Khuntai Restaurant @ Permatang Tengah, Butterworth

I have been hearing about this place since long time ago! And finally... Thanks to Szee's family!

The place is quite easy to find. Not far away from Sg. Dua exit of PLUS highway.

The restaurant is well known for their food and ambiance. We arrived at about 7pm, most of the small huts were occupied or reserved. Luckily there were still a few empty tables for us to pick.

Starting off with a jug of kedondong juice (ambra juice)

Their house specialty omelette with some unknown vegetables inside. Personally, I found it quite forgettable. Just like any other home style omelette. ;p

Spicy/spiciness: 0 (Not spicy)

Tom Yam Seafood

Fiery hot & flavorful. Be prepared for swollen lips after the meal (Szee & his sister did, lol!)

Spicy/spiciness: 5 (Fiery hot!)

Glass noodle (tang hoon) with prawns

Can also opt for crabs. But you'll have to pay according to crab's seasonal price.

Deep fried kangkung

A dish that is quite commonly found in Thai cuisine.

Spicy/spiciness: 0

Lala (forgotten which style it was cooked in)

Fresh & juicy!

Spicy/spiciness: 4 (it's hot!)

Of course, Thai food served with rice.

Well that's not all we had...

How could we leave out the steamed fish?

Steamed Siakap with assorted vegetables, served with a bowl of additional sauce (it's actually soup) for you to top up.

Spicy/spiciness: 4 (it's hot! But you can also choose for the non-spicy)

Kerabu mango.

Not my type as it wasn't sour. It wasn't hot either, until I bit the cili padi.

Spicy/spiciness: 0 (unless you eat the cili padi!)

Pretty much for 5 of us. That's why we missed out the pandan chicken. Our tummy is the limiting factor!

We added a jug of sugar cane juice.

And the total bill costs us RM164.

Scrumptious food, speedy service, nice ambiance... Worth it!

Keep this restaurant in your list for Thai food. Open daily from 11am to 12midnight. Halal restaurant.

Just realized that they have branch at PJ (Jalan Gasing) and Kepong (Aman Puri).

Must check it out when back to KL!

Kow Po ice creams @ Bentong

Decided to put this as a post on its own, rather than bury it in all the Bukit Tinggi photos. What a waste would that be, this is a must-go whenever one visits Bentong!

Let me reemphasize: If you go to Bentong, make sure that you drop by at this place!

They serve home made ice creams and various types of ice kacang, etc. 

I've tried their ice kacang and chendol during my first visit few months ago. Not so special, but their ice creams were SUPERB! So this time I was just aiming for the ice creams.

Chocolate, vanilla, banana, pandan, peanut, etc etc..... Scratch your head to decide which flavour you want! Of course you may have all. ;)

We had chocolate, banana and pandan.

Overcherishing the ice creams.

 

See how smooth they were? The pandan tasted very natural, just like our homemade tong yuen using real pandan juice. For the banana flavour, it's like melting a frozen banana in your mouth. While for the chocolate, you could taste the slight bitterness and richness of the chocolate!

Even after it melted, you won't see whitish bubbling cream like any other ice creams. I wonder whether they use cream in making it?

Three scoops cost us RM7.50. When we were paying at the cashier, surprisingly we found out that those ice creams are available for take-away! At RM13 each box, we bought 1 box of chocolate flavour. It was actually a plastic container, wrapped with newspapers and according to the staff, it could stand for 3 hours without melting.

Malaysia's weather helps contribute to the good business. Why don't they open a branch in KL? I would visit it at least once a week!

If you go to Bentong, remember to go Kow Po. It is nearby Bentong bus station, located next to Hong Leong bank. And if you go to Kow Po, please request the boss to open a branch in KL. ;p

The Spaghetti Farm @ MidValley Megamall

Surprised to see I talked about food but without any photos? Yeap, I didn't take any. You'll know why shortly. Anyway you probably can google its photos easily, or simply visit to their website here.

The Spaghetti Farm, at the LG floor of MidValley Megamall. Somewhere near Kenny Roger Roasters, and next to C-Jade Express. Szee was so interested in it since its opening but until recently only we paid our first visit.

Glanced at the menu, the price seemed to be reasonable, for a spaghetti restaurant in MidValley. We ordered 2 spaghetti, plus RM3.20 for a soup(choice of 4; mushroom, chicken, asparagus and tomato; we picked mushroom) and a carbonated drinks.

