4 Years and Counting

I just realize, the last quarter of the year is like the best time for somebody to start a blog. What? You might ask. Well Tham Jiak, this dear blog of mine, has officially turned 4 years old, one week or so ago, on 27th October. Yes, it had been that long and the reason I said that it is like the time where people start blog is because I found some who are also celebrating their blog anniversary. How cool it is to celebrate together in the blogosphere with the famous llemongrass the queen of food blogs (and DSLR as I have heard) and Bangsar-babe the beauty queen (in all our hearts). It was them who reminded me of my overdue post to celebrate my dear blog's 4th year anniversary.


On reflections on this blog, it seem Tham Jiak has gently nudge itself from a baker who cooks and occasionally dines out to a full fledged diner who bakes occasionally and almost never cooks anymore. Am I happy about it? I guess it is just a phase of life, for I know I would always remember the joy of baking and cooking and someday would have the luxury again to indulge in these favourite activities of mine and stuffed my loved ones silly again. In the meantime, this tham jiak is contented in enjoying her eating adventures outside. Also for this year, one may have notice that tham jiak had came out of her closet and went out to meet the people behind those lovely blogs out there that she had diligently been following, and boy was she glad, as they have indeed added spice and colours to this tham jiak world of mine. Also I am starting to note that a large frequency of the posts are mainly invited reviews, yes I am happy to be able to come out and enjoy free meals who wouldn’t, but certainly the most enjoyable part is actually the companies, being able to eat among food enthusiasts and a what a bubbly bunch they are too.


There would be many more years for this Tham Jiak blog and I hope you would continue to join in the ride with me; it may not be as it always is but I sure do hope it will be an enjoyable one for everyone. For so far it has been an amazing ride for me!


Till then, happy eating!

Cuppacakes from Wondermilk, given to me by my best buddy L

A Lamb Affair

Quite a while ago, I dined once at Dubrovnik, on a company’s dinner and did not quite enjoy myself with the food served. Either we had all ordered wrongly, or that night the Chef has an off day or they were still new just then, the food did not quite live up to the expectation, especially at the price it was offered in. Thereafter, I have not return to the restaurant again. Then one fine day, I got invited by Frat and Alice George Communication to have a food review at Dubrovnik. My eyes perk up, memory flashes back to my old encounter and then decided to forget that and goes for a fresh start. After all, everyone deserves a second chance. And true enough, this was a deserving one.


Before I head on to talk about the food, let me explain a little of what Dubrovnik is, it is the only Croatian restaurant in Malaysia, named after a city and brought to you by Chef Zoran who has since moved to Malaysia since 12 years ago. Chef Zoran takes pride in making his own pasta and bread and even have a wood fire oven in the kitchen! The restaurant boasts clean and simple design, with clear lighting and plain white and dark bluish grey theme.


So back to the food! At this round of food review, as later also explained by the Chef, is that they are trying to showcase lamb, and how it can be cooked in many ways while holding true to Croatian style of cooking. We are served lamb in many forms from bare baked lamb to lamb baked in cheese to even lamb burger. Are you feeling hungry already? But before that, let us start with some carbs to line the stomach first. We were served with two hand-made pastas in completely different form and sauces.

From left: Spaghetti Ala Buzara and Prawn Orzo

I simply love the Prawn Orzo, because of the pasta. “It is not rice-pasta, it is pasta shaped in form of rice” I keep hearing it from Dina, General Manager of Dubrovnik and daughter of Chef Zoran, as we unassuming bloggers keep saying “oh it is rice pasta” whenever one asks another what is it. Anyway, I digress, this dish is amazing. The pasta shaped like rice is slight chewy yet with bite in small forms, it was in fact a delight to eat and not to mention the sauce complements it really well along with lovely big fresh prawns. Ah, I wish to eat this again! Dina was asking whether it is alright to put this on the menu (it was a new creation), and all of us reply with a resounding ‘YES!’ The spaghetti ala Buzara was quite good as well with lashings of olive oil, garlic and parsley, just that the Prawn Orzo got the bigger limelight.



