Hot Peri Peri Chicken Dinner@Nandos, Midvalley

Demona: It was time again. For Dogma to depart. 1.5 days was certainly not enough for Demona.

................................................................... *poke*poke*

The final meal before bidding farewell... fiery NANDOS! Despite having many restaurants in this gigantic mall, we were circling around for some time before deciding on Nandos.



Demona: However perfect the chicken had been grilled, it would never have created the same KA-POW results without Nando's .... PERI PERI SAUCES!



Demona: My usual choice is the Flaming Hot Peri Peri sauce, rather than the Extra Flaming Hot Peri Peri, not because I could not take the spicyness of the XFHPP, but the spicyness was a little too strong and it covered the taste of the grilled chicken. Dogma seemed to be enjoying the Garlic Peri Peri sauce, although he did complain that it was a little too salty.

Demona: "Garlic hoggy breath. Don't come near me"
Dogma : "BURRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP"
Demona: "PHEWWWWWWWWWW *closes nose*"



Demona: Since there were two of us and the only dish worthwhile eating at Nandos was their chicken, we decided to order 1/2 a chicken (HOT PERI PERI flavour) with 2 sidelines, coseslaw and PERI fries. RM 19.90++.

The chicken meat was fairly spicy, tender and the great part was that it was not soaked in oil, unlike Kenny Rogers/KFC. Dogma gleamed. I knew why almost instantly. 1/2 a chicken = many bones = chewy chewy bone action by Dogma = BLISS.



Demona: I liked the coleslaw. The vegetable slices were not too thin nor too thick, making it just nice to chew. The dressing was savoury sweet as well. If only they gave a little bit more... I thought they used to give fairly gigantic scoops of coleslaw but this one was really small... Hmmm...




Demona: PERI fries! Well fried, and not brownish in colour, indicating that the oil was still fresh when these fries were fried. The paprika added on the fries did not make much of a difference, only saltier. We ended up dipping them with the PERI PERI sauces anyway.

Verdict: I raised the Q to Dogma whether spending RM 20 on a NANDOs 1/2 chicken meal or a CHILLIES beef burger meal was better. We both realised that maybe Chillies was a better option. What say you readers out there?

Bottles & Bottles Midvalley Gardens

We were walking along Midvalley Gardens and coincidentally we bumped into WS and family ( Papa WS, Mama WS, Sister WS , Wife WS and WS)

Recalling the promise that I'd given to WS during CNY 2008 to buy him a bottle of wine ( i brought a bottle of italian Fruili from Denise Malaysia to his house, and that bottled turned out to be a disaster: Intense chemical nose akin to YokoYoko muscle heatrub, poisonous palate. RUN!!), I'd asked WS for a drink at Bottles & Bottles there and then.

He says ok.

Due to my recent affection with Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignons, we got a bottle of Dunsborough Hills 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River@RM80 + RM20 Corkage.

I hate paying for corkage especially in Retail outlets as it defeats the purpose to encourage people to consume alcohol in house and to built a wine appreciation community closely around the shop. Pooi! Thumbs down on that Bottles & Bottles Midvalley!


Dunsborough Hills 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River@RM80 + RM20 Corkage:
Nose: Significant alcohol heat thou not to the point of overkilling. Whiff of pencil shavings (YEY!) and cigarbox at the back with hints of cedars. Slowly turned to vanilin after some aeration. Did not improve much after 30minutes.
Palate: Again, more alcohol and harsh tannins compared to Sandalford/Moss Wood and VasseFelix. Sizable tannins attacking the mid palate. Abundance of currants and black berries. A tad disjointed to be considered top Margaret River.
Verdict: A good introduction to Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon but lacking in finesse and elegance.

Demona Self Shot PG version ala Edison Chan/Cecelia Chung:

Inpromptu breakfast@Nasi Kandar Pelita, Bangsar

Midnite snacks@A Stephen Chow Movie Marathon

Demona: We decided to get naughty on the calories, by getting some snacks and wine to go along with a Chow Sing Chi Movie Marathon on a quiet Saturday night (I have a big collection of CSC's movies in my laptop).



Demona: Happy Cow Smoked Salmon cheese! (RM 6.90) In triangular shaped forms. The cheese was slapped on with this Kenji wholewheat crackers (RM 3.95). The crackers were dry and bit of a gritty feel, but it matched fairly well with the cheese. The cheese was smooth, savoury, delicious, although I could not taste the salmon.



Demona: Margaret River, 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. *sniffs* PENCIL PENCIL PENCIL poking me nose! And I turned really red and sleepy after drinking. A fairly alcoholic wine. I did not even realise that I dozed off half way through the food and movie. For further reviews on the wine, I will get Dogma to continue on for me.

