Makan Kings

Momotalo @ Desa Sri Hartamas

2008-10-16T10:40:00.004+08:00

Hi guys! I'm back!! Absolutely sorry for the extreme hiatus but work has been a bitch. This review was done quite some time ago but I'm sure the restaurant is still there.

First to arrive (apart from our iced green tea) was the soup. It's sort of a miso based soup with seafood (they have others like chicken as well). Generous amounts of salmon, squid, prawns, tofu and seaweed in this sweet and absolutely delicious soup which is served in a paper pot. Best part is that the staff will constantly refill the soup at no charge.

Next the staff brought out a earthen bbq pot to start cooking our meats. We ordered a cheesy potato (in the foil) and that went on to start cooking first. Then they started cooking the lamb chops. Yes, the staff do the cooking and all you need to do is wait, enjoy friends and family company and eat once its done. Sorta like a japanese style korean bbq place.

As for carbohydrates, we had plain rice. I especially appreciate the little touches like toasted black sesame seedson the rice.

Next was the chicken. I should also say that just like a Korean bbq place, they will change the grill after each meats to ensure cleanliness. Another nice touch that I personally really appreciate.

The chicken was great! Marinated in a miso (I think) paste it was sweet and extremely savoury which made for really good eating.

Then came the seafood. The king crab. This was simply done with pepper and salt and was great way to cook the delicious crabs. Not cheap but worth every single cent.

Next we had the veggies. Apart from the cheesy potatoes (sorry, didn't manage to get a picture of the foil parcel open we had green peppers and corn. Very simple vegetables that was a nice interlude to the meats.

I love pork!! Doesn't matter how you cook it, I'll love it! Everyone knows and I'm not embarrassed to say that I regard the pig as the noblest of noble animals. They're cute when they're small, extremely smart and the meat makes for divine eating! The way it's done here is thinly sliced fatty pork simply marinated with soy sauce (again, not 100% sure). Excellent!!

Something weird however is that pork is not on the menu and in our bill there was no sign of pork. Instead we got charged for "deer"!! I smell dodgy! :p

The pork was suppose to be the last dish but a last check into the menu and we found intestines. They took the longest to cook because instead of rubbery, the staff to extra care to heat and cook it till crispy deliciousness!!

Momotalo although not a very fancy restaurant gets my two thumbs up for the excellent food and staff attentiveness. Each dish was delicious and the dipping sauce was great. Unfortunately no picture of the sauce but it's basically 3 different types that you mix.

Makan King's ratings = 9 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Makan Thai: Somboon Seafood

2008-07-24T18:48:00.005+08:00

The famous and cash only seafood restaurant in bangkok is always a favourite amongst the locals and tourists and often imitated by other seafood restaurants. Somboon only has 5 branches in Bangkok so BEWARE of scammers that uses "similar names". Taxi drivers usually get paid a huge sum of commission for driving you to a "fake somboon". We usually eat at the Surawong branch which we think is nearer to the city center. Somboon is famous for their seafood, even the Japanese royalty once dined at this famous restaurant. Even though the price is abit on the high side but the taste is exceptional that's why people keep on flocking back to this restaurant ever since they opened up their first restaurant back in 1969. Their most famous dish is the Curry Crab similar to the ones that you find in Singapore. The Curry Crab is NOT the reason that keeps the MakanKings for going back there to eat everytime that we are in Bangkok. To us, the Curry Crab is just well like any other curry crab but it's the other dishes in the menu that entices our tastebuds !
Makan King's Favourite Dishes at SomBoon:
(1) Roasted Crab with glass noodle
(2) Tom Yum Goong
(3) Thai Styled Steam Fish
(4) Barbequed Roe Crabs
(5) Fresh Oysters
(6) Water Prawns stir fried in garlic and chillipadi

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Photos that we've taken back in 2005 - during our FIRST visit to somboon ^_^ and when we first started MakanKing

MakanKings Rating: 8/10

Somboon Surawong

169,169/7-12 Surawong Rd.,Suriyawong, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500

Tel. 02-233-3104Fax. 02-234-4499

Makan Thai: Erawan Tea Room

2008-07-24T18:15:00.004+08:00

Most Buddhists and tourists that visits bangkok will surely go offer prayers to the famous Brahma Shrine at Erawan (Phra Phrom). The next time when you're there, remember to pay a visit to the Erawan Tea Room in the building adjacent to the Erawan Shrine. Erawan Tea Room is owned by the Grand Hyatt Hotel and offers afternoon tea sets and snacks for tired shoppers to take a break.
Our tea set, loved their coconut themed kuihsTofu Delivery King's Pork Flat Noodles served with Bean sprouts and crispy Pork Skin yummy !

My egg covered Phad Thai

MakanKings Rating: 7/10

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A late night trip to swensen's at Thonglor

Chocolate truffle sundae OMG heavenly !

Signing off,
Ketchup Queen

Makan Thai: 大戸屋 Ootoya

2008-07-24T17:31:00.005+08:00

Ootoya is a japanese restaurant that has chain stores all over Japan and have recently opened up their stores in Bangkok at J avenue Thonglor, Emporium and Siam Paragon. I was kind of intrigued when I saw the "crazy queue" outside Ootoya and decided to go in for lunch.Ceaser Salad, I think that the grilled chicken that accompanied the salad is seasoned with honey, it tasted so good we actually thought of ordering the chicken as an ala carte item the next time we pop into Ootoya.

Tonkatsu Set (one of their Must Eat items), the tonkatsu is super crispy and the tonkatsu sauce is amazing and they do give out mustard and fresh sesame seed for you to pound. The portion of this dish is quite big so sharing is recommended.

My grilled mackerel set. The fish is very fresh and grilled to perfection but again the portion is too big and only at RM24 for the whole set.

They have a selection of soy related desserts which is simply too delicious

Macha Ice cream served with red bean paste, dumpling and green tea jelly covered in soy milk.

Soy Bean Milk Cream served with Red beans

Overall, Ootoya is a nice place for a quick lunch or dinner at affordable prices and the portion is quite big so big eaters (like us at MakanKings) would be in paradise.
MakanKings Rating: 7/10
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PS:This might not come as a surprise for many but for others, Japanese food in Bangkok is waaayy better (in terms of the taste and the quality of ingredients that they use) than the japanese restaurants back in Malaysia and not at cut-throat prices (for example RM40 for 5 pieces of sashimi at Sugimoto KL whereas RM13 for 5 pieces of sashimi at Fumi Bangkok), so remember to eat japanese food while you're in BKK.

Signing off,
Ketchup Queen

Makan Thai: Spice Market at the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok

2008-07-24T03:11:00.010+08:00

I think that the Spice Market at the Four Seasons (otherwise known as the Chap Fan Stall at Cut-Throat Prices) is a nice place for first timers that is visiting Bangkok to have a taste at Thai food because the Set dinners available at the restaurant has a very comprehensive set of Thai dishes commonly eaten by the locals, not forgetting the excellent "Four seasons service, i.e they ONLY PAY ATTENTION TO THE ANG MOH", food are not that spicy (WHICH IS A MAAAJORR turn off for south-east asian such as myself), nevertheless the taste is nice but not great. What i'm trying to say is that it's is not worth the RM350 (inclusive of a bottled mineral water, fruit punch and singha beer) that we paid. You can get to taste similar food at any Mixed Rice (Chap Fan) Stall in Bangkok and probably pay less than Rm5 for a full box of chap fan.

MakanKings "We've been BOMBED"Rating: 4/10

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*Sidenote*
Going Bananas for Bananas

Banana fritters with maple syrup and mint chocolate chip ice cream from The Loft Central Chidlom, Bangkok

Very very crispy and sweet banana fritters bought from the market at PJ Old town (near KFC and Sunrise Duck Rice)
I Heart Pisang Goreng,
Ketchup Queen ; )

Makan Thai: Antonio's

2008-07-24T02:04:00.007+08:00

Antonio's is a quaint little Italian restaurant in Sukhumvit that serves great Italian food. Reservation is needed as the place is at capacity most of the time but is still able to provide intimacy for people on first dates on the upper level of the restaurant, its friendly and efficient staff and owner Antonio himself is always present to provide you with suggestions when ordering your food and attend to your culinary needs. The "Hot items" to order at Antonio's includes King fish carpaccio,Lamb Shank and Ravioli in truffle sauce. They also offer many types of pastas and rissotto, pan fried foie gras, fresh seafood platter and so on.

Some focaccia cheese toasties with salsa to nibble on while waiting for our appetizer

pssst: even they bread is nice :P

Sauteed river prawns
Lobster Bisque
The "MUST EAT" item at Antonio's is their home made Ravioli filled with porcini mushroom served with cream truffle sauce. I don't know what they do or how they do it but I must say their ravioli is simply OUT OF THIS WORLD.. especially the truffle sauce, makes me salivate everytime I look at it *salivating now*. There's this magical explosion of taste in every single bite, the combination of the ingredients for this dish is too perfect for words.

Seafood pasta was sensational
And for dessert, Chocolate Lava Cake.... MmMmMmMMmmm see the hot "lava" oozing out ?

Overall, we had a jolly good time and dinner at Antonio's - a restaurant where the people are serious about their food.

*I would like to apologize on the picture quality, had to use non-flash photography via a cell phone*

Licking lips,

Kechup Queen.

Makan Kings Rating: 8/10

Antonio's - The Italian Experience

Address: 59/1 Soi Sawasdess, Sukhumvit 31 Rd., Klong Toey, Wattana, Bangkok, 10110.

Tel: 0-2258-4247/4108

Makan Thai: Cream & Fudge !

2008-07-24T01:27:00.005+08:00

Cream and Fudge is a sinfully addictive ice cream parlour available all over thailand.

Why "Factory" after the cream and fudge is that you get to "manufacture" your own creation. What is the difference between cream and fudge with other ice cream parlour is that they have all the TOPPINGS that you can ever think of (all the fruits and jellybeans and chocoloate chips and fresh fruit, sweets I could go on forever you just have to see it for yourself)to put in your ice cream. You get to pick your own ice cream toppings (as many as you want) and the lovely cream and fudge staff will mix the toppings all up "Teppanyaki" style for you and tadah your creation is complete.

Visit http://www.creamandfudge.com/ for further details.

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen.

Makan Thai: Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Author's Lounge

2008-07-16T23:23:00.008+08:00

Arguably the best high tea in Bangkok and Ketchup Queen's favourite afternoon hang-out spot :P Hey they serve the best scones and clotted cream !! Besides the delightful scones they also serve very nice cakes and pastries, the author's lounge also provides a very relaxing ambience for you to just kick back and have a cuppa and read a little or simply catch up with some girl friends about all the latest fashion, restaurants, gossips hiak hiak hiak :P One thing nice about the hotels along the riverside is that they have free ferry via the river from the BTS station.

Mandarin Oriental's dock
Mandarin oriental's ferry
On the ferry

Lime sorbet

Fruit cake for my mom

Fresh fruit preserves - pomegranate & rose
Raspberry sundae

Lotus flower decor in the ladies room
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Alternatively, if you don't want to travel all the way to saphanthaksin or no one to share that 3-tiers of cakes and sanwiches with you, you can get the scones at only RM14 compared to the entire tea set for 1 that costs RM99 at any Oriental Bakery (available at siam paragon/central chidlom/emporium)down town.

L'Opera cake

PS: LOOK WHAT I FOUND hahaha Beng-beng chocolate waffle bar, they should one strawberry flavoured waffle bar named "Lala" or "Lian-lian" hahaahaha *oh i'm so mean*
Signing off,

Ketchup Queen

ps: The dark knight was boring

Level 2 of Our Villa at M.O Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai

2008-07-16T23:01:00.010+08:00

Below are the pictures of our sleeping chamber at our hotel that consists of a private balcony, a seperate reading room, toilet, walk in closet, indoor jacuzzi, private shower oh my...

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen

Level 1 of Our Villa at M.O Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai

2008-07-15T22:38:00.011+08:00

Below are the pictures I've taken from level one of our villa, there's a plunge pool ( quite small though), a steam room instead of a sauna, a kitchenette, a spacious living room and dining table,our own sala, a piano (CAN YOU IMAGINE) lounging chairs etc etc and all the amenities that you could ever imagine and including insect repellent !