Anyway on to the real limelight of the night that is the lamb, the lamb and the lamb. Yes you heard me right, the lamb! First up was the Lamb Peka, where the lamb was present at its most naked glory. The lamb is seasoned with pepper and salt and some special Croatian spice mix call Vegeta (mentioned in the brief recipe provided to us) and then placed on top of potatoes, carrots and celery and then slowly baked in the wood fire oven covered by an iron bell. Just writing the recipe makes me want to eat it again, though I must say the lamb was slightly on the salty side, other than that it would have been great! Then onslaught to the next lamb, which is lamb buried in mounts of cheese and tomato sauce and baked till it is all soft and ready to melt in your mouth – Lamb Goulash.

And it was oh so good, actually my favourite lamb (yes, of ALL the lambs) of the night, soft, tender, smooth, with the lamb taste still very strong through the rich sauce! Though I do wish I had better companions to eat with this rich dish or maybe to have a bread to mop up all the saucy goodness. After that came the youngest, or rather cutest lamb of all that is the Lamb Burgers. I just can’t help but smile at the plateful of mini burgers huddle together on a plate.

Smile!

So cute but still we need to eat it right, and chomp it down I did. It was good burgers I say! Love the mini buns which were like home made style, and the lamb was flavourful and good (though after a while it was slightly too salty again) and with the surprise feta cheese in the middle was a good finishing touch to this miniature delight. After when all was devoured and we rest a while chit-chatting, Frat nudge me and whispered “Do you want to have another burger?” My eyes lifted and look at them beckoning at me, so I whispered back excitedly “Yes sure!” So he took one of the babies and passed to me, everyone asked “Whoa, how many you had?” I answered cheekily “Just one and a half”, as my first one I shared with Ruth because I was afraid there weren’t enough to pass around (ok, I admit I was not sure if it would be good and I want to save my tummy for the rest of the food, ahem) but since it was good and we have more than enough left, I have another again. Besides, Frat offered me.

From Left: Cream Spinach, Sautéed Mushrooms, Baked Potatoes with Cheese and Spices, Sautéed Spinach with more Mushrooms

Along with the lamb, lamb and lamb, we also have some side dishes to go along with it. All of them were alright, not screaming creation, and truly just as sidelines. Among all the best were the baked potatoes, mainly for the flavourful crunchy cheese bits on the top. Then finally before we end the meal, Chef Zoran came out to meet us in person, gave a little speech and then proceeds to showcase the preparation of a dessert for us – Crepe Suzette. Just then I thought of my colleague who not too long ago asked me (yes, he found out this that I was tham jiak) where to get good crepe suzette in Malaysia, and so I look on with interest to find out if the one here would be good. I love the idea that Chef Zoran lavishly pour in the liquors of Cointreau and Brandy. When he pours in the alcohol everyone holds their breath for the flambé and boy, was it fiery! Though at that time the preparation seemed really simple but indeed I can see that the crepe has been prepared beforehand and to know cooking each crepe perfectly would have been time consuming. I enjoyed my crepe suzette very much, partly thanks to the generous liquors but also for the fresh and strong zest of orange that were added. (yoohoo, colleague reader of mine, yes you can come here to answer your cravings for crepe suzette!)

Ending with a sweet note, overall individual dishes as it came, I would recommend you to try out the Prawn Orzo (if it gets onto the menu), all the lambs – Lamb Peka, Lamb Goulash and Lamb Burgers, and ask for some bread or something light to accompany, call some good wine or cocktails, and then end with a sweet note of Crepe Suzette. Lovely! So if ever you decide to splurge and to taste Croatian food, do give Dubrovnik a try.

Restaurant Dubrovnik
J-0G-14,
2 Jalan Solaris, Mont Kiara,
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tues-Sun 11.30am - 11.30pm

The Secret

Psst, I have a secret to tell you. Yes, you! Come closer. Have a look at this:

Clockwise from top left: Durian Puff, Chee Cheong Fun, Xiao Long Bao, Steamed Egg Yolk Custard Bao, Seaweed Roll, Pork and Chinese Sausage Rolled in Beancurd Skin.

