The Meat Experts @ Hartamas Shopping Centre

For avid babitarians, this place need no further introduction. The ball would start rolling once a blogger posted on a good place where it can satisfy even the most picky oink-oink lovers. As you know, since I can't eat beef which was quite a letdown as I definitely can't feast on the prized wagyu beef & I don't eat lamb... pork is the best thing that ever happened to me. A lot of restaurants, cafes or even pubs that offer pork in their menu were mushrooming in the Klang Valley area recently.

Since Sri Hartamas area is not really near my home, the timing has to be right in order for me to come here. Located in the quieter area of Sri Hartamas, parking was not really a problem.

Upon reaching, I quickly snapped pictures of this place and my act caught the attention of the affable owner (pardon me but I forgot his name) . He asked "are you a blogger too?" and I simply nodded.

Spaghetti Aglio Olio @ RM19.90 - served with garlic, chilly flakes and crispy roasted pork. To me, simple Aglio Olio spaghetti requires the right amount of garlic, peppercorn & chilly flakes in order to be considered good. And Meat Experts has nailed it right! Each and every mouth of the spaghetti was good and when combined with the perfect roasted pork (crispy skin, right fat-to-lean-meat ratio), what more could I ask? Just try their roasted pork (you won't regret your decision the moment you sink your teeth on it)

As we came here for the veru first time, he suggested that we tried their Mixed Grill (S) @ RM29.90 - combination of pork chop, lamb chop, BBQ ribs, sausages and seasonal vegetables. I can't say much of the lamb chop and sausages (remember that I don't eat lamb?) much according to Jenn (who by the way, can't get enough of lamb), it didn't have the gamy smell and the meat was tender too. I got to try the rest of the pork meat and thought that they were great... good sauce, perfectly marinated meat and fork tender texture!

Lorina 750ml @ RM20.90 per bottle - French Berry Lemonade. I didn't plan to order this drink initially but the owner spotted me browsing through the drink section and asked me to give this Lorina drink a try. This famous brand from France has existed for the longest time and even Marilyn Monroe was spotted having this non-alcoholic drink. Using only natural spring water and flavoured with variety of fruits, it was refreshing and it felt like having wine (minus the alcohol content). We loved this!

Leo's verdict - besides dining, you can also opt to purchase the processed meat which was located at another section of the restaurant. If only this place was near my home, I would come here at least once a week to satisfy my cravings for pork meat!


The Meat Experts
Lot G.15, Ground Floor,
Hartamas Shopping Centre
60, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2093 9361

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.
3) Non-Halal

Chao Yen Teochew Cuisine @ Lot LG 311A, Lower Ground Floor, 1Utama Shopping Centre

It has been a while since my last post! I don't know whether I'm being lazy or I was too busy (distracted) with works lately... or maybe it's a mixture of both :P one thing for sure, the backlogs are getting even longer and some of them are as old as 8-9 months!

Actually I wanted to post something up yesterday but the Streamyx failed on me again for no apparent reason. So I am taking my own sweet time to draft a few posts at the moment, and then post them up once the internet is back to normal again. Two posts in a week should clear most of them in 2 months or so... I guess. I mean, that is, if I am consistent and determined enough to type the posts everyday... LOL!

Personally, I love Teo Chew cuisine - be it Teo Chew porridge, Teo Chew duck or even fish, but I have yet to try a full course of Teo Chew cuisine. that is, until I found Chao Yen. Located in the New Wing of 1Utama Shopping Centre right next to Otak-Otak and New York Deli, Jenn & I tried out their food one evening after finished buying groceries from Cold Storage.

Intriqued by their menu and also comtemporary interior, we stepped in only to be greeted promptly by the waiter who attended to us. Talking about good service :)

Braised pork ribs with bittergourd @ RM20 - yellow bean soup base was used to our delight because it was healthy to our body. The presence of bittergourd did not make the soup bitter at all and the pork ribs were braised until tender.

