Wondermama @ Bangsar Village

Taking up prime territory at Bangsar Village, Wondermama might make many chuckle at its name, but it could muster a serious challenge to cafes like Plan B, Delicious and Marmalade.

Let's list Wondermama's strengths: its menu of Asian fare is tangled in tantalizing twists; its service is fast and friendly; its cheerful, colorful setting capably forges a fresh distinctiveness.

Mother knows best: the rice in the signature Nasi Lemak 2.0S (RM23.90++) is fraught on its own with fragrance and fantastic firmness, but made even more flavorful with sambal petai sotong, hard-boiled egg, peanuts, cucumber, anchovies and soft-shell crab in lieu of fried chicken.

Another creative culinary brainchild: Otak-otak cheese sandwich (RM12.50++), pregnant with subtly spiced fish paste in crisp bread.
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Senang dimasak, sedap dimakan: Special Maggi Mee Soup (RM12.90++), topped with salmon, chicken hot dog, beef bacon, fried egg and potato leaves. The type of fully loaded instant noodles that kids of all ages will slurp up to the final strand and last drop.


Not your momma's roti bakar (RM4.50++). Slathered not only with kaya, but garlic butter and tobiko too. The spread could be thicker though.


A simple salad is transformed into a sinful stunner with fried chicken surrounding the leaves and chunks of salted egg yolk surreptitiously buried beneath (look closer). At RM14++, this is one of Bangsar's more wallet-friendly salads.


Is there pizza here? No, there's naan (heh). Starchy-fluffy, showered with goji berries, mushrooms and truffle oil for a RM14++ portion.


The mysteriously named "Dancing Squid" (RM16++) is pan-fried squid with cod fish roe, celery, cabbage and butter, served warm in a jar. Not something that makes our taste buds tango, but ultimately, the hits at Wondermama seem to outnumber the misses.


Wondermama will eventually serve wine, but for now, customers can bring their own bottles. Corkage is a high but not horribly unfair RM40++ for wine and RM80++ for hard liquor.

We sipped on absinthe, mixed with ice and with Wondermama's kumquat and rose lime juices.

Is Wondermama related to Wondermilk? We're not sure, really.

There's no doubt that folks will flock to Wondermama in the months ahead; if this Bangsar outlet succeeds, there's ! talk of future branches at Mid Valley and KLCC.

Wondermama is located beside The BIG Group's Plan B at Bangsar Village.

For Wondermama's first month, customers receive a 10 percent discount off the food bill.

Wondermama,
Bangsar Village, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2202-0886 (the number's wonky though)
Open noon through 10pm, except for this week, when it closes at 9pm.



LEND A HAND


Time to be a do-gooder folks!
Hospis Malaysia is having a Charity Bazaar to raise funds, to fund its charitable efforts that offer professional palliative care to patients who are suffering from life-limiting illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, motor neurone disease, organ failure etc.
The poster says it all...so show up and lend your support for every ringgit means a lot and helps to sustain its noble existence.
Many see life as a great challenge, but death is another big challenge by itself. Oblivious to many, terminally ill patients are suffering a great deal emotionally and physically. The pain of battling with worsening health condition and hovering death can never, be understood by us healthy ones and we are only doing what we can to help them out in their last leg of journey on earth.
It is an endless advocacy, but not a thankless one. In order for this non-profit organization to survive, Hospis Malaysia needs funds to pay the bills, every year at least RM3 million to sustain the cost of operation, with over 1600 patients under their care. Services are provided atno costto patients.
So help spread the word, show up for the event and donate to the cause. Your money will help to save lives!

Restoran Phang Kee Dim Sum@Kepong.

Restoran Phang Kee Dim Sum is located opposite off the Taman Recreasi (Lake Garden) Bandar Menjalara.

A medium sized clean and well planned park with a nice down and uphill walking/jogging track plus an artificial waterfall that flows into a pond in the middle of the park.

A few enterprising uncles and aunties were offering kampung (village) chicken eggs and frozen prawns for sale from their car booths.

Pretty tai2/missus with make up and neatly permed hairdo were doing their line dancing at a corner.

We, like most of their customers were there for some dim sum and Chinese tea after the strenuous morning exercises.