Personal steam room is so cool :D

Ketchup Queen, signing off (Can't wait to watch the DARK KNIGHT tonight arghh *squeals*)

Live like the kings @ Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai

2008-07-14T02:34:00.018+08:00

Heaven on Earth ? Close...

The majestic $80 million USD and 60 acres mandarin oriental property is a site not to be missed in Chiang Mai in fact it was referred to by many 'a living museum' of Northern Thailand and has turned into an icon. We stayed at the Grand Deluxe Villa with Plunge Pool, it was undoubtedly the best 5 star hotel we've ever stayed, it was like living in palace that time has forgotten. It's a totally different experience, we felt like we've died and gone to Heaven or we've been transported back to the 15th century Thailand where every single corner of the property is thoughtfully decorated with antiques and artifacts from the Lanna era not to mention their lush greenery which makes the resort ever so mystical and romantic. In short ART was EVERYWHERE the tiles, the carved wood, the statues and at a spare no expense rate. Please click the following link to know more about Lanna culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanna. First of all we were at awe at the scale and architecture of this hotel this property is so huge that it has its own library which holds 5000 volumes, a spa,organic vegetable garden, temple, padi fields (with an ox and scarecrows),market place, cooking school and a thai village ! Oh did i mention this place is so huge you need horse drawn carriages (OMG) and golf carts to go from one place to the other or alternatively you can rent bicycles from the hotel. We couldn't find a flaw in this hotel, they had a very competent army of staff that greets you with your last name everywhere you go, impeccable service all the time, great food and even greater scenery and best of all you learn a new culture while you play. Dhara Dhevi ' means star goddess in Sanskrit' truly lives by the name that it is given, a resort that deserves to have a class of its own and we can't wait to go back.

On the way to Fujian Restaurant for some Dim sum
Khad Dhara shopping village

Pada fields

You can borrow any book, dvd you like in the library it's actually such a nice place to do some leisure reading and they serve you complimementary refreshment and candies : )

Horse drawn carriages

The grand ballroom

The majestic looking Naga
The hotel Lobby
Waiting area over at the Colonial Suites

The Colonial Pool

Lovely pink floor tiles

Dinner and Culture Dance Show at The Grand Lanna Restaurant

Moo paeng - Super juicy and tender Barbeque pork

Duck curry

Banana fritters

Water chestnut
For more information high resolution pictures about Dhara Dhevi (sorry about the poor quality of pictures) please visit:

http://mandarinoriental.com/chiangmai/photo_gal/

Xoxo,

Ketchup Queen

Makan Thai: Love at First Sight Dessert Shop Chiang Mai

2008-07-13T18:21:00.013+08:00

The makan king crew loves to travel to the Land of Smiles (Thailand) for obvious reasons such as: it is our neighbouring country, food and lodging are not at cut-throat prices, people are friendly, good customer service, bangkok is a huge bazaar by itself and you and most importantly delicious FOOD are found everywhere !

This time we made a trip up towards the nothern part of Thailand to the mesmerizing ChiangMai Province. After we've freshened outselves up in hotel we headed straight to a famous bakery called Love At First Sight for a late lunch. We arrived there approximately around 2:30 in the afternoon and was surprised that the cafe was packed. Love at first sight is famous for their pastries and cakes among both locals and foreigners that lives in ChiangMai. Considering the fact that the cafe itself is quite small we were gobsmacked at the choice of desserts available at that petite cafe. Anyway, here are pictures that we've taken during our visit.

Lemon Tart not as lemony as i thought it would be a definate must try

Tiramisu - so so I still think the tiramisu from Alexis is still the best

Strawberry trifle yum yum

Beef stew

Chicken Pot Pie
After a satisfying our sweet tooth we went to the zoo and the tiger sanctuary to burn off those calories

Restroom only for Bush animals? hahaha

Hello Panda

By paying rm30 you get to touch baby tiger cubs

Paying RM 2 for a piece of meat to feed the baby leopards we actually spent RM20 so i guess the cubs are bloated now ; )

After our trip to the zoo we went further north to the famous Wat Phra Doi Suthep temple

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen - Remember to eat your ketchup today

Dinner at Yamatokan

2008-06-25T10:58:00.007+08:00

Charcoal Grill Dinner at Yamatokan
We were given a choice of kaiseki or charcoal grill dinner we opted for the latter because I don't really enjoy cold dishes and was really hungry that night and i need volume cause kaiseki's portion are usually quite small.
To ensure that you can dine in privacy each room has their individual dining room "more like a large cubicle" I truly bow to the japanese and their thoughtfulness in everything.

Appetizer - with an autumn flair notice the red leaves *too cute to eat*
Seafood platter

Our sushi platter

Our dinner menu
It's autumn so their cold oden is in the shape of red maple leaf so cute
Peach and Pear sorbet to cleanse the palate
Let's continue

Minced meatball hotpot

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen

Yamatokan - An Unforgettable Onsen Expenrience

2008-06-25T07:10:00.016+08:00

Our quaint little tatami suite room with private onsen bath and a lovely japanese garden. I love it so much I felt like I was in a japanese doll house that I've never had and was playing "masak-masak" with everything that I can find in it and truly experience Japanese style of living but those that are more than five feet eight should mind their heads as Tofu Delivery King managed to knock his head on the doors several times.

I attempted to join other fellow japanese girls at their ladies only onsen (public bath for ladies) but I initially backed out because I couldn't stop staring at other people's bodies and the old japanese ladies were persuading me to join them and not to be shy but I just don't feel confident to go au natural infont of everybody hahaha and trust me it's a different kind of feeling compared to a topless beach because you are required to bath before you go into the public pool and I don't really like to bath infront of everybody... Bottom line is : I couldn't stop staring I felt bad and I left because I've embarrassed myself because to the japanese staring at others is considered very rude therefore I feel so lucky to have my own onsen bath in my own suite tee hee

You get to adjust the amount of hot or cold water and the amount of mineral water you want in your tub how considerate

Japanese style dressing table

Lazy kitty taking a nap
My room isn't that small afterall ^_^

Loved the embroidery on the cushion cover

Free japanese titbits

I sooooooo wanted to steal this needle box back home but was too chickened out to do it

Around 5pm the housekeeper will send our yukatas and amenities for us to freshen up and get ready dinner (more like a feast as you shall see)

Enjoying cuppa green tea during mid afternoon

Mini bar

Our Bathroom

Ketchup Queen Loves Onsen !!!

Makankings Rating: 10/10

Eating Out in Japan: Ito Shizuoka

2008-06-25T06:11:00.012+08:00

We've chosen to go to Ito for onsen instead of Hakone due to the fact that the onsen we wanted was at full capacity but with no regrets after we've experienced the tranquil town Ito just what we needed - getting away from the hustles and bustles of Tokyo town.

We had Sushi for lunch - seafood in ITO is excellent because they are incredibly FRESH ohh lala!

Toro

*actually we had an ebi head miso soup which I forgot to take picture :( "
Guess what ? The Japanese TV Crew has visited this little sushi shop before that's why the shop is constantly pack the two days when we were there.
Dried seafood produce everywhere

Cute little monkey god.

Sweet Shop - Ito is famous for their "mantou" so we visited one of their mantou shops

We loved the FOC Green tea so much that we bought a packet of the tea leaves

Daifuku - red bean flavour
The streets of Ito

Pancakes yummy : )

Eating Out in Tama: Day full of cuteness at Sanrio Puro Land

2008-05-16T01:24:00.005+08:00

Eating Out in Tokyo: Roppongi Hills 六本木ヒルズ,

2008-05-15T01:28:00.009+08:00

Roppongi Hills - L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

Tokyo Tower in sight

Bellini to start off with

Their very professional open kitchen

The appetizers all taste somewhat normal nothing to shout about but the presentation of the food is really good

Loved the foie gras risotto

Ramen for supper

A bowl of perfection loved the eggs it's hard boiled but with a slightly runny yolk and the juice from the pork belly makes the soup so much sweeter

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen

Eating Out in Tokyo: Park Hyatt Tokyo

2008-04-29T00:29:00.009+08:00

Romantic Dinner at The New York Grill, Park Hyatt

I would like to apologize for the poor quality of the photos or the lack of them, I was too shy to whip out our slr kekeek

The library

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After Tofu Delivery King and I finish up a bottle of Moet we became hungry again so we stopped at a road side noodle stall for supper

Videos below are the night sceneries taken from the New York Grill

Eating Out in Tokyo: Ginza銀座

2008-04-27T18:00:00.010+08:00

Kaen Yakiniku - Ginza Branch

Yakiniku is a style of japanese cooking of bite sized meat and vegetables or seafood on griddles over flame wood of carbonized by dry distillation 炭火. Kaen is one of the best meals during our trip in tokyo.
Spring onions and tare sauce

Their signature tofu pot

Our yakiniku set - that consists of butter fish, abalone, scallops, pork, lobster, sea urchin, alaskan crab claws, tuna in skewers and assorted vegetables

Crab claws attack !

Scallop with melted butter and spring onions
Lobster and fresh abalone

The marinated pork is superb it's the japanese 'black pig' meat
But the sauce caused a minor fire hehe
Lobster head miso soup
Hotpot rice

Kaen has many branches but the queue is insane therefore reservation is strongly suggested.

The End.

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen

Eating Out in Tokyo: Shimbashi新橋

2008-04-27T16:42:00.009+08:00

Hokkaido Seafood Izayaka - Shimbashi Branch
北海道　新橋四丁目店 - 海鮮居酒屋

If you're not going to to Hokkaido then let hokkaido come to you. I'm a die-hard fan of the Alaskan King Crab so obviously I won't pass up the chance to dine in a restaurant that specializes in alaskan crabs. I found this restaurant from Hotpepper.jp and I couldn't stop salivating when I saw this from their website:

特大たらば蟹炙り

XL size Crab legs !!
That night we had a whole crab shabu-shabu

The crab legs have been conveniently separated by the kitchen staff

Tadah my favourite way of eating the alaskan crab - baked with sea salt

OMG.... I want it i want it now
The roe inside our enormous crab
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Conrad Tokyo's Executive Lounge

After our scrumptious crab feast we went to our hotel's executive lounge to have a couple of drinks and to enjoy the night view

Tofu Delivery King had his oden and juice

I had my after meal chocolates and champers

What a luscious evening it was.

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen

Eating Out Tokyo: Ikebukuro 池袋

2008-04-27T07:53:00.006+08:00

俺たちのとりとん Izakaya

The streets of ikebukuro are teaming with izakayas and pachinko parlours and KTVs and game arcades as ikebukuro hosts as a favourite hangout area for university students - they are everywhere in that area ~ the izakaya that we went to specializes in pork and chicken meat in fact you can any part of the pork or chicken that you want but they serve mostly skewered dishes ( yakitori )being a izakaya that is a must have and they are also famous for their oden, I shall elaborate further below:

Their oden is the best that I've eaten in Tokyo I've eaten some from the roadside stalls on the streets but none of them beats the ones they serve in this izakaya the daikon and the sausage was superb I don't know how they can make such a simple dish so delicious and not to mention at very affordable prices, i think it is the magic in the seasoning ; )

Oden*is a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, konnyaku, and processed fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth*
I don't collect matches but these are too adorable to pass up
Pickled vegetables as appetizers
We were worried that we wouldn't know what or how to order owing to the fact that we do have a language barrier but when we opened up the menu we found out that there are detailed illustrations on the parts of the chicken or pork in the menu plus we do read chinese so it made ordering easier

Beverage Menu
My orange flavoured sake cocktail, I had two and start to feel abit tipsy
This is the minced meat hamburg with poached egg yummy

Pork cutlet
Our tsukune

Unfortunately we were too hungry and too busy chowing down our dinner we stopped taking pictures from then but overall this is a very cozy and friendly restaurant and i think it would be a perfect place for friends to catch up with each other and reminisce about the good old days not to mention they make really STRONG sake cocktails ^_^

Signing Off,

Ketchup Queen

Eating Out in Tokyo: Shinjuku 新宿

2008-04-27T05:58:00.021+08:00

Tasty Delights At Odakyu and Takashimaya's Food Hall

If you are looking for a light meal or a light lunch or the fact that you like to sample a little bit of everything the Japanese food hall is the place to go and I love to scour for food in food halls because it is full of surprises and you'll never know what you might find and below are some of the food that we've bought from Odakyu and Taka's foodhall.