Crispy marinated duck @ RM20 - thinly sliced duck meat was the highlight as this dish was aromatic and it tasted even better once we dipped the meat into the accompanying plum sauce. however, this dish would be perfect if the meat was more tender.

Haidang steamed tofu with egg & dried scallops @ RM20 - another hit with us. The dish was served steaming hot and the usage of mushroom, dried scallop and spring onions enhanced the dish further.

Teo Chew sweetened mashed yam with ginkgo nuts @ RM6 - not every place is able to nail it right with this dessert but Chao Yen served a commendable version.

Leo's verdict - overall our dinner was satisfactory. No matter how busy the waiter/waitress was, they would try their best to accommodate to our request.. something which a lot of restaurants failed to do especially when they were packed. Not a cheap option to dine but then the food was good to say the least! Winning the Best Restaurant in 2009, this Teo Chew restaurant definitely deserves a rave review!

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Goodbye My LOVE!

It was love at first sight when I saw you 7 years ago! But I couldn't afford to have you back then so I could only admire you from far. My our affair started in 2008, 5 years after dreaming about you almost every night. Having you in my life is a JOY! I have never got so much satisfaction being with you. I gave you the best possible stuff and always pamper you in every way I could during these 2 years period!

But then, there is what we called priority! Family always come first... and even though I'm reluctant to do so, I have to bid you goodbye. My heart is crying inside as I know that I'm going to miss you soooo much! I really hope that you will find someone who will love you as much as I do... treats you as good as I do OK? I'm going to find myself a new one very soon... just wanna tell you that I am going to remember you always!

For now, I am going to enjoy each and every second being with you! Take care my beloved BMW E60 525i M-Sport (^_^)

XO @ IOI Business Park, Puchong

October has been a relatively busy month for me... business generally peaked starting from this month until Chinese New Year and therefore, I had to be more aggressive in marketing as well as sourcing for materials. Not an easy task considering that I have to pay cash for materials to my suppliers while giving terms (ranging from 2 weeks to 2 months) to my customers. Business was so bad in 2008 & 2009 that it had quite an impact on my company during the 2 years period. Oh well... this year is better and hopefully I can get it back on track!

As most of you already know, Puchong has come a long way to become on of the busiest area in Klang Valley. I could still remember how it looks like back in 1997 when I came to study. Then I lived in this area for a few years till 2006 before moving to PJ. Now my sisters are occupying in the house in Puchong. Fast forward to 2010... having spent most of my time in PJ area, I hardly went back to Puchong. But there were times when I missed my siblings so much.

One of my suppliers informed me that he had opened a Shabu-shabu styled restaurant in the new IOI Business Park Puchong. I took the opportunity to ask them out for dinner to catch up on each other & at the same time, to try out this new place. As soon as they knew that I was footing the bill, they dressed up faster than a rocketship and joined me there.

Named XO, it wasn't hard to locate this outlet as it was facing outwards next to the old shoplots in Bandar Puchong Jaya. There was still some tables available and we quickly looked for a table inside the restaurants, as I couldn't stand the heat outside.

Its interior was brightly lid with tables and chairs placed closely to each other in order to utilise its space - something I'm not fond of as it could get crampy once full capacity was reached!

One thing for sure was that they have numerous choices of dipping sauces for you to choose.

All you have to do is to pick what you want to eat and bring it to your table... you will be spoilt with the choices

Choose your soup base - we had the chicken soup, herbal soup and also tomyam soup. Forget about the tomyam and stick to the former two.

Some of the fraction of what my sisters and brother had taken... starting with thinly sliced pork strips.

Wantan filled with minced pork meat.

Abalone slice.. normally I wouldn't order this but they took at least 3 plates!!!

Fried fu chuk... fresh from the kitchen and we were one of the fortunate fews (as we sat near the kitchen) to be able to get our hands on these. Crispy and non-oily!

Bittergourd with minced pork stuffing

I forgot its name but it was good!

Didn't have time to take all the pictures of what we had eaten so I walked to where they put all the food and started snapping :)

My 2 beautiful little sisters.. don't let their petite size fool you! Their appetites are bigger than mine.

