Satey Kajang Hj. Samuri @ PJ

I had always wanted to try out this branch of Hj. Samuri at Uptown Damansara. I had previously visited their main branch at Kajang town several time before. So after gym tonight I had suggested this place to my gym-mates and they all agreed to give it a try. The place was a full house when we arrived around 8.30pm. Business was really good I assume.

Once ordered, they placed this big bowl of peanut gravy to go with the satay. But there was not much peanut in the gravy tonight. But still it's alright in term of the taste.

They had separated the gravy and the chilly sauce so that those who doesn't like their gravy to be spicy can have the option not to add it in. The chilly paste is quite spicy and suit my taste too.

We had ordered some Ketupat and sliced cucumber to go with the satey. I had also ordered a bowl of onions to go with it. How can I eat satey with onions, right? (RM2.50)

So how many did we ordered? 4 of us (3 girls) had decided to go with 25 sticks of chicken and beef each. So a total of 50 sticks all together. It was a bit cold but it was alright. Surprisingly the beef was really lean and isn't too difficult to chew on. Chicken was alright and there were sufficient fat and lean ratio and also burned portion on each stick. My only comment is that it isn't that hot. (RM0.60/stick)

Other than Satay, they do served local fried rice. Place isn't that stuffy and smokey as I though it would be. It's a double-story shop lot but they didn't open the top floor for customers. I would recommend a cooling coconut to cleanse down all the spiciness and heat from the meat. It's a good place to have some light dinner or even supper with friends and family. It's located at the same row as HSBC bank. So it's not that hard to locate. (Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0)

Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow @ USJ 11

What is the best way to kick start your day? One hot delicious plate of Char Kuey Teow. Well OK, I can start with Nasi Lemak too. But this time around, I had some craving for CKT and since my bro called for breakfast I had decided to return to Lorong Selamat CKT at USJ. The stall is located in one of the many one in Restaurant Lam Hin Leong. The shop is located behind the Petronas Station after the police station intersection at USJ. Sorry for the lack of info on the location as I forgot to take of their name card (yes, they have).

Char Kuey Teow or Fried Kuey Teow with everything on it. As you can see, it has the similar traits from the one from Lorong Selamat in Penang. Served with big fresh prawns, fried lards, sliced Chinese Sausages and a tint of pepper on top for taste. The plate of CKT looks more colorful and mouth watering with the addition of fresh bean sprout and cockles too. But I am so not into both of them. So I had ordered the below. RM5.00 (L) & RM4.50 (M)

This is the Char Kuey Teow Mee or Fried Kuey Teow with Noodles. I don't take plain Kuey Teow so I add some noodle into them. For one it won't look too dry as I don't eat bean sprout and cockles. Yes, I know, it's not the original way of eating it but heck, I am not from Penang. I am just a Pahang guy who likes to eat Penang food. The noodle isn't that spicy although you can ask them to do so. You can really see the bits of egg on most of the noodles and not like the one we normally had outside which sticks to each other. Simply delicious. But my plate of CKT might not be everyone plate of CKT so you can try with an open thought. RM5.00 (L) & RM4.50 (M)

As you can see the women is the only cook over there and the man is only helping her to prepare ingredients and taking orders. It's not big but the food is good. I had tried all the stalls from my makan-venture up North few months back and nothing came close to this. I think most of the good cooks had either moved to KL or retired. Both of them (married couple?? I assumed) are from Penang. So since I am half Hokkien, had ordered using my rojak Hokkien and I guess got some itsy bitsy more noodle on order. Or it was just myself. LOL!! Another thing worth mentioning is that they had managed to maintain their standard and quality of the food although it's been years from my first plate of CKT. (Rating: 4.2 out of 5.0)

Boston Chill Out @ PJ

I was really looking forward to this new found restaurant which I passed by a few time. It's located at the new 32 Square building opposite Toyota show room at Jalan 19 Petaling Jaya. There are a few new restaurants which opened at the new building and this particular one catch my attention with the bright green sign board and all. So I took my babe and drove over to check out their menu sort of testing the water before jumping all in.

The served a variety of food ranging from Western to Eastern to local delights. They have appetizer like the one from TGI Friday and main steak sets too similar to Bubba Gump. They even have burgers, pasta, local delights like and noodles. I was satisfied with they had to offer and walked in.

The ambiance was really nice and comfy. Not too noisy with some R&B and Pop songs playing at the background. Lighting was dim with candle light on the table. Saw a few table with some family members sitting around and I thought this had got to be a good place to be.

They even have a bar table as they served liquor and also wine.

