Johnny's (the dude does steamboats~~)

Stuff that's going into the steamboat.

I am writing this entry from the crime scene itself i.e., from the restaurant I am reviewing--as Ning is slurping on the remainder of our steamboat soupie--which she can afford to since she spends at least few hours at the gym...and me? I spend like 20 mins. So, its better for me to stop eating before I actually lose my vivacious coca-cola bottle figure (in-my-dreams).

The place we're eating? Johnny's..that restaurant right at the very end of the foodcourt in Alamanda. Many a time have we trudged through the foodcourt with the sole intention of eating at Johnny's and every single time, we get detered by the delicious array of food on display along the way. Today though, we were determined: having found that the Twilight movie tickets were totally sold out and there was no way we'd be meeting with Edward the vampire tonight, Johnny's will have to do.

To put it mildly, I was mildly surprised. Johnny's is a Chinese steamboat restaurant with prices that were actually quite agreeable. The steamboat for 2 was a mere RM29..not bad eh, and since we're paying to cook the stuff ourselves, the wait for raw meat and veggies to arrive at the table was literally less than 3 mins~~

Seawood noodles with chicken. Like nothing I
have ever tasted before. And I mean that in a good way.

Because I was ravenous I also ordered the seaweed noodles with chicken. That was an additional RM8.90 but it came with Thai tea, ice-cream and a little bowl of tom-yam soup. The tom-yam made me arrive to a new conclusion though...contrary to what Ning had said about this being a Chinese restaurant, I don't think it is, I think its' actually Thai. And while we are on that topic, avoid the Thai restaurant at the bus terminal in cyber, because the last time me and Nadia ate there, there were cicak eggs in the tom-yam soupie.

So Johnny's? It was okay. It did not blow me away but the food was certainly a good variety and the price was not bad at all and in fact cheaper than the foodcourt itself (softdrinks and ice-cream only ~RM2. What?!). Plus there's this steaming couldron of hot soup right in front of you so if you experience one of those akward silences with your dinner companion, you can pretend to get busy and do the cooking instead of toying with your phone and holding a public conversation on facebook. Or if you're like Ning, you can unload your shopping at the table, share steamboat cooking tips and cook at the same time in the true meaning of the word multitasking.

Ning practising to be a good housewife...

This place is great for families. Cook in front of your kids and hubbies why dontcha, and show 'em how its really done without even breaking a sweat. And you don't even have to clean up after. Nice.

Johnny's, Alamanda, Putrajaya
Cleanliness: B
Food: B (good variety)
Price: RM20 per pax (if you get the ice-cream etc. Else it'd be much2 less.)
Satisfaction Level: B+ (we sat outside, and the wind was in my soup. I loved it).
Service: B+ (waiter was friendly and took time to explain to us everything, even though there were so many customers waiting to be served)
Atmosphere: B+ (good crowd, hustle and bustle)

posted from Bloggeroid

Out eating in Bali

Foodstall by Sanur beach. Pretty familiar huh..

The fact that I haven't blogged on food for a week does not mean I have been on a diet frenzy. Hardly. I was away in Bali for a conference and a spot of sight-seeing -- well perhaps more on the sight-seeing than the conference. And just to put this in before I forget the whole experience, Bali, I thought, was almost like going back in time in Malaysia. Perhaps only 200 years back..

Rice fields on the side of the hills. I can't believe I took this
picture. I can't remember which hill I stood on when I took it.

For one thing, the people all look like Malays: similar build, similar complexion, similar features. The language uses much of the same (formal) words, it just had a different twang to it. Can we walk to the conference place on foot? I had asked the B&B manager. Bisa, tapi nanti keringat. Was the reply. And for someone who is totally lost in Kelantan, I felt quite proud of myself for comprehending. The food was also the same. At the hotels they would serve continental breakfasts (mostly eggs and toast), but for lunch and dinner, if it wasn't hotel food, we'd go off find some nasi padang somewhere, which always tasted just like everyday home food, to me at least. 