My personal review of the food that we had:
Mushroom soup: Very instant-soup-tasted. For both of us who actually can make mushroom soup from all fresh ingredients, okay maybe we expected too much from a fast food restaurant.
Fishfarm spaghetti(prawns and peas) RM11.80: Texture of the prawns was kinda weird. Nothing special about its sauce, it was just like diluted ketchup. Okay maybe we expected too much from a fast food restaurant.
Farmhouse(beef and cheese) RM8.80: Cheesy sauce at the bottom and bolognese sauce on top. The cheesy sauce was not creamy but watery, and flavour of the cheese was not rich. After mixing the sauces, the pasta was so gamy. Perhaps some would enjoy the gamy taste of the beef but I wasn't.

The meal costs us almost RM25. It wasn't really cheap for such quality of food. We walked out from the restaurant with a conclusion: Other than first-timers who want to explore new places, those who intend to walk into that place for the second time are probably unable to make themselves a simple spaghetti. ;p

Okay maybe we expected too much. It's just a fast food restaurant. So that would be our first and only visit to The Spaghetti Farm.

Vivo @ Times Square, Kuala Lumpur

I haven't finished my talking about last Saturday. While waiting for the redemption booth to be ready, we took a walk in the mall, thought of having lunch since it was already noon time. Then we found this restaurant at the LG floor. We went to Vivo at The Curve for a couple of times and had very good dining experience there. So among all the restaurants in Times Square, we picked this. ;)

I like their promotion very much. Usually restaurants offer special promotions only for weekdays, but see what we have here: Weekends Special! Free one Power Juice (worth RM7.80) with the purchase of 10" or 13" pizza.

Mushroom soup.
Nothing special, but for the price of RM3.90, ok lar.

The complimentary juice. I had Tropical Swing, i.e. mango + orange.

Our favourite Vivo pizza-- Bed of Mushroom.

Lots of fresh mushroom slices, together with almond flakes and cream cheese chunks, sleeping on the bed of mozzarella cheese and pesto sauce. The pesto sauce gave a hint of herbal aroma to it. Flavourful and appetizing. The one we had was thin crust, but as you can see from the photo, it wasn't very thin actually. I never try their thick crust before, but the thin is just nice for us. Crunchy outside and chewy inside!

Creamy Mushroom Spaghetti. RM10.80

Again, lots of fresh shitake mushrooms in creamy tomato sauce. Warm, smooth and mouthwatering. Yummy!

Just realized that our lunch was so mushroomy. Plus a cup of hot peppermint tea, the meal was around RM41.

Vivo serves food that suits almost everyone. From chicken to salmon, from pizza to tiramisu; you choose. All food are halal, and there are plenty of choices for vegetarian. Everything we ordered was actually vegetarian food. Their branch in Times Square is spacious and with more sofa seats, but for no reason I prefer The Curve branch, maybe feels more friendly? Unknown.

Remember to fill up the comment form upon your visit. Previously I did and in return I received a RM5 voucher. :)

Interested? Click on the logo below for their website.


p/s: Dear look at the quality of the photos... I wanna get a camera la... *sob sob*

Lala Chong Seafood @ Kayu Ara Damansara

Thanks to recommendation from Meng Hon, last Sunday we (my family + Szee) went to Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant after reviewing comments from food bloggers. Almost all comments on this restaurant are positive (very very positive indeed!). That added our curiosity towards this popular restaurant which was previously located in Subang and now shifted to Kayu Ara Damansara.

It’s not far away from the Atria Shopping Centre. You’ll pass by Damansara Village Steamboat Restaurant which is visible from the main road. Go straight along the kampung-looking road with workshops around you. You’ll come to a T-junction, turn left if you are going to Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant, whereas turn right if you are heading to Pantai Seafood Restaurant. Both restaurants are equally well-known for their seafood and some other signature dishes.

The first thing I ordered was lala, of course, their famous shiong tong lala (lala in superior soup). Then followed by another signature dish, stir-fried pucuk paku with tuna, grilled fish in salt, taufu with gourd (胜瓜豆腐, my parents’ must-order in every Chinese restaurants they visited) and fried mantis prawns in Kong Po style.

The funny part was when I ordered, “猪手 (pork trotter)…” The waitress stunned for a few seconds, then she said “我们没卖猪肉 (We serve no pork here)… ” Ahhh~~ So embarrassing!!! I was confused after reading many blog posts, pork trotter is served in Pantai Seafood Restaurant but not Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant, it’s a halal restaurant here! What a joke I had made.

We were one of the early customers, perhaps that’s why our food was served pretty fast.

Shiong tong lala (lala in superior soup)

Sad to say it's no longer RM10 like what other bloggers said. But RM15 for a big plate for fresh and juicy lala, still worth for it.

Stir-fried pucuk paku with tuna. I like it! This might be a weird combination but with good taste! Pucuk paku with sambal is too ordinary.

