Farmers Street @ Tropicana City Mall, PJ.

"Farmers Street" is a new restaurant which was officially opened for biz today located at the lower ground of Tropicana City Mall. Their speciality is dishing out 'Nyonya' food, various types of nasi lemak and desserts.

Layout of the restaurant and it's decor are pretty simple and cool. They use lot's of 'wooden' materials for it's decor which is nice and refreshing.

And this was what we had for lunch....

Black Stew Chicken with Rice @ RM10.90

Assam Pedas Fish with Rice @ RM12.90

The Black Stew Chicken was full or aroma as it was cooked with lot's of herbal ingredients. Portion was good with enough chicken pieces and sauce to go with the plain white rice.

The Assam Pedas Fish was indeed 'pedas' and was really good. Again, the portion was huge and enough to feed two. The type of fish used for this dish was 'stingray'. But unfortunately the fish was overcooked and it's meat was rather dry and hard. Otherwise, everything was just perfect.

The unique thing about their menu is that there are lot's and lot's of different types of desserts served. Pages after pages you will be slapped with numerous types of desserts that is out of this world.

The above are just some of the selections that you can chose from. A must try is their 'special birdnest desserts' and we chose their No.1 'Mango Rolls Top with Natures Love Bird Nests'.

Mango Rolls Top with Natures Love Bird Nests @ RM15.90

This is pretty unique in a way that the mango was wrapped over with 'cheong fun' with 'bird nest' filling in in that make this a 'out of this world' dessert ... a must have!!!

Conclusion : I strongly believe this restaurant will do well. Food served here was pretty good considering the price and portions. Value for money is important but value for money with good food is a bonus. Highly recommended for their desserts.
I would rate this place a 3.5 / 5.

Cheers!

Farmer Street
Lower Ground
Tropicana City Mall
Petaling Jaya.

Note : The above review was purely based on my personal opinion.
Photos was taken with Samsung Galaxy S5 & Lenovo S650 mobile phones.

Pan Mee @ Kedai Kopi Hoh Piah @ Sg Way, PJ.

Frontage - Entrance

Business was as usual on a sunny late Tuesday morning. Lot's of emails to clear and lot's of inquiries to attend to. Sure was busy and was looking towards lunchtime for a break. Just as the thought came to my mind a 'WhatsApp' message was beeping on my tab. The message was from my childhood friend Brian beeping myself and another couple of other buddies for lunch. Perfect timing and he even suggested where and what to have for lunch. Brian even volunteered to pick all of us up which we were more than glad to accept his generosity. It was brilliant as we usually have problems with it.

Brian mentioned that today's journey will be driving to Sungei Way in PJ for a good bowl of 'Pan Mee' and 'Iced Kopi'. The first words that came out from our mouth was 'Huh! Are you sure ar Brian.... pan mee wor .... Sg Way wor..... sure or not ...... good meh?'. It was like a 'trivia question' from all of us because none of us ever heard about a good pan mee in Sg Way. This is going to be a great adventure for all of us.

Varieties of Pan Mee

And indeed it was an adventure. Do not expect this 'Pan Mee' to be operating in a shop lot or sorts like that. Our journey brought us to some nearby houses in the housing area and viola we have arrived. This 'Pan Mee' store is operated from a house where the boss is a young middle age man who personally does the 'kopi' himself whereby the Pan Mee was manned by a few good aunty.....

Lunch crowd was over as we arrived the place close to around 14:00 hours. It was good as we preferred to dine in such conditions...... you know service can be much faster and better.

We wasted no time with our orders which consists of 3 bowls of 'Bak Kut Teh Pan Mee' and 1 bowl of 'Dry Chilli Pan Mee'. Of course not forgetting the 'kopi ping' for all of us.

Yeah! Their varieties are pretty awesome eh.... but of course they also serve the normal pan mee and others like 'spicy soup pan mee', 'tom yum pan mee', 'herbal soup pan mee', etc...... A must try too. We heard the herbal soup pan mee was good too.

Kopi Ping

We were taken aback by the taste of the kopi ping. It was fantastic and the best I have ever had. It was really a knock out! An upper cut blow with the first sip and a TKO with another few sips. Coffee was indeed aromatic and must give credits to the boss who managed to make such a good cuppa or in this case a good glassa..... with the right combo and mixture of sugar and condense milk and whatever..... Dang!!! What can I say about this kopi ping. A must have!!!

