Banana Chocolate Spring Rolls!

I was really inspired by my last trip to Little Wonton and I wanted to re-create their banana chocolate wonton. I made it 3 times until I realised that "wonton" was a misnomer. The first batch, I used wonton skins and it failed. And I realised that they didn't use wonton. 

Then, the next week, I used Spring Roll skin. I wrapped a quartered banana, 3 drops of baking, dark chocolate, wrapped it all up and fry it! 

Results? I found the recipe!!! Can't believe that something so simple, can taste sooo good!!!

Till the next time!

Restoran Mahbub, Bangsar

I have to announce that this "review" might be totally biased because this is my fav restaurant and Nasi Briyani Ayam Madu is my favourite food, hands down. I was born and bred in Bangsar and through and through, I'm a Bangsar girl and I grew up eating this dish. My grandma's house was just a 3 minutes walk from the restaurant in Lucky Garden. 

So, kinda ate this once I could eat solid food when I was a toddler. And back then, it was really cheap for a plate!

The famous Nasi Briyani Ayam Madu, my favourite. The rice is very fragrant with an assortment of herbs like star anise, cinnamon sticks, fennel and etc. The chicken is basted in honey with a tad of spiciness and the meat is so soft, juicy and the marination goes all the way into the bones. 

I normally "banjir" (flood) my rice with dhal for a thick consistency and it makes the rice taste so much better! This dhal is especially for Nasi Briyani and it's thicker with big slices of carrots and potatoes. Super yummy!

This is The brother's favourite Cheese Naan. The Naan is crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, surrounding a delicious cheesy goo!  Very nice!

There's something about mamak ayam goreng (fried chicken) that is so damn delicious! It's spicy with herbs and marination, juicy meat and very, very yummy!

This is a thosai and it's an acquired taste because it has a somewhat, bitter after taste. Otherwise, it's fluffy, thin and crispy and very delicious with dhal or as a wrap!

I've never wrote about Mahbub because I eat here often that I take it for granted. They're been in business since 1970 and I was born 17 years after they started their business. 

We eat here all the time, sometimes, every weekend and it's my family's fav food. This place holds a special place in my heart as well because we found our long lost relatives (The Malay side) during one of our dinners here. 

All this while, I thought there was something "off" about me. We don't conform into the Chinese category and we speak better Malay than most Malays and yes, until it occurred to us that we're not pure Chinese. We're only Chinese on my Mom's side. 

So, that explained why my family is so muhibbah! They used to say that, "Nampak macam Cina, tapi petah berbahasa Melayu!" 

Anyways, if you're ever in Bangsar, the same row as TMC and right next to CIMB, pop in here for a aphrodisiac Nasi Briyani Ayam Madu.  

Milk & Butter, Jalan Telawi, Bangsar

This is gonna be short because on one hand, their food is absolutely delicious but on the other hand, I contracted Salmonellosis from this restaurant. I would assume that an upscale restaurant in Bangsar would take more pride in preparing their food but this place, I'M GUESSING, fed me with tainted Salmon. 

On a Saturday after work, me and Madrekins came here for dinner. She ordered Cajun Chicken and I ordered Salmon Crostini. We shared the food but Madrekins doesn't eat raw salmon so I happily finished it. Less than 3 hours later, I feel excruciating pain in my stomach and lots of wind inside. 

I went suffered all throughout Sunday by taking pain killers and sleeping the whole Sunday away. No, the pain killer didn't work at all and I couldn't sleep. The pain became more and more unbearable. On Monday, I had to go to work and beneath the smile and laughter, I experienced pain in my stomach. Every 5 or more minutes until I lost all color and glow on my face and my boss had to threaten to deduct my salary if I do not go home and see a doctor.  

This was really, really inconvenient as I had a whole day of meeting on Monday. But the pain, it's like someone twisting your stomach / gastrointestinal and releasing it and twisting it again! Imagine being in pain every 5 minutes of so!

I went to my doctor and he told me that I had tainted food for Saturday dinner. Which was Milk & Butter. I told him that I shared the food with my mom... until I remembered that my mom did not eat the salmon. 

For the next 2-3 weeks, I wasn't supposed to eat anything spicy, fried, oily, etc. I survived on Chinese soups and wraps daily. Doctor also said that raw salmon, if unfresh, would be tainted and will breed salmonella bacteria. 

I couldn't really hear him much after that because I felt like I was fainting and within a day, I was dangerously dehydrated. I had to drink 2.0-2.5 liters of water within 24 hours. 