Kecak dance. This guy was just kicking fire everywhere.
To my detriment

Go to Bali with an open mind, because the people look like you, dress like your grandparents, but have a different faith system. There are temples scattered everywhere, you get tired of avoiding them. They have this Pencalang system in place which is pretty cool (a law system above the police, where even stealing will get you killed and no one would be able to do anything about it). Their religious holidays all start with Hari Raya. Their rice fields are pretty, and the second place we stayed at was right in the middle of it (Ubud).

The dance shows were pretty cool too-- if you're into ancient culture. The Kecak (fire) dance was the most intriguing, and the one that we watched was performed on a mountainous site, on top of a really steep cliff falling into the ocean, with a backdrop of the wide open sea. At sunset. To get there, you would have to walk past the midst of some really crazy monkeys who'd grab at anything that was sticking out even remotely from your person. Quite a wild experience.

Children at local school, singing national anthem

In retrospect, I am beginning to understand why the Aussies, the Dutch, the Americans, the Japanese and whatever race is out there we bumped into all over the place--kept going back every single year. Regardless of the fact that the island is absolutely ancient and wi-fi was so ridiculously slow it was almost non-existent. It is also superbly hot out, and air-conditioned areas are so rare, I almost forced Syed to smoke when there was a breeze just so that I could find an excuse to stop and cool down. The nicest time of day is early morning --the sun rises at 5:30 am, and sets at 6:30 pm. At 12 pm, you would get oven-baked if you get out and thus the main reason of failure of the attempted bike excursion to the paddy fields.

I would recommend you to visit, simply for the experience of visiting a culture that would have been ours had Parameswara not open up his mind and became a muslim. If you do go---cause Air-Asia has these really cheap airfares to Bali from time to time, --leave the kids with the bibik back home because I don't really see anything there that is kiddie-enjoyable, except perhaps the little bird park, which costs $24 USD (~RM80) per person to get in. 

I can't remember the name of this place. Somewhere very south of Bali.

And in true foodblog style: 

Bali, 
Indonesia

Cleanliness: C the sanur beach was quite littered. And most places where there are Monkeys. 

Food: B+ (go for padang food. The Tutu chicken was OK too). 

Price: cheap (enjoy your millionaire status while you're at it)

Satisfaction Level: B (quite an adventurous trip, if I may say so myself)

Service: B+ (Bali people are so friendly)

Atmosphere: almost felt like home, very safe (pencalang and all I guess)

p/s Pictures of my entire trip here.

Kak Long Panas, MMU (best malay food on campus :))

Nadia's catfish

Just got back from UM and had a really nice nasi goreng for linner (too late for lunch, too early for dinner). And as I rest my tired feet from 2 hours of lecture, I might as well just sit back and blog about yesterdays lunch at MMU's very own, Kak Long Panas, the place at the Centre food court, at the sportsplex. At MMU.

Miza's catfish

I am not so sure why Kak Long is panas (hot), because usually the dishes are warm, but perhaps its the place, because it is a bit hot there, open space and all. If we compare the food at Kak Long's with erm...let's see, the only other similar Malay place on campus, HB3, then Kak Long is definitely first place. HB3 recently created a stir with their maggot-filled fish and since we're lacking in competition, I guess it can go 2nd place.

Sheemz's veggies. Yay~ no catfish
for me today. Maybe tomorrow.

Kak Long serves a variety of Malay dishes. Chicken in yellow coconut milk (ayam lemak), chicken in soy sauce, cillied fish (usually 2-3 types of fish), local salads including jering, cilli with fermented prawns (sambal belacan), and some dishes to order too. But, somehow or another, we always end up getting the cillied catfish. Why huh? Am I subtlely implying the other dishes are not as good? y  e  s.

The cillied catfish is crunchy, and delicious. And it only costs around ~RM5 with rice and vegetables. We do get tired of it though, some times, and when we do, we order the Pari in the claypot. And when we get tired of that, we go back to the cillied catfish. Or the mamak place at FCM. Its a pretty straightforward cycle. Of the eating habits of rocking MMU lecturers. 

