Charms Cafe @ The Curve

Right after our unpromising lunch, we went restaurant hoping again :) This time, we drive our way to the Curve :) I love strolling around at the walkway lined up with various types of restaurants and cuisines especially in the evenings where the pretty lightings filled up the street.
Went to Ikea opposite for Chris's computer table and after several go-sees, my feet ached! Walked too much :( Hours passed by really quick and we're hungry again :)

We marched our way back to the Curve and on the way, we passed by a signboard full of posters of the eateries promoting their restaurant's dinner sets, discounts, specialties and stuffs like that. At that time, it was still the Ramadhan month and my attention was drawn towards the promotion offered by Charms Cafe. It stated clearly there: 'Buka Puasa Promotion' a set for 2 for only RM18.90!

Me: Hey... that's really reasonable!
Chris: Let's go then :)


When we reached the cafe located on the ground floor, about 1 or 2 units from Pho Hoa, we walked in with great anticipation. I was comfortable with the interior decoration of this place, with suitable colour combination and artistic effect. Sort of like the baba and nyonya style, the wooden tables and chairs do match appropriately.


Settling down ourselves with the menu, Chris asked the waiter serving us,

Chris: You're having a buka puasa promotion right?
Waiter: Em. No. but you can only order from here (pointing out on the menu)
Chris: Huh? I thought you guys are having some dinner sets during buka puasa month?
Waiter: Sorry sir. Finish oredi. This promotion... no more.

Chris looked at me, "So how?"
I wasn't happy at all. Felt cheated to the restaurant.They even had a giant banner hung outside of the restaurant with big wordings of 'that' promotion and now they said.. 'Finished already?' It was only half the Ramadhan period. Sad. Sad.

We ended up ordering from the menu in the end, although we weren't very fulfilled. Still manage to scrutinize over the menu so that we could have a nice dinner. Don't wanna be triggered to be unhappy over some minor stuffs.

Soya bean for RM4

We had the Pineapple Fried Rice for RM11.90. This came well-presented, with the pineapple served filling up with fried rice comprising of chicken meats, prawns, other assorted vegetables as well as pineapples. It was pretty fragrant but not incredible.

We also had the Green Curry Noodle. Most people would definitely prefer their curry mee with meehoon, but I still prefer mine with kuey teow and yellow noodle. Doesn't look that charming isn't it? Tastewise, it was not bad. Very flavourful but somehow we find the curry broth not thick enough. A thicker green curry would be yummier for sure :) and.. For RM9.90, not much ingredients were served. Kinda pricey with only some prawns and 4 'bars' of brinjals..

Pretty obvious we'll be contemplating on whether to make our way here again for other food. Not so soon :(





Charms Cafe
Lot G38, Ground Floor,
Asian Courtyard, The Curve,
Mutiara Damansara,
47800 Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 03-7728 2206

Din Tai Fung @ The Gardens, Mid Valley City

Picking up from where I left off from the breakfast session with Chris at Alison last 2 weeks, we then headed off straight to Mid Valley to wander around and for our first hang-out at the Gardens. We went for a comedy show which managed to perk us up but find that movie made no sense at all.

After that, we went strolling around and made our way to the Gardens. Walked here and there, window shopped *need to save to shop with my girl friends after their exam*
Walking past many boutiques, holding my desire and headed downstairs to the food arena, where most eateries are situated, I noticed Sushi Zen right away. But since Chris and I had a sudden craving for xiu long baos (XLB), we ended up at Din Tai Fung.


Heard from friends that this place will be very packed and if you wanna dine in? You will have to wait for at least half an hour! But while we were there, there were not much people and we managed to settle ourselves quickly. Perhaps it's only during weekends.

Quenching our thirst with the Jasmine Tea priced at RM2, we felt comfortable once seated due to exhaustion from the long hours of walk. Ah.. what a relieve from a muscle spasm!

Not knowing anything about this place at first, they the staff highly recommended their famous Xiu Long Bao, 5 dumplings for RM11. With no hesitation, we ordered although I've previously learnt from Precious Pea's post that it'll not be very soupy.


My bad.