Yes it is as good as it looks. Yes there are many more. And yes, there are actually good dim sum in Klang Valley! (Thunder claps at a far distant for a dramatic effect)

This secret was actually revealed to me by my good buddy Y, this was how she said it “Have you tried the dim sum restaurant behind our house? No? You must! Damn on!” Yeah, that is practically what she had said, and for the record, she claims the expression ‘Damn on!’ as hers and she plan to advocate it to a point of becoming a common exclamation for anything that is real good. If you hear it anywhere else by anyone, remember you hear it here first with credit to Y, I did not want her to sue me for plagiarism.

So, I perked up immediately with interest as I have always been on the lookout for good dim sum around Klang Valley. Either I found those that are mediocre or lack of choices, or environment not as good enough and usually those good ones you got to pay through your nose, which of course I have yet to explore so I cannot comment if those are good enough. But for this secret that we found, the price was reasonable, the choices are amazing during the peak like weekend breakfast to late lunches or the urbanites favourite hip brunches, while the choices dwindled down to acceptable for the other times but all in all the quality remains, freshness secured somehow and the environment is comfortable with air-condition (crucial for the crazy Malaysia heat), spacious, and clean. Totally defying the usual dim sum haunt where people have to brace the heat, the humidity, the rowdy crowds, the tight spaces where servers try to navigate around tight spaces with huge tray of dim sum for people to choose.

On top of it all, the most important criteria for this place worthy of praise is its dim sum, of course (duh!). But it is definitely true; the dim sum makes this place worth to be the ‘secret’. Normally dim sum are made of two very key ingredients – pork and shrimp. Both of these are really fresh here, where the pork (suspected to have mixed with pork fat and beaten together to form the paste) always has what Asian like to call, the QQ texture (soft yet toothy), while the shrimp, minced or whole, are also springy and absent of any hint of staleness. Other than that, there also many more items worthy of trying over here, in variety from its steamed dumplings to steam bao to fried items to even the sweet stuff.

Clockwise from top left: Siu Mai, Fried Brinjal stuffed Fish Paste, Jin Tui, Crystal Shrimp Dumpling

My personal recommendations to try are first, the most ubiquitous dim sum around – Siu Mai (steamed pork dumpling). Oh boy, the Siu Mai over here is definitely superior to the usual, with the fresh pork and prawn mixed and wrapped together, it also has a pleasant flavouring that I couldn’t quite guess what of but happily chew away anyway. Give it a try and you shall know what I mean. Next on my list is the Chee Cheong Fun, also superior to many out there, as this one, the skin is as smooth as silk with good mixture of either prawn or Char Siew or both with a good dose of sauce. Another must try is the Scallop Har Gao, better than the more familiar Har Gao, this one has its specialty of fresh scallop along with prawn wrapped in crystal like skin. Besides that, from my numerous experiences at this place, those that I can remember as good on top of my head now are fried prawn dumpling, thai style beancurd and XO pork ribs. For sweet stuff to clean the palate, I highly recommend the durian puff which is real durian pulp wrapped with nest-like pastry and then deep fried till crispy, really a must for durian lover though these are usually only available during weekend and normally sold out by lunch time.

Before you rush out to this secret of ours, there are few things to take note of. If you go during the peak hours of the weekend where it is hip to have dim sum for brunches apparently, be prepared to wait for a table. They had set up a tent with chairs for people to wait outside the restaurant, so if you are prepared to wait in the heat and your tummy are not growling with hunger, then you can head there, give your name and wait for your turn to be called. Rest assured though once seated, you can start your feast right away as they have trays and trays of steaming hot and freshly fried dim sum circling around for people to take straightaway. On the other hand, if you go during non peak times, it is entirely different where you can walk in straight for a table but you had to order your food through the menu or memory and wait for the food to be prepared. As during non peak times, the food are ‘steamed to order’ and some made to order as well. Though some fried stuff are ready for choosing but it may not be as piping hot as it should be.

Now that the secret is out (though it may not seem like such a secret anymore judging from the crowd at peak times), what are you waiting for? Head out there now to have a fix of your dim sum, either be a hip urbanite and brace the crowd for your weekend brunches or when there are sudden pangs of cravings for little morsels of goodness; this secret place is sure to please.

