My Most Expensive Dumpling aka Bak Chang

Thanks to a couple friend of mine, they treated us to two gigantic dumpling aka bak chang.

The size is really humongous if you compare it with the size of the fork and spoon at the bottom of the picture.

Guess the price ........... it's RM200 each.

Yeah, we were treated to a RM400 supper plus grapes from Down Under (by another couple) if not mistaken.

It's really nice and the dumpling rice itself is not too oily and not too soft or sticky. Perfecto!

This is the most expensive bak chang I have ever tried. Will we get to eat it again next year? (hoping for that couple to read this blogpost)

You may ask "What is inside it that made it so bloody expensive?"

I was late for this supper and they opened up the second bak chang when I arrived. They looked highly upon me to finish it when five adults and two kids finished the first bak chang.

If you look at this picture, my friend dug up two pieces of abalone (just on the right side of the big spoon).

Other ingredients include scallop, shark's fin, higher grade mushroom, meat and ingredients normally found in smaller bak chang. Can't recall all of it.

This is a home made bak chang and made to order. My friend's company actually ordered 350 bak chang from this lady for her company's function. Really don't know what kind of function was that.
Tags: Bak Chang, Dumpling, Abalone, Scallop, Shark's Fin, Mushroom

Malaysian Talent in Food

My mom has been a good cook for the family when we were still young. She's retired now and we don't cook dinner during the weekdays lately as we order home cooked dishes from another family. Saves time.

My mom do agree that somehow men are seen to be the best cook around as you seldom see top chefs in hotels helmed by ladies. Moreover, TV shows seldom show a lady being a top chef either. Maybe we haven't caught the right show that shows a lady top chef yet.

However, there are two Malaysian guys who have made it into the top listing of well known restaurants now. Their restaurants have been listed in the Michelin Guide which is based in France. It's really a coveted honour for a restaurant to be listed in the Michelin Guide which is the Who's Who in the food / cuisine industry.

The first Malaysian-owned restaurant to have gained that honour is Kai Mayfair restaurant, operated by Bernard Yeoh with its head chef being Alex Chow, in London. His restaurant earned the highly rated Michelin star (only a maximum of three stars are awarded to each restaurant) back in 2009. His restaurant has been recognised again in the Michelin Guide Great Britain 2010.

Kai Mayfair is basically a chinese restaurant and Bernard Yeoh's wish is to offer something different in the Cantonese dishes which will also enable the public to have a better culinary understanding of a variety of chinese dishes.

Besides the Michelin Guide star rating, Kai Mayfair was voted the Best Chinese Restaurant in London by Harden’s Restaurant Guide (Britain) in 2009. From 2002 to 2005, Kai Mayfair was recognised as the Best Chinese Restaurant in Britain in a survey organised by Zagat Survey.

The second Malaysian-owned restaurant to have earned this prestigious rating is based in New York itself. The owner, Michael Bong and wife Kathy, operates the Laut restaurant since 2008. The restaurant has been listed in the Michelin Guide New York City 2011. Both of these owners are chefs themselves.

The restaurant serves Malaysia's staple food, favourite dishes from Malacca and Thai dishes as well. You can even order online which you can either pick it up later or have it delivered to your doorstep. Their main aim is to expose the Americans to the nation of Malaysia and its unique cuisine.

The owners own a Japanese restaurant by the name of Mizu Sushi which is also located in New York. In recognition of Michael Bong's efforts, he was awarded the Master Chef award by the Governor of Malacca last year.

It's not easy to obtain the Michelin Guide's recognition as the Food Inspector will come in unnoticed or as a spy. Not only that, you have to monitor your food quality, ambience, service, etec in order to maintain the star rating for the following year. Just when I thought food industry was easy.

If you so happend to be in London or New York, don't miss the chance of meeting up with these Malaysians owners in the two said restaurants.

Reading: AsiaOne and Star articles on the above restaurants
Tags: Bernard Yeoh, Alex Chow, Kai Mayfair, London, Michael Bong, Kathy Bong, Laut, Mizu Sushi, New York, Michelin Guide, Chef, Cook, Malaysian Cuisine, Malaysian Dishes, Malaysian Restaurant, Chinese Restaurant

Meals at Hailam Kopitiam

With so many types of kopitiam food outlets in Kuala Lumpur, I was already asking when will one open up at my residential area.

True enough, the Hailam Kopitiam decided to open up in Taman Danau Desa. One of the bosses told me that this is their 16th outlet.

Not bad for a local kopitiam that originated from Kuala Pilah of Negeri Sembilan. Glad for all these locals that came up with such innovative restaurants that are giving a challenge to renowned cafes like Coffee Bean, Starbucks, or Gloria Jeans.

