Old China Cafe, KL

The ambience in Old China Cafe is cosy and takes you away from the bustle of the city but the place is filled with so many authenically old things that I wonder if the gramophone comes on by itself when no one is around!

Old China Cafe in Kuala Lumpur is probably frequented more by tourists than the locals but I highly recommend it for those who want a feel of the Peranakan baba-nyonyain the early 1900sand a taste of the delicious Peranakan cuisine. Peranankan baba nyonya were Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore who married local Malay ladies and integrated their customs, culture and cuisine. The Peranankans had the freedom of combining non-halal (non-'kosher' food for Muslims) ingredients with the local Malay spices and way of cooking into exciting dishes that exude thebest of both cuisines, with flavors that are more Malay and cooking style more Chinese, in my opinion. Peranakan cuisine is dying, probably because Peranakan marriages are dwindling due to the present religious ban against a non-Muslim marrying a Muslim. That makes me realize that 'multiracial' and 'interacial' are very different things. Peranakan is interacial, and in the old days interracial marriages were welcome because no politics were involved.

Royal Se! langor's meals for us were centered on Malaysian cuisine and no other cuisine in Malaysia embodies the harmonious times between two of the biggest races in the country than Peranakan cuisine.


For starters, we had a version of the Cantonese bao sang, a mixture of sauteed veggies wrapped in lettuce and seasoned with a delicious chili-prawn paste sauce.


Pie tees, the size of a golf ball, are yummy 'tarts' made with lots of skill and care.The shells were super crispy-crunchy and the filling just right so that each mouthful was a delight .


The duck soup with salted veg was light but not outstanding.


A yummy pork dish.


Chicken dish (I didn't order or take notes!)--delicious.


Another yummy chicken dish.

Authentic Peranankan cuisine includes pork. I appreciated with wonder the amount of work and passion that went into cooking these dishes because Peranakan food is something I never cooked or will ever cook, I think, because there are lots of spices to roast and pound and long stewing is a key step in Peranakan cooking.


I suspect that this plate of fried calamari rings must've been ordered by my son Wey. He orders fried calamari rings and pasta carbonara too, whenever those dishes are on the menu. He judges a restaurant by how good they make his favorite food. I'm not sure how he rated these calamari rings; he's away doing National Service.


I love salted krill omelette but wished this was stronger in flavor. I think that for this dish, a mixture of aged and freshly made salted krill would give both taste and texture.


A veggie dish.








I had a taste of each dessert and while they were good, I felt that they could've been better if the santan (coconut milk) flavor is fresher and stronger. The bubur chacha was lacking in taro, which is a big disappointment. Old China needs to pay more atttention to its desserts. I think that Asian sweet soup desserts are super yummy and so totally under-rated.

Old China Cafe
No.11, Jalan Balai Polis
Tel: 603-2072 5915
Opens 11 am to 11 pm daily

Lan Je Steamed Rawang Tilapia Fish @ Kota Damansara

Lan Je is getting more famous with more branches sprouting in Klang Valley as far as Balakong and Subang Jaya. This shop is at Kota Damansara and has been opened since 2009. My work place is nearby and have been here numerous times and the quality of food has beenconsistent.The menu hanging on the wall all written in Chinese so you have agar agar or take notice of what been served on other tables.Almost everyone is having a fish each and the cost is about RM17.50 so it not cheap eating here. The tilapia fish has been "detoxicated" for a while (to take away any muddy smell) before serving it.I like it with extra chilli padi giving extraoomphin my meal.Stir fried potato leavesMy favourite Tofu fried with prawns and spring onions, always love this dish.

My previous sometime February 2009 at this outlet.
RestoranLan Je Steamed Tilapia Fish

F-50G & 51G, Jalan Teknologi 3/9

Bistari DE Kota

Kota Damansara

Petaling Jaya

Open from 11.30am-3pm, 6-9pm. Closed on Tuesdays.

GPS : 3.164662,101.57415

Tel: 012-669 9919, 016-6189919

Lotus Roots with Mung Beans in Dried Octopus Soup

Soup Name: Lotus Roots with Mung Beans and Dried Octopus Soup

Traditional Chinese Name: (linu ldu zhng y tng)

Introduction:

When making any dried octopus soup, this is the most basic and common set of ingredients. Its simple (with only 3 ingredients), easy to prepare and delicious (and slightly cooling). To me, most dried seafood tastes the same, something a little fishy and slightly sweet. In fact, you can substitute dried insert your seafood here for these type of soups. Other types of octopus soups also include peanuts or various other vegetables (like chayotes). Ill have to make other types to demonstrate the diverseness of dried octopus, but heres my first.