Jin Xuan Hong Kong
59, 61 & 63, Jalan SS22/19,
Damansara Jaya,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
03-7729 6866
Daily, 7.00am – 11.30pm
Branches:
Damansara Utama and Kuchai Entrepreneurs’ Park

TheQguides and Best Eats KL Launch

Remember my first ever event? Remember when finally this tham jiak came out from her hiding place? Yes, it was TheQguides first event, where they get to know us the Malaysian food bloggers. Since then it was loads of fun filled activities and truly chowtut events thanks to the lovely trio of TheQguides - Frat, Jek and Lisa! Since then I have to say it was truly a wonderful ride for me and I would also say that I have in fact grown not only in tham jiak wise but in terms of friends as well. There are truly many good people out there, in this case Malaysian food bloggers or lovers that not only share my passion in food but also my penchant for laughter, having good times and just living the life.



7 months since the first getting to know each other session, quite a number of food reviews invited by them and several bookings on TheQguides.com for me since then, TheQGuides finally had its official launch! It was held at the TwentyOne Kitchen and Bars and in collaboration with the Best Eats KL book launch as well. That night was a blast, grace by many people from the celebrities to the media and to food bloggers of course, which I hung out with. We were served free flow cocktails and wine plus canapes which I gladly oblige, and yes we the food bloggers did sneak out for a meal down the road, we could not resist, and then rejoin the party for all the fun again!


In short, go now to TheQguides.com, sign up if you haven’t and find out all it has to offer and next go out to the nearest bookstore and grab a copy of the Best Eats KL, it has all the scoops of what Malaysia culinary has to offer from your neigbourhood coffeeshop to the extreme fine dining!


By the way, at the launch, there was a competition which was a collaboration of both Frat Mustard and Aly who jointly wants to promote the Malaysian F&B scene and guess what, I won first prize! Yes, yours truly tham jiak won first prize and she could not wait to eat her way through it! A big thanks to Frat and Aly!


Photos credit to Frat Mustard (first picture) and Eric Cheong.

Cyber Series 1: Dengkil Nasi Lemak

When I first found that I am going to shift to Cyberjaya for work, the infamous concrete jungle of Klang Valley about 30km from the heart of anywhere, the first thing that pops to my mind was “what am I going to eat for lunch!!??” Indeed it was a valid question, for both tham jiak or otherwise cause regardless, everybody needs to eat, and eating the same few things of mediocre taste for an extended amount of time does no good for the body and the mind. This for one I can be sure as I have consensus from my fellow Cyberions (this term coined by me makes us sounds like robots ain’t it?). But thankfully though, surrounding this concrete jungle are various good food places that are normally not that accessible to urbanites, such as Dengkil, Serdang, Seri Kembangan, Equine Park and the slightly more accessible Puchong.

“Fear not!” said a close colleague of mine, A (yes, she is that partner in crime that I grab out to my char siew endeavour), at that point in time she was both my ex and future colleague to be, how’s that for a complicated relationship? This is because we used to work together in a company, then I moved and so does she, and then a year later I am about to go to the company that she is currently working in, I believe there must be some secret forces pulling us together! To top up further on our interwoven lives, she is also from Taiping, but the similarities about stop there. So why did she so boldly told me not to worry, well this is because she had been living nearby the area for quite some time way back before, and later on has been working nearby till the year she is in the current company, so she does know all the nooks and crooks to take me around for good yet cheap food! Ah, so tham jiak is blessed in many ways, especially when it comes to food.

Therefore if you are ever in Cyberjaya during the day, or nature forbid might be even working in Cyberjaya, do not worry about what to have for lunch! That is if you are willing to drive out. Yes, regardless of which building you are in at the concrete jungle, good food mostly lie all around outside the perimeter of the said jungle, with exception of a few inside, which you would still need to travel in a car as nobody in the right mind would even brace the midday heat to walk around. This woe in Malaysia I shall put aside, as besides the crazy mad afternoon heat, Malaysia have some serious good food that is all worth the drive through the scorching sun for and the sweat soaking your cleanly pressed professional getup for too.

