Zestful Eats

The Last Polka icecream is a homemade icecream available here in Kuala Lumpur (and some parts of Selangor) with 100% natural ingredients and made in the “creamy French-style icecream” but with Asian flavors.

I’ve had a couple of their flavours, but being the inactive food blogger that I am, I failed to take pics or write about it. So I decided that the next time I had some, I would update this post about the newest flavours I’ve tried. I got my icecream at The Bee, Jaya One. They were going for RM6.80 or RM8.80 per cup, depending on the flavour.

Their available flavours (as of May 2011) are : Salted Gula Melaka, Coconut Kaffir Lime, Mango, Strawberry Cream Cheese, Guinness, Nutella, Teh Tarik, Horlicks, Green Tea, Malt & Peanut Butter, White Coffee, Black Sesame and French Toast.

Coconut Kaffir Lime
”We source our coconut milk from local markets so that only the freshest stuff makes it into our ice cream. And just to keep things interesting, our Coconut flavour is an update; a superhero with a sidekick – kaffir lime, or limau purut. The small but zesty limau saves the day with a refreshing, light finish.”

With a name as unique as this, I think I pictured something like limau ais with some coconut flavour. It is white with dark green flecks of what I presume are bits of kaffir lime.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really like this. Firstly, it was frozen rock solid. Not too sure if its because it’s been in the freezer for a while or the texture is just odd. Also I felt that it was undersweetened and the lime taste was overpowering. In fact a friend commented that it tasted like Masak Lemak (blergh).

On a plus side, I tweeted @thelastpolka about my comments and they said they will look into it and go “back to the test kitchen”. As coconut is one of my fav flavours, I would love to see what they come up with next.

Mango
”Mango is back! Our best-selling flavour was much missed during its hiatus (due to crop problems in India). We took the chance to make it even better: it is now made with 100% Alphonso mangoes, the king of mangoes. Richer and creamier, this is the mango ice cream to beat.”

I told Chris @spinzer about how I didn’t like the earlier flavour I had and he recommended I get the Mango the next time I dropped by The Bee. Boy am I glad I took his advice!

This is no lightly flavoured mango sorbet. This is creamy mango yellow icecream. Sweet but not too sweet and truly tastes like eating a cold mango. No taste of artificial flavourings here. I must admit that I have not tasted mango icecream like this anywhere else. Highly recommended

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That’s all the flavours I’ve had for now. Will update and repost when I try more!

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 »

We tried out this new place for roti canai and its been our hangout when we’re in KL town.

The roti here is stretched thinly, so its crispy and fluffy. It came with sambal, dhall and curry (chicken I think). Its RM1 each.

As for the name, well we asked the auntie owner and she said, that Valentine is the name of her son. Interesting name for a roti place right?

Anyway, don’t get lost getting there : From Jalan Ampang, turn left into Jalan Semarak. After Menara Celcom on the left, pass the traffic lights and you’ll see Roti Valentine on the right after the shoplots. You’d have to find a place to uturn though.

Enjoy

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