Bak Kut Teh Pan Mee with 'Yau Mee'

Bak Kut Teh Pan Mee with 'Chou Mee'

We could smell the aroma of the Bak Kut Teh pan mee even before it was brought to the table. The aroma was awesome it made me drool.... The broth was amazing which is important. It was really like having bak kut teh but minus the pork, spare parts and rice. Pretty amazing bowl of noodle, really.

Another thing that got the thumbs up from me was they served the noodles in a ceramic or porcelain bowl, those 'made in China' bowl with gold fish imprints instead of plastic melamine ware. To me this is more hygienic and safer as I never can accept hot broth served under melamine ware. You never know what toxic you are exposed to.

Dry Chilli Pan Mee with 'Yau Mee'

I do not know how many TKO's I can handle but this is truly another knock out! Which blew me off the chair. Not too spicy as compared to others but it was the taste that gave me a 'black eye'. This was delicious! And with the right combo and amount of condiments (mushroom and anchovies) spread on top of the noodles .... just sit back, sit tight and enjoy your meal.

We had a good time chatting with the owner and the aunty and when they knew we will do a write up for them they were extremely happy.

Conclusion : I am sure everyone knows better about some of the 'Pan Mee' chain of restaurant that has been mushrooming in The Klang Valley with the likes of 'Jojo', KinKin  or 'Super Kitchen Chilli Pan Mee'. Little will someone knows or even heard of this Pan Mee store in Sg Way (unless you are residing there). But to me this Pan Mee store in Sg Way with the name of 'Kedai Kopi Hoh Piah' is a 'Jewel of the Crown'. The place may not be high class but the food is. Highly recommended  and not to be missed. And please don't forget the 'kopi ping' too. A 4/5 and 8 thumbs up from all of us. And this is non-halal.

Thanks Brian for the intro and invite.

Cheers!

Kedai Kopi Hoh Piah                    Operating hours: Tuesday - Sunday.
Jalan SS9A/4                                                                7am - 2:30pm.
Sungei Way
Petaling Jaya.

Note : The above review was purely based on my personal opinion.

Gerai Minum Weng Kee @ Old Town, PJ.

The past weeks or maybe months has been the most hottest spell ever experienced this year. It it totally unbearable as the sunlight stings the body to the core of the bone....that's how hot it is. It has been like 33-35 degree celsius daily.

In such conditions my mind kept telling me that we had to get some ABC to cool down the body temperature and in the same time to satisfy our indulgence in this cool dessert. But then it is not an easy task nowadays to find good ABC. ABC can be found in many places but most of them are really lousy and not worthwhile to spend the penny on it.

Being a PJ boy spending my entire life in this beautiful city has brought me to many places, places that dishes out good food as well as good desserts. And today I will or rather I dared to say that this drink store in The Medan Selera (adjacent to the wet market) PJ Old Town does the BEST ABC in PJ and KL. This place is called 'Gerai Minum Weng Kee'. They are operated by a husband & wife team with a couple of Indon staff to help around. They have been in business for 'donkey' years and has made a name for themselves in the business.

They have a handful of regulars who specifically goes there for their ABC. Besides ABC they are also famous for their Chendol and Iced Bubur Cha Cha. Of course they also serves the normal drinks from carbonated drinks to ice teh Cina.

ABC

What makes their ABC so special? From what I can taste the secret is in their 'gula Melaka' but not just ordinary gula Melaka but I suspect it could be a mixture of few different types of 'gula' ... a 'secret ingredient' which makes it so special. And of course not forgetting the blended ice was silky smooth and really fine. Whenever I ate this I always say this 'even Starbucks could not blend the ice as fine as this'.

These ABC's are just unbelievably good and most of the time I will have a couple to really have the satisfaction feel. Otherwise it is like I have betrayed myself by not having more than one. This indulgence in a way is not good for the body system because of the high content of sugar in it. I will have 'sugar rush' after gulping it all. Oh well.....

Next in line is the Chendol. They serve their Chendol in a tall glass or a mug different from others whereby most are served in a bowl just like the ABC.

You can have an option for their regular Chendol or Chendol with red beans. As usual I will choose the latter as it is my favourite.

As usual the key secret to the success lies in the 'gula Melaka' and the fine blended ice. The taste is really inviting ..... true enough it was so inviting that I wanted a third serving.