One of the good yet cheap food that A introduced to me, almost immediately when I was just recruited as Cyberion, which till now has been my cravings now and then if I am keen enough to drive a little further out, is the Chinese styled Nasi Lemak at Dengkil. Just about 10 minutes drive from Cyberjaya, this quaint little town is like a place as if stuck in a time warp. I am amazed to find such a town so close to the bustling cities, and I do wonder if the residence here feels that they were intruded after the build up of its neighbours Cyberjaya and Putrajaya or they enjoy the boost in their economy. Nevertheless, Dengkil boasts various eateries with old school style from stalls under zinc roof to shops that has stand the test of time. This particular place that I am about to introduce to you, which offers seriously addictive Nasi Lemak, is at a corner shop with extension outwards of zinc roof for more seating.


What is so good about this Chinese styled Nasi Lemak, and what do you mean by Chinese style? Well, first, the curry chicken that came with this dish is a Chinese version of curry chicken, which reminds me very much of my Pho Pho’s curry chicken where at that time when I was still a little tot and have yet to learn to take spicy food, I enjoyed this dish thoroughly for the tender chicken cooked to perfection in slightly spicy and rich coconut milky goodness that is full of spices. Then the sambal that served alongside is also very much Chinese, where you have onions cooked till the soft and nearly caramelized in the sambal, but amazingly, this is also not really spicy and in fact tinge with sweetness from the onions. Then throw in some good crunchy fried ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and roasted peanuts, halved hardboiled egg and sliced cucumbers, and you shall have the perfect simple and humble Nasi Lemak that makes one feel that they are eating at home.

Dengkil Nasi Lemak
Jalan Aman 1
Taman Emas,
43800 Dengkil,
Selangor

Garmin coordinates: N02 51.969 E101 40.410

One Night With

Once again Frat invited me for a food event (thanks Frat!), this time it is Asian Food Channel (AFC) premiering Chef Daniel Boulud’s documentary - ‘One Night in Singapore’.

I asked Frat that night in between the documentary, “Why is it one night in Singapore, when he is there for so many nights?”

He replied, after a pause, “Good question actually...”

Nevertheless, it was indeed a one night for me with Daniel Boulud, and a good one at that. Good one because I enjoyed meeting up with epicureans and bloggers alike, in fact I even finally, finally met Kenny for the first time (hi Kenny!), which was just awesome. It was also a good one because I thoroughly enjoyed the 1 hour show of Daniel Boulud showdown of “One night in Singapore” and then after that enjoyed a pretty good meal at Neo Global Tapas & Luxe Lounge.


But first who is Daniel Boulud, pardon me if you were to roll you eyes and think “duh, of course I know who is he”, but let me humour you as I have to admit I was not too sure who he is until this premier, and after that he had me, maybe not as much as Jamie, but he indeed had captured my interest to follow more closely to what he has to offer in the future on AFC. Short general bio-data is that he is a Chef-owner of ten-award winning restaurants and Feast & Fetes catering company. Hailing from France, he had expanded his culinary reach internationally, from Las Vegas to Beijing. He had a list of achievements in the culinary world with various awards, and to top it off he had himself authored six books and created his own television series – After Hours with Daniel. With such an impressive background, it was no wondered that AFC invited him for a special production in Singapore and I am glad they did because it indeed had further made Daniel’s presence felt In Southeast Asia, particularly now Malaysia.

Sadly that I do not have Astro at home, but I do enjoy AFC once in a while when I had the chance back in my hometown or at my sister’s place. I have always turn to this channel whenever I am surfing Astro and I would have been satisfied with just this one channel, back in my mind though I asked myself why didn’t we have this back when I had the luxury to enjoy TV. But anyway, kudos to Hian Goh and Maria Brown, managing directors and founders of AFC, for bringing Southeast Asia’s culinary exposure up on notch, it was about time for us as we all know that Southeast Asia boast one of the world’s best cuisine and to say that food is the centre of our daily lives would be an understatement.

