Friday, May 30, 2008

Tony Roma's at The Gardens, Midvalley

After watching the much-anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and right before we got cheated by Jusco Supermarket, the two superheroes actually flew over to Tony Roma's at The Gardens, Midvalley for a yummylicious lunch! Haha. Drool, baby...drool! :p



It has actually been a while since we last had any sort of western cuisine as these days, we seem to be down with this Japanese foodie fever. Haha. I can't help it! There's something really seemingly addictive about consuming all those sushis and salmon. But since we've already tried Sushi Zen and Sushi Zanmai the last time, we thought we should go for a change of taste.

Tony Roma's fits the bill perfectly, because we didn't want to go for Yo! Sushi just yet. Why? *whispers* Because we just finished a whole large box of sushi, which was secretly tapau-ed into the cineplex to replace our popcorns! Haha. Good idea huh. More healthy mah... *grins*




And so, we were led to our seat in Tony Roma's and I have to complement their service really. Super friendly and warm. They make you feel like you have personal butlers waiting for your orders. Nice.... Waiter waiter... come come.... :p




We went for their set lunch, which I would say is pretty comprehensive really. Superhero W went for their Rib Eye Steak, medium-grilled and topped with their steak butter. Meanwhile, Superhero S decided to keep it light and went for their Chicken Bowtie Pasta, consisting of a generous portion of chicken and bowtie pasta, lightly sauteed with garlic, basil, tomatoes and pesto, topped with delicious cheese.... OH!




For their set lunch, it comes with a Soup of the Day and a glass of soft drink of your choice. The soup arrived shortly, and according to our personal butler, it was some special Chicken Soup. Which actually tasted SUPER delicious! The chicky flavour was tremendously powerful with a hint of peppery taste and there's carrots, celery, chicky bits, and even some bowtie pasta inside!




The soup also came with this, according to Superhero W, *ahem*... Marie biscuits... which came in the form of really really thin crackers. Love it! :p




Before we could finish walloping our soup, our butler brought out our bread with an accompanying garlic butter. So this would be something like a Garlic Bread. The bread was fresh, and I love this subtle sourish salty taste to the garlic butter.

And then, this came...




I went like..."What the....?!" Wow...this plate of pasta can actually feed an entire family already man! How to finish?? Haha. The serving here is HUGE... no doubt about it. What more after whacking all the soup and the bread, there's little room left in my tummy to consume such a tremendous amount of pasta. *Looks to Superhero W and smiles....*

Before Superhero W could respond, his order came...




Check it out... such a big big piece of steak! Looks really juicy too... But since both of our orders came with a nice bowl of chilled coleslaw we decided to attack the salad first before making our way to the big meal! Haha.




My Chicken Bowtie Pasta set lunch priced at RM19.90 was absolutely yummy...Good portion of the chicken pieces inside, and I simply love the amount of diced tomatoes on my pasta! But this dish is too much lah. Cannot finish even with help from Superhero W. Haha.




Superhero W's Rib Eye Steak set lunch, priced at RM49.90 was beautifully done, pink on the inside, very very chewy and juicy! When he chewed on the steak, sitting right beside him, I can actually hear the juicyness from the oh-so-succulent steak. Thumbs up!

As a whole, I would think that the Tony Roma's set lunch is really really worth it. There's the soup, the bread, the salad, the main course and the drink. How can anyone say NO to all that?! Haha. So the bill came at around RM80, including tax. Pretty reasonable price for the amount of food served, and the cosy ambience and personal butler service! Haha. *wink wink*

Thursday, May 29, 2008

We got cheated by Jusco Supermarket!

We DESPISE people, or rather places that cheat people.



And we never thought that Jusco Supermarket could've been one of them. How could they be? For a start, JUSCO is not just any other store, it's JUSCO! They portray themselves to be this friendly gigantic family store but turned out to be some losers in disguise no thanks to some uneducated staff.

We're telling our story so that everyone else can be more aware of the price labels when they are grocery-shopping here. In the first place, we couldn't even be bothered to shop at Jusco Supermarket if it weren't for the convenience of its location rather than quality. I'd root for Tesco anytime!




But after this most recent incident, no more JUSCO for us. BANNED! Tada lagi. Mou choh.
So how did this whole grocery-shopping thing evolved into something so interesting and dramatic for the two superheroes? Remember, Superhero S can be quite a drama queen when the time is due.