My chocolate fudge sundae i couldn't wait another second to dig in ! I want more more more !

Tofu Delivery King's Waffles with raspberry sorbet and assorted fruits
Look at that XL size bunch of grapes I had to buy it

A cute Henri Charpentier Cookie Bag
Half priced sushi platter only RM18
By the way the beautiful bunch of grapes are really juicy and sweet ; )

Macarons - Honestly i prefer their fillings than the Laduree's macarons because the Henri Charpentier ones are more moist and chewy

Yes, I made Tofu Delivery King to buy me the heart shape cookie :D
Ekiben is something that I've always wanted to buy not because of the food inside BUT THE BOX, I know I'm so shallow hahaha but i just can't resist their ever so pretty packaging

This is my first Ekiben

*Ekibento - Bentos sold at railway stations (Eki)

Extra Large Ebi tempura nigiri style but by the time it reaches our hotel room it got all soggy : (

Tori Katsu Don - The old lady at the stall makes great katsudon sauce
Tsukune - chicken meatballs
Shinjuku at night

Now this is something that we don't usually see, the japanese are Gods of Vending Machines you can even get rice vending machines there but I have no idea that even restaurants uses vending machines to take food orders how smart and convenient !

These coupon selling restaurants are usually found in railway stations

ps we've tried one of these coupon restaurant at the Roppongi Eki and it was good

Teddy christmas tree at Takashimaya, and yes these pictures actually dates back to december *shy* and that shows that i'm such a procrastinator.

Next up..... Ikebukuro ! Stay Tuned.

Signing off,

Ketchup Queen *_*

Eating Out in Tokyo: Ginza銀座&Shimbashi新橋

2008-04-27T02:37:00.020+08:00

Lunch @ Shimbashi

Apple Tart and Apple Crumble, by the way the mini apples are real

Oyakodon

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Our room @ Conrad Tokyo

Room service - a very bad habit of ketchup queen ; )

Our view from the room - the business district of shimbashi

Complimentary chocolates

Chaxiu instant noodles

Conrad Ducky

Conrad Tokyo Teddy Keychains

They have automatic electric toilets everywhere

The shower

Lounging couch

The wires we bring everywhere we go

The toilet

Mini bar

Liquor anyone ?

Ginza Chuo Dori

While i was happily conquering the never ending shops and departmental stores of ginza, tofu delivery king took the time to walk the streets of ginza, therefore these pictures are from his courtesy.

The Chanel building ah... my favourite we promise ourselves we shall get a table in their own fine dining restaurant Beige by Alan Ducasse on our next visit

The End.

I do admit that i'm getting abit rusty on blogging since i've been on a never ending hiatus but I promise the next pose here there will be improvement on the descriptions and getting the pictures in order ! At the mean time please bear with my incompetence on blogging hee

Good Night Peeps

Signing Off,

Ketchup Queen

Lunch at Teck Seng, Penang

2008-04-23T21:33:00.002+08:00

Hi all. Firstly I would like to apologize about the lack of postings. Been really busy with work lately. Thanks to -Wasabi King- who posted about the mee goreng to keep this blog alive! This particular post has been back dated for a while now.

On my last trip to Penang, which was for -Tofu Delivery King-'s wedding. The day after the wedding reception, -Tofu Delivery King- treated all the "heng tai"s to a scrumptious lunch at Restorant Teck Seng. This restaurant is off Chulia Street (thanks to -Wasabi King- for the info).

First dish to arrive was the salted vege with duck soup. This soup was really good especially after a night of boozing. Salty, sour and very savoury. It had salted cabbage, salted plums, tomatoes, duck and pork. Delish!!

Next to arrive was the clams stir fried with preserved bean paste. Not too bad but I personally thought the clams to be slightly on the small side. But nevertheless it was nice to slurp up the little clams and the delicious sauce from the shells.

The highlight of the lunch must have been this next dish to arrive. It may seem like a normal plate of fried roasted pork (siew yoke) but this has got to be the best I've ever tasted!! Unlike the ones we get in KL, this tasted really fresh and had a nice amount of bird's eye chilli (cili padi) to give it some heat. This dish was so good in fact we ordered another!

The next dish was a dish of chicken cooked in preserved bean paste. Tasted quite similar to the clams only the sauce was stronger. Great to go with some white rice.

More food??! I think -Tofu Delivery King- must have gone bonkers with the ordering. This next dish was a Taiwanese favourite, the 3 cup chicken. It came served in a claypot. It had a nice aroma of curry leaves and the really good sticky sauce was lapped up with more white rice.

The next dish to arrive was the obligatory vegetable dish. It was kangkung fried with sambal belacan. Nice simple dish with great taste of "wok hei". I really liked the fresh plump shrimp they tossed in with the dish.

Just when we thought we couldn't eat no more here comes the last dish of the meal. A huge bowl of gulai stingray. It came with generous pieces of stingray meat. It was nice, hot and slightly sour. Another GREAT dish to go with steamed white rice. Even though we were full, we just had to order another round of white rice to eat with the addictive sauce which was also chocked full of ladies fingers, tomatoes and chunks of sweet onions.

Overall, this was a great lunch. The restaurant itself is a really simple restaurant but it was FULL when we were there. Goes to show that all Penangites really do know their food!

Makan King's ratings = 8.5 out of 10.

Cheers,
-BKT King-

My Favorite Penang Hawker Food – Part Two

2008-04-06T08:47:00.003+08:00

First of all, I would like to thank those who continue to view our blog and apologize for the lack of post in the past few months. We are sorry that we haven’t been updating the blog as frequent as we would like to. Please continue to stay with us and support us, we will try our best to make this blog better and better.

As I had mentioned before, the best 3 hawker foods that I like are Hokkien Mee, Mee Goreng and Koay Teow Thng. Today, I am going to bring you the best Mee Goreng in Georgetown, Penang. Probably the best Mee Goreng in Malaysia, as I had never came across another stall which is better than this.

Mee Goreng is a very famous dishes in Malaysia, if not mistaken is originated by Indians and Mamak. It is not hard to find a mee goreng stall in Penang, most of the food court and food center will sure had one in there. Today I am going to introduce this special mee goreng called “mee sotong”. Sotong (cuttlefish) is the main ingredients for this special mee sotong, you can have the mee in the goreng way or the rebus way.

I personally prefer the goreng style. This mee sotong stall is located at Esplanade food court (near to roundabout). The stall is called Hameed “PATA” special mee, Hameed must be the stall owner, but until today I still cannot figure out what is the meaning of “PATA”. The price of the normal portion cost RM3.50 and the “kah liu” (extra cuttlefish) one is RM5.00. If you don’t like mee you can substitute it with Beehoon or KoayTeow. I believe they taste good as well.

The one on the photo was the RM5.00 “kah liu” mee goreng. As you can see from the photo huge amount of cuttlefish placed on top of the mee goreng. Firstly the mee will be fried with other ingredients like dried tofu, cucur udang, potatoes, egg and their special home-made sauces. After the mee were fried to a perfect level, it will be placed in the plate and additional cuttlefish with gravy will then added on top of the mee.

Together with a squeeze of lime, the mee goreng sotong is just so nice. I bet you will love it as well. Give it a try and let us know your comments.

This is the best mee goreng that I ever tried of until today. Personally I would vote this as the best mee goreng. If you go there on lunch time, then you will have to expect a queue of half an hour to 45 mins. But trust me, the waiting time is worth it.

Makan King's ratings = 8.899 out of 10

Cheers,
-Wasabi King-

Extreme Hokkien Mee

2007-11-21T21:28:00.000+08:00

Just got back from the craziest weekend in Penang. I was down for Tofu Delivery King's wedding (to Ketchup Queen) and it must have been the craziest weekend ever! We must have committed numerous sins namely gluttony.

One of the more famous hawker dishes in Penang has got to be Hokkien Mee or to those who arent from Penang, prawn mee. Wasabi King has posted about his favourite stall but unfortunately, the many drunken nights we spent in Penang means we cant wake up in time for that. We however visited another famous stall (which opens till the wee hours of the morning) for our fix. This particular stall is in Green House hawker center in Burma road.

Why I called it extreme?? Just look at it!! Fully laden with extras. When my friend WK and Ah Put told me about this RM12 hokkien mee, I just had to try for myself.

When it arrived, it came laden with small shrimp, one and a half boiled egg, fish balls, some cooked porks skin, siew yoke, pork ribs and vegetables. I really had a hard time finishing this magnificent bowl of hokkien mee. As my friends say it the best...."even eating prawn mee at Little Penang wouldnt cost so much!!"

Overall a superb bowl of hokkien mee but be forewarned, try only if you have a big empty stomach!! Not after having a buffet dinner!!

Makan Kings rating = 7.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

My Favorite Penang Hawker Food – Part One

2007-11-01T09:34:00.000+08:00

If you were to ask me, what are my favorite hawker foods in Penang, I will need at least half a day to finish telling you, because in Penang there are just too many good foods around. Don’t think that all of you will have half day to spend on listening to me…..hehe. Today I am going narrow down my favorite list to Top 3 Hawker food that I like in Penang. I had been forcing myself to vote for the Top 3. It was a difficult move, but I had done it. The Top 3 hawker foods are, Hokkien Mee, Mee Goreng and Koay Teow Thng. If you are a frequent traveler to Penang, all this food should be familiar to you. This post I am going to introduce Penang Best Hokkie Mee, Penang Best Mee Goreng and Penang Best Koay Teow Thng. All these 3 stalls are located in different places, how I wish I can unite them and place them under one roof.

Penang Best Hokkien Mee

Hokkien Mee is one of the best hawker delicacies in Penang, in Penang you can find Hokkien Mee during breakfast, lunch, dinner and even supper time. Hokkien mee is an all day hawker food where you can find it anytime you want. Hokkien Mee also known as Prawn mee in some other state, for example in KL, it was known as Prawn Mee. The soup of Hokkien mee were cook using prawn head, prawn shell and pork’s backbone, that is why some places called Prawn mee. I have absolutely no idea why it was called “Hokkien Mee”, maybe it was originated by Hokkien people.

This stall is very famous in Penang, the stall name is “Super Hokkien Mee” and a few months back this stall had moved to One Corner Café which located behind Penang Plaza (FIMA) Burmah Road. Before moving, this Hokkien mee stall was located at Ragoon Road, just behind previous Lai-Lai Burmah supermarket. The stall opens at 8 am in the morning and around 10.15 am all will be sold out. A lot of people will go before 8 am to do booking. The last time when I was there I waited 1 hour and 45 minutes for the Hokkien mee. So be prepared, if you plan to go to have a try.

The Hokkien Mee is really nice, the chili based soup was thick enough and you can taste the sweetness of the prawn and the pork’s backbone. I think they spend a lot of time preparing for the soup. For Hokkien mee, the soup plays to most important role. If the soup is good, the mee is good and vice versa. Unlike other stalls that can “Kar Liu”, this stall doesn’t have any fancy add-on. Over here, they only serve standard Hokkien Mee with standard ingredients. There are 3 sizes of them, small, medium and large. The one in the picture was a large portion. As I like spicy food, usually I will have additional chilies and deep fried onion.

Overall, I would vote this stall as the best Hokkien Mee in Penang. I really like it very much, however I don’t like to wait every time when I was there, but what to do? All the nice and famous food sure a lot of people will go after it. So usually when I order, I will order additional one to take away so that I can eat in the afternoon…… hehehe. Trust me, you have to try it.

Makan King's ratings = 8.888888 out of 10

Cheers,
-Wasabi King-

Two occasions, one place........Max! Kitchen & Wines

2007-10-07T14:54:00.000+08:00

Finally!! We've finally had our chance to savor the excellent food at Max! Kitchen & Wines. Within a short span of time, we have visited Max! twice. Excellent man, excellent cook, excellent food and excellent wines.

First occasion was just a get together of my uni mates. One of them will be getting married soon so we decided to have a small get-together to just catch up and reminisce the good old days.

We ordered starters and mains to share amongst us. Also, ordered a Jacob's Creek, sparking Chardonnay Pinot Noir as pre-dinner drinks. Sorry about the absence of pictures of the wines but I still have the bills so I should be able to give you guys the names.