Famous for it's kai wor pao which is basically steamed cooked glutinous rice with well marinated lean chicken meat, mushroom, onion in Hoi sin (oyster sauce) light/dark soy, sesame oil sauce enclosed with a fluffy flour dough.

Other assorted dim sum and deep fried pastries are also available.



Kai Wor Pao-RM5.50/.



Total bill:Rm26/
Location:2, Jalan 6/62A,
Bandar Sri Menjalara, Kepong,
Tel:012-244-1124/012-345-1183.


Cantonese Zhongzi

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Shanghainese zhongs.For Shanghainesezhong, seethis post. Shanghainesezhongsare easier to make, requiring less ingredients. The rice doesn't need to be pre-soaked or fried but has to be marinaded for at least half an hour. The pork also doesn't need to be fried. Never leave the pork skin on for Shanghainesezhongs.

Let's take a break from my travel posts.

Last Saturday was Duanwu Jie, a day most people associate with glutinous rice dumplings called zhongzi (or zhong for short). As akid, I was told that Duanwu Jie (meaning double five, as it always falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar) is celebrated to remember a righteous, uncorrupted advisor to a Chinese king about 2500 years ago. There are many versions of the story but no matter which version, the story is the same: righteous man drowned in river and rice dumplings were thrown to the fish in the river to stop them from eating his body. For the same reason, dragon boat races evolved from villagers paddling their boats in the river and making loud noises to scare the fish away.

This is the second time that I made zhongzi (zhong for short). My first attempt was 5 years ago (how time flies!) and my son declared my zhongs not as good as my MIL's. That disappointing verdict, the awful amount of work and the fact that store-bought zhongs, at RM3.50 to RM7, are very affordable, deterred me from further attempts until last week when, after eating yet another disappointing store-bought zhong, Wey gave me the green li! ght to m ake him Shanghainese zhongs. Growing up eating his Na's Shanghainese zhongs which were stuffed with big lumps of fatty pork, Wey stubbornly refuses to give any credit to zhongs not made by his Na (Shanghanese for grandma). I am more accepting and I like both Shanghainese zhongs and Cantonese zhong but if I have to choose, I'll still take Cantonese zhongs over Shanghainese, provide they are both home-made. Although Shanghainese zhongs have a wonderful aroma of soy sauce and wine, the filling is just pork whereas Cantonese zhongshave pork, nuts, beans, salted egg yolks, mushrooms and dried shrimps and a hint of 5-spice powder. My FIL defends Shanghainese zhongsand grumbles that other zhongare ''ja chi ja ba" (a jumble or mixture, in an unpleasant way).

I very nearly gave up wrapping the zhongs. I had never wrapped triangular-shaped zhongzi before and the zhong leaves were short and narrow. Rice fell out of the corners of the zhongs and the leaves tore, and I had to unwrap the zhongs again and again. I very nearly put everything in one big pan and steamed it as huge pudding but I remembered how we disliked my dad's pillow zhongs which were so big (larger than an iPad) that we had to eat it as a family and Dad would cut it and reheat it by frying, resulting in a giant plate of jumbled rice and filling.Anyway, it took me a whole day to wrap 22 triangular zhongzi, five of which leaked rice when it cooked, and 23 Shanghainese ones.

It's hard to give exact measurements because I tweaked the recipe as I worked, tasting and adding more seasoning as needed. Also, the size of the zhong can vary. I tend to make my zhongs bigger than the commercial ones. The recipe here is a guide and you should adjust it to your taste. It's never late to make zhongs. Keep them in your freezer and they can be re-boiled or steamed months later. Zhongs, like Chinese baos, are great s! nacks to bring on trips because you just have to unwrap them and eat them without using any utensils. At home, to keep our hands from getting oily, we use forks or spoons.

It was totally worth the effort to make these zhongs because Wey declared them the same as his Na's (he still doesn't bother with Cantonese zhongs) and he loves them so much, he eats two a day.

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The filling ingredients forShanghainese zhongsare not fried but the filling for Cantonese zhongs are pan-fried to deepen the flavors.

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Making rectangular or 'pillow' zhongs.

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Rectangular 'pillow' zhongs are the easiest to wrap. Always use weed strings or thread to tie the zhongs; do not use plastic or raffia strings.

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Making triangular zhongs. Here's a video onhowto wrap triangular zhongs.