The Fiance was extremely pleased with himself because he's a huge fan of cooking all foods and not eat raw food and he's been nagging me that the smoked, raw salmon will kill me one day. 

Well, he was very worried and once I got better, the nagging came and I'm prohibited from eating raw food anymore. 

All thanks to Milk & Butter. Also, it was partly my fault because it's not a sushi place where salmon moves very fast, this is a normal restaurant and God knows how long the salmon has been lying there. 

I don't think that their kitchen is tainted, rather, just the salmon. God also knows how pissed off I am!!

Till the next time. 

I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat here OK, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that, DO NOT order the Salmon Crostini or anything with raw salmon if you're here. 

Artisan Roast HQ, Section 13, PJ.

This is the view from the top only because I like being on top! (HAHAHAHAH!) Sorry, only my colleague would get my jokes of the nasty sort. 

All of our drinks and tea time stuffs! My colleague and our student got a flat white and my hot chocolate and our little tit bits. 

I had a cup of hot chocolate and it is waaay better compared to Starbucks or Coffee Bean and such. It's pure cacao and it wasn't those sweetened hot chocolates but rather the bitter like chocolates which I'm loving, hands down!

We had a slice of Grasshopper, Caramel and Chocolate and it was all sooo chocolatey!!! I love chocolates and I approve of these!

The Lemon Slice is very, or rather, extremely lemony and perfect for my liking! It's like a real lemon on the pastry and this has got to be my favourite. 

After rows and rows of workshops and the whole place is a small industrial area, it is so unlikely to find a coffee shop of the hipster variety. I used to work in the vicinity at CSC and I never expected to find a coffee house. 

But then again, I was with a "hipster" colleague of mine and I would expect him to sniff hipster like hangouts like these. Despite it being a refurnished shoplot/warehouse, it has a unique touch to it. Very simplistic, a place that just serves good coffee and delicious home made desserts. 

We were there with our student to discuss about our classes and what needs to be changed (Constructive Criticism) and get to know each other better. We are cool lecturers like that. HAHAH. 

The staff were extremely friendly and I LOVE THE PLACE!!! Please click HERE to stalk them!! 

Till the next time!

Morganfields, Pavillion

If you think I've written about this place before, you thought right! This is the link to my previous Post. We decided to come back a few years after we first visited them. This is PART II. 

The place still looks like out first visit in 2011 when they first opened. Home of the famous sticky bones! 

This time, I came with Madrekins and the Sis, Karin. It's the once in the blue moon occasion when, we're all on leave! Too bad, we waited too long for our food and Karin was being silly and I was dying of starvation. HAHAHAHAH!

We ordered the sharing platter and this was more of a sampler where there were an assortment of food! This is called THE CARNIVORE!!! There's the full slab of Garlicky BBQ Spare Ribs, 1/2 Herb Roasted Chicken, Grilled Thuringer sausage, Grilled Hungarian sausage, Garden Salad, Grilled Corn on Cob, French Fries and Corn Bread! 

The Corn Bread is heavenly because it's crispy on the outside, corn flakes crispy and on the inside, it's so light, fluffy and corny! Absolutely out of this world! 

On Friday, the 2nd day of Eid, we decided to go to Pavillion because there wouldn't be any crowd. Since, we don't have to visit our Malay (Yes, we're of British-Indonesian heritage) and half od our relatives are all Muslim. Very muhibbah. 

So, I've been sick in terms of, I contracted Salmonellosis from Milk & Butter in Bangsar, 2 weeks ago! I haven't been eating proper food. Just a whole load of porridge and Chinese soup! In a way, I lost weight but it's not right. 

We spent the whole day shopping at Starhill, yes, THE WHOLE DAMN DAY just because CIMB cards won't allow certain transaction! By lunch time, we were famished. I've been a herbivore for far too long and I wanted MEAT! *RAWR*

That's how we ended up in Morganfield's and ordered THE CARNIVORE *RAWR* The food were good as usual, fries were cut from potatoes, chicken was tender, juicy and the marinate really juiced the chicken up, the sausages were meaty, juicy and succulent. Absolutely delicious!!! and the ribs, I've always loved the ribs but some parts were chewy and I nearly choked. 

In terms of marination, the juices and the garlicky marinate really went all the way to the bones, giving it a sticky goo on the bones! Very flavourful! 

For more information, you can click for their WEBSITE or FACEBOOK. 

till the next time!

