Thursday, June 22, 2017

Tea Garden, Sunway Velocity Mall, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
Lot 4-01H & 4-01I,
Lingkaran Sunway Velocity, Sunway Velocity,
55100 Kuala Lumpur (KL),
Malaysia

Opening Hours:
10am - 10pm

Time Visited:
12:20pm, Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Mutton Rendang (Mee Hoon Mee), Milk Tea + Cincau
Tea Garden - unbeknownst to me this is actually something that already has quite a number of outlet and mostly slated at Johor area. And though there are several outlets in the Klang Valley and even in Indonesia, it still went unnoticed by me till I purposely made a trip to Sunway Velocity mall.

This was my first time going into Sunway Velocity mall. Though I've passed by countless of times until I'm so familiar that it has the Jalan Peel entrance where the Starbucks resides and the Jalan Cheras Entrance where....well, there's nothing there except the waiting area where few cars go that way to pick up passengers, I also know that there's a church behind and that's why there's loads of cars park alongside at the back of the road at Jalan Peel (which also serves as a free parking if it's the weekend since summonses won't be flying out with the Rela forces guarding the place) yet it took me a long time till I finally stepped into this mall. Anyway, there wasn't any reason for me to until this day I decided to try the Tea Garden here.

I decided to park inside the mall and as I went in, I saw a lot of cars circling around so I decided to head towards the basement level 2 to look for a vacant parking. It turns out, the office side of the place was full of vacant parking and so that's where I parked. I then headed off into the mall. Though I took note of where I parked, I forgotten how I got to the mall area from the office area since I didn't take note of the shops and that got me searching quite a while as I was leaving until I finally realized that the walkway that leads to the office area was located at the 1st floor of the mall.

Anyway, when I first stepped it, I tried to go all the way up but I didn't find any Tea Garden in the directory. I soon poked around the Internet and saw that it's supposed to be on the fourth floor. But oddly enough, the area that I went up from had only until the 3rd floor. It got me quite puzzled for awhile so I headed back down to the 1st floor and walked all the way till the end to see if there was a fourth floor at that area and sure enough, there was. Even though I managed to locate the fourth floor, Tea Garden was not easy to find at all. I circled the whole floor until I discovered that it's actually inside the food court area but hidden around the corner. But that place was quite rewarding because due to them occupying at the corner of such a high floor, they had a lot of sunlight that comes in and also you can see quite a distance from the place. Though Sunway Velocity was in an area where it wasn't really a pleasant site to behold, still there's something about being at such a high floor and able to see well into the distance draws my attention that I can't peel my eyes away from. I picked a good spot to overlook the place and sat myself down. I soon saw that this place is like those places like Papparich where you write down your orders in an order chit and when you're done, you press the bell to summon the staff to you. A very effective and efficient way of running such a wide area. I soon wrote down all my orders and press the bell and passed the order chit to the staff.

It didn't took long till my food appeared. Very fast indeed. And they were full of customers as well. Tea Garden serves what I call comfort food. Those kampung style meehoon mee but only this is with mutton rendang while back in Ipoh, my family use to buy from the lady who cycles in a trishaw peddling her tong shui as well as these kind of fried meehoon mee with the sweet chili which I call it Chinese style chili. That used to be my common breakfast and sometimes lunch as well. But here I am eating this here, inside an air conditioned mall overlooking grandiosely over the slums. The feelings different. But the food's good though even though it's charged double the portion size I'm used to back when I was a kid and triple the price. I have to say the food was most excellent. Even better than how I remember back then of how it tasted. The mutton has no bone at all and the meat was very tender. There were sweet chili given to me as well. It's put in a sauce dish. Tasted way better than the time I ate when I was young. The Milk Tea with cincau is something very new to me. I've never seen such a thing before but it tasted fine. They do serve quite aromatic milk tea. All in all, it was a splendid meal.

After that, I just walked around a while since I've never been here before before I headed back home to sleep the day away.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM19. RM5.50 for the milk tea with cincau and 13.50 for the mee hoon mee with mutton rendang. 6% GST is charged.

Final Verdict:
7/10. This certainly trumps the one I ate during my childhood years but nostalgia always gets the better of me.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Hana Dining + Sake Bar, Oasis Boulevard, Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
OB 2.G.U1, Oasis Boulevard, Ground Floor, Sunway Pyramid, No. 3, Jalan PJS 11/15, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya (PJ), 47500 Selangor

Opening Hours:
Daily, 11:30am - 11pm

Time Visited:
12pm, Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Toro Sashimi, Wagyu Teppanyaki and Green Tea (hot)
I've gotta be honest I don't know what really to expect coming into this place but armed with an offpeak discount, I decided to give out some random orders. The restaurant is at the outer part of the mall which is at Parkson side and when I was there, I thought that nobody seemed to be dining there. I walked in and it looked empty as hell and there's only one lone staff at the bar there to serve me. Turns out, I was at the smoking section of the restaurant, there were plenty of staff at the other part of the restaurant and considerable amount of patrons. The place just seemed like 2 different restaurants altogether. LOL. But then again, it was the smoking area and the bar area for drinking. I decided to stay at the smoking section. It's as if I had the whole restaurant to myself. LOL. There's literally nobody who would sit in that section, just me. Their menu had loads of Japanese dishes to choose from and it's giving me a headache to decide randomly on what to order. The drinks menu too were filled with quite a number of pages with most of it being alcoholic. Finally, I settled with the Toro Sashimi and the Wagyu Teppanyaki and instead of an alcoholic beverage, I decided to just have green tea.

