Monday, May 30, 2011

Seaweed Cheese Bread from Continental Bakery

I love bakeries… the aroma of fresh breads, buns, pastries, pretty cakes and desserts! Ahh…and I have one weakness when it comes to bread… I cannot resist soft fluffy breads and buns! Continental bakery offers fresh baked breads daily and it goes off the shelf quite quickly for some. I actually wanted to go get their yummy croissant the other day but there’s none that day! :( After browsing quite a number of selections, I decided to go for the seaweed cheese bread.

P1450765-1 3 fluffy seaweed cheese buns in a pack! Can’t remember how much, it was MYR 4.70 I think.

P1450766-1 I popped it into the oven, heat it a little and yum! Seaweed used is the dried chinese seaweed. This one, where we usually used to cook soup.

P1450767-1 Soft fluffy bun for breakfast with a cup of soy bean milk! Life’s a bliss!

Cucur Udang and Yam Cake, New World Park, Penang

Fancy some tea time snacks? You can conveniently find these at New World Park… (well, of course there are still plenty of places that has all these, will blog about those other time) Anyways, sometimes I do go to New World Park once in a while… I used to go every week before New World Park existed.. It is more famously known as Sin Sei Kai, the jam packed coffee shop with stalls along the roadside.. It was then very hard to find a nice parking spot, unlike now, parking is a breeze…

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And this is the all time must have when I’m there. I would not say that it’s the best, but it is one of the best I had so far.

P1450723-1 It’s crispy and not too oily. The peanut sauce is good too! Find it at Stall Lot H3.

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2 stalls away, Lot H5 offers a number of chinese tea time snacks, such as chee cheong fun, yam cake, “chai kuih” (crystal skin dumpling with yam bean, carrot etc), “bak zhang” savoury glutinous rice dumpling and more. Yam cake is actually just okay, if only there is more yam.. but texture wise it’s good!

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The bak zhang is just so so..  perhaps I’m very used to those home made ones… and those my mom used to get from the kuih seller  back in hometown… that is my favourite… my favourite bak zhang comes with peanuts! :P

P1450731-1The chai kuih is also so so only.. the skin is a little too thick and very fragile.. one of the best chai kuih I’ve had so far is the one in Super Tanker Food court.…

P1450733-1 Overall, if you are not fussy… all these are just fine.. :)

Otak Otak Place, Tropicana City Mall

While I was away for an offsite meeting in KL month back, I’ve managed to check out this place at Tropicana City Mall.  And it does have a fair share of patrons as well. It was filled with customers during lunch time when we arrived.

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The menu resembles our primary/secondary school’s exercise book. Notice how they spelt “cikgu” there.. haha…

P1450981-1   Aunty Lai Meng.. the ambassador, I think :)

P1450992-1 First up was the Mee bandung Muar @ MYR 9.90. It’s a peanut based beef broth served over mee with sliced beef, prawns and poached eggs.

P1450995-1Presentation is okay (although the illustration in the menu looked more hebat :P)… serving wise is normal, it does reminds me a little on jawa mee..

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Taste is also not bad, according to Eric. And it sure does look appetizing too..

P1460005-1Next is Otak-otak fried rice @ MYR 10.90. It is nyonya-style fried rice with otak-otak , prawns and keropok. I have to say that the presentation is good, most of the food served looked very appetizing.

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And according to Adrian, it is also not bad. :)

P1460015-1 I ordered Nasi lemak ayam perchik @ MYR9.90. It’s whole chicken leg marinated in spices and served with fragrant coconut rice, hard boiled eggs, and acar rampai. Besides that, it comes with basic nasi lemak condiments which are the fried ikan bilis and peanuts, cucumber slices and sambal.

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I’m overall satisfied with it, presentation was okay, serving was huge and it tasted good. The chicken was tender and nicely marinated.

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Ordered Otak-otak rolls @ MYR 5.50.  Otak-otak mixed with shredded carrots and wrapped in  egg-based popiah skin. Taste okay, served in the little dim sun steaming basket. Have to consume once served else it will become soggy after a while.

P1460025-1 We also ordered Otak-otak sticks (Fish) @ MYR 5.50. It is smokey-flavoured otak-otak made from tenggiri and spices, grilled in nipah leaf. This is my second time having this kind of otak otak. My first one was at some food court and it was years back. Otak-otak sticks were new to us then, we tried and it wasn’t a pleasant one. It was dry, slightly burnt and very little otak otak fillings.  So I was a little skeptical about this order.

