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.

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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.

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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.

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Restoran Satu Tiga Satu Tiga 1313 茶餐室, Metro Prima, Taman Usahawan (Entrepreneur's Park), Kepong, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
Jalan Metro Perdana 3, Metro Prima, Taman Usahawan (Entrepreneur's Park), Kepong,
56000 Kuala Lumpur (KL)
Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Unsure. 8am - 8pm maybe. Dependent on individual hawker stalls.

Time Visited:
10am on a Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Teh Peng, Hakka Mee

One fine Sunday, I was roaming around the area of Kepong when I stumbled upon what seems to me is like a Kopitiam heaven. In this square around this place, there are 3 very large kopitiam shops and Restoran Satu Tiga Satu Tiga 1313 茶餐室 is one of them. The seating inside was quite moderate but due to their many customers flocking to them, they even put up chairs and tables opposite of their shop under big trees. It's buzzing with people and even though there's a lot of chairs and tables, it looks like it's almost full house.

I'm not sure where the name 1313 comes from but I think it may be related to it's address because I saw a similar name on the other kopitiam. LOL. So out of the three major kopitiam, I chose this one to eat at. There were quite a number of hawker stalls peddling their food to the consumers but it's not as much as SS2's Chow Yang and Restoran Tropikiri where their packed with very limited space for them. LOL. Yet, counting the seats that they setup under the big tree, I would say this rivals the number of seating place to Chow Yang's and looking at that humongous crowd that was eating here during peak time 10am, the crowd too rival's Chow Yang's.

I decided to go for the Hakka Mee at one of the stalls which I picked at random. By the way, the Teh Peng was quite fragrant and has a fragrant taste to it. I noticed they use the blue marigold condense milk to make their drinks and the pricing is average like any other kopitiam with the teh peng at RM2.20. But as for the Hakka Mee, it only costs RM6. Sure it's small in size but RM6 is considered quite cheap nowadays. However, taste-wise was just okay. It was a bit too oily for me and even though it's a small plate, I find the oily feeling overwhelming.

But it serves the purpose as my breakfast and I went on my merry way soon after. A word of warning in this area though. It's very hard to find parking and people even park on the side of the road which narrows the roads considerably. Ah, what people do for their breakfast. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
Altogether RM8.20 with the beverage at RM2.20 and the noodles at RM6.

Final Verdict:
6/10. I call this place Kopitiam heaven because you have the 3 major big kopitiam to choose from and there's loads of people flocking to this place like bees flocking to honey.

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Restoran Tropikiri, Taman Bukit Mayang Emas, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
2, Jalan BM 1/2, Taman Bukit Mayang Emas, 47301 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Roughly, Daily, 7:30am - 3pm

Time Visited:
11am, Saturday Morning

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Lam Mee and Teh Peng

I weirdly find myself coming back here again after once a person who knows the owner of the shop mistaken me and mentioned that I look familiar and have seen me here before and asked do I live around here. Well, actually, that night was my first time in a very very long time going there for dinner. LOL.

Anyway, today was the first time I went over there for breakfast where all the stalls were opened. Previous visits here were all past 3pm and the only shop that's opened till night time is the Chicken Rice Stall, the noodles stall beside it and the Nasi Lemak stall. But today was the first time I witness all of the shops opened and man, they have so many stalls here. No wonder everybody crowd to this place. It's almost a full house with a handful of tables left to occupy! So then, I decided to go for the Lam Mee today.

The uncle that mans the stall is a very jovial guy. He's so cheerful and cheeky when he response to you. I was there to order when suddenly a woman stepped beside me out of nowhere and started to order when the uncle was asking me what do I want to eat. I was a little shocked at first because this woman totally didn't see me at all and was almost standing on my spot! O_o The uncle acknowledged her order and then continue to ask me and said what do I wanna eat. That's when I ordered the Lam Mee.

The quirky uncle prepared it quite fast and it came to my place in quite a jiffy with the uncle in a spiffing manner said "Six dollar" with a Hong Kong accent. Well, the Lam Mee was mediocre but with just RM6, it's ok. The problem here is the drinks. My Teh Peng though has an aromatic taste to it costs RM2.40 which is a little dearer than quite a number of places. Anyway, I was a little strapped for time since it was already past 11am and I'm supposed to start working again already. So I hurriedly gobbled up my food and drink and started to go to work. Not that it's a must, but I've got nothing better to do anyway. LOL. And me with an idle mind, well, it's just torturous and agony because my mind will start wandering and remind me of a certain someone which will make me feel very sad. Oh well.

Total Wallet Damage:
As I mentioned above, RM6 for the Lam Mee, RM2.40 for the Iced Milk Tea.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Variety is great. Loads of choices and food is okay, Drinks a little expensive.

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Lai Foong Restaurant, City Centre, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
No. 138, Jalan Tun H S Lee, City Centre, 50050 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 6:30am - 9:30pm I guess. According to google? LOL.

Time Visited:
11am, Friday morning

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Pan Mee (tear), Teh Peng

This place I frequent back in 2008 till 2011 when I was working around here. I sometimes walk over here to have my lunch and the beef noodle is one of the famous stalls in KL where people flock to eat. They boast of their reputation and also charges a higher than normal rate. But on this day that I revisited the place again, I decided to try a pan mee stall which I have not seen before. Hence my curiosity to try it. I went for the tear version instead of the normal run through those pasta machine kneader. But I guess due to this, it took quite a while till my order came.

