Friday, September 19, 2014

My Lovely Homecooked Dishes

Hi guys! Been pretty busy lately, some personal stuff, some holiday preparations. So anyway, I'm leaving you guys with some of my homecooked dishes before I go off~! 

At Home
#1 Steamboat with 4e
4e was alone one night so we invited her over to join us for a 3-pax homemade steamboat, which was as usual, pretty awesome! Had our homemade Sui Gao too! Oh yumzzzz! :)

#2 Scrambled Eggs with Avocado
Made some scrambled eggs, topped with bacon bits, then an avocado with some red peppers and zucchini over it, plus a stir-fry broccoli and mushrooms. I think I was just trying to clear food in the fridge. Pretty sure this was when I was home alone or maybe Deardo decided that we should eat light. :p

#3 Honey Mustard Chicken Rice
To bring back some Aussie memory in me. Get the recipe here.

#4 Cantonese Fried Maggi Mee
Cantonese Fried Yee Mee or Hor Fun are quite common. But I recently found out that it goes very well with Maggi Mee! Plus no need to separate the Hor Fun beforehand, which is a big plus point!!! :)

#5 Wanton Mee with Sui Gao
Got those Wanton Mee from Taiping, boil, stir-up in some garlic oil, light and dark soya sauce, sesame oil, then topped with some greens and fried shallots... Voila, Wanton Mee at home! Plus my homemade Sui Gao again, this time in some Sha Cha Sauce Soup! 

#6 Omelet with Salmon Sashimi
Deardo was out for badminton one night and I just came back from a supermarket so I got some Salmon Sashimi to go with my supposedly normal-looking omelet. Oh so healthy yet satisfying!!! :D

#7 The Typical Chinese Dinner
I think I was in a good mood when I cooked this 3-dish dinner featuring Stir-fry French Beans with tumeric powder, pan-fry minced pork (actually leftover Sui Gao fillings) and a fake Chawanmushi on a plate. Hearty, yummy and tummy-filling dinner! :)

#8 Wanton Mee with Minced Pork and Mushroom
This is a recipe I learned from Mamo. Since young she has been doing this stir-fry minced pork and mushrooms with a little gravy to go with Wanton Mee and we always love it! It's so simple to make and you can mass-make and just keep the rest in the freezer!

At Work
#1 Tuna Soba Salad
Lunch box with things I can find in the fridge - lettuce, hard-boiled egg white, cocktail sausages, tuna in oil with some black pepper and parsley for garnishing! Super love lunch like this! :)

#2 Couscous Salad
Baby spinach, avocado, red peppers, hard-boiled egg white for another healthy yet yummy lunch!

#3 Ham, Cheese & Baby Spinach Wrap
Was my yummy breakfast! I actually prefer wraps over breads cos they are lighter to eat and you don't feel so full! 

#4 Scrambled Egg, Ham & Baby Spinach Wrap (with Sambal Belacan yo~)
Added some creativity in the Sambal Belacan MIL made to give the wrap a Malaysian twist and it was really good!!! 

#5 Green Curry Tuna & Spinach Wrap
For a light lunch. :)

#6 Green Curry Tuna Maggi Mee
Leftover Green Curry Tuna? I reheated it and went with some Maggi Mee! And yes, I literally cooked in the office!

#7 Scrambled Eggs with Avocado Open-Face Sandwich
And I had to eat this with fork and knife... Like a boss, in the office! Ha!
By the way, I think I make pretty awesome scrambled egg, isn't it?

In Taiping
Was back in Taiping and decided to cook brunch for the family instead of eating out. So here's my simple version of Big Breakfast and a Cream of mushroom soup, which I will share the recipe later on!
I sure love cooking for the family and seeing their look of amazement! LOL! 

Till then, wishing myself a happy holiday and I shall see you guys after my vacation!
Hasta La Vista baby~~~!!!