Tie The Knot (RM8.95/bowl)
For starter as always I had ordered their mushroom soup. This I had waited for 20 minutes before it is served. Well at least the potion was very generous and it's thick with mushroom taste. Well maybe too thick too.

The mushroom soup is served together with this basket of garlic bread. Tasty but it's cold.

A Tale of Two Cities (RM17.95/plate)

This is the main course which I had ordered. Portion was alright for the money I am paying I guess. First impression, lots of cheese on top. It's actually spaghetti cabonara served with tiger prawns. Well there are plenty of prawns but the sauce was totally disappointing. And I was saying that the Sausage Carbonara I had at Italiannies was bad, well this win no doubt about it. It was basically tasteless to the extent that it's like flour mixed with cheese. Trust me, it's really that bad. Totally a waste of good fresh tiger prawns.

So where is the rest of the food you asked? Well it didn't come. I had waited for more than 40 minutes for my appetizer to arrived and my babe's main dish too. I had ordered their Hancock's Supernatural which is Cheese Nachos. How can could that take? My babe had ordered one of their local delights, Hundred Secret Senses which is Yong Chow fried rice with Tandoori Chicken. I had asked for the waitress to checked on our order even during the soup was served. She kept on asking me to wait and it was on the way. But when I had finished my main, I had loose my patients and asked for the bill. I would have to say that the service was moderate and the kitchen was extremely slow. Maybe it's a new outlet but this is not the kind of service which we had to face. If they can't handle the work load, HIRE more people! Really messed my dinner up. Don't even wanna rate the place as it's not even worth my time to rate. Maybe I will return again after half a year if it's still there.

Address:
Boston Chill Out
32 Square,
No.2 , Jalan 19/1,
46300 Petaling Jaya
Contact: 03-7960 7096

DaoRae Korean Restaurant @ USJ

Korean food wasn't my first of choice but since it's pre-planned by my friend for a dinner here. So I thought why not give it a try. Some friends who visited the place before told me that it's worth a try. So the rest was history. There a few branches of DaoRae around town but the one we are going is located at Taipan USJ. As you can see it's on the 2nd floor above Affin Bank. The building is just behind True Fitness. So I don't think it's a problem locating the place but rather where to park.

Various type of small dishes was served to us when we are seated. The one worth mentioning is the one on the bottom right which is their famous Kimchi. The cold salad on the bottom left is also worth mentioning as my friend did ordered a second for that.

Here are more of the side dishes. Actually there were more than this but I guess you will need to go over and check it out yourself. The one on the bottom right is those steamed egg which normally served at Japanese restaurant. And I don't think this is refillable.

Bbyeo-da-gui-tang (RM19/bowl)
This is their Pork rib in hot spicy soup served with rice. Portion was generous with lots of pork ribs. Not that spicy though. But it's a nice dish to open up your appetite before the main dish.

Pa-jeon (RM25/portion)
This is one of their local delicacy food which is pancake comprising of fresh seafood in batter topped with spring onions. I had this before during a Korean fair previous and is in love with it.

OK, let's get into business now. From top left clockwise: Pork ribs specially hand filleted marinated in special Korean ginseng and herbs extract with sweet soy sauce, Boneless beef short rib marinated with their secret recipe DaoRae sauce, Lean skinless chicken fillets marinated with hot chili sauce last but not least Lamb specially hand filleted and marinated in their sweet soy sauce. By this time, we're all hungry and was waiting for the waiter to start the fire and start barbecuing the meats. Actually we ordered another portion of chicken at the end of the dinner.

Hanbang Dweji Wang Gabi (RM35)
This is the big slabs of pork ribs being barbecued with lots of garlic on the side.

This is the pork ribs being cut to small portion for us to indulge. Trust me it's more juicy and it looks. The picture didn't really do justice to the pork. Yummy~!!!!

So this is how we're supposed to eat all the meat. We place of piece of the meat on a slice of salad. Topped it with some garlic, sliced green and their special soy sauce. OMG!!, superb. Truly delicious.

Dak-gai-bi (RM27/portion)
This is skinless chicken with hot chili sauce. Like the name says, it's a bit hot and spicy but not too much. So for those who like their chicken to be spicy and hot, this is their choice.

All the juices had sipped into the chicken and now it's ready to eat. Look at those reddish lean chicken fillets, don't you wanna have a bit into them?

Yang-ngum Yang-go-gi (RM35)
The lamb was one really juicy when it was place onto the hot plate. You can see those marinated sweet soy sauce oozing out from the filleted lamb.

So this is the end product of the juicy lamb fillet. As you can see the lamb are still that juicy and dry although it's been barbecued. No oil or other sauce are added during the whole process for all the meats.

