Fish noodles@kopitiam next to Say Huat, Seksyen 17 PJ

One of the above average fish noodles i've ever eaten.

Strong fish broth coupled with springy lemongrass. Chef was pretty generous with the fried fish chunks also.

Yums! RM 6.50.

Only downside to this place is: please be prepared to sit in a 'sauna'. The kopitiam was so stuffy and humid, plus steamy hot soup = suckling sweaty Demona.

Good morning Taiping breakfast!@chinese kopitiam behind Bismillah

I was glad that the journey back to taiping started at 430am. Else, i would have spent 6 hours on my brakes, yawning, frustrated and having to hold my bladder.

The journey only took 3 hours, just in time to see the sunrise and driving past the thick misty, hilly areas along ipoh to taiping ( you can only encounter this around 630-7am). Almost like harry potter and the chamber of secrets, your car driving in the midst of the fluffly clouds.

Once i arrived at Taiping town, kopi satu! Warm, sweet, refreshing. With a kaya butter toast to dip in with.

Breakfast ain't complete without a roti canai. Tapao! From Bismillah next door. And in addition to that, puree and thosai from the old indian lady who runs the stall under the wing of this chinese kopitiam.

It's good to be back home!

Happy Chinese New Year to all! stay tuned for BBQ food picts for reunion dinner tonight :)

Wan Tan Mee@kampung boyan, taiping

A simple breakfast with my parents and granddad at this tiny zinx roof top place with a few hawker stalls.

The stalls here serve noodles cooked in all styles you can think of: from fried, to soup, to stirfry you name it.

As with all small town folks, we rarely remember road names but rather buildings and objects instead. This place is located right next to the huge chinese temple at Kampong Boyan.

I ordered the WTM, with tambah lauk 2 meatballs. RM3. Simple, humble, nice and gives a feel of homecooked. Chef threw in quite a lot of porklard too.

I saw how these people take care of the temple and how fervently they prayed. I felt ashamed and humbled for I had not followed His statutes well.

I gave a silent prayer for the people, and for my family, and for my breakfast WTM.

Amen!

Ah Leng Char Kueh Teow@Jalan Dato' Keramat, Penang

Demona: Who wouldn't think of Char Kueh Teow when the word "Penang" comes up. Heck, even the locals themselves debate on which CKT is the best in town. That shows just how many CKT stalls there are in Penang, all frying their best-est to be the labelled the most "hoh-chiak!" in this food haven.

I definitely can't comment much on which stall's the better one as this was the only stall that I've tried so far... which was GOOOOOODDDDDD.

Our local colleagues raved about the famous Ah Leng (name of the chef) Char Kueh Teow and his superhuman abilities to make this humble dish oh so slurpilicious. The chef is so well known that he even hung a plate above his stall with an imprint of his handphone number, for foodie hunters who want to order in advance or have a problem finding this hawker place.

Sure enough, the CKT was worth the calories. The KT strands were so nicely fried that not a single one was glued to another. Apparently, he fries the KT with duck eggs (is this true... ?) and for RM 5, he had better give big prawns. Even the prawns were cooked enough to ensure they were edible but not overcooked harden.

Without persistent control of your mind, resisting the temptation of ordering another plate... possible consequences:

a) Sore throat kau kau
b) Calories over burst
c) Never ever want to eat CKT anywhere else except the really good ones, which is hard to find.


Here's another close up pict of these golden strand goodies.

Sunday Hearty Breakfast after hearty manna@Tengkat TongShin

Demona: The great thing about Sunday mornings:

a) traffic is a breeze
b) we rejuvate our heart, body and soul with manna of Sabbath's Day.

and...............

c) excuse to foodventure foodies in the KL city centre (usually we rarely make a trip downtown due to crazy traffic and distance, but since St. Andrews is in KL itself... yippie!)

Our usual brunch deciding style? Cruise along the roads around KL and stop to eat at any interesting looking eateries that caught our tummy juices's attention.

After having spiritual manna, we had a sudden surge of craving for physical manna. Toast bread! Preferably ala kopitiam style. We stopped by a corner kopitiam lot along Tengkat TongShin, which was packed with hungry ghosts. Looking at its popularity, there we went, "zoom-ing" our car to any slot available by the road side (illegal parking), and walked over.

