Zestful Eats

I have a slight fondness for Jaya One. I don’t go often, but when I do, I like it because its not crowded like Curve or One Utama. Its also the place I go for udon and hot soup (Marufuku!) and cheap drinks (RM50 for 3 glasses of Kilkenny/Guinness or beer). Not to mention there’s PJ Live Arts where I occasionally go to watch a show or two.

After passing by this place numerous times and hearing things about this place (both hits and misses), we decided to hang out here before and after a show we were seeing. Before the show just for drinks and a snack,  and after the show for a proper dinner.

The Bee’s freshly-made House Lemonade (RM5.50) – The lemonade was recommended on Foursquare so I ordered it. And Yes, it was really refreshing and sourish, just the way I like it to be. No pic sorry.

Nachos Plate (RM18.50) Tortilla chips topped with Mexican beef chili, jalapenos, sour cream, avocado salsa and melted cheese – This one was nice too. The chips were nicely drenched in beef, cheese and guacamole and sourcream without being soggy. The chilli needs a bit more spices and I hardly tasted any jalapenos. Plus point : the cheese doesn’t taste ‘cheap’.

Tori Katsu Burger (RM15.50) Japanese-crumbed chicken with house-made Bulldog tartar sauce, lettuce, tomato and house-made aioli on a lightly toasted burger bun and served with fries – There were a lot of fries. The chicken is freshly fried but unfortunately turns soggy pretty fast due to the sauce on top. The homemade sauce was an interesting twist on a unique burger. Nice, but I preferred the next burger.

The Bee Burger (RM18.50) House-made 100% beef patty, beef bacon, cheese, pickled cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes and house-made aioli on a lightly toasted burger bun and served with fries – This came highly recommended on twitter. It’s the burger at the back. I liked this much more than my katsu burger (why is the grass already greener on the other side? or in this case, the burger on that other plate is greener). The beef was not tough nor dry, cheese was nicely melted. I can see why its recommended.

My only gripe is that the burgers are a bit small. Especially when you think of places like Chili’s or Carl’s Jr that have huge burgers at about the same price. Also, way too much fries. Plus point is that plain water is free, they have The Last Polka icecreams and you can redeem PJLA tickets for 10% discount.

Will I come back? It’s a big maybe.

Last week I got invited to a food review at Kin Shui Tei in Tropicana Golf and Country Club. To be honest, I had no idea that there was some restaurants in there. Thought it was only a golf club and some big houses. Little did I know there were a number of makan spots and even Thai Odyssey (more massages soon?).

I know that some people have been rather wary of eating Japanese food ever since the Fukushima nuclear reactor leak. People are worried about the risk of radiation contamination or poisoning in the food (especially seafood) in Japan.

Kin Shui Tei assures that their food is radiation free by sourcing many of their ingredients as fresh as possible from the safest locations around the world such as USA, Norway, Taiwan and such. For items that are unavailable anywhere but Japan, the Malaysians customs checks and ensures that the imported goods are safe for consumption.

For your assurance, Kin Shui Tei is the FIRST restaurant in Malaysia to purchase a RM4k Radiation detector which they use to scan every thing that enters their kitchen to also make sure that it is radiation free. We were shown a demo on how the radiation detector works – check out the videos by Azrinarizz from 0.43

Now on to the food! Some pics below taken by RunningAndrew

First up, for our appetizers we had Edamame (Japanese peas) and Deep Fried Shrimp. Edamame is one of my fave peas and the ones here are not too mushy (sign of freshness). I find that sometimes fried shrimps in some shops are scratchy to the throat but the ones in Kin Shui Tei were not only yummy but don’t have that “itchy” feeling. Tastes exactly like prawn crackers.

Special Hokkaido chirashi sushi (RM98) – This is vinegar sushi rice toopped with mixed sashimi (raw fish), salmon roe (the round things) and king crab. The sashimi was fresh with no fishy smell. There was also a some fish strips with ginger which was refreshing. The king crab meat was sweetish, which is good but the rice was a bit too sticky.

Beef tofu Katsu don (RM38) – When this dish first came, I swear everyone thought it was Chicken katsu don (breaded & fried chicken fillet on top of seasoned rice). This is a unique dish that I’ve never seen in other Japanese restaurants.

It’s a silky tofu wrapped in a thin slice of beef fillet and breaded and fried before set on seasoned rice. Check out the photo on the right. It shows the different layers of the beef tofu katsu. Interesting right?

Smoked Ayu (RM55) – Ayu is a Japanese sweet river fish. This fish was smoked and left to sit in a light brownish sauce. I expected the meat to be dry but it was actually very soft and tasty. I don’t think I’ve tried a fish that tastes this good.