So back to my one night with Daniel Boulud, where I had a chance to mingle a little with some Malaysian bloggers while being served with refreshing lemongrass and tamarind drinks, before we were ushered into the room to watch the one-hour long documentary that AFC had worked so hard to produce originally by themselves. It does seem a bit odd for me at first to sit together with a group of people to watch a show that would be on television soon, but after that I was so absorbed in the show; I totally forgot where I was. The documentary was quite exciting to watch, especially towards the end where it leads to the full fledge course that Daniel had worked so hard to prepared, definitely a show worth to catch on AFC if you have the chance.


After the show, we all then continued to mingle outside while we were served with food by Neo. Though there were a few hit and misses, I did actually enjoy my meal in an overall perspective. As they were still relatively new, and was sharing kitchen with their sister Tamarind Hills, I would certainly return again for a slow dinner to truly savour and review the food here, and to see if the atmosphere had improved as at that time it was pretty hot and stuffy. Till then, I shall now look for more chances to catch Daniel Boulud on screen, I believe he has so much more to offer and besides, Hian Goh said that he was truly a man with humility despite his huge achievements, how’s one not to like that?

For more info on Daniel Boulud and what AFC has to offer, check out www.asianfoodchannel.com

All pictures above are courtesy of the talented Frat Mustard!

Girl's Day In

“Too bad you always work on the weekends” I exclaimed assumingly, as we were mentioning that we did not hang out enough. You see, U, my kai jie (god-sister) works at days and times that are not the usual slaves of cubicle nations (like poor ol’ me), she could work from break of dawn or till the wee midnight, even on weekends and break on uncertain days of the week. It is nearly impossible to catch her, not to mention that she chose to stay quite far away, even in my context of after 7 years of staying in Klang Valley that requires quite a travelling distance to get to places (in Taiping context), which used to be where I stay in my days long gone. Ah, those were the days.


“Oh, I am off on this Saturday!” June shouts with excitement (through MSN mind you, but I can feel the excitement all the way from her house to my office).


“What!” that is all I can answer at the moment. It was a befuddlement to me. Then the moment passed and I got a grip on myself “We must hang out then! Catch up! What shall we do? Shopping? Eating? Watch a movie?” I babbled on and on like an excited kid that has been promised an all day outing.


“I am afraid of spending too much if we go out, let’s just stay in”, she says, at that moment I flash back to the last time we hang out, we watch movie, shopped and ate indulgingly as if we are some rich tai-tais (wives)having a day out, I blushed. Then a light bulb flashed right above my head, while my eyes roll up where I imagined a picture in my mind – U and I baking delicious stuffs out of her huge, and I mean huge oven that I had ooohed and ahhhed over when I visited her place the first time.


So I exclaimed “OK! Let’s stay in, we cook something and do some baking!”, and her resounding yes! had made my heart jumped with excitement. So that very Saturday, I went out to buy the necessary stuff that I can get at last minute (yes, that’s me again at it) and all my usual ka-changs, before heading off to her lovely home. When I reached, U had already begun baking chicken with baby potatoes and capsicums and loads of garlic. The house is already basking in wonderful food aroma, ah, how I miss those smells which make a house feels like home. Then like some chef cooking at home in her day off, she whips up spaghetti aglio olio with such style and flamboyant, she made me feel like I am eating food from a posh restaurant when we finally dig into the food. At same time we watched a chick-flick that I normally would not be watching, but it is alright because I was too busy enjoying the food anyway.


Finally when the show ended, and with me nearly falling asleep, she asked, “So what’s up for baking? “. When I told her I planned to make three bakes today, her eyes grew wide and I laughed, she just had to pardon me, who is someone that had been deprived of good baking therapy lately. Admittedly, I have not been baking much in recent times, so was a bit rusty on the baking instincts, and also due to ripping off recipes from my ever-long to-do list without thoroughly examining it, out of our three bakes, only one truly came out good. And luckily it was really good, I brought it the next day to work for breakfast, my sceptical colleague took a bite and say “hey, it’s good, just like those you can get in the famous-coffee-chain”. Ah, such things are what bakers or cooks out there would loved to hear, that the people who ate their food enjoys them as much as they do themselves, I did for mine!