And, by the by, cillied catfish is scientifically proven to get you Professor within 10 years.  

Cleanliness: C- (sit first, then someone comes and cleans the table)
Food: B (ok lahhhh..)
Price: ~RM5 per pax.
Satisfaction Level: B
Service: B (I don't get it why the guy there calls me kakak)
Atmosphere: B (hustle and bustle)

Garden (fundamentally female~)

Of course we had to sit next to the grand
piano because it was a grand birthday. 

Garden. The noun is missing an adjective, so at first, I was not really sure what type of garden to expect. But it was in this mysterious Garden that we celebrated Nadia--my bestie's--birthday today.

We soon discovered the Garden is positively female. I am guessing, the entire interior design team is too. A problem may arise if your guy is one of those strong, macho, non-sensitive types, --it's better to eat somewhere else. You'll probably have to drag him kicking and screaming into the restaurant cause there's a 100% chance he'll feel like he's shedded his pants for a dress. A beautiful white and flowery one..

The decoration was excruciatingly lovely. There is a white grand piano in the middle of the floor, below an antique-looking chandelier. A white lamp-post stood near the little stairs. Creeping vines and flowers were everywhere, ceilings were painted sky blue and clocks of every shape and kind covered the walls that kept reminding me of the ACP meeting I had to attend to at 2 o'clock.

Too many clocks puts pressure on the chef.
We're guessing there's only one.

I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken Shanghai noodles and Nadia ordered Pasta Fiesta. Both came in enormous, over-sized, heavy ceramic plates that made the food looked insignificant. But even though the Garden was beautiful, there's something definitely lacking with the food. A little love and a lot of flavour. The chicken on mine was undercooked and the soy sauce and dried chillis were not fused well. The marinara sauce on Nadia's pasta tasted like a modified version of Lingham cili sauce. And much as we're crazy for Lingham with jemput-jemput, on pasta it doesn't taste that good. Desert was ordinary. For the RM9 price, I felt ripped off by exotic Charlotte.

Although it was lunch hour, there weren't a lot of customers and with all the clocks hanging on the walls showing London time, you'd think the food would be served quickly. They didn't. We did get complimentary mushroom soup to make up for it but, it tasted Pizza Hutty.

Kung Pao Chicken Shanghai  noodles. No.

Lemon tea and Jasmine tea. Yes.

Exotic Charlotte. No.

British Strawberry. Overpriced but Yes.

With all these shortcomings on the food, I'd still recommend you to go, at least for drinks. Experience the beautiful overgrown wonderland yourself, why not?

Great place for serious mother-daughter bonding, make-up & hair tips sessions, and girls day-or-night out. There's tables with swings for chairs, draped in vine--where you can swing all day like Jane from Tarzan as you sip flowery Jasmine tea. And if your Tarzan swings with you, doubt not his blossoming love.

Garden, Alamanda, Putrajaya (in front of TGIFs)

Cleanliness: A
Food: C- (mediocre and overpriced)
Price: ~RM35 per pax (including drinks and dessert)
Satisfaction Level: B (the beautifully decorated place made up for the lack in food)
Service: C+ (friendly waiters but long wait)
Atmosphere: calming, girly, very girly, extremely girly, pick one.

p/s Free food on weekends starting 19th November. Go.

Status update

"Less than yesterday" from left: Sheemz, Shamz, Kyreelz 

This isn't exactly an entry about a restaurant I am eating at, but I'd still like to put it in nevertheless. Recently, I was involved in a weight-loss competition that, to be honest, I had only said yes to because Sham persuaded me (see that's my problem, I have trouble saying no). And though we didn't win inter-company, apparently, at MMU (the place where I work at when I am not out eating), we were no 1.. can you believe it? between the three of us, we lost 7.2 kg~~!