Although it's only 11am, it already has almost a full house and once it hit the lunch hour, the office crowd really thronged to this place and filled it up.

There's nothing much to say about this place except that the pan mee is kind of tasteless I would have to say and the chili watery. I guess there's much improvement needed for the pan mee stall whose mee was thicker than the average stall and miles behind one of the best pan mee in Klang Valley, the Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih House in Klang.

As I was hanging around my break time here, I also noticed that the beef noodles has now raised it's price to double digits. Times really has changed. I know it's bad for me to long for the good old days and me heading to obsolete kingdom very very soon but that's how the way the world works. If you can't keep up with it's pace, pretty soon you'll be extinct.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM7 - Pan Mee which is pretty expensive. God knows why they charge such high pricing. Must be due to them being in a tourist district.
RM2.30 for the Teh Peng. Ok I guess. Considering that they're in the heart of KL.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Well, it's unfair to rate this shop with such crummy Pan Mee when the beef noodles is what attracts a lot of people to this place. Still, I didn't taste the beef noodles again so I'm not sure if they're still maintaining their excellent taste but one things for sure that's change for them and that is the pricing.

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Restoran Megah Good Luck, Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
1 Jalan SS24/11, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 7am - 9pm (?)

Time Visited:
10:20am, Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Sabah Special Pork Noodles and Kopi Peng (Iced Coffee)

I've only eaten here once before and that was with my family and this seems to open during the 2nd day of Chinese New Year.

Another affiliation I had with this place is when the owner once called me to deliver to her shop raffia strings and so I just delivered it and receive a small amount of money in exchange for that. LOL. Yeah, that was totally random out of the blue but I somehow got roped into being a delivery boy for this restaurant on that particular day. Haha.

That Sunday, I wanted to start off early in my work, but then it started to rain and the weather became really cooling and so I couldn't help myself and went back to bed. It's been so long since I went back to bed and slept till 10am. That's when I woke up and decided to go for breakfast and decided to head over here to have a meal. It was really a bad idea to be here at 10am on a Sunday because this place was packed to the brim. Even with me just being a single person, It was so hard for me to even get a place. All the seats looked occupied and there's not a single table that seems to have space for me to share with a family. But eventually, I managed to squeeze into one where the family reluctantly gave the place to me.

I ordered the Sabah Special Pork Noodles to try while for my drink I went for the Kopi Peng. It didn't take long for the noodles to arrive. In fact, after I sat down they were already bringing it over to me. Maybe because I took a while before I managed to get my seat as well. Anyway, I felt that the drink was a little way too expensive here. RM2.50 for Kopi Peng? Even for KL standard it's a little bit pricey.

But thankfully the noodles were cheap and affordable with it being just RM6. Frankly speaking I have no idea why they called it Sabah Special Pork Noodles. Seems to me like it's just your ordinary pork noodles. The major difference that I probably saw in this noodle is that the pork were thin and delicate hence making it smooth in eating it. I like the garnishing of chu yau cha or crispy pork lard being sprinkled on top along with some spring onions which is always a welcoming enhancement material for me. There's also some pork intestines in there but they were small in size. Anyway, it's a decent enough bowl of noodles and for RM6, it's probably good enough for me to return to eat it again.

When it was close to 11am, the crowd seems to have dissipated down and although there's still a fair bit of crowd there, it's not as crowded as when I arrived. That one maybe came from after doing their morning marketing and also finished service from the church nearby? LOL. I don't know. Strange there's so many people crowding there to eat at that particular time.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM6 for the Pork Noodles and a whopping RM2.50 for just the Kopi Peng.

Final Verdict:
6/10. It's a decent enough place for some kopitiam hawker food but by golly the drink seems to be dearer than your usual kopitiam price. I'd understand if it's really famous kopitiams like Chow Yang in SS2 but this place? Pfft.

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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.

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Restoran Super Kitchen Chilly Pan Mee, SS2, SS2, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
42, Jalan SS2/10, SS2,
47000, Petaling Jaya (PJ),
Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 8:30am - 10pm

Time Visited:
6pm, Sunday evening

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Traditional Pan Mee Soup and Coffee Iced

I don't know when this got into my list but I figured it's probably the influence of my colleague who loves pan mee. But then again, she likes the one that's the Klang version where it's thick and it's torn by hand instead of the rolled out dough version. Anyway, I decided to give this a try and the nearest branch that's closest to me is the SS2 one.

Their main place is somewhere in KL at off Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman but somehow I've never heard of it before. I came here a bit earlier than intended due to it starting to rain. It wasn't difficult to find the place since I've frequented Chow Yhang plenty a times in the past but only just when I came for the pan mee that I discovered Chow Yhang to have relocated to the back shop in the middle. But this is about the Super Kitchen Chilly Pan Mee.

There was plenty of parking available when I arrived but there's close to none when I was leaving. Guess it's a bit early for folks to partake their dinner at around 6pm in SS2. The entrance door to this place looks dilapidated and somehow when I entered, I wasn't really greeted as oppose to later on where most customers were really greeted and handed their menu. I had to signal to the waiter to bring the menu after I've sat down. Hmmph. It was merely a one page menu with the back listing all the drinks. Though this place is about pan mee, there's also other types of dishes like rice but mostly pork dishes. Almost everyone will definitely go for the dry pan mee but I went for the soup one instead to have a taste. Of course, if you wanna add those chilly into the pan mee, dry on is the way to go since adding the chilly into the soup version will merely make the soup spicy instead of being able to taste and eat the chilly directly with the noodles.

