Chatterbox @ Bangsar Village

I have been a bad Munchie, I know. It's been a long time since I've posted anything on here and I shall endeavor to be better from now on.

Today, I bring Chatterbox, which I had written off earlier during a visit a few years back. However, since they have moved to a more central location opposite Toys-R-Us on the first floor of Bangsar Village I, I am happy to say that I have been proven wrong.

It sounds like your basic Char Chan Teng but I'm pleased to say that their food differentiate them from the likes of Kim Gary and its ilk.

Their Yin Yong is good, with just the right amount of tea, the right amount of coffee and not too sweet. I have a problem with my Yin Yongs tasting a little too tea-ish, if that makes any amount of sense.

The Coz, wanted something light so we went for their Club Sandwich. Let's put it this way, there is no way you can go wrong with a sandwich.

My Cheese Baked Rice with Red Sauce came and I expected something like Kim Gary's version. However, upon cutting through the yummy layer of cheese, this was revealed:

That's right, not normal tasteless white rice, but lovely fried rice. The rice perfectly fried and tasty.

When you're around that area, stop by for a quick snack and I am sure you, like me, won't be disappointed.

Chatterbox @ Bangsar Village

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

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

Ho Ho Steamboat @ Sri Petaling

We take a break from at least 2 more Penang reduxes for me to post a short one on Ho Ho Steamboat Restaurant. This is my favourite steamboat place, where the soup and the chilly score all the points needed for a truly wonderful meal.

.... And I was playing with Lemecam on my Iphone.

Pretty popular place that went from one corner shop, to them taking over the second floor and finally the two shops next to them. The place is huge and most if the time, packed.

Our humble pot of soup. They have only one kind there, chicken broth.

Recent addition to the family. Barbequed chicken wings. Pretty tasty.

Our set. You can either order in set or by plate. What we do is to order per person and have additional stuff that we like later.

The extras that are our favourite. From the top left to right, Sui Kow, pork balls, needle mushrooms and seafood taufu. YUM!!

Our carbs for the day, which this time around, we couldn't finish.

Our pot of food cooking away.

Their fishballs are fresh and they say from Pulau Ketam. If you are in Sri Petaling, look for Jalan Radin Anum. You won't go wrong for a satisfying meal.

Ho Ho Steamboat Restaurant

Jalan Radin Anum,

Sri Petaling.

Penang Redux 17

Another round of good lunch food. This time not too far away from Sin Chuan Bee.

Heng Kee was supposedly once very popular but right now, it's pretty quiet, which is a damn waste if you ask me. Everything there was super delicious.

The Hakka dish of pork and preserved veggies. It would have tasted absolutely delicious with porridge. As it was, with white rice, the tasty saltiness was fabulous.

Stewed chicken. It literally fell apart with deliciousness. Yum.

This was an odd way of cooking kangkung but top points though. Basically the veggies are boiled and a mixture of belacan, chilly and salted fish is fried and pour over it. The smell was sensational.

Three taste fish. Properly fried and topped with a sweet and hot sauce.

Tofu with fish fillet. Interesting combination. Smooth and silky.

Penang Reduxe 16

A few places over the weekends. We headed over to Straits Quay for some German fare.

Our drinks. Both were good. I love German beer.

Potato wedges with Japanese curry dipping. OMG good!! You can get unlimited curry sauce.

Three different types of sausages. I can't remember which is which now, but there was one with cheese involved. It comes with sauerkraut, mustard and mayo. Excellent.

 

 

Little pork cutlets with curry dipping sauce. Fabulous beer food.

We went to ChopperBoard in Queensbay another weekend.

Sad to say, I can't remember anything about this place. The food is quite disappointingly forgettable.