The place-setting is neat and minimal, coupled with neat tables sectioned off two at a time.  There are a bunch of other Lei Garden locations – many of the Hong Kong island restaurants have one Michelin star, and the Mong Kok location has two.  The brand has also branched out into China’s major cities, as well as Singapore.

Place-setting

Pricier Chinese food is more difficult to have alone – there’s no three- or four-course set-up that structures or paces your meal, nothing to really determine the order in which you get your various dishes and how all the flavors come together.  Any one dish isn’t likely to have as much going on as a Western entrée, so the tendency is to overcompensate with quantity.  As far as rhythm goes, you kind of start with smaller, cold dishes, then have the soupier ones, then the doughy or meaty dishes, and finally the sweet ones.  That’s the general evolution, maybe, but sometimes BBQ meats feel more like an appetizer, and maybe you thought about ordering a soup but then went with soup dumplings instead, and the richly flavored seafood might have come out as the second dish.  All of those things happened, by the way.

So continuity and balance are sometimes hard to achieve when eating Chinese food by yourself.  And being a first-timer at Lei Garden, I went with more of a gunslinger approach to ordering.  I recommend asking for the regular menu, at the very least to see if there’s anything on there that you want, because the dimsum menu is limited, pared down to maybe thirty or so dimsum-friendly dishes (as opposed to larger-portioned plates).  Still, I was glad for the dimsum option, because the smaller portions allowed me to try a few more things than I might have otherwise been able to try.  I wish the waiters would’ve been more English-friendly; I got the definite sense that I was only able to see the regular menu and order from it because I switched to speaking Chinese.  But if that’s what it takes to get my some barbecued delicacies, then I will do anything short of renouncing my citizenship.  Who am I kidding – why would I want to pay federal taxes when I could be eating sweet, crisped fatty pork?

BBQ menu

I ordered a few dishes off both the regular and dimsum lunch menus, and got myself ready:

Jellyfish with vinegar soy sauce

Jellyfish is a childhood thing for me, a delicacy that my parents and my extended family (and thus I) all came to love.  Lei Garden’s version is rather thick-cut, almost like dan dan noodles.  I tend to like thinner, crunchier jellyfish, but it was a nice preamble to the rest of the meal.

Deep-fried prawns with salted egg yolks

Deep-fried prawns with salted egg yolk

Last February in Shanghai was the first time I’d had anything battered and deep-fried in salted egg yolk, and although that dish was strips of pumpkin (or maybe butternut squash), this was shrimp.  A different texture, obviously, but there was still underlying sweetness which goes well with the funkiness of the fried egg yolk.  The crispiness held even as the dish cooled a bit, which was nice, although this was one I wished there were other people to help me finish.

BBQ delicacies combo (roast goose and BBQ pork)

BBQ pork

Close-up of BBQ pork

The next dish was pretty classic Canto food, although I hadn’t had roast goose in a long time.  The pork was a nice cut, and very sweet, which might be an issue for others, but I’ve been on a honey kick lately.

Next up were some of the dimsum dishes:

Meat and crab dumpling in soup

Meat and crab dumpling in soup

Pork dumplings with crisped edges and dipping sauce

Pork dumplings

In terms of flavor, the meat and crab dumpling was my favorite – in the rich soup, the dumpling filling was a tempered burst of umami.  In hindsight, I should’ve gotten two, but the kitchen was closed by the time I got this one.

The second dumpling dish was pan-fried, with a bird’s-nest weaving of crispy dough which I cracked to get to the three otherwise traditional-tasting dumplings below.  The crème-brûlée sugar-cracking-esque exercise with these dumplings was neat, but other than that, I would’ve probably traded them for another round of crab-and-meat soup dumpling.

Mango pudding

The mango pudding was somewhat of a hurried decision, as the waiter was making last-call-for-dessert rounds, but surprisingly good.  Nothing about the flavor or the consistency that was particularly above par, but the martini class was deceivingly large, which was just the right amount of chilled, semi-sweet pudding to round out an otherwise very savory meal.