Though it's just 6pm with not many cars outside, this place actually draws quite a fair share of customers and some of the curious residents who occasionally comes in to have a look at the menu to see what else they have to offer. It took quite a waiting for my pan mee to arrive and when it did, I saw that they give quite a big portion. Quite value for money for such a big bowl. It fills me up nicely. There's a nice egg given as well and the rest of the normal pan mee ingredients like anchovies and loads of minced meat in there. The pan mee may be averagely tasty but the portion more than makes up for it. The loads of ingredients in there also makes it worth anybody's while. Add in lots of chilly to enhance the taste and you're sure to finish up the whole bowl.

After that hearty meal, I decided to take a stroll around the block to see what else is there before heading back home.

Total Wallet Damage:
I think I didn't take the receipt and I don't remember the total price. But I think the Pan Mee costs RM7.80 per bowl. Not sure about the drink. Looks like I'm slacking since I don't blog much nowadays. Haha.

Final Verdict:
6/10. A nice decent big bowl of Pan Mee if you're craving to have some and you're at SS2 area since it's available till late nights unlike those hawker stalls.

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Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar, The Gardens Residences, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
The Gardens Residences Level 6,
The Gardens, Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Lunch (Mon-Fri): 12pm-2pm 
Dinner (Mon-Sat): 6pm-10.30pm 
Closed on Sunday

Time Visited:
A day after New Year's Day, Monday (Public Holiday)

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
The Discovery Seasonal Lunch Set which consists of my chosen 
1) Cold Somen Noodle with Boston Lobster, Avruga Caviar and Baby Cress 
2) Aged 120 Days Black Angus Beef Striploin with Truffle Mash
3) Belgian White Chocolate Glace with Raspberry Coulis and Ciku
and end it all with coffee

I usually have my reservations in visiting fancy upscale restaurants as this one because being a lone diner of one, it kinda feels odd dining in places such as these and sometimes you just have to wonder whether do you need a reservation to dine at these places or can you just walk-in. But on that day after New Year's day, I decided to take my chances in being a walk-in diner of one.

I took quite a while before I braved myself to walk in there. Over at the front, there were no maitre d to greet me and so I walked on further in. At the bar area, there's a mixologist making drinks and as I was approaching the dining area, a waitress started to attend to me. I said I wanted a table for one and they ask me under what name? I said I didn't have a reservation. They then ask me to sit at the front there and wait a moment while they prepare a place for me. After a little while of waiting, they showed me in and it was all prepared for with 2 small pieces of Set menus to choose from as well. I then decided to go for the seasonal menu as my choice with the preferred items as listed above before the pictures.

Aside from a little awkwardness felt at the beginning, the rest of my dining experience here was excellent. I never felt out of place after I sat down. They attended to me every step of the way and were very hospitable and attentive. Your glass of water will never be empty and you won't have a finished plate in front of you for more than 5 minutes. When I sat down, a welcome drink was already served and present in front of me. Can't really recall what the drink was since it was a while since I ate there and I have a really bad and faulty memory but it's definitely a very refreshing drink.

Before any of the items on the menu was served, like any upscale restaurant, I was given bread to eat while I wait. I was even asked if I wanted a refill of the bread and of course I declined. If I were to eat more bread I'm sure I wouldn't be able to enjoy any of my meal any longer since I'll be stuffed. LOL.

The appetizer that I went for was the Cold Somen Noodle with Boston Lobster, Avruga Caviar and Baby Cress. Though small in size as it may look, yet it's enough. The presentation as expected was impeccable and certainly is eye catching. Every ingredient in it seems to be vital for the dish. If you just take away one of the ingredient, I'm sure it would taste differently and not as nice. Caviar provided a bit of a sweetness to it and the lobster some chew to it with the smooth somen complementing the ingredients well.

Next came my main dish which is the Aged 120 Days Black Angus Beef Striploin with Truffle Mash. It tasted heavenly and produces a succulent feel on the meet. Not very chewy but just a little bit of bite to it and it's juicy. I think they've put some wine in it. It has some sweet taste to it. Certainly a great experience in eating it. I can't remember how the Truffle Mash was since again, my memory had failed me on that. LOL.

I ended the meal with the Belgian White Chocolate Glace with Raspberry Coulis and Ciku as dessert. Though it may look simple with just a cup mountain with some red sauce at the bottom (which is the Raspberry Coulis) yet it's flavors were complex when I dug into it. There were chunkful of White Chocolate Glace hidden, blending well with the ice cream factor. Eating on it's own already proves to be heaven sent yet if you scoop it up with some raspberry coulis, it will give off a different taste with the sweetness of the raspberry being the stronger taste. And when you eat it with some Ciku as well, you'll get another type of taste where it provides a more excellent unique mixture. All of it really worked well together and it's like a well oiled machine that you can taste each individual ingredients even though together yet taste differently if there's one of it less. Also, altogether, it's a really well balanced taste. Not something overly sweet nor too bland/not enough sweetness.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM176. Though the price may seem dear, if you take a look at what they gave, it's actually quite a bargain. And the taste and dining experience of this place was well worth the RM176. There's 6% GST incurred. Wait a minute. I just realized I was charged the 1 liter bottle of water called Sole Still which costs RM24.53. Should've finished the RM26 bottle of water and take it home. LOL

Final Verdict:
9.5/10. Okay. Aside from that sneaky RM26 bottle of water, this place is well worth visiting especially for an occasion. The food was more than great, the service was tip top, and the ambiance was nice. Price-wise may be expensive for an everyday meal, but for a once in a while treat, it's perfect. In fact, if you scrutinize on the items, you'll fine that it's worth the money. I would highly recommend eating here for a once in a while treat. Currently, it's Chef Daniel that churns out these delectable dishes for the Set Lunches.