Demona: The toast bread's presentation and performance crushed our craving almost immediately. Not only did the bread tasted horribly lousy, it was quite hard also. Even if a 5 year old kid was forced to eat this for his breakfast before he goes to school , he probably would be crying his heart out to his mommy, for ruining his favourite childhood food.

Demona: The meat balls were pretty average. Its taste didn't run far from the ones you usually get if you happen to order a pork noodle dish in an overly commercialised chinese food court.

Demona: The noodles earned fairly better reviews compared to the other dishes which we had ordered that morning. Adding minced meat into noodles could never any worse than, OK-LAH. Too much oil was drizzled over the noodles, but beggars can't be choosers! Dogma slurped every string of noodle anyway.

Undoubtedly, the only food left behind was the toast bread. Even the "i-feel-guilty-if-i-don't-finish-my-food-and-it-will-be-thrown-away" feeling that most food gluttoners almost always have (like us!) just could not possibly take another bite out of it.

Fellas out there, especially not so fussy ones... the stalls selling the main meals are average, but do try to resist the temptation of having toast bread on a Sunday brunch from this shop.. because the disappointment (like the one that we had) would really ruin all the great fun happy memories we all have, having to eat fragrant buttery toast bread, dipped in a hot cuppa' kopi sioh!

Olde' skool breakfast@Prima Restaurant, Taipingtown

Every trip back to our cozy warm and humid home town, Taiping, has always bring back a special heart warming feeling to both Demona and Dogma... One of the more popular kopitiam in Taiping recently is the Prima Restaurant near the local municipal building.

Always packed, yet not with the best kopi or food around.... but it just seem natural to be here whenever you are back in taiping....
Chill out spot u might call it.

Pictured here are the Wan Tan Mee and Nasi Lemak....
Greasy, meaty, and packed with a ton of homely flavour...
MMM I miss Taiping!


PS: THe sweet Limonata from San Pellegrino..Sparking lemon juice... thou i find the San Pellegrino sparkling fruit beverage series a tad on the too sweet side.... some of their flavours are ourright funky flavoured...

Ren Ren Prawn Noodles and Wan Tan Mee@Joo Chiat road

Demona: Ren Ren Prawn Prawn Noodie Noodah, Ren Ren Wan Wan Tan Tan Noodie Noodah. Creativity "flows" across these foodie names. It was one late afternoon and JW and I were drowning in starvation and the burning midday heat. We were chasing our asses off for sales until we've forgotten about our tiny tummies "growling" out to their sweaty, tired, worn out owners.

Ren Ren was a down right stumble upon, type of food venturing. We were hungry, aimless and basically this shop was saying hello to us in plain sight.

Demona: The seemingly seafood addict, JW ordered a bowl of prawn noodles. According to him, the prawn noodles were average, and Beach Road's giant prawn noodles was still proudly standing as number 1 spot in his lil' prawnie list.

Demona: I, on the other hand, like prawning (fishing them at Bishan), but ain't a giant fan of prawn noodles cooked in this manner. The prawn noodles in KL are somewhat very different, and I am much more accustomed to that style. They do not boast on the size of the prawns, but more on the thickness and spiciness of the soup. Thus, you could see a vast dense deepened reddish colour soup instead of a much more clear broth over here.

Thus, I chose wan tan noodles instead. Surprisingly, it was really quite delicious. The char siew slices were quite lean, and thankfully, its appearance wasn't due to fake colouring unlike those that we get from many other stalls around. This aspect, is one of my biggest turn offs from a wan tan noodle. Secondly, the noodles did not come in a giant clump, like a string ball trying to stuff itself down a cat's throat, which was another big phew phew.


Demona: JW ordered these prawn " bak kian". Yummmmyyyyyyyyyy.. ! What would have been better if there was a sip of icey, cold mug of konig right after chewing these lil' ball like bak kians.

Technically, we could have.

If we want to meet our doctors later, in a drunkened, high, alcoholic breath-like state. Maybe this outrageous manner could get us some sales haha.


Demona: Our meal only cost us around SGD 10, fairly cheap alright. We ain't complaining! Good thing about it's that it is situated across my church. This would be an interesting place to let Mr Dogma have a lil' taste whenever he comes down, or lunch after Sunday's service.