Lei Garden
Shop No. 3007-11, 3/F., International Finance Centre
Central, Hong Kong

Recommendations:
(1) Deep-fried prawns with salted egg yolk, (2) meat and crab dumplings with soup, (3) barbecued delicacies combo, and (4) mango pudding.  Fish and crab dishes are apparently good there, too, but felt a bit heavy for lunch.  They also have an interestingly soup-of-the-day list, which feature a lot of recipes that skew a bit towards the herbal side.

Ingredients
Sliced ginger
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 century egg, diced
1 boiled salted egg, diced
Nai Bai (I guess other dark leafy green vegetables like Spinach would do too)
2 tbsp dried white bait, fried and set aside. (keep the oil)

Seasonings
1 tsp concentrated scallop/ mushroom stock
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp wolfberries
2 cups water
1 tsp hua tiao wine

Steps
1) Stir fry ginger and garlic in white bait oil till fragrant.
2) add veggies and stir fry with seasonings and water till nearly cooked. Drain and set aside.
3) add the diced eggs and a tsp of hua tiao wine.
4) Add in vegetables and stir till fully cooked.
5) scoop up into dish and sprinkle on white bait just before serving. Done!

The porridge was easy. I boiled some sushi rice with ginger slices and soup stock from my Wintermelon Soup, microwaved a white fish steak and deboned it before adding the fish flakes into the porridge half an hour before serving. The garnish of spring onion and fried shallots is optional, but adds an appetising fragrance and color to the plain porridge.

Technorati Tags: Nai Bai, century egg, salted egg, porridge.

This is a dish that sounds fancy (oh three different types of eggs!?), looks fancy (how many colors are in a the dish?) but really isn’t all that hard to make. It’s the kinda thing that everyone likes – looks sophisticated, but is actually so simple.

More often than not, this dish is found in restaurants, and they would happily charge you $12, $15 or $20 for something as simple as eggs and veggies. Here’s how you do it, and you will never spend such money on ‘fancy’ vegetable dishes again.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 century egg
• 1 salted egg
• 1 (regular) egg, beaten
• 3 tablespoons wolfberries
• 500ml or 2 cups of chicken stock or bone stock
• [optional] 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon fried shallots
• [optional] 2 teaspoons garlic oil
• 1 large bunch Chinese spinach (or 2 smaller bunches), may substitute for regular spinach, washed

Directions

Soak the wolfberries in warm water for 10 minutes. Slice the century egg into 8 pieces. Slice the salted egg into 8 pieces, then cut each piece in half. (There will be a total of 16 smaller pieces.)

Heat a pot of water until it boils.

When the water boils, add the spinach to the water, and cook until the spinach is wilted. This will take about 1 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes.

Drain the spinach and set aside in a large bowl.

Heat the chicken/bone stock until it boils. Add 1 tablespoon fried shallots and the garlic oil.

Pour the beaten egg into the stock in a small stream while stirring the stock. (Just like making egg drop soup.)

In the bowl with the spinach, add the cut century egg, salted egg and wolfberries on top.

Pour the stock with egg over the ingredients in the bowl.

Top with 1 teaspoon of fried shallots (optional) and serve!

Itlog na maalat

It’s one of the simplest Filipino dishes ever.  You just cut the salted duck eggs (they’re hard-boiled) into cubes, cube the tomatoes, chop the basil leaves finely and mix them together.  It’s a great accompaniment to rice and fried fish or a roasted chicken or roasted pork (liempo to us Pinoys).  Sometimes, when I can’t think of what to cook to accompany my rice, this is the quickest viand to put together, no cooking required.  Since I’ve moved to the UK, I’ve made variations.  I’ve added an onion in the mix.  Another version of this salad is to add dill (fresh or dried) instead of basil.

I can’t go down to Chinatown in London all the time or head to the Filipino store in Colchester.  It’s not every day that I can get duck eggs but I daresay, it’s easier to get duck eggs from somewhere than it is to go down to London!  So I had to find out how to make my own salted eggs.  And this is the recipe.  It’s the one that works for me best.

As found in: http://www.lilligren.com/homestead/duckeggs.htm

Ingredients:
1 dozen duck eggs (any breed of duck will work)
1 to 1-1/2 cups of sea salt
5 cups water
1 gallon glass or plastic container

What you should do:
1. To make the brine solution, dissolve salt in warm water.
2. Wash eggs thoroughly and put them in the container.
3. Pour in the brine solution. Cover the container with a towel.
4. Let stand at room temperature for 30 days. Turn the eggs every 4 days.
5. After 30 days, remove the eggs from the brine solution. Wash with water.
6. Cook the eggs by boiling in water for 30 minutes.