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Ben's, Pavilion, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
Lot 6.11 Sixth Floor, Pavilion, 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 11am - 10pm

Time Visited:
Tuesday Evening, 7pm

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Classic Spag Meatballs and Iced Lemograss Tea

This happened sometime back when I was just out for the evening to watch a movie that I was supplied a pass to. Rarely do I traverse out on a working weekday night anymore because:
1) There just isn't anybody to hang out with
2) I'm tired by the end of the day
3) There's no reason for me to go out on my own.
So ya, this night was one of those rare nights where I ventured out on my own due to having a movie to watch that night and it was called "Nine Lives".

To be honest I don't really remember much that night just that I was eager to try out Ben's at Pavilion on that day before the movie. So I walked in and was greeted accordingly and were seated. The ambiance were set to a more romantic and fine dining approach so as a lone diner, you may be a little intimidated on eating there on your own. The staff there were quite accommodating and were helpful in their service and were attentive to who walks in and out of the restaurant. After glancing through the menu, I finally decided to go for the simple and classical spaghetti and meatball to see what they can do differently with it. Well, you can't really go wrong with the classics, right? If you really can fuck it up, then you're really a fuckup. LOL. To drink, I went for the Thai approach and ordered the Iced Lemongrass tea.

It took awhile for my order to arrive as I surveyed my surroundings while soak up the calming and soothing atmosphere at this place. No doubt, Pavilion portrays out as the rich and famous lifestyle and this restaurant is no better in furthering that theme. The Lemongrass Tea had a big lemongrass stalk as a stirrer while the beverage looks of murky water. The taste was sweet in sensation and is merely of lemongrass taste and no tea like taste. It's also a good thing that they separated the syrup in a small jug shaped container so that you can add as much sweetness as you preferred. As I mentioned beforehand, I added in probably way too much syrup and it tasted merely of sweet sensation. But it's undeniably tasty.

Along came the Spaghetti and Meatball and at first glance, the presentation was very eye-catching and makes you wanna eat it. The taste I would say is quite good and that they do have the right amount of Marinara sauce that does not make me feel queasy due to overeating it. Instead, every scoop of the spaghetti will warrant some sauce onto it and I finished it off with just the right amount along with the meatballs. The meatballs may not be those Ikea meatball types but it's just as well because as I've heard, those Ikea meatballs has dwindled in their standards. This provides the right amount of rich taste of the meat and with the right amount of sauce on the dish, it was the perfect match.

The complain I have with the dish would be their grated cheese. It's in large strips and all settled at the top and due to the heat had melted and bunched together. I just wish they would've just went with cheese in a much finer form or if they were to do it this way, to be more spread out and fill the plate accordingly instead of being concentrated at one location. Because the way that they gave to me, I had a hard time separating and dividing it up so that I could get a little of cheese taste to go along with the meal. Instead, all I got was either way too much cheese or none at all. Rarely I manage to pinch it in with just the right amount to supplement the spaghetti and meatball.

I took my time being there and when the time came for me to collect my pass, I headed off to the movie theater to collect the pass. They had a small cat show there too in line with the movie which I enjoyed playing with the cats. Haha

Total Wallet Damage:
RM51.70. A little pricey but it's expected at a restaurant like this and an environment like Pavilion. 6% GST and 10% service charge included.

Final Verdict:
7/10. It's good for dates and has a nice romantic ambiance with a good place to have a quiet talk with your date. But as for a lone diner to dine in, it may be a little intimidating.

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Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih House, Taman Berkeley, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
38, Jalan Bangau, Taman Berkeley, 41150 Klang, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
I think it's Daily, 9:30am - 8pm.

Time Visited:
12:30pm, Friday afternoon

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
A large bowl of mee hoon kuih pan mee with everything in it and a Soya Cincau.

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

My colleague is an avid Pan Mee lover and she says her favorite still remains as Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih House's even though she's only ate it once. She kept telling me the smoothness of the Pan Mee and the tear kind is the one she loves the most which this is one of the places that sells.

Pan Mee is a type of flour noodle that is a Chinese noodle dish. It is like a Fettuccine Pasta only more doughy with it's flour taste. There are 3 types of Pan Mee which is the thin kind, the thick kind and the one that's torn apart which results in a flat but big rectangular shape instead of the normal strip kind. My colleague love the tear up one. And she's been going on about this shop like forever to me and I always fail to check it out. LOL.

