Wonder Burgers @ The Wonder Kafe

Wondermama recently launched its upper-level section, The Wonder Kafe, where burgers keep stomachs from growling and coffee prevents eyelids from drooping.
Main entries on Wondermama at Bangsar Village:June 27andJune 29.

The burger selection dares to be distinctive by incorporating unmistakably Asian flavors; that explains the prawn katsu burger with tonkatsu sauce, tomato, lettuce and tartar sauce, accompanied by chubby fries.

This Japanese-inspired burger isn't big, but it makes for a fulfilling meal, with a fresh crispness in every component. Worth the roughly RM15 price tag.

Other options on the still-limited menu include beef kimchi (brilliant for KL's current Korean culinary craze); future flavors include chicken t! eriyaki.

Customers can order from Wondermama's main menu too, so here's a chance to check whether one prefers burgers or sandwiches like this otak-otak and cheese one.

Desserts maintain the East-meets-West edge, so it's no surprise to see some "goreng pisang" with ice cream and marshmallows ...

... or soft durian mousse pancakes with corn and crunchy cereal.

We'd skip the churros though, since they lean too heavily on the stodgy side.

Wondermama now serves wine, hurray!

And oh yeah, the coffee, covering the essentials from espresso macchiato to caffe latte.

Who can resist affogatos? We can't. Only about RM10 here.

The Wonder Kafe @ Wondermama,
Bangsar Village, Kuala Lumpur.

Toh Yuen Refreshed Menu @ Hilton Petaling Jaya, Selangor

When we went to Toh Yuen inHilton PJ for the mooncake reviewrecently, we were treated to a scrumptious 11-course lunch to showcase some of the dishes from their new a la carte menu as well as regular all-time favourites. If I may add, it was one of the most delicious Chinese meals we've had this year!

Loved this steamed cod fish



Master Chef Lee emphasizes a healthy menu, which consists of fresh ingredients and Chinese herbs. As a result of his travels and culinary learning in China, he is introducing traditional Chinese fare to local food lovers without using artificial preservatives and additives. Fresh and quality ingredients are selected carefully, for example, Chef Lee includes local fish such as Sarawak River Patin for sustainability and freshness.



We sampled 3 appetizers, including the deep fried soft shell crab with garlic and chicken floss (RM22), chilled pacific clam with salsa (RM28) and deep fried lamb with cumin and dried chilli (RM28). They were all good in their own way, but I was totally in love with the soft shell crab.. crunchy, nicely coated and non-oily. I think I could have finished the who! le plate myself.

Chilled Pacific Clam with Salsa - appetizing, tangy flavours


Deep Fried Lamb with Cumin & Dried Chilli - tender meat coated in a sweetish sauce with a hint of spice


Deep fried soft shell crab with garlic and chicken floss - to die for, need I say more?


I love Chinese soups. Herbs are used liberally at Toh Yuen in their soups. We tried both soups on offer. Both soups were tummy warming, nicely flavoured and certainly a nice welcome since the restaurant was quite cold.

Double boiled black village chicken with "chong cao hua" soup (RM32) - I ate all the herbs too ;P


Double boiled chicken with "shi hu" soup (RM32)


Moving on to the mains, we had the! brai sed sea cucumber with flower mushrooms, brocolli and abalone sauce (RM80). I liked the abalone since it was nicely cooked, retaining its slightly chewy texture and complemented well by the abalone sauce.



Other than the soft shell crab, the cod fish was one of the highlights of the meal for me. I loved the smell of the deep fried ginger and spices and even the superior soy sauce tasted so fragrant. The Canadian black cod was steamed to perfection. This dish has approximately 500g of cod fish and serves 8 pax.

Steamed Canadian black cod fish with "yu feng" ginger sauce (RM32/100g)



We all thought it was cheesy prawns when we saw this, but turns out it was sauteed fresh prawns coated with salted egg yolk (RM50). Call me bias, but I love everything with salted egg yolk so this was good in my books.

The deep fried smoked duck with fruit sauce (RM38) was quite unique and refreshing. I enjoy smoked duck like this, they have a bacon-like quality to them and flavorful. The dragon fruit sauce was a good match for the duck.



This was a popular dish with our table, the next table and many other diners in the restaurant that afternoon. Seems like everyone had one on their table. This was a vegetarian made with mock "chicken" "kung po style (with the dried chillies and all) served in a yam ring.


Sauteed "Gong Bao" vegetarian chicken with yam ring (RM60)


This was another dish packed full of flavour, the sauteed venison slice with mushrooms, sugar snap peas and cumin (RM50). This would go very well with a bowl of steaming hot rice.


Desserts was a duo of deep fried banana with strawberry and cheese cake and chilled mix fruit. And a platter of snow skin mooncakes, of course! Read my review of their mooncakes here.




Pork-free.

Location: Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant, Level 1, Hilton Petaling Jaya, 2 Jalan Barat, 46! 200 Peta ling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: 03-7955 9122 ext. 4073/4.

Website: http://www.zestpj.com/

GPS Coordinates: 3.102164, 101.640573

Join their Facebook page here for latest updates, promos and contests.

My Second Date with Genting Sempah 11 Aug 2012

Rivern managed to coax 15 friends to wake early in the morning and meet at 12th Miles Jalan Gombak to do a climb to Genting Sempah.I waslethargiccos I had a heavy night of drinks & makan. Fortunately my passion was still burning to bring me here.I invited Yeaw to cycle with us and this was his first attempt.All were ready to roll with freshness in their smiles.Adding pressure to Yeaw's bike.Encouraging Yeaw to spin as much as he can and going uphill was surely a tou! gh affai r for him. Though he did not finish but I am sure he is determined to come back to do it again.The mind says go, the legmusclesays enough is enough. But somehow it has to keeping going there was nothing to compromise.....So near yet so far .... de Boss said "it's already near and we will be there soon".At last I can see the rest of the group at the final point I was truly glad to see them.After a rest it was time to roll down to our cars. It was surely an easy and breezy roll along the old Bentong road.Some of us proceeded to Air Panas for some nice and delicious fried noodles including refreshing ais kacang.Thank You Mr. Rivern for initiating this ride again, in fact this spot is his favourite place. See you again at Genting Sempah, maybe next time we will go further to the Chinese village at Bukit Tinggi.

