Zestful Eats

The leaf and some acar (pickle)

I’ve been wanting to eat banana leaf for quite some time now. I usually go to this restaurant in Bangsar, Sri Nirwana or something like that but its really really overpriced there.

So anyway I was in Klang the other day when the bf suggested that since I’ve been wanting to eat banana leaf so he brought me to this place in Klang that was recommended by his friends.

The name of the restaurant is Mohana Bistro and its in Jalan Tengku Kelana. Its actually quite hard to find a parking there so its best to park somewhere behind the shoplots. The place was rather packed with people (mostly indians - duh?) but there was a lot of workers and we didn’t have to wait long before we were given the menu. Ah yes, unlike normal banana leaf shops, this one has menu.

Fried Fish (RM 4.00) and Vege cutlet (Rm 2.50)

We ordered the banana leaf rice which was RM4.00 each consisting of three types of vege, rice drowned in a curry of your choice and pappadum. Then we ordered 1 fried fish (RM 4.00), 1 fried chicken drumstick (RM3.00), fried bittergourd/peria (RM1.20), vegetable cutlet (RM2.50) and mushrooms cooked in some spicy sauce (RM2.00). For the drinks we had 2 teh o ais (RM1.50 x 2) and one air limau (RM1.30).

Pardon the blur photos, my photographer wasn’t too good. LOL!

The plain banana leaf was okay, they were quite generous with the vege portions and you can keep asking for more pappadum (which I like). The vege cutlet was lousy, too tough and dry. The fish and chicken was okay. I didn’t eat the mushrooms.

Basically the food was okay. But what I really didn’t like was the fact that it was mostly all precooked. The chicken and fish were all fried and stacked up so that all you had to do was choose it from a tray. But i guess, for the total price of RM25 and loads of different dishes, it was quite reasonable.

Mohana Bistro
119, Jalan Tengku Kelana,
41000 Kelang.
Tel : (603)33727659

I stumbled upon this blog of recipes by Aunty Yochana the other day while I was blog surfing and came across this recipe for Brownie Biscuits. Now I know you’re thinking like what?? but think of it this way. Brownies are made of chocolate and nuts..now imagine that in a biscuit. Yums! So I saved the recipe.

Last nite, I couldn’t sleep and so as usual I decided to bake. I peeked into my fridge and found that I had all the ingredients. So at 5am, I proceeded to bake my biscuits.

Brownie Biscuits

200 gm. Butter
180 gm. Sugar <– I used castor
1 egg
100 gm. Walnuts or Cashew nuts <–  I used walnuts + almonds
1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
320 gm. Plain flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
50 gm. cornflour
20 gm. cocoa powder
Some almond flakes or sunflower seeds for decoration
Some beaten egg for glazing

Method:

(1) Cream butter and sugar till sugar dissolves.

(2) Add in egg and beat till well mixed.

(3) Add in blended walnuts or cashew nuts, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and cornflour. I just measured everything in the measuring scale all together. Less washing.

(4) Blend into a dough. Rest for 10 mins.

(5) Roll dough between two sheets of plastic and then cut out using cookie cutters. I recommend using greaseproof paper instead of plastic wrap because its very leceh to use plastic.

(6) Place cookies on tray, glaze with beaten eggs and then sprinkle some almond flakes or sunflower seeds on top. If you’re lazy like me, don’t need to glaze & put almond flakes.

(7) Bake at 170C for about 15 mins. or till cooked.

(8) Cool cookies before storing into containers.

I forgot to take pics of the baked biscuits so here’s the pic from Aunty Yochana’s blog. Its quite nice, not too hard or too soft. Very easy to do also. Perhaps would be superb with chocolate chips. More chocolate makes everything better.

I have always associated Delifrance with breads, sandwiches and their oh so sedap garlic baguettes which taste fantastic when you re-toast them in an oven. Best garlic bread ever.

Ah but recently (well perhaps not so recently) I just found out that that Delifrance introduced Bistro Delifrance which serves heavier meals. Its basically like a restaurant concept instead of just a deli or cafe.

One day we were deciding what to eat and the Bistro Delifrance looked interesting so we popped in. They have this promotion where you get a free soup when you order a main course. NOt only that, certain main courses comes with free flow of soft drinks.

French Onion Soup (RM7.20) - Honestly nothing particularly fancy or nice about it. The garlic bread is good though. Not too hard or tasteless. Not something I would pay 7.20 for. Luckily it came FREE with the main course.

Provencal Lamb Stew (RM19.90) - This was quite nice, not too chewy. A nice change to the usual black pepper or mushroom sauce, this came with a tomato based sauce full of mixed herbs. They gave 2 pieces and underneath is really nice fluffy mashed potatoes.

Baby Back Beef Ribs served with Soft Drink (RM38.00) - The meat was so soft and it was falling off the bone. Really nice. I thought the sauce was a bit too salty but my fren said it was okay. Underneath is plain boiled spaghetti which went well with the BBQ sauce.

All in all, it was not bad for western cuisine. The food was all nicely presented and cooked well. With just one miss (the onion soup) I wouldn’t hesitate to go again. See the full menu here. Oh by the way, not every Delifrance outlet is a Bistro tho. Here’s a list of locations, addresses and numbers for Bistro Delifrance outlets.