Yut Kee @ Jalan Dang Wangi

Sorry again for the lack of updates in my blog lately as I am tied up with my usual business trip and also renovation currently. But nevertheless, there's no rest for the wicked. So I was browsing the FB like millions of working people do nowadays during working hour and stumbled upon a picture upload by a friend. When I realized what it was, I am eager to try it out.

 What is it? Well it's actually roast pork a.k.a siew yuk. What's so special bout it? 

Well it's made like a Swiss Roll. Yup, you heard me right. The place is called Yut Kee which is located at the end of Jalan Dang Wangi. It's really easy to find actually, just Google it. Trust me, it's there. 

Parking is a bitch over there as I managed to park right in front of the restaurant as it was an illegal spot. But since there are cars parked on both side, so I just joined them. Luckily I didn't get a summon during the lunch hour. The place is a very very old Hainanese restaurant which is established around 1926 if I am not mistaken. The place is not run by the grandson of the original owner.

The place has the portrait of the founder on the wall as you can see above. If you saw a guy at the cashier bearing 90% resemblance of the man, don't be afraid, it's just the grandson.

When I arrived, the place is already packed with customers and a lot of people are queuing up waiting for a table. Well, since I am alone, I managed to get a seat really easy. Shared a table with 3 ang moh who also ordered their special roast pork. From their conversation, they did complement the dish and it's one of the best they had. 

Without wasting anytime, I had ordered their special roast pork (siew yuk) and a glass of cham ice. As you can see, the special roast pork is some sort like Hainanese Chicken Chop crossing over with Chinese Roast Pork. The special roast pork is served with potatoes and green peas at the side. Those are apple sauce on the roast pork. Not really fond of it, but luckily they gave me another bowl of brown (mushroom) sauce to go with it.

The roast pork is made like Swiss roll which makes it easier to slice and you have an even lean and fat all around. The outer layer is so damn crispy that it's addicting. I thought of ordering extra to take away but sadly it's not enough. People are queuing up waiting when I left. 

Since the roast pork isn't that filling (for me), I had ordered their famous Hainanese Chicken Chop. The Ang Moh left and another group of people working from AIA sat down and looked at me when they saw I am starting on the chicken chop. Mind you, it's not that large of a portion actually. The chicken chop is covered in egg and fried to crisp and is served with mushroom sauce on top with the standard green peas and potatoes at the side. Doesn't really blow me away with this but just a decent plate of Hainanese Chicken Chop. 

Third round? No I don't think so. I was tempted to ordered their roti babi. Yes, it's called roti babi which is pork bread/burger. But I heard that it's really filling and decided to call it off. Maybe on my next visit with more reinforcement. They are also famous for their belacan fried rice, hokkien noodle (yes, hainanese do serve Hokkien noodle too), kaya toast and swiss rolls. 

The roast pork are only available every Friday and Sunday only. They will start serving the special roast port around 11.30am and most probably be finish around 12.30 noon. So better be quick as you might not get a seat in time to order a portion to eat. Overall, the trip over was worth it. Since I never really compliment any roast port dishes before. This is because, roast pork has little criteria which is freshly roasted and crispy outer layer. That is the most important for me. So when I saw how special this roast port is, I quickly make a trip over before you can even finish saying Siew Yuk. (Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0)

Cafe Barbera @ Bangsar

This is another post overdue as it was supposed to be posted up last month. But I am really busy with work and my house renovation this whole month that I don't have much time to online and blog that much. I think I have another 2 - 3 posts in my PC right now which needed time to sort out and time to blog about. Cafe Barbera is recommended by one of my gym-mate which we decided to held one big birthday dinner. The place is located at Lorong Maarof, Bangsar Park. Parking isn't that much so better be early and park in the open space right in front of the place.

The place was brightly lit and really spacious. Not that much patron was around when we arrive and we had booked a private room for a private function. The room seemed to be unoccupied for sometime as there were some mosquitoes flying around when we arrived (sad). The chair are those with rollers which we sat in the office. Really really strange.

