Yummy Malaysiana: 05/27/12

Coffee art

I won a contest by TimeOut KL to attend a half day coffee course last Sunday and heres what we did

These were done by the barista there.. So cute right! I need to take one of these courses. Ive done my coffee
Course in Le Cordon Bleu before, but I gotta say, a refresher course would be sweet! Especially on the art.

Tools of the trade. Hehe

The barista showing us how to pour the milk. Damn must learn the trick.

Well my take on it.. Ok what.. At least I didnt burn the milk.. Lol

Another one done by the barista.
Did u know illy coffee has 9 taste elements in their blend? Sch complexity . And did u also know, arabica beans actually has lesser caffein content than robusta beans? So meaning to say, you can drink an espresso and feel fine compared to a cup of Nescaf

Not trying to be atas and all but I think coffee culture in Malaysia still has a long way to go.
Xoxo

Longrain @ Melbourne, CBD

Part of the Melbourne dining scene is all about trend eating and that means eating at the hottest and "in" restaurants in town. However that also means ridiculous queues or an impossible task to get a booking without weeks in advance. So for people like me, it means eating "the last season cuisine" or "the last "in" restaurant".

After opening doors since 2005, Longrain probably doesn't get as much mention as Chin Chin. Both serve similar cuisine but Longrain goes about doing its own thing. After reading recent promising reviews, we made a booking (bonus points for allowing reservations).

This was a long time ago but we were obviously celebrating something like the Wife finally starting work or passing the first month by stepping foot in the dark and mysterious restaurant.

We were early so we had to sip on some Asian inspired cocktails which used lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf. Really potent but hurts your wallet a fair bit since a glass is in the 20-25 dollar range.

One thing I also noticed is that Longrain is all about the communal seating arrangement. There is a really long table that can sit about 40-50 people and you sit randomly side by side (if you are a couple). I think sitting side by side is brilliant because you are closer to the person and it makes it easier to chat. Without having to shout across, the noise level with a pretty full crowd was surprisingly bearable.

The menu is compact or limited in some sense. No more than 5 choices for entree, mains and desserts, it makes it easier to choose what you really want to eat.

For us it was easy, deep fried pork hock pieces with a sweet and spicy dressing. Crispy on the outside but maybe could have been a tad more succulent inside. The dressing was faultless.

Slow cooked massaman beef curry. Another brilliant dish. However we thought it the portion was small for the price tag of almost 40 dollars.

Served with white rice and we were a happy couple that night.

Dessert was a combination of sticky black rice, custard apple and coconut cream. The Wife was sitting on the fence over this one although I loved it.

What was slightly disappointing was the palm sugar ice-cream. It lacked the fragrance of palm sugar and considering all we had was good that night, this was probably not the best way to end the meal.

I don't know if I really get the whole hype of South East Asian cuisine done with a twist or the Australian take on it but admittedly what we had that night was pretty good despite the above average pricing of $60 per pax.

Address and contact details:

Verdict: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. Cool dark ambience, communal seating and hip thai food, whether you like this concept or not, its rather subjective, what do you think?

Dim Sum @ Kedai Kopi Hup Seng Hin.

Kedai Kopi Hup Seng Hin is located near a bustling wet and dry market.

Many husbands will sit and hang around the many strategically located kedai kopi (coffee shops) to enjoy a hot or cold drink while waiting for their wife to do the marketing.

For the two of us it was after our morning exercise.

A good time to rest our weary legs and eat some dim sum with a hot pot of Pu'er tea for breakfast.

Here the dim sum are freshly hand made daily and served piping hot.

Some tasted average but we particularly like their deep fried wanton, wu kok (deep fried yam pastry) and tai pao.

Parking is bearable.

Siew mai with steamed fish balls in the background-RM3.30/tray.

Deep fried Yam Pastry-Rm3.80/

Steamed tai pao - soft fluffy skin - filled with chicken meat, sliced pork, mushroom, hard boiled egg and strips of sweet yam bean-not oily at all-wholesome meal-Rm3.50/

Total bill:Rm16.50/
Location: 2, Jalan Lengkeh,
Taman Cheras,Kuala Lumpur.

All photos taken with Samsung Tablet.

BROGA,LENGGENG, MANTIN,SEMENYIH LEISURE RIDE

It was a Saturday and the time was around 7.15am, we gathered at Taman Tasik Semenyih for a cycling trip around the vicinity of Semenyih.

A total of 8 riders took part in this ride and I was glad to meet new friends. It was going to be my first ever longest ride since I started 2 months back. We stopped for a photo taking session at University of Notthingham Broga .

After all the early preparation and gathering it was time to nurse our stomach for an adventurous day.

A s! imple br eakfast of either Wan Ton Mee or Pan Mee for breakfast.

At Mun FarCoffeeShop in the town of Broga.

Getting set to continue the journey.

Next destination - Mantin

I like stealing shots while riding and enjoying the beautiful country side.

Taking break & resting at intermittent intervals was necessary as we were in a leisure mode and nothing competitive.

My Dahon Speed P8 getting ready tochallengethe uphill before a good and enjoyable downhill speed of 50.3km/h.

It was amazing to see such a beauty in the Mantin.

Another break to quench our thirst at Mantin town with 100 plus I had two cans and such a refreshing moment. The food seen at the coffee shop wasgorgeousbut not the correct time for food and to had say a pass for this. What a pity.