Monday, September 15, 2014

One of the Best Malay Food @ Sinbad Cafe, Bukit Damansara

I've fallen in love with Malay food since my college days when 9 out of 10 of my classmates are Malay! The Kelantanese family operating their stall just right below the condo we were staying at serve the best and unbeatable Nasi Goreng Cendawan which I still miss until today! 
After that I very rarely have Malay food and hence it wasn't easy to find any good ones that I really love. That totally changed when I found out about this shop near my office, which doesn't even have an official name. If you want to look for them, look for Sinbad Cafe, which I'm assuming is the name of the previous tenant. 
The small and casual restaurant can be very busy during lunch time, but the owner and his workers are always with a big smile and are super duper friendly whenever they come to serve you. That is, what I call 5-star service. While the mixed rice section doesn't have too much of choices, but if you are lucky, sometimes they have La-La soup and crabs!
I was late for lunch that day so no much left, proof that they are very busy during lunch hours. 
As for me, almost every time I go to a Malay stall/restaurant, I must first try their Mee Bandung and that dish is what made me went crazy over this restaurant!!!
Mee Bandung, RM5.
Mee Ladna, RM5.
Mee Hailam, RM5.
Telur Dadar, RM1.
Unlike other Mee Banding I've tried before this, the Mee Bandung here is quite red in colour and there are handful of small 'heibi' (dried prawns) in it, which pardon me if I'm suaku, is the first time I see in any Mee Bandung in my life. The heibi adds a lot of prawns flavour in the soup, plus the generous amount of other ingredients - chicken, sotong, whole loads of vegetables and an egg, it's very hard to not fall for the Mee Bandung here! Absolutely awesome!!! 
So far I've also tried their Mee Ladna (though I always go for Kuey Teow and Maggi) and Mee Hailam (Bihun Mee is my choice) which are also pretty good, especially the fact that they have never been stingy with their ingredients really just made it very worthy for lunch! And their sambal belacan is also what you mustn't miss! So pedas yet sedap!!! 
I can eat there everyday!!!
Best of all, it is one of the cheapest eats around my office area! Normally noodles with a gravy base are priced at RM5 while normal fried noodles and fried rice are RM4.50 each. So for me a lunch there with a Telur Dadar (Omelet) and a Limau Suam would be RM7.20 and that's less than any set lunches offered around the area! Super economical yet satisfying! And mind you, the very nice owner sometimes doesn't even charge me the RM0.20 if I don't have them!
Definitely on the top of my list for both delicious Malay food and wallet-friendly! :)