The place is decorated with a lot of coffee maker as it's famous for their brew coffee. But we didn't ordered any that night. They also served cakes and also some pastries. You can drop by in the afternoon to grab a quick bite and try out their coffee too. We were really hungry so we went to the menu and decided to try one of their appetizer.

We had ordered this creamy mushroom bruschetta for appetizer. Something new for me as normally we will get the usual tomato bruschetta. The toast bread are topped with minced mushroom with salad and creamy sauce. Something nice and simple to start your dinner off. It's really important that the bread are freshly toasted to crisp as it would be really bad if it's soft and cold.

Fettucine Chicken & Mushroom Carbonara - RM35/set or RM24 for ala-carte

They served two type of Carbonara over here and this is one of them. But I am not into chicken or ham and preferred beef any day.

Fettucine Beef Bacon Carbonara - RM35/set or RM24 for ala-carte

 No money for guessing who ordered this dish. Yup, me. I am really glad that the pasta is thick and dry. The beef is not too hard and just nice. I am not so into chicken or ham Carbonara like the first pasta above. Not the best I had but still a good decent plate of Carbonara for me.

Beef Parpadelle - RM35/set

This is wide size pasta cooked with pan grilled beef, garlic, chili flakes, tomato basil and demi-glazed topped with pesto sauce. I am again not into parpadelle because of the size of it. Cause the chef need to really control the cooking time of the pasta as if it is under cook, it would be really a big disaster. The pan grilled beef are really tender and nicely cooked with the chili flakes.

Fish & Prawn Penne

This is penne pasta cooked with slices of fish and prawns in tomato concasse, basil, garlic and black olives. I am not so into penne actually and seafood. As seafood need to be really fresh to really compliment the pasta.

Stir Fried Beef with Spaghetti

The name of the dish sounded like a Chinese dish, stir fried beef kuey teow or similar. But this is the similar dish but with a western twist to it. We have slices of striploin stir fried with garlic, peppers, onions and spring onions with their house sauce. This is what happen when Chinese meet Western dish I guess. Not bad.

Prawn Aglio Olio

This is one of the restaurant's recommended dish which is their prawn aglio olio. It's a simple dish but a simple dish is hard to prepared as always. You have the usual aglio olio pasta with two big prawns on top. The prawns are fresh (thank god) so it blend nicely with the pasta.

This is the dessert which came together with the set menu which we all ordered. You can choose between Tiramisu or Vanila. Although it's a set menu but this is still a good piece of Tiramisu cake.

As I mentioned earlier, the place boosted for their brew coffee and there's plenty of coffee machines in the restaurant. Some of the machines cost more than RM20K. That is one expensive cappuccino machine. 

Overall, the dinner was a good one. We had a fulfilling dinner and had a big laugh in the private room. Isn't the best pasta I had but it's above average which means that I will come back and recommend to my friend in the future. Good place for small gathering or couple's dinner. (Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0)

Meng Kee Char Siew @ Jalan Alor

Just to summarize my Char Siew expedition, I had finally arrived back at Meng Kee. But this time around they had moved to Jalan Alor from Tengkat Tong Shin. Luckily a women was giving away fliers regarding their move this new location or else it will be another waste of time traveling down for me. Surprisingly, my Papago was giving me the right direction but on the wrong direction, so I didn't take note of it. It is now located inside Restaurant Reunion Seafood which is located opposite Wah Chai Chicken Wing and next to Nova Hotel. 

As usual, they occupied a small stall but the all the customers in the restaurant only ordered their char siew. They serve char siew, roast chicken and steamed chicken only. But again, all the customers only ordered their famous char siew. Comparing to the one over at Shah Alam, this is way smaller in term of size.

Since I came alone, I had ordered a single pax char siew. Actually I intended to order additional portion but decided to order their bean sprout instead to try. I had specifically ordered half lean, half fat and the end portion. For me that is the best part of char siew for me. You get the over burnt with that extra sweet mixture of fat and lean meat. The pork seemed normal but once you sink your teeth into those shinning pork, you will taste some special herb type taste from the pork. Really amazing. I really hope that I can return and taste it again really soon. 

