Food Foundry @ Happy Mansion Apartment, Section 17

Pictures of the used to be much-hyped and hoola place has been sitting in my old folder for months. It wasn't until my reader request for a map to Choon Yien that reminded me of Food Foundry.

The Slice of Heaven - Mille Crepe, a french cake made of many crepe layers. Light and lustrous, I used to crave for this every single day that I feel sick of it. However, looking at pretty pastry layers after some time, my cravings came back. How nice if Nadese Patisserie's mille crepe is being delivered to my door stop right away?

The price has hike up from RM 7 to RM 9 per piece but that has never stop patrons from keep going back and Food Foundry has even expanded to another outlet at Bangsar.

Food Foundry's nasi lemak, I heard, pales in comparison to their neighbour, 6 to 10 Grill which is pretty much reputable for their delicious nasi lemak with a choice of mutton curry, beef rendang or chicken.

Location Map to Food Foundry, Section 17

BG-8, Happy Mansion
Jalan 17/13,
46400 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor.
Tel: 03-79553885

Food Foundry, Petit
Ground Floor, No. 1, Lorong Kurau,
59100 Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-22822822
http://www.foodfoundry.us/

Restaurant Choon Yien @ Happy Mansion Apartment, Section 17

Recognition from the local press is a sweet thing, and thumbs up for The Star for putting up a Food Blog column that feature Malaysia Food Bloggers every Sunday on Sunday Metro. I've seen food reviews of Boolicious, Wantan Production, Eat First Think Later, Lyrical Lemongrass, Sweets for My Sweet Tooth and it comes to my surprise that our review on JCO Donut was being featured last Sunday. The teeny weeny bit, no itsy-bitsy bit of The Star-dom will definitely push us to eat more and write more. :)

Proud to acclaim ourselves as regular customer of Choon Yien, this place never fails to serve us with some above average cha siu (sweet bbq pork), siu yoke (roasted pork) and crispy skin chicken. I suppose that Choon Yien is an open secret among KLites because it is so hard to secure a table or seat during lunch hour.

The serving staff, James can get real snobbish and impatient during weekdays but he'll greet you as "Brother" or "Man" after peak hours. Funny character.

A perfect prelude to the hearty meal would be the complementary soup of the day. It varies from day to day where sometimes we get lotus root soup, chicken feet with peanut soup or the Chinese watercress soup, being our favourite. It is good cooling soup, nutritious and satisfying and always reminded me of mum.

A special mention to the chicken stock base rice, fluffy, fragrant with some garlic and ginger residue.

Unlike Meng Kee's version with a few layers of sweet and sticky glazing applied, Choon Yien's version is simmered with some soy based gravy and sprinkled with the perfect amount of garlic crust.

"Boon Fei Sao" (half fat and half lean) is our default order because too much fat is gross while the leanest pieces are not always tender. Boon Fei Sao is wonderfully tender and so, so succulent.

The siu yoke that looks promisingly good. Distinctive layer of crispy skin, fats and meats are felt in our mouth. Even though they are not reputable as the best siu yoke in town, but I love the fact that it is not too oily and I feel less sinful to indulge on these goodies.

The crispy skin chicken is not your average roasted chicken that we found at anywhere else. It does require some skill to keep the chicken moist and the skin crispy because the chicken has to be air dried for hours so the skin becomes crispy when it is being deep fried. If I were to rank among the three, it would be crispy skin chicken, cha siu and finally roasted pork. Pricing is quite reasonable, it ranges from RM 5 (plain cha siu rice) to RM 10 per person (cha siu+siu yoke+chicken with rice).

Restoran Choon Yien
CG-1, Happy Mansion Apartments
Jalan 17/13
Section 17
46400 Petaling Jaya
11 am to 1 pm
(Please refer to the Food Foundry's map)

Mr. James - 016-2809043

O&S Restaurant @ Paramount Garden

Breakfast and Sleep are rare luxuries of life once we step into the working life. We always face upon the dilemma of sleep for a longer time or to take breakfast during the weekends.

