Chicken Hotpot @ Restoran Chongqing, Kuchai Lama

I seldom go to Kuchai Lama unless there is something for me to do in this area, as it's quite far from PJ. Those who are observant will notice that I blog a lot on PJ instead of KL. This time, Jenn wanted to buy something from myBBstore.com & we decided to have lunch here.

To our surprise, the place was empty when we arrived there... it used to be packed with people when we first went there last year. You can even see the worker who's sitting & talking on her phone outside. For a while, we doubted if we should proceed with our plan but in the end, Jenn's craving for the famous hot pot that she has not tried for long time had the better of us.

Jenn quickly placed her order for the fish head hot pot instead of the pork or chicken variety, as she LOVES fish head. What we love about the dish is that you can ask them to adjust the spicy-ness level to suit your taste bud. The deep fried fish head came in a big claypot together with cucumber, carrots and coriander. Don't forget to ask for a bowl of rice, as its gravy is great to go with the rice.

When you have finished the fish head, you can request the waiter/waitress to add in soup (F.O.C) and wah lah... it turned into steamboat. I had their pork ball and golden needle mushroom as extras.

You can choose variety of steamboat dishes from the fridge and the price started from RM1.

Leo's verdict - for those who loves hot and spicy stuff, you would definitely love this place. But be prepared to sweat a lot, as I was drenched by the time I finished everything in the pot.

Restoran Wei Sun @ Jalan 9/62A, Bandar Manjalara Kepong

Jenn & I were out of idea on what to eat one Sunday evening, and so we switched on our TV, tuned in to 8TV for Ho Chak at 6.30pm for recommendations. So when they introduced Wei Sun which is located in MAnjalara, we found something to eat!! So we changed our clothes & I used my Garmin to point me the way to this place. 15 minutes later, we arrived at our intended destination.

I dropped Jenn in front of the shop to look for a table first, as parking was quite hard to find at that time. By the time I parked my car and walked in, the crowd has already filled the whole restaurant to the brim. According to the boss, most of them are regulars.

We were seated near the counter where they prepared drinks... and the boss wasted no time to take our order. From my table, I noticed that more people kept coming in but were made to wait for tables.

We ordered on what was introduced during the show, the signature seafood Lam Mee which was prepared using 3 types of chinese wine in order to give the dish some oommppphhhh!!!! Prawns, crab meats, and a few slices of abalone were thrown in... but don't expect generous portion of those seafoods ok? Both of us like the wine flavour that blended oh so perfectly into the broth. And the lam mee's texture was smooth and chewy! We finish the whole bowl of mee and its broth until the last drop...

As the boss said that the lam mee's portion was not enough for 2 pax, we asked for recommendation and she suggested fried lala mee hoon. Not too oily and full of wok hei... but the sizes of the lala were very, I mean... VERY... small (maybe puny is a better word of choice) that they looked like dace bean.

Stir fried veggie - no complains, as both of us prefer greens together with our dishes.

Leo's verdict - the restaurant can get quite cramped once it's packed, and it is recommended that you come here before 7-8pm if you don't like to wait for tables. They also offer dai chow dishes here... which I will come back one day to try.

The Zun Express @ The Garden Mid Valley

For most of you whom may not know this... Zun Express is part of Eu Yan Sang foray into F&B industry. Jenn was the first one who introduced me to this place when she was still working in Mid Valley. Back then I always looked for time to have lunch with her. Back to Mid Valley this time for shopping purpose, both of us decided to check out this place once again as she was craving for soup.

It was almost lunch time and the crowd started to pour in, yet we managed to find ourselves a table. The whole place is designed with oriental concept, as they are involved mainly in traditional Chinese medicine.

What attracted Jenn to come in at the first place was wordings on the menu "Nourishing Soups". She just loved everything that has soup in it :) and I was addicted to soup not long after.

I had their Signature Stir Fried Sang Mee - two thumbs up!! Enough wok hei, prawns were fresh, not too oily, not too dry nor wet, crispy lettuce on top... what more can I ask for??? A must try when coming to this place..

