Celebratory dishes at an old favourite

Not on the menu... the Steamed Fish eith Egg White Sauce and Black Truffles.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 The Steamed Fish with Egg White Sauce and Truffle was to die for at a dinner in Chef Choi recently. Ikan kurau fillets were bathed in a sublime egg sauce, with a shower of black truffle shavings. It was an ingenious, delectable combination.

Chef/owner Chan Thye Seng had encountered some scepticism initially, but it vanished at the first taste. Now if only he could put this on the menu each truffle season! It was something he was trying out with a small supply of French truffles, and hit the spot with us.

The black truffles appeared again on the fettucine with crab and garlic, perfectly al dente, with all the flavours in tune. Such a dish would surely perk up a jaded palate, even in a Chinese restaurant.

A special treat... grilled sardine fish.
Since we were almost into Chinese New Year then, we tossed a Yee Sang with Ocean Trout, after which we were surprised with a Grilled Sardine with a slice of lemon. It was a very fresh, sweet fish that didnt need any embellishment apart from a little lemon juice.

The Braised Pork Shoulder with Mushrooms, Black Moss and Scallops is to die for.
Where Chinese celebratory dishes are concerned, the Braised Pork Shoulder with Mushroom, Black Moss and Scallop is praiseworthy. The skin glistens with the dark braising sauce, and as it is cut up, the right balance of tender meat and creamy fat makes this so wonderful to eat. Then you go on to savour the chunks of fresh, sweet white scallops, the plump dried oysters and black mushrooms.

Braised Wa Wa Choy with Dried Scallop is one o! f my fav ourite vegetable dishes here. The cabbage is rendered silky smooth, with the subtly sweet sauce clinging to each juicy leaf.

Special Fried Glutinous Rice with Hong Kong Liver Sausage is a must try.
Which would you like better the Special Fried Glutinous Rice with Hong Kong Liver Sausage, or the Steamed Rice with Sausage and Waxed Meat in Claypot (Lap Mei Fan)? Its a hard decision when you eat at this restaurant. The gooseliver sausages are from the famed Yung Kee restaurant in Hong Kong, that are exquisite in its rose wine aroma, texture and flavour. The other Chinese pork sausages were local but surprisingly good.

Its quite difficult to get the Fried Glutinous Rice in Kuala Lumpur, as it takes some high wok skills to get it right, without the sticky rice turning out oily or soggy. We gave a high score to the Chef Choi version which burst with flavour from the bits of sausages and dried prawns in it.

I have always liked the Lap Mei Fan here. Its cooked with the healthy long grain basmati rice, that has a low glycaemic index, but it tastes just as good. The rice is stirred up in the claypot with the lovely sauce, then you eat it with the array of steamed liver and pork sausages and waxed meat.

To end the meal... crispy nin ko with yam. Perfection.
Even the Nin Ko fried with Yam is hard to resist here, so forget about watching your weight.

You could also try ordering in advance the very yummy Tiramisu here.

For the Chinese New Year season, Chef Choi has set menus for 10 at RM788+, RM988+, RM1,288+, RM1,588+, RM1,888+ and RM3,388+. The more expensive menus have BBQ Crispy Suckling Pig, Yee Sang with Abalone, Steamed Live Star Garoupa and/or Mini Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Chef Choi is located at 159 Jalan Ampang, Kual! a Lumpur , Tel: 03-2163 5866, website www.chefchoi.com.

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My CNY Day 2 - Hatyai 2012

This is probably one of the longest day for me. We left Penang Island at 5.00am and reached Bukit Kayu Hitam @ 7.00am.We were here to change some Thai Bahts, buy car insurances and some travel documentation for our drive across the border.7.30am and all documents were intact and ready to cross the border.
The excitement was mounting as we approaches the Immigration Complex at the border unfortunately the traffic was bad and the queue to clear the travelling document took us a while too. It's holiday leh.... and bus loads of tourists just keep on coming ...
It was already 10.00am we were still at the Immigration Complex but minutes later all was done and we were able to proceed with our journey.
We were hungry and Yong Lim took us here which is near Daiichi Hotel, Hatyai.

At last we got to eat and that was our brunch on the second day of Chinese New Year.Thai Chicken rice with braised trotter, roast pork & Char Siu. And some selection! of Thai mini Dim Sum.A plate of roast pork & Char Siu...nice but nothing spectacular.Thaifragrantrice with doses of golden fried garlic.Steamed chicken meat with some gizzard so good that we ordered another plate but this time without any gizzard.Tempting braised trotters enticing you at the severy counter.
Our share of the braised, nicely de-boned braised trotter and cut into right sizes for us.We decided not to drive in Hatyai City but to move around with the ! famous T uk Tuk.
I was amazed that the Tuk Tuk can accommodate 10 of us and the charge was 200bahts.

These two seems to enjoy very much on the Tuk Tuk ride.

That's it, we arrived at a shopping area.
Hatyai is very vibrant during! Chinese New Year and who says it's already quiet here.... maybe it's CNY.
We went to the market (pasar) & many bazaars and did some shopping.Hatyai got Bak kut Teh leh.....but we did not try. Just wonderingwhetherit can beat Klang's.Jo wasfascinatedwith the waffle and could not resist trying it.They love it.Amazing petty trader on wheels.This is incrediblydeliciouspineapple from Chiangrai and incredibly sweet though it's small in size.After all the walking we were gamed for food and tried a popular fried koay teow, something like Cantonese Fried Noodle.The place was packed and we have to wait a while to be seated.The cooking area is right in front of the shop.
Sugar cane juice is available like everywhere in Hatyai, super sweet and refreshing.

The wet version (Malaysian Cantonese fried) but no seafood found in it.
As usual the chilli pickle that goes with the noodle.
Majority prefers the wet version.
I wanted to rest after all the food & walking and needed a massage badly, 4 of us went for a 2 hours Thai massage, the kids went to a nearby internet centre and I had a good series of snoring which I was told at the end of the session. It was a goodrevitalisationjust like a newly charged battery.Next we drove to the fringe of the city for some sight seeing.
Took some photos to shown proof that they have visited these places.....
The younger ones were exhausted and were still sleeping in the cars while we took a brief sight seeing.One for the album @ Hatyai Hill.
At the Golden Buddha of Hatyai Hill.

It was time for dinner as we were travelling back to Malaysia and we stopped at Sadao. A town before Danok at this Thai Muslim shop for BBQ and magnificent Thai foods.

A simple set up and highly recommended for authentic Thai food at the Southern part of Thailand.Salad (Ulam) with sambal belacan and the sambal was awesome.My no.1 pick of the night I ate so much that I had to limped for the next couple of days.....suspected gout attack....BBQ fish in aluminium foil was awesome.The salad which came with the BBQ fish.Stir fried mix veggie.The seafood tomyam was spicy hot but so delicious that you can resist.Glass noodle with prawns in a hot metal pot.Fried Tilapia fish with soy sauce & cut chilli.And the food was really good and the price was very reasonable.And lastly a plate of Thai fried rice for everyone to sample before we leave this place at Sadao. I will come back here if I have another chance.
Fried bone less chicken.
By the time we finished our dinner it was about 10.00pm, we still have to clear the immigration and drive back to my brother's house in Sg. Petani. We reached SP 11 plus and time to rest ourselves for tomorrow.