BUT if you can’t wait for the 30 days, you can do this:

1. Boil the eggs in the brine solution.
2. Make a fresh batch of the brine solution. Peel cooked duck eggs. Place them in the fresh brine solution and soak for 24 hours.

**Note that it won’t turn out as good as the ones made to soak for 30 days, but sometimes, instant gratification is good too! I also don’t use that many eggs (I did 2 for my tomato salad)! So the brine solution can be scaled down to about 3 tbsp of salt to 500ml of water is good

Itlog na maalat

It’s one of the simplest Filipino dishes ever.  You just cut the salted duck eggs (they’re hard-boiled) into cubes, cube the tomatoes, chop the basil leaves finely and mix them together.  It’s a great accompaniment to rice and fried fish or a roasted chicken or roasted pork (liempo to us Pinoys).  Sometimes, when I can’t think of what to cook to accompany my rice, this is the quickest viand to put together, no cooking required.  Since I’ve moved to the UK, I’ve made variations.  I’ve added an onion in the mix.  Another version of this salad is to add dill (fresh or dried) instead of basil.

I can’t go down to Chinatown in London all the time or head to the Filipino store in Colchester.  It’s not every day that I can get duck eggs but I daresay, it’s easier to get duck eggs from somewhere than it is to go down to London!  So I had to find out how to make my own salted eggs.  And this is the recipe.  It’s the one that works for me best.

As found in: http://www.lilligren.com/homestead/duckeggs.htm

Ingredients:
1 dozen duck eggs (any breed of duck will work)
1 to 1-1/2 cups of sea salt
5 cups water
1 gallon glass or plastic container

What you should do:
1. To make the brine solution, dissolve salt in warm water.
2. Wash eggs thoroughly and put them in the container.
3. Pour in the brine solution. Cover the container with a towel.
4. Let stand at room temperature for 30 days. Turn the eggs every 4 days.
5. After 30 days, remove the eggs from the brine solution. Wash with water.
6. Cook the eggs by boiling in water for 30 minutes.

BUT if you can’t wait for the 30 days, you can do this:

1. Boil the eggs in the brine solution.
2. Make a fresh batch of the brine solution. Peel cooked duck eggs. Place them in the fresh brine solution and soak for 24 hours.

**Note that it won’t turn out as good as the ones made to soak for 30 days, but sometimes, instant gratification is good too! I also don’t use that many eggs (I did 2 for my tomato salad)! So the brine solution can be scaled down to about 3 tbsp of salt to 500ml of water is good

A ride after the other and Cornolio saw one of his workmates and shared their paths along the way. How’s the thing you’re working with? Ask the workmate. It’s good! I did some improvements and in time i’ll bring it and I’ll let you see it — Cornolio replied. The conversation started inside the bus while a Chinese kung-fu movie were playing.

The usual work started. They made it on time and punched in their start time of work. The day was not that stressful. A very low volume of work are needed to be done and so as they sit in to their respective places, it’s like one’s presence is enough for him to get paid for that day. Managers noticed that so as for the company to cut off expenses, they sent other’s home even if the shift is not yet finished. Cornolio’s work hours got cut off by two hours. That’s a couple of bucks less salary. Oh, there’s a free breakfast the company offered that night. Oh, dun be surprised if they call it breakfast in the middle of the night because we eat our lunch around two or three in the morning. Whatever event it is, it is surely good news for Cornolio for he’ll save some for food expenses. Lucky being employed at a stable company in which employees are well-fed. The usual after work talk with some friends and officemates.

Cornolio went home. It’s around passed midnight. He traveled the same route and as the jeepney driver speeds up, he’s looking for the God-is-good signage he saw on his way to work a while ago. For some reason, he couldn’t find it, or he already missed it. Maybe the sign is just visible during daytime. Cornolio gave up and instead looked forward going home. Cornolio is the one left inside the jeepney while other passengers went out. There’s a man asking the driver if he’s heading to “sauyo”, a twenty minute ride away from where they are that time. No, I’m just heading that way – the driver replied and steps on the gas.