So one day, she was going on about how there's another colleague who packed it to office one day and she's craving to go eat it again. And so I said, okay fine. So let's go then. Tomorrow is a Friday and we can take more time for our meal. And so she agreed to it. I followed my Google Maps direction to lead me there. Though it's pretty straightforward on how to go from my office, I still needed the map in case I get distracted and accidentally went to a wrong area. We arrived fairly quick and it was just our lunchtime period. Since it's a place with limited parking area, I dropped her off first to order and grab a place to sit. I soon got a place to park and straight head inside of the shop. The place was already full of people and we were seated with other different people to dine with which most tables were in need to do so due to the amount of people there. Those at the cooking area were feverishly churning out bowls after bowls of the same thing - the Mee Hoon Kuih. It's just a matter of what ingredients do you need and how big a size you want it. Since my colleague is a small eater, she went with the small bowl while I ate the large one.

Drinks were separately ordered from those that are at the back and I ordered a soya cincau also dubbed as the Michael Jackson. It certainly took a long while to get our food but patience paid off as it came to our table. The time it took for it to arrive to us is about the time our journey towards this place which is about half an hour. LOL. But it did pay off in a large way. As I tasted the nice silky smooth texture of the flour noodle and coupled with it's steaming hot broth and every ingredient in it, it just tasted wonderful. I soon found out why my colleague love this pan mee very much. No doubt, me as a non-avid pan mee lover already finds it very tasty. What's more a very avid pan mee lover like her. We soon savored off our very noteworthy bowl of noodles and headed off back to office.

Another noteworthy thing about this place is it's price. Compared with the one that's in Subang, this is way much cheaper than them and it has an egg in it too. I can't really remember what's the price but I remember it being way much cheaper. Mind you if you're a big eater, it's best to go for the extra large because the large bowl barely looks larger than the small one. And as mentioned earlier, it has more ingredients than the one in Subang. All in all, a very tasty dish and cheaper to boot!

Total Wallet Damage:
This has been sometime since I visited so I can't really recall what's the price. If the one at Subang is RM7, I believe my big bowl with everything is around RM6 or RM6.50. I can't remember which.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Definitely a good eat and worthwhile in savoring when in the area. No wonder my colleague the avid pan mee lover love this very much.

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O Banh Mi, New Wing, 1 Utama Shopping Centre (1U), Bandar Utama (BU), Petaling Jaya (PJ), Malaysia

Address:
Lot LG 328, New Wing, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am -10pm

Time Visited:
Around 1pm, Saturday afternoon.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Fried Beef Vermicelli with Spring Roll and Vietnamese Coffee (Iced) with Milk

I've been meaning to try O Banh Mi for the longest time but never get to go about it. So this day, I took the time out to go to 1 Utama but this time it's not for a movie at all but rather just to come to O Banh Mi to try out. Since nobody wanted to try with me including my buddy, I've decided to go about it on my own.

O Banh Mi has always struck me as a sandwich place so I always had to think twice of whether I'm talking about the same place when I asked my buddy about it and he said he didn't like it's noodles because it's sweet. I never thought of O Banh Mi as a noodle's place so even when I walked in on this day and saw noodles on their menu, I had to think twice of whether I'm in the right place. LOL. I've heard very much of how this place authentically sells Vietnamese sandwiches and now it looks like they serve their Phở which still tickles me of hearing it's pronunciation because it sounds like fur and it reminds me of the joke about the pronunciation done by Russell Peters.

O Banh Mi's outlet at 1 Utama is small and can't really accommodate for many people but it's quite sufficient because there's not really a crowd swarming into this place to eat their Vietnamese food. It's self service so you'll need to approach the counter to order your food where you're given a number and later on, the staff will bring you your food at where you're sitting. The food came almost at a very quick pace which to me was slightly ranging in the average timeframe.

A sip of their coffee really does remind me of Vietnamese coffee though aesthetically, it wasn't with those drip cup coffee paraphernalia and just serve to you all ready and in a glass that resembles our local kopitiam rather than the shorter latte glass like how a lot of Vietnamese coffee places serve. Nevertheless, the coffee sparks my interest and does indeed remind me authentically of Vietnamese coffee that I had tried in a lot of places including Vietnam, strong, sometimes bitter and with condensed milk. They did it well and was very much according to my liking.

As for the Phở, the noodles was very nice to eat as well. Sure enough, my friend's word rang true and it was indeed a sweet dish rather than a savory one. The fried beef was a bit dry and tough but the vermicelli more with all it's nutritious ingredients in the mix more than makes up for it. It's tasty, but at the same time, it's a healthy dish as well! With all the fresh vegetables and some nuts in it, it reminds me of Lui Cha. LOL. At the bottom you can actually see all the sauce that's making the taste sweet and adding in the condiments at the table increases the yummy factor, according to my taste-lah. The condiments at the table is a chili sauce and I believe the other one is a soy sauce so on top of the sweet factor of the dish, adding the salty condiment kinda plays around with your taste buds and is tantalizing. I love it. Sweet, salty, savory and spicy. The esses involved. LOL. As a location to hangout, it pretty much isn't that good a place to hangout due to it's small interior though adequate and so I headed off to O'Briens nearby for a cup of coffee. Oh, their staff were very much efficient in cleaning up the place as well. They're constantly clearing dishes and can see them actively walking around the small outlet.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM14.75. Coffee was just RM1! I'm not sure if it's a set thing or not but that's cheap. Like Kopitiam. LOL. But then again, Kopitiam already requires 2 bucks for a cup of iced coffee.

Final Verdict:
6.5/10. I quite like their Vietnamese dishes and though I find the spring roll (which I forgot to mentioned) in the Vermicelli not much resembling of Vietnamese because I'm so used to those that are very thin in it's texture, it's still quite a nice authentic tasting dish. From the coffee to their Phở.

