On Location!!! - Kuching

Kuching is super HOT!! Think that the sun is closer here! Decided to have some ice cold refreshments to cool down. Went to this hawker centre in Hui Sing. There is a stall there operated by this husband and wife team. Must say that they are quite elderly but are very friendly and happy to recommend one of their many shaved ice drinks!

The picture above is something called special. This has in it amongs other things, red bean, colourfull jelly strips, cendol, cincau, longans, etc etc. It is topped off with shaved ice, evaporated milk and splash of red syrup. Taste like any other ice kacang but what is noteworthy is the portion!! It was served in this huge metal bowl!! Very nice on a hot day like today.

Now, this picture above is something special. It is called matterhorn (not sure of the spelling). This one consists of lemon slices, cincau, colourfull jelly strips, cendol and logans. Topped off with shaved ice and clear syrup. This one is wonderfully refreshing. Nice blend of sweet from the syrup and sour from the lemon slices. Also served in the humungous metal bowl. Very sure you can't get this in West Malaysia (let us know if you can).

This stall also has other shaved ice drinks with weird names such as killer bee, white lady etc etc. Will visit this stall again to try all of them!

Makan Kings ratings = 6 out of 10

-Makan Kings-

On Location!!! Kuching - Ristorante Beccari @ Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites

Met up with an old friend in Kuching today. Decided to have an Italian lunch (actually one of us wanted a good salad and the other a good pizza.....). Arrived at the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites which is one of the better hotels in Kuching. The italian restaurant is called Ristorante Beccari.

First off, the salad. Can't remember the full name but in the bill it was called the "Incazzata". It is a salad chock full of nice crunchy greens, tomatoes, grilled eggplant, chicken pieces (it said grilled chicken pieces on the menu), crutons and cheese. The salad is very good. Have to say that the dressing used was superb with just the right amount of olive oil and whatever it is that's in there!

To go with the salad, the captain recommended an italian Chardonnay. The Chardonnay came chilled in a chilled glass. It was nice and crisp. Full bodied was what the captain described it as.

The entree! The pizza. Again, cant remember the full name but in the bill it is "Rustica". This is a thin crust pizza with toppings of tomato, peppers, olives, mushrooms and pepperoni. A very simple pizza that tastes fantastic. The tomato sauce base has a spiciness to it (or it could be from the peppers) which is a nice touch. Its worth mentioning that all pizzas are baked in this huge wood burning oven in the middle of the restaurant. We were sat next to it and was surprised how it was cool on the outside (earlier fearing that it would be hot sitting next to this huge oven!!)

To go with the pizza, the captain recommended another italian wine, this time a red wine. It was a Pinot Noir. Again another good recommendation by the ever helpfull captain.

Stayed tuned for more on location post from Kuching!

Makan Kings ratings = 7 out of 10

-Makan Kings-

Kimchi soup + korean instant noodles = Kimchi Chigae

One of our favourite foods (yea, we know there seems to be an endless list of these...) is kimchi chigae. It is served in most korean restaurants and is basically a piece (or 2, or 3....) of korean instant noodles in kimchi soup.

Went to a korean restaurant in Desa Sri Hartamas for a dose of kimchi chigae. The restaurant (cant remember the name) is in the row of shop that Maybank is in. It is on the 1st floor.

It is customary for korean restaurants to serve a variety of refillable appertisers (picture above) before any meal. These appertisers would include different kinds of kimchi (cabbage kimchi and maybe raddish kimchi), a salad, some sort of vegetable (tonight it was giant bean sprouts and spinach) and maybe a korean pancake.

These appertisers would change from day to day but always includes kimchi which is lovely.

Now, for the piece de resistance. The kimchi chigae. It is served in a humoungus pot with its own burner to boil the soup so that the noodles cook properly. The kimchi soup is full of cabbage kimchi, rice cake, spring onions, thin slices of pork belly, tofu and many other ingredients. The pot can be refilled with soup and noodles as you like. So far, this restaurant serves the best kimchi chigae. The kimchi soup is very flavourfull, spicy and hot. EXCELLENT!!

Makan Kings ratings = 8 out of 10

As the readers might already know, the Makan Kings consists of a few people, some of them are actually on holiday in Kuching and Penang. Stay tuned to on location postings.

-Makan Kings-

International Fat Rice...........

Helo! First of all. Would like to appologise for the lack of updates. We've all been so busy lately and havent had the time to upload pictures. Will be updating more frequently as soon as we are more free.

Ok, now to the food. Today's post is gonna be very short. But we're sure every Malaysian loves Nasi Lemak? Well, maybe not ALL Malaysians, but we're sure most of you do. Traditionally eaten for breakfast, nasi lemak can be found throughout the day. It's also nice to have after some heavy drinking or clubbing.

