Durian-Tekar.

My friend Steven raved about this Durian stall located near a Shell station along the Sungai Long township.

Durians with names like D24, D101, Ang Hei and Tekar.......etc are sold at only Rm7/kg.

Today, we went there and I bought two Durian Tekar for Rm28/
What a great bargain!

Just cannot resist the "King of all fruits"-it is either you like or despise it.

The stall open from 3.30 p.m onwards.

Yours truly taking on the durian-Place the big kitchen knife at the center of the durian's tail-then make an incision along one of the 5 clear spacing lines and force it apart.

Bittersweet wet, rich, creamy, smooth yellow flesh with a distinctive strong penetrating odor-a bit wet to my liking.

Restoran Goon Wah.

Goon Wah Restaurant located in Kuchai Lama is another one of my mother's favorite place for lunch.

It was my off day, and that means my turn to take her along with us for our "cari makan" time.

When we arrived at about 11.30 am, the place was already bustling with young and old people, all enjoying the various mouthwatering dishes like Nga Por Loh Shue Fun, Kon Nam Mee, Stout chicken wings...etc

The three of us ordered 3 of their signature dishes.

Parking is OK.

XO Fish head noodle-the pieces of fish head were lightly batter and deep fried until fragrant-then cooked in a flavorful milky fish stock gravy with a hint of wine-filled with taro, preserved Chinese mustard, white Tofu, tomato and long thick strands of white rice flour noodle- excellent!-Rm17/

Sang Cheong-braised pig's uterus, intestine and stomach tossed in a deep fried dried whole shrimps, garlic and bird's eyes chillies, brown gravy-crunchy with a chewy texture-love it!-Rm13/

Hong Kong Kai Lan-young, tender, crunchy green and leafy-Rm8/

Location:G13, Jalan 3/115C,
KP2, Taman Kuchai Lama,
off Old Klang Road,
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel:03-7982-0048/017-338-5320.

Char KwayTeow

I like my Char Kway Teow (stir-fried flat rice noodle) to have lots of crunchy beansprout, kow choy (chives) with extra fresh succulent prawns, no chillies, no cockles, less oil, a dash of pepper and a hot teapot of Pu'er tea to wash it down !

Rm6/

Pucuk Paku.

Pucuk Paku (wild young fern shoots) are mostly found growing wild in waist high thick undergrowth near stream in kampung and secondary forest.

You need to be an experienced picker in order to avoid leeches and creepy crawly pests hidden in the undergrowth.

1. Speed is essential.
2. A sharp pair of eyes (as everything looks green).
3. Pick only the young shoots.

Laet week, we went to pick Pucuk Paku in a kampung and came out with bruise and cuts and a bunch full of Pucuk Paku.

A big "SALUTE" to those Pucuk Paku pickers who does it for a living!

A plate of home cooked super fresh, tender and crunchy stir fried Pucuk Paku with dried shrimps.

Delicious Dinner 39.

A series of home cooked dinner by my wife.

Steamed prawns with Chinese Shao Hsing wine-fresh, juicy and succulent.

Toasted peanuts and deep fried Anchovies tossed with oil blended dried red chillies with a sprinkling of coarse sugar-goes well with Teo Chew white porridge, plain white rice or eat it on it's own-can be kept for a few days in an air tight container.

Sliced crispy Bamboo pith shoots cooked with thin, sweet Enoki mushroom, green Gong Cai (King's Vegetable) and slivers of chicken meat-crunchy with a fusion of earthy flavors.

Ong Lai (Goh Kee) Restaurant.

Ong Lai (Goh Kee) Restaurant is a famous established night eatery in the dirty, notorious back lane off Jalan Raja Laut, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city.

My mother likes to eat here because they served most of her delicious old school's food (young guys don't like to eat here unless they are brought there by their parents).

They have a basement dining area, partly air conditioned, alfresco dining and even the kitchen is on the roadside.

The chairs for sitting are much shorter than normal ones-a bit awkward!

Do not be alarm if you see rats scurrying around !

Parking is bad!

Steamed Soong Yee Thau (Bighead Carp-fresh water fish) in superior clear broth filled with Chinese long cabbage, strips of roast pork, lard, mushroom, sour plum, preserved Chinese Mustard and garnished with ginger, red chillies and cilantro-smooth, sweet with lots of thin long fork bones.

Fried Glass noodle (made from mung bean flour)- fine, opaque with a lot of elasticity-fried with shrimp, squid, oyster, strips of pork, lard, Chinese long cabbage, soy sauce and garnished with sprigs of tantalizing Parsley.

Oyster Omelette with a generously amount of odd sizes creamy, briny oyster and coriander leaves-a bit oily but yummy !

Fried Pei Ker (rice flour cake noodle) in lusciously laced Soy sauce-Hokkien style with dried shrimp, strips of pork, lard, Chinese long cabbage and pungent Kow Choy Fah (Chinese Chives).

Kow Choy Far (Chinese Chives) stir fried with pig's innards like crunchy uterus, kidney, liver and lots of lard-delicious.

Total bill:Rm114/
Location:60A, Jalan Raja Laut,
(Behind Bee Seng Hotel),
Kuala Lumpur,

Stevia.

With the price of coarse sugar spiraling to Rm1.90/kg, why not use Stevia as a sweetener or sugar substitute ?

Stevia aka sweet leaf or sugar leaf is a type of green leafy plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family.

It's extracts is 300 times the sweetness of sugar and is attractive as a natural sweetener to diabetics and to those on a carbohydrate controlled diet.

Just add a leaf or two to your hot drinks or add it fresh to your salad.

I bought it from Cameron Highlands for Rm12/ and is now widely available at our local Pasar Tani.