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Cantonese zhongs

Cantonese Zhongzi (makes about 20 or more)

dried bamboo leaves, hard tips/petiole snipped off, leaves boiled 10 minutes and washed well
weed (boiled to soften) or strings to tie (do not use raffia)

1 kg glutinous rice, picked through & soaked 2 hours and drained for 1/2 hour before using
500 to 800 gm belly pork with skin, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
10 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked till soft and halved, squeeze lightly to remove half the water
20 dried chestnuts, soaked and boiled 10 minutes or 1 cup white beans, soaked
1/2 cup dried shrimps, washed and soaked 10 minutes only
10 salted duck egg yolks, halved using thread or wire
20 pieces dried scallops, soaked 15 minutes to soften
1/3 cup finely chopped garlic
1/3 cup finely chopped small red onions

seasoning for pork:
1 T light soy sauce
1/2 T dark soy sauce
1 piece red bean curd (nam yue*), mashed + 1 T sauce
dashes of white pepper
1/4 t salt
1 t sugar
1 t 5-s! pice pow der

* this is a secret ingredient revealed to me by a lady who has been making zhongs for sale for 40 years.

Note: 2 to 3 days before wrapping the zhong, marinade the pork with the seasoning and leave in a bowl wrapped with cling film in the fridge. Turn once a day to mix well.

1. Assemble everything in front of you.
2. In a heated wok, fry the dried shrimpsover low heatwith 1 T oil, 1 t each of garlic and onions until fragrant and dried. You can fry the dried scallops with the shrimps too, if you like a drier and more fragrant flavor and taste, but if you prefer softer scallops, do not fry ( I don't). Remove.
3. Add 1 T oil to the same wok, then add 1 t each of the garlic and onions, and the mushrooms. Add 1 t light soy sauce and 1/2 t sugar and fry about 1 minute. Remove.
4. Add 2 T oil to the same wok, add 1 T each of garlic and onions and fry the pork over medium-low heat until pork is seared all over but not cooked inside.
5. If the wok is not covered with burnt bits, do not wash. Put 2 T oil into the wok, fry 1 T each of garlic and onions and 1/4 t 5-spice powder,and then add the rice. Now add1 T light soy sauce (and dark, if you want more color), 1 t salt, a few shakes of white pepper and--this is something nobody tells you--a few shakes of msg. Fry rice over medium heat until it looks dry, about 3 minutes. Remove.
6. Fold two bamboo leaves into a cone, fill with 2 T rice and pack it firmly with the back of a spoon. Drop a piece each of mushroom, chestnut, egg yolk, pork and a tsp of dried shrimps and scallops onto the rice. Top filling with 5 to 6 T rice, pack it again with a spoon, and wrapand tie firmly but not too tightly because the rice needs space to expand.
7. Put all the zhong (tie them in bunches of 5 or 6 to make handling them easier) into a large pot and cover with water. Boil for 2 to 2 ! 1/2 hour s. After an hour, taste the water. If you can taste the salty savouriness, fine. If not, add more salt to the water. It should taste salty but just lightly salted. Leave the cooked zhong in the pot, covered, for another 1/2 hour (saves cooking longer).

Zhongs are eaten hot or warm, never cold. Serve some Chinese tea, sit down and enjoy the rewarding sight of your family devouring your hard work.


Roule Galette @ Melbourne CBD

Although we are a 20 minute tram ride away to the CBD, we seldom find ourselves in the city on the weekends. Why? we rather drive since the poor black car sits in the garage on most weekdays and coupled by exorbitant CBD car park rates.


We needed to go to the CBD one weekend and after some research, we realised CBD car park rates is not as bad as I thought it would be. For those who want to know where to get relatively cheap parking, the indoor car park on LaTrobe Street is 5 bucks all day long on weekends (that's less than the price of 2 adult tram tickets).


Now since we were in the CBD, it meant that even though dinner was an hour away, we had to try something uniquely CBD. One of the places that I have been wanting to visit is Roule Galette. Located in one of the smaller lanes in Melbourne, this places oozes "French". From the french accent, music, crepes and cider, the Wife said it feels a little like sitting in a small cafe in Paris.


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Because dinner was an hour away, we shared a crepe with a generous serving of chestnut puree and a glass of cider.

