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Shiewie

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Everything posted by Shiewie

  1. Try e-mailing Rohani Jelani rohani@cookery.net for her latest class schedule. She has a wide variety of classes www.rohanijelani.com/themes.htm and it's hands on. Have been to a few before. Googled this one http://www.malaysia-klcookingclass.com/index.htm
  2. Here are more pics of noodle making in action and other items we ate at Noodle Loft for Fengyi. This doesn't look like noodles but it is - Fengyi, do you know what it's called? The texture of this was wonderfully chewy but sauce we chose a tad salty, especialy since we dumped the whole bowl on Knife-cut noodles with beef brisket Sorghum dumplings stuffed with preserved vegetable (xian chai/harm choy) My friends whom I stayed with were hankering for a taste of home so we had some 'roti canai' substitute Sorghum dumpling chef in action Making knife-cut noodles - he was so fast I just couldn't capture the noodles flying in the air in any of the many, many pictures I took
  3. Shiewie

    Beijing dining

    Thanks Fengyi for clarifying - since I can't read it and was told we were going to eat Hunanese food. We went with johkm who posts on e-gullet and his friends who are mainly from the tea trade. One of his friends is Hunanese and she ordered the food and she said it's all simple home-style dishes that remind her of home. To get there, we went to the nearest underground station, jumped into a cab and passed the phone over to the cab driver so that johkm could give the cab driver directions to get there . Thanks for the link - the bowls look familiar . I did take some pictures of the but they didn't turn out that well. It was a marvellous meal!
  4. I'm not sure what flours (apart from oat flour I would assume ) are used in it but they are steamed and eaten with a selection of dipping sauces. We chose vinegar and egg with tomato. Here are some pictures of the noodle chefs at Noodle Loft in Beijing in action and the final product.
  5. Shiewie

    Beijing dining

    Good advice. Where can I find it? ← Here's the namecard and menu I took pictures of. Ticked items are what we ate. Some items are spicy but more subtle compared to Sichuan food. The location is pretty central, remember passing either Four Seasons/Ritz Carlton further down the same road.
  6. Shiewie