It was great fun. But when I look in the mirror, I see I am still as skinny as ever. And that trans-fat weight analyzer thingy needs new batteries. Yeah baby  :) 

And you, thanks for reading my little blog, for subscribing (MUAH!!!), sending me messages, comments, emails and just by being supportive. You guys are beautiful and awesome, regardless of how much you weigh  :D

Islamic Kitchen (generous portions of Salmon!)

You know how there's Pizza Hut, Ice Room, Noodle Station, Manhattan Fish Market, and Kedai Kita? (feel free to suggest some more examples). Well now there's Islamic Kitchen, and though the name implies middle-eastern food (to me at least), you'll be surprised to find that it serves mainstream food from every continent including awesome chicken nachos complete with cheese dips. Yep. Mexican. (Yo quiero Taco Bell!).

Grilled lamb and salmon with black pepper sauce,
corn on the cob and fries. Heavenly.

The thing about Islamic Kitchen is that it's like a down-graded version of those big western food chains, you know, like Cili's, or TGIFs. The menu interestingly displays the chefs who cooks your food. A few are not bad-looking, and though I haven't tried (Dor was not with me), I don't think you can order them. 

The menu also states that there's no MSG in their food and that they make their own ice. Which makes you wonder about all those other restaurants you eat at: who makes their ice?!

Nasi goreng Mr Pow.  So-so.

So last hot Thursday, I picked Armand up from school and we decided to eat out, seeing as Armand just found out he got number 2 in class for his exams. Don't tell him this but I was quite proud of him for doing well. I had literally dragged him to Port Dickson the weekend just before his exams to accompany me on a health workshop and he spent the entire two days in the swimming pool in front of the hotel room instead of studying. Bravo babes.  

I was feeling 1Malaysia that day so I went for the Ah Pow fried rice (that's nasi goreng Cina sans normal, --yep, its gone down from an entire nation to just one guy with Islamic Kitchen, apparently). Armand ordered the salmon and grilled lamb. He usually goes for the salmon in butter lemon sauce, which I must admit is quite heavenly, and for around RM25  is very reasonable given the big portion of salmon. 

So here's the deal. If you go to Islamic kitchen, order the western meals. They are delicious and good value for money. But the nasi gorengs (i,e., fried rice), tastes mediocre and are over-priced, considering also the ordinary table and open-air space you're eating it in. Comprendo? :)

Everything else about Islamic Kitchen is cool. I mean, which other restaurant lists their chefs in the menu and make their own ice these days? 

Islamic Kitchen, Bandar Baru Bangi
Cleanliness: B
Food: B (asian food can be better and cheaper)
Price: ~RM25 per pax (including drinks)
Satisfaction Level:  B+ (definitely halal)
Service: B/C (sometimes wait is quite long. Food does not arrive together)
Atmosphere: B (hustle and bustle, open air)

Saba' (lamb is legen --wait for it-- dary..!)

Food that can break your diet vow anytime.

Last night, Ning and I, amidst tons of work still yet to be done, went out for a quick dinner at Saba'. Saba' is way up there in a class of its own. Saba' is the epitome of good wholesome food. It fulfills all three criterias for dining out: (i) substantial amount of really (ii) delicious food, at a (iii) reasonable price. Top that up with really fast service and you'll find that it's really hard to get a table at Saba'--most times.  

Usually, (in fact, everytime we eat there) we'd order the lamb Kabsah. This time however, we were feeling adventurous and gambled on the lamb Hanith. It did taste just as good, except that there were more boney ribs than meat with the lamb Hanith. We practically fought each other over the ribs, in a feminine civil manner that did not call for attention. Thank goodness for education and excellent up-bringing. 

Mutabbal and salad in yogurt...in the background.

Mutabbal is crushed eggplant topped with olive oil. It tastes and looks a bit like humus, but has a slightly different texture and tasted less salty. It actually does not taste that good to me, but it used to be comfort food while I slaved away on my PhD. So my palate says urghh~~ but my brain says awesome~~~.. weird huh..and of course my brain wins, since its so rational.

