Delicious Lam Mee with Chinese wine

My first trip to Wei Sun was back in 2009... click here for my post back then!

I have never thought that I would be coming back here for the second time given that this restaurant is located in Kepong and I hardly venture into this area. One thing for sure is that everytime I come to KL, I would pass by Kepong before turning into LDP heading towards BU. It happened that it was almost noon by the time we passed by Kepong and both Jenn and her parents were hungry. Restoran Wei Sun came to mind and I immediately turned into Bandar Manjalara.


Lucky for us it was not lunch time yet and therefore parking were relatively easy to find and we quickly made our way to the restaurant.

Their signature Lam Mee is a must-order dish! It was prepared using 3 different type of Chinese wine to create a distinctive taste to the broth - and the wine blended very well with the flavour of Lam Mee's broth!

You'd find abalone slices, fresh prawns and ham slices together with the smooth & springy lam mee. I love the mee in its original flavour but being Jenn, she had! to add vinegar to have sourish flavour in it.

We also ordered their buttermilk (nai yau) squid in 2 styles - dry style with egg floss; and wet style. Both excelled and we enjoyed having this together with the Lam Mee :)

Leo's verdict - they still manage to maintain the standard of Lam Mee which is a plus point as the objective for Jenn & I to travel to this particular place was for the dish. Too bad that we didn't travel far nowadays in search for good food, as the two little brats would be grumpy and the dining experience would not be that good.

Restoran Wei Sun
No.47, Ground Floor, Jalan 9/62A
Bandar Manjalara
52200 Kepong

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Mooncakes From Li Yen

ANNOUNCEMENT: BAKING FOR ELIZABETH MAH
(Click here for story)



Today's Story:

It's always a treat to get invited to the Ritzy Ritz Carlton by Mr Ellerton, because he has super powers to waive the jockey parking fees. But apart from that, the quality of food at this fine establishment has always been par excellence, so yes, it IS always a treat to be asked to dine here, and this time at my favourite outlet, Li Yen.

It's that time of the year again, when kiosks spring up in shopping malls, all selling these little cakelets that the Chinese call mooncakes, presumably because they're round. There is a story associated with mooncakes of course, something about the smuggling of secret notes to revolutionaries all over the China to start a revolution. Thank goodness there was no Twitter or SMSes in those days, or we'd be one more delicacy short...afterall, why bother smuggling notes through a mooncake, and risk it being eaten, when you can tweet or send mass sms-es to rally support, regardless of colour. To the uninformed and ignorant, this festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar is more popularly known as the Mid Autumn Festival. Maybe not here in Malaysia, where its a perpetual summer, so maybe we should just call it Mid Perpetual Summer festival.

Speaking of colour, these days mooncakes come in all sorts of colors and flavours, shapes and sizes. So much so, the youth of today might grow up never realising that we used to eat those with lotus paste and egg yolk in our youth. Case in point would be Li Yen's interesting array.... Wasabi Mooncakes, Rose (Roh Say) Mooncakes, Moet & Chandon Mooncakes, and Green Tea Mooncakes, just to name a few.


Photobucket
The wasabi mooncakes. The flavours are rather subtle, and doesn't really hit you like an oncoming train.

Photobucket
The Rose ones are lovely, suprisingly the flavour of the Rose has been captured in the snow skin layer, so you can really taste hints of it. So far, what I liked about them was the fact that they were not sickly sweet.

Photobucket
I think these were green tea snow skin with custard filling. Not my favourite.

Photobucket


The dim sum in Li Yen is excellent as well. It's ...how shall I put it, rather refined. You know how there's dim sum and DIM SUM. As a friend of mine pointed out years ago, dim sum meant to tantalize your heart, with elegant morsels of goodness, not canonball sized siew mais that you can catapult to kill a pig.


Spring Rolls.

Photobucket
Prawn Rolls.

Photobucket
Scallop Cheong Fun. Silky smooth cheong fun that slides down your throat effortlessly.

Photobucket
Lovely siew mais....

Photobucket
But these buns, OMIGOOOOOOOOODNESS, these buns, I WANT MORE BUNS. Frankly, neither the pork ones nor custard buns below looked like anything special. Don't judge a bun by its cover. The dough for the pork one was so light, and moist, and the whole thing just melted in the mouth.

Photobucket
And these custard buns, I thought they looked dry, but boy, have I never been wronger. Seriously good stuff. In fact, I feel like having some now. How?

Photobucket

And finished off with my favourite type of noodle, sang mee with seafood.

[In fancy Brihtish accent], Why, Thank yew Mr Olliver. How kind of yew to let us come.

Quickly head over to Li Yen for their amazing array of mooncakes. The festival is on 12th September, so you have a week more to indulge.


