Rice Cafe, Bangsar

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Lyrical Lemongrass

I’ve mentioned before that I am a seasonal creature with seasonal tastes, but if there is one dish that I’ve loved since 12, it’s Assam Laksa. When my mum makes it, she boils a huge pot of broth, almost 10 litres for a family of 6, because we enjoy drinking the soup on its own. In fact, it isn’t uncommon for us to drink several bowls in one day, minus the noodles, as her soup is always thick and flavourful thanks to the abundance of mackerel chunks in it.

I don’t live with my parents anymore, and I can’t always ask for Assam Laksa on my fortnightly visits home, so I’m pretty pleased that I can get great Assam Laksa right here in KL. The newly opened Rice Cafe on the other side of Jalan Maarof serves an assortment of local meals from Nasi Dagang to Singapore Fried Bee Hoon. Despite being new to the restaurant industry, the owners have shown that a lot of hard work and interest in the food that they serve goes a long way. A wise man once mentioned to me that another eatery that he frequents serves the same kind of dishes, but they don’t taste the same despite having the correct ingredients. He then concluded that the dishes missed one element. Love. Now, you may choose to laugh at him or spit on him, but I do believe that having an interest in 1. food, 2. your restaurant, and 3. the people whom you serve, goes a long way and that love is reflected in the end product.

The Assam Laksa at Rice Cafe has a thick broth and is overflowing with aromatic ingredients – mint leaf, bunga kantan, daun kesum – and has the right amount of tanginess from tamarind and sweetness from har ko (prawn paste). If you’re not one for Assam Laksa, try the Nasi Lemak which comes with extremely crispy and tasty fried chicken. The extra special version which Nigel and Frat Mustard ordered came with chicken that was marinated with lemongrass and galangal and served with crispy bits of the same concoction…to die for. Lisa also seemed pretty pleased with her Singapore Bee Hoon.

The restaurant currently serves local favourites, but will soon venture into chinese dishes as well.

Rice Cafe
Lorong Maarof (If you’re coming from Jalan Bangsar into Jalan Maarof, at the traffic light near McD’s turn right, then make another right turn and you’re there)
Bangsar, KL.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Also check out Fatboybakes and Cumidanciki.

(Note: Thanks, Fatboybakes + Ciki, Nigel + Lisa + Frat for the birthday treat here on two separate occasions…so sweet of you.)

Chef Choi, Jalan Ampang

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Lyrical Lemongrass

I could wax lyrical about Chef Choi all day and night.

Chef Choi serves Cantonese cuisine, although some of the dishes may come across as fusion. My enthusiasm stems largely from the quality of the food; you can’t go wrong with top notch ingredients. For instance, one can get matsusaka beef here. Matsusaka beef is a form of wagyu from the Matsusaka region of Japan, and interestingly enough, the meat comes from heifers. Similar to Kobe beef, the cows receive the usual pampering – massages, soothing music and a rich diet. A cow’s life, indeed. And so, our dining experience began – with a serving of matsusaka beef, vietnamese spring roll and a foie gras on bread. An excellent beginning – the beef was well marbled and tender and the foie gras was good enough to be eaten alone. Chinese cuisine, you say?

Think of the aromatic duck as a value-for-money-meal. Even the bones are edible. You get your protein AND your calcium. Honestly, I was amazed at how brittle the bones were. A dog’s life isn’t so bad, either. The duck skin was crisp and tasty. I’d even go to the extent of calling it the perfect duck. Da duck didn’t die in vain. An alliterating tongue twister. Wait, not quite. Da duck didn’t die in dain. (Definition of dain: Colloquial Scots, particularly North East Scotland meaning “doing” . A typical example may be “Fit i Ye Dain?'” = “What are you Doing?” Can also be “Dein”.)

If you think that’s indulgence, let me tell you that I had a most amazing suckling pig as well. Fatboybakes described it well: “Crisp skin, not too fatty, cos the slicing of the skin was expertly done, so the fat was on the meat, not on the skin.”

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was not a fan of fried fish. We were served a fried soon hock (marbled goby), which left us aghast – I mean, the very thought of frying a soon hock (expensive) and slathering a sweet and spicy sauce couldn’t possibly be good – what were they thinking? But you know what? It was good. The fish was fresh, the flesh was firm, and we had absolutely no complaints. Be open to possibilities and new experiences.

