Saturday, March 29, 2008

Oasis Restaurant@Seri Manjung, Perak

Demona: This was my first trip to Seri Manjung. The layout of SM is pretty similar with other smaller towns, with bits and pieces of modernization seen at certain prime areas, yet its humble, down-to-earth, laid back presence is still there. One thing about SM though... the weather was INCREDIBLY, UNBELIEVABLY, VOLCANIC HOT! It was even hotter than Ipoh. We were almost roasted till well done there.

After finishing our work, my GPS-boss directed us to Oasis, with an intention to treat us "Shark's Fin".



Demona: This was Oasis Restaurant's famous dish, fish belly cooked in sticky, spicy soup, with a texture similar to the Shark Fin soup. This was my boss's interpretation of treating us "Shark's Fin". Well, at least this dish was shark-cruelty free. I must say, the fish belly had a certain funky raw acquired taste, one which I could not accustom to at that moment. I mostly ate the vegetables which were added into the soup, and left the fish bellies for their eating pleasure.

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Demona: This was the Phai Kuat Wong, pork ribs coated with sticky sweet sauce and sesame seeds. The pork strips, were a little too fatty for me. Koon Kee Restaurant (in Damansara Jaya) is still the top scorer of this dish.


Demona: The lady owner recommended us this dish, their "Jiu Phai" (star dish) "Tau Fu" dish. The squarish piece of tofu was fairly big, about the size of a small cake box. Fried dried shrimps and onion slices were added on top of the tofu, and finished with a handful of thinly chopped spring onions. The tofu was too salty and oily. A scoopful of it was more than enough for me, any more would get me feeling sickly all over.



Demona: This dish was also another recommendation by the lady owner, the Hong Kong "Yau Mak Choy". Somehow, the YMK tasted different from the one which I ate with Dogma in Koon Kee. The taste and the looks of the vegetable seemed different to me. Don't you think so? View here to see:

http://foodventuras.blogspot.com/2007/12/koon-kee-clayport-ricedamansara.html

Anyway, the YMK which we had here tasted only so so. Nothing much to shout about. I was basically eating the vegetables for fibre intake.



Verdict: My boss footed the bill, or should I say, "headed" the bill. 4 fairly huge portion dishes, 3 plates of rice, and 3 cans of juices, came up to RM 54.30.

The tasting experience was average to me, but in terms of pricing, it was without a doubt, much lower than what you can get in big cities, especially since we ordered fish belly soup, which is in fact, an expensive dish. This lunch meal would be just nice if there was another extra tummy around, instead of 3 tummies.

I foresee my chances of revisiting this place being very low because I believe I will be venturing else where in my next visit to SM.

White coffee breakfast session@Kopitiam next to Sin Yoon Loong

Demona: Sin Yoon Loong was packed to the brim that sunny morning. We zombies, were desperate for a sip of icy cold creamy fragrant white coffee to jumpstart our sleepy minds. We walked over to the adjacent coffee shop, which was packed too but at least a few tables were empty.

I have no idea what was the name of the coffee shop, so I decided to name it the "kopitiam next to SYL".



Demona: *SIPSSSSSSS* Ah! Pure bliss! Extreme satisfaction! My mind was slowly waking up. The white coffee over here was just as good as SYL, I could hardly tell the difference.



Demona: The kaya butter toast bread layer was a little thick compared to SYL's, nevertheless, the toast tasted fairly good: sweetie-licious, crunchy, buttery!



Demona: My colleague ordered a plate of Chee Cheong Fun from the hawker stall parked outside the coffee shop. Many people were queuing up for the CCF, I reckoned it must have been darn good for such a queue formation.

Indeed, if you do see a queue for food in Ipoh, you can put your 100% trust into its taste. Ipoh-ians will not settle for anything less than GREAT, as with all small town folks, as their taste buds are tuned up high since many of most great delicacies originate from these places.