Nasi lemak is basically rice cooked with coconut cream, served with fried anchovies and peanuts, boiled or fried egg, cucumbers and the sambal. Other things can be added to the nasi lemak. The more common addition is cuttlefish cooked in some peanut sambal, fried chicken, beef or chicken rendang, etc etc. The list can be endless.

The above picture is a plate of nasi lemak from Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa. This little stall is located in Kampung Baru. Most KLites will know this place we think. Anyway, this plate of nasi lemak contains your normal nasi lemak condiments, to which we added cuttlefish and fried chicken. The thing about this stall's nasi lemak is the sambal. It is very spicy and sweet at the same time. Very addictive. The fried chicken is also worth mentioning. It is crispy and not overly cooked i.e. dry. The cuttlefish is also very good. Cooked in the same sambal but peanuts are added into the sambal to cook the cuttlefish.

Make sure you order a cup (or 2!) of any ice cold drink. You'll need it after eating this delicious nasi lemak.

Makan Kings ratings = 7 out of 10

-Makan Kings-

Seafood Noodles.......

Seafood again! This time its seafood noodles. You guys out there (especially those living/working in KL) will probably have heard of Yu Ai seafood noodles. The one we went to was the branch in Segambut. Think there is another branch in PJ somewhere.

Anyway, didnt take any pictures of the drinks cos nobody remembered. All of us had 'Michael Jackson' which is just normal soya cincau. We like the generous portion of cincau and the not to sweet soya bean milk. You can also have your normal chinese tea, soft drink and etc.....

Now onto the noodles. The basic ingredients of prawns, lala, mussels, fish fillets, sotong and shellfish are the same. The only thing you get to choose is the type of noodles (Kueh Tiaw, Bee Hoon, etc etc) and the soup. There are 3 different kinds of soup, the clear soup (picture above), tom yam soup (very popular) and the curry soup (picture below).

The thing to note about this restaurant is the generous portion of seafood!!! In a large serving (which all the pictures are of) you get 3 or 4 medium to large sized prawns and generous servings of the other types of seafood although abit more fish fillet would be nice.
The clear soup is nice and sweet, it is infused with the flavours of the seafood. The curry was equally good. It was creamy and had the right amount of spiciness.

Makan Kings rating = 7 out of 10

-Makan Kings-

Seafood......we like!!

Went to Kampung Subang for a seafood dinner recently. The restaurant is called Nam Hai. If you follow the road from Subang airport and head towards terminal 3, its in the row of restaurants after terminal 3 on your right.
This particular place offers exceptional service. There will be always someone around to make sure that your glass of tea is always full and he'll even crack open the crab shell for you (after wrapping it in tissue paper of course). Now that is what we call service!!

Started of with some drinks. They offered us the traditional chinese tea but we ordered some extra drinks. The drinks in the bottle are from China, it was ginseng with chrysanthemum. One of us ordered coconut which was chilled.

Started off the meal with a soup. This one is a very simple spinach soup. It was clear and a very good way to start off a meal.

Next thing to arrive was the double taste chicken. This is a chicken dish that is cooked two ways. Shredded chicken with a sweet, spicy and sour sauce was covered in crispy roasted chicken. The shredded chicken salad below the crispy roasted chicken was really good. It had the right amount of sourness, sweetness and spicyness. Think it was tossed with some jellyfish as well.
The roasted chicken was good as well. Notthing really special but we liked the crispy skin. Almost like roasted pig.

Next to arrive was giant freshwater prawns cooked with cheese. These prawns were huge!! And their heads were filled with delicious roe!! HEAVEN!
The cheese sause that it was cooked in was creamy but we must say that there was only a slight hint of cheese flavour. Otherwise this was a very enjoyable dish as well.

Next was the steam fillet of Soon Hock. This fish is highly regarded in restaurants and therefore can be quite expensive.
This version is a boneless fillet steamed with some soya sauce and ginger and oil. The fish was done perfectly! Not too cooked but not raw either. The sauce goes very well with the fish and white rice. Another good dish!

The last dish that we ordered is crabs. We ordered grilled crabs. This we think it the best way to have crabs. Simply grilled so that the flavours of the crab is tasted. Not masking the flavour with heavy sauces.
This dish was also good. It was so good that some of us were licking the shell before breaking it up to get into the sweet flesh!

Next we ordered dessert. We ordered sliced mangoes. The mangoes here are very very sweet. They are so sweet its almost unbelievable. It is so sweet that one of us decided to buy some back (we were convinced that they added some syrup after slicing so we bought some back to try for ourselves). The mangoes are really that sweet. No gimmick here!

Makan Kings ratings = 8.5 out of 10

This restaurant is really really good. Not only does it have good service, the food there is also really good. Do give this place a try! You will not regret it!