Xiang Ji Satay House.

Guest post by Michelle.

On our way back from our Singapore's Sales shopping, we made a detour into Melaka city for our lunch.

With my grandmother, a true Nyonya from Melaka with us on this trip, was a blessing because she knows where to go for good food.

She suggested Pork Satay and guessed what ! she directed us all the way to the shop (a walking GPS !).
Not bad for an 80 year old grandmother-we just love her.

Xiang Ji Satay House@ Melaka is located opposite a Chinese school.

Patiently grilling the satay to perfection and replenishing our table with it without a need to do any ordering.

Well marinated pork satay @ 0.60cts/stick with a sweet, sourish, spicy, nutty and aromatic gravy with hints of pineapple and tamarind flavor for dip.

Close up of grilled pig's intestine, liver and lean meat-the five of us ate about 80 sticks-it was more than enough!

Freshly sliced green refreshing cucumber and pungent big onion to cool off the heaty satay.

...........................and Ketupat -firm, white rice, to finish off the meal !

Location: near Jonker Street, opposite SRJK (C) Pay Teck.
50, Jalan Portugis,
Melaka.
Tel:H/P-019-627-8868 /019-667-8868.

Euro Deli Shop.

The months of July/August are full of birthdays in the family.

First on the list is my son Mike's birthday which falls a day after America Independence Day- a very easy day to remember !

We celebrated the auspicious day with a porky German-Swiss dinner at Euro Deli Shop located in Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya.

The restaurant served authentic mouth watering European food and is cozy with a quiet ambiance and warm dim lighting (should turn it a knob higher)-bad for food photography!

Overall the food were good especially the Iberico ham with bread (a bit salty to my taste) .

Parking is OK.

Comfortable chairs and tables arranged in either 2/4/6 seats in a straight formation in the restaurant.

Mixed Salad Plate-filled with fresh Iceberg lettuce, red/green capsicum, sliced cucumber and pickled olive-with Thousand Island sauce on the side-RM15.90/

French Fries-golden brown and crispy-mum's favorite-Rm9.50/

Complimentary warm and soft multi grains crusted buns with packed butter.

Emmenthaler Sausage-two long lightly crisped, crunchy, distinctive flavored cheese sausage, sourish sauerkraut(fermented thinly sliced cabbage), boiled potato wedges with sour cream, a thin sliced of boiled egg and a dollop of not too overwhelming mustard-Rm22.90/

Iberico Ham Plate-cured ham with smooth texture and a rich savory taste served with white French bread and pickled cucumber-Rm38.90/

English Plate-a foot long salty sausage, fried egg, bacon, French fries and fragrant brown onion sauce-Rm 33.90

Pork Medallion-three chunks of well marinated pork fillet wrapped in bacon, spaghetti with olive oil and blanched broccoli and lovely brown mushroom sauce-sinfully satisfying-Rm32.90/

Butcher's Plate-two chunky sized roast belly/baked pork (too much of fats!!!), a piece of pork sausage, sliced potatoes, red vegetable and sourish sauerkraut (like kiam chai)-Rm32.90/

Iberico Pork Chop-well marinated, chunky great tasting earthy mushroom sauce-served on the side with blanched broccoli and a dollop of mashed potato-Rm54.90/

Hoegaarden White 1 Pint-tasted malty and light with a golden hue- Rm28.00/

Total bill:Rm342/
Location: 41,Jalan SS20/11,
Damansara Kim,
Petaling Jaya,
Tel:03-7726-7495.

Chap Fan @ Kedai Makanan & Minuman Zong Meng-Tapah.

We drove up to Tapah, Perak to attend my brother in law's wake and funeral.
His death was sudden and we will surely missed him.

We stopped by Kedai Makanan & Minuman Zong Meng for a quick lunch of Chap Fan (mixed rice).

Besides being a "Tai Chow" (serving cook to order dishes), they have just a small spread of about 10 dishes every working day for lunchtime only.

It's cheap and the best time is go is around 11.30 a.m.

White rice with Deep fried Ikan Kambong, Long bean Omelette, white tofu and stir fried vegetable with strips of chicken, onion and sliced fish cake-Rm3.00/

White rice with white tofu, stir fried Choy Sam, ginger chicken and topped with tasty brown gravy-Rm2.50/

Location:From Bidor-on the right hand side after Tapah town bridge.

YE Traditional Dumplings.

Besides the traditional dumplings which are available all year round, YE Traditional Dumplings located in Pandan Jaya also served quite a varieties of Hakka dishes, too.

Last Saturday my buddies and I went there for lunch and were impressed with what they served but it was a bit pricey.

The colorful menu was a great help for us to do the food selection.

Parking is OK.

Lui Char Fan-white rice with a host of cooked condiments like tea leaves, green vegetable, toasted peanut, leek with cubed tofu, finely chopped long bean and dried shrimp-not too minty-tasted ok after a few mouthful-Rm8.80/

Yam Abacus-"yammy" with lots of dried shrimps, strips of pork, spring onion and cilantro-red chillies oil to go with the yam abacus-a bit oily-Rm6.50/.

Facai roll-Deep fried bean curd sheet filled with Fatt Choy(strands of black sea weed/salted duck egg-mayonnaise for dip-Rm5/.

Herbal chicken thigh cooked in Yu Er Hong wine-meaty with a strong, herbal flavor-Rm14/

Deep fried stuffed Tofu with minced pork/fish paste-Rm5/.

Shui Xian Tea -Rm4.50/pax

Total bill:Rm65/
Location:8G, Jalan Pandan Jaya 3/9,
Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel:03-9284-5325/012-230-6003.