Their set-up are almost the same with other local kopitiam type of restaurants as they sell almost similar food.









In a hailam food outlet, you must try their Hailam Traditional Chicken Rice Special to see whether they deserve the right to use the word hailam in their name.













The Hot Chocolate drink is found in a kopitiam too? A bit westernised I think.















The Hailam Chicken Chop with Rice that comes with black pepper gravy is excellent. The gravy is filled with strong pepper taste and it burns a bit in your lungs as you swallow the meat. I like it this way.








The Hailam Special White Coffee Iced Blended was filling too. Quite like white coffee. Can't drink too much of coffee as it will give me migraine.

Price wise - reasonable for this type of food outlet. After tasting only two of their dishes, can't say much about the rest of it in the menu but those that I have ordered were good.

Maybe it's still new, the outlet is filled during lunch and dinner time during the weekends.
Tags: Hailam Kopitiam, Food

Cheeseburger in a Can

Just when you thought getting your burgers from McDonalds or other fast food chains are much faster. Wait till you hear that a Swiss company is already producing burgers in cans.

Trek N' Eat, a company under the Katadyn Group has made it so much easier for people on the move. More so for trekkers and not for people like you and me who are lazy to go out for lunch.

They have this wonderful Cheeseburger under the brand name of Trekking-Mahlzeiten.It's being sold at Euro 3.95.

Just put the can into a pot of water and start the fire. Give and take a minute or two.
Open the can and take it out.
Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaa ........ your meal's ready.

Whether it's the same taste as those found in fast food chains ....... you just have to try it yourself. It has a shelf life of twelve months from date of production.

Reading: The canned cheeseburger – fast food in the wilderness - Gizmag

Tags: Cheeseburger, Trek N' Eat, Katadyn Group, Fast Food, Trekking-Mahlzeiten

Running Out of Soft Drinks

Yesterday I blogged about Tea. Today it will be about soft drinks.

How often do you drink soft drinks? I seldom knowing that in long term it will not be healthy at all. It will be once in a blue moon kind of thing.

Even at KFC or McDonalds, I would pay a bit more to opt for Milo or Iced Lemon Tea instead. In Malaysia, soft drinks are aplenty. You can find it anywhere, every corner. The sales are good too. No matter how good is the sale it wouldn't have ran out of stock, right?

But it did happen in Ethiopia. The East Africa Bottling Share Company that produces Coke drinks shuts down its plant because it ran out of bottle tops. It was also rumoured that people in the nation are collecting those bottle tops to be sold back to the company at the rate of US$0.20 (£0.13) a kilogram. It's not so much about the bottle tops but it has caused 35,000 Coke sale outlets to be without any soft drinks to sell.

Suppliers to the bottling plant and distributors of the products were badly affected where 150,000 employees in the upstream or downstream businesses could be going without pay if the situation prolongs. It was mentioned that a state of emergency could have been declared.

This East Africa Bottling Share Company in Ethiopia is owned by Coca-Cola Sabco, a South African company, that owns Coke bottling plants in Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda. Their interest don't end there. Coca-Cola Sabco also owns bottling plants in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

I'm not surprised with that "state of emergency". In Sudan here, the sale of Pepsi and Coke are very good in the sense that it's even consumed during breakfast, for some it's not one bottle but two.

Would you have taken softdrinks as your morning beverage instead of the usual coffee, tea, milo, milk, fruit juice or hot chocolate? My morning beverage in Sudan here is Milo. I brought along 2 kilogrammes of those Milo powder form. Hopefully can last till I leave.

Reading: Ethiopia hit by Coca-Cola drought - BBC News/Africa
Tags: Coke, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Ethiopia, East Africa Bottling Share Company, Coca-Cola Sabco

Meals at Hometown Hainan Coffee

Too many towns here and there now. First time seeing this Hometown Hainan Coffee. It's situated at Desa Petaling with its frontage facing the KL-Seremban Highway.

My group of friends who told had frequented this place a number of times told me their curry chicken is marvellous. That is after I have ordered their Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Really nice ..... maybe I was stucked in Sudan for too long and any food would have been nice. But this is exceptional. Smooth skin and meat itself. Serving is just nice for average diners. For me, not enough of course.

The cafe's set up was almost similar to the other cafes that has the word "town" in it too.

Just that this cafe's air-cond is like ........ no feeling of coolness. Their doorless entrance was just too big and you can't feel the air-cond coolness at all. Good thing I was not wearing a thick shirt.

People still packed the inner seating area. Well, a bit of coolness is better than nothing at all. They have seatings which is opened.

After finishing my chicken rice, I ordered their Toast with Kaya and Butter ...... irresistable. Go for the "Kiap" type as toast will be more crunchy.