I liked the prawns in superior soy sauce, sticky and sweet, although the one served in Oversea in Imbi wins my vote for this kind of preparation. The steamed chicken served with young ginger paste is one dish I’d order again. Don’t skip the ginger sauce. In appearance, it looks just like any other ginger paste, like what is served with chicken rice, but one mouthful is enough to convince you that this is a far superior sauce to any other, primarily because young ginger is used, and it is freshly ground.

The noodles deserved a pedestal of their own. Yee mee with lobster. How luxurious is that? Fan pei noodles (made of soy bean) was something I was trying for the first time – translucent in appearance with a bite to it. My absolute favourite was the sang mee with prawn roe – a simple dish that was bursting in flavour. Sometimes, limiting the number of ingredients in a dish to three or four is enough. The tomato noodles was zingy thanks to the vinegar in the sauce, but the flavours mellowed after being kept overnight (yes, I did the test).

For desserts, the almond milk with papaya was brilliantly presented in an environmental-friendly receptacle. They don’t have just typical Chinese desserts here; in fact, one of their popular desserts is the molten chocolate cake.

Until the end of August 2009, Chef Choi is offering a 25% discount for dine-ins.

Thanks very much, Marian Eu, for arranging this amazing dinner, and Cheng Sim, for hosting it. I dedicate my additional 2kg near my belly to you.

Chef Choi
159 Jalan Ampang
50450 KL

Tel: 03-2163 5866

Website HERE.

Also check out Fatboybakes, Cumidanciki, Masak-Masak.

Matsusaka beef, vietnamese spring roll and foie gras on bread

Aromatic duck with pancake

Suckling pig

Fried soon hock

Prawn in superior soy sauce

Steamed chicken with young ginger paste

Lobster yee mee

Fan pei

Sang mee with prawn roe

Tomato noodles

Desserts, clockwise from top: Creme brulee, almond milk with papaya, mango cream

The Nirvana Bus Tour – Street Food in Pulau Tikus, Penang

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Lyrical Lemongrass

Penang may be my birthplace, but I feel like I have not earned the right to call myself a Penangite. In many ways, because we moved away from Penang when I was just nine, I have more of an affinity to my current hometown than to Penang. Despite that, some memories remain.

Like catching tadpoles in puddles of water at the nearby construction site behind Penang Free School until my mum would yell for me to come back home for dinner. Picking up pretty mosaic tiles when the workers were not looking, and gazing at the colourful reflective pieces for hours after. Walking with my mum to the wet market, and afterwards treating ourselves to a bowl of kuay teow th’ng, perching ourselves on battered steel stools and ravishing the noodles with wide smiles on our faces.

My life at nine through rose-tinted glasses, perhaps. As a child, it never occurred to me that we were different from others. My brother used to say, “Appa is black, Amma is white, and I am brown”. We weren’t blind to colour, but we were colour blind.

(all photos above taken on location in various parts of Penang)

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1. Pulau Tikus at night

We arrived at Penang at about 10.00pm and before even checking into our hotel, we drove straight to the Pulau Tikus market for Round One of Penang street food.

Five of us shared one plate of Penang chee cheong fun – flat rice noodles with a dark sauce containing the primary ingredient – prawn paste.

2. Pulau Tikus in the morning

Chee Cheong Fun

Kway Teow Th’ng

Kway Chap

Chai Tow Kway

One can never go hungry at the Pulau Tikus market in the morning. There is an amazing selection of freshly cooked food – from currypuffs to pancakes, chai tow kway (fried carrot cake) to mamak mee. The market bustles with activity and loud voices compete as customers haggle for the best prices.

3. Swee Kong Coffee Shop

One of the bestsellers at this coffee shop is the apom stall manned by an Indian man. The apom (crispy “pancake”) is sweet, eggy and coconutty – I can’t believe it costs only 50 sen a piece.

The hokkien mee (or prawn mee in this part of the world) is another fast selling item. Thanks to Boo’s persistence, the owner scraped the remnants to make up this last bowl of noodles for the day.

Wantan mee with fried wantans is another popular dish here. It is served with a little bit of thick gravy, quite unlike anything I’ve ever tried before.

Swee Kong Coffee Shop
Burmah Road

4. Seng Lee Coffee Shop

At the corner of Burmah Road and Bangkok Lane (across from Swee Kong and a short walk up) is Seng Lee, another institution, famous for hokkien mee, pasembor and mamak mee.