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Well, good thing it did not fail me. The pieces came out juicy and tender.

P1460030-1Both were overall okay, they have more otak-otak snacks available. Perhaps can try next time.

P1460009-1 Sarsi float, barley lemon and blackcurrent longan MYR 4.00.

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Their weekdays lunch sets. Comes with main of choice, drinks and 2 otak otak sticks.

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And also their weekday breakfast and tea sets.

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Interiors are modern with slight touch of the past… things that brings you back down memory lane…memorabilia such as the grandfather’s bicycle… the old suitcase, flasks and tiffin carriers…..

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They use the olden days concept such as the small tiled floors and old fashioned chairs…..

P1460048-1 Black boards with cute graphics and drawings…

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Otak-Otak Place
Tropicana City Mall
Lot L1-58, 1st Floor,
Tropicana City Mall, No. 3, Jalan
SS20/27, 47400 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel / Fax: 03-7728 0403
Operation Hours:
10.00am – 10.00pm (Daily)

Also available in 1 Utama, IOI Boulevard, Suria KLCC, and Wisma CNI.
Know more about Otak-Otak Place by visiting their website

Monday, May 23, 2011

Al Rawsha Restaurant, Kampung Pandan

During my recent visit to KL last weekend, my boss suggested that we go for a Middle Eastern dinner. She recommended this place, Al Rawsha Restaurant, located at Kampung Pandan. It’s a huge place, and it’s open 24/7. It’s my first time having Middle Eastern meals :)

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The menu to extensive middle eastern fares! We had no idea what to order, we gave boss the honour, after all, it’s so nice of her to give us a treat here :D

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She ordered Chicken and Lamb Mandy. Mandy is traditional Hadramaut earth baked rice. It’s long grain rice, like Basmati. Per serving of Chicken Mandy(half chicken)  is MYR 20 and Lamb Mandy is MYR25. Everything is served together in one huge plate.

P1460222-1It is served with salsa-like chilli sauce that tastes just like the chicken rice chili sauce and yoghurt I think…  Both chicken and lamb were very tender, simply perfect!

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The rice was also somehow very appetizing and it’s not as dry as it seems. Filling and satisfying.. oh ya.. be warned that the servings are quite big… I saw a lot of other dishes served at the table around us which are also very mouth watering, food presentation is definitely there, but unfortunately, we all have no extra tummy space to order more. Will go again next time…

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The came the tea with little teacups.. Teapot tea is served at MYR 10 each.

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The one we had was refreshing and pleasant, Teapot tea mint… comes with fresh mint leaves.. you have options to have teapot tea Karkadih, Meramyah, Hail or Zhorat, and i have no idea of what  all these are except for mint. Besides pot tea, they have quite a selection of drinks from fruit juices, soft drinks, and even cocktails.

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For the sweet tooth, here’s the dessert counter… loaded with various types of puddings, puffs and cakes…

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I believe this is Cream Caramel @ MYR8. Smooth and silky… I like it.. and it’s not too sweet..

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I’m not very sure if this is the Custard Pudding, Custard Aljanna or something else actually :P It is served chilled with marie biscuit and chocolate rice sprinkled on top… Also nice, not very sweet, I can eat the whole thing myself is permitted… :P

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Then you have ice creams! Also with lots of different flavours to choose from…

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If you fancy sweeter stuffs, I would recommended the sweets from the bakery. They have baqlawa, sfouf, zonod al set, basbosa and lots more… and they are nice enough to let you sample the sweets..

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I kid you not, these are really sweet stuffs… and they taste good! but remember, if you are to have it.. not too much ya…

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He’s so nice and patient with us, letting us sample nearly everything and even taught us how to pronounce the names. He’s from Arab (which part, am not sure) and speaks english and a little malay.

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The reception… right in the middle after the entrance…

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The Kebab station…

P1460268-1The Shisha counter….

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The place is big,  clean, 2 floors in total and will be able to cater private functions and parties too.. one thing though, it’s a bit hot in there… i don think it’s air conditioned..

P1460290-1Ambiance is certainly there…  with arabic music playing in the background..

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Special corner for private functions, i think they have private rooms as well…

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Outside of the restaurant…

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Jeng jeng…. look at that! It’s like a castle… with ample parking spaces at the front and back compound.. but during peak hours, it can be full house…

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Al Rawsha Restaurant

No 8, Jalan Kampung Pandan
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-9200 6600
Fax: 03-9281 4585
Email: rawsha.restaurant@gmail.com

Visit their website www.alrawshakl.com for more information, menu and price list.