Pan Mee @ Fancy Mee Corner, Jalan Ipoh

*NON-HALAL*

A few weeks ago, I was invited to try out this new Pan Mee outlet in Jalan Ipoh. Thanks Sid of BigBoysOven.com for the invitation. Together with were other bloggers like Mei Yee, Taufulou and Chris Tock.

Its located at the same row with the famous Jalan Ipoh Curry Noodle. Sadly, I haven't covered that yet. In short, it's opposite Jalan Ipoh Public Bank.



It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and we were ready for a great pan mee!



We started with their tasty bubble tea, I ordered the Yam Pearl Milk Tea. You can see the "black pearls" at the bottom of the drink. The drink rumored origin from Taiwan and made popular by them.



Fancy Mee Corner lacked no power in spiciness. They had various versions of chillies to cater the different types of taste of chillies, depending on personal preferences.



Fried dumplings (RM 4.20 for 5 pcs). The hot crispy dumplings were decent, yet addictive.



The fried dumplings were priced at 5 pcs for RM 4.20. Unlike the usual dumplings, the fillings contained meat and ginger. Slightly similar to gyoza fillings.



Fried foo chok with curry (RM 2.00) was next. It was fried foo chok topped with curry gravy.



Interesting enough, they fried the pan mee to snack like food. This finger food priced at RM 2.50. Good to order this to munch while waiting for the noodle.



Cute little fried wan ton came with 8 pcs at RM 3.20.



The dried chilli pan mee priced at (R) RM4.90 (L) RM5.60. With egg, minced meat, anchovies, fried shallots and dried chilli, this was as good as it gets.



For those who loves the traditional pan mee with soup, try Mum's Pan Mee at (R) RM4.90 (L) RM5.60. Instead of using the usual ingredients such as minced meat, they offered meat ball and their famous "fried fish cakes" (on the spoon).



The pan mee feast continued with spring onion pan mee at (R) RM4.90 (L) RM5.60. Soup based pan mee with generous amount of spring onion. Something different than the usuals.



Dried braised pan mee at (R) RM4.90 (L) RM5.60. Dry version of pan mee, another version to cater those that prefer dry than soup based.



The lunch was really packed with innovative types of pan mee. Instead of going places to try, Fancy Mee Corner has almost everything in package. Price was reasonable and service was okay.

Thank you again Sid for the invitation. It was quite some Pan Mee!

Address and Map:

Pumpkin Butter Prawn & Green Dragon Vege @ Restoran Shen Jing Seng, Cheras

*NON-HALAL*

This could be one of the hidden gem of Cheras.

Located at one of the gardens (taman-taman) behind Phoenix Plaza, its one of the restaurants that not many people would know. My parents brought us there a few times and the food were consistently good. The last round we were there was a few months ago for dinner.



We started with the stir fried potato leaf with fermented beancurd. Noticed that this dish was slightly dry but it was well stir fried. I preferred such dry version that the sloppy fermented beancurd stir fried version.



This was something that I never tried before. They called it the green dragon vegetables. The unique name came with an unique taste. The vege itself was soft but it was well blended with the sauce. Vege was fresh and it was very tasty.



Fish cake with foo chok was quite decent. The home made fish cake was fresh and tender.



The hot pot squid could be addictive. To me, the level of spiciness was just nice to me. This was good.



Steamed Fish with ginger was slightly disappointed as it was slightly overcooked. If not, it would be perfect. Fish was generously covered with ginger.



There was nothing to impress me more than this dish. The pumpkin butter prawns. This was my first time having such dish. Prawns cooked with butter and pumpkin sauce and served inside a fresh pumpkin. The taste was outstanding and its deeply flavoured in the world of butter and pumpkin. Amazing!

The food was generally good and price was very reasonable. Service was okay and the place was well air conditioned.

Recommended!

Address:




Map:


RATINGS:
Price: 4/5 Very Reasonable
Payment Terms : Cash
Cleanliness Votes : 3/5
Food Votes : 4/5
Air Conditioned : YES
Service: 3/5
WIFI : NO

Asian Food Channel and Hong Kong Tourism Board with Maria Cordero Food Demo @ Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur

Yesterday, I was invited to the Maria Cordero Food Demo session by Asian Food Channel at Berjaya Times Square. Thank you Asian Food Channel, George Alice Communications and Hong Kong Tourism Board for the invitation.

The event was jointly sponsored by Hong Kong Tourism Board in conjunction with the upcoming Hong Kong Food and Wine Year. The event was packed! I was there with fellow bloggers like Jason Mumbles, Big Boys Oven, Fat Boy Bakes, Masak-masak and Rebecca.



Hong Kong has long been famous for its culinary strength and recently become the second Asian city to be awarded its very own Michelin Guide. Leveraging on the Hong Kong SAR Government’s exemption of wine duty, which enables visitors to enjoy a wide selection of wine at highly attractive prices, the HKTB launched a brand new marketing platform “Hong Kong Food and Wine Year” to show the world the diverse culinary experience of Hong Kong, reinforcing the city’s image as one of the world’s culinary capitals. Throughout the Hong Kong Food and Wine Year, the HKTB will inject elements of food and wine into its promotion.

