Meet Uncle Lim! Yes, the face behind Uncle Lim’s Kitchen at Pangkor Laut Resort. He’s staff no 001 at Pangkor Laut Resort. From what I heard, he’s been working as a personal cook for Tan Sri for many years way before the resort was built. So when they decided to build a Chinese restaurant at Pangkor Laut Resort, Tan Sri named it after Mr Lim, offering Nyonya and Hock Chew, home-cooked style  cuisines.

We decided to try out the food at Uncle Lim’s Kitchen on our first evening at Pangkor Laut Resort. I was expecting a down-to-earth, Malaysian-style ‘kopitiam-inspired’ food but holy cow, our dinner costed us RM713+ for just 3 persons! Thank goodness they were all packaged! I think that the price of their F&B outlets are exhorbitantly high even for non-Malaysian guests.  The Nyonya Assam Prawns costed RM65 and there were only 3 pieces of prawns, that means only one for each person! Seafood may be cheap at Pangkor but the perceived value attached to the YTL brand is certainly high! Service was excellent and we really enjoyed the attentive service of the waiters.

The dining experience at Pangkor Laut Resort was a culinary adventure to look forward to.  My favourite has got to be the daily breakfast at Feast Village. This is the breakfast worth waking up for!  I’m already missing the waffles, drizzled with cherries and dark chocolate sauce, sipping my latte with a view overlooking the sun-drenched sea.  Hei, even roti jala tasted better with the ocean breeze!

This is my other favourite hang out spot at Pangkor Laut Resort. Royal Bay Beach Club is strategically built in between the infinity pool and tennis court, and next to the gym, which makes it one of the most popular places for guests to grab a bite after a workout. We ate here twice and it was a cool chill out place after a day out under the sweltering heat. 

 It is always a joy to watch your food being prepared with such great enthusiasm. Even more interesting when it becomes an art in motion…..

……. and voila!! Our yummylicious desserts! I had the Rum & Raisin Ice-Cream over a bed of chopped dragon fruits and I scream ‘good’! The hazelnut & caramel parfait is also a note-worthy mention although I find it a little too heavy after a sumptious dinner. If you prefer something healthier, try the vanilla yogurt cake. Comparing against the earlier two desserts, the vanilla yogurt cake came short of being almost tasteless but my mom loved it!

Now, I have to make plans to visit Tanjong Jara soon!

Terms and Conditions:

• Eat all you can with no wastage.
• Strictly for dine-in only.
• Unfinished chocolate will be charge according to selling price.
• Beryl’s reserve the rights to change the terms and conditions without prior notice.

Introducing Subak!

“Built on the fringes of the natural virgin jungles of Bukit Lanjan, Subak is a sanctuary that promises diners a culinary journey of fine food and personalised service.”

It came as such a surprise that all these while, there is such a beautiful venue 10 minutes away from where I live, and I didn’t even know about it! Thanks to Desmond who was going over for a site recce and treated us to dinner. I fell head over heels in love with this place. It’s cozy, rather private and not too humid. It makes a good venue of choice for private functions.

The menu is not extensive but it has a good mix of Western and Asian dishes. Desmond ordered the Ala Subak’s Soto Ayam (RM12). A rather generous portion for a soup.

I tried the Subak’s NZ Lamb Shank Masala (RM40). The lamb shank was a disappointment. You know how sometimes you can’t finish your food,  so you keep it overnight and then the next day when you reheat the meat, it becomes a little tough, chewy and dry. The meat tasted like that. The Masala sauce, however, was really yummy especially when paired with the sweet potato mash. I felt the Masala could do with a little more spiciness.

Bernard had Barbecued Beef Ribs. It was ggooodd… the ribs were succulent, tender and tasty!

Subak is a great place to unwind if you’re looking for a quick escape from the daily rush. Just beware of the mosquitoes and remind the staffs to light the mosquito coils.

Where to eat: Subak, Lot 3213, Jalan Pencala Indah, Bukit Lanjan, 60000, Kuala Lumpur.

If I have to choose one Chinese restaurant that is strongly NOT recommended, Oversea Restaurant at Subang Parade would be the top of my list. I attended a friend’s wedding here last weekend and the restaurant had two weddings running at the same time without a proper divider or partition between Hall 1 and Hall 2. The couple next door had a worship session prior to the start of dinner, so it also affected our side of the wedding and because the music was so loud, everyone started speaking even louder and it became chaotic. We also had the opportunity to view the projector screen of the wedding next door each time they played the slides.