The man is about Cornolios age. A neat looking average man wearing shorts a shirt and a backpack. With him were three kids about seven or eight of age. As the jeepney gains distance, Cornolio never took their eyes off them. They also approach the next jeepney. Cornolio can’t hear what they’re saying but as for their gestures, the man is trying to beg the driver if he can get them to sauyo when they have nothing to pay. That jeepney driver’s response was an obvious no ending it with a cloud of dark engine smoke. Cornolio witnessed it all and as he thinks of it, he knows it will not let him sleep that night if he did nothing about what he saw. It came to his mind that It might be the same street actor’s way of getting money out of kind-hearted people. Thinking about it, he decided that whichever way it is, even if its a fake or not, he considered them as people who need help.

Cornolio went to the area when he last saw them and they weren’t there. He walked a little further and found them. Keeping his profile low, he just walk around and observe keeping himself anonymous. Again, they approach another jeepney and got rejected again. One of the kids said, can we start walking? the man replied, No, it’s way too far for you guys and it’s too dangerous. In his mind, Cornolio somehow agreed. It’s around one or two in the morning and a twenty minute ride is too far for a person to walk specially when you have three kids with you. Cornolio waits for a perfect timing, and approached the man.

“Oy.
huh?
San kayo?
pauwi po sana kaming sauyo. Eh hindi po kami makasakay alanganin po kasi yung pera namin eh nakikiusap nalang po ako sa mga drayber.
uhmm.. Ano kailangan niyo?
ha?
*bumunot sa wallet* Eto pre oh.
kuya wag na, nakakahiya po, ok lang po makikiusap nalang kami. Ok lang po.
hinde, eto na sige na.
ok lang kuya. wag na po.
*inabot sa kamay* ayan na. ok na yan.
…
kuya salamay ha.
ayos lang yan. Ingat kayo pauwi. geh.
salamat talaga. Ano pangalan mo kuya?
*naglalakad palayo* Ok na yun.“

Cornolio always portray a bossy, strong, bully impression towards strangers to also measure an individual’s personality and what personality to respond as well. Cornolio, as he walks away from them, somehow stopped at a sari-sari store. He bought something to drink but he’s not really thirsty. He just made an excuse for staying not too far from them and took a peek on what they’re doing. Maybe he’s checking if he was just bluffed again by some street actors as what he experienced before. Cornolio took the first zip and when he tries to look at them again, the man with the kids followed and approach Cornolio and thanked him and said;

“Kuya salamat po talaga. Pwede ko po ba makuha number mo?
Para san? Textmate tayo? (Cornolio trying to kid a bit)
Wala lang po kuya. Para kung sakaling baka may kailangan ka, baka sakaling makatulong kahit papano.
(Cornolio didn’t how will it work but giving him some information won’t bite)
O sige. Kunin mo number ko.May papel ka kuya? Tsaka bolpen. (I never had a calling card but I surely had a sticky note and a couple of pens with me always)
Anu ulit pangalan mo pre?
Rap po. Raphael
Ah.. Cornolio pre. Eto o. Sige ingat kayo.
Salamat po ulit kuya Cornolio.“

From there, Cornolio never had a doubt about it. It was true and a real help he did that time. It’s a good feeling when people thank you and never expected it. That’s why cornolio never fail to say thank you even at the smallest favor he get from anyone. Even at their lowest, they still thought that someday Cornolio would be in need of something that they can offer. I wish people would be like that. And as Cornolio got home and sits on his computer, he never thought of telling anyone about it. Jesus said, everything done in secret would be rewarded in heaven. Its just an experience worth writing so he puts it in his blog. Anyway, no one reads his so it’s good writing it there and as he’s close on finishing his writings, he realized, God uses him that night. In every person we save and reached out, it’s Jesus who we’re helping. That man Raphael and those kids could be Jesus just like what I’ve read on Martin Avdeich’s story and if that’s the case, maybe I should have ask Jesus a breakfast at a nearest Mcdonalds.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Well, I was always attracted to this place due to it super unique seating style, squatting on a small piece of bangku (stool) while eating. I always wonder why the hell will people want to eat like this when they can seat properly.Besides, although I never seat there when I am eating there, I find that you need skills to squat and eat. The stool ain’t big and if you stacked it up, you might just fall down if you can’t balance yourself properly.