The texture of the CCF, was so so smooth! You can actually slurp each strip up, like 7-11's Slurpy! Be wary of CCF sauce splatter all over your face and clothes, as the CCF was THAT smooth. The chilli sauce, green chilli slices and deep fried shallots were a great combination to eat along with the CCF. The portion was HUGE. Enough for 1 man or 2 ladies. Only RM 2.50. Fuh! Cheap and Gooooooooooooooood-ah!

Verdict: You can't go wrong trying any food, especially Chinese cuisine, in Ipoh, even if you have not heard of the coffee shop or restaurant before. Be adventurous! If you have found a new great eatery, buzz me!

Pakeeza Restaurant@Greentown, Ipoh



Demona: My colleague and I decided to have dinner in Pakeeza, an Indian restaurant because we were craving for something hot, spicy, currylicious on a stormy night. As we entered, we were greeted by friendly waiters, who had constant smiles, as if they were permanently carved on their faces. Nevertheless, a warm welcome did made us feel comfortable for a dinner here.



Demona: 3 gigantic papadams (a well known spicy, salty and peppery indian snack) were given to us as a form of an appetizer. We ngarm, ngarm, ngarm-ed them down!



Demona: We ordered a tandoori roti (RM 2.00). Its portion was fairly big, sliced into 4 quarters. The roti was pretty nice, with a fragrant burnt aroma from the tandoori locked into it.



Demona: Michelle is a big fan of carrot milk juice (RM 3.80). I stole a little sip from her drink, and found it so so only. It was a bit too sweet for my liking. She agreed as well.



Demona: A bowl of curry gravy was given to us, as a dipping complement to the tandoori roti and chapati that we ordered. The gravy was spicy alright, but a little too diluted and oily for my liking. You could see the glistening bright orange coloured lipids floating on the gravy surface layer.



Demona: Although I was extremely disappointed with Chat Masala's eggplant dish, my tastebuds never stopped craving for more eggplant dishes. We gave Pakeeza's Brinjal Pajeri a try (RM 4.50). If you've noticed, YOU COULD SEE THE EGGPLANT STRIPS WITH YOUR EYES! Yippeeee. The strips were properly grilled before mixing them with thickened, spicy curry gravy, garnished with some chopped spring onions. Pakeeza did well for this dish. Definitely ten times better than CM's brinjal dish. Imagine the price difference! RM 4.50 vs SGD 8.80.



Demona: The chapati was a major let down. (RM 1.50). It was cold, and hard. I felt like a prisoner eating it. Every chew was a challenge.



Demona: We ordered a quarter tandoori chicken portion, which came with 4 very chunky, pieces of meat. (RM 7.00) The meat was... oooooh, macho macho meat! Dense and packed. You could tell that the marination process was thorough from the burnt little strips and spots on the outer layer of the chicken. The meat was spicy! And the best part of all, oil content was minimal.



Demona: We ordered a bowl of beef curry too (RM 6.00) The gravy was thick, spicy, sweet and it blended really well with the tandoori roti. The beef slices were thinly cut and cooked until they were very, very tender. You needn't feel annoyed chewing and chewing the meat down, because they melt in your mouth! Although the portion was small for this dish, it was enough for the slightly smaller tummies of these two young ladies.



Demona: Check out the macho, macho meat! Dogma, next trip there? Promise you'll get to chew those bones!



Verdict: After addition of service and government tax (GROANS), the bill came up to RM 27.87. This meal was by far much more worthwhile than Chat Masala's SGD 27 meal. Bigger portion, better taste, more variety. However, I do know that Ipoh, is a MUCHHHH smaller town compared to the hustle and bustle metropolitan KL city. I doubt I can find a decent RM 27 meal in an indian restaurant in KL for this portion. I guess to be fair, it isn't a head to head comparison.

:( Our currency's tiny.

Butterscotch Meringue Bars@Demona's home

Demona: While the brownies were browning away in mom's alien oven, I proceeded on preparing my next recipe. Butterscotch Meringue Bars. I've always wanted to bake a meringue recipe after watching yummylicious meringues baked by celebrity chefs on television. This is my first attempt ever.