The lady was so nice to get a single pax steamed bean sprout for me. Nothing special just your average bean sprout but something I like bout this dish over here is that the fried minced garlic on top. It's really tasty. You have that crunchy bean sprout mixing with that crispy garlic, nice. 

Overall, the I had a really nice dish over here and as I mentioned earlier, I had finally finished my char siew adventure. Anyone out there can recommend me new places where you can get good char siew, do drop me a reply. I had tried Meng Kei over at Shah Alam but I think the one over at Jalan Alor is slightly better. (Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0)

Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant @ The Gardens (Re-visited)

I am not sure about anybody else, but I haven't been to any great Taiwan cuisine restaurant before except this. The best I had to date would have to be Fong Lye in The Gardens. My first and second visits seemed to be a pleasant one. I heard that there is another one called Fong Lye Restaurant  over at Plaza Prisma ,Ville Desa Sri Hartamas which offers cooked dishes for a group of people rather than bento sets like over here. But for now, lets get back to Fong Lye. As usual, the place is packed with people when we arrived. But luckily we managed to get a seat as there's just two of us. If you're coming here in a group, you would need to wait around 10-15 minutes if you're lucky. 

During my first and second visits, I had tried some of their appetizer like their famous Taiwanese Glutinous Rice Sausage and Sweet Potato Balls. This time around, I had ordered their Fried Oyster with Egg. As you can see, it is served with sweet sauce on top. The portion seemed to be enough for two to three pax.

You have the usual suspect like oysters, eggs, flour (a bit too much) and onions. The flour seemed to be a bit too much actually. I like the way they prepared the dish as the outer layer is cooked to crispy and the over burn part. Nothing too special for me. 

My friend had ordered their beef with onion set. The set come with steamed rice with some stewed pork on top as always. It's quite a norm for their steamed rice with stewed pork on top. Nice.

So what do we have for the side dish? We have their famous half stew egg, asparagus and the last seemed to be fried tofu with mayo inside. The best would be the fried tofu as the mayo was oozing out when I bite into it.

Now let's get to the main course. The portion seemed to be a bit little quite sufficient as we have side dishes and the appetizer. It's a simple dish but heck it's really nice. The beef are marinated and the scent of the spring onions really blend well with the fried beef. Nice. 

If that is not enough? Try finishing this bowl of hot chicken soup. Although it's nothing much to brag about but it's really above average. The portion of chicken are really generous and I almost didn't managed to finish it. \\

As for my set, I had ordered their Spicy Fried Chicken set. I am really hungry and this is definitely a right choice. The portion is really large. The chicken is fried to crisp and later poured with chili based sauce on top. It's not that spicy but just alright. I had actually ordered it to be extra spicy. Not the best I had but still a good dish to have on an empty stomach. 

Again, my trip is a nice one. Everything was good down to the soup. Will definitely recommend to my friends as I had a better here compared to Din Tai Fung, Xian Ding Wei or Fun Taipei. Been here a few times but never tried their beef noodle soup before. Will bring a friend who seemed to be an expert of beef noodle. Do let me know if you had tried anything else from here or anywhere else. (Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0)

Le Bouchon @ Changkat Bukit Bintang

French anyone? Yup, this is gonna be my first French fine dining ever. And what better place than Le Bouchon. Actually I am eying for Frangipani but I heard some negative reviews of the service and inconsistency in the quality of their food so I gave this a try. It was recommended by one of my friend and drop by to check the place out beforehand. Before what? Well if you don't know already, it's the venue for my proposal. Yup, you heard me right the first time. 

The place is opposite Frangipani at the end of the street. From the outside they served beers and wine while but when you walked pass the bar, you will come upon a comfy small French styled restaurant. 

There were only 3 couples the whole night I was there which is nice as I don't like the place to be too crowded for the special occasion. And the ambiance was just perfect. 

Wines were everywhere in this place. They are in the wine chamber, the cellar the wall the floor, you name it. You can check out their long list of wine in their website actually. 

