Grand Imperial @ Bangsar Shopping Centre

I haven't been to Bangsar Shopping Centre in quite a bit. I was pleasantly surprised at the facelift that they had done. Everything looks new and shiny right now.

The family met up at Grand Imperial recently. They were serving Chinese food with a slight fine dining twist to it.

Nice flatware for everyone. They even have knives and fork that I ended up using more than chopsticks because I failed.

Additional dish of Peking duck that was ordered. Look at the glossy, crispy roasted duck prior to being molested by hungry family.

Post molested duck wrapped up in little rice pancakes with sweet sauce, cucumber and spring onions. Yum.

Deep fried rice paper lotus root with salted fish accompanied with steamed marrow melon stuffed with prawn paste and button mushroom. I love the white almost mushroom soup sauce they used for the stuff marrow melon.

Braised Vietnamese-style shark's fin soup in claypot. Thick broth that's filled with seafood such as scallops, prawns and pieces of sharks fin. It came with fresh basil leaf to be added to the broth should you so desire it.

Roast whole suckling pig. Poor piggy, life ended at such an early stage, but damn tasty sacrifice actually. However, they did serve it too us a little late so it was not as hot as we wanted it to be

Steamed 'Turbo' fish with chef's special preserved olive and black bean sauce. This was an odd dish as I found it slightly fishy while the rest of the family said it tasted just fine. Perhaps I have a love hate relationship with fish in general. The meat was perhaps a little too firm than what I'm used to with fish as well.

Sauteed red sandy clam with fresh lily bulb and fresh yam root. The clams were very fresh and tender and I love fresh lily bulb.

Braised bean stick with sea cucumber cube in meat ball. Very delicious and thick broth covering a well prepared meat ball. I couldn't really taste the sea cucumber though, as I think it was smothered by the stronger tasting meat ball. To me however, that's a good thing, since I'm not too much of a fan of sea cucumber.

This was the rest of the duck meat from the Peking duck earlier, since only the skin was used. They gave us fresh, crunchy lettuce to wrap it in.

Fried egg noodles with cuttle fish in superior soya sauce. This is probably hands down the favourite dish of the entire night as voted by the family. It was perfectly fried with a right balance of flavouring and texture. The noodles used are different from what's available in the market. We only had complains that we couldn't have seconds. Excellent.

Double boiled mountain snow seed with lily bulb. The sweets were alright, and not too sweet. I wouldn't give it rave reviews as they were perfectly adequate.

I'm not really sure what they were but the fried one had a slightly sourish filling that made me think it wasn't lotus paste but sweet potato paste and the other was just sweet. I would give it a miss if I had to.

Additional sweets one of the cousins brought. Jelly mooncake with various fillings. They were seriously delicious. I love the chocolate one (surprise, surprise), the black sesame one as well as the coffee one.

Overall, this was a good place to have a nice reunion with family and enjoy a good meal. I think I will try their dim sum there one day. It's supposedly very good.

Grand Imperial

Bangsar Shopping Centre

Tel: +603-2283 1118/3366/3389

Fong Lye @ Gardens Midvalley

Fong Lye was a place I have eaten once before but I had forgotten about it until a friend dragged me back there.

I have not forgotten it since.

Squid deep fried with salt and spices. Seriously decadent and crunchy. Right taste of spice to match with the usually slightly bland squid.

Three cups chicken. The sauce is thick and spicy and the chicken tender and juicy.

The sides that came with it.

Rice with some minced pork over it and the far corner is the soup. They have different soups each time. Very refreshing and delicious.

Passion fruit Oolong Tea. It's not exactly sweet but the fragrant scent of passion fruit tricks your mind into thinking it's much sweeter than it actually is.

That's peanut ice cream at the top of this lovely dessert. Seriously good. Worth a try when you go there.

Fong Lye @ Gardens, Midvalley

Bak Kut Teh @ Dengkil

Another foray into Dengkil, or the Cyberjaya area looking for Chinese (therefore pork) food. Nothing says pork more than Bak Kut Teh. This coffeeshop was a transplant from one of those under-the-tree deals. Now, it's in a stall just off the highway heading towards the airport from Cyberjaya.

The traditional style of tea cups, with a bag of tea by the side. Haven't seen this type of presentation in a while.

Chilly padi with garlic, that's the way to enjoy a good pot of Bak Kut Teh. However, I'm not a fan of garlic, so I gave it a pass.

Yau Mak fried with garlic. I wouldn't say it's fabulous, it looks rather limp and overcooked but it is necessary to round out a good meal.