Both of us had just finished watching Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull Kingdom when we decided to go shopping for some fresh veges and some fishys to cook later on. But somewhere, somehow, someone just had to ruin our beautiful day. Oh btw, the movie was good! Haha. Indy! Probably not as great as Iron Man, but who cares? It's Indiana Jones! *grins*

Okay okay...let's not get side-tracked here. Haha. So Superhero S bought a bunch of Bayam Hijau (Green Spinach) which didn't have a price tag on it. But based on previous experience of shopping at Jusco Supermarket, the fresh leafy vegetables are usually priced at a fixed RM0.60 unless stated otherwise. And besides, I just bought one bunch a few days back!




Superhero W went over to the weighing counter to get the staff to print a price tag for the bayam, but the staff just brushed him off and said in a nonchalant way that it isn't necessary, that we did not have to weigh the bayam...bla bla bla... Okay fine. So after getting our fishy, we headed over to the payment counter.

Some intern staff or temp decided to make life difficult for both herself and mine, when she suddenly sashayed over to the vege station to get the pricing for the bayam. Before I could tell the girl to stop, she sped off hurriedly in a blur manner. Great. Now we had to stand there like a pair of guilty idiots while the queue started building behind us.




She went over here and there, here and there, HERE AND THERE, got some assistance from the very lady who told us we didn't have to weigh the bayam, and then somehow they managed to grab some price tag stating "Kailan Heart" from god knows where and pasted onto my bayam. When she returned, the cashier immediately screened the price tag and entered the amount into my receipt. It read RM1.20.



How come it's RM1.20? I told the girl, that the board there reads "FRESH LEAFY VEGETABLES. Bayam Hijau. RM0.60. So why are you charging me RM1.20?" The girl started to panic and ran over to the vege station where I showed her the board. And I told her, " You look at this vege, if this isn't bayam hijau then tell me what it is?!" (Translated from Malay)




She panicked and called to the lady at the weighing counter where they exchanged some incomprehensible screams over entire the vege station. What does she think she's doing? You want some drama? Bring it on! And suddenly, the girl grabbed a small bunch of bayam from a different location with a price tag on it that read, "RM1.20".

I was shocked. My god. What a cheater!

CHEATER! The board read RM0.60 and this girl suddenly came out with a bunch from nowhere that read RM1.20! I know it's only RM0.60 we're talking about here but that's not the point. The point here is that these people are untruthful to their customers. What the hell?!


A pack of trouble...


This one bad experience totally marred our entire impression of JUSCO altogether. Next time, I'd rather have Superhero W drive a little further to Tesco Ampang than to get cheated again at Jusco Supermarket at Midvalley. Such a disappointment!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Fried Prawn Noodles & Fried Oyster at Food Republic, Pavilion




As a continuation from yesterday's foodie adventures at Food Republic, Pavilion, the two superheroes flew over this time around to Thye Hong outlet for the best (Singapore) Fried Prawn Noodles and Fried Oyster in the whole wide world!




Thanks to Paris for reviewing about the awesome Singapore Prawn Noodles which is also available in Singapore's Food Republic, for it was the enticing foodie photos we'd seen there that started the entire foodie adventure. OMG... I can't stop drooling! Haha. :p

Okay, fresh from ordering Superhero S' super delicious Mushroom Duck Drum Stick Soup Noodles from Ah Yip Herbal Soup, Superhero W flew over to the other side of the food court to place our orders for the fantastic, amazing...one and only one....

Yummylicious Fried Prawn Noodles!



The noodles are pretty unique really. A combination of thin yellow noodles and this transparent noodles thingee which is superb. True to its price tag of erm...roughly RM7.90 (or was it RM6.90?!), it's worth every single saliva you drool over it!



Love that its presented in this dried leaf thing all wrapped up. And check out the accompanying sambal sauce. OH! Very "prawn" taste to it... Complements the Prawn Noodles very very well! There's even a few big prawns for you to savour. I only took a few mouthfuls of it though because I'd to refrain from getting too much fried stuff into my body. The sore throat's not letting me off so easily! :(

But that alone is no reason enough to turn away from THIS!!




