Dim Sum at Platinum Plaza, Setapak @ Restoran CH Dim Sum

Setapak is fast changing with new developments sprouting for both commercial & residential.CH Dim Sum is a newly opened outlet found at Platinum Plaza along the main road of Genting Klang and is an expansion of CH's F&B investment.
Food seems to be a good business to venture there are so many food outlets opening at every new corners will they all survive? To me it's looks very risky in deed.
Anyway I found another new place to have Dim Sum. Though it's new it's still needs fine tuning in term of service and quality of food. Sui Kow is okay as eating Dim Sum here is nothing spectacular if you compare to those of Hong Kong origin.Again Har Kow was another Har Kow that you eat and will forget about it.
So were all these Dim Sum and a good alternative or choices for morning food in Setapak.

Menu list for you to fill in & order.Renovation is minimal and car parking space is ample in the morning.
Restoran CH Dim Sum
Plaza Platinum
128, Jalan Genting Klang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-4131-6791
GPS : 3.200136,101.717214

Old Tea in Anatolia

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After 120 kilometers of arctic nothingness we found ourselves in orum [cho-ruhm], a surprisingly bustling little city set in the middle of northern-central Anatolian nowhere. If orum is known to foreign travelers at all it's probably as a place to bunk before or after a visit to nearby Hittite ruins. For Turks, it's home to the finest leblebi (roasted chickpeas) in the country,

One of the upsides of traveling central Turkey during this especially harsh winter was the many excuses it offered -- frozen toes and fingers, mind-numbing expanses of white that could prove detrimental to driver alertness -- to brake for tea. Not that we've ever needed an excuse for a tea break in Turkey; even the southeast's scorching summer temperatures couldn't dampen our enthusiasm for the cay evi / kahvehanesi experience.

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Tea delivery in the dead of a orum winter

But while Turkey's winter's chill stokes welcome tea cravings it also presents a challenge to the mixed (male-female) couple, one exacerbated by the fact that on this trip we stuck to lesser touristed towns in a r! elativel y conservative part of the country: It's too cold to sit outside, and in some instances I'm not welcome inside. (If you've not ventured far from Istanbul, know that the city is a world unto itself. And I mean that as neither compliment nor smear.)

A little over a year and a half ago I wrote about the traditional Turkish tea house as a Man's World, one which I could observe and even dip my toe into while physically staying outside. During that jaunt around the southeast Dave and I took most of our tea and Turk kahvesi al fresco. That was as much by choice as by necessity -- the weather was fine, most other teahouse patrons were also sipping outdoors, and sitting outside faciliated superior people-watching and photography opportunities. On that trip I never felt it a loss to not be inside. And on a few occasions I was.

But despite having by now a fair bit of experience exploring Turkey's back of beyond and a reasonable facility basic Turkish I do not walk into many tea houses uninvited. Some patrons simply aren't comfortable with -- dislike, even -- having a woman in their midst. I suppose that I could choose to get in a kerfluffle about that, but it is what it is. No matter how good the tea or how lovely the tea house, time spent where the overall vibe says "Go away" is time wasted.

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Happily, this trip delivered a few accessible tea houses that also score high on atmosphere.

One of the best is in orum's old town, a two or three century-old grid of stone-paved lanes lined with barbershops, butchers, hardware and kitchenware shops and -- of course - tea and coffee houses that has somehow survived the cit! y's ambitious redevelopment. After being accosted by a patron who first tapped on a window as we passed and then burst out the door saying "Tea! Tea! Won't you have some tea?" we were happy enter into the embrace of Tk Mehmet Kahvesi's wood-stove warmth.

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Most everything in Tk Mehmet Kahvesi (also known as Tknn Kahve) -- which translates to something like Lazy or Stupid Mehmet's Coffee -- looks original, including some of its customers. According to proprietor Bekir, who runs the show with a helper, the shop has been open for almost 110 years.

The tea/coffee "kitchen" features a now rare charcoal-fired copper ay oca or "tea stove" set into a stone hearth (see opening photo). The copper tank boils water which is delivered via a spout on its facing to each of two blue enameled metal kettles, one for brewing tea and the other to hold the hot water that dilutes it. (For those of you not familiar with Turkish tea: it's always brewed extra strong and then diluted to taste with hot water; thus the common double-potted Turkish tea kettle -- the lower pot holds and tea is brewed in the upper pot.)

We watched as Bekir Bey emptied spent ash from the stove and then shoveled in new charcoal to keep the supply of boiling water steady. It's a dusty, messy business but he so obviously cherishes the old stove.