Demona: I melted butter and brown sugar, till they turned slightly sticky and caramelised. Dogma, caramelise :) *winks*



Demona: Self raising flour and eggs were added into the sticky buttery caramel mixture. The resulting mixture was poured over the same square tray which I used on the brownies earlier. This would be the meringue's base.



Demona: This part was the trickiest. Beat up the egg white until it turned white and fluffy, like a cotton candy or a piece of cloud. This step ends up in failure many times because the egg white will never fluff up if any of the baking tools used had oil residues on it, even the slightest bit.

Thank god, it fluffed up really nicely this time. I beat the fluff along with some golden syrup and sugar. The batter is done once you tilt over your bowl and the batter still sticks nicely on it without dripping.

I broke some walnuts into smaller chunks and threw them in as well.

The meringue was spreaded on top of the caramel mixture until every inch was covered by it. Now, the baking process begins.



Demona: The baking time took about 30 minutes as well. The texture of the meringue bars was a beauty. The meringue layer tasted like barbaqued marshmallows, chewy and moist on the inside, and the caramel layer gave a sticky, gritty feel. The chewyness was balanced with some solid, crunchy walnut bites. The slack part was that it was very sweet. I will lower the sugar volume in my next round of baking this recipe. By then, I think it will be a beautiful creation :)

The cost of baking this recipe was far lower than the brownies. I'm beginning to be very interested in trying out other meringue recipes. Maybe something fruity next time!

Butterscotch Brownies@Demona's Home

Demona: After a week's work in Ipoh, I headed home for the weekend. Time for another baking frenzy session!

This time around, I chose walnuts and butterscotch as my theme. I bought a packet of walnuts (500 g) a while back for baking purposes but never gotten a chance to use them yet. Cost me RM 10. :(

The first recipe: Butterscotch brownies



Demona: I had about 200 g of white chocolate chips left, not enough for one recipe. Thus, I headed out to TeJia, a local bakery supplies shop where I usually get my ingredients. Things sold here aren't that cheap, but it saves me time as they've got most of the baking ingredients here. One chunk of 250 g white chocolate cost me RM 4.00. I chopped it into small chunks.



Demona: Firstly, I double boiled some butter and white chocolate till they were melted.



Demona: On another bowl, I stirred the eggs and brown sugar and mixed them well.



Demona: After adding the melted mixture into the bowl of eggs and sugar, the batter thickened and became sticky. It resembled a caramel or toffee.



Demona: I broke the walnuts into smaller chunks with my hands and threw them into the batter.



Demona: In went the white chocolate chips and vanilla essence as well.



Demona: Whoa-lah! The batter is now ready to burn and cook in the fiery hot alien oven which mom owns. (Refer to the chocolate muffins post under my baking frenzy to view the strange looking oven)



Verdict: After baking for roughly 30 minutes, the sweet butter aroma had already spread all around the kitchen area. The batter had turned crunchy looking, painted with a bronze golden brown colour. While waitin for it to cool down, I started on my second recipe.

It took about another good 30 minutes for the batter to cool down. I anxiously cut up a few slices, and took picts of it. I may sound extremely full of myself, but the butterscotch brownies tasted extremely, extremely wonderful! I actually thought it was going to be a little too sweet but turned out the sweetness was just nice. The moist chewy texture of it made each bite heavenly! The walnuts were the downside of the whole recipe. My walnuts were not fresh, thus they had lost their crunchyness. To improve on the taste, I'll get the walnuts from the market next time.

Other than that....Oooohhhhhhh... I can't stop cutting up another slice, and another slice, and another slice....

Counting back the cost, about RM 11 for white chocs, RM 7 for walnuts (I only used 3/4 pack), sugar, flour, electricity.. my cost of baking did not come cheap too. The yield was an average 25cm x 25cm x 3 cm. Unless I am selling at RM 10-12 for a square piece of brownie, I will not be able to profit with such high cost of baking. Stinging on ingredients would definitely affect the taste too.