What ingredients are required?

1 large dried octopus, sliced or quartered
2 section of lotus roots, sliced
100g of mung beans
2 L of water

How do I prepare it?

Rinse and soak the dried octopus and mung beans in warm water for an hour

Boil your soup water

Prepare lotus roots by washing and cutting into edible portions

Using scissors or a sharp knife, slice the dried octopus into thin slices (or quartered if you dont plan to eat it)

When your water boils, add all the ingredients in and boil on high for 30 minutes. Reduce to a medium boil for another hour.

Serve and enjoy!

Any benefits?

• This soup is extremely low in fat (virtually none)
• It is a good soup base to add meats or other vegetables
• Excellent source of protein, Vitamin C & E
• Can help reduce heatiness

Any precautions?

• It is a slightly cooling soup, so if youre concerned, add a few slices of ginger
• Be sure to purchase dried octopus from a reputable source

Dried Octopus

Ingredient Name: Dried Octopus

Traditional Chinese Name: (Zhng y gn)

What is this?

• This is basically the dried preserved carcass of a small octopus (an eight-legged mollusc that lives in the ocean)
• It is prepared by sun drying them with salt
• It is salty and slightly fishy in taste with a rubbery and hard texture
• Commonly used in soups, stews and other Chinese dishes (usually sliced very thinly)

Howdo Iprepare it?

• Rinse in warm water before usage and soak in warm water for about an hour to soften it
• For soups, you can cut them into thin slices (for consumption) or simply half it

Where can I buy this?

• Readily available at most Asian supermarkets (packaged)
• Definitely available in Hong Kong wet marts (sold in the dried food vendor stalls)

What is the cost?

• Very affordable
• One average-sized octopus (as picture above) cost me around $30 HKD
• The prices do vary depending on size, breed and availability

Any benefits?

• This is a perfect ingredient for soups as it is makes the soup extremely tasty (without adding salt)
• Octopus is rich in calcium, phosphorous, and iron
• It aids in the prevention of anemia, relieves fatigue and restores eyesight and improves liver functions

Any precautions?

• Be sure to purchase from a reputable source
• Sometimes the octopus is really salty, so if you want to reduce the saltiness, soak in warm water for a few hours

Additional Information

• Store in a dry and cool place (up to 3 months)
• You can freeze them as well for long! er stora ge (up to 6 months)
• This is a similar ingredient to the dried cuttlefish, both are prepared and used in a similar fashion

Oriental Viva

It feels like every time Chinese New Year beckons, Malaysia's Oriental Group of Restaurants rolls out another branch in another shopping mall.

Only last year, The Han Room stormed The Gardens, becoming a swift, sturdy success. Anticipating the Dragon's reign, the Oriental Group has now infiltrated Viva Home, enlarging a commonwealth of Chinese cooking that includes The Ming Room, Maju Palace & Noble House.

A symbol of the season: our first yee sang of 2012, vamped up with prawns, salmon sashimi & soft-shell crab. RM48++ for the smallest serving, sufficient for three of us.

Braised goose web (fleshier than scrawny chicken feet), a classic recipe with 10-head abalone & broccoli. If you've enjoyed the food at the Oriental Group's! other o utlets, rest assured that the same standards apply here, extending to the service & menu selection.

Waxed duck with "seng kua." A complementary coupling of meat & veggies, with the salty fowl punching up the flavor of the satin-smooth sponge gourd.

Whole pork trotter with sea cucumber. A whole lotta meat (tender as can be), a whole lotta fat (sinful as it comes), a whole lotta fun (certain as the sun).

Our full-out favorite, 'lap mei fun,' supremely satisfying. We'd love an extra string of the creamy liver sausage, which eclipses all other waxed meat in its peerless, perfumed richness.

Raging for more rice? This fried one is a curious but comforting creation _ wet like claypot rice, baptized in a mix of raw egg & abalone sauce.

A na rrow but nicely priced range of wine is available by the bottle, starting from RM110++.

Starbucks Chinese New Year Beverage & Food Valencia Frappuccino, Caramel Espresso Muffin and Eastern Sunrise

Starbucks Valencia Frappuccino is Starbucks Malaysia new drink for this Chinese New Year festive season along with Valencia Macchiato.

This sweet and tangy beverage is a new addition to Starbucks core Frappuccino. The same goes for the Valencia Macchiato if you choose to have a hot version.
The Valencia Frappuccinouses sweet Valencia orange syrupblended with coffee, steamed milk and foam. MoreHoney Valencia syrup drizzled over the whipped cream added to the citrus-ybouquet of the drink.