Fatty Cheong Char Siew@ABC Foodcourt, Alexendra Road

Demona: A doctor whom I've met from work, happens to a foodie woodie man as well, who actively visits food blogs too. Knowing that I used to work in KL, he was telling me about his all time favourite, heavenly melts in your mouth, honey caramelised, tender juicy char siew from Overseas Restaurant at Jalan Imbi, and from my past horrible unforgettable experience at this particular place, it did not drive me excited at all.

Personally, I am seemingly surprised that a specialist like him, enjoys venturing hawker food as well. Indeed, he is a nice person, with humble personality. My visits to his clinic had always been great fun. It was him, who recommended me to Fatty Cheong Char Siew at the ABC foodcourt.

Dogma and I went looking for the stall, and surely it wasn't hard to miss: With bright lights, bright coloured shirt workers, and gleaming, caramelised, fragrant aroma of chicken, pork and charsiew hanging on the stall, waiting for their deliciousness to be chopped up and served to a queue of hungry meat goers.



Demona: Dogma ordered a plate of charsiew... but he chose a drumstick, which I believed cost a lil' bit more than the other parts of the pork. The meat was sweet,tender and juicy. But we should chose breast or something else the next time we order. SGD 6


Demona: I ordered a plate of char siew siew yoke (char siew roast pork) wan tan noodles. The noodles sucked big time. They came in a slab of sticky, hard to swallow, thing-a-ma-jides, and the vege slices were pathetic. The only highlight was the char siew. I've tried the wantan noodles from another stall several shops down from Fatty Cheong, which was cheaper, with OK char siew (Fatty Cheong, without a doubt was better), but delicious noodles, and generous servings of wantan. SGD 3

Verdict: Char Siew was quite enjoyable, however ain't enough to make me crave like how I do for Village Park, and Provence. I may once a while, drop by the hawker centre, and may just order from Fatty Cheong again, not because of FC, but the foodcourt itself is one fairly interesting foodcourt. Many stalls seem to have newspaper articles written on them, and pictures of foodie celebraties etc. I'm guessing, this is how Singapore eateries gain customers.

p/s: I've also tried Wow Wow West western food stall as well, recommended by my doctor friend, and the western food was OK, but the portion was HUGEEEEEE and they make their own colesslaw, which tasted really nice. Readers on a budget, and craving for some greasy deep fried bread crumb coated meat and a pile of crinkle cut fries, can give Wow Wow West a try.

Carlton Eating House Roast Pork Noodle

After dawn service on a lazy monday morning, I pop by Carlton Eating House ( by the Esso Gas station, along Tg Katong Rd and Still road) to have a good meal of Roast Pork WanTan noodle. At 3SGD per plate, it offers unbeatable value. The owner gave me a huge slab of roast pork. YUM YUM YUM. which was crispy and having a good bite + taste. Just enought saltiness and juiciness. The noodle was very QQ and springy/fresh. To top it off, there is a bowl of soup with 3 wantans to go along your meal. Fantastic!!! It appears this Carlton Eating House roast pork/roast duck stall is extremely popular with tons of pll packing it to the brim every morning and lunch hour. Go and check it out!

Food CommonWealth Market

Another day of budget outing at Commonwealth Market. There seems to be a perpetual queue at the Char Kuey Tiao stall and there are tons of paper cuttings and reviews pasted at the stall. Demona was salivating and instructed me to queue for a plate of the CKT and low and behold, it took a good 35minutes to queue before I got my CKT fix. My Turn FINALLY!!!The verdict: Its a typical Singapore Wet Style CKT. I find it lacking in wok hei and not too much kick in it. There was not much spiciness detected and just some soya sweetness coating the noodles. Nah,, I dun think any of us will be queueing for this ckt again...To satisfy Demona's craving for more food, we ordered a garlic pork rice from the Cze Char stall behind the famous CKT stall. At $4 per plate, this is not too worth it as well. Just tasted some sweet and garlic notes from the pork. However, the sambal was extremely spicy and sweat just pour out from my forehead everytime i dip into it. SAMBALICIOUS!