Dogma:
Sandalford Margaret River 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon@60SGD
Nose: Beautiful nose of pencil shavings/lead with cigar box and leather. Elegant cedar at the back. Still significant alcohol heat initially but slowly reveal some currant and vanilla after much aeration.. NICE!!!
Palate: Abundant of black fruits and berries with a good acid hitting on the mid palate. Tannins were pretty silky and grippy..Finish is exceptionally long.
Verdict: A wine made for the long haul. You could see its potential now and I am now a faithful follower of Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon wines (vasse felix, moss wood ). Pretty close to a good left bank Bordeaux (Think branaire Ducru ) at 1/3 the price, although probably less elegance and longevity. I still have a bottle kept at my cellar. Aim to open it up in 2011



Demona: Dogma and I are HUGEEEEE fans of Calbee chips. Their chips are really thinly sliced and superbly crunchy! We saw a new flavour, Seaweed Mayonaise and so, we decided to give it a try. Not bad! Salty, and when you chewed more, the taste of mayonaise comes out.



Demona: Seaweed flavour. Our regular MUST HAVEs from Calbee. Yummyyyyyyyyy.. Each pack cost RM 3.95.



Demona: An upclose pict of the Calbee chip. Calbee will continue on to be our future movie marathon "Friend".

Verdict: Sometimes, a chill out lazying time alone at home with someone comfortable, with a couple of great old dvd movies and a few glasses of wine beats a hot saucy partying night out or a big screen cinema movie outing. The great part about it is that, its cheap! And you are allowed to have messy hair, ugly looks, and worn out PJs. Howwwwww.. comfortableeeeeeeeeee...

Wong Ah Wah BBQ Chicken Wings@Jln Alor

We had heard so much about Jalan Alor's famous BBQ chicken wings and today is the day where we would be able to satisfy our cravings.....Right after the Beef Noodles we walk along Jalan Alor to hunt for the BBQ chicken wings..

The entrance of Jalan Alor: Fully packed with locals, tourist and gazillion hawkers touting for you to eat in their stall. Majority of stalls here are seafood restaurant. In Jalan Alor, this spells: exorbitantly priced food for tourist..

There were quite a few BBQ chicken wings stalls along the road and it appears none of our friends could confirm the real McCoy. However, Dogma (me) years of training and experience in the jungle being a scout has came to much use at this juncture. Dogma(me) spotted a billowing pile of smoke at the very end of Jalan Alor and he insintively says. IT MUST BE THERE!
Dogma is right: Big pile of smoke = very good BBQ chicken wing. We finally found the famed Jalan Alor BBQ chicken wings.

The real Mc Coy: Wong Ah Wah BBQ Chicken Wings ( pls beware some other stalls along jalan alor try to dupe tourist by naming their bbq chicken stalls as Wong ah Kia, Wong Ah Kau, etc)
One of the workers busy tending to the BBQ chicken wings. There were no less than 2000 chicken wings at the stall hanging on racks.

Now, let the wings do the quacking.

Chicken Wings Pyramid: 6 wings@RM2 each. Come stack Jengga-like
Glistening Chicken Wings: Wong Ah Wah's chicken wings was indeed heavenly. You could tell the difference when holding on the wings. It is not gooey and sticky like some other stalls that drown the wings in honey. Clean crisp while holding the wings, let us dissect the flavour..

Nose: Smokey bbq nose with some bitter end note. Slight tinge of sweetness
Front Palate: Instantaneous smokey bitterness intermingled with some sweet chicken note. This complex flavour are in harmony and not overpowering one another. And the good thing jsut did not end there, from the mid palate, you could taste some distinctive herbal tone while the end palate was infused with some bitterness.

Verdict: Wong Ah wah's Chicken wings is really in a league of its own. It has much more layers of flavours compared to other typical honey soaked chicken wings you find. The taste was not overly powerful but rather, it grip your taste bud slowly but deadly...making you dying for more of WAW's bbq chicken wings. Triple Thumbs up!!

Glistening Chicken wings2:
More Glistening Chicken Wings:
Half way thru devouring the chicken wings.
Dead Cookoo

Ngau Kee Beef Noodles@Tengkat Tong Shin

Demona: Parking is ROTTEN HELL here. Be prepared to spend at least RM 5 to park your car in this area. We came here to check out the widely known eatery scene, Jalan Alor. We stumbled upon this stall, Ngau Kee Beef Noodles, along the way. The adorable looking cow on its signboard caught our attention. We decided to give this cute cow a tummy growling try.



Demona: Each bowl of noodles came along with a bowl of soup with beef balls, meat chunks and pork skin. I did enjoy the beef ball as it has a flavourful tangy, chewy texture. The meat was alright only, and Dogma finished up the pork skin slices. EEKS. The soup was not my cup of tea. It tasted as if it was packed with MSG.