Gal-bi-sal (RM55)
This is boneless beef short ribs. For those who doesn't take beef, you[re really missing one of the best meat here. All their meat are so juicy and lean. There are practically no fats at all and all of them are selected before serving to the customers. I had asked the guy to tossed in some extra garlic for the beef. Got to say I am so in love with Korean food by now.

Yang-nyum- Dak-gal-bi (RM27)
This is the other lean skinless chicken fillets which we ordered at the end. It is also marinated with their special soy sauce. I like their service over here as we don't need to do the whole process ourselves and they always change the tray after each session. So it's more hygienic.

This dish tasted like the Teriyaki chicken which we normally had at Teppanyaki or Sushi King. Nevertheless, it's really juicy and nice. You can't get any more fresher than this. All the meat are served directly from the barbecued pan in front of us and directly to our mouth. Simply delicious.

They partition the restaurant into two section with one on the normal table and the other on the traditional type table like the one at Korea itself. So how was the dinner? Well from my non stop praised from the food above you most probably could have guess how was it. Yes, one word, delicious. Does give me a second opinion on Korean food as my first impression was always Kimchi (sweet and sour). I am totally in love with barbecued now after the dinner. How much did we spent on the dinner? Well the total bill was RM256 inclusive of drinks and dessert. That is like RM50/head for us. Cheap and worth every cent for me for the quantity and quality of the food we had I would say. Definitely gonna be back again soon to try it out with my babe. They even walk us to the elevator and the boss and his staff sent us off to the elevator and bidding us farewell. Best service I had in a while. (Rating: 4.2 out of 5.0)

Address:
DaoRae Korean Barbecued Restaurant
No.8C, Top Speed Business Center,
Jalan USJ 10/1J,
47620 UEP Subang Jaya
Contact: 03-8024 2616

Italiannies Resaturant (Lunch Set) @ 1U

Italiannies had brought me some mix feelings from fabulous pasta to disappointing tasteless lunch. So when I was passing though the place during lunch hour I thought to give them another try since they are doing this lunch promo set. The set come with soup of the day, bottomless drink and also range of pasta to pizza which you can choose from. Price range from RM13.90 to RM 39++ for something larger.

I had choose their Mushroom Soup to warm up my tummy. From the looks of the soup, it was really worth trying but looks could always deceived us. And this is especially the case. It was not that thick for one and I couldn't really taste the mushroom at all. Although there are a few slices of them in the soup but it doesn't help at all. Although it's mass product but I guess this is rather disappointing.

There are a range of pasta to choose from and I had choose their Sausage Carbonara which is new in their menu. It is chicken sausage meatball tossed with Alfredo sauce over Linguine pasta. For one it's a bit confusing as it written Carbonara but it's actually Alfredo sauce. It might look the same but the taste is totally different for one. Portion was just moderate. Meatballs was really small and hard. It was really dry and when we added the extra cheese on it, it was practically impossible to swallow. One of my friend even opted to splash some Tabasco sauce into her plate of pasta.

This is their Penne Bolognese. It's actually meat sauce served on a plate of penne pasta. Like the name goes, it's really that plain and simple. Pasta was a bit cold and the sauce was really plain. My friend didn't really finished this plate of pasta I think. Rather disappointing. I mean although it's a set lunch meal, but they should really put more effort on them. Although the management had change from what I had saw, and it the service seemed more professional but I can't say the same on their lunch meal though. Maybe their main course taste better I guess.

Wash all of those dried pasta with a glass of bottomless ice lemon tea. Now this is one of the good thing bout place is that they served bottomless drinks similar to Chillies. Lunch wasn't as good as we expect it would be. I think we would get something better at Pizza Ria at SS2 with the price we're paying. And definitely the soup would be better. But the environment here is better though. Hopefully their dinner sets are better than this. As I will be going back again next month for dinner with my babe. (Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0)

Dragon I @ Centre Point P.J

No money for guessing where I had lunch today. Looking at the juicy, mouth watering dumplings, one can't stop but think, "god damn it, he's out to some nice restaurant for lunch again". Yes, it's Xiao Long Bao from Dragon-i. I had many elsewhere but Dragon-I make one of the best Shanghainese Steamed Meat Dumpling around town. It is said that the smooth thin skin has exactly 18 plaits and inside contains the delicately seasoned filling of minced Chinese ham, lean pork and ginger. Way to eat this baby is to poke a small hole and sips the tasty soup from within and dab it with some vinegar and few slices of ginger to finish it off. Simply delicious. (RM9/4 pieces)