AIH... I think I need to bake in Singapore :P KA-CHING, Dogma!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Homecook@clementi

Time for a homely cooked meal after 3 hours of prawning today.
Our catch of the day: Big head prawns.
Step 1: Brown the prawns in butter till slight golden and put it aside.
Step 2: Cut Brocolli in bite size pieces
Step3: Bring to boil some water with salt and set the cooked brocolli aside. (demona is the vege cooker)

Step4: Stir fry an egg together with prawns. Served cooked brocolli aside and Voila! You have a Prawn Omelette served with boiled Brocolli. The cornerstone of a nutritious diet!


Pork Chop ala Dogma:
Step1: Heat up some butter in the pan.
Step2: Marinate the pork chop over night using chilli powder, pepper corn, sugar and egg white. The egg white acts like a tenderizer. Pan fry each side of the pork chop for 6-7 minutes. Take it out and leave it for 4minutes till the juice redistribute themselves in the meat.
Step3: Take the left overs butter and meat juice in the pan, and add some pepper, mustard, ketchup and olive oil. Bring to boil and you will get your self a good kick ass gravy
Step4: The result--> Dogma styled pork chop with peppery spicy gravy.

Perrier with lemon zest: What better water to pair with such a meal but a ultra pure sparkling water from Perrier. This is the first time Demona tried it and she loves it. " Taste like a sugarless coke" she says.
Chateau Desteau Haut Medoc 2001: Medium body with cutting acidity. This is definitely a food wine. you have to pair with something heavy and it will still cut thru. Tannins is grippy with alot of mids. Nose was not too complex with some hints of cedar, cassis and currant. Nothing to shout about.

Green Valley wine

JT shared with me some of this Green Valley Chardonnay from Margaret River, 2004.It cost only 30bucks

Nose: Some powdery vanilla with some slight melon and beautiful toastiness to it.
Palate: Pretty clean, with powder vanilla and nut in it.
Verdict: I like it. A value for money substitute for burgundian white. Smuacks!

Gelato treat@Swirl Gelateria, Crown Centre



Demona: Ice cream treats are a definite MUST in our food venturing guidelines. In Singapore, we had tried Daily Scoop, Island Cremery, Tom's Palate and some gelateria stalls in shopping malls.. and this time around, we made our way to Swirl Gelateria, located in Crown Centre.

We reached at around 11 am that day, and Swirl just opened its door to customers a short while before we arrived. The gelatos were still nicely stored in the fridge. We gave the lady owner some time to prepare and read newspapers and the available magazines lying around.



Demona: I took the honour of selecting the flavours this time. Somehow I was colour biased that day: Brown (Peanut butter, chocolate and coffee). The champion flavour went to the peanut butter. Its taste was intense and powerful, with chewy little chunks of peanuts in between.

All three flavours were very creamy. The chocolate and coffee flavoured gelatos were quite average though. Besides the creamy texture, the flavour of both were just slightly above average compared to the commercialized ones.

I did try other flavours before selecting these 3, but many of them tasted a too funky for my liking.

Verdict: It cost below 10 sgd for 3 flavours. There were a drawer full of board games by the door. After slurping down the last bit of melted gelato, we played a game of "sticks" and "Taboo" while the gelatos in our tummies gradually digested away. Needless to say, Demona was the champion-ness of Taboo!

With some cooling sugary treats in a fairly cozy corner, some interesting boardgames and fashion/tabloid magazinesis, Swirl is definitely quite pleasant if you are looking for a hang out place to spend time with your friends, in your sleeping shorts, messy hair, ungroomed look on a lazy weekend evening.