My mum do told me that this place is frequently visited by trishaw (tricycle) fellows as the Teochew style porridge served here is good and most importantly, Cheap!

It’s amazing how they are able to cook so many dishes in such a small and basic kitchen.

As same with all Teochew porridge, all the dish is served with very small portion in a small plate.

Yummy soy sauce tofu and pork. I absolutely love the pork here as it’s fat, and soy sauce is always the best way to go with plain porridge. 7.4/10

The fried fish is good too. They will add some soy sauce when served, and it goes really well with the porridge. 7.0/10

It seems that everything need to be salty for Teochew porridge, and hence here is another one. Salted vegetables. I however find that this is quite normal only. 6.3/10

The fried small lala (clam) with chili and ginger had failed badly though. I can only taste chili powder and nothing else in this plate of clams. Besides, I might be biased too as I am not a fan of small clams at all since the flesh is way too small for me to actually taste anything. 5.5/10

And finally something salty again! Salted eggs and foo yue (Shezcuan beancurd with chili and sesame oil). Both of this are consider a must for Teochew style porridge and to many people especially those who are less fortunate, with only this 2 dish, they are able to finish few big bowl of porridge already.

The stall is located at Gaik Ten coffee shop along Magazine road, just opposite Trader’s Hotel.

Total Damage: RM14

Operating Hours: 11.30am to 3pm

Location: Magazine Road, George Town, Penang

Google Map:

A tightly packed bundle of pork, Chinese sausage, mushrooms and a generous whole salted egg yolk. Held together by a soft glutinous rice coat infused with the flavours of all that hides within. Will convert non-glutinous rice fans.

Unwrap it to reveal this.

Ta da! Chicken adobo.

With a lil salted egg and tomato on the side.

Kinda like nasi lemak… but better. (Sorry, nasi lemak).

Binalot: Outlets all over the Philippines

Binalot, in Filipino, means wrapped!

A true Filipino Christmas is never complete without the beloved bibingka.

Bibingka is a native rice cake topped with cheese and salted egg baked over hot coals in a clay oven and served with butter, sugar and grated coconut.  It is very popular during the Holidays but it’s virtually available back home anytime of the year.

I grew up enjoying this sweet treat, which brings back so many memories of Christmases past.   Since I have this strong urge to indulge and, disappointingly, I could not find a decent place in the city that makes them, I decided to make bibingka myself.  It’s technically not from scratch since I planned on using  store-bought rice cake mix but I figured, I would use banana leaves, which would bring the level of complexity a few notches higher.

And so I drove to Manila Oriental Market, my newest discovery in the city.  It’s a huge Filipino supermarket that sells pretty much all things Filipino, from notorious duck eggs to freshly baked pan de sal.  I got myself a White King bibingka mix, eggs and butter.  We had confectioner’s sugar at home and so I was fine. And I also bought frozen banana leaves for under a buck.  I thought about getting salted eggs and coconut to grate but I decided to keep it simple for now.

Here are the ingredients.

1 250 g pack White King bibingka mix
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
3 eggs
1 cup water
4 tbsp melted butter

Beat 3 eggs, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into ramekins lined with banana leaves. Top with slices of cheese. Fairly simple, right? I used four 5-inch ramekins and topped the cakes with a really sharp cheddar cheese.

Preheat the oven at 450F and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. The White King box says it’s okay to broil but don’t. I broiled my cakes on my first try and burned them! Apple pie déjà vu!

Brush with some butter and serve hot.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted, seriously. Dennis enjoyed it a lot, too. He got a kick out of the banana leaves, which I must say made it even better. Well, next time I want to try it with salted eggs and some grated coconut. Or better yet, I want to try the real thing. It’s time to plan a trip back home.

By the way, I was completely surprised to find out that bibingka is a close relative to the Indian dessert bebinca, a pudding made of flour, sugar, butter and coconut milk. The dessert is also popular in Portugal and Mozambique.

It is more than simple anyway. Peanut sauce, boiled vegetables, one stick beef barbecue, peanuts cracker, soya bean cake and garnished by kemangi leaves. All the components will create a deep complexity of tastes.