Taufu with gourd (with crabmeat)

Fried mantis prawns in Kong Po style. A bit too sweet. Taste like 咕咾肉. Hahaha.

Grilled fish in salt? I don't know what's its name. RM32. Quite a big one. Served with very nice dipping sauce. But this was my first time seeing 'salt baked fish' although salt baked chickens (盐焗鸡) are common.

The whole fish was grilled (baked?) together with its skin and scales. The skin was then peeled off before the fish was served. Stuffed with garlic, onion, ginger and chili padi to reduce the fishiness and enhance the flavour.

The total bill costs us about RM130, inclusive of tea, rice and wet towel for 5 persons, and 2 tit bits. Not very cheap huh after the price was increased. Thanks to dear for the dinner!

Sakura Cafe and Cuisine, Jalan Imbi

It was a Saturday. Evening. As we expected, Szee and I stuck in jam when we were heading to Times Square. The traffic was really slow in Jalan Imbi. So we turned into an empty parking at the roadside, for an impromptus dinner.

Tadaa~

Sakura Cafe and Cuisine

This restaurant exists since long time ago, before I was born. I was here when I was a kid, my parents brought me here for a few times. I could recall that their nasi lemak and assam fish head were their signature dishes, according to my parents. But I don't really remember how it taste. So now me as a KL-ian brought a SP-ian to this tranquil restaurant which was quite well known in KL during 80's.

Looking out through their glass fixed window, we felt glad to be here, warm and calm, rather than the heavy traffic out there.

Tit bits

Nasi Lemak RM14.80

Curry chicken. Two chicken thighs; soft, juicy and spicy.
Sambal ikan bilis. Lots of onions. Similar to chinese style nasi lemak (my own definition).

What makes it different from others: the sambal shrimp. Dried shrimp floss, ones who cannot tolerate hot food might find it fiery hot.

Achar

I prefer my grandma's version. This one is too garlicky for me.

French baked onion soup RM8.00

Served with bread and butter.

It tasted and looked like a dish that Szee cooked for me before. But of course I would prefer Szee's. Haha. This one? Nothing special, forgettable.

Calamansi RM6.00

Too sweet. Would taste better if lesser syrup was added.

Sakura serves a wide variety of food. Noodles, rice, porridge, abalone and shark's fin, Chinese dishes, Western grilled entrees and sandwiches. Note that they serve no pork and alcohol. Muslims can feel free to dine in here.

If I trap in traffic jam in Jalan Imbi again, I think I would try Sakura's Western grilled entrees for my next visit.

By the way, they provide delivery service too.

After the dinner, we left our car parked in front of Sakura, and we went to Times Square on foot. In the rain.

A cheezy and creamy Monday

After came back from Kota Bharu I don’t really wanna rice as my meal. I am not that type of person who must has rice in every meal. I would rather go for noodles or other food, preferably. But the week in KB I had rice every day. At least once per day.

So for dinner last night I opted for something else. Craved for mushroom soup and cheese. I heard that the Italian restaurant in SS2 serves very nice mushroom soup and Szee agreed to have a try. We were so happy to find a parking space right in front of the restaurant, and the following second we found that the restaurant was not open. Joy turned into disappointment in just one second.

At last we turned up in 1 Utama. Heading to New York Deli. Our first time since it opened long time ago. I also heard about the bravo-ness of its mushroom soup.

Roasted Mushroom Cappuccino

Mushroom chunks in cream broth but not too creamy. Even nicer when a pinch of coarse black pepper was added. That was the way Szee likes it. I would prefer richer ones. ;p

Beef Lasagna

Really really cheesy! Got the right thing to fulfill my lust. I managed to finish the whole lasagna! Must start to reduce my diet from now onwards.

Tagliatelle Mushroom Alfredo with Crispy Fish

Creamy! But you won't feel it's fattening. Most of the creamy pasta are just creamy without any other taste. This one was tasty. Szee who doesn't really like thick and creamy stuff indeed enjoyed it very much. The crispy fish was not dory fillet, we didn't know what was it. Butterfish? The texture of the fillet was quite different from what we usually have. Special.

Root Beer Float with Vanilla Ice Cream

For drinks I ordered Dark Strawberry, so-called "their very own chocolate velvet and strawberry". But it was not the same as expected, and I didn't like it. So I didn't take any photo of it.

Thanks to dear for the dinner. It's nice to have the food you wanted so much, right in front of you.

By the way, Chinese New Year is just around the corner. CNY decorations in progress. Szee said the 招财猫 looked like panda, while I said rabbit. What do you think?