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Doiffee, Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia

Address:
10A, Jalan Desa Jaya, Taman Desa, 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu:
8:00 am - 11:00 pm
Fri-Sat:
8:00 am - 12:00 am
Sun:
8:00 am - 11:00 pm

Time Visited:
6:15pm, Saturday evening

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Vegetarian Aglio Olio and Crush Gua-Pel

These days are just painstakingly torturous and gruesome to continue on. But today, I get a nice short reprieve by getting home. Hopefully, will get a good night's rest. I'm so tired.

Anyway, last weekend, after watching Suicide Squad and Starbuck-ing with my friend, I went over to Doiffee at Taman Desa on my own for dinner since my friend needs to be somewhere else as he has an appointment. I never knew I'm familiar with Taman Desa's area till I actually got to the place. I never knew that it links nicely to Old Klang Road and that it's at a road that I'm used to fetching a friend home. This place is also near Wild Sheep Chase area which my friend whom I'm supposed to go with still haven't had the time to go with me there. Maybe it's time I should just go there on my own. I highly doubt my friend is interested in going with me. Nobody does. Okay. Sorry for that. Enough with the negativity.

This place has a lot of cars venturing there but for people-wise, there weren't many. The cafe itself were literally almost empty save for a couple tables but next door where the ToTo 4d is, it's teeming with people lining up to get their numbers in before the draw starts soon. The place has 2 different door entrance separated by a fake fireplace wall as decoration. I didn't realized that there were 2 doors until I actually sat down and saw somebody walked through the other door. LOL. The place was not dimly lit and has a rustic taste to it almost resembling of bars. As I walked to the counter, I was greeted by the owner who was initially sitting at one of the tables but got up and walked behind the cash register ready to take my order as she sees me approaching. She mentioned to me on the various foods that's available there and I chose the Vegetarian Aglio Olio and to drink, a cold-press juice called Gua-Pel.

I then went to chose a seat and awaited for my meal. It came in a quite comely manner and wasn't at all a long wait. The Gua-Pel basically came in a small bottle and contains 3/4 guava, 2 red apples and a teaspoon of lemon juice. I'm sure you can imagine the taste from just the name and description alone that it's a combination mixture of guava and red apples. Sweet and citrusy in it's taste. A tasty beverage but coarse as it goes down my throat.

As for the Vegetarian Aglio Olio, it tasted of a typical one and it's also full of extra virgin olive oil on it so it's quite oily. Other ingredients in this dish was Capsicum, Cherry Tomatoes, Olives, Zucchini, Garlic, Parsley and mushrooms for that lovelier taste. Basically, to me, this is merely a food to get you full and yes, this Vegetarian Aglio Olio can make me full despite it having no meat. It's pretty much a basic Aglio Olio. No deviation or anything that spruce up considerably that makes it stand out.

I'm nor sure whether their coffee is good but maybe I should try it at another time.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM27.80. The Crush Gua-Pel costs RM9.43 and the Aglio Olio costs RM16.77. GST is imposed here but no service charge.

Final Verdict:
5/10. A quite somber place to be in where it gives me the impression where old hats gather and those who don't wanna be bothered much comes here. But don't let my comment put you off from coming here. Maybe, just maybe their coffee is good. (hopefully)

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Where Else Cafe, Bandar Puchong Jaya, Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
27, Jalan Kenari 19a, Bandar Puchong Jaya, 47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Sun - Thurs: 12pm - 12am
Fri & Sat: 12pm - 1am

Time Visited:
Around 10:15pm, Friday night and things just ain't right

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Espresso, Passion Fruit Soda and Vegetarian Mushroom Pasta for myself

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

It's late and usually though it's a Friday night, I rarely go out unlike my earlier days of events blogging. Nowadays, my Friday nights are just filled with cooping myself in my room at my home and doing nothing much but playing some games, doing some reading and watching Youtube videos. But this was a rare occasion where I traverse beyond the confinements of my apartment walls in order to brave the congested area of Puchong even though there was a terrorist bomb attack at a place nearby just a week earlier from this outing. The reason for my brave stint - to meet up with my colleague and ex-colleague for a late night supper meal and to possibly plan for something during the long Raya break but like most people, they just tend to disappoint me with their empty promises.

I got there earlier than the rest which were travelling in one car and since I was there first, I sat myself down at a place where the rest later complaint that the table was too small though it's meant for 4 people to sit. I look at their menu while I ponder on my order as I await for the rest to arrive. They arrived fairly quick, about 10 minutes later and we got to ordering. Wanting some caffeine in me, I ordered the espresso and to wash it down and quench my thirst with a passion fruit soda. To eat, I decided to go vegetarian that night and went for the Vegetarian Mushroom Pasta. I still had to wait for the rest to order finish before the waiter goes and punch in our orders.

Their service was quite okay in terms of the quickness of getting the food out to the customers. I'd say it's quite quick and I wouldn't need to worry much about my growling tummy. The espresso was the first to arrive, surprisingly, and that wasn't the only thing to surprise me. The espresso came with 3 small marshmallows to go with my espresso which seemed great. The coffee weren't that bitter actually and drinking it whole was okay and easy. The marshmallows were just something that was complemented and actually did go well with the espresso. The passion fruit soda was something average and didn't had any popping effect. In fact, it's just a gassy drink that's moderately tasted of syrup.