I would always take the liberty to decide on waking up earlier just for a simple breakfast at some Chinese style kopitiam permeating with the pleasing aroma of kopi-O and kaya toast. Kesian the sleep-deprived KampungBoy! O&S is one of the places that we fell in love instantly, thanks to the bride-to-be, MeiYen with her numerous positive reviews on this place.

The self service yong to fu stall is always pack to the brim and they are doing brisk business. All the time, I would try to squeeze myself through to the front, and with the varieties like fresh tofu and vegetables like eggplant, long red chilies and okra, I would pick a little bit of everything into my plate.

These stuffed goodies are fresh and yummy, but they still fail to beat the hidden gem yong to fu place at Gunung Rapat Ipoh. At least that is what both of us think.

The prawn noodles have all the essential elements that make it taste good, flavourful broth, springy noodles and fresh prawns. We just need to take a break from the RM 20 prawn noodles, can’t afford to have it all the time.

During our first visit here, we were sitted beside an old couple because getting a table all by yourself is almost impossible. They are real chatterbox and they told us that they never fail to come here every Sunday morning, rain or shine just for the curry noodles. As simple as it appear, the curry noodles are nothing fancy but really delicious.

Another favourite staple food to be ordered is the Penang style chee cheong fun dressed with plenty of prawn paste, fried shallots and sesames. It is on par to the real chee cheong fun from the Pearl of The Orient that we forgot to snap a picture of it.

Restoran Paramount Garden
55 Jalan 21/12
Paramount Garden
46300 Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7873 5703

Fatty Crab @ Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya

Fatty Crab is always packed to the brim and renowned for their no frills good food; patrons both local and foreign would choose Fatty Crab as the default place for some crabbies fix. Other than branches being set up around Pandan Indah and Seri Kembangan, their latest addition would be a branch at Hudson Street, New York City. Malaysia Boleh!

It certainly piqued my curiosity on the goodness of the crabs, and when KampungBoy is having a dinner cum gathering with his coursemate, I tagged along.

Some of us were already famished by then, so some satays, fried chicken wings and fried rice is served as hunger pangs stopper. The satays, albeit lean without a bit of fats seen, is quite tender and succulent. Only complain is that the marination is really mild where the spicy peanut sauce comes as saving grace.

The fried chicken wing has a really delicious and crispy coating while the flesh remains juicy. It was good stuff but not to the extend of exceptionally good. Again, it is not infused with enough flavour. Or am I getting some heavy taste bud lately?

Here comes the wok tossed fried rice. Hot, light and fluffy, this is what I called the ultimate comfort food.

Spicy and Sour Crab. I was really disappointed with small, lite, disgustingly mushy and wet dead crabs. The moment we sunk our teeth into it, we knew that these are not fresh stuff, dead and frozen indeed.

Handed the half eaten crab to KampungBoy, I resorted to these kopitiam look-alike toast that comes with the mushy crabs. This shall end our visit to Fatty Crab. What about the next visit, NO WAY!

Fatty Crab
2, Jalan SS 24/13, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
03 7804 5758
Opens from 5.30pm to 11.30pm Daily, Close on Monday

Branches

9G & 11G, Jalan Pandan Indah 4/6, Pandan Indah, 55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03 4295 9350, 03 4295 8350

5 Jalan Tasik, The Mines Resort City, 43300 Sri Kembangan, Selangor

Tel: 03 8945 6448, 03 8945 6443

Champ's Bistro @ Centre Point, Bandar Utama

We made another pit stop to CentrePoint BU on a no-idea-where-to-eat-day, there were so many upscale yet casual cafe around, but we settled for Champs' Bistro after some time of loitering around.

The hall of fame with various press coverage; it seems like Champ's Bistro has been a reputable establishment for some years now and while it has always produced fantastic prawn noodles and pork noodles. Eager curiosity took over so we decided to go for the two most signature dish that we found on almost every table.

'Damn Shiok' Hokkien Prawn Mee (RM18.90++). RM 20 for a bowl of prawn noodles? We are not crazy as the oodles of noodles garnished with crispy shallots come in a gigantic bowl. A generous portion of kangkung, big fresh water prawns, shrimps, lards, pork slices and even pork ribs is served.

The broth is well flavoured and has a right amount of consistency. Fighting the temperature to gulp it down, I happily sipped the soup till the last drop.