The dumplings turned out to be quite disappointing. With not much broth, the skin was also not that smooth. I still prefer Dragon-I's! Wait for my review on Dragon-I again!! haha.
Although it's shape and projections are acceptable but tastewise, it's not the best I had so far. Just OK~ Can't really savour the taste, somehow it's still lacking the 'oomph'.

the making of XLBs

Another disappointment was the Steamed Vege Pork Bun, 2 for RM5. This was conventional but it's simply no better than those 'baos' sold typically! Tasted very bland and dry, more over with rough and thick skin, we were not satisfied at all :(

the fillings ~ could be better.

A neat and simple interior ~ a humble and unpretentious atmosphere they're providing

That's all that we had. Didn't get to try their La Mian as we were still kinda full from our heavy breakfast or was it these 'baos' that filled us up very quickly??
A re-visit? Have to think twice, or if any of you find this place any better than before... please inform me ya! Any other dishes from here that warrant a good sensation of flavours?



~Non-Halal~
Din Tai Fung
Lot LG-207, Lower Ground Floor,
The Gardens,
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-2283 2292
Fax: +603-2283 2362




Blogs reviewed:

• Precious Pea
• You Get What You Give Sometimes
• KL People KL food
• It's all about Da Food

Chin Hiong Restaurant @ Kampung Sungai Bakau

Day: Saturday (20.10.07)

Time: 8.30 pm

Venue: Chin Hiong Restaurant
清香楼冷气海鲜酒家

Objective:

• To join my first ever 'Food Tasting' expedition (yes.. you heard me right, food tasting!)
• To meet new flogger friends
  
• To be contented with the scrumptious dinner offered

Last weekend was the day, the day which Sid from Big Boys Oven, invited us for the amazing dinner at Chin Hiong Restaurant nestled before Rawang.

mE: darn! what should I say? omg..
Chris: say what? relax-lah... I bet they are friendly!
mE: I know.. it's just me. I'm afraid that I'll freak out.
Chris: No worries...everything will be fine :)

When I started writing this sorta evolving food blog, I just thought of penning down my thoughts about the food and eateries that I've went, providing more infos for readers on the wider options they could access. From a person who just engage herself in a pursuit, with no initial thoughts of being related or introduced to a more in-depth passion on food, we're just pleasant to be there :) My intense enthusiasm towards the 'only-normal-food-reviewing' had abruptly outburst.

Just have to disclose my thoughts :) Ok. Enough about that and we shall review more on the food!

After meeting up with first with Sid, Sunny and Teckiee at Damansara, we followed them to the restaurant and about 30 minutes later, we've finally reached the restaurant located not far away from the Rawang toll. When we've arrived, we met Jackson who drove them and Tankiasu as well. "Nervousness in me... I just couldn't explain ~ so many butterflies in my stomach"

Before entering, they were busy snapping pictures of the signboard while I was looking here and there. Luckily Chris was there to aid me in my photo shoot :) From the outside, I find this place a rather typical seafood restaurant, but once I entered, my initial thoughts was totally driven away by the settings on the table layed down extraordinarily for us! "Oh my God.." spoke my heart.

The authentic and classy-golden bowl stand I noticed right away dazzled me completely. Resemblance to serving a bunch of royalties! *perasan me* Everyone just took out their camera and began taking pictures while other customers just stare right at us like a celebrity or something. We sat down and according to Sid, we have no idea what they are serving us. A contemporary feeling of excitement and nervous at the same time. *just like being at the first day at school!* haha..

1.
Know what these stylish and sophisticated bowl stands are for?
It's for one of their well-known dish, the Abalone & Crab Meat Soup ~ Abalone King Crab 鲍鱼蟹王汁


The Abalone & Crab Meat Soup is served with 2 different distributions of Abalone with shredded Chicken (the orange based) and Crab Meats (the whitish based).

But that was not just all. Along that came as a set with the soup was a plate of Shark Fins surrounded by Dried Scallops wrapped with steamed Old Sea Cucumber. These 2 dishes came together as a set (a combo of soup and shark fin with scallop) , known as the Tai Chi Shark Fin 太极翅. Persuasive name huh?