The crepe was awesome and coupled with the cider; excellent.

Fancy experiencing a little French without having to fly to Paris? Try detouring into Roule Galette for a crepe.


Address and contact details:


Roule Galette on Urbanspoon

Verdict: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. Will definitely come back to try a few more crepes.



triple berry summer buttermilk bundt

summer berry buttermilk bundt

Our toddler left us. Or, at least until Friday. Over the last 2 3/4 years, weve occasionally been blessed with the chance to go away for a few days sans bb. We return well-rested and smiling, sandy grit in the bottom of our suitcases, traces of whatever had vexxed us before we left deliciously eviscerated from memory, and almost giddy with excitement to start scraping spaghetti from the underside of the high chair again. But this is the first time with barely a Sayonara! as he ran out the door or a single Wish you were here! postcard from the road that Jacob has headed out for lazier climes without us. Hes spending a week at the mountain retreat of Camp Grandparents, where hes forced to endure petting zoos, baby pools, wide expanses of fresh air, nonstop adoration, and, no doubt, all of the ice cream he can talk them into.

three berries
light and so very fluffy batter

Meanwhile, Alex and I have been left behind to attend to our assigned daily grinds and realize how totally dull this place is in the morning without a toddler buzzing from room to room at the crack of dawn, pulling on our earlobes to announce, Im awake! Wake UP! and serenading us with ABCs on his guitar. Weve also learned that we share differing interpretations of a weeks Vacation From Parenting. For example, I was thinking that, freed from the daily whirlwind of tight sched! ules, ta ntrums, irregular sleep patterns and spontaneous song-and-dance-and-marching! parties that life with a toddler demands, we could finally get caught up on things that have been neglected for the last 2 3/4 years. My to-do list for this week involves such enticing tasks as Get the apartment painted! Rearrange furniture and pictures! Clean out closets! Meet at gym every day after work, and Back-up and replace laptops. I was also thinking we could read and discuss War and Peace every night before we hit the pillow, but didnt want to be overly ambitious. Alexs comparatively modest list includes such audacious suggestions as Get lots of sleep, get drinks with friends, watch TV with the sound on and the Closed Captioning off, and very little else. Yeah, so who would you rather party with? Its okay, I wont take it personally.

folding in the floured berries

... Read the rest of triple berry summer buttermilk bundt on smittenkitchen.com

smitten kitchen 2006-2012. |permalink to triple berry summer buttermilk bundt | 33 comments to date | see more: Blackberries, Blueberries, Cake, Everyday Cakes, Photo, Raspberries, Summer



Michelin chefs Ducasse, Savoy expand empires to Middle East

Ducasse poses for photographs at the Plaza Athenee hotel in Paris. AFP pic
DUBAI, June 25 In a move that signals the rising interest in tapping into the affluent Middle Eastern market, French culinary titans Alain Ducasse and Guy Savoy have announced plans to open restaurants in Qatar this year.

For both chefs, the new openings will be their first in the Middle East.

According to the Gulf Times, Savoy will be bringing his Michelin-star powered name to the Pearl-Qatar, the famous Riviera-style, man-made island community built for the worlds obscenely rich and famous.

Savoys Middle Eastern outpost will be similar to his eponymous Parisian restaurant, where a set menu costs 360 (RM1,440) for dishes like grilled sea bass and sweet spices, artichoke and black truffle soup, and iced poached oysters.

The menu is then expected to evolve to offer locally-inspired dishes, Savoy said, in the same vein as his international restaurants in Las Vegas and Singapore.

Qatar was a natural choice for my next restaurant and my first in the Middle East. The country is booming and fast developing into the most happening destination in the region and Im truly delighted to be here, he told Gulf Times.

British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay also has a restaurant at the Pearl-Qatar, Maze by Gordon Ramsay.

Meanwhile, though details are sparse, Hotelier Middle East reports that Ducasse will likewise be opening his first Middle Eastern outpost in Doha before the years end.

Ducasse has been tapped to open the Museum of Islamic Arts first fine dining restaurant later this year. Currently, the only food and drink offering is a small coffee shop.

The latest Ducasse eatery adds to an existing restaurant empire that spans Paris, London, New York, Russia, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Monaco. AFP/Relaxnews


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