First starter to arrive was the seared tuna loin with baby octopus. Served with some pickled chilli, yellow & red capsicum and a delicious dressing this dish was superb! The seared tuna loin was nice and seared on the outside while maintaining a rare inside. The baby octopus was also superbly prepared, not too soft and not too tough.

Next starter to arrive was the sea scallops with balsamic reduction. 5 huge scallops served in a pristine long plate looked so sexy that I nearly didnt take a picture of it. The scallops, like the baby octopus is one of those things that can easily go wrong but at Max!, it was again perfect! I dont think I need to elaborate further as almost all the food bloggers have blogged about this particular dish.

Next starter to arrive was the beef bresaola. The strips of beef was served on a bed of salad with cute little fresh mozzarella balls all around. I actually thought this was not as spectacular after the above starters but I absolutely adore the mozzarella.

One other starter that I dont have a picture of is the charred portobello salad. That was also expertly prepared with the savoury, earthy flavors of the charred portobello contrasting with the crisps, cool salad.

To go with our main courses, we ordered a bottle of Framingham, Pinot Noir from New Zealand. Very easy drinking and served slightly chilled as per our waiter's recommendation.

First of the starters to arrive was the Cod Fish Fillet. Served on a bed of polenta and pea sprouts this dish was simple and the natural flavors of the Cod really did shine. Was actually quite subtly flavored so a crisps white wine would have gone better with this.

Next was the Duck Fillet. This dish was delicious with the gamey taste and texture of the duck and the beautiful sauce served with it.

The last mains to arrive was the famous Shiraz Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks. Served on polenta with a mushroom ragout, this dish was absolutely magic. The beef cheeks were so tender that I didnt even need the knife, just a fork would do. The sauce also was beautiful and rich with flavors from the shiraz and the earthy tones of the mushrooms mixing nicely with the polenta.

We stayed till quite late at Max!. So happened it was Max's first anniversary since he opened the restaurant and he brought up a bottle of bubbly to share and celebrate with us. Had a nice chat and found Max to be a friendly, warm man. Congratulations on your first year and may there be many more to come!!

That ends my first visit to Max!

Second visit to Max! was during Tofu Delivery King and Ketchup Queen's engagement party. They actually called up earlier in the week to book the place and Max was kind enough to let them bring in their own bubbly (Moet & Chandon, brut imperial) for the occasion. It was a four course meal with the bubbly, red and white wine and also coffee or tea at the end with deserts.

First course was a combination of baked (I think) scallop with cheese and smoked salmon with balsamic vinegar and dressing. The scallops were good with a nice cheesy topping. The smoked salmon was also good with the dressing that reminds me of the same one they use for the seared tuna loin.

Second course was of course the Seared Tuna Loin with Baby Octopus. I didnt take a picture of this but it was basically the same as my last visit only this time served on a round plate.

For the mains, we had a choice of either the Cod Fish Fillet or the Lamb Chops. I choose the Lamb Chops seeing as I've already tried the fish. The lamb chops were absolutely beautiful. Cooked to perfection, it was nice and seared on the outside while maintaining a nice rare inside!!

The last course was desert where we were served chocolate s0uffle with vanilla ice-cream and marinated strawberries. The souffle was served warm and it was quite a rich souffle with a molten chocolate centre. It was excellent but I felt could do with more ice-cream!!

Anyway, two good occasions accentuated by excellent food. Congratulations NL and Tofu Delivery King/Ketchup Queen on your engagements and a big thank you to Max for showing exquisite hospitality and excellent food.

Makan Kings ratings = 8.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Favorite KopiTiam, Kheng Pin Café – Penang

2007-09-26T00:00:00.000+08:00

One of my favorite KopiTiam in Penang is Kheng Pin Café, I like it because there are lots of good food in that shop. You can find different types of hawker food there like Char Koay Teow, Loh Bak, Yu Sang Kai Chok (Porridge), Chicken rice and others. Kheng Pin Café is located in Penang city center, just a few minutes walk from Cititel Hotel. This Café is situated at the junction of Penang Road and Sri Bahari Road. Kheng Pin café is an old style café where you will still find those old fashioned marble tables and wooden chairs.

Kheng Pin café only opens during breakfast and lunch. During lunch time the café will be crowded, this is because of the nice hawker food there. The Loh Bak over there is very famous and most people dining here will order it. According to a friend of mine, the Loh Bak stall will only open for business 9 months in a year. The remaining 3 months, the stall owner will be invited to one of the hotels in Singapore to serve Loh Bak over there. I don’t know how true that is, but after trying the Loh Bak, I am inclined to believe it because it was really very nice. Today, I will not introduce all the hawker food available in Kheng Pin café, I will only introduce those that I find really nice and interesting. Things that I like in that café are Loh Bak, Wan Tan Mee and Chicken rice.

Loh Bak is a traditional Chinese delicacy that you can easily find in Penang. Loh Bak is actually a Hokkien word, it is made from mince pork marinated with spice and wrapped in soya skin then deep fried. Besides the Loh Bak, the stall also serves Fried Prawn Cracker (Heh Chi), Deep fried Fish, deep fried squid and others. As you can see from the picture, Loh Bak is served together with two types of sauces. One of them is chili sauce and the other is black in color and is called “Loh”, “Loh” is made of starch. To eat, take a Loh Bak and deep in the "Loh" then into the chili and eat it, it tasted wonderful. I really like the Loh Bak and Heh Chi serve over here, all of them were deep fried to crispy and together with the sauces it is really tasty.

Another thing that tastes good in Kheng Pin Café is the Wan Tan Mee. The Wan Tan Mee here is special because the noodle used are handmade noodles. Unlike other stalls that uses machine made noodles, this stall uses handmade noodles and all noodles served here were handmade by the stall owner. The Wan Tan (dumplings) is also nice and the best part of the Wan Tan Mee is the Chinese mushrooms. Try it and you will know.

The last thing that I would like to introduce from this cafe is the Chicken Rice. I really like the chicken rice over here and I'm still missing it while writing this post. Damn, let me quickly finish writing this and after that I will head over there to eat the chicken rice. Unlike other chicken rice stalls, this stall serves only steamed Chicken (Pak Cham Kai), there is no Siew Kai (Roasted Chicken), Char Siew (BBQ Pork), Siew Yuk (Roasted Pork) or Duck in served at this stall. The Chicken is steamed to perfection where the meat and the skin were so juicy and the thin layer of fat underneath the skin was still there. As you can see from the picture, the meat was tender enough and tasted really delicious. I can say that this is the best steamed chicken that I ever had. Although there are only 2 of us eating, I ordered a half chicken because it tasted really nice. I would recommend those chicken rice lovers to try this stall, it is a must.

Overall, I would say that Kheng Pin café has lots of good food, if you have time try it and I would guarantee that you would go back again once you had tried. Loh Bak is a nice side dish or appetizer if you go there and trust, the steam chicken rice is a must!!! I would individually rate the chicken rice 8.99999 out of 10.

Makan King's ratings = 8.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-Wasabi King-

Famous Ah Leng Char Koay Teow – Penang

2007-09-04T19:57:00.000+08:00

Fried Koay Teow a.k.a Char Koay Teow is one of the best hawker delicacies in Penang. Penang is famous for its Char Koay Teow. You can easily spot a Char Koay Teow stall in any coffee shop, hawker center and also food court in Penang. It can be consider as a “MUST EAT” category for tourist and most of them would love it. Although I am born in Penang but I must admit that I am not a fan of Char Koay Teow. I didn’t specifically like it or dislike it.

A lot of people came to Penang and wanted to try good and nice Char Koay Teow. There are so many stalls in Penang but which one is the best? If you ask a local people, mostly they will tell you Lorong Selamat, Sister Char Koay Teow or Ah Leng Char Koay Teow. I didn’t like Lorong Selamat Char Koay Teow because of the stall owner attitude. The Aunty is so damn snobbish and damn LANSI. Damn it !!!

If you would want to have good Char Koay Teow, I would suggest you to Famous Ah Leng Char Koay Teow. Recently, Fly fm just awarded Ah Leng as the best Char Koay Teow in Malaysia. The stall is located opposite Honolulu Café which previously is Federal Cinema (Lian Bang Cinema). The stalls open from morning till afternoon around 2.30pm. I was there on the last weekend and I would say I enjoy it very much.

When ordering the uncle normally will ask you do you want a normal one or a special one? The special one cost RM8, but trust me is worth it. The special Char Koay Teow had additional big prawns and mantis prawn (Lai Niu Ha). To my understanding Ah Leng is the only one that had mantis in Char Koay Teow.

The Koay Teow are fried together with other ingredients to a perfect level. The Koay Teow, prawns and mantis are just nice, not over fried. You still can feel the juiciness and the crispy of the prawn. From the picture you can see that the prawn is really in XL size. The prawn is really mouthwatering and together with the koay teow it was just perfect. Ah Leng Char Koay Teow tasted very well because of mantis was added into it. The sweetness of the mantis had gone into the koay teow itself. When I order, I had asked for more chili to be added in, I love spicy food. I myself had eaten two plates and I really enjoy it very much.

Overall, I did enjoy my lunch very much over here. Although I dare not say that it was the best Char Koay Teow in Malaysia, but I would say it was one of the best in Penang. If you are in Penang, I highly recommend that you should try Ah Leng Char Koay Teow. It was a little expensive (RM 8) but to me it is worth because of the huge portion of prawn and mantis. I would definitely go back for it and will introduce to my outstation friends. Famous Ah Leng Char Koay Teow, yummy !!!!

Makan King's ratings = 8.75 out of 10

Cheers,
-Wasabi King-

Luxurious dinner at CRC Restaurant – Penang

2007-08-24T10:17:00.000+08:00

Most of the Chinese would have heard before a famous dishes called “Buddha Jump Over The Wall”. Today we will be introducing this famous dish, not all Chinese Restaurant will cater or prepare this special dish. Buddha jump over the wall is a direct translates from Mandarin to English that is why the name sounds so weird. This dish was so special and it tasted so great and so tempting even Buddha cannot resists it, which is why it was called Buddha jump over the wall.

CRC restaurant is one of the most famous Chinese restaurants in Penang, the restaurant is located at Chinese Recreation Club (CRC) along Macalister Road and Burmah Road. In order to have this dish, we need to call in a week before for reservation as it takes sometimes for the chef to prepare the ingredients and cook. For cooking Buddha jump over the wall, it already takes around 2 days. Buddha Jump Over The Wall is actually a big pot of soup cook with all the expensive Chinese herbs and expensive ingredients. The main Ingredients are Shark Fins, Abalone, Ginseng, Sea Cucumber, Fish Lips, Dried Scallops, Black Chicken, Dried Mushrooms and many other Chinese herbs. As described by the chef, after all the ingredients are ready, they will be placed inside the big pot, seal it and continuously using dim fire to cook it for 2 days. This will ensure all the best parts of the ingredients are absorbed by the soup. The pot in the picture is catered for 10 people and cost us RM 1800.

There are also methods for eating this Buddha Jump over the wall, normally it will be separate into 3 rounds, that means one person will be serve for 3 bowls. The waitress will do the serving for everybody. The first serving will include Shark Fins and dried scallops and second serving will have Abalone, Sea Cucumber and Shark Fins. The final bowl will have Black Chicken, Fish Lips and Mushroom. As you can see the soup is clear and it tasted very nice and sweet. It had the fragrant of Chinese herbs, abalone and shark fins. The Shark Fins used are called “Pao Chi”; meaning that it is an upper class of shark fins where the fins are still attached together. The texture of the Shark fins is so good and you still can feel the crispy of it. The abalone and the sea cucumber were cooked to just nice, not too hard and easy for consumption. Believe me!!! You are going to like it after you tried. This is anytime better than normal double boiled shark fins soup.

After the first dish, everyone is almost 50% full, just imagine 3 full bowls. During the dinner we just ordered 3 dishes as recommended by the chef. Although the pot of Buddha Jump over the wall is meant for 10 people but we had only 8 of us. But luckily we are all big eater, so no problem for us….. hehehe. The second dish was roast baby pig. The dish is just for the sake of eating the crispy skin of the roasted pig. The skin was roasted to very crispy and together with the mini bun and Hoisin sauce it just perfect. We finish the whole thing less than 15 minutes. We also brought along with us a Moet & Chandon champagne, Dom Perignon vintage 1998. We like it very much and most of the time when we (MakanKings) had gathering or celebration going on, we will always have one with us.