Leo's verdict - according to the boss (who was so busy attending customers), they prepared the food using the freshest possible ingredients. However, the price didn't come cheap as I forked out RM200++ at the end of the meal. Judging at the amount of food and type of food that we had taken, I'd say that it was a little expensive but the freshness of the food justified the pricetags. Located right next to The Pork Place, parking is rather hard to find as Puchong Jaya is always congested days and nights!

XO Shabu-Shabu
No A-GR-33A, IOI Boulevard
Jalan Kenari 5, Bandar Puchong Jaya
47170 Puchong, Selangor.
Tel: 8076 5348

P.S: Non-halal

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

iPhone4

Truth to be told... I have never imagined to buy (or some might call it upgrade) iPhone4 after using iPhone 3GS for slightly more than a year! Prior to the iPhone, I had been using Nokia phone most of my life (of course, from the date I started to use mobile phone). Having friends who are iPhone fanatics aren't helping much either. Most of their conversations revolve around Apple's phenomenon that has got a lot of people around the world to contact this so-called iPhone-fever.

For me, I bought iPhone for few reasons;
1) LOOK - I think most of you will agree if I say that iPhone is gorgeous.. well, except for those diehard Blackberry users who stick by their belief
2) Functions - good picture quality (let's not compare to digicam or DSLR ok?), smooth flowing graphic (bye bye Nokia), sensitive touch screen that I absolutely adore and lots more
3) Apps - hundreds or perhaps thousands of applications that are made available for iPhone! You have seen the ads, you know the drill :)

Then my brothers and sisters and some other friends started to poison me with their Blackberry... I almost bought one unit but in the end, after a teh tarik session with my ex-colleague who has been using iPhone since day One.. it didn't take much persuasion to make me believe in iPhone once again! Went to Maxis TTDI one Thursday to enquire about the availability... guess what! They still have some stocks.. registered my name, waited for more than 2 hours before finally getting my latest gadget! You have no idea on how crazy those people are... I have seen one guy buying 4 units of iPhone4 for his family (he just sat next to me).

So here I am... using a new iPhone4! My wife who had ordered Blackberry Bold for me as secret present (my birthday was yesterday by the way) had to cancel the order and offered to buy me accessories instead... and hence the silicon casing which is useful as my Sher Ryn loves to throw my iPhone. Now I only have anti-glare screen protector to buy hopefully by this weekend!

I have a confession to make - I have actually JAILBREAK-ed the iPhone on the same day that I got it! my friend helped me to do it in less than 10 minutes! I couldn't believe my eyes to see how simple it could be. Hopefully Patrick, one of my best friends who happen to be Apple's Sales Manager, didn't read this!! LOL!

But on the other side, I can now download a lot of applications that I have not been able to buy in the past... starting with Papago M7 GPS (USD20), Street Fighter (USD7), Documents to Go (USD17), and other exciting apps waiting for me to explore :P

anyone on iPhone4 as well???

Disclaimer:1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Famous Seremban Favourites @ Aman Suria

"Dear! Do you know that the boss of this place is actually a MBA holder?" Jenn asked me as we arrived at the famous FSF one morning. "How do you know that?" I asked her. And she cheekily replied "Now that's the difference between a Chinese educated and a banana boy". She promptly showed me the newspaper cuttings pasted in front of the entrance.

I know that FSF (short form for Famous Seremban Favourites) has been around for quite some time now. Why not? This place (and another char siew stall in 747 which is also in Aman Suria) has been blogged to death by now. Just Google the name and you shall be rewarded with all the results.

For those who do not know this place, it can put a doubt in your head if you come here on weekends as it looked pretty deserted (just look at my picture). Plastic tables and chairs took up most of the space as normally this place would be packed during lunch time on weekdays.

Fret not! If you have second thoughts, simply look at the row of char siew hanging together in lines waiting to be chopped into pieces and you'd probably start drooling. The barbequed sauce (or was it oil?) was still dripping down as I took the pictures.