Look at the size of the oysters! I've never come across "oh chien" that uses so big oysters! This is what I call quality. Super duper yummy... Not too starchy, but better eat it while it's spanking hot because it doesn't taste as nice anymore when it gets cold. The chilli goes really well with the omelette too!




It's no wonder this shop only sells 4 items - Fried Prawn Noodles, Fried Oyster Omelette, Fried Carrot Cake and Char Kuey Teow. Because the crowd's loving it! This is probably the only stall where you can actually see a queue for the foodie. Not bad... not bad at all! *grins*

We wanted to order MORE..! But... but.... *sigh*
Tummy's too full already! Cannot handle anymore...




But don't worry Pavilion, we'll be back real soon for more of the super yummy foodies here at Food Republic! Yeeeeeeeeeee haaa!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Ah Yip Herbal Soup at Food Republic, Pavilion

The two superheroes were in the mood for some soul searching - since food is our soul - yesterday when there decided to drive down to Pavilion KL for a monster lunch to feed our appetite. Been there only once previously, and Superhero S actually developed a phobia to shop or dine in Pavilion ever since this happened. *blushing*

Let's not talk about that anymore. Haha. I dare not even pass by the restaurant anymore till today. Too embarrassing. Okay, so since there were so much hoo-haa about the Food Republic food court in Pavilion, we decided to check it out!

Parking in Pavilion was a breeze as we found a beautiful car park almost immediately, and the car park rate was pretty reasonable if you're not planning to linger around for long. On weekdays, the first hour is RM3, while every following half an hour would cost you RM1. But if you're parking there from 5pm onwards, the maximum rate is only RM5. Nice...




Food Republic was also pretty easy to locate actually. From our car park, we came out right next to Madam Kwan's (OH..!) and the food court was all right in front of us. Now that we're here, let's hunt some food, baybeh! Haha. :p





Superhero S immediately spotted a stall with a rather familiar name - Ah Yip Herbal Soup? Oh.....! I thought I'd never see you again!! This used to be my favourite shop when I used to frequent The Mines in my uni days. I could never have enough of their soup and would drop by there like once in a week or something! Reminds me of soup from home... :p

I'm not sure whether the outlet in The Mines is still around today or not, but this one in Pavilion is sure selling pretty well. After making a big round of the entire food court (this place is HUGE!) and peeking into every single shop selling so many different delicious foodie, I knew what I wanted. Definitely something special from my Ah Yip Herbal Soup!

I ordered their Mushroom Duck Drum Stick Soup Noodles which was if I'm not mistaken, their best selling item and arguably the most expensive in their menu at RM13.90. Never mind, I believe there's a reason for the big price tag. Haha.

And my order arrived...




WAH............. Can you see the size of my bowl?! OMG...
And my entire bowl is flooded with herbs! So "pou" (nourishing!)
I like.....






The duck meat was absolutely tender and the meat just fell off from the bone so effortlessly. So yummy... and the soup! Ridiculously "kau" with so much flavour and taste from all the different herbs inside. And it was....in simple words, "delicious!" Now this is why I love this shop so much. Worth every single cent I paid for and I'm definitely going for it again.

More tantalizing foodie...coming up in our next post! Superhero W reveals his food selection for lunch! Haha. :p

Monday, May 26, 2008

Jenahak Fishy in Abalone Sauce

Having mentioned that I'm stupid when it comes to naming fishys, I presume that the fishy I'm dealing with here is a jenahak. Haha. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. It's actually one of the two superheroes' favourite kind of fishys in the whole wide world! Haha. :p

And so, Superhero Mum knowing that the two superheroes are deprived of eating fishys back in KL, she decided to buy big pieces of jenahak for us. So touched...
Now we can eat more fishys because I'm kinda getting sick of eating chicky meat all the time. Now there's more variety to the daily dinner menu already! *wink wink*

Superhero Mum also bought for us this Abalone Sauce, which I have absolutely not heard of its existence till the day she brought it home. I only knew of the oh-so-common Oyster Sauce but never the Abalone. My eyes immediately lit upon hearing the word "Abalone". Ooooo....must be good!

Got all the necessary ingredients ready - finely sliced some ginger and chopped some garlics - and coated the fishy with some corn flour because Superhero Mum said so. She said the fishy would be more smooth when it's fried with the flour on top. Okay, whatever. Just follow the words of the wise people... *grins*

And ta-da!