Banana bread-fin
Adapted from Slow Like Honey


I called it banana bread-fin because, it was supposed to be banana bread but I made it into muffin sized because I had this bunch of muffin cups around and I want to take the shortcut in baking them. Muffins bake in nearly half the time than bread. Besides, the outcome is more muffin like, possibly due to some of my own modification of the recipes (I am always guilty of this, couldn’t help tinkering). Making it into muffin also gave me the chance to see U in action, where she shows how commercial bakers make muffins quickly, by scooping up the batter with their hand and squeeze into each cups, using their palms as ‘funnels’. We had such fun doing it, we forgot to properly swirl and level the top and coupled with us not putting the muffin cups in proper muffins trays, it resulted in whimsical muffins, where after a long good laugh, I find it quite adorable and it gave a homemade feel to them.


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped chocolates (optional) (or walnuts if it rocks your boat, I would have add this in if I had them)


Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C
Prepare 12 muffin cups in a muffin tray
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine together eggs, banana, sugar, and oil.
Add in the flour mixture and stir till just moistened (do not over-stir, batter should be lumpy).
Fold in the chopped chocolates (and/or walnuts) gently.
Squeeze batter into the muffin cups
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick poke in near the center comes out clean


Makes about 12 muffin cups if squeezed properly!

Feast on Durian Fest

Durian, just mentioning this word makes me tremble inside with excitement. The kind of excitement that I feel I need to share with the world might not yet be understood by all. You see, durian is a kind of fruit that either one loves deeply or loathe completely, that is also if one have first got the chance (or rather many chances) to put one’s feelings to the test. Head over here to Travel Guide Malaysia (which I write for a weekly column on Malaysian food) to further read on what durian is all about in Malaysia, and how my relationship with it has developed over my life.


I have been deprived of this said King of Fruits since last year as I did not had the chance to hunt down for my favourite kind and indulge in them mindlessly. This year I was pretty lucky (ah this tham jiak is getting luckier it seems), as a good friend of mine, LH invited me to gorge on unlimited fresh, and by fresh I meant served directly from an ideal farm where the soil on the hill is fertile and the temperature is just right with enough rainfall, and also a huge variety, and by variety I meant many types of species including D24, D10, Golden Swallow and many more, at none other than Signature Kitchen’s very own Durian Fest! This is their 4th year in organizing such a fest, as it had been extremely well sought after, and why not if it is for durian? This fest is to bring Signature Kitchen’s clienteles, their friends and families together to of course enjoy durian feasting but at same time able to visit the kitchen showroom, which I took the pleasure of too. There I find myself poking around and imagining the kitchen that I would eventually have.

Pictures above courtesy of Signature Kitchen

Upon reaching there with Y, some of our friends are already there enjoying themselves, so I quickly sat down and attack! Then LH went and get even more for us to continue feasting, did I mention that this is like a durian buffet heaven? It is! Besides consuming copious amount of this evil fruit, I ate also copious amounts of the cooling rambutan to balance out the heat from the durian. How thoughtful of the organizers to let us indulge with less guilt. After that, I am still hankering for more soft, goeey and bitter kind of durian that is my all time favourite, so I head on to the booth, where all the butchering of various durians are carried out, choose my tried and tested D24 (which recently I had the chance to try out with J’s family at the infamous SS2 durian area, but mind you we did not go for the buffet but selectively chose this species to indulge in with due pleasure at home), took some pictures for this tham jiak blog, much to the amusement of the amiable durian ‘slayers’, and then head back with the prize possession to my fellow friends. I found that only one of them who shares my love for bitter-alcoholic-fudge-like durian, while Y and L prefer the sweeter kind. Ah, all with their own due of love for durian, I am one happy to devour more of these for myself.


Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself very much in this durian buffet, thanks again LH, and I am looking forward to Signature Kitchen’s 5th installment of this yearly indulgence. Burp! Excuse me! Now this tham jiak is satiated for the time being for this year’s durian season, and will once again hunt for a fix of this strangely addictive fruit next one, hopefully feasting again in this durian fest.