You might be wondering why my picture above contained 2 different pasta dishes in there. Well, it isn't one of my friends but rather were supposedly to be mine. You see, they brought the wrong order to me in the beginning and without seeing properly on what they brought me and having my senior moments as always, I didn't realized it was the wrong order until they brought my correct order to me. They first brought out the Mushroom Carbonara pasta and without thinking, I just took it and snapped some photo of it and I thought that that was it. My orders complete. And started eating but several minutes later, my real order came and the guy announced Vegetarian Mushroom Pasta and then it hit me. I was eating the wrong order. LOL. I said to the waiter oh, then what was I eating? And then I realized that it's Carbonara. I just didn't think of it much because it had the word mushroom in it when it was announced. LOL.

Anyway, the Vegetarian Mushroom Pasta had a much nicer and bolder taste to it. It's with Shiitake Mushrooms, Capsicum and loads of Olive Oil in em. It tasted quite okay. Average in taste. But I just dislike them drowning the pasta with olive oil which a lot of places tend to make this mistake as well. Once you get to the bottom, you just feel an overwhelming sensation of unable to down it anymore due to the amount of oil that the pasta was swimming in at the bottom. It's basically a pool when you reach there.

Other than that, this place is great for photo taking. The whole place looks very picturesque like. It's sorta like the cafe Fullhouse where their decoration had a garden theme and vibe to it and looks very pretty with a lot of effort being put into the design and decoration of the place. Selfie addicts will go crazy over this place. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
Erm, to tell you the truth, I forgot again since I wasn't the one paying first. >.<

Final Verdict:
7/10. Nice design and decors. Very picturesque. Food was average and so was the beverage but they made the dish look very presentable which deserves some points in their effort. It's not value for money though. LOL.

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Sarawak Corner, Restoran Meisek (美食茶餐室), USJ14, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Address:
No. 10 & 12, Jalan USJ 14/1k, 47630 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Unsure. Rough estimation is:
Daily, 7am - 3pm, 6pm - 9pm

Time Visited:
11:45am, Thursday morning, Raya 2nd day.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Laksa.

Though I'm no expert in Laksa (a spicy soup noodle dish), I've heard that the hawker shop Sarawak Corner has quite authentic Sarawak Laksa taste.

It was still a holiday for me that day and I had a thought of trying some Sarawak Laksa that day. So I head on over to Subang Jaya, USJ 14 where there's quite a few nice Chinese hawker stall restaurants around and Restoran Mei Sek is one of them around. That shop has occupied even 2 shoplots and had made them connected. There's plenty of variety on hawker eats at this place and even though they occupy 2 shoplots, they're still at full capacity on the day I visited and people were scrambling for a place to sit with some even sharing a table with me. Over at this hawker restaurant, there exist a hawker stall called Sarawak Corner which is quite authentic in their Sarawak noodle dishes and that's my intention of trying out.

In particular, I'm here for the Sarawak Laksa. As I mentioned before, I'm no avid fan of Laksa so I had a little research to see all the laksas I've tried before and what is the difference in Sarawak Laksa. For the Sarawak version of Laksa, the soup-based is more towards Sambal Belacan which contributes towards the crimson color of the broth and it also contains coconut milk in it and sour tamarind. What Sarawak Corner at Restoran Mei Sek put in their dish are shrimps, omelette strips (I must admit, I've never tried laksa with omelette strips before so this probably would be my first Sarawak Laksa dish) and chicken strips. The condiment that was accompanied with my Laksa dish is some sambal belacan and a lime to squeeze over it and the Laksa.

Though the condiment given had a spicy taste to it, the broth simply did not taste that spicy to me. I guess it's cause they do put quite a lot of coconut milk in their broth which is what I'm able to taste. Though a preference towards a more spicier broth for me, it is rather tasty and has a thick texture. The noodles were nice and soft enough but interestingly, there's yellow mee in the mix instead of just rice vermicelli so it's more towards curry laksa in this instance. The omelette strips added some sweetness to the overall dish which is a nice touch. The chicken strips were adequate in portion and went well blending in with the dish. Shrimps were the first thing I consumed finish because I don't really like shrimps. LOL. Due to my need of it being spicier, I need to dab the Sambal Belacan with the noodles and this certainly heightens the taste.

Though there's many customers and they were also frantically preparing dishes, but with their numbering system, they're able to provide me with my meal in quite a quick fashion which I'm well pleased. Next time around, I'm visiting this place again and try the kolo mee and other various foods around here since this place looks so interesting.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM7 for the laksa. I'm excluding the drinks since it's done by the main shop owner but if you must know the price of my Coffee Ice, it's RM2.10.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Not bad in their Sarawak Laksa. Since I've never had one before (yes, it's hard to believe since I'm Malaysian) I can't really say how good it is in comparison with other Sarawak Laksa or those that's at Sarawak itself but based on this alone, I'd say it's pretty nice. I certainly wouldn't mind coming back again to eat though the price of RM7 does put me off a bit.

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Sarawak Kuching Hand Made Noodles, Ming Tien, SS24, Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor

Address:
10991, Jalan SS 24/8, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 6:30pm - 12am (?) Not sure. I used to eat here during lunch as well but according to google, it opens in the evening only now.