Samira Thai

Do you realise that in KL, there is a dearth of restaurants housed in nice surroundings, as in, stand alone houses, or lovely old colonial bungalows. I feel for the restauranteurs, who attempt to set up establishments like that, to their peril, because of the changing whim and fancies of the powers that be. I mean, honestly, look at ONE BANGSAR, a marvellous concept, if you ask me, and should have been totally accorded commercial status. But nooooo, barely a year after some had ploughed money into extensive renovations, their licenses were all revoked, rather cruelly if you ask me. Yes, it is difficult being a restauranteur in KL.

So, when a well kept hidden gem, exists, well within the grounds of an entire non residential area, it is nothing short of a miracle, almost a fairy tale, in a land far far away. And well within that YTL Kingdom of Sentul West, and the KLPac area, lies SAMIRA BY ASIAN TERRACE. It honestly feels like a different world out there.

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Thanks to an invitation by Ken (Food Point of Interest) and Bok (Taufulo), we were shown extreme Thai hospitality by Joanna, Marketing & Operations Director and Josephine, Business Develoment Director of Samira By Asian Terrace. The ambience of this place is really one aspect that is a great selling point.


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They are launching a new Vietnamese menu, in addition to the existing Thai menu. To start, we had this yam salad, which was quite special. The yam strips are fried to almost crispy texture, and amalgamated with t! he other tangy vegetables, it makes for a refreshing starter. Now this was something new to me. And at my age, that's quite rare.

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Thai Pomelo Salad. Loved the fresh squid and combination of sweet, sour, hot, that always characterizes the thai type salads.

They also have a comprehensive cocktail and mocktail list. Initially, being a bit shy and "hak hei", I only ordered a soft drink, which was Ginger & Lemongrass, which I am sure is designed to expel wind. Then the orders for booze started, so I wasted no time and shamelessly ordered a mojito. Which was very good.

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Their signature cocktail, which is definitely a chick's drink is labelled Inner Sense. It contains eggwhite, and grenadine I think. None of these colorful chick drinks for me thank you.

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Traditional Thai Tomyam and Seafood (RM30). A thick broth, that made me wonder if there was coconut, but there wasn't. I liked the sourness and heat of the dish, but it wasn't piping hot. Or maybe because by the time the bloggers ! were don e photographing the soup, it had cooled down.

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Grilled Norwegian Salmon With Basil Leaf. Another rather unique method of preparation, and I believe is more Vietnamese than Thai. Surprisingly, despite being embalmed in sauce and herb, the salmon was not overcooked, and remained moist.

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Southern Thai Masaman Curry With beef. This dish is really the perfect soul mate for rice and rice lovers. Not very spicy, if compared with the other Thai dishes that are chilli padi minefields, and bordering on sweet.

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Seafood Tomyam, Mojito, in that setting, made me almost feel I was on vacation.

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Grilled Fish Fillet in Banana Leaf...almost like an otak otak. Probably the Thai equivalent.

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Steamed Squid with Chilli and Lime Juice...sounds simple enough, but t! he combi nation never fails. Their squid supplier seems to be quite good, as the squids we had thus far were all very fresh.

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A closer look at the Thai otak otak.

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This must be the star of the show, River Prawns with Lemongrass Sauce (RM35). However, as with prawn dishes, some prawns were better than others. Gasp, did I just reveal I had more than one? I had more prawn than brain. No, I had two, but the second half was better than the first. Much like a lot of musicals.

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The first of many encores, not included in the original menu. Pineapple fried rice. A hint of curry powder and tumeric. Pineapples really do make a nice receptacle for food hor.

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I was obviously with a table of hungry youth, for they ordered more items....like this Traditional Thai Tom Kha with Chicken. A tom yam with coconut, or something like that. I refer the non coconutty version.

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The ubiquitous pad thai. Basically fried kueh teow, Thai style. Love the large omelet that blankets the dish.

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Another very unique dish, deep fried catfish. The meat of the catfish is shredded finely and battered and fried, ..so much so, if you didn't tell me, I thought I was eating batter.

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Pineapple Lamb in Coconut Gravy. Another non spicy dish, despite the crimson chilli floating around. I also found this dish a bit too sweet for my liking.

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There came a time when dessert and dinner overlapped, because of the sheer number of additional dishes that were ordered. Mango with Sticky Rice. Alas, these additional dishes must have caused the kitchen to run out of coconut milk, so I couldn't get my red rubies.....nor could Isaac Tan.

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Spicy Chicken With Chef's Special Sauce. I was very stuffed at this stage, and was lapsing into a food coma so have little recollection of how this tasted. I! n additi on the host also served a lovely Chilean red, called PRIMUS.

Okay, to get there, turn into Jln Strachan from Jln Ipoh, (the way to KLPac...for the more ahem, cultured), and justtttt follow the road. Until you get to KL Pac. Ha, there la. On the other end.

If you go on Thurs, Fri or Saturday, best to make reservations, ESPECIALLY if there is a show going on in KLPac, as the place does get crowded.

SAMIRA BY ASIAN TERRACE
Lot 268 Sentul Park
Jalan Strachan
Off Jalan Ipoh
51100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 012-9213880.