Sinbad Cafe
28, Jalan Medan Setia 1,
Bukit Damansara
50490 Kuala Lumpur

Monday, September 8, 2014

Dine in a (Cool) School @ Ecole P, Damansara Uptown

I've been wanting to go give Ecole P a try ever since it opens its doors earlier this year but waited for a few more months and now they are in almost every list of cafes to visit! I must first mention that I know both the young owners - Steven and Irene who were students at the university from my previous job and am damn proud of them. :)
The tiny cafe located on a second floor just few doors away from the famous Village Nasi Lemak is not only a cafe that photography addicts will surely love, but also a place to bring us down the memory lane! As 'Ecole P' says it as 'primary school' in French, the cafe looks nothing less than a primary school you and me have gone to. Wooden desks with graffiti 'conteng-ed' with 'liquid paper', those literally piece-of-cloth curtains, a real classroom-looking classroom, canteen-looking counter selling old school snacks that you and me missed, even those familiar-looking Chinese Han Yu Ping Yin dictionary! Who doesn't have that when one was in Chinese primary school???
Creative menu!
Teacher will normally go: I don't want to go toilet. 
You can sense the effort put into decorating the entire cafe!
Junk food that we love!
I used to write my crushes' names on the desk when I was a student! :p
Cutlery in a steel pencil case? Too cool!!!
While I'm certain many bloggers would come here because of the setting which is perfect for photography, one must not forget that we were also there to sample their food and drinks! A look at their menu, you'll know they love putting a twist into everything and if you know me well, I definitely love that! 
Little childhood snacks were given as complimentary snacks.
Fish A La Laksa Pasta, RM 16.90.
Chicken Chop, RM16.90.
Once again, this is going to be a non-bias review. My plate of Fish A La Laksa Pasta despite the creativity wasn't that satisfying mainly because the spaghetti itself just couldn't absorb the flavour of the Laksa soup. The fish was very nicely done though! The Chicken Chop is however, truly a MUST-TRY' item! Chicken Chop was perfectly deep fired with such flavour bursting out as you bite on it and the crispiness of the skin is unbelievable! The mashed potato and its gravy was super awesome too! Try to do a treasure hunt here and you'll find some fish biscuits in the patotoes! How cute!
If not because we were too full, we would have gone for the Nasi Lemak dessert (curious much?)!
PB Tiramisu (served in a tapao plastic bag!), RM10.90. 
Flat White (served in a Kopitiam  coffee cup), RM9.90.
I gave the Ice-Blended Peanut Butter Tiramisu a try and I'm quite in love with it although the peanut butter sort of overtook all other flavours in the drink. I'm a PB fans yo! Deardo had a Flat White and it was not very impressive, beans a bit too bland to our liking. Steven was a cocktail/mocktail champion during his university time so I'm sure I will be back to try their mocktails which have cute names such as Powerpuff Girls and Ironman! :)
The place actually made us feel a bit old! LOL!
The cafe hasn't started charging any extra tax or service charge, so we paid RM54.60 for our late lunch, which is very reasonable. In fact, with the dishes priced at RM16,90, it is considered very affordable as compared to prices in other well-known cafes around town! 
Overall, the cafe has not only scored in terms of theme but also serves one of the best, unique and economical dishes among cafes in town! I'm really proud of Steven and Irene and would encourage you all to try Ecole P out! 

Ecole P
1st Floor, Jalan SS21/37,
Damansara Utama,
Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Tel: 03-7732 9711

Friday, September 5, 2014

Dinner @ Kaffa Espresso Bar, Damansara Uptwon

Kaffa Espresso Bar has been around for quite some time and I was quite eager to give it a try after hearing about them. So one fine night when Deardo and I were super hungry after some work-out sessions, we made our trip there for a late dinner-coffee session.
Like most other cafes in town, the cafe goes with a fun and rugged interior, with some signature mint coloured graffiti vividly seen in the outlet.
Rugged, fun and funky!
Menu wise, since it was dinner time I was quite excited to see a full menu instead of what you normally get in other cafes - big breakfast, egg Benedict blah blah blah... So the carb-craving two each ordered a pasta and a impressive-looking ribs to share.
Spicy Aglio Olio with Turkey Ham & Seaweed, RM20.90.
Duck Confit Pasta, RM20.90.
BBQ Beef Ribs, RM29.90.
While we were expecting the pasta to be good, they turned out to be a little under our expectations. Taste and ingredients were pretty good (I especially love the usage of seaweed!), the pasta itself though, were nothing near al dente and were definitely overcooked. So the BBQ Beef Ribs surprisingly became the star of the night! Using delicious garlic and BBQ sauce marinate, the ribs were super tender and juicy. Definitely one of the best ribs I've had. Too bad the mashed potato ruins the dish a bit because it was all watery and has a plasticy taste in it. If I'm right, those must be mashed potato made with instant powder. Euw~!
Lemonade, RM7,
Cappuccino, RM10.
The fresh lemonade (very sour, just the way I like it to be) was not too bad and Cappuccino was pretty good too.
 
Us hungry people!!!
Well for a self-ordering cafe, they have service charge (I still think this is very wrong) and government tax, which made the bill up to RM97.55. Not too bad a cafe, not too bad a price but certainly can be better in terms of hot food and service.

Kaffa Espresso Bar
97, Jalan SS21/37,
Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Tel: 03-7732 4502