The last dishes we ordered was Lobster noodle (Long Har yee mee). The Lobster that used in this dish was real big. The lobster was fresh enough and the meat was so tender, crispy and sweet. You can really taste the lobster sweetness in the soup. This dish was so good, although I am bit full but I still manage to eat for 2 bowls. I really like the soup of the yee mee and the lobster. This dish cost us RM 400 but to me is worth it, because huge portion of lobster was used to cook this yee mee. Next time when I go there, I am going to order this again.Overall I can say that all of us enjoyed our dinner over there. Although this dinner cost us quite a lot, but if the food is nice enough, we are willing to pay. This dinner had become our most luxurious dinner in Penang. We love it….. haha……

Makan King's ratings = 8.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-Wasabi King-

Part 4 of Trip to Penang 2007 - Seafood @ Bali Hai, Gurney Drive

2007-08-18T12:27:00.000+08:00

Finally! Its the last post for my trip to Penang last month. We were actually planning on going to either Gertak Sanggul for our finale. But because we have been stuffing ourselves silly throughout the day, we only started looking for dinner at about 10pm. Gertak Sanggul would definately be closed by the time we found our way there.

A quick call to -Wasabi King- rectified the problem. He said, why drive? Walk down the road from your hotel, find Bali Hai and if its seafood you're looking for, Bali Hai is it!!

True enough, we found Bali Hai just down the road from our hotel (Gurney Hotel). Looked popular as there was alot of people. Whats nice is that they have tanks and tanks of live seafood!! Me and the Canadian were contemplating which lobsters to order but decided not to when the others were looking funny at us! :p Anyway, enough blabbering, on to the food!!

First dish to arrive was the fried squid. A staple favorite at any seafood dinner. The version here was good! The coating flour has specks of black pepper which did wonders for the flavor and the squid itself was cooked to perfection, not too tough and not too underdone as well.

Next dish was the spinach in superior stock (siong tong yuen choy). Unlike other versions that I've had, this one had normal chicken eggs, salted duck eggs and century eggs in them. Was suppose to balance out all the seafood but it turn out to be cholesterol laden. Which is SUPERB!!! Penang folks would say, SUIIIIII!!

The next dish to arrive was the steamed "kappa". "Kappa" is actually a shell fish closely resembling lala. This dish was steamed with lots and lots of breath enhancing garlic and chillies. It was so good we were scooping up the "soup" to eat with copious amounts of rice.

The last dish to arrive was the crabs!! The local mud crabs were cooked in a luscious mixture of salted duck eggs. Another cholesterol laden dish but it was as if we cared!! :D This dish gave the steamed "kappa" a run for its money!!

Now I did say last dish when explaining the crabs didnt I? Let me explain, since we were still quite full, we decided that 4 dishes were enough. But after the crabs, we thought we better order another dish to balance the sinful meal we just had.

So, we ordered the scallops with broccoli!! Actually, to be honest, we ordered this because we say many tables having it and it looked really good! When it arrived, we were quite pleased with the generous amounts of scallops. Every was just cooked to perfection, the scallops were exquisitely fresh, the broccoli nice and crunchy which just made for a heavenly dish.

With this post, the Trip to Penang 2007 series has ended. Its probably the only series that Makan Kings has ever started and finished properly. I hope everyone enjoyed this series and we hope to bring you more in the future.

GPS coordinates:
Its along Jalan Gurney. That should be enough to get you there!! :p

Makan King's ratings = 7.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Part 3 of Trip to Penang 2007 - Bak Ki!!!

2007-08-05T13:02:00.000+08:00

After breakfast we went straight to the hotel and hung out opposite which is Gurney's stretch of beach. Waited not more than 20 minutes for my bro -Wasabi King- to pick us up and guide the way to the meal that I've been waiting for this whole trip to Penang. Bak Ki!! I cant remember the road name but locals call it "Goh Tiao Loh" (No. 5 road).

My bro had already pre-ordered the dishes and we had a table all ready for us. So basically it was just a case of chatting, catching up and letting breakfast digest a little before the food arrive.

First to arrive was the oyster noodles. It is still as I remembered it, full of "wok hei" and fresh ingredients. There was fish slices, big plump oysters and also bits of greens. I think all at the table would agree its good!

Next to arrive was the oyster glass noodles. Also the same ingredients as the oyster noodles but with a darker, richer sauce. My colleagues loved this. I think Ed the boss man especially enjoyed this whole meal.

Plain fried vegetables to counter all the seafood and meat that we were eating. Normal vegs cooked perfectly. Crunchy, fresh and you can really taste the difference between normal gas stoves and charcoal ones (which is what this restaurant uses).

Next was a plate of fried tofu. Again, a delicious dish with big plump prawns and bits of leek. Its funny how the simplest dish cooked to perfection can bring it into a different level altogether.

The fried oyster omelet that we all have been waiting for. I simply love the Penang style of oyster omelet with the egg and sticky tapioca flour mixture. Abit of the batter and an oyster dipped into the chilli sauce is I think as close to culinary heaven that you can get!!

Now, the moment that everyone has been waiting for. The Bak Ki!! Its really just a simple soup with meat (that has been coated with tapioca flour) and some vegs (cabbage). I still cant put my finger on what makes this sooooo good. I have tried a few other stalls selling the same in KL (one of them is a road side stall next to Fei Por chicken rice) but none can do it like this place does. 2 thumbs up!!

GPS coordinates:
N 5° 24' 15.8"
E 100° 20' 2.1"

Makan King's ratings = 8 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

New World Park, Penang – Rou Gu Cha King aka Bak Kut Teh King

2007-08-03T16:39:00.000+08:00

New World Park is located between the junction of Burmah Road and Swatow lane. In 1970’s to 80’s this place damn famous, it was an amusement park on that time. After that this place had been abandon there for a long long time. Hawkers located on Swatow lane are famous, especially their Ice kacang, Popiah, Laksa, Pasembur and many others. One or two years back, Robert Kwok’s group had decided to redevelop this place. They wanted to make New World Park to become one of the tourist attractions in Penang. Inside this place you can find food, shopping, clubbing, bistro, cyber café and many others. Most of the hawkers from Swatow lane had move into the food court of New World Park. You can get lots of local delicacies here.

1^st Aug is the grand opening for the main park, so I had decided to go there to search for some good food. When I reach there, I was sort of disappointed because not all the shops are open. Only 4 to 5 shops opened on that day and most of the shops are still under renovation. Just because there are only a few shops over there, we had notice a shop name Rou Gu Cha King which means King of Bak Kut Teh. The first thing that came into my mind was this shop is good. WHY? Because in Penang, a food heaven and they still dare to claim themselves as King of Bak Kut Teh, this means that they are really something. Furthermore they had an outlet in Shanghai.

We decided to dine in this shop. After enter the shop, we realize that almost all the tables were occupied. The waiter showed us to table, after sitting for 5 minutes, I started to feel uncomfortable because of the hot environment although the shop was equipped with Air-Con but still hot. We complain to the waiter and he told us that their curtain blower for the door is still not ready. By looking at the menu, they have really lots of selection for Bak Kut Teh, they have original, dry, red wine flavored, spicy, BKT Mee, BKT porridge and many others. We were attracted by the menu but we were told not all the things are available yet when we wanted to order spicy BKT. So in the end we ordered Original BKT, Dry BKT and BKT Mee

For 1 person of Bak Kut Teh set meal which includes BKT, rice, bean sprout, Yau Char Kuai and tea is RM 10.90. To me the price is moderate I won’t complain it to be too expensive. When the set was served, the portion is really really small. The BKT was served in a mini size clay-pot with only a few pieces of meat and other ingredients. The soup taste weird because it was a bit on sour site and doesn’t really have the fragrant of Chinese herbs at all.

The service here was really poor as to me all the waiter are fresh and doesn’t have any experience before. As I mention, our set meal included a tea. A few waiters walking by our table keep asking what drink do we wanted to order, we told him we ordered set and include a tea. After a few minutes later another waiter walks by and asked the same question again. We totally were asked for four times and waited 15 minutes just for the tea. The original BKT was served quite fast, but the dry one took around 40 minutes. I am not sure what they are doing in the kitchen. If they don’t improve on their service, soon they will lose their customer. The Dry BKT doesn’t taste any special, is just like Kung Poh, dark soya sauce with dried chilies. The BKT Mee that we ordered was also the same, taste like Kung Poh and no fragrant of BKT or Chinese here.

Overall we were quite disappointed with the service and the food that we received from this shop. Is the first day opening of the shop so that I didn’t blame much, but I do really hope that can improve on their food and also service. I am not sure I will be there again or not …… Maybe when BKT King comes to Penang, I will bring him there as BKT king can go and screw the chef….. hehe

Makan King's ratings = 4 out of 10

Cheers,
-Wasabi King-

Part 2 of Trip to Penang 2007 - Breakfast in Air Hitam Market

2007-07-25T22:01:00.000+08:00

Its about time we continued on with Part 2 of 4 on our mini food trip to Penang. Arrived in Penang around midnight after having a that delicious meal in Ipoh. Luckily one of our colleague was already there earlier so we already had our room prepared.

Stayed in the okay Gurney Hotel. Booked the 2-bedroom suite courtesy of my Penang "brother's" corporate rate. We got a really good price for the room minus breakfast (who needs hotel breakfast in Penang???!@$!)

When we woke up in the morning, finally reached Air Hitam market for breakfast at about 11am. We knew it was going to be a really fulfilling (literally) day as I promised my Penang friend's we'll meet for lunch at 12pm!!

Anyway, back to the food. We ordered the char kuey tiao. Seriously addictive stuff. Might not be as famous as other char kuey tiao but it can give the best ones in KL a run for their woks! Lots of prawns, cockles and bits of fish cake and eggs. And as most people say, full of "wok hei" which is supremely important.

Next to arrive was the "kueh chiap". This really reminds me of home. Flat sheets of rice noodles (kinda like kuey tiao also) served with pieces of duck meat and pork innards drenched with a superbly meaty broth. It was absolutely delicious!! My colleague the Canadian who doesn't really like innards says its just "ok". I happily finished off his leftover bowl of soup and innards!

This place has made it on to my must eat in Penang list. I simply love a good "kueh chiap" and I must say this place is good and on-par with the best in Kuching.

Makan King's ratings = 7.5 out of 10

GPS coordinates:
N 5° 24' 1.3"
E 100° 16' 40.7"

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Part 1 of Trip to Penang 2007 - Ipoh Beansprouts Chicken

2007-07-22T05:19:00.000+08:00

Ok! As promised, here is Part 1 of 4 of my trip to Penang. We (my boss and another colleague) left to Penang after work on a Friday. As we left for Penang from the office (boss's and my car parked safely in our office carpark) we decided its best to stop in Ipoh for our dinner.

The shop that we wanted to visit was Lou Wong Taugeh Chicken. Its a famous shop for Taugeh (beansprouts) Chicken my boss even found it on his GPS software. Arriving in Ipoh and then Lou Wong after about 2hrs on the road, we were certainly more than ready to eat!!

Both my boss and colleague ordered just normal chicken rice while I ordered the Hor Fun (flat rice noodles). The hor fun was delicious!! It was ultra smooth and broth was nice and savoury with hints of spring onions.

First to arrive was the famous Ipoh beansprouts. The special thing about Ipoh breansprouts is that its normally short, fat and juicy as compared to long and thin ones from elsewhere.

The beansprouts were crunchy and went well with the sauce (soy sauce mixed with some oils). Good start to the meal (those who had the rice were scooping up the sauce to mix with the rice).

Next was a bowl of fish and meat balls. The fish ball was good. Bouncy, smooth and tasty. The meat balls were only decent IMHO.

Next to arrive was the steamed chicken. This was as good as I remember it. Smooth skin and meat with the flavorful soy sauce dressing. It may have been because we were all hungry but we lapped up everything in no time.

GPS coordinates:
N 4° 35' 38.2"
E 101° 05' 2.9"

Onwards to Penang.................