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A Tk regular

The charcoal doesn't really lend a special flavor to the tea. When I asked if tea brewed over charcoal tastes better Bekir nodded adamantly while the customer who invited us in, a! native orumlu who spends half his time in Istanbul working as a women's hairdresser, shook his head. Other customers who cared to weigh in agreed, nodding their heads as he told me: "It looks nice. It makes us feel good. It's for nostalgia." Fair enough.

Another lovely nostalgic touch: sugar cubes served in old-fashioned brass pedestals.

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From orum we hit the road for the relatively easy 200-kilometer drive to Sivas, only to be waylaid two hours later by big sloppy snowflakes and icy roads in Tokat. To tell the truth we weren't too terribly disappointed. We took a shine to Tokat in 2000 and our affection for the curious little city deepened when we revisited last October.

Our unplanned stop afforded the opportunity to revisit a spectacular old tea house on the edge of Tokat's old market district and on the same street as its lovely clock tower.

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Yksek Kahve ("stately" coffee house) is about the same age as orum's Tk Mehmet but, sadly, is in much worse repair. Its second story, which features a beautiful arched carved wood panel over one window, is all but unuseable. The tea/coffee house is still going though, and in fine weather the verandah makes a excellent perch from which to check out this storied street's comings and goings.

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Yksek's patrons are, on average, younger than Tk Mehmet's but no less appreciative of coffee house history. When our host, a former tobacco factory worker in his mid-fifties, grabbed a calendar of decades-old photographs of Tokat off the wall to show me younger guys gathered around. "Look at that," said one, pointing to a photograph taken from Yksek's verandah, of crowds of shoppers passing by in front on their way to market. "That was this place right here, old Tokat," he sighed with more than a hint of melancholy.

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Yksek's tea cubby and its modern electric ay oca are manned by a couple of cool dudes, but neither the new kitchen nor the younger staff take away from the tea house's overall atmosphere.

On the few occasions we've visited the tea shop its tables, okey game-ready with their green cloths, have been well populated and the clink of spoons against tea glasses played in time with a steady hum of conversation. On warm autumn days Yksek's many windows facilitate welcome breezes. On winter mornings sun warms its two rooms, inviting regulars and visitors to stay for a third or fourth glass.

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Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry

Got some fresh shrimps today, but I have not decided yet on what to do with them. Butter Garlic Shrimp first came into my mind, but we already had that last week. Nilasing na Hipon sounds appetizing, but its nice to have something spicy. I decided to make Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry instead.

There are many good things that I can say about Sweet and Spicy Shrimp. Besides the fact that it tastes real nice and goes well with either fried rice or steamed rice, I also consider this as a quick and easy shrimp recipe. It took me less than 15 minutes to prepare everything and I did not even have a hard time during the process. You dont need any Culinary Arts background to be able to make this dish. The ingredients are also easy to find. Even if used fresh shrimps with head in this recipe, you are free to use packaged frozen shrimps even the ones that are shelled.

By the way, you can use any size of shrimp in this recipe. The best sizes are the bigger ones though. Tiger Prawns are the best ingredient. However, they are a bit costly. If you have some extra shrimps, I suggest that you also try to cook Sinigang na Hipon.

Try this Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry Recipe and let me know what you think

Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Shrimp, fresh shrimp
  • 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
  • 3 teaspoons ginger, minced
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
  • 2 teaspoons chopped birds eye chili (labuyo)
  • 2 teaspoons sherry cooking wine (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 2 tablespoons scallions, chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Procedure

  • Combine soy sauce, ketchup, sugar, and sherry. Mix and set aside.
  • Heat oil in a pan.
  • Add ginger and garlic. Cook for 20 to 30 seconds or until light brown.
  • Put-in the shrimp and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Pour-in the ketchup mixture, scallions, and chili. Stir fry for 2 to 5 minutes.
  • Add salt and pepper.
  • Transfer to a serving plate.
  • Serve. Share and enjoy!
  • Number of servings (yield): 4

    My rating 5 stars: 1 review(s)

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  • Sweet and Sour Sauce

  • Macarons @ Antoinette, Mandarin Gallery, Singapore

    Let them eat macarons..