Time Visited:
Sunday night. 7pm

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Sarawak Noodles (small)

It's been a very long time since I visit Ming Tien to eat the Sarawak Noodles there. The last time I stopped eating it was because I find it too oily and it makes me feel nauseous. It used to be a joint where it's 24 hours operational but looks like it's stated that it's only operating from around 6pm to midnight according to google.

Somehow, this Sunday, I felt the need to eat Sarawak Noodles but I don't know where I can find a good one. And so I headed back to an old place that I have not been to for a long while - Ming Tien in Taman Megah. Why I stopped going there is because I don't really like food court food and the reason I came here last time was because I was with friends. I've even brought my family here before but now, I've stayed away from this place. But this evening, I decided to venture back there. Knowing that there'll be a Pasar Malam (night market) over here since it's Sunday, I braced for the traffic jam. Well, the traffic weren't all that bad. Not as bad as Mid Valley on a Saturday.

I illegal parked at the junction ensuring that I wasn't blocking any cars like the rest did since it would be hopeless to find a parking with the Pasar Malam ongoing. Parked, walked and have a look around before deciding to enter Ming Tien to eat. I've already decided on the Sarawak Noodles so I head straight towards that direction. As before, the inside area has lots of vacant tables while the outdoor seatings were full. It took quite a long wait before I get my order. It looks like they had a long queue awaiting too. Didn't know they were so popular. I also got the feeling that they actually served me first before some other due to me sitting just beside their stall.

Anyway, the noodles were just like how it was before. It certainly reminded me the forgotten taste of the wavy hairlike noodles and the clear soup that's peppery at the bottom. It's still as oily as fuck but this time around, it's not too oily till I feel nauseous. The dark sauce at the bottom for you to mixed it up was more than adequate. There's some char siew given with the noodles and it tasty okay with it flaking easy. Basically, it's good enough in it's overall form. Enough for the local Chinese taste for a satisfactory dinner.

Total Wallet Damage:
It's RM5.50. Cheap if you ask me.

Final Verdict:
5/10. Food court food just isn't something I fancy but whenever I'm here at Ming Tien, I either go for this or the Crispy Chicken Rice but that was years back.

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Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle, Ximending, Wanhua District, Taipei, Taiwan

Address:
No. 8-1, Emei St,, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108

Opening Hours:
Daily, 11am - 10:30pm

Time Visited:
Sunday, around 5:30pm

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
They only serve one thing here, the Mee Sua Noodles. Ordered the small one.

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience.

Since I was on tour in Taiwan with my family (which they usually like following tours), the tour guide brought us to this place on top of other shops in Ximending. This was the last day of my tour and the Ximending night market was our last stop before adjourning to our hotel and departing towards the airport the next day. Up until this point, I wasn't really that impress with Taiwan food with their food tasting less stronger than in Malaysia. In fact, I felt Taiwan food in Malaysia seemed to taste better than Taiwan herself because it tastes stronger over here so you get a more fulfilling taste. That was until I tasted the Mee Sua here. This is probably the only exception that I would place on food that is worth visiting Taiwan for. The Mee Sua here is leaps and bounds better than any Mee Sua I've tried over here in Malaysia. It is kinda like the excitement I got when I discovered the tastiest crepes I've ever had resided at Langkawi.

When we arrived at the place, there was already a very long line that snakes from the shop to the opposite shoplots and bending slightly. Every second you'll see there will be someone new joining the line. But if you think you're in for a long wait due to the long line, fret not! They dispense out their food at a very quick pace and so the line moves very quickly. It didn't take long till it was down to our turn probably just about 5-10 minutes or so. You place your order at the cashier and take your receipt to take your orders at the pick up area where they prepare the food. They were so quick that it was immediate. From the moment you pay, once you just step into the area to pick up, they've already got your stuff ready!

As this is considered a street food, there's no actual table and chairs for you to sit and eat. Well, there is a seating area where there's some chairs being laid out near the side for you to sit and eat, but due to the immense crowd buying from this place, most people just stand around to eat it. Hidden at the corner near the cashier there, there's chili sauce, garlic sauce and vinegar for you to take to put it on your noodles. Adding the condiments in nicely increase the already very tasty dish.

The soup is kind of peppery on it's on and the extremely piping hot temperature of the dish increases the spicy level. But I still prefer adding in some chili into it because it will produce a kind of unique taste to it. Taiwan's chili has a sweet but spicy taste to it which taste delicious to me. The broth is of an adequate thick level and does not lack flavor. The Mee Sua is very delicate and soft where you can just slurp it up and drink it down without even the need to chew much. LOL. What I also like about this dish is that they put in pork intestine instead of oyster and the pork intestine is gummy enough but soft and easy to eat. A nice texture which I've never encountered before for pork intestine in Malaysia.

We stand on the opposite shop where Nike is to eat our food because you can feel the air-conditioning unit outside there. LOL. This helps cool down the food for consumption faster since it's very, very hot. Truly recommend anyone to eat this because in my books, this is worth visiting Taiwan to try. Unless you're like my colleague who mentioned that she didn't really find anything special about this Mee Sua and only prefer to eat Pan Mee. LOL.

Total Wallet Damage:
If I'm not mistaken, it's NTD50 ($50) for a small bowl. For conversion purpose on my visit of 2016, it's about RM6 a bowl. But for NTD50, I consider it cheap.

Final Verdict:
8/10. This was the best food I had in Taiwan, others I would say it's better in Malaysia if it's available here and for those that aren't, it's not visiting Taiwan for just to have it.

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