This is the Vegetable Fried Rice with fried meat. When it arrived, my friend was a bit disappointed as the portion isn't as much as it's shown in the menu. But nevertheless, she was really full at the end of the meal. The rice was more than meets the eye actually. Taste was a bit plain if you like your fried rice to be simple but nothing a bit curry paste can't cure. The portion of fried meat was also a bit stingy comparing with the one in the menu. (RM 15/plate)

I am contemplating between having La Mian or fried rice. I wanted to have Sze Chuan La Mian but they only have it together with their Shanghainese Pork Chop (which I don't really like). So I had asked for something which is not in the menu. I had asked for Sze Chuan La Mian in Sweet & Sour Soup. But it comes with a side dish. Let's talk a bout the noodle first. It's better than the one I had previously. The soup is more spicy this time and not that as thick as last time (which is just nice). Portion was really generous too. (RM18/bowl)

This is the Taiwan style Fried Pork Meat that goes together with my noodle. Yes, I wanted this fried meat but it only come together with a plain bowl of La Mian. So I asked the waiter to change for me and he managed to do so. Portion was really generous but not as large as Shilin's XXL Fried Chicken though and not as crunchy and tasty too. But still it's alright and I am very satisfied with what I had. It's nice to have a slow lunch with some good food during rainy days. But noise from the children at the back running up and down didn't really give me the picture perfect effect though. But I did walk away satisfied with my lunch and will definitely be going back again. (Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0)

Address:
Dragon-i
Centre Point Bandar Utama
G115, Ground Floor,
Contact: 03-7728 2866

Soong Kee Beef Noodle @ KL (Revisited)

This has got to be the best beef noodle stall in whole KL for me. It's Soong Kee which is located along Jalan Tun H.S Lee. My last visit was quite some time ago with my ex-colleague over. So it's nice to be back again to taste this delicious noodle again. They are famous for their beef noodle and also porridge with pork's intestines and spare parts. The parts are not cut into small bits which you normally eat elsewhere but rather in large pieces like the one you over at Hong Kong. Worth a try if you're a pork intestines lover. Sorry, I don't think be posting of it as I don't do spare parts and intestines.

As usual, I had my Dry Beef Noodle (large). I didn't asked for the extra mince beef as 1) it cost another extra RM1 and 2) I would like to have a standard portion to see how it goes as I always asked for more. Surprisingly the portion of mince beef was just nice. Not too much and not too little. The taste of the noodle was already making me taking it in more and more. I think it's the taste of "Kan Sui" or the coloring which they use on the yellow noodle. Some people dislike the taste but I am in love with it. I know it's not healthy to intake too much of it but life is too short to not eat what you love. The mince beef was just nice and not over cooked like the other stalls. I can have a second bowl after finishing mine within minutes. Yes, I was that hungry and it was really that good.

The bowl of noodle come with 8 beef balls all together. If you ordered a large portion for the soup, they would come in 18 beef balls. That is really a lot. But 8 for me is generous enough together with the large portion of the noodle. At the end of the meal, I am a very satisfied customer and am ready to continue with my journey to conquer Petaling Street. For beef noodle lover, this is totally worth your travel although parking is an arse over there. You can either park at the side of the road like me and the rest of Malaysian or some building's basement parking nearby. (Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0)

Austin Chase Coffee @ Pavilion KL

Heard that one of the best coffee from Seattle had just landed in the heart of KL. The last one (Starbucks Coffee) that arrived had been one of the best in Malaysia to date. So I thought why not giving it a try. The place is called Austin Chase Coffee and it's from Seattle. They are founded since 1989 and main strategy is to developed a distinct espresso bar to cater for their customers. And now they had choose our country to be one of the many one around the world. The coffee shop is located at the lower ground at Asia Food Court next to Shilin Taiwan Snacks and Mr. Bao.

I had ordered the Austin Chase Ice Blended Mocha. It's taste of coffee is strong but a bit too sweet for me. But I like the strong taste of the mocha in it. (RM11 for Regular and RM12 for Large)

My friend went for their Ice Blended Cai Tea but it was a bit disappointing as it doesn't taste much like Tea (as the word 'Cai' means Tea). It's quite sweet too. A bit more like milk tea for according to my friend. (RM11 for Regular & RM12 for Large)

Other than ice blended they also served tea, hot coffee, desserts and muffins too like any other coffee shop like Starbucks and Coffee Beans. It's a small stall for the moment. Maybe they are surveying the response from the market for the time being. Not sure when is other outlets are opening soon but it's worth a try if you're bored with the current coffee around town. And they do provide free WiFi too when while you're sipping your coffee. (Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0)