    It's been a while since I visited Singapore, so I was very excited for this trip. Shopping and good food was the main target of our trip. After a wonderful meal at Gunther's, we visited H&M (my favorite fashion brand when in UK and I still love it now), I really can't wait for it to open in KL in Q3 2012. ;)

    After the work-out (oops I mean shopping), we decided to stop at Antoinette, Mandarin Gallery for some macarons and cakes to refuel. Antoinette is opened by Chef Pang, who previously worked in Les Amis and is also the person who started Canele (whose macarons and cakes I love a lot too - will blog soon!) and then decided to start his own venture... ok.. you gotta check out the name of his company.. Sugar Daddy Group. LOL. Very apt for what he's doing and very funny too.


    So we stood there, gawking at the beautiful cakes and I got my eye set on the Antoinette and then they tell me it's been reserved for a guest. :( The others, while looking very beautiful did not really take my fancy. So we decided to just get some macarons to take away. In hindsight, it may have been better for us to sit in and enjoy the macarons, as some of them sort of melted by the time we got back to the hotel (which wasn't too far away but I guess it was a hot afternoon).


    Nice packaging

    Happy me with my Antoinette macarons

    Pretty bag and very distinctive

    The macarons all had very thick fillings, and were perfectly formed. During our visit, some flavours were sold out and there were only 8 to choose from. We decided to try 6 different flavours - passion, tahiti, Chloe, Antoinette, Violette and sesame.

    The more "cream" based filling has gone a little soft (almost melting), ie the Chloe (citrus yoghurt and yuzu), violette (violet flower cream) and Tahiti (tahitian perfumed vanilla cream). I do however like the tanginess of the Chloe macaron as well as the violette filling. Not a big fan of the sesame one (black sesame cream with toasted black and white sesame seed) but that's a matter of personal taste. The passion (milk chocolate passionfruit ganache) and Antoinette (milk chocolate earl grey tea ganache with raspberry confiture) were also very nice, the filling is creamy and rather unique, especially the Antoinette which revealed a wonderful raspberry surprise within! Most of the shells were light and ai! ry, but one (cant remember which now) was a little crunchy.

    Overall, we enjoyed the macarons from Antoinette (each priced at S$2.50) however I do suggest that you eat them on the premises as I think they don't travel too well, especially in the heat (even for 30 minutes).

    Enjoy the photos of the macarons.




    A little game of macaron stacking!






    Antoinette macaron

    H&M Singapore

    Louis Vuitton Takashimaya

    Huge Gucci store on Orchard Road

    ION Orchar! d

    Full set of photos available to view here.

    Price: S$2.50 each.

    Location: Antoinette, 333A Orchard Road, #02-33/34 Mandarin Gallery, Singapore 238897.

    Tel: +65 6836 9209

    Website:http://www.antoinette.com.sg/

    *All photos taken with the iPhone4S.


    P.S Blog got a mention on The Miele Guide's Facebook page.

    Romanza @ Hock Choon

    Romanza: Round Two. Earlier entry on Romanza: February 15.

    Just when we thought that duck liver pate could no longer wow us, this came along; rolled in beetroot dust, it's the textbook definition of "unctuous," in the most pleasurable fashion. Served with toasted brioche & dehydrated strawberry chips for a creative, eye-catching preparation.

    Possibly the tastiest red snapper recipe ever _ a ziggurat of oven-roasted fish with a decadently creamy mix of butternut puree, carrot-&-beetroot chips, fish roe, mushrooms, asparagus & lemon veloute.

    Lavender-crusted lamb rack & lamb shoulder with roasted grapes, pommes dauphinoise, lentils & seasonal veggies in thyme jus. This course confirmed a trend: Romanza takes familiar ingredients & confidently composes them into a chorus of components that not only complement but elevate each other.

    Couscous with beetroot & a butternut-&-sage risotto. Some places serve couscous, others offer risotto; here's a rare opportunity to sample both on one plate in all their grainy glory. Sure, the risotto could be firmer, but the couscous was flawless.

    Raspberry sorbet with white chocolate mousse, cocoa tuile & white choc-filled choux pastry, sugar shards & raspberry coulis. Not too sweet, not too sour. Stellar!

    Complimentary chocolates.

    And jellybeans too, to take with the receipt.

    Cocktails _ not as indelible as the food but still impressive. Try the Watermelon-&-Rose Martini (vodka, watermelon schnapps, sour apple schnapps, rose water) & Heart of Africa (African Amarula cream, Nachtmusic hazelnut liquor & brandy).

    Margaritas, drenched in tequila & made tangy with lime & orange liquor.

    Being bubbly: the wine selection isn't sweeping, but it's sufficient.

    Romanza Le Restaurante @ Ampang,
    Terrace at Hock Choon, Off Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.
    Tel: 03-4252-6059