Jenn ordered their herbal chicken soup that came with a free bowl of rice. Full of flavour, the herbs, peanuts and chicken meat were packed inside a slightly larger than fist-size bowl. Nothing can ever go wrong with that... and no additional side orders needed, as Jenn could finish the rice with just the soup and the chicken meat.

Boiled chrysanthemum tea - to cool down what I'd eaten!

Leo's verdict - soup lovers will definitely love this place. Their other dishes are also worth to be given a try. For me, I will always come back whenever I'm craving for soups :)

Claypot Station Restaurant @ Jalan PJU 5/12, Sunway Damansara PJ

After spending half a day scouring this area to look for lightings, Jenn & I felt hungry as it was way past lunch time. Both of us had little for breakfast earlier that morning. So we drove around Sunway Damansara area and spotted this particular restaurant.

We didn't ponder too long before deciding to try out their food because 1) we are very hungry and 2) it was about to rain. Upon entering the premise, we realised that we were the only patrons at that time... it made us wondering about the food's quality but looking at my watch, it was already 3pm (past lunch time). The decor is nothing to shout of, as everything is kept simple with the usage of wooden table and plastic chairs. They post pictures of the dishes at the restaurant's wall.

We'd decided to order two mains and one side dish...

I settled for Claypot Fa Tiu (chinese wine) chicken. I really liked the combination of fa tiu wine & dark soy sauce that smothered the chicken slice. It was good until the very last drop. A must order dish!

Jenn tried their Claypot Assam fish fillet. The hot assam curry tasted real good... not too spicy, slightly sour and good to go with rice. However, the fish fillet turned out to be a disappointment. The fillet was deep fried before served in the claypot, and it was very soft... eewwww!

Signature fried taufu - one of the best dishes! Crispy on the outside while soft and smooth on the inside. Topped with dried shrimps, spring onions, red chilly and their special sauce, it is a must try dish.

Leo's verdict - As their name suggests, claypot dishes are their specialty. Overall, the food was OK except for the fish fillet (the assam gravy was good though). All their claypot dishes come with complimentary bowl of rice. The restaurant served flavourful and warm claypot dishes and best of all, free of Ajinamoto (as so they claimed).

The Wok @ Jalan PJU 5/21, The Strand Damansara PJ

Actually we stumbled upon this restaurant by chance. We were looking for a new place to have dinner, and we haven't explored The Strand before. I just drove around the area and noticed this place, situated along a rather quiet and dark street. Most of the shoplots were still empty at that moment. There were a lot of cars parked outside and that prompted us to give it a try.

The whole place has a very Oriental approach in its exterior and interior design. For example, you'd notice this unique partition that looks like from ancient Chinese era from the outside.

And as you walked inside, you'd notice similar design for its interior, giving you the feeling of back to the future.

Apart from food, they also sell some antiques which are placed at one corner of the restaurant.

Teapots can fetch as high as RM500!!!

Stir fried eggs with prawns - I always like eggs prepared this way. The prawns were huge too!

Stir fried roasted pork with dark soy sauce - the meats were sinful but the gravy was good. But I think that it was quite salty...

Deep fried red snapper with special sauce - I ordered a RM13 fish initially... but then they served this snapper without our consent and told us that the other fish was out of stock. In the end, I was charged about RM50++ for this fish... quite disappointed and felt like being robbed in the daylight... sigh!!!

Herbal tea which was ready made powder mixed with hot water... very artificial and I didn't quite like it.

They gave me free dessert - red bean paste... but I'm not buying.

Leo's verdict - in the end, we felt cheated as they didn't inform us about the availability of the fish that we ordered. A simple dinner that I thought should be less than RM50 turned out to be RM90++... the food is quite OK but the ethics are not there... I don't know if I will ever go back the second time again!

New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice @ Jalan Gasing, PJ

It was Jenn who first brought me here to taste this delectable chicken rice dish. Her office was nearby and so when I asked her out for lunch, she quickly suggested this place... stating that the chicken rice was good; the chicken meat was succulent and the taugeh was plump, juicy and less root (disclaimer: I don't take taugeh, only my wife); the place was less stuffy and service was definitely fast. This restaurant should not be too difficult to find, as it's located the usual busy Jalan Gasing. Coming from KL, take the Jalan University junction and turn left at the traffic light. You should be able to notice this 3 shoplot-in-1 on your right hand side.