The dish is very popular that filled eveyday’s life of Javanese. It could be in varied way of display even in all regions of East Java province. So we could say that every regions having their own Nasi Pecel. It made that this remarkable dish hard to be claimed by any parties as it is really the only unique open and fuzzy dish. Such as you are free to add by a half of salted egg, fried beef, or any other things that you might think of.

Nasi Pecel though it is simple – definetely also express our culture which is open minded and still that the harmony of tastes are represented in such a way that blended together ; to take you fly to the place of unforgetable truly East Java.

We will serve Nasi Pecel in Srikandi Terrace Resto ; the most unique place to dine while enjoying wonderful and stunned Malang mountainous scenes. This is the only best way we put our respect to our said above traditional dish.

*

*

Last Friday mr.fbb and friends came to pick me up from work, and we headed down to Seri Kembangan (SK) in hopes of some good food (mainly because i’ve been babbling about it so much hehe~) and I can assure you, we were not disappointed

*

*

Located near a school in a housing area, the roads were all packed with cars and motorcycles when we arrive at 7pm (hint: do arrive early especially on weekends as it could get really full and parking is a hassle).

*

*

There were 7 of us, so we decided we could order 7 dishes; food came quick (thank god, cos we’re all hungry & full of expectations). First up, we had the baby clams, kam hiong style (“kam hiong lala“). It’s slightly spicy but it was really tasty. THey have the big ones too, if you are a fan of big clams.

*

*

*

We also had their specialty, which is called the “sang yu”. I love to eat fish and am very picky when it comes to freshness and taste. I loved this dish since day 1 when I went with my family because the sauce is sweetly nice and the fish meat is just about cooked and fresh, truly SCRUMPTIOUS! mr.fbb thought it could be better if they didnt slice up the fish. Nonetheless, the rest loved it and said it was fresh and tasty. Moreover, it is a very affordable yummy fish!

*

*

*

What is seafood without the crabs right….. we had the salted-egg style (“ham tan hai”). Because I’m allergic to seafood (yea and i still eat them! :p), particularly crabs, i dont really have an affinity for crabs. but i ate this one anyway and find it fresh (I can tell because I didnt have any outrageous rash the next day – usually happens when the sea creatures has not been cleaned or is intoxicated during its lifetime) and the salted egg really, really and i mean REALLY complements it. mr.fbb, jk and zy especially enjoyed sucking the salted egg off the crab meat and shells – it was finger-licking-licious! Even I couldnt resist helping myself to more, dismissing the fact that i might overdosing myself with “poison” from the allergy to seafood

*

*

*

We also had the luxury of having mantis prawns, one each. We may have chosen a not-so-nice way to cook the prawn because I find it a lil’ tad dry. but other than that, it was biggg and fresh and has the spring-y feeling when u take a bite into it. moreover, it doesnt have the smelly prawn smell. I reckon it will be much much better if it’s steamed. what do you think?

*

*

*

For some green, we had the 4-vege-in-1, “sei tai tin wong” hahha jk got really excited when the waitress mentioned it. I thought it was just a normal dish, but nevertheless tasted good and price wise, it is very affordable too (will get to the bill later, just think how much food we ordered and keep guessing how much was the damage).

*

*

*

I’ll never miss out on one of my favourite dish and mr.fbb’s biggest fear, THE FROG (“tin kai“). I dont remember when I started adoring this dish, but I find it really nice to bite on, because what mainly constitutes the dish is the frog’s muscular legs, so spring-y, so chewy, so yummylicious. I’ve tried in so many places, and this is one of my fav. Usually, you wont be able to find much meat because most of the places serve skinny frogs, but this one is HUGE! Really, really satisfyingggg…yumz~

*

*

*

The best of the best amongst the dishes is yet to come….. THE PORK KNUCKLE (“chu sau”). This braised pork knuckle is one of their specialties too. With its sweet tangy black sauce, it really complements the soft, melt-in-your-mouth, meat. Moreover, their pork constitutes of not only meat (because it gives you a dry feeling), but it also has a desirable amount of fat layered between the right places. Plus, they also added some chicken leg, pork trotters and intestines as a bonus! How worth it can it be right….. *slurpppp – Definitely a must-order here!