Other dishes that this place offers!

Our orders didn't take a long time to arrive as we were practically the first few customers of the day! My plate of wantan mee with char siew & siew yoke was the first to arrive. Compared to the 747 (or SFS to some people), the mee tasted much better here as it was softer and spring-ier. It even tasted better with the accompanying mix of sauces. Siew yoke was ordinary so nothing much to talk about that. The piece de resistance, of course, would be the famed char siew. Perfectly marinated and caramelised, it had the same melt-in-the-mouth texture as the 747. The slightly charred edges of the char siew provided the much-needed smoky flavour that I adore. This picture didn't do the char siew any justice as I requested for leaner part of the char siew but believe me, you will be sent straight to cloud nine if you opt for the sought after "half lean half fat" char siew (bun fei sau in Cantonese).

Being a Hakka, Jenn ordered the Hakka mee together with the char siew. While the noodle's texture and colour is similar to wantan mee, Hakka mee normally comes with minced meat and oil (almost no gravy although there are other versions of Hakka mee throughout the country.. such as the famous Chong Ko noodle in Kuala Lipis that Axian covered in his program). Paired together with the delicious char siew, these two were simply a perfect match!

Beverages were OK although not flavourful enough to my liking.

Leo's verdict - I have been coming back for a few times after my first visit not only because of the char siew but of the dining environment. to those who have gone to both 747 and FSF, you'd know by now that you have to sit by the roadside at 747 (as it was rather hot and stuffy to sit inside) but in FSF, the place was clean, comfortable and most importantly, airy! I was not sweating at all at the end of the meal (it's a different story in 747). Although I still prefer 747's version of char siew, the char siew in Famous Seremban Favourites is not far behind in terms of taste plus the noodle is definitely better than the 747!!! Other than char siew, FSF also serves meatball and fishball without any preservatives! coming here on weekends is a breeze but prepared for chaos if you come here on weekdays!

P.S: Non-halal

Restoran Famous Seremban Favourites
80-1 Ground Floor, Jalan PJU 1/3B
Sunway Mas Commercial Centre
47301 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 017-279 8582

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Restoran Parkway @ SS19 Subang Jaya

My wife always say that I love to plan - be it traveling or eating! And she loves me for that :P I don't know whether it's good or not because it kinda spoil her. Whenever we go traveling, she leaves all the planning work such as the packing & itinerary to me. She just take out all her stuff and the rest will be done by me. For a while, I thought that she took me for granted but then... she's not really the organised type. I bet that the house would be thrashed should I go for outstation trip for a week or so (that is, without the maid). I can't stand the sight of things sprawling on the floor. Call me a freak but hey, that's me!

However, there were times when I felt clueless on what & where to eat! It happened one fateful day while on our way back from USJ area. She was VERY hungry & wanted to have dinner nearby. I dare not defy her because the look on her face at that moment was very much like a hungry tiger. Since we were passing by SS19, I looked to the left and spotted Parkway next to the highway... and made immediate left into the area.

This place is actually a hawker style kopitiam that doubles up as dai chow in the evening. Nothing much to shout for the interior.

Braised pork Hunan style - Similar to the preparation of tong po yuk but ala-Hunan style with the usage of 5 spices powder to provide flavour to this dish. Excellent choice as it was fork tender with perfect mixture of fat & lean meat. The gravy alone was enough to warrant extra bowl of rice.

Volcano taufu - according to the girl who took our order, this was their signature dish. The taufu was mixed with seafood and shaped like a volcano (not really like volcano but with a hole in the middle) with gravy, minced meat and other stuff in the hole. Served on a piping hotplate, it was truly interesting dish to feast on.

Veggie - no complain as the green was fresh.

Leo's verdict - I forgot the total bill but all I could remember that it was cheap. With a reasonably priced menu and rather fast serving time, I will be coming back here again even though I don't know when. The timing has to be right! If only it's not that far from home...
It's located right next to the highway leading from Subang Jaya (thru SS19) into USJ.

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.