Shiewie

I've hesitated posting in this thread for a long time as the fine dining scene in KL is generally quite dismal....whilst there are tons of excellent hawker/tai chow places at a fraction of the price. Standards at Oggi at The Regent Hotel which was once a favourite, has deteriorated over the past 2 years as The Regent is no longer part of the Four Seasons chain. I tried Le Bouchon when it first opened years ago and didn't like it, extremely slow service so I haven't been back - but am now tempted to go again with Julian's positive experience. So far, Cilantro seems to be the only place which is consistently good. A common problem with the KL fine dining scene is poorly trained wait staff and good ones are poached whenever a new restaurant opens up. It is rare that a waiter can explain to you what a dish is and mixed up/delayed courses are common. There is a little place that's recently opened up round the corner from Le Bouchon that is promising - Max 27 Tengkat Tong Shin, 50200 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603-2141 8115 I've been there a couple of times for the set lunch at RM18++ (USD4.50) for 2 courses (appetiser & main) - excellent value for money...think it'll even qualify for Tepee's Cheap & Decent Meals Thread . The menu for the set lunch changes every day and there is a choice of 2 appetisers and 2 mains. This is what we had at my first lunch there (early Nov 2006): Complimentary bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar Potato and Tomato Soup with Artichoke Hearts Nicely balanced soup that allowed the tomato flavours to shine through the creamy potato base. Smoked Salmon with Mesclun Greens, Capsicum Salsa and Balsamic Reduction There was a fairly generous potion of salmon for a salad that was part of set lunch. Chargrilled Minute Striploin Steak with Mashed Potatoes Yum - juicy, nicely grilled steak that contrasted nicely with the mashed potatoes. Chargrilled Sole Fillet with Yabby Tails and a Sweet Vermouth Beurre Blanc There were only 3 yabby tails but hey it was part of set lunch for RM18++ (USD4.50)! We also ordered the Panna Cotta with Tiramisu Ice Cream and Fresh Fruits (RM12 or USD4) from the ala carte menu - meltingly creamy with just the right amount of gelatine - bouncy Panna Cotta is a major peeve. I was really impressed with the lunch at Max and especially so in light of the fact that it was only 1/10th the price of the disspointing dinner I had at Prego at The Westin the night before. Whatmore, that dinner at Prego's was part of The Malaysian International Gourmet Festival 2006 and they had brought in Chef Alfredo Russo from Piedmont to kick off their program for the gourmet festival...mixed-up courses, delayed wines, forgotten desserts, one dimensional flavours Prego typifies the dismal fine dining scene in KL - a lot of hoo-hah but uninspired food and poorly trained staff. Have eaten at Prego 6 times and last night was the first time I've actually enjoyed the food there...but Faith Willinger was cooking - more on this later...

Hi Cyen Kueh Ku is the Chinese glutinous rice cake that's shaped like a turtle - it's called Ang Ku Kueh in Hokkien (Fujianese) which translates to Red Turtle Cake.

I've eaten at Kylie's restaurant, Billy Kwong, quite a fewl years back (think it was in 2001), way before she started on her TV cooking series. We had a good laugh when we first stepped in as the decor was mainly black and white and there were huge white lanterns (kind of like the ones used at Chinese funerals...we could all hear our mums going "Choi! Tai ka lai see" if they had joined us for dinner there ). It's not a big place, most diners can actually look into the kitchen where she's cooking. While her food is not traditional, the combinations she comes up with do taste good and are cooked beautifully. It was definitely one of my more memorable meals.

Hi Rasa Malaysia Thanks for the summary! Nice pics on your blog. Intriguing recipes too - cincaluk with steamed egg is a new one for me! I love cincaluk fried with fatty pork - the asam jawa and cincaluk really whets your appetite....have to eat copious amounts of rice with it .

As far as Hanoi goes, this may be of help - if it falls within the area you're covering.

Although not a steakhouse, Chalet at Equatorial does a pretty good tenderloin. I'm not a big fan of Jake's though.

It's in Kampung Palimbayan Indah at Sungei Penchala - sounds remote eh ? It's actually just off the LDP (Damansara-Puchong Highway) on the other side of the highway from Ikea, Tesco etc.

I haven't got one ...don't drink enough for the purchase to be worthwhile. Know of others who have them and use them daily - they were all the rage here some time back. There are the semi-automatic ones (where you have to soak the beans before putting them in and then you need to boil it once the machine has done its work) and fully-automatic ones where all you need to do is dump the beans and water into machine and it does the rest (uh...doesn't wash up itself though ).