The succulent, juicy and sweet prawn is shining gloriously. It is very considerate of them to deshelled the prawns so that I can savour it in a lady-like manner, a grande bourgeoise I am. Haha.

Another crazy dish, the Chu Yuk Fun aka Pork Noodle selling at RM16.90++. Minced pork, slabs of pork ribs, pork slices, liver and intestine come in abundance that the noodles were no where in sight. I am not exaggerating because eventually a big eater like KampungBoy is having a hard time to finish it off. The freshness of the ingredients has definitely enhance the flavour of the clear soup, giving a natural sweetness to it.

Champ's Bistro is not your average corner bistro that serves only booze and finger food. The total bill comes to RM 50++ with extra order of drinks, albeit comes in a higher price, the food is of great quality and huge portion. Do drop by for some unusual hawker fare food or bistro food.

Champ's Bistro

Lot F10, 1st Floor, Centrepoint,
Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama,
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
03-7722 5800
Open from 10:00am to 12:00am daily

See also: http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com/2007/09/cagayan-centre-point-bu.html

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! Bazaar Ramadhan @ Taman Tun Dr Ismail

Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri! Maaf Zahir dan Batin. One thing that we'll miss so much is the Bazaar Ramadhan, the galore for breaking fast. We intended to pay our visit to one of the Bazaar Ramadhan on Raya Eve, but the sky has chased us out by raining. To get drenching wet for good food, we are not hungry to that far extend. Anyway, feast your eyes with these delicacies from Bazaar Ramadhan at TTDI, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 3. I'll miss those nasi kerabu, wajik durian and ayam percik so much.

Nasi Ayam Goreng



Mee / Bihun / Nasi Goreng



Pulut Udang





The dude living in food heaven loves it!



Apam Balik



Roti John & Kebab



Keropok Lekor Tganu



Air Tebu



Kuih Bakar



Jagung Bakar



Jagung Kukus



Assorted Fish Balls and Yong Tofu



Assorted Fried Stuff in Skewers







Satay





Ikan Bakar



Ikan Pari Bakar



Ayam Percik







Gigantic Cendol Ice selling at RM 6 each



Nasi Kerabu



Lemang



Kuih Pelita



Tako



Otak Otak



Serunding (Spicy Floss)



Kebab



Green Salad





Fruits Rojak



Putu Buluh



Apam Balik



Peneram



Dadih



Cooling Drinks



Caramel Custard



Apam Beras



Wajik Durian

Map to Bazaar Ramadhan Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 3, TTDI (click to enlarge)

See also: http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com/2007/09/selamat-berpuasa-bazaar-ramadan-kelana.html

Sri Grand City Restaurant @ Seksyen 11 Petaling Jaya

What do you get for eating some spicy and steamy curry under the hot and humid weather? Sweaty, drippy with embarrassing sweat patches on the shirt. Fear no more, KampungBoy who concerns more on his appearance than anything has discovered an air conditioned hidden gem to get his rice and curry fix at the vicinity of PJ area.

Banana leaf rice is a South Indian cuisine but it has resemble Malaysia Cuisine in many ways. Rice and vegetables are a prominent feature where white rice is served on a Yele Sapede (banana leaf) with an assortment of vegetables, pickles, a selection of curry dishes such as Rice Meen Curry (Fish Curry), Koli Curry (Chicken Curry), Dhal (Boiled Lentils)and papadum (Indian Crackers).

It is traditionally eaten with the hand with nowadays people have it with fork and spoon. Indians believed that the hot rice will release the coating on the banana leaf, which aids in digestion.

Mutton Vareval is a must try dish at Sri Grand City. The fresh tender cut of lamb is well marinated with the distinctive taste of spices and pepper corn.

Sotong Varuval with a very nice splash of color. The squids are not chewy but delightfully tender. It makes KampungBoy hums an impromptu line of "Love Squid Tender, Love Me True.." Joker!!

Chicken Varuval is another addition to the table. The gravy is lip smackingly delicious but the chicken chunks is a tad too dry.

Sourish and rich, Rasam is a love at first sip for KampungBoy. Rasam is also known as the South Indian’s sour soup prepared with tamarind juices and tomato with assorted peppers and spices.