From 30 October to 1 November 2009 at the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade where visitors can indulge themselves in the perfect pairing of wine and food, attend wine appreciation classes conducted by professionals sommeliers, sample many of the local food delicacies, as well as enchanting music, against the beautiful backdrop of Victoria Harbour. To celebrate this Festival and actively engage viewers, HKTB and AFC will be offering two lucky viewers the chance to win an exclusive trip to Hong Kong to experience the festival first hand.



AFC has had tremendous success over the past few years, building a strong Channel that is now represented in seven markets throughout Asia. As well as showcasing a variety of programmes from top celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Marco Pierre White, Martin Yan, Daniel Boulud and more, the Channel has recently launched their original production documentaries. AFC has grown into a powerful brand, one that fully understands and nurtures food talent and one that is seen by many blue chip companies as a valued partnership opportunity.

AFC broadcasts on:
Astro Channel 703 (Malaysia)
First Media Digital 1 Channel 76 (Indonesia)
Prime Indovision Channel 22 (Indonesia)
now TV Channel 527 (Hong Kong)
Skycable Channel 58 (Philippines)
StarHub Channel 69 (Singapore)



Maria Cordero or also known as "Fat Mama Maria" talked about her family and her life before she demo her recipes.



She lived her life healthier due to proper eating. She still eats 3-4 meals a day.



She managed her time perfectly between work and family. She enjoys cooking for her grandchildren that visit her weekly.



Maria gave the audience a taste of her special made bitter gourd that she prepared in her hotel room yesterday. Yes, she cooked it in her hotel room! It was amazingly tasty! The crowd loved it too!

If you noticed properly, Maria has slimmed down tremendously. In fact, she lost around 78 pounds due to intakig healthy foods. She explained that she would add vegetables and fruits to her meals smartly. For example, she would fried chicken using chicken skins and added sliced apples and pears with it. The taste is still similar but healthier.

She did also offered tips to maintain a good family relationship. She was a great entertainer. She sang for the audience as she cooked and she also cracked some jokes from time to time.

Her recipes were unique and healthy. I listed them at the bottom.



After the cooking demo, her fans (from the crowd) rushed to her to take pictures and to take her signatures. I'm one of them. I loved her movies especially Mr. Coconut with Michael Hui!



She wasted no time and entertained the crowd with a few songs.




Checked out this song and her dance moves! (More movies comings!)



Maria and Sidney of BigBoysOven.com



Rebecca with Maria!



Cheng Yi of FatBoyBakes with Maria...



Well, its me and Maria!

As famous as she is, she is a very humble person. I watched her quite a number of her movies. The recent movie was the Andy Lau and Shu Qi movie. She acted as Shu Qi's mum.

Maria Cordero's Recipe

Rice Cooker Chicken

Ingredients:
1 Spring Chicken
Generous amounts of green onions, ginger and shallots
A dash of 5 spices
A dash of Pepper and salt
A bit of Sesame Oil
Shaoxing cooking wine

Method:
Mince some ginger finely. Mix the 5 spices, pepper, minced ginger and salt together.
Apply this mixture as a dry rub on the chicken thoroughly. Then set it aside for 30 minutes.
Chop some green onions and ginger into rough strips. Then stuff them into the belly of the chicken.
Chop some green onions, ginger and dried shallots into coarse chunks and add them to the bottom of your rice cooker. Then place the chicken into the cooker.
Put the lid on and cook the chicken for 20 minutes.
Open the lid and add some Shaoxing cooking wine. Put the lid back on and start the cooker again.
Turn the cooker off when the aroma of the wine starts to emanate from the cooker, leave the lid on for a few more minutes.
Then soak the chicken in ice water for a while.
Remove the chicken from the water, sprinkle some sesame oil on it, and slice the chicken before serving.

Mushroom Porcini Oat
Ingredients:
12 Chinese mushrooms
1 packet of Porcini mushrooms
3 cups of oats
1 cups of rice
A bit of Sesame Oil
Generous amount of coriander and green onion

Method:
Soak the Chinese and porcini mushrooms. Then slice them thinly.
Marinate the sliced mushrooms with sesame oil, light soya sauce and dark soya sauce.
Cook the oats and rice together in a pot. When the contents start to thicken and the liquid starts to reduce, layer the mushrooms
on top of the rice.
Put the lid back on and continue cooking.
Once the oat rice is cooked, remove from heat and leave the lid on for few minutes before serving.