Daily Scoop Take 2@Clementi Arcade



Demona: I usually join Dogma on a few jogging sessions everytime I'm here in Singapore. Dogma lives nearby Daily Scoop. On our first visit here, we jogged our way to Clementi Arcade, sweating off all the calories only waiting to pile them back on with some icey, creamy sugary scoops of DS's home made gourmet ice cream. The experience was great, therefore we vowed to return for round 2.

Since Dogma's Jazz is on hands now, we did not jog here on our second visit. Bad girl, bad boy. Despite the heavy downpour that day, getting chills and clothings wet did not stop us from proceeding on with our plan.

(Accidentally scooped up part of Dogma's head and specs as well. Oopsie)



Demona: We ordered a waffle topped with two scoops of ice cream, green tea and red bean flavour (Dogma's choice) and hazelnut flavour (my choice). Cost was SGD 8.10.
The waffle was drizzled with Hershey's chocolate syrup and icing sugar was sprinkled all over it. It took quite a long while for the waffle to arrive on our table. At first we thought that each waffle was freshly made, but Dogma caught a glimpse of a waffle placed into a microwave oven. Hmmmmmmmm...

Everyone around us seemed to be waiting for the waffles as well. Must be DS's X-factor.



Demona: The green tea ice cream tasted alright. The grassy, herbal green tea flavour was definitely present. Small chunks of red bean were incorporated in between the green coloured ice cream. However, its taste did not match with the waffle. It's better off eaten on its own.

The hazelnut ice cream was also so so. The hazelnut flavour was locked in it, the texture was smooth, however something felt lacking to give this ice cream a big UMPH to it. Maybe additions of chopped hazelnuts would be nicer.

The waffle was not as great as I thought it would be. Its layer was a bit thin, thus when you eat it with the ice cream, you can't get a nice, solid, hearty crunch of the waffle. The buttery sweet taste of the waffle was quite nice, but if its texture was harder and it had a thicker layer, this dessert would have been an A scorer.

Verdict: The ice cream that we had on our first trip here was much better. I think one of it was the chocolate ice cream. If I remembered correctly, it was smoothly dark brown in colour, with a smooth, sweet, chocolatey taste locked in it. The flavour was not there on our second visit there.

The ice creams at DS are fairly nice, but it hasn't gotten me hooked on with an ugly craving of wanting to have more, and more, and more, and more from here yet. However, I believe that we will make our third visit here sometime in the near future.

P/s: Any great flavours to recommend us to try at DS?

Provence Bakery Day 1& Day 2@Holland Village

DAY ONE:

Demona: Dogma and I went to Holland Village for a late, lazy Saturday brunch. I took over his Jazz's wheels, and drove there, guided by a life-size Dogma-GPS next to me.

Dogma-GPS: "Turn left. Keep right."
Dogma-GPS: "Wei wei wei wei, green light may turn yellow soon. Be careful, slow down."
Demona : "Yes sir". (stoning)
Dogma-GPS: "This road, keep max at 70 kmph. Don't rush stepping on the accelerator"
Demona : "Yes sir." (double stoning)

(Driving in Singapore is harder than taking my driving test in Malaysia)

We finally arrived SAFELY at Holland Village. Safely, as in dimerit free and summons free. We were greeted by these greedy little buggers, asking for jockey parking for a ridiculous sgd 10. What is the hassle of putting your car into a box, costing you a mere sgd 1?



Demona: Anyway.. driving issues aside. Our tummies were growling like how Jimmy Chamberlain bangs his drums away. Like hungry vultures, we hunted with our nostrils. The sniffings led us to... Provence, a famous Japanese origin bakery with a strong influence of "Bon Jour" to it. The pungent, sweet, buttery smell filled the air surrounding the viscinities of this bakery.

With my passion for baking, and eating pastries/ bread (Bun or Pao Face is my middle name), interesting bakeries always excite me.



Demona: The tables outside were all occupied, and as we entered, we were greeted with a long queue and almost filled up tables inside. We had to share seats with a mother and her child. The design of the bakery, from its table seatings, its pastry and bread arrangements, to its framed pictures hanging on the walls somehow gives a really warm, fuzzy feeling to anyone who enters here. In a strange, bizarre way, it makes you... I don't know... HAPPY.