Payasam is actually a sweet dish where rice, wheat or vermicelli is boiled with milk and sweetened with sugar. It is flavoured with spices. Payasam is served as an offering to the gods in south Indian Hindu temples during rituals, ceremonies and wedding feasts. According to the owner, K.P. Sangapillai, they will serve the sweet dish every Friday but we were lucky to have it on a bright Tuesday noon in conjunction with some Indian Festival.

If you would like to have some change from the usual Kanna Curry House, Kayu or Sri Nirvana Maju, Sri Grand City is the place for some Banana Leaf Rice dosage. The typical bottomless rice and vegetable selection is priced at RM 4.50 each so the total bill comes about RM 40 for 4 gluttons. Very reasonably priced where a plate of squids can costs you from RM 15 to RM 25 at any Kayu joint.

Sri Grand City Restaurant
No. 51, 11/4,
Jalan Dato Mahmud
46200 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-79573158, 03-79584223

J.Co Donuts & Coffee @ Pavillion

Watch out for the new donut chain in town! J.Co is quietly going on a growth tear where the perpetual line never dries up. I was delighted when Sid told me that the PR & Promotion Executive, Miss Intan invited us floggers to know more about how J.Co has come along.

Spare me some time for a historical review, will you? The Managing Director, Johnny Andrean, a renowned hair stylist in Indonesia is a big donuts fan. It has motivated him to open up the first J.Co outlet in Indonesia at June 26. As per day, there are 26 outlets throughout Indonesia and it has been expanding abroad to Bukit Bintang Malaysia, soon at Sunway Pyramid Malaysia and Singapore.

Every outlet has different design and ambiance where the Pavillion outlet is more to the hip and hype type with denim and leather as the main concept with jeans button lighting design, custom made denim lounge and some really cute story board table. The main attraction here is clearly the impressive vertical dotted line resembling zips and the long array of J.Co cuppies.

The Making of J.Co's Donuts

1. First, the imported special premix is mixed and thawed for two hours until it blends well to form a dough. It is then bake in the oven before it is shaped into individual donuts shape - normal, round and crown, using a donut cutter.

2. 20 pieces of donuts are placed in each tray before it is send in to the chiller (normal temperature)

3. In a blink of eyes, the donuts are taken out from the chiller and they will stay at the room temperature for 5 minutes before they were deep fried in sunflower oil.

4. The final step would be glacing and filling. When the donuts have cooled, dip each top surface into the glaze and then flip over and cool on a tray. Most filling work are done by machine but softer filling such as vanilla and tiramisu are done manually.

5. J.Co is very stringent on their Quality Control where every donuts dough must weight the same and any glacing or topping work gone haywire will be thrown away.

J.Co’s coffee is a blend of 5 origins: Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Indonesia. All were roasted, packed and aired to its respective store together to give you the distinctive flavour of the combination.

From Left: Mochabella, Toffee O, Ice Chocolate (Best Seller)

Glazzy is one of the most famous donut in J.CO. It is glazed with American honey while it is still hot. The honey glaze will lovingly fill your mouth with a wonderful melting sensation.

Al Capone was a notorious gangster thug and ruthless thief who ruled a criminal empire. He was the most sought after man back then, the Belgium chocolate meet Californian crunchy almond donut was name as such because it is the ‘Most Wanted’ donut at J.Co.

Coco Loco with dark chocolate inside and out. Do not attempt to bite this on your first date, as the yummylicious bitter sweet dark chocolate filling will spill over.

Why nut is another variation with American peanut butter filling and white chocolate toppings. It could be a staple food because the peanut butter is so rich and satisfying.

Cheese me up, with New Zealand cheese on top and teeny weeny bits of chives won the guys’ vote. Savoury donut is really something for a change.

Miss Green T – The Japanese Matcha is tremendously intense sweetness and has a very deep flavour. One of my favourite flavour!

Verdict: These colourful and evil little rings are sweet and tasty, especially with the freeze (ice blended). The donut it self is cotton soft, cushy and fluffy. The glazing and toppings are sweeter as compared to the Big Apple’s, which someone with sweet tooth like me would love it. My top pick would be Alcapone, Miss Green T and Coco Loco while the Glazzy is a tad too sweet for my liking.