Mushroom Cappuccino

Ingredients:
Mixed mushrooms of your choice
Butter
Olive oil
Black pepper
Salt
Whipping Cream

Method:
You need not wash the mushrooms. Just wipe them using a clean towel. Chop them finely and set them aside.
Pre-heat your wok. Add a bit of olive oil and butter and sauté the mushrooms. Then put the lid on briefly.
Remove the lid, add pepper and salt, then stir and sauté.
When the mushrooms are done, transfer all the contents of the wok into a food processor.
Blend this until you get a thick and sticky mixture.
After that, pour this mixture back into the warm wok.
Add the whipping cream and mix well.
The dish is now ready to be served.

10 New Dishes @ Din Tai Fung,The Gardens

Thanks to Ken of FoodPOI for this invitation. A few weeks ago, I was invited to try out Din Tai Fung's 10 new dishes. I had been a big fan of their Xiao Long Bau and I visited them a few times before this. My maiden visit to this famous Taiwanese restaurant happened in Singapore, in fact I did blog about it earlier this year. Read more about it HERE.



Din Tai Fung is known internationally for its xiaolongbao. Din Tai Fung was ranked as one of the world's top 10 restaurants in 1993 by The New York Times. -Wikipedia

With such recognitions, expect the highest quality of food and ingredients. Lim, the owner, told us that they took some time to select the best quality and matching local ingredients to preserve Din Tai Fung's original taste. In fact, she told us that they tried over 20 different types of vinegar and they couldn't find a matching one. They had to mix and match to get the right taste! Later on, I bumped to her at FHM, sourcing for better ingredients.



The special appertizer was a great start, light and crunchy with slight taste of sweetness.



Japanese cucumber took me by surprise. Not because, its air flown from Japan. But its slight hotness, due to the presence of chili oil. I was like, the cucumber is spicy!



Spicy jelly fish was lovely with hints of sweet and sour taste.



Stewed beancurd with honey sauce was nice. The taste was sweet and it was very addictive.



Taiwan century egg really changed my perspective about century eggs. I'm never been a fan of century egg due to its distinctive taste and flavour. Smartly, they let us try 2 different types of century eggs. The local and the Taiwanese century egg. The taste of the Taiwanese century egg was so much different than the local ones. I must admit, I fell in love with this.



Spicy shrimp pork wanton was next. Wanton with a handsome of fillings with pork and shrimp went well with the spicy sauce. This is good for spicy lovers especially Xin of www.sloppychic.com



Fish dumpling was nicely done with a shape similar to fish. However, I still prefer meat fillings than the fish fillings. Just a personal preference.



Cong You La Mian was good. The taste was heavily flavoured by "cong you" (onion oil) and it blended well with la mian.



Glass noodle soup with beancurd was somehow not my cup of tea. Reason being was I loved dry noodles, just my personal preferences. The rest loved this, except me.



Dry mustard green la mian was another surprise factor to me. I would expect sour taste like I tried somewhere else before. Well, I was wrong.

The taste was much lighter than I expected and personally, I loved it. This was the more preferred la mian of the two I tried.



Lastly, the desserts came! Firstly was the red bean dumpling. Generous with red bean fillings, this best eaten while it's hot!



The mini sesame buns were the last food we tried. Like the red bean dumplings, the fillings generously came with huge amount of black sesame. This was good!



Thank you, the gorgeous Ms. Lim for the invitation. We had a pleasant lunch and it was lovely to chat with the rest of the food bloggers.

In general the food was good. Food served were in high quality. Place was usually packed during lunch time and dinner time. Please booked the table to avoid disappoinment!

The new menu:


Address:
Lot LG-207, Lower Ground Floor
The Gardens, Mid Valley City
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 603-22832292

German Pork Knuckle @ Quan Villa Restaurant, Sitiawan

*NON HALAL*

I was in Sitiawan again for work a few months ago. Since my client knew about my blog, they brought me to different restaurants. This was a lunch, a stone away from the Lumut port.



We started with la la with cucumber soup at RM 10.



Then the usual fried oyster omelette at RM 12. Sitiawan's version used more eggs than starch, different than the ones we have here in KL. Both have their own individual taste, I loved both.



Potato Leaf with garlic was next at RM 12. Slightly wet, but the vege was fresh. This was decent.



Dry butter beancurd was a first one to me at RM 12. Normally, we had dry butter prawns, fish or mantis prawns, but for butter beancurd it was something unique. I loved this one, though it was slightly oily.



Thai style fish was priced at RM 42. Deeply flavoured in thai sauce, the fish was never lack of freshness. Sauce was thick and wasn't that spicy. I loved this.



Many Chinese restaurants offered German style pork knuckle (RM 35), but having a good one will be tough. The skin was crispy and the meat was tender. I loved this as well.

It was a heavy lunch. The food in general was good, rich in flavour so the taste was slightly strong. Place is well air conditioned but place is a common stand alone (house type) restaurant, nothing fancy. The price was reasonable to me and I thought this was a good find!

Recommendable!

Receipt:


Address:


MAP:



RATINGS:
Price: 4/5 Very Reasonable
Payment Terms : Cash
Cleanliness Votes : 3/5
Food Votes : 3.5/5
Air Conditioned : YES
WIFI : NO