Price is similar with other similar cafes which I found is quite norm nowadays and people are swarming into such cafes compared with the olden coffee shop frequented by my parents.

Tags: Hometown Hainan Coffee, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Hainan, Desa Petaling, Toast With Kaya And Butter

Special Food

This dish is known as Yee Sang, something like a mixed vegetable salad ala Chinese style.

Took this picture when I dined at Golden Sun Restaurant at Jalan Kuchai Lama. That was my first taste of yee sang for this year bearing in mind we ate this few days prior to Chinese New Year.

My sis who was there said that would be her fifth time. Fifth time before Chinese New Year has even started ??????????

Those days, yee sang would be served by restaurants on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year. Later on, restaurants started to serve it within the second or the third day. Nowadays, the over commercialised yee sang could be ordered two weeks prior to Chinese New Year.

The same thing goes for the chinese restaurants. Those days (when I was young of course), chinese restaurants would be closed beginning from the eve to maybe the third day of Chinese New Year. Nowadays, chinese restaurants made its bulk of profits on the eve as people tend to eat out for the reunion dinner. The chinese restaurants would only close for business right after the full fifteen days of Chinese New Year.

The last minute shoppping for Chinese New Year brought me to Tesco at Taman Midah area.

Saw this pricing tag for the chiffon cakes - RM009. My itchy fingers were telling me to place the numeric 9 right at the front to make it RM900 ................. HAHA









First time buyer of the Big Apple Donuts And Coffee's donuts (or doughnuts). Those days I have only one choice or you can say no choice. Nowadays, there were too many choices to pick. Selecting this six donuts gave me a hard time ....... had to forego others which I wanted too.


Was fascinated by the way they baked the donuts. Instantly placed on a conveyor belt and it turned colour upon going through a 'burner'. Instant donut?

Not long after that, a hole caved in right at the centre of the donut as it travels along the conveyor belt.

Oh yea, Big Apple is a local food company ...... what a success!
Tags: Yee Sang, Chinese New Year, Golden Sun Restaurant, Chinese Restaurant, Tesco, Big Apple Donuts And Coffee, Instant Donut, Donut, Doughnut

Michelin Star For Malaysian Owned Restaurant

A chinese restaurant in London has been hailed as the best chinese restaurant by virtue of obtaining the Michelin star rating.

Kai Mayfair is owned by a Malaysian, Bernard Yeoh, who in turns entrust the kitchen to the head chef, Alex Chow. The restaurant has been operating for the last fifteen years and it's regarded as the highest honour to be rated by the Michelin Guide.

Just by reading its Dom Perignon menu, it does potrays the class and quality it possesses. Can I get a discount when I'm in London?

Once a restaurant is rated by the Michelin Guide, food connoisseurs and those who likes to eat would be making their beeline towards it. In order to minimise any congestion, the restaurant has arranged for table reservations via email and instant online booking.

Michelin Guide should be making its way to Malaysia in due course and I did submit an application to them hoping to be selected as one of their Food Inspector ........ I like to eat, I know what to look for in a dish and I'm good with food tasting ....... willing to travel for food. Yes, I'm dreaming about it and if I don't dream about it, it's definitely zero chance.

Reading: Michelin first for Malaysian restaurant in London - Star
Tags: Kai Mayfair, Foods of China, Best Chinese Restaurant, Bernard Yeoh, London, Michelin Guide, Michelin Star Rating, Food Connoisseurs, Food Inspector

Healthy Breakfast

One of those days that I thought of a healthy breakfast. Most of the time will wallop the butter or margarine on toasted bread with chunky peanut butter on it.

I did buy one of this supposedly healthy crunchy bar (hopefully not tainted anyhow), the Nature Valley. Bought it for RM10.50 that comes with twelve crunchy granola bars of peanut butter.

This product is one of the sponsors for the PGA Tour golf tournament in the USA. They regard this food product as energy food. It was because of this branding tie up that helped me to decide in trying it.

After opening up and biting it, I don't find the crunchiness as stated on the packaging. Maybe you need to eat it fresh.

It was crunchy but you need to bite real hard to have a piece of it. Do you call that crunchie? Hehe

Disappointed with it.

Tags: Nature Valley, Peanut Butter, Energy Bar, Crunchy Granola Bars, Whole Grain, PGA Tour

Subway Grew Faster Than McDonalds

Subway, a fast food operator that serves sandwiches and salads, has grown so fast that it has overtaken McDonalds in the United Kingdom and Ireland markets. Subway operates via the franchising system and in the last three years, they opened up 800 outlets and it has 1,300 outlets in the whole of UK and Ireland now.