    Beijing dining

    Try the Hunan Provincial Govt Restaurant - it's really good especially the dishes with smoked bacon and tea tree mushrooms
  7. Thanks rroosterchef21. Sounds good - will definitely try to make it to some of them. Will be in Brisbane to visit family so will probably only spend a day in Gold Coast.
  8. Hi All Any new recommendations for Brisbane? Will be there for a week in mid-March.
  9. Hi tb86 Have a look at Rasa Rasa's Cari Makan section on Penang for a comprehensive guide on Penang food. Ecr also has some beautiful posts on her Eating Asia blog: - Nyonya stall at Pulau Tikus - Aik Hoe for hearty dim sum - a selection of congee, char kuay teow, mee goreng - pasembor
  10. Hey TP Just saw the post. The steps we use for siu yook is pretty much what you've listed, with a couple of additional steps. Remove as much moisture as you can from the skin - just placing it in the fridge to dry out is not sufficient. Salt the skin with lots of salt before placing it in the fridge to dry. Dab off any moisture with kitchen towels and repeat the salting and dabbing process several times to draw as much moisture out from the skin as possible. You also need to make sure that the oil drips off during roasting - if the piece of sam chang yuk/ fah nam is pretty long, there tends to be an indentation in the middle when it's on the roasting rack. Place something under the middle part of the siu yook (a ceramic soup spoon or an additional smaller rack) so that oil doesn't collect in the middle but drips off to the side. The little puddle of oil on the indentation in the middle stops the skin from blistering evenly all over resulting in crunchy skin on the sides but dismally tough leather in the middle Hope this works for you.
  11. Since we were in Shanghai for a few days, we decided to do a day trip to either Hangzhou or Suzhou. We settled on Hangzhou but picked a festival day (gun yam daan) so there was massive jam leading to the temples. There was even a particularly fervent devotee who would kneel and touched his forehead on the ground every 3 steps he took. Statues of of the wicked official and his wife of the legend behind yau jar gwai After touring the various temples and gardens, we had lunch a Lou Wai Lou, a restaurant by the West Lake that's been around since 1849 (2nd pic below. The 1st one is a pretty lakeside building with food kiosks and souvenir shops) Not sure what this is called again, will need to check with friend who ordered (the literate one since I am sadly a banana who cannot read Chinese ) but it was delicious - a Hangzhou cold appetiser specialty of blanched greens with peanuts and pine nuts and seasoned with seasme oil. Cold appetiser of bamboo shoots Duck - but this was rather dry compared to the duck dish we had earlier - different dish though Dongpo pork - a Hangzhou specialty that was meltingly yummy. This was served in little clay bowls in individual portions Sweet & sour fish Beggar's chicken Veggies Seasonal veggie soup - again, another veg I've never seen before - the leaves were slightly furry and all curled up - anybody knows what this is called?
  12. Hi LuckysticksPRC Not sure what it's called as a friend did all the ordering. It was some pork dish served with little sesame pastries. I do have the card of the restaurant though - will dig it out and post it.
  13. ← Hi Prawncrackers My fave of the lot is the top one, a Shanghainese specialty called kao fu, a cold appetiser of braised wheat gluten. The next item was squid or octopus...the little tail was a piece that my cousin had pulled out before she remembered that I had yet to snap pics . The last 2 are roast duck served with little buns.
  14. Was in Shanghai for a quick trip over Easter. We went to Yu Yuan the morning we got there and found We didn't eat at Nanxiang Mantou Dian though as we were there too early and the shop wasn't opened yet. So we went to the flea market instead. While the others were waiting for the flea market at Yu Yuan to open, I found a shop that sold various braised tofu, tofu sheets, snails and soy milk. So I had some of this Lunch was at Shanghai Lao Fandian (Shanghai Classic Restaurant). This was our first meal in Shanghai so we may have over-ordered (just a bit) for 3 people... Appetiser of preserved radish and broad/fava beans (this was one of my faves) Pickled cucumbers Ham served with vinegar Not sure what kind of fish this is called but it's a sweetish cold fried fish and it's supposed to be a Shanghai specialty that we saw on quite a few other tables. Anybody? Mapo tofu Nian gao with crab roe - yum, liked this lots and ate almost all of it Celery stir-fried with lily bulb Think this was called 7- treasures or something like that - diced yunnan ham, shitake mushrooms, chicken, water chestnuts, prawns, green peppers and peanuts fried in a gooey sweet spicy sauce. Since this was Day 1, we continued with our eating spree at dinner...this was 4 though as a friend who lives in Shanghai joined us for dinner All washed down with lots of tea and warm Shanghai Lao Jiu with a preserved plum added to it
  15. I went to Kampachi a few months back and food quality and service have really gone down the tube. Would not recommend, friends of mine echoed the same sentiment. ← Oh dear, that is quite distressing to hear as Kampachi has been the most reliable Japanese restaurant in KL for quite a long while. I really like their toro rolls with chilli padi from the a la carte menu. Uhm...can I check whether the disspointing experiences were from the al la carte menu or the Sunday brunch buffet?
  16. Not Jogoya, definitely more quantity rather than quality there. Lemon Garden has a pretty good buffet as far as buffet lines go. Lafite I hear has a new chef and the reviews have been mixed - some friends did not like it at all. Kampachi at Equatorial is alway reliable. Another suggestion would be Cilantro at Micasa.
  17. Yu Char Kway (Fujianese/Hokkien) is also known as Yu Tiao (Mandarin) / Yau Char Kwai (Cantonese) i.e. Chinese cruellers. Whilst the Mandarin version of the name literally translates to a polite fried sticks (of dough), the Hokkien and Cantonese ones literally translates to deep fried devils. The name comes about from an ancient Chinese legend about a pair of devils who were terrorising villagers. So the gods sent a devil catcher who caught them and bound them up with a magic rope. In a bid to escape, the tied up devils jumped into a cauldron...of boiling oil. The texture of of a yu char kway is sort of cross between a savoury churros and a beignet. It great dipped into black sweetened M'sian coffee (somehwat like Vietnamese coffee but not as thick), eaten as a garnish for jook or stuffed with fish paste. Here are another couple of recipes, one that uses pak fun and another which uses ammonium bicardb and baking powder.