If you'd like a hands on class, I'd recommend Rohani Jelani's class. She hasn't got her July class schedule out yet but you can contact her at rohanij@streamyx.com. The classes are conducted at her house in a traditional Malay kampung right smack amongst the sprawling suburbs. I've been for some of her classes and her recipes are very workable. Here are some details extracted from her May/June class schedule that may interest you:

Oh dear ... not very familiar with Puchong ... not sure if I've been to Puchong Jaya but I guess some googling and the road directory ought to get met there . Looking forward to your reports of the other restaurants in the vicinity.

Oh yum ... the nestum prawns at Toh Yuen is one of my favourite prawn dishes - very fresh prawns with bits of crunchy savoury nestum coating it. Tepee - where's Taiping Lang?

Here are some recipes: - Savoury Woon Jai Go - recipe 1 - Savoury Woon Jai Go - recipe 2 - Savoury Woon Jai Go - recipe 3 - Savoury Woon Jai Go - recipe 4 - Savoury Woon Jai Go - recipe 5 - Savoury Woon Jai Go - recipe 6 - Savoury Woon Jai Go - recipe 7 - Sweet Woon Jai Go - recipe 1 - Sweet Woon Jai Go - recipe 2 There was an earlier discussion on woon jai go in the Kueh thread over on the Elsewhere on South East Asia Board - http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=44433&st=90 - other names for Chwee Kueh are But Jai Go, kutsinta (pics in Kueh thread look like the sweet woon jai go) and Tepee mentions that there's also a similar version in Vietnam (have seen it in a Hue restaurant - topping is slghtly different - has pieces of lard in it). whisks - do post on how the recipes turn out

PCL - chui kueh is known as savoury woon jai go in KL Cantonese if that helps (there are also the sweet pandan or gula melaka flavoured ones). You can get it at markets (day or night) at the stalls that sell keuh.

Coincidence - just had this last night at a family dinner at a Taiwanese Chinese restaurant here last night called New Formosa. So perhaps the dish has Taiwanese or perhaps Fujian origins. Dom Sim - maybe you can try tooking for it on Taiwanese cooking sites (not that I know any since I can't read Chinese )

Does Malaysia Restaurant over in Melbourne's Doncaster East (part bordering Templestowe) still exist? It used to have pretty decent friend Hokkien Mee but that was yonks ago.

Yes ang means red in Hokkien. Ang Bao/Pow is Hung Bao in Hokkien.

ecr / Robyn has some pretty pics of roti cooks in action here and here.

Hi Pan Murtabak was available in KL in the 70s (my memory only goes back till then too ) - my favourite was at the now extinct Restoran Zam-Zam in the Bukit Bintang area ... served with a curry on the side and slices pickled onions that were stained pink - an after-school treat. It's of Indian-Muslim origins and many Indian-Muslim eateries in Malaysia still bring their roti cooks (murtabak and rot-canai specialists) over from India. Don't think murtabaks are a specialty of any state, you get them anywhere there are southern Indian Muslim eateries... ok probably less common in East Malaysia than the Peninsular as the Indian population is lower in East Malaysia. Murtabaks used to be served only at Indian-Muslim eateries and used to be a standard size of around 8 - 9 inch square piece of layers of flaky on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside dough filled with a mixture of minced beef / mutton / chicken, onions and eggs fried on a big flat griddle. They have since been adopted by the Malay community and are now widely available at pasar malams (night markets) and Ramadan markets as mini murtabaks, round discs of around 5 inches in diameter. Uhm ... the Malaysian roti canai and Singaporean roti paratha are the same thing - sort of like unfilled murtabaks, usually round (though now some make 'em square). Some serve them whole, while others are smashed them up (the roti is laid on the counter and roti cook smashes is by bringing his hands together on the side of the roti, thurn the partially smashed roti by 90-degrees and repeating the smashing process. There are also filled roti-canais - roti telur (egg-filled roti canai), roti-sardin (sardine and onion-filled roti), roti pisang (banana filled- roti) are some of it. The roti pisang can be eaten savoury with a curry or sweet with a drizzle of condensed milk. I prefer a plain roti canai, served with dhall curry - the roti has to be the smashed up version if possible, if not, I usually tear up the roti into little pieces and somethering it with the dhall before eating it. My favourite roti memories - on road trips back from the east coast after visiting my grandfather for Chinese New Year, we'd stop by an Indian Muslim eatery in the little town of Mentakab for a tea break of smashed up (cut up too) roti canai and mutton curry... all this stirring up of food memories is making me feel every hungry . The plain roti-canai is sometimes also cut into pieces and stir-fried with curry (chicken / mutton) - was introduced to this by a friend who is of Sri Lankan Tamil origins who calls this kalu roti. edited - to add roti memories

Thanks Lee for write-up and pics - love that jook, it looks really "meen". Am dreaming of a bowl right now ... with lots of deep-fried intestines yumm! .