Little Wonton, Telawi, Bangsar

Let me start this post by saying that Little Wonton is not your quintessential cafe that you would expect to see in Jalan Telawi in Bangsar. In fact, it's nothing like those fancy upscale restaurants and cafe that are synonymous with Jalan Telawi or Bangsar.  

Little Wonton, is tucked snugly inbetween these upscale hangouts like NOSH and this is a relatively small establishment because it's half of a shoplot, making it really small, but, cosy. 

The theme is very much Shanghai pre-modern era with chairs and tables right out of a kung fu movie but surrounded by a bright, vibrant green wall! 

They even have "bar" seats where pictures that adorn the walls, look like those pictures out of old Chinese powder tins. It's small, cosy and the prices are really reasonable. The food? Read more below!

As I already had my dinner, I popped by because I heard that the chocolate banana wontons are worth dying for. My wontons were served in a really old tin filled to the brim with smoking hot, fresh out the fryer wontons!!! 

One bite into them, the crispy exterior provides a nice wrap to the sweet and warm banana and chocolate filling inside. The wontons were absolutely delicious and I never would've thought to combine wonton skin with bananas and chocolate! This wonton is highly recommended by me. 

Maybe, it's just a fail proof formula. BANANA+CHOCOLATE = SUCCESS!

It might be small, but it's really clean and spotless. I'm dying to try their charcoal noodles as well. Heard it was good. Will definitely come back for dinner/lunch. 

I will also experiment by trying to make my own versions! Wish me luck! Will definitely share the recipe once I'm successful! 

They have a wide assortment of wontons, from savoury to desserts and NO PORK!!! Yay! for my Muslim friends! 

If you do see me, do say hi!

Till the next restaurant!

Little Wonton,

9, Jalan Telawi 3,

Bangsar Baru.

Heart warming, gut warming, feel good soup!

"Some days I feel like shit, some days I wanna quit, just be normal for a bit" - Fort Minor

Sometimes, after a long day at work, all you want is to come home, make a simple dish for dinner, bathe and go to sleep. 

Today, was one of those days. My grandma told me that sausages, goes well with anything! I asked her, "really? even...... SOUP?" 

She simply answered me, "YES. ANYTHING"

For dinner I opened a can of English Clam Soup from Campbells. The can version. 

Waited for it to boil, threw some halved shrimps into the pot, sliced a cheese filled sausage and threw it into the pot...

A few minutes later, the most delicious instant soup!!! It was warm and tasted like smoked sausages and the can of soup already had clams in there and the shrimps complemented the taste and overall, it's one of those simple, weird things that just, well, works! 

I had my dinner and then, went to bed and had an amazing new day the next day! 

Till the next time!

Pastis, The Gardens

I was too tired walking around MVM/The Gardens that I just wanted to have tea. I've seen Pastis many, many, many times but the occasion just didn't call for me to have a meal there. So, on a busy Friday, I'm just walking around aimlessly, I decided to have tea at Pastis!

What attracted me to Pastis is the HUGE ASS selection of chocolates and cakes. I have an insatiable sweet tooth and this is heaven. They have EVERY sweet, decadent, sweet, sweet, sweet, pretty, sweet selection of chocolates and all sorts of cakes and desserts!!!! 

They have marshmallows, chocolate on a stick, teas, cupcakes, muffins, oh-my!!!! This is my kind of heaven!!!

Guess what I had? I had a Moist Chocolate Cake and it was seriously good. It wasn't so sweet that it empowers the chocolatey taste, but rather sublime sweetness with very, very moist cake and more of a bitter after taste. This was extremely delicious and so chocolatey that even I, a self proclaimed Dessert Princess couldn't finish it! 

If there's no chocolates of desserts in heaven, I ain't going!

Till next time!

Pastis,
The Gardens Mall,
Ground Floor,
Right outside ISETAN.

Malaysian Food 101

This is sotong and Kangkung: The sotong that they normally used, isn't the white soft one, but rather, the slightly hard ones which they cut in pieces, served with kangkung and drizzled with chilli paste/home made chilli sauce, a little drizzle of "cheong" black, sweet sauce and covered with grounded peanuts! It is really yummy because the sotong (squid) is a little chewy and while the kangkung is soft and the combination of spicy and sweet sauces is really delicious with the crunchy texture of the peanuts...

This is char kuey teow (Fried Kuey Teow) and don't get me wrong but it's not the name of the dish, rather, Kuey Teow is the name of the noodle and it's normally fried with eggs, shrimps, lala and bean sprouts. Those Chinese ones that I absolutely love comes with "lap cheong" (Chinese sausages) and they will normally ask you if you want spicy, non spicy or little spicy. It's so delicious even though it isn't exactly great for your health!