Adani tea. Thats mint tea to you and me.

Ning ordered the mint adani tea as well. She spoiled it with sweetened condensed milk. The Arabs would have groaned in despair. Ning. 

Great place for lunch and dinner anytime with friends and family. Well-lit up. Upright chairs. People laughing till they choke, left and right. Loud TV. You get the idea. 

Cleanliness: B/C (restroom and sink could do with a wash)

Food: A-/B+ (the lamb is legendary)

Price: ~RM25 per pax (including appetizers excluding drinks)

Satisfaction Level:  A 

Service: B+ (short wait)

Atmosphere: B (hustle and bustle)

TGIF (lift your spirits up!)

Aren't Fridays the best? cause Fridays you can sleep late and get out of bed really late the next day. That's the feeling that TGIF is supposed to evoke in you. And somehow it does.. I wonder if that feeling can be captured? Cause then I can take my EEG measurements in TGIF while the experimental subject munches on nachos and buffallo wings with 32 electrodes fixed onto his scalp. (Yes, I only deal with male subjects as guinea pigs. You can never deal with women's emotions. They're nonlinear. True and tested. We're publishing a paper on that).

Sedap

So today, me and Dor (my soul sister from since 11...would you believe it) hooked up and headed to TGIFs. Right after our manicure. Right after we checked out a few handbags at Parkson's. I am so getting that bag. But not now. Perhaps after my trip to Bali. If I don't splurge. And I probably won't. Because I'm only going to Bali for the bird park..

So as usual, TGIF has that dark, mysterious, romantic atmosphere. Any darker and you'd have to grope around for your food. Certainly if your current love interest takes you out on a date at TGIF, he thinks you're high maintainence but worth it --so, be kind and order the cheapest item on the menu, just so that next time he won't feel too bad to ask you out for mee mamak. I'm just saying. Dating tip number #14. How to get a second date if you like the guy. 

We didn't order a lot, seeing as we both had similar goals in mind: I am in a lose-weight competition, Dor is getting married in December, and honey, that dress has got to fit. So, for now at least, we did not binge. Maybe after Dor has 6 kids, we'll order the party platters and go crazy.

And by the way, the food was scrumptiously delicious. Any better we would have marched into the kitchen and added the chef to our facebook accounts. Hold your horses. We didn't.

TGIF,
Alamanda, Putrajaya

Cleanliness: A-

Food: B+ (authentic American food. It doesn't get any better than this.)

Price: ~RM35 per pax (excluding drinks)

Satisfaction Level: A

Service: B (friendly waiters)

Atmosphere: B (A bit too dark for our purposes. Or maybe we picked the wrong table.)

Cream and Fudge Factory (extreme sugar rush)

Have you ever heard the saying, too much of a good thing..can actually do you harm? Well, much as I want to say all the sweetest things about the Cream and Fudge Factory, and much as I admire the professional-looking chef mixing the ice-cream up on his ice-board like cement, I must say, the cream fudge factory was... too sweet.

With diabetes running genetically in almost every household in Malaysia, I personally found the ice-cream that was already too sweet to begin with, and then topped some more with cookies and pieces of chocolate almost unbearable. And this is me who has an uncontrollable penchant for sweetness. Not exaggerating it but I am literally all sugar. They took my gallbladder out ages ago. They, as in the X-files people who did Charlie the Unicorn.



coffee ice-cream in a basket



chocolate ice-cream

So I didn't finish my ice-cream cup. Thank goodness I only ordered one scoop. Thank goodness it was on Ning.

Cleanliness: A-/B
Food: C+ (tooo~~ sweet)
Price: ~RM13 per pax (including the cone or that little basket the ice-cream goes in)
Satisfaction Level: B-
Service: B (friendly, chef was like a sushi chef)
Atmosphere: NA (no enclosure)

Kenny Rogers (chickens getting smaller?)