Makan King's ratings = 7 out of 10

Pizza Uno @ Centerpoint, Bandar Utama

2007-07-16T18:00:00.000+08:00

Hello again! It seems like every time I/We post something these days it always starts with an apology for lack of updates and etc. This time, its gonna start with a promise!

Me and a few colleagues (including my BOSS) went on a trip to Penang 2 weekends ago. As with any trip to Penang, there'll be load of food reviews. But this time, because Ed my Boss is a GPS junkie, I'll post GPS co-ordinates as well!! So let me organise and I promise it'll be done in the next 2 to 3 weeks

Anyway, for today, I'll review Pizza Uno. When my dinner companion recommended Pizza Uno, I was under the impression that its some sort of pizza joint like Pizza Hut etc. How wrong I was, its actually a pretty decent Italian restaurant.

First up drinks. I ordered a Sangria. It was delicious!! Pretty good wine + cognac and some cut fruits with ice. It was pretty good, on par with those I tasted at la-bodega and such. My dinner companion ordered a diet pepsi which I didnt photograph.

Both of us decided to share an appetizer. We ordered the grilled calamari salad. A pretty good sized squid was grilled and served on a bed of rocket and dressed with what tasted like a balsamic vinegarret. Squeeze the lemon over the squid and its all good!! Again, my only complain is that the rocket and the cherry tomatoes could have been colder.

Oh, and the thicker parts of the squid were only partially cooked. I have no problems with that so I was eating it happily while my dinner companion ate the ends of the squid which is thinner and more cooked. So if you like your squid fully cooked, you might want to let the kitchen know.

My dinner companion ordered the carbonara with freshly made fettuccine. I had a taste and its pretty good. Creamy with a nice smoky taste of the beef bacon. This is one of the few times I get to try fresh pasta and it is really good! Quite a difference from pre-made dried pasta.

My entree for the night was the oven baked half chicken. I really enjoyed this. Some of my friends who have tried it says the gravy is a little bland but I think its just nice. I love the potatoes which has a nice glace to it and the chunky carrot pieces too. Feels really homey to eat this.

We had just enough room in our tummies after the meal to share a desert. We ordered the panna cotta. This was super good!!! The berry sauce was sweet and tangy, the perfect accompaniment for the ultra smooth, not too sweet panna cotta. I've always enjoyed panna cotta and this one did not disappoint one bit.

Overall a very good meal at reasonable price. Again, we do not keep receipts and I'm never one to remember how much each dish costs but the meal above was about RM70 from memory.

Makan King's ratings = 7.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-Makan Kings-

Marmalade Cafe @ Bangsar Village II

2007-06-28T21:37:00.000+08:00

Was on leave on a Friday, so decided to pay my good friend Ruby a visit. After going around Mid Valley ogling at the Tag Heuer Carrera, we ended up in Bangsar Village II. Since I've heard quite good things about Marmalade Cafe, decided to give it a try.

Started off with some drinks. Ruby ordered the chocolate milkshake (as he always does). Didn't get to try this but judging by the loud slurps, must have been at least half good!

I as usual ordered the lime juice. Super sour, super cold and super refreshing. I cant really take sour drinks as my jaw will ache a little but I cant resist!!

Since it was only tea time, some light eating would be good. I ordered the smoked salmon on whole wheat bread. Must say that this is a very well made sandwich. The veges used were crisp and cold and the smoked salmon was pretty good as well. I must say though, the side of salad looked a bit wilted but the balsamic vinegar dressing was quite good.

Ruby ordered the chicken tandoori (cant remember exactly but he'll comment and tell us) on ciabatta. I stole some of the filling and it was quite good. Doesnt have a very strong spicy taste but quite tasty nevertheless. Again, I'm sure he'll comment and tell us.

Overall a pretty enjoyable meal. Not cheap (but who sells cheap sandwiches nowadays right?) but it was decent. Also nice to catch up with an old friend.

Makan Kings's ratings = 6 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Black Canyon Coffee @ Centre Point, Bandar Utama

2007-06-18T18:26:00.000+08:00

Hey people. Again, to those who regularly visit my blog, I thank you sincerely. Seems like I've been really struggling to keep updated (Tofu Delivery King, Wasabi King and Ketchup Queen!!! where are you guys???!!).

Anyway, here is a long delayed post. The famous Black Canyon Coffee from Thailand recently (or maybe not so recently) opened a branch in Centre Point which is pretty near where I live. I saw it on one of my trips over there to satisfy my cravings for McD's Hot Cakes!

Their beautifully designed drinks menu. One of my friends told me that you can actually buy this and their food menu.

My friend ordered the Black Canyon Iced Coffee. I had a taste. Not bad! Can rival those leading American franchise and I love that they use crushed ice too!! Got something to bite after meals mahh! :P

It was a hot afternoon so instead of coffee I decided on their ice blended lime juice (cant remember exactly what its called in the menu). It was the ultimate cool me down drink on a hot afternoon. Also loved the sprig of mint leaves they give.

Their equally impressive food menu. I notice their menus here are more like flipping through magazines than actual menus.

My friend ordered the American Fried rice (I think thats what its called). It came with fried rice, sausage, ham, fried drumstick and the odd pieces of cucumber, salad leaves and tomato.

I took a bite of the fried rice and it taste tomato based. Not very impressive but my friend was more than happy munching on his plate.

I ordered the Udon in Tom Yam soup. I must say I was disappointed with the amount of Udon in the soup. TOO LITTLE!! But the soup, oh my god!! Sour, sweet and super spicy all at once. I was sweating buckets from just drinking the addicting soup but didnt stop till the last drop was gone! It really is pretty good.

All in all a pretty decent meal I thought. I will certainly not mind coming again to try out the other things on the menu. The rest of the Makan Kings gang has been to Black Canyon Coffee in Thailand. Maybe they'll drop a comment on this!!

Makan King's ratings = 6 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Rasta Food Court @ TTDI take 2

2007-05-27T19:01:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, to those who still regularly visit my slowly depreciating blog, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Its not that I do not want to write, its just after work and all the hoo haa of the real world is over, there isnt anymore strength in me to write. Or, it could be just plain laziness or lack of interesting food to post (we did say we wouldnt write about it if it didnt get at least a 5 out of 10 from us right??)

Anyway, I headed back out to Rasta Food Court in TTDI again (have since been there countless times). This time, ordered the 100g beef steak burger, add mushrooms, add egg and add cheese. What was presented to me was the sexiest looking burger I have ever seen!! The waitress also gave me a free bowl of mushroom sauce.

Its the 2nd type of burger I've had in Rasta and boy it was GOOD!!! We also had satay that night and my friend advised that I should try the burger with some of the satay sauce. OMG!! Orgasmic!! I know its probably the worst thing to eat (cholesterol wise) but hey, it was the best (and probably the messiest) burger I've had in a long time!

On another occasion, I was sent a comment by someone asking me to go try the Laksa Sarawak. I did and it was rather good. I have yet to try the one in Bangsar but I feel this version comes quite close to the ones at home. I am only sorry that I do not have a picture of it. Will get one as soon as I can and update this post again!

Makan Kings ratings = 6.5 out of 10 (I'm beginning to really like this place)

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Rasta Food Court @ TTDI

2007-04-15T15:52:00.000+08:00

Hi ppl! In case anyone is wondering, we're still around, just reading more than we are posting! Anyway, was reading masak-masak when I saw this post. Immediately wanted to give Rasta Food Court in TTDI a try.

Finally made it there yesterday. Quite a smallish food court. Not what I thought it would be. Biggest stalls seem to be the burger and the coffee stall.

As per recommendation from masak-masak, my dinner companion and I started with the ceasar salad. Crunchy romaine lettuce tossed with ceasar salad dressing with some croûtons. Lovely but I thought it could have been colder.

Next up was the highly recommended Mushroom Burger. We added extra mushroom instead of the mushroom sauce as my dinner companion loves mushrooms. It was delicious! A mix between Ramly burger (thinnish beef patty) and american burger (not drenched in sauce). The sauteed mushrooms and onions are the perfect complement to the burger

The next dish was the Kueh Tiaw Goreng. I found this quite enjoyable but my dinner companion said "ok laa". Oh well, we cant all agree on everything can we? It was slightly on the "wet" side and quite spicy.

We also ordered the satay but neglected to take any pictures. As mentioned by masak-masak, the chicken satay has some chicken skin skewered between the chicken pieces. Absolutely gorgeous! My dinner companion preferred the beef one which I found to be quite good too.

Will certainly be back here to try the rest of the western food on offer, saw some ppl have what looked like lamb shank and mutton soup. Rasta Food Court, I'll be back!!

Makan Kings ratings = 6 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Singapore - Din Tai Fung @ Paragon Shopping Complex

2007-03-18T13:34:00.000+08:00

For those who read the post about "Soup Restaurant", you would have seen something about a different story involving the famous "Din Tai Fung". Well, after much delay, the pictures have been found!! Anyway, just a little note, for those who ask the name of the restaurant in "Soup Restaurant", actually the name of the restaurant IS actually "Soup Restaurant".

Anyway, like was said, we actually visited Din Tai Fung first and got so disappointed that we decided to look for something else to eat.

The first thing we ordered was some glutinous rice dumplings. They look nice enough in the steamy basket. Unfortunately one bite and we found the skin to be too thick, the glutinous rice was rather bland as well. We decided that it must be a fluke and hoped the famous Siew Long Pao would fair better

Then it arrived!! The Siew Long Pao, arrived in the same steamy bamboo steamer, it looked promising but again, after the first bite....Skin too thick, soup tasted just like oily salty water.

So, to those who are actually willing to queue up to 45 minutes to get a seat in this place, there are better options like the Singaporean started Crystal Jade and also if you're in Malaysia, I guarantee that Dragon-i taste a million times better.

Makan King's rating = Not going to bother

Cheers,
-Tofu Delivery King-

One Noodle @ SS2

2007-03-13T21:14:00.000+08:00

Hey guys and gals! Terribly sorry about the serious lack of updates. Have been busy lately. Unfortunately, my computer died. Am in the process of getting all the lost photos back which is why the post that is suppose to follow up on the last is going to be late. I have yet to find the photos for that post. Will post it up soon enough. PROMISE!

Anyway, one day me and my dinner companion decided to have dinner. And she insisted we not go to any shopping complexes for our meal. After driving around Damansara Uptown, Taman Tun and SS2, we finally decided on One Noodle in SS2.

After placing our orders, the first to arrive was some pickled cucumber. I absolutely love this. It was crunchy, cold, sweet and sour at the same time. My dinner companion thought it was "ok laaa"

Next to arrive were our drinks. I ordered the red bean something or rather and she ordered the longan rose tea or something like that la. :p Both tasted not bad. Normal drinks I guess. The longan rose was quite unique. Not too bad!

As it was only the two of us, we only ordered 3 dishes and the first to arrive was the "ma po" tofu. I quite enjoyed this dish, a little spicy. My dinner companion again said "ok laa"

Next to arrive was the taiwanese specialty, "3 cup chicken". It too was not bad although I felt it was a little to salty. Love the generous amounts of onions!! Good for the breath! ;) My dinner companion quite like this dish.

Next was the "choy sum" with garlic. Generous amounts of good for the breath garlic!! ;). Again I felt it was a little on the salty side but its nice to have some greens

Overall it was quite a good meal. Cant exactly remember how much it cost. Something like RM52 for the whole meal. Not too bad I guess.

Makan Kings ratings = 5 out of 10

I did notice one of the headings in the drinks menu (picture below). I cant read chinese for nuts so could someone tell me if its the correct translation??

Cheers!
-BKT King-

Singapore - Soup Restaurant

2007-01-13T22:48:00.000+08:00

One of the best discoveries we made in Singapore (also maybe one of the worst, but that is another story) was found by mistake. We were in Paragon and had actually wanted to eat @ Din Tai Fung. After finding out the truth! (as I said, another story) we moved on to the restaurant next to it.

The restaurant seems to specialize in chinese herbal soups. They have many to choose from in the menu and as a soup lover, I just had to try!

The soup we ordered was the black chicken, mushroom and dried scallop soup. Doesn't look particularly special but the soup was delicious!! Just the right amount of herbal taste with hints of flavor from the dried scallops and shredded ginger. Very good!!

