Showing posts with label curry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label curry. Show all posts

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.

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.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Restoran Golden Kim Wah, Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
Jalan SS 20/10, Damansara Kim, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 6am - 11:30pm, I think

Time Visited:
10:45am, Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Chee Cheong Fun with 4 ingredients to go with it, a stuffed chili, 2 stuffed bean curd and a fried bean curd and Kopi Peng
I'm not sure where to eat while I was in Sungai Buloh because I couldn't spot any Chinese kopitiam when I was there. In fact, inside the kampung area, I don't even see any Chinese at all. Some Indonesians intro me to the morning market way inside the kampung there. Got really lost inside that area with it's awfully narrow roads. LOL. Eventually, I just followed the bigger roads and when I saw a bus coming out and heading towards straight of me, I followed along because since it's a bus, it's bound to take me back to the familiar big roads, right? I was right and it led me towards the road I'm familiar with and so I headed back towards Damansara Perdana but the kopitiams I know there weren't opened today. I guess I could've headed to Kepong but I didn't want to face the jam over there so I ended up back to familiar territory, Damansara Kim.

Though I've been here a lot of times before, I've never tried the kopitiams here before. Today, I decided to head to Restoran Golden Kim Wah. It seems really big so it looks like less people than the other corner's kopitiam but it's just that it's big while the other corner is smaller. After parking my car, I saw a familiar face who seemed to recognize me. After seeing her reaction of knowing me and smiling to me, I knew it was someone I knew and my memory needed a little jog before I remembered it was Rachel. I said hi first and she said hi back and that was that. I didn't talk further because I'm afraid of human interaction with familiar ones. LOL. And she didn't make the effort to talk more anyway so best let sleeping dogs lie. I don't think anyone would wanna talk to me anyway.

So I walked over to Restoran Golden Kim Wah and surprise, surprise, a surprising sight greeted me. The familiar sign of Robert's Char Kuey Teow is there! And when I saw the old man there, I knew that had to be Robert. Hmm, I guess the one in Section 17 isn't really manned by him anymore after all since that was a younger chap over there. This guy fries the char kuey teow full of confidence and style. It's gotta be Robert. I didn't know that he was based in this restaurant. Always thought that it was the Section 17 one. Anyway, the Section 17 one is also very nice.

Well, I didn't eat his Char Kuey Teow though. All I did was went to the Chee Cheong Fun stall instead. A lone aunty mans the stall and while preparing some ingredients, she finally notices me approached at her stall and starts speaking to me. She said that all her ingredients were just freshly made just awhile ago while she continues arranging her ingredients. I told her I wanted Chee Cheong Fun, the curry version and she told me that the curry version is very nice too. And proceeded to hand me a bowl with some tongs and said choose whatever ingredients I 9like. After choosing 4, I decided to stop and gave it to her to prepare and proceeded to sit down.

After quite a long while, it finally came. Couldn't blame her since she's the only person manning her stall and she's still preparing her ingredients. LOL. She was so kind to ask me have I ordered drinks and I said that I have. The 4 ingredients with Chee Cheong Fun costs RM9.50 though. Well, Chee Cheong Fun does costs quite expensive with ingredients though it's not something that can eat really full unless you choose a lot of ingredients but that'll cost you a bomb. LOL. But I do agree with her that her Curry Chee Cheong Fun is really very tasty. It's not that soupy like Ipoh style that I'm used to. Oh no. The curry is actually quite a thick texture and you do feel some heat to it. It's actually spicy. LOL. I love the taste. It's one of the top Chee Cheong Fun I've ever tasted. Definitely a really unique taste. Spicy broth and not so soupy goes well with the Chee Cheong Fun very much and the yong tau fu ingredients were an enhancement to it. Definitely a nice eat if you don't mind the price and am not thinking of a really full meal. LOL.

After my break, I went back straight to work. I feel so tired these days. Got scratches of my car due to my carelessness twice today and I almost fell asleep while driving in the afternoon that day. So darn tired. But I just gotta push on. A few years left to endure and hopefully I'll be gone for good. :)

Total Wallet Damage:
RM2.40 for the Kopi Peng and RM9.50 for the Curry Chee Cheong Fun with 4 ingredients.

Final Verdict:
Well, I love the Chee Cheong Fun so much I'm gonna give it a 7/10.

Friday, March 10, 2017

SS2 Chow Yang Kopitiam, SS2, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
50, Jalan SS 2/10, SS 2, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, probably around 7am - 9pm. Depends on individual stalls and whether have they sold out for the day

Time Visited:
11am, Saturday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Curry Noodles and Chinese Tea Ice
This is really a success story for this kopitiam. When I first got to know it about 15 years ago, it was located at the prominent turning at a corner lot. It then occupy the corner lot at the back of it and started to expand to it's next door shop as well. After not visiting it for a long time and seeing that it's not there anymore just about 3 years back, I thought that it has closed down. Then one fine day, I stumbled upon it's lesser restaurant where it's a "take your order on what dishes you want to serve with your style" restaurant and I thought, oh, that's Chow Yang because it's also the same business owner, just that that one is for people who wanna order their dishes with rice. And later on, I stumbled upon the back of it and I was surprised to see this very, very big Chow Yang Kopitiam that's stretched across I think 4 shop lots. This truly shows that they were so successful, they had to move in order to accommodate to their demand. On top of being in 4 shoplots, inside it is packed with hawker stalls with a lot of it lining up with just little space in between for them to operate with stalls all around selling different types of food. This is purely heavenly with it having so many choices.

I decided that this round I wanted to try the curry noodles. Most of the stalls around here are manned by the old folks that's been plying their trade for years in Chow Yang and another kopitiam that used to be around here with the exception of less than a handful being manned by young hats. It didn't take me long till I received my curry noodles which was manned by a sole lady. She was so kind and dedicated to manning her station. When I approached her stall, she was away to deliver an order to a table but when she saw me at her stall, she quickly ran back to it. LOL. I ordered my food and sat down nearby. She was also very kind and asked me had I ordered my drink yet and took my order and relayed it to the drinks people. The drinks people on the other hand, which was manned mostly by foreigners except for the owner himself who's usually fixing drinks, they mostly couldn't be bothered and is not attentive to customers. They do their work at almost a third of their heart and seemed very very lazy to clean up dirty dishes and also to bring customers their drink. They even got my order wrong which turned into warm Chinese tea but I couldn't be bothered correcting him and having him change my order. No wonder the Aunty asked if I've already ordered my drink.

The drinks here are of normal price, well, at least the Chinese tea is at RM0.60. As for Curry Noodles, is slightly more expensive than other places I know which is priced at RM7.50. But then again, of late, the price at some places are increasing and they're blaming it on the increasing petrol price. :(
The noodles was okay. A normal, decent, bowl of curry noodles. I'm glad that I found this place back and reunited with it. LOL.

If you like plenty of choices to choose from in your family, this is the place to be. But for a lone diner like me, well, there's yet a stall there that attracts me to keep coming back but if I don't know what to eat and I want lots of choices to choose from at a lower price than normal restaurant, this is the place to be.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM7.50 for the curry noodles. 60 sen for the Chinese tea.

Final Verdict:
7.5/10. The main draw here is the many, many hawker stalls to choose from. And this place is really huge but there's a lot of people who goes here to eat as well. Still, I'm sure seating shouldn't be much of a problem for a lone diner. Worse come to worse, just share a table with someone. LOL.