Made out of Mandarin Orange and infused with Cream Cheese combined with Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse, Eastern Sunrise(RM9.90) is Starbucks CNY festive cake. While Starbucks is not going to win any points for originality (Mandarin orange = CNY = duhhh), Eastern Sunrise is not going to win any awards for taste either.

In essence its an orange mousse chocolate cake. Yes, fancy name but a pretty uninspiring creation really.

The new Espresso Caramel Muffin(RM5.90).got me excited for a bit. If ther! es anyth ing remotely decent to eat at Starbucks, its their muffins. My favourite is the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin. The Starbucks Reduced Fat Mandarin Cranberry Muffin(introduced last year in May 2011) comes a close second.

ThisEspresso Caramel Muffinwas decent enough;though I felt it could do with a stronger coffee essence.

Hhhmm.. nothing really great to shout about for the festive offerings this time. None of the above warrants a re-order for me. Have any you tried the above festive drinks and cakes?

Read about my previous Starbucks experiences HERE ->
NEW @ Starbucks: Kapitan Pie, Chicken Stack, Peanut Butter Cream Brulee and Chocolate Tuxedo

Starbucks Reduced Fat Mandarin Cranberry Muffin&Low Fat Apple & Carrot Muffin.

All pictures taken with:

A Dram in Malacca

It's only Wednesday and already it's been a long week. The kind of week that makes me wish I had a regular watering hole, a comfortable spot where they know me and I know them, where it's impossible to walk in for a pop without leaving whatever's weighing on me at the door, where a bit of idle conversation over a tipple carries erases the work day and carries me to dinner.

If I were in Malacca this is where I'd be this evening: at a beautiful eighty-over year-old timber bar burnished from years of spilled drink and water rings and rubbed smooth from hundreds, probably thousands of forearms. A bar with just few seats and one table, occupying the ground floor of a century-old shop house. A bar run by the great-grandson of its founder and his wife, a shy couple who never really open up unless you stop in a second, and third, time.

We discovered Sin Hiap Hin last May while in Malacca to report on its situation three years after being named a Unesco world heritage site. As I wrote in this post on finding old Malacca (it's not easy, but possible) the old town's prognosis isn't good. Everyone I interviewed for the story was frustrated, even despairing, of the public funds spent on new attractions while the city's historical architecture and living culture deteri! orates, evaporates. As one of the local conservationists I spoke with said, "Malacca is overflowing with history and richness and culture. We don't have to create anything."

Sin Hiap Hin isn't in any of the brochures touting Malacca's viewing tower, its reconstructed fort or the shopping mall built on the padang where Malaysia declared independence from British rule. It's not in the "Where to Drink" sections of guidebooks that direct you instead to watering holes along Malacca's sanitized riverbanks or to the bars around Jonker's Walk.

Sin Haip Hin is just a nondescript little place on Java Lane, which in the early part of the 20th century was Malacca's entertainment center. Up the street is Tay Boon Wah barbershop, which also opened in the 1930s. Around the corner was the Chinese Theater. Surrounding Sin Hiap Hin were brothels and other bars and opium dens and cheap lodging houses.

Java Lane is dead quiet now, especially in the evenings. But if you sit in Sin Hiap Hin around sunset you can almost imagine the street outside teeming with life -- with new arrivals and hustlers and theater goers and men and women out on the town.

With a bit of coaxing Lian Suan and her husband will reminisce; they'll talk about the laborers who used to convene here for beers and stronger stuff when the Malacca River was still busy with boats ferrying goods from the big ships docked at its port to the warehouses just across what used to be known as the Iron Bridge. "Oh, it got noisy," she smiles wistfully. "We were open very late!" No longer. Come after 630pm or 7 and you'll likely find Sin Hiap Hin's doors shut tight.

On our last visit we admired the bar's fine vintage dram measures; Lian Suan's husband offered them to us as a gift. We couldn't accept. Family heirlooms they are, not something to be handed over to strangers. But later we wondered if we'd done the right thing. The bar's customers are dwindling, and Lian Suan told us they'll probably sell the house eventually. What will become of that beautiful timber bar? Will those dram measures be treasured by the couple's children or their children? Or will they be viewed as junk and tossed in the trash?

Sin Hiap Hin, 5 Java Lane. A wide range of Chinese liquors (try lychee-scented Boon Kwi Loh) sold by the bottle or by the shot, plus ice-cold beer and non-alcholic beverages from the fridge.