Lamb rib steak (RM50) – Here’s something for the meat lovers! Two generous slices of grilled lamb smothered with Kin Shui Tei’s special homemade sauce. Below is a bed of very very good potato salad. The meat was tender but I would have preferred it to be a bit more well done.

Seasonal Anago Tempura (RM30) –  A lot of restaurants have grilled unagi (eel) but Kin Shui Tei deep fries their sea eel with vegetables such as carrots, eggplants and such.

Teppan Seafood Special (RM98) – This dish, for me was the Star of the show. A huge plate of teppanyaki salmon, prawns, oyster and scallop for devouring. I especially loved the creamy, cheesy sauce on top of the prawns. Really rich without feeling ‘muak’ or overwhelming.

Seafood Kimuchi Udon (RM39) – Last was the spicy seafood Kimuchi udon. Strands of udon (not handmade unfortunately) swimming in seafood kimchi soup. Its not as “spicy” as the name suggests but it certain was filled with seafood. Nice warm soupy dish for a rainy evening.

We were also served sake and apple juice – freshly juiced. The food was good, my personal favourites are the prawn with creamy sauce and the smoked ayu. I’m sure many would agree with me since these two dishes were wiped clean!

If you’re interested to go, here’s how to get there : Enter the huge arches at Tropicana and drive in towards the Club House. Park in the areas indicated for visitors and walk into the clubhouse in the center. Kin Shui Tei is further in on your left.

THANK YOU Kin Shui Tei for the invite for dinner!

Disclaimer : The food was provided by Kin Shui Tei but this does not effect my judgment or opinion. Bear in mind that tastes are subjective so if you do drop by Kin Shui Tei, do leave a comment as I’d love to know what you think!

Croatia (aka Hrvatska). I bet you’ve probably never heard of it. Well, I didn’t. Until I got invited to an event at Dubrovnik Restaurant last year. Croatia is actually close to Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia and Romania. In the map its that boomerang shaped orange thing in the middle. And Dubrovnik is actually the name of a city in Croatia. Based on pictures I’ve seen, I think it’s a city by the sea. Really gorgeous place.

My friends and I were invited over for some chit chat and some makan-makan. I’ve been here twice previously so haven’t really sampled all their food so it was a good time to check out the rest of the food!

What’s unique about Croatian food is the mix of Mediterranean, Greek and even Turkish (correct me if I’m wrong?) influences in their food. So expect a lot of lamb and different spices that what we’re used to. But first, a bit of history of Dubrovnik Restaurant Dina Djumic, GM & our host for the evening.

Dubrovnik Restaurant has actually been in Solaris for the past 3 years. In fact I believe they were one of the few restaurants who first opened there. At first glance, it may look intimidatingly expensive when in actual fact, there’s much to learn about this place. In preserving the authenticity of the food, they make most of their items like bread, sausages, pasta and even cheese themselves! Dina’s father, Zoran Djumic, is the Head Chef and he oversees the cooking.

So now on to the food! Warning, photo heavy post after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

After seeing Marcky tweet over and over and over about Salad Bar and how healthy and cheap it is, and after reading the blogpost he finally wrote, I had a to really try it out myself.

I don’t eat salads. At least I don’t eat those Lettuce, tomato, cucumber tossed together and dumped at the corner of the plate kinda things. I usually just leave that on the plate as I consider it garnish, not a meal.

And, as anyone who read my food blog or checks out my Twitter/Foursquare knows, I generally eat more unhealthy food than healthy food. Unless Im eating at home. This time, I was hankering for a good, hearty salad with chicken, green and nuts. Yea, nuts.

I like my salads a bit sweet-ish – either the dressing or having some fruits in the salad. One salad that I like is Chili’s Asian one with greens some mee hoon, cubed chicken and mandarin oranges though I’m not exactly sure if its still available. I have to check.

Anyway, so last night, I decided to take a trip to this well-mentioned Salad Bar. I must say that the location puts you in a spot, being next to Darabif and all. SHould you go for a Lamb Glam, or a healthy meal? I chose the latter.

I was greeted by an assortment of greens and a VAST variety of toppings! We were asked to sit as we looked lost standing in front of the salad bar. We plonked ourselves on the seat and browsed through the menu. It was a flipbook of all the SuperSalads and SuperSandwiches they had.

On the board (in pic above), you are given a variety of set options with combinations of juice, salads, pasta, sandwiches and soups. For drinks, I had Green Apple Juice (RM4.50) – yes, you can actually choose if you want Green or Red apple juice here. And for dinner, I had the :

Souper Set 5 (RM9.50)
1) Half Supersalad : I chose the  Fruity Nuthouse, – which had err…Guava? I think, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds with a yogurt based dressing – and added Herbed Chicken (+RM2.50).
2) Soup of the day : Corn Soup

When my food came, I was very glad Marcus warned about the portions. I mean, seriously they were HUGE for a HALF portion. I mean look at that picture (sorry for the weird angle). And the taste? Corn soup was not my preference but I am looking forward to try their other soups. Friend ordered a “Yo Dawg” Supersandwich but it was just so-so.