*

*

*

Even after all that, we were still asking for more. So we decided to order some tofu. We wanted it the awesome (to us, at least) style which is the sizzling hot plate (“tip pan taufu“) style but they didnt have it. we were like @!#!@$??!

*

Anyhoo they then recommended their creation (“jiu pai“). It is fried and inside the tofu, they mixed all sorts of herbs in it (e.g. chinese parsley, spring onion and the sort). It tasted pretty good, but still, a tad dry. A very vegetarian dish to me, worth a try if you’re in a big group

*

*

*

*

Ahhhh.. what a satisfying, scrumptious meal! Definitely worth the travel right guys… guys??? ehhhehhe. The satisfaction increases when the bill came..take a guess before scrolling down??

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

A total of RM 225.50! For all the above? It’s hardly attainable nowadays in KL, won’t you agree? Please DO drop me a comment if I miss out on any reasonably, priced good food like this one!

miss.qp

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Address: 15, Jalan Aman, Seri Kembangan, 43300 Selangor

*

Now usually I wouldn’t go to vegeterian people for dinner recs (sorry, herbivores). I mean, I like tofu and all but I also need meat in my life and I’m not gonna go from famished to vegetables. That would be silly and then I would be grouchy. This restaurant is a favorite of Nop and Kwan (the vegetarians) due to its veggie friendly menu. For us meat eaters they have meat versions of most of their dishes. For tourists, the entire menu is in Thai so point and pick or drag along some Thai friends.

Now on to the picture parade.

First up chili rice and salted egg. Okay not that exciting but isn’t this a nice picture? Also, man I love salted egg.

Mushrooms and kailan with pork (yay, meat!). Standard ingredients but nice execution – crunchy veggies, juicy pork.

Big gigantic dried chilis atop a veggie omelet. This was a bit fishy/oily for me.

A cousin of soon kueh littered with dried shrimp and bamboo shoots. This would have been delicious if I didn’t kind of dislike bamboo shoots. Anyone else think they taste kinda dirty?

Pat says this is a cousin of tom yum. Tasted okay at first bite but had a very, very bitter aftertaste. Only Kwan liked this one. The rest of us poured it outta our bowls. I think the bitterness might have been due to overboiled galanggal but that’s just a guess.

Alrighty we’re finally getting to the good stuff. Looks like… fried meat?

Not meat! These are shitake mushroom stems. No clue how they make them this way – dried and fried maybe? These were addictive and extra good dipped in the sweet sauce they came with. Slightly chewy but not in the jaw fatigue kinda way. Lots of crispiness along the edges too.

Here they are sauteed with some greens. Yum.

Another cousin of tom yum this one extra sour and not as spicy (and not as red). In other deliciousness, this lacks the bitter aftertaste of the other cousin.

Fried fish with five spice nestled under a heaping pile of fried basil. Do I really need to explain how plate-licking good this is?

Another fish dish, this one with the addition of fried ginger strips and with smaller chunks of saucier fish. If I had to pick, I’d go with the first.

All washed down with a chilly glass of the palest Thai tea I’ve ever had. Apparently the taste is not a function of the color.

Nice work herbivores.

Koko’s: 262/2 Siam Square Soi 3 Rama 1 Rd, Pathum Wan , Pathum Wan, Bangkok, 10330

After the process is completed, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavour or taste. The transforming agent in century egg is its alkaline material, which gradually raises the pH of egg from around 9 to 12 or more. Banyak kerja kan?lucky i don’t have to go through all that, just beli saja..heh :p. This goes the same with the salted egg also la, just that different mixture to preserved the egg lo. wink wink

Well, to start, i boiled all the eggs except the century egg which is already cooked through the preservation kan? The salted egg takes longer time to cook, i don’t know why. Trust me, if you were to try boiling/steaming it the same time as a normal chicken egg, chances are, you’ll get a runny yolk. You try la..heh :p. Anyway, very simple (like i always say.. ) once your done with the eggs, cut them in cubes and put them in an aluminium tray (dalam bentuk rectangular..heh).

I used egg white as the binding agent to hold them together. Fill it up all the way, this would take about 4 egg whites. And top with the remaining egg yolks. Steam for about 15-20mins then let it rest before removing it from the mould. Eat this with porridge or rice or just eat it on its own.