The next dish to arrive is the steamed minced pork with salted egg. The mince pork came with some thinnish black sauce and had a salted egg yolk in the middle. I thought that it would be very salty, what with the black sauce and salted egg yolk but it turned out to be just nice. I would call this comfort food, very well made comfort food!!!

The last dish to arrive was the star of the day!! It was steamed chicken (like hainanese chicken rice). Half a chicken deboned and chopped up served with a delicious ginger dipping sauce, slices of cucumber and lettuce leaves to wrap everything up. The chicken was super smooth, not tough in any way. You would need to try it to believe!!!

Imagine the best steamed chicken you have eaten, I'm sure this is better!!! Do not miss the chance to try this out when visiting Singapore. It is well worth queue up for, although we did not as there were not many people around @ the time.

Makan Kings's ratings - 8.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-Tofu Delivery King-

Singapore - ToriQ

2006-12-26T22:40:00.000+08:00

Firstly all of us @ the Makan Kings would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (albeit belated) and a Happy New Year filled with more health, wealth and happiness than the last. We were down in Singapore a month or so ago.

When in Singapore, I never fail to visit my favourite food stall, ToriQ!!! I love ToriQ! I could eat ToriQ for breakfast, lunch and dinner!! :D

ToriQ is basically japanese "satay" or toriyaki. Basically skewered meats barbecued with teriyaki sauce. At ToriQ, if you order 3 or more sticks you can add rice and pickles for S$0.50 which is what I ALWAYS do.

Open the box and the smell just hits you. In this particular box I have Tontoro Pork, Pork with Asparagus and two sticks of Chicken Balls. Remember to ask them to pour extra sauce over everything when packing.

I just cant describe the taste. It is smoky, sweet with nice burnt flavour you get from barbecuing. It is one of my most favourite things to eat in Singapore. I must have at least one box per day everytime I visit. I even bought 5 boxes when I left!!

A box of ToriQ + some good mineral water = A GOOD MEAL ANYTIME!!

Makan Kings ratings = 9 out of 10

Cheers,
-Tofu Delivery King-

Imperial Rama @ Highlands Hotel, Genting Highlands

2006-12-22T20:13:00.000+08:00

The whole gang (minus Wasabi King) was in Genting a week ago or so. On arriving, we decided to go to Imperial Rama for lunch. Imperial Rama is slightly hard to find. As you walk in Highlands Hotel, you will see a set of escalators going up on your right. These escalators leads to the VIP reception. Take the escalator up and immediately after you arrive at the top, Imperial Rama in on your right.

Our friend, TBS opened a bottle of Brown Brother's 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was good, not too strong tannin taste and very dry (the way I like my reds!!)

The first dish that arrive is the Prawn Tom Yam. I found this to be just ok. Some found it to be a little spicy but to me its just like any normal tom yam.

The next dish to arrive is the mango salad. This was really good!! Nice and spicy, sour and sweet. All the characteristics of a good thai mango salad. I also like the deep fried, crispy cuttlefish they serve on top of it.

"Pai Kuat Wong" came next. This dish is another good rendition of a classic chinese mealtime dish. The pork ribs were nice and firm, the sauce sweet and sticky and I did like the coleslaw served as a side. GOOD GOOD!!

A chinese meal would not be complete without prawns right? We ordered salted egg yolk prawns. Now, of all the salted egg yolk prawns I've eaten, this had got to be one of the very best!! The prawns were superbly fresh with a nice crispy crust of salted egg yolk. I throughly enjoyed every last bit of this dish!!!

Next was the "vegetable" dish. I put the word vegetable in inverted commas because this dish doesn't actually involve any greens! Oh well, majority wins right? It was braised homemade beancurd with assorted mushrooms. Not superbly good but a very well prepared dish anyhow.

The star of the whole lunch is the steamed "soon hock". The fish, which must have been swimming happily before being served to us was fresh and the chefs did a good job of not overly cooking and flavouring this superb fish! A must order.

None of us had room for dessert although we did want to try the durian tempura (which was out of stock/season) when we were there. Ketchup Queen ordered this poached pear with hasma. It looks nice enough but I did not try it.

Overall, a very very good lunch. And thanks to the gamblers in the group, it was free!!! Just need to deduct Genting points!! :D Thanks to Tofu Delivery King and TBS!!

Makan Kings ratings - 8 out 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Cheesecake Factory @ The Forum Shops at Caesars

2006-12-16T23:41:00.000+08:00

Hi again! This is the continuation of the US postings. Sorry for the delayed telecast but as -BKT King- likes to point out, its better late than never!!

On my visit to Las Vegas, I popped into The Forum Shops @ Caesars and happened to chance upon the Cheesecake Factory. Although I was already full from a previous meal I decided to try at least one slice of cheesecake here.

Look at the displays!!! Soooooooooooooo many cheesecakes!! From the menu, I counted 32 types of cheesecake. You name it they have it. For more info, you can visit their website.

In the end, I decided on a very normal cheesecake, the fresh strawberry cheesecake. Now, I'm not a really big cheesecake fan but this cheesecake tasted very nice!! Very creamy with nice flavour of the cheese. The strawberries were nice and sweet, unlike the fresh ones we get back here in Malaysia!

I would have loved to try the other cheesecakes especially the Godiva cheesecake but I just didnt have room for any more food. Oh well, maybe next time!!

Makan King's rating = 7 out of 10

Cheers Mate,
-Wasabi King-

Buka Puasa part 1

2006-11-06T13:51:00.000+08:00

This post has been long overdue. But better late than never right? During the recent fasting month, we had the pleasure of indulging in the festive food at the many Ramadan bazaars. -Tofu Delivery King- was nice enough to head to one after work and brought back a feast for us!

First is the most famous dish at any Ramadan bazaar. The ayam percik. The one pictured above was quite delicious. I especially enjoyed the burned bits (yes, I know its not good for health, but its just once a year right??)

Another staple at Ramadan bazaars are the murtabak. These are murtabak ayam or chicken murtabak. Its basically minced chicken meat mixed with some spices and egg wrapped in a roti canai. This one was nice, the roti was nice and thin and the chicken inside warm and spicy.

Next we have the nasi briyani with beef rendang and a side of pickled cucumbers and carrots. The rice was ok, nothing really special. The beef though was a different story. It was meltingly soft, just like the beef ribs you get in some western restaurant. It was seriously delicious!! They must have cooked the beef for ages!!

We also had the nasi briyani with chicken rendang but sadly I didnt take any pictures nor did I try the chicken rendang. According to -Ketchup Queen- and -Tofu Delivery King-, it was good too!

The last thing we had was the ikan bakar. It is the malay dry style of ikan bakar served with a sourish sauce which I think contains lime juice and onions. We had a nice portion of stingray for each of us.

Overall it was a good meal!! Definitely worth another visit!! (stay tuned for part 2!!)

Makan Kings ratings = 6 out of 10

Cheers!
-BKT King-

King Crab @ Taman Mewah Jaya

2006-10-29T00:31:00.000+08:00

After reading about this place at masak-masak and passing by this place everytime we're on the LDP on the way to Sunway, we decided to give King Crab a try. Its very easy to get there, the restaurant is basically along the LDP opposite the Kelana Jaya LRT station. You will not miss this place, trust me!

After reaching, we were amazed by the size of the place. After taking our seat and ordering, we went to have a look into the live seafood tanks. They had snow crabs, various fishes, mud crabs and geoduck just to name a few. Incidently, we sat right in front of the bbq pits and saw them cooking what looked like salt encrusted tilapia fish. Looks quite good but we notice it takes quite some time to cook as they started cooking one when we sat down and it was only served after we finished our meal and paid our bill.

Anyway, back to our food!!.....

The first of our dishes to arrive was the green vege. We ordered stir fried spinach. I throughly enjoyed this dish. I do love spinach!!! This one was nice: soft but still slightly crunchy.

Next to arrive was the simply bbq'ed mud crabs. I love crabs done this way as it retains their natural sweetness and taste. We left it for quite some time before we started eating this so it was cold when started but nevertheless it was GOOD!!!

Next to arrive was the tom yam prawns. The prawns and some of the soup was served in a coconut while the rest of the soup was served in a normal bowl. Lots of prawns and the soup was quite good. We did notice this was sligthly cold when it arrived. It was alright but the prawns could have been fresher.

-Tofu Delivery King- has been wanting to eat Shanghai Hairy Crabs for some time now. So, when he saw they served this elusive crabs, he ordered two. It was alright, I find it about the same as normal mud crabs, the only difference to me is the price! One of these babies cost RM58 while the whole plate of bbq'ed mud crabs (two crabs) only cost about RM33. However, -Tofu Delivery King- did really enjoy this. Difference of opinion ok!? :p

The next dish is the Guiness Pork Ribs. These were delicious!!! The meat was not overly cooked therefore resulting in a nicely springy meat with the sweetish Guiness Stout sauce. It was really really good!!

The last dish to arrive is the deep fried Salted Egg Yolk Sotong. This was a dish everyone at the table really enjoyed. It was super crispy with the fragrance and taste of the salted egg yolk. Heavenly!!!!

Overall a very enjoyable dinner. We will return to try the other stuff on offer especially that salt crusted bbq tilapia fish (we should have gotten their number so that we can call and order ahead since we saw it takes very long to cook).

Makan Kings ratings - 7 out of 10

Cheers
-BKT King-

Sticky Fingers @ Columbia, South Carolina, United States

2006-10-20T22:05:00.000+08:00

Okay readers, is time for overseas post!!! One of the makankings is in US. It is quite hard to get some good pork ribs in Malaysia, as you know most of the restaurant in Malaysia is Halal, therefore they don’t serve pork. The first thing I did in US is to look for a good BBQ ribs restaurant. After I checked in to my hotel, I take some advice from the receptionist on BBQ ribs restaurant. She introduced the “Stickey Fingers” which is a couple of miles away from the hotel. I was also offered a coupon from the hotel where I can get half dozen (6 pcs) of their famous Hickery-Smoked Wings for free.

Sticky Fingers are known for their authentic Memphis style ribs and barbecue in the South. Sticky Fingers is a food chain and they have their restaurant in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and the most in South Carolina which is the place that I am in now. Sticky Fingers is famous for their hickory smoked ribs, wings and the five signature BBQ sauces.

When I first walked into the restaurant, there are lots of people having their dinner. I was asked for smoking preferences and after that they showed me to the table. Not all restaurants here have smoking area for smokers. A waiter come over and introduces himself and asked me is it my first time here. Yup, this is my first time, and then he brings over a sampler of ribs without any sauce and let me try on all the five sauces before I make my order.

After tried with all the different sauces, I ordered the Carolina Sweet. This BBQ sauces is sweeten with honey. The half slab of the ribs is USD 13.99 and by adding another USD 5.00, you will get a full slab. Of course, I ordered a full slab since they tasted so goooooddd……… I also handed over the coupon that I get earlier from the hotel receptionist.

The first thing served on to the table was the half dozen of Hickory Smoke Wings. It came with dips and the dip on the right was very good (blue cheese). The wings are crispy at the outside and very juicy in the inside. It was so delicious and if I didn’t order a full slab, I might consider ordering another portion of the wings. The wings are different from the Buffalo wings at Hooters and Wong Ah Wah chicken wings in Jalan Alor. The wings served here had their own style and believe me, you will love it.

As soon as I finish eating the wings, the main course is served, Full Slab of Carolina Sweet Memphis Style Ribs. According to the waiter their ribs are smoked daily over aged Hickory wood before they BBQ it. That is why they are special and delicious. The meats are just so tender and juicy, you can feel the sweet honey and BBQ sauce on the ribs. The full slab is a very huge portion, as you can see from the picture, the ribs can’t really fit into the plate. So you can imagine how big portion it is. But I finished them all, because they were just too good. I think it took me around 30 minutes to finish them, I am going to do it again before I leave this place…….. hehehe

The total bill including tips cost me USD 27.00, it is on the expensive side but to me it is worth every single penny. Overall, I would say it was a very good and delicious ribs dinner.

Makan Kings’ rating: 8.5/10

Cheers Mate,
-Wasabi King-

KFC Egg Tarts with Red Beans

2006-09-26T21:12:00.000+08:00

Yes! Its time to reveal what was in the KFC bag. Nice try by anonymous to guess but it wasnt KFC Pork!!! A friend of ours went to China for holiday and brought back this bag (among other things) for us.