But the salad?  It was AWESOME! It was everything that I expected – green veggie that isnt bitter (some salads have that bitter leaves in it, I dislike em), nice light herbed chicken, yogurt-based dressing (I think) and LOADS of nuts! Yum!

I also was interested in their “Create your own 2-3-1 Salad”. You can choose from half size (RM5.50) or Full Size (RM9.50). Choose any 2 greens (iceberg, romaine, butterhead, red coral, red oak), 3 toppings & 1 dressing. They make their own dressing. You can add more toppings for RM1 each or add in Cheese/meat for RM2.50 each.

Here are the types of toppings you can choose from :
boiled egg, brocolli, carrot, celery, cucumber, olive, onion, oyster mushroom, peppers (green, red,yellow) pumpkin, shitake, sweetcorn, tofu, tomato, apple, grape, guava, honeydew, mango, orange, pomelo, pear, starfruit, watermelon, dried fruits (blackcurrant, dates, apricot, cranberry, mixed peels, pitted prunes, raisins), almonds, brazil nut, cashewnut, cornflakes, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, walnut, buckwheat, chickpeas, millet
Mozzarella, parmesan, chicken sausage, herb chicken, spicy teriyaki

See what I mean about a huge selection? Everything is prepared fresh everyday, from the salads to the soups. I forsee that there will be more salad lunches and dinners in my future

The Salad Bar
No 41, Jalan @@ 21/60,
Damansara Utama

Tel : 0377312228
Email : thesaladbar@email.com

On Friday morning we decided to take a trip all the way to Nilai to check out a place Khairul keeps talking about called Auntie Aini’s (not to be confused with Auntie Annie’s ).

Auntie Aini’s is a quaint little place somewhere in Kampung Chelet. No idea where it actually is but I’ll add a map at the end of this post. The place is full of plants and little huts to eat in with wooden tables and chairs.

This was what we ordered:

• Gulai Masak Lemak Daging Salai – RM 9.50
• Sambal Belacan & Ulam – RM 1.50
• Puyuh Goreng – RM 6.50
• Kailan – RM 4.00
• Sup Ekor – RM 11.50
• Sup Tulang – RM 10.50 (not in pic)
• Kangkong Goreng Belacan – RM 5.00 (not in pic)
• Gulai Lemak Tempoyak – Ikan Jenahak (Isi) – RM 11.50 (not in pic)

I liked the masak lemak daging salai and sup ekor. I also loved the whole environment of the place. Will have to plan another trip here later. Here’s the map below:

Aunty Aini’s Garden Café
Batu 16, Jalan Sepang,
Kampung Chelet,
71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan

Tel : 06-7991276

Opening Hours :
Monday – Thursday : 11.30am – 3.00pm, 5.30pm – 11.30pm
Friday – Saturday : 11.30am – 3.00pm, 5.30pm – 12.30am
Closed on Sundays

After having dinner at Indian Kitchen (my fav northern indian place), I was hankering for something hot and sweet. As we walked back to our car parked in Bangsar Village, I came across this new place and this sign greeted me as I was approaching it.

Desserts!! And at the bottom “ All desserts for RM7++”. Needless to say, I decided to sit. The place had a rustic kind of feel to it. Brick walls and along the walls were shelves filled with loaves of bread on one side and tons of ingredients on the other. Not too sure if you could buy those ingredients, I neglected to ask.

The owner of the place (sorry I can’t recall his name) was friendly and dropped by our table to introduce himself. He mentioned that he and his partner were formerly from Telawi Street Bistro (god I miss those long lunches at TSB with a wood fire baked pizza and a pint of Hoegaarden) who decided to set up shop here, just mere lots away. Nice guy.

We took a look at the menu and it seemed to have an interesting selection of western dishes and pizza. The main dishes range from under RM20 (sandwiches and pies) to RM30 (lamb stew, beef ribs) to RM70 (Rump Steak 300gm). Pretty reasonable if you ask me. However, as we were too full, we settled for a Chocolate Mousse to share. I ordered some hot tea as well.

The chocolate mousse was simple, with some (unsweeted) cream on top. The mousse was not overly thick like a pudding but not runny. I thought it was nice and chocolaty without being too sweet.

Am planning to come again for the main dishes, anyone game to join me?

G3 Kitchen & Bar
19, Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 2282-9019