The smoking area may be a quiet little place all to myself, but that's true for the staff as well. If ever there are staff around this area, they'll just be at the bar area preparing for drinks. The meal did took quite a wait for me and that's when I found out that they're serving the sashimi and the wagyu teppanyaki at the same time. I see. Interesting. But then again, this is a fine dining restaurant. Well, that's what I categorize it. The Wagyu Teppanyaki has some brown sauce which they're to pour it over and let it sizzle. Well, so much for medium rare. LOL. It got cooked a little more with the sauce. I started off with the Sashimi first. Though just 5 slices, it was mouthwateringly delicious. Damn. One piece of this tuna belly costs roughly RM10 each. LOL. But it was very, very lovely. The dish that was served it was chilled to maintain the goodness of this tuna belly. It was yummy to the max eating on it's own but I still dipped it in shoyu mixed with some wasabi which made it much nicer. LOL.

Then I started to try out the Wagyu Teppanyaki. OMG. I find the taste quite heavenly. Even though the Wagyu for this has a marbling score of 6-7, it's still nicer in my opinion when compared to Hacha Mecha's Wagyu that has a marbling score of 9. But then again, it may be the sauce taking over because for Hacha Mecha's, that's definitely a more pure form to eat where you can really taste the richness of the wagyu beef while in this instance, it's more of covered with the brown sauce that also gives out it's own flavors and drowns out a bit of the lovely wagyu taste. Anyway, though I was nervous at the beginning being the only person occupying the whole section of the restaurant, after eating such delicious food, it brought a smile to my face. But then again, with the pricing of these, it brings it back down to average. If it weren't for the offpeak deal I had, it would fare much worse. But it's definitely very nice to eat.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM168.50. Not bad. 15% off all the items but they charge 6% GST. The good thing about this place is that they don't even charge 10% service charge which was surprising. It's definitely cheap in my books with the offpeak deal.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Nice food, cheap with the offpeak deal though not applicable to their set. I believe their sets are also quite worth the deal.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Restoran 328, SS25, Taman Mayang, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
4, Jalan SS 25/23, Taman Mayang, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia 47301

Opening Hours:
Early mornings till evenings? I think. LOL. Maybe 7am - 8pm? Daily?

Time Visited:
11:45am Monday (Public Holiday)

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Roasted Duck with Steamed Chicken Rice and Kopi Peng.
Well, I wasn't intending to blog about this kopitiam but a very familiar sign and the roasted duck rice had prompted me to do so. You see, awhile back, I purposely went to this place: http://www.alonediner.blogspot.com/2016/09/poh-kei-roasted-duck-taman-mayang.html to try out the roasted duck there. It was regarded as a very good one and it was the closest to my place so I went there to try it out but turns out to be a total disappointment. But it seems to me that I have mistaken. That said good roasted duck has actually moved to Restoran 328 which is nearby. The sign on their stall even said that they're Poh Kei.

It all started with me just wanting to go for my lunch before I call it a day and head back home. I have always wanted to try this kopitiam called Restoran 328 but most of the time I see as if that place does not seemed opened. So on this fine day, I decided to go there and eat which is just next to the St. Ignatius Church at Kelana Jaya. I was kinda disappointed when I went because I only saw about 3 stalls opened so I thought to myself, just go for something simple and just order the roasted duck with steamed chicken on the chicken rice stall in the front. I saw the sign saying that they're Poh Kei but I couldn't remember why the name sounded so familiar to me. So I waited for my food and I ordered my drink. Since there weren't many people there, it came quite soon and when they told me that it's RM9, I had a shock. I was wondering why is this rice stall so expensive. It only dawned on me when I started tasting the duck. It was very delicious. Just like how the reviews indicated that prompted me to visit the other one which I was unaware that they've shifted here. LOL. It all started to click when I tasted the excellent duck with it's raunchy gravy and looking back at the name and also it's higher than normal price. So THIS is Poh Kei. The other one I had was just a filler of the space. LOL. This was where they shifted. Not only were their Roasted Duck grave and meat delicious, their chili too seems to have a distinct unique taste which I enjoyed very much. I can even eat just the chili with the rice on it's on. This definitely is a very good recommended place for eating roasted duck since it's so near my place but of course, I still feel Sunrise is better. But then again, I haven't eaten Sunrise roasted duck for over a decade. Anyway, this is good enough and very satisfying. A definite recommendation from me for the roasted duck. I believe it's best paired with the roasted pork because well, the steamed chicken was nothing to shout about. In fact, it's pathetic. LOL. But be prepared to fork out the premium price for this. However, I still feel it's worth it. I shall return to eat here again.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM9 for the Roasted Duck and Steamed Chicken rice with the coffee costs RM2.20. Normal price which is good. :)

Final Verdict:
8/10. Definitely on the A category for me. A definite to return for me especially being so near my place. LOL.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Restoran SS8, Taman Sungai Besi Indah, Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
Jalan Sb Indah 1/16, Taman Sungai Besi Indah, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Early mornings till late night? LOL. It's a kopitiam. There's no affix time mentioned.