This is one of my favourite and I crave for this most times. It's called Bak Kut Teh and it's normally served with pork. (Your choice!) Tripes, lean meat, fatty meat, bones, intestines, etc.... It's very herbal and fragrant, and you can normally find it served in claypots with mushrooms, tofu and it tastes absolutely delicious with chinese crullers (yu tiao/yau cha kwai)

This is satay and it's pieces of chicken/beef/lamb/rabbit/etc skewered to a stick and grilled to perfection. You eat this by dipping it into a home made peanut paste which is absolutely delicious! The BBQ/grilled skewered meat is normally served with a side of cucumbers and raw onions. You can have  your choice of how many sticks and as many sticks as you want. 

This is Yong Tau Foo, literally translated means tofu that has meat in it, normally fish paste and this time, it goes beyond tofu, they stuff fish meat into bitter gourd, chilli and brinjals. Generally, they stuff fish paste into an assortment of veggies... 

This is the chee cheong fun... This is again, a misnomer because chee cheong fun literally translated means pork intestine noodles. But it's actually curd sheets and it's vegetarian!!! We didn't order the curd sheets but we did order the bland, same colored assortment that goes with it. it is mainly served with fish balls, pig skin and and other curd based products. It's healthy and delicious!

This is BBQ Chicken Wings and not many places have this and not all of them are yummy. The best one is still in Kepong by the Steamboat places. This ones are just average and if done correctly, I like mine, really flavourful, tender and juicy and you MUST dip it in the chilli sauce, not the ones from the bottle but most of the time, its home made with a hint of lime!

I'm writing this because my cousin recently came to Malaysia for a visit after many, many years and he wanted an authentic Malaysian hawker food buffet. Took him to the corner hawker centre next to Tesco Puchong and ordered everything that we wanted him to try.

He absolutely loved my Bak Kut Teh, Yong Tau Foo, Kuey Teow and he loved all the food!!! But he didn't really know what he was eating or what they were called. So, I assume most foreigners would want to know about Malaysian food, hence, this little piece!

There's so much more about Malaysian food that I cannot fit in this post but do look out for my subsequent posts. If you're planning a visit to Malaysia, you need to forget about eating in hotels or malls. Go to the streets, that's where you normally find really good, delicious, authentic Malaysian food.

I'm so blessed to be in Malaysia, where our melting pot of cultures brought many different types of food and we grew up with Teochew porridge, Nasi Briyani Ayam Madu, Tosai, Nasi Lemak, Sambal Petai and so many delicious cuisine from the Malay, Indians and Chinese.

Recently, more expats are bringing in their food and you can find very delicious Arab, Pakistani, African, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish food and I love food, but nothing beats my Malaysian food. 

Anyways, more about that in my next posts!

Till the next time!

The Tea Republic, BSC, Bangsar

For tea, we went a place where plants grow in a tea cup, little wooden deck tables and chairs dot the dainty little space and where tea comes in all forms possible! Can you guess where we are? No? Yes? 

We are at the one and only THE TEA REPUBLIC in bsc, Bangsar!!! It's like the indoor, Parisienne al fresco little cafe but we would call it a tea cafe!

I like my tea very flavourful and minty. So, we ordered a pot of Red Flower. It is really amazing, when they served the pot to us, the flower was all limp... 

After 5 minutes of brewing, the flower "blossomed" and it's sweet, florally, citrus-y and very minty! Just the way I like it! Beautiful show too. A pot of tea, refillable multiple times is about 16MYR.

The Sister loved their Banoffee Pie (6.90MYR) and she said that it was delicious!!! Well, it is but I'm not a fan or the slivered/sliced nuts all over it!

I wanted to have the rainbow cake but The Sister said that it wasn't very nice so, I settled for the Moist chocolate Cake (6.90MYR) and it wasn't MOIST at all. It was dry. And I didn't like it. Those chilled Silverbird Chocolate Pound Cake tastes soooo much better!!! Very disappointed.

Girls like us, can't always be drinking. Hence, we decided to be more classy and drink tea instead! That was why we had our little tea party!

The tea on the other hand, was seriously good. You can find a huge array of teas in all shapes and sizes and the teas here are really pretty. Even though the shop is a little quaint corner shop, I think that it is the perfect place for tea.

Come, and join us in our little tea party next time! Ciao. Oh, before I go, for more information, do check thetearepublic out. You'll love it!

Till the next time!