They adopted semi-opened kitchen concept to let the customers see how they prepare orders.. most workers are foreigners but well-trained enough to be agile and fast.

Depending on the time, it can be quite hard to find a table but it shouldn't be too long before one is available, as most people seemed to be in a rush... sit down, place order, eat, pay and go!!! Probably it's the pace of life among KL-ites. Time is gold!

Most of the times, there are 2 dishes that we ordered -

1) Lala - this is one of the must-order dish, as it was fresh and the gravy was superb

2) Chicken - You can opt for roasted or steamed chicken.

Soup is complimentary but try not to drink too much... slightly high amount of MSG is detected!

Leo's verdict - like Joe (lots of cravings fame) said, comfort food for the simple soul... but parking can be a headache during lunch time, I think it's easier to find one during weekends. Service is quite fast as your orders are taken using PDAs directly to the kitchen.

The Yogitree @ The Garden Mid Valley

"Eat - Drink - Breath" I saw this on their menu... of course we have to breath la, otherwise how are we going to live??? Sorry, bad joke :) Mid Valley is our favourite place to hangout, and since Jenn & I always go to Isetan, I wonder why in the world that we'd never stepped inside this place before until recently. One particular Saturday morning, we arrived here shortly after 10am, and the whole place was empty. We were the first customers of the day!!!

TOKL and NST had come here to review their food & drink before... they even placed the menu outside for potential customers to browse through...

At Yogitree, everything's organic (well, almost) as they strive to promote well-being and awareness of the food whilst maintaining a sensible balance. Their cooking manifesto is simple:
1) freshest ingredient possible,
2) bring out natural taste,
3) use slow cooking method (no short cuts), and
4) serve

They have a section that sells merchandise for yoga practitioners.

They used Natural and Earthy colour as theme for the restaurants...

Jenn was very hungry and therefore she went for Full English Breakfast @ RM28 - bacon, chicken sausage, organis eggs, organic homemade baked beans, mushrooms, toasts, fresh juice, coffee or tea... since she can't take beef, they gave an extra sausage instead. To her dismay though, was that the baked beans were very hard and her sunny side up eggs came with cooked yolk... The sausages and grilled button mushrooms were good though.

I had their Turkey Ham & Cheese BLT on toasted granary with beef bacon, tomato and lettuce @ RM22 - I love the crispy-ness of the toast coupled with melted cheese on top of the turkey ham...

Since she had the fruit juice... I took her free coffee instead :)

Leo's verdict - Organic food normally warrant for higher price compared to their non-organic counterparts. The portion of the food does not justify the price, and so I guess it's the price I have to pay to be healthy. Yogitree always come up with special menu once in a while so you would be tempted to come back again and again and again.

Remember 126 @ Bukit Tinggi, Bentong Pahang

It was lunch time while we were on our way to KL, and therefore we made a stop in Bukit Tinggi area for quick lunch. For some reasons, Jenn really likes his particular restaurant as compared to the other restaurants that we'd been to in this area. I attribute this to the spaciousness of the carpark as well as the restaurant (not too hot and stuffy), the clean toilets, and also the good food.

They would always promote the dragonfruit enzime by giving you free samples to try. If I'm not mistaken, it costs about RM80++ per bottle of the enzime. While I think that it was quite delicious, I didn't buy.

Stir fried baby water crest - the veggie was fresh as usual with heaps of chopped garlic that spread evenly all over the dish. which Jenn likes instead of crushed garlic.

Deep fried pork belly with homemade sauce - I love the crispy-ness of the meat, so crispy that I always forgot that there's a layer of fat which I always try to avoid. Generous amount of chopped onions further add to the aroma of the gravy and the meat.

Braised yee mee - both of us agreed that this dish was not up to the standard. The yee mee was very soft while the gravy was so so only.

Leo's verdict - this area is famous for river fish... and a lot of KL-ites and some as far as Johor actually made their way here just to eat the fish. The price is definitely cheaper compared to Gohtong Jaya area, where I was once slaughtered by one of the restaurants there for being so naive. They even served some watermelon slices when I asked for the bill...