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.
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
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!
“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!
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.
Chow what? You heard me right, chowTUT! When I first heard of this word I thought, chow as in a meal and tut as in censored where you’re suppose to insert profanities here. So what is there to swear about food? Oh my, trust me, after the chowtut session, you would start swearing too, for being condemned to your chair permanently, or at least for a significant amount of time.
But by the definition of the originators, Integricity employees, here is the real meaning behind Chowtut:
CHOWTUT [chow-tut]
- noun / verb
An excessive dose, especially of food or alcoholic beverage
"Wahhh! Last night I chowtut at Changkat!"
"That fella sleeping la... he chowtut for lunch"
In short according to Frat, it is “The ultimate smorgasbord of orgasmic-tut (real censoring here)-fingerlickin'good-auntieonemoreplate food all in one place... at the same time.”
So the very lucky people of the Integricity, would have a quarterly chowtut on good foods from various, and various is by the meaning of nearly all over Klang Valley, in one place – their office. How is that? Early before the traffic of long Friday lunches are out in our lazy Malaysian afternoon, few designated employees don their sunglasses, zip up their jackets and rev up their super bikes (exaggeration alerted), and zoom off to their respective assignments of various eateries, from nearby Uptown to TTDI to Bangsar and all the way to the heart of KL – Tengkat Tong Shin and also span out to even Batu Caves, just to pack their said important orders and then brace the starting-to-form-traffic back to the office.
After that scene I was stuck. You see, this tham jiak here took for granted that she could reach the food haven in 30 minutes (she forgot it’s a Malaysian Friday!) and so she had to crawl through the traffic, staying cool with promises to self of many good food to come. She was already forming the heart-stopping-artery-clogging spread of food in her mind and boy, when she arrived, she found herself reliving her imaginations, albeit a bit massacred. You see, upon arriving fashionably late of 30 minutes, the wonderful spread has already been butchered to near oblivion, so no acceptable pictures could be captured but fret not (pun intended), her trusted friend Frat shall supply her with drool-worthy pictures, taken by him plus stolen from his friend, Nigel. Without further hesitation, tham jiak threw her belonging away and start digging in, before all there was nothing left!
She bit her tongue, “mmm, where to start”
Somebody whispered behind her ear “you got to get the char siew, it is reaallllyy good, and it is nearly finished!”. A hand from somewhere, just like an angel, points towards the said precious meats. She zoomed right on it and grabbed a few, nearly all but conscience got the better of her, then she bit into the juicy meat and she was at a sudden revelation – the feast had finally begun!
747 Kopitiam (SFS)
Jalan PJU 1/3C,
Sunway Mas Commercial Centre.
Next on her plate was this unassuming looking noodle, but not to be misled by its looks, it was really more-ish kind of tasty! The mee mamak was special in its way, sort of fried with a Chinese flare but in a good way. Then on the other hand there was the undisputable Sang Har Hor Fun, with huge freshwater prawns on top of soupy flat rice noodles, it was as good as it looks, on contrary you can judge this book by its cover! Time to head all the way to Batu Caves for lunch one of these days! Maybe on another long lazy Friday lunch, any takers?
Pan Heong Restoran
No 2, Jln Medan Batu Caves 2,
Batu Caves, Selangor
03-6187 7430
8 am- 3:30pm
While deciding to pour more good stuff onto the plate or not, tham jiak just had to sit down and start devouring first. Then suddenly she saw right in front of her, the golden buttery squid, she just had to poke one and put it into her mouth, and oh my, was it good – crispy then chewy at the same time all creamy and buttery, ah, such bliss. Also from this restaurant that she have blogged before was the fried pork yee mee (egg noodles), which tasted sinfully good, just slightly on bitter side though.
Mama’s Kitchen,
48, Jln Datuk Sulaiman,
TTDI, 60000 KL
03-7729 3030l
Then she saw Jek, who is happily biting on his deep fried chicken, the tham jiak just had to have one too! She had these before, nicely fried with secret (as she cannot name what are they, she just know their good) spices and was glad to have them again in free-flow sort of way. She ate one. Finished everything else, and took another one again. Then she rested, or rather her tummy did, and then she had another one of these. Yes, it was that addictive!
Village Park Restaurant
5, Jalan SS21/37,
Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
03-77107860
7 am to 8pm daily,
7 am to 6 pm on Sunday/Public Holiday
Then finally, she stood up from the remnants of her food on the plate to go get the rest of the soupy goodness. She found a cute orange bowl, thankfully, and heads on to get her fair share of our very own famous Malaysian dish - bak kut teh. Ah, as FBB say, can’t go wrong with this one from Teluk Pulai, and also thanks to boo for going all the way to get it and then even sponsor it! Some say she had just bought a permanent ticket to all future chowtuts at Integricity, I better think of my ticket for the next one, wouldn’t want to miss it!