My Jenahak Fishy in Abalone Sauce. I added some thick soy sauce to give the sauce a darker look. Haha. The Abalone Sauce is seriously not bad! Tastes totally different from the Oyster Sauce and I kinda like this one more actually. Superhero W, despite being a chicky fanatic readily accepts this dish! He can be rather choosy at times but so far, he's been a really good boy... :p

And here's the rest of the dishes for the meal. This is my Omelette with Shredded Carrots and Sliced Big Onions.




And here's the simple Stir-Fried Kailan... my favourite vege! OH....




This concludes yet another simple meal at home...brought to you by the two superheroes!



Noticed how banjir my Jenahak fishy is? Haha. My Superhero Mum would always complain that some dishes I cook have the tendency to be swimming in sauces! But I like the sauces... Both superheroes are the kind of people who needs to banjir their rice with lots and LOTS of sauce. It makes the rice easier to swallow. *ahem* No, we're not babies... :p

Friday, May 23, 2008

Pan Mee that rocks!

No kidding. The Pan Mee that I'm about to introduce to you truly rocks! Undeniable the bestest of them all. Haha. Even the ones served at Boon Boon Cafe cannot fight. *grins*

And that is no other than...




My Pan Mee! Haha. *blushing*

You know, if I hadn't been living for quite a few years in KL, I wouldn't have called this bowl of gastronomical delight "Pan Mee". But instead, I would've called it as Min Fun Kou (in Cantonese, translated to mean "kuih tepung" really!) So remember, when you're in Malacca, you call this bowl of heaven, "Min Fun Kou" okay? Haha. Otherwise they won't understand what you're saying.

So having found a new fetish for Pan Mee, I decided to pester my Superhero Mum when we flew back to Malacca over the weekend to teach me how to cook this dish from scratch. I've seen her done it a few times before, only I didn't quite paid attention to it then! Haha.

Superhero Mum bought all the ingredients, and taught me how to knead the dough (I'm not quite sure what to call it, so let's just refer to it as "dough" here yeah). I usually learn better when I see someone doing it up front. And she did just that. So I was able to follow everything step by step. All the way from seeing how she squeezed and squeezed the dough till it became like this...




Yeah... Cute huh! Haha. :p

Okay, now that the main ingredient is ready, time to be chef! After throwing some fish balls and chicky bits into the anchovies soup base, it's time to "mit" the dough into little pieces of thin dough and throw it into the wok. After "mit"-ing the entire big fat round dough, this is what we get...




A big wok full of Pan Mee... OH... This is heaven!! *drools...!*





And ready to serve! I fried some anchovies and cut some Chilli Padi just to give the Pan Mee a little extra kick! OH.... I love it! Even Superhero W gives this effort a thumbs up! So now you know whose Pan Mee truly rocks right? Haha. Thick-skinned. :p

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Gelato Fruity at Midvalley Megamall

After downing our super sumptuous Japanese foodie at Sushi Zanmai in the Gardens, both the two superheroes and Superhero S' sister, Winnie suddenly had this ridiculous craving for ice-cream! OH.... despite being so full and all, we still couldn't resist the temptation of sinking our teeth into some icy cold dessert. Yummy!!

We initially wanted to fly over to Baskin Robbins to satisfy our sinful thoughts in Midvalley but somehow ended up right in front of Gelato Fruity. Haha. I mean, hey... on second thoughts, gelato has much lesser fat and is a healthier option compared to those ultra sinful Baskin Robbins right? *grins*




Can't help but be attracted to Gelato Fruity's constantly changing neon lights on its signboard. Cool... And there were so many flavours to choose from. We were looking at one shelf which houses all the bad bad delights, with all the super kau chocolate flavours, after eights, oreos and more.


Can I have them all??


After satisfying our visual senses with all the chocolatey stuff, we then walked over to the other display shelf where this time around, the gelato colours were so much more catchier!




Check out the purple colour! OH... I like... I think it's dragon fruit flavour or something. This other shelf actually houses all the fruity flavours. But well oh well, the three of us must've been thinking, "what the heck, since already going to makan "ice-cream", better makan the most sinful ones loh!" Haha. Right or not? *wink wink* :p


Drool baby, drool...!


Both superheroes shared one Chocolate gelato while Winnie went for their Oreo. I have to say, the chocolate one (that Superhero W handpicked!) is super duper rich! Very kau indeed the chocolate! Not bad... not bad at all.