Demona: The chilli was delicious! Spicy, garlic, hot and sour. SLURPS!



Demona: The noodles (sang meen) was topped with a sincere portion of minced beef. The noodles were lovely, with a chewy but light texture making each bite truly enjoyable! The flavourful minced meat was a fantastic combination to the noodles. The minced meat and noodles itself was already good enough, even without the bowl of beef ball and meat soup. This meal cost RM 5.50.



Demona: Another pict of the stall and its cute signboard taken by Dogma, before we left for our next tummy feeding destination. A fairly interesting meal, I can't compare much because I rarely get to eat beef noodles. I am sure there are great beef noodles stalls out there which I have yet to venture.

I did see a tiny stall along the way to Pudu, near Petaling Street. But the problem with parking my car has detered me from giving it a try. Readers, any comments on this shop? Or recommendations of other great beef noodle stalls?

A&W, Sunway Pyramid

Remember the good old times when there is no worries but only A&W RootBeer Float?

While Demona and I were taking a walk in Sunway Pyramid I chanced upon this A&W outlet. It has been ages since i last stepped into a A&W branch. Somehow it had slowly vanished from key cities and Singapore....

The good old times were indeed beautiful and I couldn't resist the temptation of satisfying my fix of a good old A&W Root Beer FLOAT!!! MMMMMMMM

WHAT a disappointment it turned out to be.

Root Beer: Too sweet. Not fresh.
Ice Cream: Low grade ice cream. Did not go well with the soda..
Verdict: FAIL.

Probably my taste bud has changed, probably we were pampered by other more exquisite ice creams, probably A&W has gone down the drain.....But it was soothing to tried A&W again... but i doubt i will pay them any visit in the near future...


Frothy float: Too frothy...bleachh

Qui Lin Pork Noodles@Pomander Restaurant, SS15 Subang Jaya

Demona: I was devastated when I found out that the little inn by the corner of the SS15 street was closed for renovation. Hawker stalls that sell a great variety of delicious food are anchored on the ground floor of this inn, and one of them sells... slurpilicious pork noodles! For the many months down the road, I had been asking around to see if anyone knows about the whereabouts of Qui Lin Pork Noodles.

Until one fine day.... my good friend who's a Subang-ian, let out the news that Qui Lin pork noodles has moved into Restaurant Pomander at SS15, behind the Taylor's Business School building. The restaurant is situated next to Kwai Sun Restaurant , and opposite Sea View Restaurant.

WOO-HOO! Craving's fullfilled!



Demona: I had always wanted to bring Dogma here but the stall went MIA for a good half a year, thus I was only able to share my porky yummylicious experience with him with words and facial expression. Finally... I can share this experience with him ...... by actually smelling, tasting, eating, and sweating out the REAL DEAL!

I forgotten to pre-empt Dogma on the waiting period, usually around 30 minutes to an hour. He went around the area hunting for newspapers, but failed to find any.

To kill time, we ended up:
(i) staring at each other
(ii) counting the number of people and tables waiting for the noodles, who were here before us
(iii) people watching and bitching
(iv) looking at the clock every few minutes
(v) hoping that the noodles would be ours everytime the waitress comes in with the tray

After a good, butt aching 45 minutes... our noodles finally came! We were superbly hungry by then already. We quickly paid, took picts and DUG IN! Each bowl cost RM4.80.

I ordered the Pork Bee Hoon soup. The soup was sweet and super porky flavours were locked in it! The lard's presence was definitely obvious in terms of taste, looks and smell.

Demona: (looks at Dogma)
Dogma : "MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.... SONG -AH! *slurp*slurp*"



Demona: I opted out the funky bits eg: intestines, liver. I know, I know, I am missing out the best bits about pork noodles, but I am not adventurous in terms of internal organs. I was given pork slices and minced pork instead. Deep fried crunchy pork fat tiny chunks were added in the soup to enhance the porkiness of the dish! OOOOH LA LA. Each mouthful was absolutely, satisfying!



Demona: This was Dogma's bowl. Despite drenching away with sweat, these were the only few things which came from him throughout the whole eating process.

" MMMMMMMMMMMMM! "
"WAH, SONG AH!"
(SLURPING SOUND)
(SIPPING SOUP SOUND)
(Wipe sweat action)
(Nodding head action)

Actions speak louder than words? Very true, very true.



Demona: Another close up pict of Dogma's bowl. It makes me salivate just by looking back the gorgeous picts of the pork noodles that Dogma took.

Verdict: Pork noodles lovers out there, I may have exaggerated the greatness of this a bit too much, but everytime I get a chance to eat it, I always end up satisfied. Sometimes I wonder if the waiting period affects my taste buds, you know ....

Long waiting period = Hungry = Salivate = Pork noodle comes = Gobbles gobbles = Tummy filled up = Happy and satisfied.