We are not wine drinkers so we ordered some plain water. Gonna clear up my taste bud before the real meal comes in. We had ordered their Gourmet Menu which consists of a 4 course meal.

This is a some crackers which the chef had prepared for us while waiting for the course to be ready. As you can see, there's two type of crackers here. One of it consists of raspberry on top of it while the other is some sort of tomato based Bolognese sauce on top. I like the one with the Bolognese sauce better.

  Salade Périgourdine

For the first main course we have a plate of medley imported lettuces, goose liver terrine, confit gizzards, smoked duck with Cognac sultanas vinaigrette. This is one hell of a good salad in simple layman term. The portion was generous especially the smoke duck. Pretty nice for a first course.

It's our first taste of goose liver or foie gras in French. It's actually better than we thought. The texture are some sort like cheese. But whole lot better. And there's plenty of it in the salad. Splendid.

Gratin d’asperges aux truffes du Périgord et au Champagne

 As for my first course, it's gratin of asparagus with champagne sabayon and black truffles from Périgord. Sounds pretty Frenchy and look French too. Little but nicely decorated. I had expected their course to be small in portion and this is what I meant. Asparagus is simple but the sauce on top of it was really nice.

Coquilles St Jacques grillées et fricassée de champignons sauvages, sauce au Porto

Babe's second course was again spectacular. It's grilled sea scallops with wild mushroom fricassee and Port wine sauce. It's a simple dish but the fresh grilled scallop will make you go crazy. This dish has babe go GaGa. The nice mixed wild mushroom and port wine sauce is just perfect. 

 Soupe de moules noires au safran et légumes aromatiques

What is French dining without saffron soup? So here's my second course which is black mussels and saffron soup with aromatic vegetables. This soup seemed to fall flat on me. Maybe I don't really appreciate the saffron soup since it's my first attempt at it.

Carré d’agneau à la croute de fromage de chèvre, courgettes à la fleur de thym,
sauce au Cabernet sauvignon

This is babe's main course which I choose for her. It's rack of lamb with goat’s cheese crust, roasted zucchinis with thyme flowers with cabernet sauvignon sauce. The portion was large this time around which surprises us. Luckily though as we were worried that we will starve to death that night. haha~! 

 We had ordered medium well and the lamb really tasted good. I think they cooked the goat cheese crust onto the rack of lamb as I don't see any of it. And there's a bit of crunchy feeling to it which we both like. But towards the inner part of the lamb, it seemed a bit too raw for us.

  Magret de canard rôti au miel de montagne, échalotes confites et fricassée de légumes aux tomates séchées au soleil

I was contemplating between ordering their grilled fillet of seabass with fennel, roasted tomatoes and caviar sauce and this. And the waiter had recommended me the duck. My main course is this mountain honey roasted duck breast, confit shallots and fricassee of vegetables with sun dried tomatoes. Finally something really good on my side of the course. This is like Western style roast pork but in this case duck.

 It's medium well again as I ordered and the even portion of lean and fat meat on the duck with it's crispy skin really make my night a good one. Totally beautiful.

  Crème brulée aux framboises

And finally for my last course which is the dessert. We are actually really full after the main. Surprisingly, Yes. This is their crème brulée with raspberries. The looks are simple but trust me it's really really nice. The top part (I suspect) is burn using a torch which melted the sugar icing on top. The lower part is cold but maybe not as cool as I wanted it should be. But nevertheless, it's a good dessert.

Tiramisu à la mangue

This is one of their famous dessert if I am not mistaken, which is their Mango tiramisu. There's slices of mango in the middle part of the tiramisu cake. Babe totally love  this but there's only one down side of the mango which is it's not freshly sliced but we suspect from the can. But the strawberry on top was fresh.

Overall it was a memorable night as babe accepted my proposal and the dinner is the best fine dining we had. Well, it's our first and only one to date though. So we can't complain much. The price? It's RM148 per head. It's actually quite worth the money if you really think about it. I mean the ambiance, the quality of food and also the service. It's not a casual night out but definitely something memorable which you wanted to last forever. (Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0)