Lemon Meringue Pie Milkshakes

IMG_6009

I have a super power. I can look at a sad, understocked, and unloved fridge and find a dessert in it. You have the bottom scrapings of the peanut butter jar, a bit of powdered sugar, and some random chocolate chips? Dessert. You have honey and walnuts? I think theres something we can do there. You have marshmallows? Um thats totally dessert. Youd be surprised of the wonders you can work with strawberry jam. Bacon can be salty dessert. Bake it with brown sugar, you big dummy. Granola? Put that on anything and drizzle it with honey. Barbecue sauce!? Wait only if youre desperate. Capers? No those arent ever dessert. Maybe Ive gone too far.

IMG_5900

Heres a dessert that came from my (slightly) understocked fridge. Ok.. truth be told, I had lemon sorbet in my freezer. Maybe that doesnt exactly count as understocked but maybe Ive just spoiled myself. I mixed tart lemon flavors with creamy milk and crunchy graham crackers. The result is a no muss, no fuss, anytime dessert-y good time.

This is another one of those loose recipe situations. Life doesnt always require lists. Lets just go with it.

Grab a blender and a pint of tart lemon sorbet. Blend sorbet with about 2/3 cup of milk. I used a few splashes over 2/3 cup. Once milkshake is blended smooth and thick, add a hearty handful of crumbled graham crackers. Stir with a spoon. Spoon the milkshake into 4 small glasses. Top with whipped cream and more graham cracker crumbled. Eat with a spoon and big ol straw. Enjoy immediately. Recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups of milkshake.

It! s creamy , bright , crunchy, DELICIOUS!


Restoran Pan Heong @ Medan Batu Caves

IMG_5932
Pan Heong is such a legendary eating establishment in other part of town Batu Caves. With cheap, affordable pricing and no frills interior; Pan Heong is not intended to be a gourmet restaurant, but as places where one can enjoy comfort food in the company of friends.
IMG_5892
This Batu Caves most famous restaurant boasts wall photos of visiting celebrities and politicians throughout the years. The newspaper cutouts are solid testaments to their popularity too.
IMG_5904
Sang Har wat dan hor (RM 68 for 4 pax) is one of the main reasons people flock to this restaurant. Imagine luscious fresh water prawn and kuey teow (flat rice noodles) drowned in a thick gravy in bright orange hue (from the prawn roe).
IMG_5911
Upon taking the very first bite, we were pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was! The medium sized prawns were sweet, succulent and springy to bite. The kuey teows were so smooth and the eggy gravy was well enhanced by the prawn flavour. Absolutely divine!
IMG_5915
Kao Yoke Mee Hoon (vermicelli with stewed pork, RM 16.50 for 2 pax)
IMG_5917
The stewed pork was very flavourful, and with the right ratio of fats versus lean meat, it almost melts in the mouth. The mee hoon packed plenty of wok hei too! This must be another must order dish at Pan Heong.
IMG_5897
Sang Yu (snake head fish) and Century Egg Porridge (RM 15.50 for 3 pax)
IMG_5900
It was cooked just right: the velvety smooth porridge was neither too thick nor watery. The robust fish slices were fresh and chunky while the century has a nice, creamy centre. One bite into these beauties and we were transported to heaven!
IMG_5918
Mee Mamak Goreng (RM 10.50 for 2 pax). It was sweet and spicy at the same time; but pales in comparison with the excellent dishes we had before this.
IMG_5927
Nam Yu (fermented bean curd) Pork (RM 25). Fried till crispy, th! e nam yu pork was extremely flavourful and addictive. However, we found some pieces to be too lean and tough while some were delightful delicious with a right amount of fattiness.
IMG_5893
Even our order of Sweet Potato Leaves (RM 13) tasted so good that it vanished in split seconds!
IMG_5930
All in all, Pan Heong serves very good food at a reasonable price. Each of us paid about RM 22 for all that food! Parking is horrendous and the crowd is crazy, so be there as early as 11am for lunch.
3181939110_4e9ddc9711_o
Pan Heong Restoran
No.2, Jalan Medan Batu Caves 2,
Batu Caves,
68100 Selangor
(parallel to SRJK Kheow Bin)
Tel: 03-6187 7430
GPS Coordinates: 3.233434, 101.674165
Opens from 8am to 330pm daily.

Share/Bookmark

Black Sesame Mantou

I have finally conquered the Chinese books! See, the only time I actually studied chinese was when I was in primary school. It wasnt a chinese school where every subject is in Chinese and its a do or die situation. I was bumming around in a private primary school that taught the Chinese language as a subject; POL. Socomparatively, my level of writing and reading Chinese language is probably only up to Standard 2 of those from the chinese schools. Yeap, you can say its not much actually.

I speak Chinese tho, so conversing is not much of a problem; but it is when I try to read them. During the old times, I would only learn Chinese if I want to go to karaoke; thats just cause Chinese songs are nicer :) So I had no choice but to pick up some and recognise some words. Then when internet and technology has come into the picture, learning Chinese (or any other language I would say) is now much easy and more convenient. I am using the iPad now to handwrite the chinese word onto it and translate it via google translator or another translator app. (that also mean that I can take on Japanese books now!! YAY!)

