Pineapple Beer

March is a such a hot month that you can feel your skin burning when you go outside. So what's better than to stay indoor, turn on the aircond, kick back, relax and pop open a cold one....ahh.. blis.... Sure, you have your favourite Tiger or Heineken or Carlsberg or Hoegarden or.... but have you ever tried pineapple beer?

 

 

The taste is really unique. Got mine from Jusco in Megamall. Hmmm...so cooling....

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

Who would have thought that there's good food to be found in places like a highway rest area? Well, I did at R&R Tapah (South Bound). Left Ipoh quite late, so decided to have my meal first else I'll be both hungry and grumpy if I get caught in the after office hour traffic by the time I reach KL.

 

This is the stall... Stall #6 Express Stall.

 

And what's so special you asked. It's the curry mee... How good is it? Good enough that I gave it a beauty look at the mirror (mei yan chiew keng). You know, like the Maggi mee ad.... 

 

 

I ordered a special one today. Usual toppings are fish balls and sliced fish cake, but today I asked for roast chicken as well. The noodle is your standard yellow noodle. The chicken is nothing to shout about. The fish balls are quite springy. But the one that standout is the soup. If you are the type that like very thick kind of curry, this is not for you. The soup is creamy but not too thick or too thin. It was just the way I like it.... It feels great slurping up to the last spoonful of the curry. Will definitely stop by on my next trip again. Give it a try... like what they say in the Kenari ad... belum cuba belum tau.... 

 

Restoran Wong Kee @ Chemor, Ipoh

A colleague recently mentioned that I stayed in hotels more than at home. Ok, so that might not be 100% true (although sometime it did felt that way), but I did travel to Ipoh very often for work. Usually I would go for a few days but my trip today was cut short to a day trip due to an event that I had to attend in PJ tomorrow. The day started early and after a busy morning in the factory, it's chow time. Now Chemor is a small town in Ipoh. When I say small, I meant small like very small. But despite its size, there are many hidden goodies here. And Restoran Wong Kee is one of my 3 favourites (stay tuned for the rest).

 

Simple corner shop, no air-cond but not sweat inducing...

 

During our last few visits, the food portion always come in XL size. So today, we're careful to order only 3 dishes. We ordered the lamb belly in claypot (yong lam pou), a grouper fish fillet steamed in soya sauce and a stir fried potato leaves (or shoots, mind my English).

 

Steamed grouper fillet in soya sauce.

The fish was a big disappointment. It was overcooked. The sauce is ok, tasted a bit too strong of ginger but definitely not the best I've tasted. 

 

Stir fried potato leaves.

The vege tasted a bit unique. I guess it got something to do with the "superior soup" (siong tong) that they use to fry the vege. It has a nice hint of herbs. Just a tinge but not overpowering which made it quite unique and nice.

 

Lamb belly in claypot.

Now, I save the lamb for last because it was the best dish of the day. It might not look so special from the photo but my my my.... it was soooooooooooooo nice. The lamb is just so tender. Not chewy as one would expect. Neither was it too soft. It was cooked at just the right texture. The sauce...wow...it's just wow.... first time I ordered this dish and I regret not ordering it in my other previous visits. If you did ever visit this shop, this dish is a must have. I know some people who don't like lamb because of the smell. But I assure you you will like this.

 

Other than the few I've mentioned, the restaurant actually serve very good herbal style snake head soup (sang yu tong) that comes with a lot of different herbs and plenty of wolfberry (kei chi). Decided to try something else today coz I have ordered it everytime in all my previous visits. Another dish worth mentioning is the kong pow eel. Maybe I'll snap a few pics in my next visit. Oh, and did I mentioned that food in Ipoh are waaaaaay cheaper than KL. :-)

 

Home Made Pineapple Tarts

I'm not actually a big fan of pineapple tarts but I am tam chiak :-). A good colleague passed me a jar of home made pineapple tarts recently and I must say it is sooooo goooooood....

 

 

Ok, so my photo taking skill sucks and the pic did the tarts no justice. But the fact remains that it is one tasty pastry. You can feel the nice cheesy and buttery flavour in every piece. Don't know how to describe it but the taste is just awesome. Hmmm....mmm... mmmm...The pineapple stuffing is good too. Not too sweet and very smooth (no pineapple fibre). Yum yum...

Seoul Garden @ Kuchai Lama

After all the walking, stomach growling again. Wife mentioned about a voucher for Korean food and so we end up in Seoul Garden at Jalan Kuchai Maju 1.

 

The restaurant is upstair, above a Thai restaurant.

 

We placed our orders and the first thing brought to our table is 12 type of side dishes (or appetizer, or whatever...). We have (from left to right & top to bottom):

 

1. Long beans
2. Bean sprout (don't like it)
3. Shredded sea weed
4. Ikan bilis with peanut (ain't this local? Can't recall having this the last time I was in Korea)
5. Spinach
6. Sweet potato
7. Fruit and vege in mayo sauce (I tasted brocolli & apple)
8. Pickled cucumber
9. Kimchi (it won't be a complete Korean meal without this)
10. Seaweed soup (taste sour)
11. Mini pancakes
12. Sliced sausages with onions

 

 

 

Next came the BBQ chicken served with the usual lettuce, bean paste sauce, another type of sauce that's a bit spicy, some optional sliced garlic & green chilli. Taste a bit sweet. Chicken is tender. But I would prefer my BBQ to have a slight bit of char to them. We didn't get a table with the exhaust thingy and grill, they were grilled some place else and brought to our table. Plus point, we don't smell like chicken at the end of the meal.

 

 

The set we ordered also came with the Kimchi-jjigae (kimchi stew with pork & tofu) & Dolsot Bibim-bap (rice with assorted mixture in a stone bowl). The missus loves the rice, I find it ok but hates the hard crust at the bottom. Being a kimchi soup, Kimchi-jjgiae tasted spicy and sour. Taste great with the bowl of steamed rice that comes with it.

 

Kimchi-jjigae

 

Dolsot Bibim-bap

 

We also ordered the Kimchi-jein (pancake with sliced pork & kimchi) or as we called it, the Korean pizza. This wasn't part of the set, so it cost an additional RM30. On hindsight, shouldn't have added this coz at the end of the meal, we're both bloated...sooooo fuuuuuull....

 

Kimchi-jein