The funniest was the food parade segment when the waiters had to walk in through the other couple’s wedding to present the food to us. Anyway, throughout the night, all the waiters had to walk through the other function to get to our side because the kitchen was located on the other side of the room.  I’d be so upset if it was my wedding or my clients’ wedding. I don’t think the restaurant has the resources to host two weddings simultaneously because the serving of the dishes were rather slow and the waiters kept dissappearing. There wasn’t a continuous flow of food from one dish to the next, but it was a wonderful time for us to catch up with old high schoold friends after so many years.

Another disadvantage is that after the dinner, guests will have to walk through the empty mall to get to their car parks, and some of us got a bit lost because some of the doors were already locked. We ended up walking through Coffee Bean to get to our cars which were parked outdoor and some other friends were escorted by a security guard who led the way to get to basement carpark.

Food was average and I think it still losses out to The Oriental Group of Restaurants.

Hands down, this popiah stall at Wo Wat restaurant in Malacca sells the best popiah I’ve ever tasted!  This unassuming rundown restaurant is located along Jalan Pantai.

Once you bite into the popiah, the explosion of juicy ‘pang kuang’ and dried shrimps coupled with tasty egg omellete, vinegar grind chilli and fried pork lard will totally leave your tastebuds salivating for more!  It only costs RM2.30 each and the portion is huge. But trust me, one piece won’t be enough!

We are spoilt for choices when it comes to dining in Malaysia, but good dim sum selection in the morning is still quite scarce. My favourite is Restaurant Phang Yeh at Happy Garden OUG Old Klang Road. Which is your favourite?

HALAL

An up-market village, if I may say so. In simple, sleek black wood interior with touches of gold-coloured finishing that are accentuated by clever lighting, this restaurant carries the best concept among all the other food outlets at 1Borneo Hypermall. It was enough to tempt us to walk in even though the restaurant was deprived of bustling customers one would expect from every Penang-themed F&B outlets.

Alas! Penangites would probably cry foul, stomp their feet and bang the tables demanding for refund and removal of the word ‘Penang’ if they ever do take a bite at this food joint, which serves food that is no where close to the distinct flavours of Penang.

We were hungry, tired and desperate for good food. So imagine our frustration when we had to wait more than 20 minutes for our food and drinks even though the restaurant only had three tables of customers of which customers at the other two tables were already eating when we sat down. The halal Lobak was pretty alright except for the sweet sauce that they drizzled over the meat which totally killed the appetiser. The deep-fried bean sprouts with carrots and spring onion was rather oily and tasteless. You must take it with the dry satay sauce.

Every other dish was averagely bad including the relatively easy dish, Sweet & Sour Fish. It reminded me of the instant sweet & sour sauce so generously used for all the sweet & sour meals at a Chinese takeaway shop in UK where I used to work when I was a student. Price wise, they have set menus starting from RM29.90 onwards. I’ve read of rave reviews on other franchise outlets in Klang Valley. I must try them out one of these days. It can’t be all that bad, can it?

Where to Eat: Penang Village, Lot C308 – C309, Concourse Floor, 1Borneo Hypermall, Jalan Sulaman, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Apparently kelapa bakar (roasted coconut) and coconut jelly are some of Sabah’s specialties. We stopped by this stall on our way back from Nexus Karambunai for some fresh coconut juice and home-made coconut jelly. The kelapa bakar looked curiously tempting but I wasn’t in the mood for adventure especially after a heavy meal so we skipped the black, wood-burnt coconuts.

The jelly taste pretty much like our home-made version of agar-agar gula melaka with coconut except this one is without the gula melaka and slightly richer with coconut milk. I actually find it to be a little bland without gula melaka eventhough it’s sweetened.

The stall also sells lokan panggang (grilled clams), lokan mentah (raw clams), rice, soto ayam and home-made crackers. We bought the crackers to munch while on our journey to the airport. Good stuff.

This picture was taken at Tanjung Aru beachside. Peter’s friend drove us here for drinks just before I checked in at the airport. A pretty convenient way to serve coconut juice!