Muffins from Chocolat n Spice

Demona has always enjoyed the muffins i gotten from Chocolat n Spice @ Shunfu Market, Shunfu Road. It always amazed me to see the long queue every single hour at this little stall located at the remote Shunfu market. So far we have tried their cheese, banana walnut, mandarin peel, chocolate, bluberry, raisin, almond version and the Banana Walnut is still my favourite among all. Go try them if you pass by Bishan/Shunfu area!
Almond Raisin Muffin: Buttery, soft, and full of fluffiness. Excellent!
Cheese Muffin: A few chunks of cheese were hidden beneath this plain looking muffin. Average.

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak, Adams Road

Demona and I has heard so much about the Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak Stall in Adam Rd's Food Court. Most of the newspaper/online review would always quote that even Sultan of Brunei will send his minions to grab a few pack here whenever he is in town.

Hey, if it fits for a King, and at less than 5bucks per plate, we just gotta try it once rite?

By the time we reach there around 730pm on a Sunday evening, everything has been sold out except the chicken wing set. (The stall only sell in terms of set, chicken wing set, otah-otah + chicken wing set etc). The Brunei king must have "sweep" the stall clean...

Anyway, the queue is tremendously long and I-Dogma queued for about 30 minutes before getting my hands on the King's Nasi Lemak.The Verdict: The chicken wing is very crispy. Freshly fried without any stale oil stink. The rice is fluffy as Selera Rasa used only Basmati Rice. The rice is fluffy and soft but hmmm,, it doesn't give me much kick leh... I still prefer KL's Village park Spicy beef rendang nasi lemak.. SLurrrryppyThe chilli: Spicy and slightly sweetish. Not too bad but Demona did not gobble them down...
Carrot Cake: Demona ordered a plate of fried carrot cake as well. for 3SGD, the portion is humongous and value for money. Taste wise- it was just an average Carrot cake, lacking in much desired wok hei and crunch bits.

Commonwealth Market

It has been pretty quiet for the past few days...Both Demona and I were pretty much quiet by our own standards. One could argue that this is a deafening silence before the storm as much challenges and obstacles lies ahead upon Dogma's relocation back to Malaysia.

Let's keep our finger cross and keep praying that all will go well!

Here are some snap shots of another round of budget food at Commonwealth Market ( near to Queensway MRT).

Ice Coffee+ home made Barley@1SGD: Demona and Aileen really love the homemade Barley drinks sold by the Danny's Coffee Stall. The barleys were slow cooked to perfection, melts in your mouth when you smash it with the tip of your tongue against your teeth. Besides, the aunty manning the stall took pride in this barley drink and would give extra ( 6-9 pieces) of ginko nuts if you are one of her regulars barley drinker. Double Thumbs up!
Close up of Ginko Winko nuts!
BBQ Chicken Wings@1SGD each: Pretty well done BBQ wings without excessive gooey honey. The wings were crispy and clean but the chilli sauce would need some extra work to give us more kick. Average.
Claypot YeeMee: Not too sure where Demona ordered this, but the dish was average at best. Nuff Said

Western food@Commonwealth Market

Demona: Dogma and I wanted to have a change on our dinner venues, usually Holland V, Clementi or his humble home, we headed to Commonwealth Avenue market, which was located nearby where I'm staying.



Demona: Many of the stalls here were closed at night. We had no idea what's good to try out in this place. We took a little stroll around the area, scouting for stalls that would catch our foodventura eyes. That was when we saw.......



Demona: THIS! SUCH A LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.. queue. I peeked in, and I saw this skinny chinese man, with huge and thick black framed glasses on a ONE-MAN show. He has no helper. He deep fries the french fries, breadcrumb coated pork/chicken chops, grills the pork/chicken cutlets or steaks, cooks the mixed vegetables and baked beans, steams the buns, takes the orders, does the cashier job, and also washes the dishes. IN ONE GO. I swear, he's actually an alien octopus disguised as a man to blend into society.

Most of all, he seemed quite tolerant and patient towards the long, awaited undecided customers. Despite having time to think of what to order before his/her turn, when the turn comes, many still "errrr...", "ahhhhhhhh...." "What is the difference betwee pork chop and cutlet?" "one pork chop.... eh no, wait, change to steak, eh no wait, okok.. pork cutlet"

Under normal circumstances, a man as busy as he is will probably lose his cool, but yet.. this octopus man stayed calm and nicely answered his customers. THUMBS UP TO YOU, OCTO MAN!