I've just finished cooking beef rendang for the eid celebration tomorrow, and now, before we actually leave town for my grandma's, I want to put in an entry for my food excursion last night for my handful of loyal blog readers, just in case you miss me while I'm gone. Probably n o t? 

Last night was Kenny Rogers. I know what you're thinking. Another western food chain? boring. But bare with me please. Before I actually go into local restaurants, let me get my act together because I don't want to put them out of business. 

Caramel machiato and Americano

Le chick!!

So we arrived at around 7:30 pm, and dilly dallied around the mall looking at -- what all normal late 20's girls look at -- shoes, before we decided to get some meat into us. 

At 8pm, we finally plodded on to Kenny Rogers, settled on the PVC chairs and made ourselves comfy, flipped open the menu, and, after a mild discussion on calories, decided on the quarter chicken, three sides and a muffin. Let me be crystal clear here: two quarter chicken meals. No ones sharing.

The music was good. Some mainstream Indonesian band that made it big in Malaysia. Thank goodness they were no longer spinning and re-spinning Kenny Roger's ancient tracks. Much as I am into country music, Kenny is too old and too melancholy. Which reminds me of that really old track my guitar guru told me to practice. That really melancholic song Sembilu (Splinter, I think) by Ella. I keep messing up the first verse and singing: ...tak terlintas ingatanku terhadapmu (read: you never once crossed my mind) ...and strumming so fast that its become more like a cheerful puppy-love song than a heartbroken one. Oh well. 

The food, lets just say it was good. So good Ning was in extraordinary good spirits the remainder of the night. But that might have been the Americano coffee she ordered because I'm beginning to see a trend. The chicken was gorgeous. And the muffins were sinful (for me at least, being in a lose-weight competition and all). 

All in all a risk-free dining experience, with a substantial amount of food on an enormous plate at a reasonable price. Bottom-line: an excellent place for taking an awesome friend out on her birthday. For the not so awesome friends, there's always McD.

Kenny Rogers,
Alamanda, Putrajaya

Cleanliness: B+
Food: B (chicken portion was really small)
Price: ~RM25 per pax (including drinks)
Satisfaction Level: B+
Service: A-/B+ (friendly waiters, fast order)
Atmosphere: B (friendly atmosphere, music could be better)

KFC Cyber (parking a challenge)

This should come as no surprise, KFC is everywhere in Malaysia, so I might as well put it in as I had lunch there with Ning today. The worst thing about KFC in Cyberjaya is the parking. If you go, go on foot. Cause you'd be going round the block a few times to find a parking spot, and will probably end up parking illegally at some weird angle near the Petronas petrol station, just like I did today.

Well, we all know what KFC tastes like, so I won't elaborate. Crunchy, crispy, oily, and cholesterol-ful. Top it with some slaw and mash and a sugar-loaded soft drink. Yummy. KFC actually evolved from the full blown Kentucky Fried Chicken logo to simply KFC just so that consumers would forget what the F stood for. As if. We know fried chicken when we see one, even if the entire cooperation is renamed Kentucky Boiled Chicken.

Not that they'd have to. We're crazy about fried banana's too so chicken's no prob.

The new tom-yam flavoured hot and spicy ain't all that good. And I am guessing this is only available in Thailand and Malaysia. Colonel Saunders would go bonkers if he was still alive. The secret is in the 11 herbs and spices. Not 11 herbs and spices and calamondin leaves. 

And what happened to the egg-tarts? They couldn't wait for the chickens to lay eggs no more? Business must be good albeit park at will. So next stop at KFC cyber? Let me check my calendar -- erm never. Not until I get a parking space. And a free egg-tart.



Ning wants two mash and I wanted two slaws.
So it worked out pretty well for both of us.

Cleanliness: C (tables all over the place, condiment section a mess)

Food: B- (regular fast food quality)

Price: ~RM12 per pax (including drinks)

Satisfaction Level: B-

Service: B (cashier was OK)

Atmosphere: C (hustle and bustle)

Red Wok BBB (A family affair)

Red wok is this awesome relatively new restaurant in Bandar Baru Bangi that is located right up there in Section 7. Going to Red Wok is always a family affair; in fact, the trip there a few Saturdays back was to celebrate my sister's birthday. She turned 25. Which is surprising as so am I.