The new ambassador for Gelato Fruity...


Winnie's Oreo tasted lighter than the ultra sinful choc gelato but still very delicious. In fact Superhero S actually prefers Oreo to the choc one. After eating too much of the choc flavoured gelato, it has to tendency to be too overpowering but the oreo flavour would still somehow make you drool for more!

OH we love gelato... MmMMmm.... Haha :p

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Sushi Zanmai at The Gardens, Midvalley

Just having found out from Bernsy that there is another seemingly yummylicious Japanese foodie restaurant in The Gardens besides our favourite Sushi Zen, the two superheroes and Superhero S's sister, Winnie flew there right away for a smashing dinner time! Haha. *drools..*

And since we're all not entirely familiar with The Gardens, it took us a wee bit time to locate our Sushi Zanmai's hideout. O...where art thou??




With some luck, we somehow found ourselves walking straight towards it. Located just next to the Borders bookshop, Sushi Zanmai really has very classy decorations. And mind you, this place is entirely packed even on a weekday! Must be really not bad woh... :p

We found ourselves a nice, comfy seat at the back corner of the restaurant. As we passed by the other tables while making our way into our seat, we couldn't help but notice all the super delicious foodie on other people's tables. WOW... Cannot wait to try the food here!! Haha. *grins*




Very nice ambience, perfectly set up with chic lightings and super comfy sofa seats. So comfy that our butts got superglued the instant we sat on it. The menu was ridiculously extensive. So many things!!! Which to order? And then there's also the foodie on the conveyor belt! OMG. *starts to panic!* Haha.




In the end, all of us settled for our favourite orders and chatted happily while waiting for the yummylicious food. You can actually see the chefs in action behind a transparent glass over at the right hand corner when entering the restaurant. Cool woh... Haha. But we were all too engrossed with chatting and helping ourselves to the unlimited supply of refreshing Green Tea that the waiter kept refilling for us. More, please...




The food came pretty fast really, and the first order to grace our table was the Kanimayo sushi, in other words, Crabmeat Mayonnaise Rolls priced at RM4.80!! We ordered this so that we can make a fair comparison with our favourite Sushi Zen's offering. And surprise surprise...hate to say this but the ones here are....




BETTER woh!! OMG...?! Both are equally enticing to eat, very delicious, very fresh and almost has the same presentation and taste. But...but... the ones here at Sushi Zanmai has this slightly unique burst of coldness when you eat it. OH... I love it love it love it LOVE IT!




And then came Superhero S's Chicken Katsu Udon priced at RM8.80, which is really a bowl of Udon with seaweed and Fried Chicken Chop with salad. Haha. Fantastic! Very big portion of the chicky and I couldn't finish it alone. Had to give away half of it to Superhero W. Haha. Very nice combi really, and love the super crispy fried chicken. Superb ah!



Next was Winnie's Beef Udon.




She added lots of chilli flakes into it because she said it makes the dish taste better. And I tried a mouthful of the Beef Udon and it was very delicious indeed! The beef were layered thinly but the serving was relatively large for a medium order. Good...




Superhero W's large Ebidon, which was sticky rice topped with an extremely large portion of Tempura with Egg. There were like 4-5 big big tempuras on his bowl. So worth it! Priced at RM15.80, I'm sure Superhero W had a nice fulfilling meal that night...

And just when you think that's about it...there's actually MORE!!




Agedashi Tofu, very very smooth and it comes along with a sauce that tasted like Miso soup or something.

And loads of Sushi....!




Salmon Ikura, Chuka Iidako, Inari, Tamago and Salmon -- all in pairs! Haha. Yeah, one for you and one for me... *super grin*

All in all, the bill came to us at RM76. Very worth it! Will definitely make our way back here all thanks to the excellent food, top service (thanks for refilling our tea over and over and....again!), and cool ambience. Simply fantastic! And it wasn't the end of the night just yet... But we'll leave that for our next post, ok? :p

Oh and when we googled Sushi Zanmai the other day, we found out that KY has also previously written about the Sushi Zanmai at Sunway Pyramid. Go check it out!

P/S: We apologize for the yellowish texture to all our photos here. Haha. The dim, romantic lighting there wasn't helping our low-end camera phone. :p