NON-HALAL

Who would have guessed that out of all places in Malaysia, the best and the most authentic Hong Kong-style cafe can be found right smack at Kota Kinabalu’s new landmark, the 1Borneo Hypermall.

We didn’t have the chance to try out the tea time snacks even though we’ve been going back to this restaurant almost on a daily basis during our 6-day visit to Kota Kinabalu. The sad news is, we were prepped up in 1Borneo Hypermall from 10 to 10 daily due to work obligations, with no opportunity to venture out onto the streets of Kota Kinabalu city except for the last day.

One glance at the restaurant and one might have expected the menu to resemble Kim Gary’s mundane overpriced choice of food but as soon as you flip open the menu, you’d be greeted by so many delicious pictures, you won’t even be able to decide what to eat.

I didn’t try any of their rice options because the noodles were so good I didn’t mind eating the same dish for both lunch and dinner.

The mixed meat wonton noodle is really tasty. Their top selling point is really in their noodles. The wonton noodles resemble closely to Hong Kong’s version – cooked al dente which makes it crunchy and chewy. The serving portion is very generous too. The only setback was they didn’t serve any wonton with the noodles, you’ll have to order them separately.

The Special Shredded Pork Meat Sauce Spinach Noodle was a disappointment at first glance. However, once I mixed them up, I found the dish to be relatively good. The shredded pork was more like diced pork with sweet sauce that  had a similar taste to the fillings of char siew pao, but the mushroom carried a different aftertaste, perhaps a pinch of Chinese 5-spice seasoning mix in pork broth.  I really couldn’t tell. I guess that’s why it’s called ’special sauce’. All these mixed with the saltiness from the black sauce and spicy chilli oil made it oh-so-yummy down the the last strand of noodle.

Ashley had the fish version but I forgot to ask her about it. Looks delicious nonetheless.

At RM6.80 a bowl, the Fook Chow Fishball Seaweed Soup is a good deal. Filled with tasty minced pork and preserved vegetable, and garnished with lots of sesame seeds and chopped spring onions, the fish balls are surprisingly, very filling. Well, they are definitely not as good as the ones I’ve tried in Taiwan but still, fresh and tasty.

What I really like about this place is that it’s authentically Chinese. No slacks in ingredients. You get tasty roast pork instead of cheap sausages, Chinese fast food with a serving size that is worth the value you’re paying for and delectably familiar dishes that are not reinvented into stylish fusion names.

Go there during lunch hour between 12pm -3pm to enjoy the set lunch promotion at only RM9.90.

Where to eat: Hong Kong Recipe, G – 823, 1 Borneo Hypermall, Jalan Sulaman, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

I am a real sucker for pastries. Which is why every visit to Chinese towns and cities such as Ipoh, Penang and even Malacca is a wonderful merriment of traditional pastry exploration. By that I mean walking from shop to shop in the old town to check out what traditional delights the local folks have to offer.

Even though my latest trip to Ipoh did not provide much time for such leisurely activity, I was happy to have checked out these two outlets which are located close to the chicken rice hot spot. Right after dinner, we walked across the street to Comeson Restaurant which houses the Lam Fong pastry stall from 4pm onwards till late. I do not know what all these various pastries are called in the English language, but I believe the exploration of tastebuds is an adventure in itself when you check out all these cute delights. Just buy one each to try them out, and maybe come back the next day to buy more of the ones you really like.

Next stop – the Yee Thye Cake House for Perak’s famous produce [among its many other], the 香饼 (heong peng), directly translated as fragrant pastry or Biskut Madu. Ever since my friend took me to a home bakery in Taiping to buy freshly made, out-of-the-oven piping hot heong peng, every trip to this northern state is never without a few bags of this deliciously addictive treat.

These biscuits were still hot when we picked them up. They are not made in the shop itself. The pastries are transported to the outlets to be packed upon delivery. The layers of crust is crisp and flaky yet not too thick. I like the fillings very much, with just the right blend of sweetness, saltiness and fragrant shallots. So yummy I wished we had bought more

I have yet to visit the famous one in Gunung Rapat so I can’t quite compare between the various brands but I give this a thumbs up and a verdict of 8/10.

Yee Thye Cake House & Confectionery

No 1-3, Jalan Theatre, Ipoh (Tel: 05 – 241 3482)

The branch is located at No 32-36, Jalan Theatre, Ipoh (05 – 253 2270)