing this style of eating. Small bite size of noodles served in bowls, priced at a low RM1.90, and during the beginning of their operation, I've seen many that seem to be in "competition" (in friendly manner, of course) on who is capable to eat more number of bowls, where the finished bowls are stacked up. Somehow, in all honesty, if one follow their heart, and just eat as they like, they will end up paying much more than eateries that offer a decent size of noodle at a fixed price. 

I loved both their variant of Chicken Thai Rice Noodle. They holds certain similarity in taste, both comes in tangy gravy that used dark soy sauce (1 with lighter sauce color), chicken broth, fistful of chopped coriander and spring onion, a chicken ball, a strip of chicken, and noodle enough for about 2 tablespoon size. Amongst the many types of noodles available, I really love the Thai rice noodle, the texture and the taste of it. They taste very similar to what you could have tried in streets of Thailand, and I give a big thumbs up in their authenticity of taste.

Chicken Thai Rice Noodle (Pathumthani & Ayutthaya). Price-RM1.90 each bowl

Their Thai Iced Tea is highly recommended, as it carries strong flavor of tea, and good taste of milk. Of course the small chunks of ice filled up almost the entire glass, but I guess that dilutes the sweetness a little, and overall a delicious glass of tea.

Chatting away at Boat Noodle, made me wanting for more. This round, go for their side dish. We ordered the Grilled Chicken Meat Ball. We were pleased with the 2 sticks of 6 meatball, which was grilled to perfection, and the meatball was chunky and filled with elascity. Just the way I would like it.

Cha Yen (Thai Iced Tea). Price-RM6.90; Grilled Chicken Meat Ball. Price-RM4.90

The fried chicken wings despite doesn't look too appetizing, as in the size of the wings seems relatively small, but the taste totally made up for it. Fried together with some lemongrass, the spices that went along with the marination comes through perfectly, as the taste was seriously yummy. Something that would make me crave and to return to have more.

Chicken Wings. Price-RM4.90

When I ordered my 2nd round of the Chicken Thai Rice Noodle, somewhat the presentation seems fresher with more visibility of the fried garlic, and we got few more strips of chicken, as compared to our first order.

We also ordered the Ka Num Tuay, served in saucers, which is the cold coconut milk with pandan dessert. Coconut milk tasted mild yet good, with the slight saltiness, and goes well with the bottom layer of pandan which is sweet. However, if the texture was softer, I would have been much better.
 

Ka Num Tuay. Price-RM1

Boat Noodle proves to be THE place to dine, whether for small or big eater, for proper meal, or even snack in between. Kudos. 

Boat Noodle 
G3A, Heritage Lane, Empire Damansara, 
Damansara Perdana, 
47820 Petaling Jaya

Tel : 019-477 3119 / 016-330 4762

Business Hours : 
Mon-Sun : 11am-9pm 

FB link, click here

Chili's Grill & Bar @ Jaya, Petaling Jaya

My most frequented Western restaurant ought to be Chili's Grill & Bar. This brand from Texas, Dallas first entered Malaysia in 1994, and I will always remember this to be my favorite Western restaurant for dining amongst friends and family. 

Having opened its latest outlet at Jaya Shopping Centre, I made my way there to have my dinner, and also to check out one of this latest neighborhood mall.

The entrance of Chili's at Jaya Mall

I have always liked the ambiance of Chilli's, which gave a very Westernize feeling, and customers can opt for the normal dining area or the bar area for drinking purpose.

The arrangement of seating are pretty much the same across their outlets, and this outlets holds some big mirror and walls that comes in colorful strips, kept close to Chilli's colors. 

Seating that maximize their space

My all time favorite has to be Triple Play, now also known as Triple Dipper. This order is good as appetizer for a few to share, or as a main meal for one or two. 

It is a platter combining 3 of Chilli's favorite appetizers, which includes Chicken Crispers, Wings Over Buffalo and Southwestern Eggrolls that comes with 3 different sauces for dipping. 

The Wings Over Buffalo are chicken drumette marinated in their spicy buffalo wing sauce which is done perfectly, as I could taste the marination even to its bones. It has a very crispy texture, and well fried. 

The Southwestern Eggrolls carries a soft and crispy tortilla wrapping around the ingredients, which includes smoked chicken, jalapenos, black bean, corn, green pepper and spinach. This has always been my favorite, as the mix of ingredients blends in well with the cheesiness within, and the crispiness of the tortilla.

The Chicken Crispers are fried and battered chicken stripes. As much as it still taste good, but over the years, this has significantly dropped in its standard, as the batter coating the chicken mostly fall off the meat, and oil is visible within the batter. 

Triple Dipper. Price-RM32.95

At times I crave for their Quesadilla and at same time, would like to be a little healthy, thus I choose to have the Quesadilla Explosion Salad. This salad comes with 4 pieces of quesadilla filled with cheese, and the salad comes with grilled chicken, tortilla strips, lots of lettuce, tomatoes, cilantros, and lots of cheese. The dressing being vinaigrette gives a sourish taste, that makes you wanting for more. 

The overall salad was really fresh and I was pleased with the amount of the salad that builds up like a small mountain in the middle of the plate. 

Quesadilla Explosion Salad. Price-RM26.95

The blackberry and strawberry sparkling soda was yummy with a good taste of both. Lemonade tasted good too.

Blackberry Strawberry Sparkling Soda & Lemonade. Price-RM9.95 each

All this while, we have been highly satisfied with the food quality served in Chilli's, and the standard of cleanliness. However, for this particular visit to this outlet, we were somewhat disappointed with the quality of the cleanliness of its cutlery, whereby even after requesting for the 2nd time, we were still not happy with the stain looking fork and knife, and had to wash them ourselves before using.

Chilli's Grill & Bar 
Jaya Shopping Centre
Jalan Semangat 
46100 Petaling Jaya 
Tel : 03-7931 5719

Business Hours : 
Sun-Thu : 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat : 11am-12am