Time Visited:
10:10am, Sunday morning.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Pork Noodles and Kopi Peng
Found this gem of a place when I was around that area. Near the Mines area, there are quite a few places around that are home to kopitiams. And why I call this a gem is because it's cheap and effectively fast too. Not to mention delicious to the taste. I'm wondering if the other kopitiam nearby is just as good.

When I was there, it was already packed with people and still there were people flocking in to have their breakfast while very few finished their meal and was leaving. I decided to go for this pork noodles at this stall where I ordered kuey teow and meehoon noodles. For drinks I ordered kopi peng from the main tenant. Since it was crowded and there were no table that's empty, I decided to share a table with another lone person who's sitting outside. Though the outside seating has no shade, the day was quite cloudy and the breeze was cool like in spring so sitting outside wasn't much of a problem that day.

Not long after I sat down, the food and drinks came and I was very pleased with the cheap pricing. The pork noodles was unusually clearer than other pork noodles and though the soup was clear in it's taste too, the many ingredients in it made up for it very much. They use cabbage as the vegetables and interestingly, the pork that they give feels also quite clear and clean. It provided me with a very nice meal and I must say the coffee wasn't that bad as well. It wasn't all sugar water like how most kopitiam serve their coffee but this one was thick and rich in it's coffee taste as well, the way I like it. With that kind of price, if it weren't so far away from my home, I'd be a regular in eating here. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
The pork noodle is only RM6 while the kopi peng is just RM2.10. Quite a steal I would say.

Final Verdict:
8/10. I'd definitely would like to come here to eat again. It's the neighborhood after the Mines Shopping Mall on the left.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Jaipur Mahal, Glomac Cyberjaya, Cyber 4, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
No 7, Block H, Jalan GC9,
Glomac Cyberjaya, 63000
Cyber 4, Cyberjaya,
Selangor D.E, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Lunch:
1 PM to 3 PM
Dinner:
5:30 PM to 10:30 PM
Ok, here's the odd thing. They have breakfast in their menu but they stated that their opening hours starts from 1pm? Not sure what is their exact opening hours.

Time Visited:
8:20pm. Sunday night

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Kadai Mushrooms, Balti Gosht, Steamed white rice and Masala Tea.
I meant to visit this place a few times back but I just keep putting it off and it was supposed to be the one at Jalan Ipoh but only today was I finally able to spare the time to visit an outlet of Jaipur Mahal. I decided to go for the one at Cyberjaya since nighttime, there will be no traffic there and parking would be a breeze. I also thought that the place would be quite quiet and empty being at Cyberjaya at night. When I arrived there, I was quite correct. There were only 1 other table occupied when I stepped in but later on, there were a few other families who came to eat there. Being a very pure North Indian restaurant, the people who ate there were, well, Indians. I was the only Chinese who was there to dine and also the only person who went there on my own. LOL.

The snooty display of the North Indian permeates the restaurant and the staff put on much class and air of superiority like a butler and jeeve. Despite sitting far from the counter, the staff were attentive enough to my needs. I guess that's mainly due to the emptiness of the place during that time before others walked in. I made my order and off they were to prepare my meal. As an appetizer, they serve me some Indian chips and I believe the other one is a dessert? Because it's sweet. Well, I could be wrong. It could be an appetizer. I have no idea what those are called. LOL. I'm not really well verse with Indian dishes. Those 2 items were compliments of the house.

They took little to no time to bring me my meal, surprisingly. Before I knew it, everything was already served to me. The mushrooms were lacking, I wish it was of a stronger taste but in the end, if you ate a lot in succession, you can taste a stronger taste of it. I quite like the Balti Gosht. That to me was something most strongest in it's taste. It's actually tender lamb that's cooked with tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger with some herbs and spices. This was my favorite among all. The steam rice that they gave were basmati rice. Long thin looking but they cooked it really nicely and it goes well with all of the other dish. I came to conclude my meal with my masala tea. Unfortunately too the masala tea was lacking in strong taste. Everything just seemed so pale in their taste except for the chips and the lamb. But I did enjoy the meal. It's not that it didn't taste nice. It just wasn't as strong a taste as I expected. I also liked the quiet atmosphere which is always a plus for Cyberjaya area. LOL. At such a late hour over there, Not only there's plenty of free parking with very wide roads so no jam at all, but also the very quiet place. Like a small town but with very huge area and very developed roads and buildings.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM50.45. Well, I don't really consider it expensive despite it's name. LOL. Maybe I've been too influenced by Korea seeing that I was just back and food over there is expensive compared to over here. There's 6% GST but no service charge though they had good service.

Final Verdict:
I shall rate this 7/10. For their ambiance, their service, and what they really are for. The food overall is not bad but I certainly would like some dishes to have a more stronger taste.