I have always loved Chinese food. So I may be bias in my review of this restaurant. Back during the days when my taste buds were wild, the King's Buffet (which was a chinese restaurant close to my university) was a favourite hangout for lunch and dinner. In fact, if they also opened for breakfast, I would have set up camp on the premises. Kung Pao, General Tao's, orange, cashew, and Hunan chicken were my excruciatingly favourite dishes when ravenous. Red Wok is as close as I can get to all the food mentioned above without having to purchase a ticket from Air Asia, where apparently now everyone can fly.

So back to Red Wok, we ordered our regular favourites: lemon chicken, sweet and sour prawns, an entire tray of seafood fried rice, soft-shelled fried crabs, prawns fried in crispy batter, broccoli and garlic, bean curd in claypot and the main protien dish: kerapu in kerabu mangga (kerapu is a type of fish that is fleshy with minimal bones and kerabu mangga is mango salad). 

Now lets recap the experience.

Ignore the cake. Its from Secret Recipe.

The lemon chicken is drenched in this lemony sauce that is just the right level of sweetness to go with the rice and yet, still crunchy. I am not a big fan of prawns and crabs, mainly because I find shelling them tedious, but they were fresh and sweet and crispy and the shells --edible, for some indescribable reason, so you just swallow them whole, which to me  is a whole new experience. Soft-shelled crabs? wow. Never cease to amaze me. How do these little guys get along in real life when the shell no longer serves a purpose?

The kerabu mangga with the fish was OK, since I am not so into fish and mango combined. But it does taste very healthy.. and that's important. They also have all this garnishing on it that makes it look really special. Like you're a favourite customer. But then you notice everyone else is a favourite customer. Bummer.

The broccoli and garlic, for lack of a better word: delicious. The broccoli was bright green, which means perfectly cooked, and the garlic was white and crunchy and perfectly sliced, which means perfectly cooked. If the chef was a guy, he could go four.

Last but not least the seafood fried rice. Simple yet tasty. One does not really concentrate on the carbs when there's so much good protein to go around.

And finally, the best thing about Red Wok and that is the bill never cease to amaze me. For everything that we ordered, including fruit drinks, tea, and ABC combined, served to 7 over-the-average-sized loyal citizens of Malaysia, the bill was only about RM150++. And even better, the wait was too short to be true, was hot when it arrived, and nearly all at once. Gordon Ramsey would have been speechless.

We are already planning sister's no 6 birthday there next month. She's turning 19, which, surprise surprise, so am I :)

Cleanliness: B 

Food: A- (delicious and fresh)

Price: ~RM20 per pax (including drinks)

Satisfaction Level: A-

Service: A- (friendly waiters, very short wait)

Atmosphere: B (bit noisy, lots of customers, open-air restaurant, can be quite warm unless it rains)

Note: handicap friendly because it is in a lot all by itself.

Facebook them here.

Secret Recipe Cyberjaya (go only for cake and coffee)

Its no secret anymore that Secret Recipe has no secret recipe. They mass package the food, distribute it to their restaurants across town and store it in the freezers until you order it. Which is why we always drop by for just cake and coffee these days (don't we Ning?). But desperate times call for desperate measures. And today I was really desperate. One mugful of Nestle cereal with low-fat milk isn't exactly a fantastic substitute for lunch. By 3pm I was running low. By 4 I nearly fainted. Trust me, the guy I will eventually end up with will love me for all my soft spots even if he is dead skinny.

So, with the will of Conan the Barbarian, I made a near bee-line for Secret recipe. It was 4:45pm, I had class at 6pm, so it wasn't really a leisure meal. For the first time since birth, I probably had a meal in a restaurant alone. It was a defining experience because it was quite enjoyable and the waiters were practically all over me with the menu.