One will be in great dilemma because there are so many varieties of donut to select a favorite from. Miss Intan told us that you an actually tell the roving donut boys that you would wana have Top 3, Top 6, Top 12 or even Top 24 where they will drop the best selling flavours into your box.

Price for Glazzy and Assorted Donuts are:

Glazzy RM
Each 2.00
½ Dozen 9.60
Dozen 16.20
2 Dozen 28.60

Assorted RM
Each 2.30
½ Dozen 11.00
Dozen 19.10
2 Dozen 33.40

Price for Medium Beverages:

Item RM

Cappuccino 6.70
Cafe Latte 8.60
Iced Chocolate 8.10
Oreo 11.00
Green Tea 10.00

Price for Regular Beverages:

Item RM

Cappuccino 7.70
Cafe Latte 9.10
Iced Chocolate 9.10
Oreo Freeze 11.90
Green Tea 11.00

*prices above are subjected to 5% gov tax.

J. Co Donuts & Coffee
Lot 1.05.00
First Floor
The Pavilion
Kuala Lumpur

De Foodland @ Bandar Sri Menjalara & Cotton Club @ Maju Junction

September must be the peak birth month, where we are having a hive of birthday celebrations for the September babies every Friday/Saturday since the first week of September. Here’s another post on birthday celebration, a whole lot of pictures on food, drinks and peeps (dedicated to the team) to feast your eyes.

Spare, bright, and clean, De Foodland is hard to miss with the huge green signboard and red neon crabby. Famous with its 31 styles of crab dishes, both shop lots are filled with patrons licking the sauces off their fingers. Ten Ten and Arina invited us for a gathering cum celebration dinner over here.

All the dishes are pre-ordered by the sweet couple where we just have to sit down, get set and attack. The rich and velvety yam basket, fried to a golden crisp, contains chicken fillets and assorted greens was delicious.

Scramble egg with tomato, as simple as it sounds, is nothing fantastic. Surprisingly I get all nostalgic once I took a bite; mum would usually cook this for a simple lunch. I’m so glad that I’m back to Ipoh now and having easy access to mum’s cooking anytime.

Claypot braised bean-curd dish is attractive with brightly coloured vegetables and beans accompanying the bean curd and mushrooms. Another addition to the table is Kam Heong La La. The la la is pathetically small but the accompanying gravy is aromatic with a generous amount of dried shrimps, chilies and curry leaves. The Guinness stout pork rib is beautifully coated in a delicious, thick, sticky and caramelized sauce but the meat is a tad too dry. The succulent fried chicken fillet in Thai style is accompanied by a tangy sweet and sour sauce and I love to pick on the shredded green mangos and onions.

How can you not ordering crabs at De Foodland? Out of the 31 styles of cooking crabs, some in a bizarre and eccentric way, we have decided to play save by having the Crabs in Butter Sauce. The big fat crabbies are coated with a layer of sinfully rich and creamy butter sauce. It’s more to the sweeter side, unlike Wong Poh’s version with curry leaves and cili padi that gives it a hint of spiciness.

heavenly matched other half of these butter crabs has to be fried mantaos. Sweep it with layers of artery clogging creamy butter sauce and you are in seventh heaven.

The total bill comes up to RM 400++ which I find it a bit over priced. The crabs are selling at RM 40 per kg where a lot of eateries are offering crabs at a very competitive price of RM 18 to RM 30 per kg nowadays. Wong Poh will still be the ultimate place to heal my crabby fix but of course, some people might think that there’s no sense in going for a promotion just for the hell of it which explain why business at De Foodland was brisk.

The night is still young for the girls, but not those uncles who are older by two years. They gave in, where we ended up at The Cotton Club, Maju Junction. We were anticipating some swinging jazz grooves for a night up, but the band is playing some Cantonese hits instead.

There was a buy one free one promotion for wine (RM 110 each) going on so we had eight of them.

Some sex on the beach to sizzle up the night. I was eyeing the food menu where they offer an impressive selection of contemporary western cuisine for lunch and dinner, six days a week.