Shark fins in Crab meat soup! I'm on cloud 9 :)

2.
A seafood restaurant it is being and how could we miss out their mouth-watering and tasty prawns?? Kei Loon Prawns 麒麟虾 were served with great presentation too and I just couldn't resist myself from taking at least one!! The prawns were prepared and served in a position where they resembles kei loon 麒麟 (the ancient lions in China). With an additional of the sauce that tasted a lil' sweet and sour, it gave the extra appetizing boost. Such huge prawns with great texture and talk about fresh jumping prawns! Even without the extra sauce, it's finger-licking good.

the sauce that goes with them

3.
Another delicate dish that I simply craved for was the Pork Slabs in Herbs (In Cantonese: Yok Choi tan Guat 药材炖骨). What's marvelous is, the pork was double boiled with the herbs before going through the deep frying procedure. Thus, a crispy skin complementing with the juicy pork slabs of thin and fat proportion penetrated with strong herb flavour is definitely worth trying.... no buts!

a closer view :P

4.
When this dish was served on our table and while everyone was concentrating eating, we were distracted by the incredible presentation of the embellishment, of this dish itself! Everyone just goes "WoW!" Really had to give very big claps to the chef for his fine food adornment even before tasting it!
Addressed as Yat Fan Fong Sun 一帆风顺. Before this name, it was called Guai Mei Yu 怪味鱼, as it tasted kinda weird, claimed the chef. It's a preparation of Fish Fillet, cooked in rock sugar and F&N Orange!! Amazing huh?? I'm so surprised too :) The fish fillet was highly flavoured and this dish is more suitable when eaten with rice as it'll be kinda salty when eaten alone. Albeit, I find them delicious! According to Chef Fann, the fish fillets were derived from the African fish and the remaining parts of the fish was made into a shape that resembled the sail of the boat and deep fried. What a thoughtful idea he had! Fits to the Cantonese name appropriately!

5.
Next up, the Hakka Pork Knuckle 客家猪手, which was double boiled with herbs for more than 5 hours. No worries when you wanna order this dish, as it'll be prepared by the chef earlier :) Seems like it's a must order for most customers.



6.
Interesting, served very infrequently at other eateries... the God's Stomach? Known as the San Sin Tou 神仙肚! What a cute name :P It's actually a pig's stomach disclosed with tasty spare ribs!! Imported piggies were used to cook up this dish as they have smaller sized stomach than those in Malaysia. Some of the ingredients used to extend the flavour and aroma are spices and herbs such as pat gok, dong guai and kam chou. I suppose the dear Chinese readers know what I meant :) Cheers to this ingenious chef! Inventive!

cut..cut..cut..

The hidden treasure inside the stomach... Spare Ribs!

7.
What I have not had before... shark meat! Simmered Tiger Shark in Claypot 瓦煲虎鲨. From the chef again, the sharks' skin is the best part to be eaten. Jelly-like texture, I had fun eating these :) Even the meat was good by itself! Showered with the aromatic gravy and chopped leeks, what I can say is "Feed me with those sharks now!!!" By the way, this dish have to be pre-ordered (reserve) first. So do remember ya! ;)

the shark that we actually ate! (well not the whole fish..)

8.
The final dish and with no disappointment at all, Chef Fann came out with a claypot of paddy frog served in some special way. The Ho Sa guk Tin Gai 河沙田鸡, what I called as Paddy Frog cooked over the River's Sand. Ok. I know this sounds lame... but a direct translation is what I can think of now. LOL!
The steamed paddy frog in dong guai and a chinese wine known as fa diu was placed on top of a heap of fried and heated sands from the river. When this preparation was served, another dash of fa diu wine was poured over the covered claypot. The sands functioned to help extend the degree of aroma and taste higher especially when the wine was poured over them!
Needless to say about the paddy frog, great and smooth meat texture and I fell in love with the soup :) The soup that contains fa diu wine, essence of the paddy frog, dong guai herbs and chili padi! It's spicy and exciting! Ignites my palate totally! By the way, this pot contained 3 large paddy frog!
According to Chef Fann again, the chinese wine was added with dong guai herbs for a month! That's the reason why the Chinese wine has extra kick!!

9.
Wheat Grass Agar :) 小麦草燕菜糕
Wheat grass help to restore the alkalinity and neutralize acid production so that our body can recover quicker, metabolize faster, reduce food cravings and achieve your optimal health. Isn't that amazing? Reduce food cravings after a scrumptious meal! LOL.