Whatever it is, this pork noodles is some kick ass good *toot* to me. A MUST TRY! Bring your tooth brush and paste along for a wash up later because the porky taste is so strong that you'll have "Hog's Breath" for the rest of the day.

Village Park Restaurant

Right after our early breakfast treat at Ah Weng Koh Hainanese Coffee Stall, we went for our second breakfast. This time a Chinese operated Malay stall - Village Park Restaurant at Damansara Utama, PJ.
The crowd was very interesting, with throngs of Muslims, Indians, Chinese and Caucasians gathering for cozy Malay breakfast. Seeing the healthy crowd on an early Saturday Morning, coupled with numerous newspaper article on this shop pasted on the walls, we know we are in for a good meal!

Nasi Dagang aka Merchant Rice: Tender loving soft beef rendang with good dose of spice and a tinge of sweetness in it.. The meat just breaks up graciously as we poke it with the forks. MMM MMM MMM... The oily rice was a mixture of different types of grains and stirred fried with shallots. Not overly oily but with a beautiful nose of shallot fragrant. The coarse grains gives it a nice bite as well. Served on banana leaf, this dish is superb at RM5.50.
Another close up picture of the Merchant Rice

Receipt@RM5.50: The meal is pretty value for money and left us wanting for more.... Demona also spotted the nicely presented bitter gourd, binjals and other beauties at the display area.

WE will be back!

Ah Weng Koh Hainan Tea

Empty Street. Messy sideways and weird late owls.
It is 4.30am at Puduraya and Dogma has just arrived from Singapore..
Waiting... and waiting for Demona to pick him up..

Waiting... and waiting..

6.55am...Demona arrived and off we go for a tummies growling search for FOOD!

Demona brought me to the the Imbi Market for a old school Hainanese breakfast...
The shop was really "vintage" with smoked up walls and ceilings and rows of old Sharp toaster lining by the wall, churning out the good ol' toast made from traditional Indian bread.

I was pleasantly surprised there is already a healthy crowd at this wee hour of 7am on a Saturday morning... in KL...
Iced Coffee: Whao... very fragrant local coffee. A thick coffee aroma fills up the air. The coffee is strong without being excessively sweet. I like it very much..!!! It really beats those Old town coffee/starbucks/yakun/coffee beans hands down..
River of spilled coffee..


Golden Kaya Butter Toast: Check out the major slab of butter in between the beautifully toasted golden bread. The kaya was thick with intense nose of caramel sweetness. MMM MMM MMMM!!!

This is definitely old school breakfast joint! Family crowd, smelly air, noisy atmosphere. Brother Ah Weng even reserved some tables by placing a special VIP label or Tommy label on them. I'm not surprised why there are so many regulars at this joint. Fantastic coffee and great toast!

PS: Dogma had a bad tummy this morning and he went to the public loo to relieve himself. OK. the loo was really bad. The air was filled up with smell of dead chicken, blooody intestines from the nearby butcher/hawkers that you could hardly smell your own POOOP. However, nilch appetite was lost and Dogma continue to mop up the toast/coffee and many more meals that morning! Truly Malaysian 2008!

Dried Pork Noodles@Sun Huat Kee Restaurant, Bangsar

Demona: It was terribly hot that day. A quote from my colleague, "It's as if the sun is next to your face". I was already sweating even being in the air-conditioned car. We made a pit stop at Lucky Garden to grab a quick lunch bite. Although there were several chinese hawker restaurants along the road but we decided to eat in Sun Huat Kee Restaurant as the air ventilation was better than the others (fan and air conditioning).



Demona: There weren't much choices of food around to select from eg: curry mee, kuey teow soup, pork noodles, yong tau foo, and toast bread kopitiam style food. The heat was killing my appetite to eat, thus I just followed my colleague's selection, which was the dried pork noodles.

It looked quite miserable when the noodles came. The minced pork was little and not fried well enough, therefore they were not fragrant. Not to mention, 2 measly slices of lap cheong (chinese sausage), which you could clearly tell from the pict, were refried several times, hence the dark colour and hard outer skin.

A few spoons of thick and thin soy sauce and some oil were added to stir the noodles, turning them salty and brownish in colour. Anyone could have done this at home. Nothing fascinating.



Demona: Another obvious point from the pict, the soup was packed with MSG. I only sipped a spoonful of it and the rest was history. The pork ball was also lousy, without much flavour at all.

Verdict: An extremely disappointing dish., and it was not cheap either. RM 4.80 per bowl. The interest of trying other food that this place also offer had instantly disappeared. I also believe that people who came here for a meal, probably came in for the same reason as mine too, (HOT WEATHER) and game for just about any food (GOOD or BAD) to fill up the tummy.