Last but not least, some sweetness to end a meal (or was it multiple meals in one sitting?), there were doughnuts! Though she would love to have the chocolatey creamy one that Jek ate or rather lap up, those were so popular she was just left with either the plain or the chocolate glaze, she had to go for chocolate, you know her the chocoholic!
Krispy Kreme
Midvalley or Berjaya Times Square
Oh yes, that is Frat with the doughnuts, she suspected he was guarding the chocolatey creamy ones for his master Jek, ah he forgot about her on this one! Maybe this can be an excuse for tham jiak to make him give her a ticket for the next chowtut. Now after having a session of her first chowtut, this tham jiak totally understand now the meaning of “An excessive dose, especially of food or alcoholic beverage” and totally up for the next round of chowtut!
PS: Pictures are courtesy of Frat and Nigel
PPS: Fellow chowtutties (term from lemongrass) blogs on this:
FatBoyBakes
Boo-licious
Mr. Cheong
Nigel
Frat Mustard
Anyway, rushing all the way from work in the concrete jungle, I, once again famously arrived a tad late, where everyone are already seated with their partners, with Jek standing out front about to start his speech. Shyly, I sat down with my partner, Q, and then we were introduced to ZestPJ.com, which is a blog for the restaurants and bars for the Hilton PJ – Paya Serai, Toh Yuen, Genji, Caffe Cino and Uncle Chilli’s. I absolutely enjoy the site, I found myself browsing the various posts with delight and could not help eyeing the promotions page like a hawk, while planning out how to maximise it with my upcoming plans! So what are you waiting for? Head over to Zest.PJ.com to further learn more of what it is and interact with other epicureans in Malaysia!
After that we all had a round of drawing lots to see where each of us would head out to fill our tummies! I was the end of the round and the final lot was Toh Yuen! At first my heart skipped a beat, I was actually hoping for Genji, as probably I was in hankering for Japanese at that time, but oh boy, shall I now dare to say I totally am glad I drew Toh Yuen after the dining experience! You may further read on to see what the hype is all about, this time I have both Q’s and my inflated tummy to testify! Before heading out to our respective restaurants, we bloggers also have a chance to get acquainted with theQguides.com, which I have actually booked through it few times before, where we booked then and there for our respective dining restaurants for two on the all new theQguides.com. Do check out the new awesome beta site and what new stuffs it had to offer now.
So now back to the food! Q and I headed excitedly towards Toh Yuen, where we were then escorted into an exotic location, well sort of, since we were lead to the far end corner of the restaurant, way across from the other food blogger, vkeong who took the other corner. We felt like we are in some secret mission, but technically it is actually due to fact that these places have the best lighting, though mine do still need bit more lighting and more space. We need to take good pictures for our readers no? Once seated, we ordered our tea first, before perusing on the extensive menu, and when I say extensive, I meant seriously elaborated choices of Cantonese fare (with some other clans thrown in). Have I mentioned before I love Cantonese food? Though a Hokkien, I totally adore Cantonese way of cooking simply, retaining the food natural flavours while complementing each other perfectly. Ah, don’t get me started on it or it will be way too long post, you can actually read more about it in my tribute to Ah Ma, my true validation to the best of Cantonese fare, which now Toh Yuen comes in a close second! While I was looking at the menu panicking as I seem to want everything from it, Toh Yuen’s Executive Sous Chef, Frederick Kho, came to introduce himself, and then kindly help nudge us to decide on what to order. Then we are all set! I was so giddy with excitement.
While we were still fidgeting over the menu, tea had been served to us and I must say they taste as good as they look. It is light on palate but strong in the smell and flavours department. First up was our Norwegian Salmon Roll, which is kind of a twist to the usual Cantonese cooking. The salmon was still all soft and juicy, not to mention oh so fresh, while the external crispy deep-fried wrap gave completes the whole texture of this dish. In sum, it is appealing to the palate, definitely a good starter to fire up all the tham jiak-ness.
Then next up was the Shark Fin’s Dumpling in Superior soup, personally recommended by Chef Kho, which now I personally recommend to you! The soup is slightly sweet with all the goodness of Cantonese secret to soup making. The dumpling was a unique touch to the otherwise normal soup, though I don’t mind as Cantonese soup has always been really flavourful regardless, though there was a hint of fishiness, I do enjoy this creation of Toh Yuen’s.
We have another true blue Cantonese fare, which is simply Sautéed Fresh Scallops with Fresh Lily Bulbs. This dish is the testimonial to the art of simple cooking of Cantonese where they retain the natural goodness of the scallops. But this dish had an extra twist to the otherwise probably plainer Cantonese style, which is the asparagus that were cooked with some spiciness. Overall, I love the fresh scallops while the asparagus were just alright.