Dogma came back with 3 different types of pastries and a cup of iced coffee. The pict above was the coffee flavoured pastry.



A thick layer of coffee cream was quietly hidden underneath a hefty swirl of very, very, light, soft and fluffy cream, wrapped with thin layers of danish pastry. The sweetness of the coffee cream was just nice, sufficient to satisfy your sweet tooth but not make you sick right after. SGD 1.50. Cheap-NYA! This would probably cost RM2-3 in most Malaysian bakeries.



Demona: This was the cinnamon bun. The texture of the bun was really soft, light and fluffy! Apparently, all the pastries were made with wheat flour imported from a small village in France. Maybe the article helped influenced my taste buds, but if it is true to its words, this special wheat flour really made A HUGE difference on the texture of the pastries. You must try one from here, at least, to know what I am trying to say right here.

However, I thought that the cinnamon taste was a little lacking. If it had more cinnamon powder added in, the bun would have kicked painfully delicious butt! SGD 1.30.



Demona: This was Dogma's favourite. He had been telling me about the blueberry bun of Provence Bakery since forever. I could hardly wait to get my hands on it!



Demona: Oooooohhhhh! He was absolutely right! The bun was so, so, so, soft and the bakers did not stinge on the blueberry fillings, thus you will get a mouthful of sweet, sticky, gooey yet superbly delicious blueberries on each bite on the bun. Worth every penny! SGD 1.50.



Demona: A pict of me pouring milk into the strong aroma iced coffee.

Before leaving, we took a last stroll tour around the tiny yet packed bakery and we bumped into this middle aged lady, whom we suspected might be a promoter disguised as a buyer, hired by Provence to market their products. Haha, joking. We just asked her for some must tries of Provence, and her suggestions tempted us to return for round 2.....

DAY TWO:



Demona: We were back.

Objective: Taste aunty's recommendations. Which was also my FAVOURITEEEEEEEEE! AN PAN. Red bean bun. *Drools*



Demona: We decided to carry out Dogma's famous PEPSI test to see which red bean bun, which is called AN PAN here, is the ruler of ANG TAO (Red bean) land. We took the:

Anpan Koshi: the skinless red bean bun with black sesame seeds topping (SGD 1)
Anpan: the red bean with skin bun with white sesame seeds topping (SGD 1)
Rice Anpan Koshi: the skinless red bean bun with with a rice based dough made bun (SGD 1.30)

3 red bean buns all together, and two more sidelines, the milk bun and a new yorker bun.



Demona: The milk bun was really soft, with a light, fluffy milky egg white beaten filling inside. This bun is also one of their major brownie point winner, but I found it so so only. Not a bun which would make me go for the second round. SGD 1.10.



Demona: The New Yorker was a failure. The texture was too hard, and there wasn't much distinguished taste to it. I could not make out if it was a chocolate based bun, a almond based bun, or a danish bun. I would not try this anymore in future. The name sounded cool but the bun was unsatisfactory. SGD 1.50.



Demona: A bitter sweet aroma freshly brewed coffee for the day to wash off the sugar coated palate.

Demona: WHICH DESERVED THE KING's THRONE ?

From the two picts, rice anpan koshi was clearly kicked out. There wasn't anything fantastic about the dough.



Demona: Nope. ANPAN came in second.



Demona: KA-CHING! The winner of the PEPSI test went to.... ANPAN KOSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!
The extremely smooth sweet red bun filling was the perfect match to the light and fluffy bun. The sesame seeds gave a fragrant seedy aroma to the bun.

Verdict: The pastries are affordable, and for a pretty cheap price, they actually taste good, with a hint of quality! Although not every pastry was good, most were relatively decent, good enough to say "Not too bad after all". I will definitely be back here for more rounds to come. I hope to run a bakery like this one day. :)