Yam and pork. This is a traditional Hakka dish and not always available. While I didn't like meats that have too much fat (and this dish should be cooked with very fatty pork), I loved the taste of the sauce. This would be something to try, even for those that don't fancy overly fatty meats.

Here comes the star of the show. A hot, bubbling claypot of pork cooked in Chinese herbs. Sometimes, the soup can be made too thick and too bitter, but this place makes it just the way I like it. Fabulous.

The soup must always be dipped with Yau Char Kuay. It's a match made in heaven.

This is the classic Klang style Bak Kut Teh, where the sauce is dry and slightly sweet, reminiscent of Kung Pao style. This is my first time eating this and I find myself falling love. 

All in all, this has been a very satisfying lunch, and not one I would forget fast.

One One Three @ Dengkil

Dengkil has some pretty interesting Chinese food. One was quite delicious Bak Kut Teh, but that's another story. Drive a few minutes down from the famous Bak Kut Teh was a restaurant called One One Three which serves some pretty interesting Chinese dishes.

I was staring at the board and there was one fish that's called Empurau or 'Cannot Forget' that is directly translated from Cantonese. Why Cannot Forget? Because one freaking fish can cost up to RM1,000. After paying that amount of money for a fish, you definitely 'cannot forget'. Your wallet will remember you for life as well. But... we didn't have that of course.

Chicken in herbal soup. The chicken was falling apart, tender as it was. The soup was sweet from the intensity of the chicken essence which complimented the herbs it was cooked with.

Pork in dark sauce. The sides are deep fried dumplings to mop up the decadently thick and delicious sauce.

To me, this was the best dish on the table that night. Vietnamese prawns, that's sweet and tart at the same time was fresh and appetising. Pour the sauce over rice and it's a meal on its own.

Foo Yee Yau Mak rounds up the wonderful dinner. Crunchy and spicy at the same time, it's made up the necessary vitamins and fibre for the day.

One One Three @ Dengkil

Da Sa Rang Korean Restaurant @ Subang Jaya

Since my first time having Korean food, I have been hooked and always on the look out for good (and hopefully affordable) Korean Restaurants. While the first is relatively easily found, the second is not. Then again, you will have to pay for quality.

Having gone to a really screwed up excuse for an 'Online Business Seminar', I have discovered this place quite a while ago and recently went back.

Interesting little sleeves for cutlery as well.

This place is above McDonald's opposite Metropolitan and Inti College. You can't miss it.

The sauces for our barbeque. And a small side salad for everyone. I love the tartness of the dressing. Always wanted to figure out how to make it but as usual, I'm better at eating than at cooking.

Look at the number of our amazing side dishes. Yum. They had something extra for us, which they called fresh kimchi which is that square dish on the far end. It was by far the most delicious thing on the table.

Since my friend couldn't take beef, we ordered pork and lamb.

Our lamb cooking away.

All nice and cut up pork.

The pork that's ready for my tummy.

Look at the piece of moist delicious lamb. So good.

Jap Chae, which is a staple of mine at any Korean restaurant. Well cooked and tasty.

My latest discovery of Nak Jee Bokkum. Octopus cooked with spicy sauce and veggies. This is absolutely fabulous. There is just the right amount of spice and sweetness coupled with the refreshing crunch of perfectly cooked vegetables.

I do recommend this place to anyone who is around the SS15 area looking for a good meal.

Da Sa Rang

Lot 82, Jalan SS15/4D,
Subang Jaya,
(Above McD)

Penang Redux 19

We head over to a big hawker centre in Penang, called New World Park for lunch.

It's situated behind Tune Hotels and only open for lunch till about tea time. We made sure we ordered delicacies that they were famous for.

Ais Kacang. 

My dessert of fruit Ais Kacang. Seriously good. The sweetness and the different flavours of the fruit mixed excellently with the red beans, corn and other stuff they dumped in.

Lam Mee. It was a little bland to me, and needed chilly to spice it up a little. Excuse the pun.

Yong Tau Fu noodles. To me, this is simple fare that is available in KL.

Here comes the big guns. It was deliciously filled with the now familiar spices of curry noodles found in Penang.

The Char Kuay Teow is also another famous dish to try here. I had to agree. It was well fried, not too oily and divinely tasty.

Fruit rojak from the same place we got our Ais Kacang. Regular tasting.

Bak Chang. While it's not bad, I still prefer the one I bought from the van near Isaribi Tei.

Yam cake. Okay, this one is fabulous. Best I have had in Penang. Thick with huge pieces of yam and filled with that yammy taste. Must try.

Banana pancakes. By far the best thing I have had in New World Park. It's crispy, hot and sweet at the same time. We ordered a little too much of this but worth every bite!