And well you know, I dont really use the Malaysian published bilingual baking / cooking books because its just not what Im looking for anyway. So first one up is by s book. I had wanted to know how to make(Chinese steamed pork dumplings) for the longest time ever but just no English book would illustrate that well enough. Hence I gotta go get a trusted Chinese recipe book and for all you know, is pretty popular in the blogosphere. I then saw her book and browsed through the recipes of buns, mantou, steamed dumplings, bao and lots more. It looked good so I decided to get it since Ive already bought a few Chinese cookbooks before this and translating is not a prob. If all else fail, I will ask my mum cause, ofcourse, she is Chinese literate. heh. Why did I go through so much trouble when I have a live translator at home right ? :P I guess then I will never learn any of the Chinese words if I had asked my mum to translate them for me. :) You could also ask me why I need to go through all the trouble when there are tons of recipes on the internet, well, Im a cookbook junkie, and they are much more of a collectibles for me. People collect toys and coins, I collect cookbook! Easy as that.

Flipping through the pages, I was eager to make something already because Ive not made mantous or bao (buns) before, ever! I had wanted to make the Dai Bao (Big Bun) with minced pork and boiled egg inside, but nope, something quicker, something of which I would have those ingredients at home already. Then I saw the black sesame mantou, bingo!! Thats it, Im making you :) After some transla! tion of the recipes, I immediately went back home after work to make it. Lol, I am usually NOT THAT EFFICIENT. really.

And, no I still dont like sweet buns or Asian style breads. I would prefer bao, dumpling and mantou.

So here it is, translated for all you bananas.

Black Sesame Mantou

(makes 8 )

Adapted from by

260ml tepid water / lukewarm water
5g instant yeast
500g medium-protein flour (I used a 50/50 of high & low protein cause thats all I have)
60g caster sugar
5g vegetable oil
25g toasted black sesame seeds
pinch of salt

25g toasted black sesame seeds
15g caster sugar

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast in tepid water in a bowl (you can use the mixing bowl if youre using a mixer, like me) and let it sit for 5 minutes. Into the same bowl, pour in flour, caster sugar, vegetable oil, toasted black sesame seeds and salt. Using a dough hook, mix the dough for about 10 minutes. It should be like a smooth surfaced dough. Remove the dough, lightly knead it and shape into a log. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. (Pic 1)

2. In the meantime, make the filling, lightly blend toasted black sesame seeds and caster sugar in a food processor. Keep aside. Then roll the dough out to 45 cm x 20cm. (Pic 2)

4. Visually divide your dough into 3 parts. Fold! the lef t flap in, then the right. (Pic 3 and 4)

5. Roll the dough out again into approximate 60cm x 20cm. Brush some water on the top surface, then sprinkle the black sesame filling on the surface. (Pic 1&2)

6. Then roll in like a swiss roll or into a log. At the end, the log should measure 60cm in length and probably have 3-4 circular swirls in it. (Pic 3-5)

7. Cut the dough into 8 portions, place them on a greaseproof paper. (Pic 6 and 7) Put them into a steamer and let it sit in there for 20 minutes until it has proofed.(Pic 8)

8. Turn on the steamer for about 15-20 minutes. It should be slightly bigger as well after steaming.

9. Eat with condensed milk!! So yum.

I wished I had known Chinese earlier. But it is never too late. by comes with a cd or two with the book, so if all else fail, you would at least know the method of rolling mantou or pleating the dumplings. Just last weekend, I went to BookFest Malaysia 2011 in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. There were so much book, some are from publishers from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Ive had my good time browsing through some books. Managed to score some books from the place. :)

CIA Professional Chef book was only RM69.90, slashed from the original price of abt RM 250.++. Jamies Italy was at a 25% off, My life in France by Julia Child was only RM16.90 and the 3 other chinese books were on average about RM24/book. Lots more book to buy there, but I had ordered a book from Kinokuniya KLCC, It should be here soonSo enough of buying this month.. Wheeeee :) Wanna guess what book is that ? Its from Japan. :P


Wheatfield

Few cafes are as alluring as one that's flooded with glowingly fresh pastries; baking bread & brewing coffee is this outlet's passion, eating & drinking it all up would be ours.

Wheatfield is Bukit Damansara's latest bakery-restaurant; its selection isn't as staggering as The Bread Shop's, but it's still a hot spot for oven-warmed fare like this enjoyably chewy walnut roll & custard-soft frangipane tart, saturated with the aroma of almonds.

Raisin scone & chocolate chip muffin. Rich, moist & satisfyingly flavorsome, even at seven p.m., an hour before the cafe was scheduled to close for the night.

Latte & cappuccino. Thanks to this trip, we're finally able to tell the difference between both beverages, though we can't say for sure which we prefer.

Sandwiches & other snacks are also available.


Wheatfield Bakery & Cafe,
Plaza Damansara, Jalan Medan Setia 2,
Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
Closed Sundays.