-Makan Kings-

Of Wings and Beers

Today, we are going to talk about snacks. In particular barbequed chicken wings. Not a particularly interesting food topic we know but the ones we had recently was too good for us not to post. The story starts when a group of old friends decide to gather for some catching up.....

Firstly, the beers. Its your average Tiger beer in cans. You can get this at any supermarket or convinient store. Best served icy cold! (Actually, you MUST serve beer icy cold otherwise it wouldnt be good)

Next, drive down to Jalan Alor, look for a stall called Wong Ah Wah and buy copious amounts of barbequed chicken wings. Its not very difficult to find. Go down the row of food shops and when you reach the last corner shop, you have found Wong Ah Wah!
The chicken wings from this particular stall is super delicious. The chicken wings are barbequed to perfection and the marinate that was used is good. Nice and sweet. Taste almost like meat floss. One of our friends even commented that he wants to marry Mr. Wong Ah Wah's daughter so that he can eat his chicken wings everyday!! It is that good. Trust us.

Makan Kings rating = 8 out of 10

-Makan Kings-

Nudles!!

Had some thai noodles the other day. It was at Rain Nudle House in KLCC. It is on the top floor and just next to a sport shop.

Started off with some appetisers. Ended up having the mixed platter. This mixed platter includes spring rolls, shrimp rolls, money bags, fish cake and mango salad. The spring rolls, shrimp rolls and money bags were ok but notthing to shout about. The fish cake was superb!! It had a good blend of fish and spices. It was very very smooth. We liked the spicy taste that it left in our mouth. The mango salad was a little to sour for us.

This dish is the clear tom yam noodles. Unfortunately it looks abit red because of the chilli powder that we added. The original clear tom yam soup was rather bland although very fragrant so we added some chilli powder to it. This dish is not very good. It is palatable but if we return we would definately give it a miss.

Now, this bowl on the other hand was very very very good!! It is Red Tom Yam Udon (this might be the wrong name but it was something like that). We think that the use of udon noodles instead of the more usual noodles is a nice touch. The soup unlike the other one was very flavourfull and did not need any condiments to make it taste good. It was full of mushrooms, prawns and chicken. Good to the last slurp!! YUMZ....

Makan Kings rating = 5.5 out of 10

-Makan Kings-

Sweet Talking

Today we are going to be talking about desserts!! Went to Sweet Talk in Pandan Indah the other day. You cant miss it. It is just opposite Steven's Corner and has a big bright yellow sign board.

This picture is the red bean cooler. It is cooked red bean topped with ice shavings and light coconut cream. One thing to note is the ice. It was extremely fine!! Almost like snow! This drink is good for those who like red beans. Its not overly sweet. Very good!

This is the sago honeydew. It is sago topped with some shaved ice and honeydew. This is almost like the one served at KTZ. We think the one there is better but this one was ok as well. Very very cold! Just the way we like it!!

The star of the night though is this. It is called Mango Fettucinne in the menu. The mango is fresh sliced mango and mango sauce. The fettucinne is some creamy jelly sliced to look like the pasta. This dish is served cold. It is very very good. Dont really know how to describe it here. But trust us, it is GOOD!!

Makan Kings ratings = 6 out of 10

-Makan Kings-

Makan Kings's Favourite..............Bak Kut Teh

Sorry for the long absent. Hope that you guys havent lost hope in the Makan Kings. As explained, we were having some internet trouble which has been rectified.

We'll start today with a post about one of our favourite foods. Bak Kut Teh. Basically its herbal pork ribs soup. The dish for today's post comes from a small shop in Jalan Imbi. Sorry, we do not know what is the shop's name nor do we know how to explain how to get there. Will post in the comment when we find out.

First up is the yau char kuay. It is just your basic deep fried pastry. Same as the one they serve with porridge. Notthing special about it. But it taste very good once soaked in the Bak Kut Teh soup for a while.

Next up is the yau choy (oil vegetables?). The vegetable is lettuce. It is simply blanched in hot water and served with some oil and oyster sauce. Notthing special as well but very good accompanyment for the Bak Kut Teh.

This dish above is the loh chu kiok. It is actually stewed pork leg. This dish is VERY good. The sauce is fragrant and sticky and tasty!! Beware though, pork leg has alot of fat and therefore shoud be eaten moderately. We actually dont really care but might as well put up a warning.

Ah! Here is the star of the meal! The Bak Kut Teh. The soup is very herbly and fragrant. Inside the soup you will find pork ribs, belly pork, pork intestines, pork stomach, various kinds of mushrooms (black and button to name a few) and also fu chuk (dried tauhu skin). This dish is eaten with rice and lots of garlic and chilli.
It is one of those food that even thought you dont feel like eating, you will eat alot. That is how good we think Bak Kut Teh is!! So, do head over to Jalan Imbi for a dose of heaven!!

Makan Kings ratings = 8 out of 10

-Makan Kings-