Yup agree. Also, a person from/ with origins from one part of China may find the food from another part of China rather un-Chinese from their perspective. For example, many Malaysian Chinese (mainly with origins from Southern China) visitng Northern China find the food of Northern China (for example, lamb with cumin) quite "un-Chinese" to their Southern Chinese (adulterated with Malaysian influences of course ) attuned palates. IMHO, this improvisation of Chinese food is something that's been happening for a long time. Otherwise, we wouldn't have Nyonya food today . A lot of Chinese influences can also be seen in the other cuisines of South East Asia. The difference between these and say Ken Hom's Quick Wok recipes is that the adaptations happened several centuries earlier.

Pickled mustard green? I've never heard of this, but I'm terribly curious. More information, please. ← Duck soup with preserved mustard greens, tofu and salty plums is a Nyonya / Peranakan / Straits Chinese soup known as kiam chye ark (tranlsates to salty vegetables and duck) or itik tim (itik / itek means duck in Malay ... not sure what the tim bit is). It's Chinese origins are from the Hokkien (Fujian) / Teochew (Chao Chou) region (but then again I've never been to Fujian or Chao Chou so I'm not sure whether it exisits there or is a concoction of Hokkiens and Teochews who settled in Malaysia and Singapore . You can use roast duck bones or fresh duck pieces (remove the skin if you want to cut down on the fat). Add some sliced preserved mustard greens (haam choy (Cantonese) / kiam chye (Hokkien) - soak them for a while beforehand to remove some of the salt), salty plums and a couple of slices of ginger. Bring to a boil and simmer for around a couple of hours. Toss in some fresh tofu and tomato wedges, boil for another 5 minutes, season to taste and serve. Pickled msutard greens and the other sour items (salty plums and tomato) are used to balance out the rich fatty flavours of the duck.

Lobak the meat roll, is Chinese in origin. It's Hokkien (Fujian) and translates to lowe yuk (Cantonese) or lu rou (Mandarin) i.e. braised meat. The meat roll is usually seasoned with 5-spice powder so the full name for the bean curd meat roll is "ngor hiang lor bak" (literally translates 5 fragrant braised meat) - it's sometimes served as one of the items for a Chinese New Year dinner. Hang on ... but where's the braising bit in a lobak / lor bak / loh bak (no standardised spelling for it) ?!! Had a short discussion with a Hokkien colleague and we figured that it could be the gooey sauce that's served with lobak ... not sure how the sauce is prepared but the gooey bit comes from tapioca flour. We arrived at this conclusion based on lor meen - a goeey dish of stewed/braised fat Hokkien noodles eaten with black vinegar. Help ... any food historians around ? Will try and check more and revert later. On the other hand, lobak as in white radish / daikon is based on the Cantonese lor pak (pak lor pak for daikon and hoong lor pak for carrots) and has since been adopted into Bahasa Malaysia for daikon. Hope this doesn't confuse things further .

Answering for Tepee here, the crepe like thing is a prawn cracker for rojak, sort of like a thin crispy cucur udang instead. Penang rojak is fruit rojak lah where there is prawn paste (not belacan but hae kor (Hokkien) / har go (Cantonese)) in the sauce. What is Negeri Sembilan rojak? It's only because you are a haam sap lo! Laksa. Food porn, again. .. ← . Am waiting to see what Laksa's retort to that will be!!! Yes, haam sap is Cantonese, means lecherous. Is this better than the Jalan Batai rojak stall? Hmmm .... shall we have a rojak showdown one of these days - ta pow (get take-aways from the various stalls) from the various stalls (sauce, crackers, crueller, peanuts packed separately from the fruits of course) and do a taste test ?

Too late.....I'm on the roll now! ← Go Tepee go !

This is making me very hungry and it's not lunch time yet