Their next target, 2,010 outlets by year 2010. Surprising to find out that their Meatball Marinara in UK's menu has a number of Facebook fan clubs. Must be very delicious that people reveal their love for it virtually. Subway is almost in every UK major cities / towns and would be flooding the universities, hospitals and football stadiums.

McDonalds in UK has been in the fast food industry long enough and would be able to withstand or counter such business competition with their 1,266 outlets in both UK and Ireland.

Even though Subway has more outlets than McDonalds, McDonalds' revenue is still much higher at £1 billion plus compared to Subway's £400 million sales. Looooooooong way to go for Subway.

Subway in Malaysia has only 27 outlets and if not mistaken, I have not tried their menu yet. Reason being that their presence is not wide enough to capture my attention during meal time. As for McDonalds, there's one just opposite my office building. How not to miss it. I like their Sundae Cone and French Fries.

Reading: How Subway overtook McDonalds - Telegraph UK
Tags: Subway, McDonalds, United Kingdom, Fast Food Operator, Subway Franchise, Subway Sandwiches

Dinner at Baby Moon

When it comes to dinner time, it's always the biggest question of my life - "what to eat?".

This time I remembered that a new restaurant, located at Taman Danau Desa, has just opened and why not try it out. Just a short walk from my condo.

Very torturing in blogging about such nice food when you are stucked in Sudan.

I can't recall the name of this dish but it was fried with lots of pepper. Nevertheless it was tasty with the aroma filling the restaurant the moment it was put right in front of you. Joshua, if you were reading this blog posting, please let me know the name of this dish.

This was mine, the Japanese Curry Chicken that comes with white rice. The gravy is basically more of black pepper than the curry taste. Maybe that was Japanese curry style. Never tasted it before so I gave a shot.

This is the Herbal Chicken Soup with Noodles together with a Honey Milk Tea. Too much ........ just writing the name itself got my saliva drooling.








Was this the Seafood Fried Rice ....... really got confused. Their food is given thumbs up by us. Won't mind going there again if the question of "what to eat?" crops up again and not knowing where to go.

All in all, four main dishes with three drinks cost us RM52. No 5% service tax.









They mentioned that their shop has good tau foo fa. It was served in a wooden container. Nice, not too sweet and smooth of it is important.

Tags: Baby Moon, Taman Danau Desa, Tau Foo Fa, Japanese Curry Chicken, Herbal Chicken Soup

Free Time in KFC

What would you do during free time while waiting for the rest to finish their delicious finger linkin good Kentucky Fried Chicken meal?
Some people are really that creative with their motor skills.
(source of pics: EastSouthWestNorth)
Tags: KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Motor Skills

Michelangelo Finally Back in Italy

After a two year visit to the United States, Michelangelo's David is now returning to Italy . .. .



Tags: Michelangelo, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Starbucks Coffee, Funny, Humour, Italy, United States

Busy Dataran Sunway Commercial Centre

Met up with a kitchen contractor, visited several shops selling housing materials and furnitures at Dataran Sunway commercial centre, Kota Damansara area, and was really surprised with the busy area. Didn't expect the place to be packed with cars and the shops available could just offer anything you needed and wanted.

As the stomach signalled its hunger for food, it was time to look for a food outlet. Saw this upbeat cafe and found it to be cooling. Need a good hideout from the hot weather.

The nearby Station 1 Cafe offers food that varies from the western dishes to oriental dishes and fusion food. It has a wide range of beverages. It's quite common to see this kind of cafe mushrooming all over Klang Valley. Apparently, this was their 18th outlet, the latest.

Price wise - reasonable for such cafe.


Kampung Style Fried Rice. Not bad lah. Same taste all over Klang Valley also.

The fried egg really looked pathetic. Would you request them to fry another one?












This was my order, the Mixed Grill. Need big portion kind of dishes to feel my stomach after the long walk all over Dataran Sunway.

The accompanying black pepper sauce was excellent. The corn was prepared with the right sweetness required.
Chicken Chop with rice. Nice mushroom sauce that comes with it.
The Deep Fried Fish Fillet. The fish was fresh and soft. It melts in your mouth (not only M&M).
The Tom Yum soup has the sour taste that comes with the spicy tinkling. As I can endure hot and spicy stuff, it didn't meet my criteria for a good tom yup soup.








There was a stage within the premise but don't know when will they have performances or was it for customers like me that whenever I feel like it, I can sing anytime.

Understood that Chervie Ho Yee Mun (sorry, don't know who she is) was supposed to perform at this outlet on 13 Oct night.
Tags: Station 1 Cafe, Kota Damansara, Food, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, Chervie Ho Yee Mun