Conclusion : Undisputed the best ABC in PJ and KL. I have tasted some other that was highly rated eg the one in Kepong but those are really out of the league compared to Weng Kee. Sugar content is at it's highest level and not suitable for those who are suffering from diabetes. A total knock out!!!
I would rate a 5/5.

Cheers!

Kedai Minum Weng Kee
Taman Selera Makan Old Town
Jalan Othman
PJ Old Town
46050 Petaling Jaya
Selangor.

Note : The above review was purely based on my personal opinion.

Restaurant Chan Meng Kee - Famous Wan Ton Mee @ SS2

The legacy of Chan Meng Kee started when Chef Chan started selling the now famous won ton mee in a coffee shop run by his brother in Sec 17, PJ. Without doubt they dish one of the very best won ton mee ever and this was one of our usual makan place for our daily lunch.

They were so famous until their ego got into their head. They were getting very rude and snobbish something that we see very often in Malaysia but still their business was so good. Normally I would have ban such eateries simply because the owner totally forgotten that their regular clients were the main reason for their success. But the.....aiya..... I kept on coming back for the noodle until today.

Since then they have moved to their very own premise with even more foodie to offer. Of course their main dish will be their won ton mee but now they have broaden their menu to curry (dry and soup) noodle, chicken, char siew and siew yok rice, various types of green vegetable, a handful selection of soup (which is good), prawn dumplings, etc....

Existing Premise

 

They have made a name for themselves in SS2 and whenever you mentioned the famous won ton mee most people will mentioned 'Chan Meng Kee'.

This is their existing premise in SS2 and will be moving to their new premise which is just a short walk up the road by July 2014 for good. At the moment this premise will serve the ever busy lunch crowd and the new premise will serve the dinner crowd.

New Premise

The new premise looks 'newer' and 'cleaner' and it is brightly lighted up which is a plus sign. But I was expecting this place to be 'fully air conditioned' .... which I was a little disappointed to find out that it was not. Well anyway as long as the quality of the food stays or maintained.

Lunch Crowd

Please make sure to go early if you are there for lunch otherwise you will have to wait in line for an available table. Layout of the place is simple with tables and chairs covering the whole floor. It was pretty crowded when we arrived around 12:30pm.

Char Siew Wan Ton Mee

I usually order wan ton mee with 'pun fei sau' roast pork with wanton. 'Pun fei sau' means half lean half fat meat which is the best one ever could ask for. Quality of the noodle is very consistent, not over cooked as over cooked noodles can be very soggy. Theirs have the springy effect to it which provides a sensation feeling when one takes a big bite onto the noodles.

However, I was rather upset with the roast pork. The 'fat' part was superb but the 'lean' part was a tad too tough. Otherwise it would have been perfect as the taste of the pork was superbly done.

Overall the wan ton noodle scores a high! It has it's own special taste which I have never eaten before and of course it was made better with 'pork fatty' mixed with it

A must order is their 'sui kow' dumplings (sorry folks no pics on this). Their sui kow was so fresh and so delicious that it was all finished before I could take a photo of it. LOL. Remember MUST ORDER!

Soup

To compliment the noodle we had a good bowl of soup to help us to neutralise or drain all the oily and fatty stuff deeper into our belly and out of the system. I always love a place that serves soup simply because I am a soup lover. Nothing much to shout about on this but it does provide the satisfaction feel and refreshing.

Roast Duck with Wonton Noodle

The roast duck was tender, juicy and delicious. Even though I am not a duck person but I must admit that this good.

Shredded Chicken Wonton Soup Noodle

Wonton Soup Noodle with Wanton

For those who would like something 'mild' this is it. The soup based noodle was just OK lah nothing to shout about. I find that the 'kan sui mei' of the noodle was too heavy and for those (like me) who is fussy about this will not enjoy the soup based noodle.

Curry Wan Ton Noodle

This bowl of curry noodle really surprised us. Never did we know that they can dish Rout something so good. Who would have thought of going to Chan Meng Kee for a bowl of curry noodles. I never did and after trying it out I strongly recommend it to curry noodle lovers.

It was rich in santan and the soup was simply marvelous and delicious. The taste brought back some childhood memory when I had my very first bowl of curry noodles...the very same type of taste I had back then. How to describe it.......yeah 'Chinese' type of mild santan curry taste.

Frankly, I believe this will give 'Lorong Seratus Tahun' a run for the money.