Demona: I ordered the chicken chop, grilled and drizzled over with sweet, thickened sauce with mixed vegetables, french fries and a bun as sidelines. SGD 6. The chicken meat was quite juicy and tender, a grilling job nicely done. The portion was quite huge as well. Both of us shared this meal and we were left feeling quite full too.

Verdict: Tastewise, it was slightly above average. However, for this portion, we can actually get this a dollar plus more cheaper in many places around. But I guess, I had to give him some credits for running a one man show business, especially a foodstall that requires cooking on the spot rather than pre-cooked dishes. OCTO MAN, you deserve the extra dollar plus!

BeachRoad Hawker Centre

Today is the first time Demona going back to Taiping for a short trip after relocating to Singapore. We were both glad and excited to be heading home to spend time with our family and puppies.. Yipppieee! It makes ur hungry just by thinking about all the good food in Taiping...We spared no prisoner and had a sumptuous meal in Beach Road Hawker Centre before boarding on the 10hours bus trip back home.

Starters: For starters, we had the cheap and yummy Chee Kueh ( 1.20SGD for 4). I had never tasted this things when i was in Malaysia. Basically it is just steamed rice dough topped with fragrant braised shallots, hae-bee (minched dried shrimps) and spicy spicy chilli. Simple, cheap and healthy.. A good way to start!
Main: We have always enjoyed hawker food for its good quality + great value. For a set including of fried fish fillet, chicken cutlet, crinkle fries, coselaw and a bun, it only cost us 6SGD. This screams superbbbb value!!!!Demona really tucked into the crispy chicken cutlet and fried fish while i greedily sapu the fries, bun and fish fillet. The chicken was well fried, crunchy on the outside yet retain some moisture in the inside. The Fish fillet was lacking in some firmness in the meat but we cant complain much for this price.
Sidedish: Coselaw + bun... Nothin to shout about but good to stuff us up further more!


Close up of the fish: The fish fillet is a bit flaky and not too firm.But it was nicely coated with a firm batter. Not too bad la for this price.Ah Boh Leng or Ah BAlling: We ordered a mixed glutinous riceball dessert in peanut soup... Demona screamed at the sight of her favourite dessert... She particularly likes the glutinous ball stuffed with peanuts and sesame.. The pandan flavour ball was so so... 1.50sgd.. Cheap!


Verdict:
One of the best value and quality hawker centre to enjoy a good meal in Singapore... BeachRoad Hawker Centre:

Western Stall: In the middle lane, diagonally opposite the claypot chicken rice stall
Chee Kuey, Beside the western stall, diagonally opposite the claypot chicken rice stall
Ah Balling: Beside the western stall, diagonally opposite the claypot chicken rice stall

Village Park take 3 @ Damansara

Demona totally loves Village Park for its fragrant nasi lemak, crunchy fried chicken and the oh-so-spicy sambals that comes with it.
On her second last day in KL, Demona paid tribute to her NasiLemak Shrine, again, the fried chieken, brinjal, and sambal did not dissapoint!

Crunchy Friend Chicken: Demona took care of the meat, I take care of the bones!
Beef Rendang: Moist and ultra tender beef pieces, superb!
Binjal: One of demona's favourite vegetables. It was soso for Village Park's version.
Kick-Ass Sambal: This sambal really packs a big punch. They blend it together with some rempah, onion and probably some sugar. FIREYYY and FInger licking good!

Verdict: DIE DIE MUST GO LA! This Muslim restaurant is actually owned by a Chinese couple that really digs Kelantan-nese Malay food. Demona told me that the chef are all from Kelantan and the dishes are heavily influenced by the Kelantan style. You could see throngs of Malays, Indian, Chinese mingling around and enjoying the FANTASTIC nasi lemak.. Forget about all those self serving BN politicians who plays up the racial cards, This is Malaysia at its best,

Contact:
5, Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya 47400, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Email: villaga@streamyx.com
Tel: +60377107860 Fax: +60377107680