  18. Hi Chufi Found these which may be useful to you. I didn't quite realise what it was until the link to Adam Balic's post as the James Oseland recipe didn't look familiar since the version I know is always in layers and made with a monstrous amount of egg yolks. This Jakarta Post article traces the origins of spekkoek (now more commonly known as Kue Lapis Legit in Indonesia) back to the Hungarian dobosch torte which travelled via the Hapsburgs to Germany as baumkuchen before evolving into spekkoek which in turn became spekkuk. Spekkuk has spread out to the rest of South East Asia (err at least Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore ) and is also known as Kueh Lapis / Kueh Lapis Batavia / Kek Lapis / Kek Lapis Betawi (Batavia = Betawi = Jakarta) / Layer Cake / Indonesian Layer Cake (recipe). Indonesian migrants in Sarawak have also modified the cake in various flavours, colours and patterns that mirror the traditional weaving patterns in that state - see Kek Lapis Sarawak. There's some discussion of this in the Chinese Sweet Pastries, Candy and Desserts thread. The Indonesian Layer Cake is now well entrenched in many Malaysian and Singaporean households as a must-have for Chinese New Year and Eid (Hari Raya).
  19. Jicama/Sa Got is the main ingredient in a Nyonya dish called jiu hu char (Hokkien/Fujianese, which translates to cuttlefish stir-fry). It's a must have in any celebratory event in a Nyonya household and is eaten wrapped up with romaine lettuce leaves or in little pastry shells (kueh pie tee) served with a fresh sambal. Jicama is also the main ingredient in Nyonya popiah (Nyonya fresh spring rolls) and popiah chee (fried spring rolls). For jiu hu char, fry some minced garlic with finely shredded cuttlefish and fine strips of belly pork. Wait until the pork has browned slightly and released some of its oily goodness, then add sliced dried shitakes (soak before slicing) and some julienned carrots. Next add the finely shredded jicama - we usually fry it for quite a while until it caramelizes, before adding some finely sliced french beans and dishing it up. Jicama also makes a yummy snack - top some peeled and sliced jicama with hoisin sauce and sprinkle with a mixure of crushed peanuts and sugar.
  20. The pumpkin that you mentioned, Shiewie, is it kabocha? Like this? Interesting. May be I will make some... ← Yup! Yum - looking forward to pics.
  21. Errr... isn't loh bak radish (daikon), not turnip? Hi Pan - Tepee is away so will help out on the white carrot question. In Bahasa Malaysia it's generally referred to as lobak (adopted from Chinese) but lobak putih is understood too as the Cantonese in Malaysia do call it a pak loh bak (white carrot). There is also a green radish. On the Malaysian/Singaporean style of radish cake, it's known as chai tow kueh in KL or char kueh kak in Penang (chow loh bak koh in Cantonese). It's probably of Hokkien (Fujian) or Teo Chew (Chao Chou) origin. It's usually found in markets (both morning and night ones) and also at some dim sum places here. An essential ingredient in chai tau kueh/char kueh kak is are minced preserved radish (chai poh in Hokkien/ choy poh in Cantonese) - the frying style is pretty much like a char kuay teow but minus the prawn, cockles and chives. You usually see vendors frying it in a huge wok with a flat bottom. You see a little pile on one side of the wok sort of pre-fried with soy sauce and then when a customer orders some, the vendor will fry up some minced garlic and choy poh, draws in some loh bak koh cubes, breaks an egg in after fying it for a while and finishing it off by tossing in some bean sprouts. We also get fun pei (fen pi...the Shanghainese kind usually served with sesame paste) and chee cheong fun (the rolled up kind) fried (with some teem cheong too...kinda strange) in the same way at some restaurants. Loh bak koh (steamed radish cake) and wu tau koh (taro cake...more commonly known as yam cake here) is served with teem cheong (sweet sauce)/hoisin sauce and chiili sauce (some serve it with a sambal). To make matters more confusing, this steamed radish cake is known as chai tau kueh in Penang, the same name that the KL-lites call the fried version. At some dim sum restaurants here, both versions of loh bak koh are served, the steamed ones which have been pan-fried and the fried version. To differentiate them, the pan-fried ones are called jeen loh bak koh while the fried with egg one is called chow loh bak koh. See this thread for an earlier discussion of the same topic. There is also a pumpkin cake which is made in the same way - steamed with toppings. (Edited for typos)
  22. Hey PCL Kung Hei Fatt Choy to you too! Only been to Restoran Puteri once - we went to a buffet spread at lunch just after Raya. There was no ayam goreng kampung the day we went. Food was generally good but I'm biased towards Rebung buffet coz of the tempoyak (fermented durian) with sayur ubi (tapioca leaves) at Rebung - give me that, bergedil and sambal and I'll happily scoff down a mountain of rice . Here's a blog entry on Restoran Puteri on marimakan.org. There's a mention on friedchillies that the dinner buffet is at RM45. Another couple of places that you may want to check out if you're driving past Penchala Link are: - Nasi Sumatera at Mutiara Damansara (at the shops near the police station in the housing area opposite Tesco) - they do a mixture of Minang and Kelantanese food. There is ayam goreng kampung but what I really like is the grilled fish with a light sambal and sup daging - ask the staff there for recommendations. - Nasi Lemak Tanjung Puteri at the other end of Penchala Link in Sri Hartamas (the older part, at the hawker stalls on the right as you head towards the Petronas petrol station). See masak-masak for a review. I think they usually have ayam goreng tthere.
  23. Great posts and pics! Looking forward to the next instalment.
  24. Uhm...it looks like yau mak (Cantonese) from the picture - also mentioned in the thread that liuzhou linked.
  25. Hi harryB Rebung as suggested by Tepee is good. Have been there several more times since I went with Tepee and the tempoyak is still as yummy. Bijian that JC suggested is more upmarket, one of the few nice Malay restaurants. I too have ehard nice reviews but have yet to go. Another fancy place is in Feast Village at Starhill, but have yet to try those either. Stan's at One Bangsar is ok... Pinang Masak at the Bukit Tunku apartments is good - Negeri Sembilan and Minang type food - I really like the ikan salai masak lemak (smoked fish cooked with turmeric, lime and asam). If you're in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail there's Restoran Puteri (there are 2, one just at the turn off to Taman Tun fropm Penchala Link and the other in the main square of shops) and Santai (in the main square of shops). If you're game for food at hawker stalls, try the ikan bakar at Tanglin near the bird park - it's grilled over charcoal and supposed to better than the ones behind the palace at Jalan Bellamy.
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