Conclusion : Strongly recommended. Good food and reasonably good price. Restaurant is well lighted and clean (new premise). The tauke is still a snobbish man but really hope their staff will not follow suit. Would be great if they have better personality and attitude. But again food is good. And also, it is difficult to find a place that serve good wanton noodle especially in the evening, dinner time in Petaling Jaya area.
A 3.5 out of 5.
Non Halal.

Restaurant Chan meng Kee
32, Jalan SS2/66
47300 Petaling Jaya 
Selangor.
Tel : 012 688 1972


Note : The above review was purely based on my personal opinion.

Garden Recipe Cafe @ Paradigm Mall, Kelana Jaya.

Being a food blogger has brought me to many places. Places with great food, places famous for great food and places with great chef who dishes out great food. Hah.... I reckon this is the best way to describe it with words.

Most food that tastes good are normally enhanced with MSG. This is something very common nowadays especially when food business are getting more competitive. One would have to resort to MSG to stay in business. There's no denying about this. But there is this particular restaurtnat I have heard so much of with so much words spreading and so much hoo-hah going around about how great the food is and the best part was the food is cooked without MSG.

Garden Recipe Cafe which originated from Melaka is the place..... boasting that thier food has NO MSG, NO Colouring, NO Preservative, Everything Natural and Organic. Well, I have seen so many restaurant boasting about the same thing but everytime I was short-changed and hopefully this time is otherwise. Let us embark in this journey to find out how it'll turn out.

The set up of the restaurant is simple and nice. Wooden tables and chairs dominated the entire floor. Whereby on one side wooden benches was the favoured choice instead of chairs which I reckon was the favourite seating space amongst the patrons. The walls was neatly decorated which has the 80's feel to it.

Service was good. Waiters was well manered and carries a smile. But when the crowd stated to build up their service turned topsy-turvy. I reckon it was because they were short staff and it would have made a difference if they had more floor staff especially during peak hours.

One thing that caught my attention was their daily set meals which strecthes all the way to dinner. There were a few choices to chose from and the price starts at RM12.90+ which comes with a cup of tea and some fruits.

A look at the meny suggests there were plenty of choices to chose from. From local cusine to Western cuisine, from rice meals to noodles and from soupy meals to sandwiches. I was pretty impressed with what they have. It would take a couple or more visits to really cover the entire choice of food served here.

Xiang CHun Sauce with Brown Rice Soya Noodle (Dry) @ RM12.90+

This healthy plate of noodles when served was at tall at the 'Empire State Building'. It contains lot's of vegetables from carrots to cabbage with some tofu surrounding the outer part of the plate. What you need to do was to mix it all up and viola your plate of dry noodle. :-)

It tasted good considering there was no MSG used. Of course you cannot compare the food here with others which uses MSG to enhance the taste but what they have done here was marvelous. I am pretty sure they could have used lot's of natural ingredients to bring the taste up. Well, it was good from my point of view as I am not a sucker for salty food.

Curry Chicken cw Brown Rice @ RM12.90+

Heathy indeed .... their chicken curry was cooked without the use of MSG and coconut milk. Served with it was a 'miserable bite sized water melon' and some salad. The portion was just ok-la which comes with some brinjals, some sliced cabbage and some long beans. Of course it comes with chicken and some potatoes.

It was a little 'bland' but I liked it. Again, as a reminder their food was cooked without MSG and I would give credits to the chef for a job well done.

Lui Cha'

'Lui Cha' is a traditional Hakka tea based beverage which was made into a meal. Tea leaf was used and pounded which was mixed with some other herbs to create the finishing 'tea' product. Other condiment includes peanuts,  corns, long beans, beancurd and leeks.

All you need to do is to put all the 'ingredients' into the plate containing the brown rice and pour the green lui cha into it and .... there you have it. Frankly, I am not a Lui Cha person and I find the tea a little too 'green'. But then again for someone who fancies this meal they will find it tasty and delicious. Truly a healthy meal indeed.

Chicken Ponteh

We also ordered a Set A meal from their set meal - Nyonya Ponteh Chicken with brown rice. This meal is a famous and traditional Nyonya dish and the best to come is from Melaka. Since this restaurant originated from Melaka this is one dish you will have to try. Chicken Ponteh can also be called Nyonya Chicken and Potato Stew.