Chef Kho also recommended another dish for us, which he said is a special creation of the restaurant, the Pan Fried Lamb Chop in Mongolian style. Though bit reluctant at first, as my heart is with the Cantonese fare, I gave in and ordered this for new tastes, and I did regret it at all. Definitely something unique, and sort of fusion in some ways, I found the lamb cooked just oh-so-right and the sauce, I must say the sauce is the secret and it was. When Chef Kho came in between our meals, I asked him what went into the sauce and for a moment, something flickered in his eyes, nothing evil alright, but yes, he did then say “it is a secret recipe!” and then he laughed, and then we laughed (no we all are not drunk!) and then he proceed to explain briefly that it is a mayo-based sauce, much to my surprise as I would never have guessed that. Hats off to the chef for this Mongolian inspired creation!
Next dish was actually chosen by Q, she loves tofu and so the Pi Pa Braised Beancurd with Vegetable beckons to her and she must order it and I was glad she did. This tofu dish is certainly unique and I would say a lot of hard work had been put in to make this dish. First look it was sort of like just deep fried tofu but after a bite, you found it was not as simple as such. The tofu inside was all loose and soft, and how can that be? Well they were finely chopped in uniform sizes, put together with some special technique, and then only deep fried, and I must mention the slightly crunchy skin is also full of flavours of spices and herbs. A must try!
And now, come to the star dish of the day, the Peking Duck! I have to say, it is the best Peking duck I had before (I might not have tried enough out there but enough to proclaim as such)! Earlier, the nice people of ZestPJ.com, told us that we must try the Peking Duck, and that message had been ingrained in me, a tham jiak instinct I would say. Then later at the restaurant, I was deeply disappointed as the restaurant only offers whole duck and I keep staring at it, imagine me n Q devouring the whole duck! So started the war of my rational mind against my tham jiak feelings, where we ended up not ordering the first round. Later on though, my mind came up with a good idea, the wonders of it when you really want something, that is to share with vkeong, and being such a nice guy, he accepted the invitation! Thanks vkeong! So with that, Q and I get to enjoy this wonderful dish. As Chef Kho said, earlier the master was here to make this delicacy in Malaysia, and then they had learned the art from him, where now we are tasting the results! All I can say is that the duck skin was really crispy and flavourful, wrapped snugly in soft Chinese pancake and then drizzle over with the special sauce, I have to use special as it is the important element of this dish and it was just like how the traditional sauce should be but yet still very distinct from the usual ones out there. The wrapped duck skin-pancake is really good, and it is best to also add in more mouthfuls of the remaining sinful crispy duck skin. Ah, bliss! To say this is a recommended dish from me is an understatement! After that the duck meat was sliced and then stir fried with noodles for us, which was quite good.
Now it is time to end this elaborate Chinese course meal, you all must be wondering how in the world can two girls be finishing all that? Oh yes we did, and we can because the food were great! Chef Kho came at the end of our meal and was pleasantly surprise to see us polishing off the dishes. We have to blush with apparent shyness, but deep down, we were secretly really proud about it and were indeed glad to be able to enjoy such a good meal. Not to fret as our aching tummy can be easily cured by ordering dessert! Oh yes, we manage still fit in another dessert, where we share the Chilled Fresh Fruit with Sago and Mango, which was just the cure right light ending to this heavy meal.
Q and I indeed had a really wonderful dining experience here, the service was exceptionally good, tea refilled all the time, food allowed for me to take pictures first before serving, but of course you would say that because I am in a food review, but this just goes to show how tentative they would be on customers’ specific needs. The interior gave one the feeling of dining in a high class ancient palace with some modern touch. So do give Toh Yuen a try, if you are ever out to look for true goodness of Cantonese fare, which Toh Yuen did not fail my expectation of it, while also wants to try some twist of new creations, which I would say they are creative in this as well. So do not just listen to me rave about Cantonese cooking, go try it out and let me know what you think, or rather taste!
Toh Yuen, Hilton PJ
No. 2, Jalan Barat
Petaling Jaya
Selangor
03-79559122
Daily noon-2pm, 7.00pm-10.30pm
Sunday Dim Sum brunch 11am-3pm
Review of Toh Yuen by my Peking-Duck-sharing-partners - vkeong here.
Reviews of other restaurants in Hilton PJ by fellow tham jiak mates here:
The Ruthless Eaters - Genji
Pillow Talk with Bangsar-Babe - Paya Serai
P/S: After that we all met up at Uncle Chillis downstairs, all the good stuff can be read over at dear Frat Mustard, as there is where he partied out while waiting for us to join him!
When is the time you get to be tham jiak and eat indulge all you want but for a good cause? When is the time you get to eat durian to your heart’s or rather tummy’s content and still feel justified? When is the time you can tham jiak for charity? When is the time you can eat durians by truckloads in just RM10 and have a t-shirt to flaunt it later with just RM20 and above? This is when:
* Malaysia * Good Food * Recipes * Travel *Reviews * Asia *
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! 