So I ordered the Tom Yam noodle thingy, which looked really good in the picture with two big prawns sitting fine and pretty on it. And got just one -- what a conn. The waiter remembers I like chopsticks with my noodles, and he had them ready for me which was nice. I only had warm water though, after reading that article on water therapy from Japan about all the sludge accumulating in your gut if you had your meal with cold drinks. Whilst slurping noodles like Lady and the Tramp, I pretended not to eaves-drop on the relatively flat, monotonous and unexciting conversation the couple next to me were having. 

Then I called for my bill, paid the RM20 (tax and service was RM4) and left with renewed energy for class. Not that the noodles brimmed with goodness and tasted awesome. Just had more gas to work on before bed. Looking forward to the Nestle cereal before dinner. 

Cleanliness: B (sofa could do with a wash)
Food: C+ (not the same with picture in menu)
Price: ~RM20 per pax (excluding drinks or cake)
Satisfaction Level: B
Service: B+ (friendly waiters, short wait)
Atmosphere: B+ (nice and quite, sofa can do PDA)

San Francisco BBB (go after payday)

So, two nights ago, me and Armand decided to spend some quality time over some good food at San Francisco. The San Francisco described here is a corner restaurant at the T-junction as you enter Bangi from Tol Kajang/Putrajaya, facing the Zakat Selangor and Termite Terminator billboards.

The last time we had dinner here was some months ago last year, and never returned since, mainly because I nearly choked on the RM100++ bill we received. This time, however, we weren't going to binge. The plan was to eat healthy food, watch football on the bigscreen and discuss Armand's defense tactics for his football game at school.

The menu at San Francisco's is mainly Italian. One wonders where the San Francisco came from. If I had to choose an arbitrary city name for a restaurant serving Italian food and bits and pieces from other parts of the world, Cyberjaya would be a bit more glamorous, in my opinion. (Yes, there was a hint of sarcasm in there somewhere).

There was a good choice of pizza's, calzones, and pasta. Lots of seafood soups and lamb with rice dishes as well. We decided on mushroom soup and garlic bread for appetizer. And for the main course, Armand had the salmon linguine and I had Caesar salad with beef strips.

The garlic bread was delicious. Warm and fresh. So those disappeared in a matter of mili-seconds. The mushroom soup was delightful. If the only mushroom soup you've tasted in your entire life was from Pizza Hut you'd be thrilled to your toes because there are lots of mushroom bits in there. However, I can faintly taste the cornflour they added to thicken the sauce.  Fortunately Armand was too hungry to care. And the garlic bread made up for the loss.

The Caesar salad was good and bad news. The leaves, the croutons and the dressing were great but the beef strips tasted like thick rubber bands (or maybe they were supposed to taste that way?). They were so chewy my jaws locked after 3 mouthfuls. So I picked them out and fed them to the cat under the table. Kidding. The restaurant was nice and chic. No stray cats running about. Definitely no cockroaches or termites. Not with the big termite sign across the street.

Armand's pasta was nice and rich. As a result, he didn't finish it and I was tired of chewing rubber to help him out. The coffee I had ordered was divine. It kept me up thinking until 2 am.

The bill was RM65++.

Armand said next week we'll go for the lamb ribs. His mom said we'll see.

Cleanliness: A+
Food: A-/B+
Price: ~RM30 per pax
Satisfaction Level: A-
Service: A- (friendly waiters, short wait)
Atmosphere: A (great bonding experience)

Share your San Francisco experience.

Welcome to my Food Diary

I am just writing this food diary for fun. Mainly because I love trying out new food (the legitimate ones, nothing from fear factor) and I love to write, sometimes both at the same time (which ain't a pretty picture and which hopefully you will never get to see unless you got lucky). And also because there are so many new restaurants across town and unless you have a good communications skills with your inner conscious, it can be be hard to make up your mind on where to eat next.

So, read on, open your mind, and then open your mouth.