~Pricing for the dishes~

1. Tai Chi Shark Fin Combo: RM45 per pax

2. Kei Loon Prawns: RM80

3. Pork Slabs in Herbs: about RM 30 per elongated slab

4. F&N Orange Fish Fillet: RM50 ~ the prettiest dish ever!

5. Hakka Pork Knuckle: RM 25

6. Pig's Stomach disclosed with tasty Spare Ribs: RM35

7. Simmered Tiger Shark in Claypot: approximately RM28 (RM5.50 per 100g, we had about 400-500g)

8. Paddy Frog cooked over the River's Sand: RM35 for medium serving. (with 3 large paddy frog)

**Thanks to Chris for the Chinese words**


This restaurant is only closed 2 days in a month an usually falls on a Monday and Tuesday. Such hardworking people :) Looking for magnificent, impressive yet affordable Chinese cuisine? Drop by this place for a new discovery of some otherwise different dishes that warrant a satisfaction!
What I thought? "Even eating at a wedding dinner also wasn't so impressive!" These are just some of their specialties that most customers order and from the presentation of the food, I just couldn't imagine how much effort that Chef Fann put in them. His culinary skills were just... terrific :) Being in action at the kitchen for more than 20 years, his dedication towards each delightful meal can just be inscribed!

Introducing the Chef that manoeuvre his cooking skills attentively and prepared the appetizing dinner for us

The lady boss, Chef's wife joined in the fun of photo shooting!

See also:

• Food-Journey
  

Chin Hiong Restaurant
Lot #2, Batu 22, Jalan Batu Arang,
Kampung Sungai Bakau (KUB)
48000 Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel: 03-6092 0628 H/P: 012-202 6125 / 016-210 2303 (Mr. Fan You Tek)

Click for enlarged map

To rep it up, I would like to make some compliments on the people present as.. well you know, first time right? haha ;P

• Big Boys Oven: Sid & Sunny ~ Thanks for organizing this eat-out session and, Chris and I really enjoyed it. Sid ~ who 'lectured' us throughout! haha. Thx! ex-lecturer!!
• Jackson: I didn't get to ask what's your occupation! but.. you're friendly :)
• Tankiasu: a gentleman, you talked courteously ;)
• Teckiee: You're cute. No worries no photos. no photos.
• Sugar Bean: Wenching&Yeesiong ~ sweet couple. Finally get to meet you guys.
  
• AiWei: aiya.. No need to comment right? we're so close ;P

Hope to meet you guys again and get to know more about the little details that I've missed out. Sharing the same passion on food and taking photos with all of you is indeed an honour! Oh.. I love that :) Hmm... what's next? *wink wink*

With great consideration, Chin Hiong Restaurant decided to give a discount to all customers who dine in with this printable coupon. Just print this out and you'll get to enjoy this privilege!

Enjoy!

A Hearty Break-ie!

After Chris's long working period of night shifts due to OTs, he finally have a day off and totally reserved the day for me :) Even during weekends, he had been working his butt off! and last Thursday, we had a 'makan trip' planned for ourselves. Yes.. just the 2 of us :)

"Jom, let's Makan!"

Will blog about our breakfast first for the meantime, reviews of lunch and dinner will have to wait. We went to one of the restaurants located at Sri Petaling, one of the coffee shop addressed Alison Restaurant. As Chris have tried what he known to be 'delicious', he ordered me and himself the Spare Rib Noodle priced at RM4. When it was served, it's presentation augmented my degree of hunger right away.

The spare ribs were somehow 'boneless'. Deep fried pork greatly flavoured with noodles that resembles the hakka noodles, double thumbs up from the both of us.



That was not just it. Chris insisted that I should give this 'special' bun a try no matter what.

A closer look.... what till you see what's pleasant!

Priced at RM2.40, the elongated bun was concealed with fried egg, dried chicken meat (yuk gon or bak gua in hokkien), chicken floss (kai see), cucumbers, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and a lil' chili sauce as well. You can actually choose what ingredients you prefer. Recommended and yummy! Will drop by again for sure!

A breakfast meeting our expectations and complied to our appetite. We moved on to our next destination after that with no procrastination and.... more sharings later on!