This meal was a killer! It was so good, so delicious and so 'I want more' feeling. Unbelievable. I did asked myself.... sure ar boh MSG ar? Well, again hats off to the chef and to the one who came up with the recipe without using MSG.

Conclusion : Surprisingly I find this place to be really good. Serves really good healthy food. The environment was simple yet confortable. Service could be better especially during peak hours. A tad pricey but it's worth it! Highly recommended. A 4/5.

Cheers!

Garden Recipe Cafe
LG-29
Paradigm Mall
No.1, Jalan SS7/26A
Kelana Jaya
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor.
Tel : 03 7887 3318

G55
AEON Bandaraya Melaka Shopping Mall
No.2, Jalan Lagenda
75400 Melaka.
Tel : 06 283 9168.
www.gardenrecipe.com.my

Note : The above review was purely based on my personal opinion.

Note : The above picture of the 'Chicken Ponteh' is not the original picture taken at site. Will upload the original later as the picture taken was accidently deleted. Sorry guys!

My Elephant - Thai Restaurant @ Aman Suria, PJ.

Hot and spicy exotic Thai cuisine has been a favourite of mine since a very young age. I have never had a good authentic Thai meal in KL and the search still goes on. The best still comes from Thailand and the next best which was pretty close to the originals was in Kota Bahru.

Most so-called Thai restaurants in KL dishing so-called Thai food just doesn't taste as good as those found in Thailand or Kota Bahru. Most were cooked to cater to our local Malaysian tongue and because of this there will never be one restaurant that can dished out really original authentic Thai food. The search goes on and this time around is a restaurant called  'My Elephant'.

I have heard so much about this restaurant and it's about time I give my mystic tongue into some gruelling tests. We chose to patronise thier latest chain at Aman Suria where the place was easy to find and parking space are abundance.

My first impression on it's interior was simple and nice. Tables were well placed with white table cloths and white 'mahjong' paper used as table covers. Unfortunately the songs there were playing was English instead of Thai. It does make a huge difference if Thai songs were being played as it will enhance the atmosphere and mood of the place.

Their floor staff were mostly foreigners but they were well trained and very hospitable. We were greeted and ushered to our table by a waitress who was polite and professional.

A quick run through of their menu suggested that we had to order some 'common' dishes so that we can evaluate the greatness of thier food.

Firstly we were presented with some 'crackers' to keep us company. These crackers tastes superb and with the dipping sauce that came with it made it even more memorable.

Seafood Tom Yam

The seafood tom yam was pretty delicious. Just a tad to salty for my taste but it was fine. A little spiciness makes it more interesting. The setback was then portion was a little small and there was not too much seafood in it.

Green Curry Chicken

A must for us. Green curry chicken was very aromatic. The texture of the sauce was thick, full of santan or coconut milk which makes it taste really good. Again, it was a tad salty and the portion was really pathetic. Othewise, it would have been a great meal.

Brown Rice

All this saltiness goes really well with the brown rice which we had ordered. We opt for brown rice instead of the fragrant white rice as it is more healthy to consume. Indeed a wise choice.

Egg Plant fried with Minced Meat

This dish was highly recomended by their staff. And true enough this dish was a bomb. It was perfectly cooked with lot's of minced meat in it. It was very aromatic and goes very well with a plate of rice. Credits goes to the chef for this delicious palate.

Otak Otak Omelette

First we had a dish which was a bomb and now this otak otak omelette is a killer. This omelette was totally amazing. It was again perfectly cooked and we just couldn't believe our taste buds for picking up something so unique and so beautiful. Another yes from all of us. Highly recommended.

Conclusion : Nice lovely place for dining. Thai food was ok which was fine tuned for our local tongue. If I were to compare this with 100% authentic Thai food from Thailand, 'My Elephant' would fail miserably. So for now this place rowks as the food here is much better compared to other KL based Thai restaurants. Service was good and I truly hope they will play Thai songs instead of English songs. Price is above average and a meal like what we had costs us RM80.00+. A 3.5/5.

Cheers!

My Elephant Thai Restaurant
No.22, Jalan PJU 1/43
Aman Suria
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor.
Tel : 03 7886 1451.

Block C-G4 Happy Mansion
Jalan 17/13
46400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor.
Tel : 010 220 1283

20-2, Jalan Sri Hartamas 8
Taman Sri Hartamas
50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 03 6201 0649.

Note : The above review is solely based on my personal opinion.