The waiter brought out a litted operah cake ordered from BBO. The cake was fresh and theres some lovely macarons on top, the wording Happy Annivessary (annivessary cum birthday) swirled prettily.

So Arina was pretty much hooked the moment the moment her bf, ten ten handed her the bouquet. Their sheepish and flushing cheeks are so sweet and lovely.

A Great Night Out

De Foodland Seafood Restaurant (Click to Enlarge the Map)
25 & 27, Jalan 3/62B
Bandar Sri Menjalara
Kuala Lumpur
Contact No: 03-62744796

The Cotton Club Jazzaurant (Click to Enlarge the Map)
G-11,
Maju Junction Mall 1001,
Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur.
Contact No : 03-2772 8588

Korean BBQ @ Daorae Garden Desa Sri Hartamas

(Non Halal)

My love affair with Korean barbecue began from Hwaroyeon and it sets me to search for such goodies around KL. To my delight, I have extra excuses to indulge in such grilled and charred big chunks of meat in conjunction with Rome's 20th birthday celebration.

A huge increase of Korean restaurants, retailers and groceries stores around Sri Hartamas is seen, particularly because Hartamas and Bukit Kiara attracts a high expatriate population with Japanese and Korean who comprise almost half the total residential population. So Daorae at Desa Sri Hartamas it is!

ROME

Assorted panchan dishes to be gorged by the empty stomach. The kim chi is crunchy, tangy, salty, addictively spicy and less pungent. The panchan dishes such as spicy cockles, bean sprouts, omelette with sausages and sweet pumpkin has been ‘malaysianised’ to suit our taste bud, but it feels weird on Rome’s taste bud, it was inevitable.

Bindaeduk (korean pancake) is ordered as a reminiscent of many of our hunger strike in night at our hostel at Jung No, Seoul.

I love the plates of fresh green shallots that comes with the galbi set. The after effect will certainly take your friends' breath away. Gobble down lots of shikye (rice drink) to avoid the serious onion-shallot-garlic breath after.

We had some complimentary spicy crab dish that comes with the galbi set. Weird combination huh?

We had four Daeji Galbi (pork ribs) dish of the sweet and spicy variation. The sweet variation is marinated in a sauce made from fruit juice, rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar while the spicy variation uses house spicy marinate sauce. It is succulent in taste, crisply grilled to perfection with slightly charred around the edges.

The waiters and Chef Kim will expertly grill, flip and toss the meat to ensure that it was cooked to perfection. It feels authentic because some fiery charchoal block is used.

Another two Dakgalbi (marinated chicken) dish is added to the order as everyone turn out as cannibal.

NaengMyeong (chilled buckwheat noodles) is often served followed by a galbi meal. Koreans believed that the icy cold broth full of shaved ice can offset the heatness of the galbis. Served in a cold stainess steel bowl, the noodles sit in a tangy iced broth made of chicken stock, and are garnished julienned cucumbers, a slice of a Korean pear, and often a boiled egg.

Koreans have been drinking shoju for thousands of years. So a bottle or two of shoju is obligatory to mark the great birthday celebration. Smooth and clean in taste, it is easy to drink in combination with galbi dishes.

Dipshisa! (Let's Drink)

Gunbae! (Cheers)

Girls and Boys

The Korean statute insulter :p

Rome with smoky, sauce-smeared lips after the feast. Happy Birthday Yeong Jun!

O'Chocolate from BigBoysOven is excellent as always, very fresh and delicious. I'll keep ordering from you guys!

Daorae Garden serves authentic and delicious barbeque dishes. The service is excellent and prompt where you just have to sit and wait for the food to be done. The waiters also replace the grilling rack once it is charred. Total bill comes to RM 350++ with 2 bindaeduks, 6 galbi dishes (RM 27 each) and 3 shojus. Panchans, rice drinks and another 2 bindaeduk is on the house. Sounds reasonable for me because there were 11 of us. No wonder the Korean Popstar Rain dropped by!

Korean BBQ Restaurant
DAORAE GARDEN (Tel : 03-6203-2616)
No.9, 1st Floor, Plaza Crystal Ville Center,
Jalan 23/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas,50480 Kuala Lumpur
(Same row as Maybank)