Upon un-wrapping we found this box (picture below). Basically says "NEW!! Egg tarts with read bean" Hhmmm....egg tarts from KFC?? At first we thought it was going to taste like original recipy tarts. But we were WRONG!!

The tarts (picture below), tasted extremely GOOD!!! Perfectly crispy (after reheat) pastry with smooth, creamy, sweet egg custard filling. At the bottom of the filling was a few whole red beans. If we didnt see the wrapper we would never believe it was from KFC.

In conclusion an extremely pleasant surprise. We really loved these eggs tarts. One of the best egg tarts we tasted. Wish we could get it here in Malaysia. Would like to thank TBS for bringing us these egg tarts all the way from China.

Makan King's ratings = 8 out of 10

Cheers,
-Tofu Delivery King-

Coming up in the next post.....

2006-09-25T01:55:00.000+08:00

Here's a little teaser on whats coming up on our next post. Can anyone guess whats it going to be? Hint, its not fried chicken. :D

So stay tuned.....

Cheers,
-Tofu Delivery King-

Iketeru Japanese Restaurant @ KL Hilton

2006-09-21T23:15:00.001+08:00

Ok, time for another post!! We love KL Hilton, we love the rooms, the gym (Clark Hatch) and Chynna, their chinese restaurant. One night we decided to try their japanese restaurant, Iketeru. And we were glad we did!!!

First thing to arrive at our table was the soft shell crab handroll. Unlike handrolls at other Japanese restaurant which are filled with rice and cucumber, this handroll also features lettuce leaves. A refreshing touch to a familiar dish. The seaweed wrap is beautifully crunchy and the soft shell crab inside warm. Totally delicious.

Following the excellent handroll came the mixed sashimi platter. It includes, octopus, tuna, salmon and 2 other types of fish (sorry, I have no idea what they are... :P). For the price we expected notthing but the best quality sashimi and that is exactly what we got. Superbly fresh fish!!!

Next to come was the mixed sushi platter. It contains a mixture of sushi and needless to say it was all GOOD!! Sorry for the lack of commentary but I shall let the pictures do most of the talking today.

Ketchup Queen happens to be a huge croquette fan so naturally we ordered that for her. It was potato croquette. I didnt particularly enjoy this dish but Ketchup Queen loved it. I must say though that although being deep fried it wasnt at all oily. I also liked the side of salad that came with the dish.

After all those appertisers, came our mains. The first to arrive is the Udon Noodles. It was udon in soup and came with a side of tempura. The udon was superb!! The broth in which it was served was really really good!!! I didnt try the tempura but I was told it was very good as well.

The next main to arrive was the mixed mushroom teppanyaki. There were several types of mushrooms including shiitake and golden mushroom.

The next dish to arrive was the chicken teriyaki. This must be the best chicken teriyaki that I have ever tasted (most expensive too!)!! The chicken was tender and the sweetish sauce was soooo good we asked for more!!

Next was the salmon teriyaki. Another superb dish. The salmon was cooked just right and again the sweetish teriyaki sauce shined!!!

The chicken teppanyaki came next. It was good but after the chicken teriyaki, this tasted a little bland (luckily it came with teriyaki sauce on the side!!!). I liked the side of crispy garlic slivers.

To accompany our main dishes, we had garlic fried rice. It is basically japanese rice fried with garlic and sprinkled with crispy garlic slivers on top. Very Very Very GOOD!!!

After all those salty food, time for sweet deserts!! We ordered two types of ice-creams. The first to arrive is the black sesame ice-cream. This is the best ice-cream I have ever had!! It taste nutty with the fragrance of sesame seeds!! Very very good.

I order the next ice-cream at every japanese restaurant I visit. The green tea ice-cream with red bean. This ice-cream is also very good, the slight bitterness of the green tea ice-cream matches perfectly with the slightly sweet nutty red bean. Ohh....HEAVEN!!!

The last of the desert happens to be Ketchup Queen's favourite, the red bean soup with "tong yuen". It was actually served in a small teacup. And there were two mini "tong yuen" inside. I didnt try this but according to Ketchup Queen, it was gooooooooooood!!!

On the whole a very very good and satisfying japanese meal. Slightly on the expensive side but in my opinion worth all the money!!

Makan King's ratings = 9 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Roti Babi @ Yut Kee

2006-09-14T23:57:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone! First we would like to appologise for the serious lack of updates. All of us have been busy lately. Today, I will do a short post on one of my favourite kopitiams. Yut Kee!! It is just opposite Plaza Wilayah (not 100% sure thats the name of the Plaza but it is where you can go and make passport).

Pictured above is my favourite thing in Yut Kee. The roti babi!!!! It ROCKS!! I know Ruby will totally agree with me! It is shredded pork cooked with onions encased in a super soft, fluffy bread. The whole thing is (deep?) fried resulting in a crispy outer crust. Add some Worchesteshire sauce and you're good to go!!!

The above picture is the belacan fried rice. It is really good!! You can taste the slightly burned rice from the rapid frying. It comes with loads of chicken pieces, squid pieces, peas and crunchy beansprouts. Personally I find this abit too spicy but it is still good!!

On another visit (as usual, forgotten to take pictures) I have tried the hailam noodles. I find it abit bland and much prefer the belacan fried rice. Will be back for more roti babi and to try their other dishes.

Makan Kings ratings - 8 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Birthday Dinner @ Imbi Palace

2006-07-29T23:55:00.000+08:00

We attended a friend's Birthday dinner last week. The dinner was at Imbi Palace Restaurant. We had our own private room with private waiter and captain although there was only 5 of us. Must be the amount of money being spent that night.

The first dish to arrive is the 4 Seasons Starter. It comprises of "siew yoke", salted egg yolk prawns, bacon wraps and stir fried shark fins. The prawns and the bacon wrap was very good. We went again the next day just to order the prawns!!

The stir fried shark fin was also good. They were very generous with the shark fins.

Next course is the shark fin soup. Its a little different from the usual shark fin soup that I'm used to. This one tasted very luxurious (if that makes any sense). Overall not bad!!

Someone at the table had a thing about eating shark fin so she had the "old cucumber" soup. It was served in a hollowed out cucumber and had loads of dried scallops, prawns and meat. I did not try this soup but people who did said it was GOOD!!

Next came the Peking Duck. As usual the captian craved out the skin while the waiter wrapped it in the pancake together with sliced cucumber and spring onions.

We told the captain to chop up the duck drumsticks for us. It was very delicious. Smooth, salty and oily. Ahhh!!! Heaven...

Next dish that came was the soft shell crabs. It was fried dried with salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Quite good but I found it abit too salty. Maybe its because of the duck.

The next dish to arrive is the tofu dish. As with all the dishes that night. It was really delicious with generous amounts of dried scallops, prawns, mushrooms and meat. They also threw in a few stalks of kailan for good measure! :D

The last of the main course to arrive was the duck noodles. The duck meat from the peking duck was shredded and fried with noodles. Another very good dish. Although I thought that there are not enough noodles and too much duck meat.

Now we move onto the desserts!! The first is the "Wor Peng". Ketchup Queen has sort of a soft spot for "Wor Peng" so she througly enjoyed this!!

The last dessert is the mango, sago, pomelo dessert. Sorry I dont know what its actually called but it was nice, cold and delicious!!

Overall a very excellent meal!! Thanks to JS for the lovely meal!!

Makan King's ratings = 7 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Paris Day 2 - Le Grande Cafe

2006-07-13T01:00:00.000+08:00

After shopping we went for dinner at Le Grande Cafe. Its an old-fashion french cafe. It feels very posh inside. The food was D-E-A-LICIOUS!!

First up is the appertiser. It consists of cold seafood. Among them are scallops, prawns and oysters.

Our first main course is the pan-fried lobster. The waiter brought a live lobster to our table to ask us if the size is ok. Then the lobster was pan-fried with a white wine sauce. Dont know how to describe la. VERY GOOD!!!

Next main course is roasted duck. The duck was very crunchy and tender. It came with a side of mashed potatoes which was also quite good!

Our 3rd main course is the pan-fried salmon. It was served with a side of mashed potatoes and a glass of carrot and orange juice.

Our last dish was roasted spring chicken with gnocchi. Gnocchi is an Italian dumpling. It is made of potatoes and flour. Very interesting. Taste good too!!

Again, I'm going to let the pictures do the talking instead of writing long winded review. Actually just lazy la! :p

Makan Kings's ratings = 9 out of 10

Cheers,
-Tofu Delivery King-

Paris Day 1 - Pizza Pino

2006-07-10T04:10:00.000+08:00

Hello!!! We're BACK!! Europe was delicious!! This will be the first of many post on our Europe trip. We're going to be using bigger photos this time so please excuse us if some of them are abit blurry. Anyway, back to the topic, PARIS!! Bienvenue to our Makan Kings' Eurotrip!!

Pizza Pino @ Champs-Eylsees

Our first day we ate at Pizza Pino. It is located along the main road of Champs-Eylsees, very near Louis Vuitton, George V. A super location for a superb meal.

Menu - At the entrance

The best part about this restaurants and many restaurants in Europe is that everything is made to order. After you place your order the chef will roll out the dough, make your pizza and cook it in the wood burning oven. You can actually watch your pizza being assembled at the open kitchen.

The Chefs Preparing the Pizzas with Fresh Ingredients

The Chefs Placing the Pizzas in the Wood Burning Oven.

The Mixed Platter

The first dish we ordered was the mixed platter. This dish consists of calamari, prawns, pickles, and rice with tomato paste and grilled tomato with cheese : )

The sausage with egg pizza.

The ham and egg pizza.

For our main course, we ordered two pizzas. One is the sausage and egg pizza and the other was the ham and egg pizza. Both pizza had toppings of tomato sauce and cheese. Then topped with the meat, sausage and ham and an egg cracked in the middle. DELICIOUS!!

Not much description of the food but we think the pictures should be doing the talking. Stay tuned for more on our European adventure.

Makan Kings ratings = 9 out of 10

Cheers
-Tofu Delivery King-

Tea for two please.

2006-06-29T20:23:00.000+08:00

Before the guys start blabing about the europe trip, today i brought BKT king to tea and he ate it right up hahaha (well after i applied some of my girl power i.e. some friendly coercion and he finally gave in). yes tea the girly girl tradition started by the british royalty. But our rendition is the obviously cheaper version.

This is our tea set nothing extravagant but the taste.. Oohh lalaa at the end of the day it's the taste that matters not the presentation. ps: for the price we paid we can't expect it to be the Ritz standard right :P

I had commomile with honey and he had english breakfast with milk love the biscotti too

The first tier - Fresh strawberries with chocolate dip, strawberry short cake, the banana tart ooh love it and the chocolate truffles mmm

The piping hot mini scones with fresh cream and strawberry conserve

The third tier - sandwiches with abit of roe on top

The man had his seriously delicious burger

The malaysian girl had her laksa

The end. Peace : )

- Ketchup Queen Signing off -

Time Out

2006-06-08T21:58:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

Firstly would like to thank you all for visiting. Sorry for the lack of updates recently. We all have been swamped with work lately. Just thought we drop by and say we will be taking a short break from blogging.

Normal posting will resume in a couple of weeks. Please do check back as we will be featuring a food tour of Paris and other new and exciting restaurants in and around Malaysia amongs other things!! So do stay tuned!

Cheers,
-Makan Kings & Queen-

BKT Steamboat!!

2006-05-24T19:54:00.000+08:00

I read in some other food blogs that there is a shop in Taman Billion in Cheras serving Bak Kut Teh soup based steamboat. Being the BKT King, I just had to check it out. The shop itself is easy to find. It on the same row as all those western restaurants such as Cowboy and Kaki Corner. Its called New Taste Steamboat.

As with all steamboat restaurants, you start off with a huge platter (actually how big the plate is depends on how many people you ordered for!) of the obligatory balls (fish, salmon, pork, etc etc), crab sticks, prawns, tofu, chicken fillet, and vegetables. Sorry for the photo, I only realised I havent taken a photo after emptying half the plate into the steamboat!

For the night as it was only 3 of us, we only added in a plate of "Sui Kao" or meat dumplings, pictured above. There was also the usual "Bee Hoon", "Yee Mee" and eggs to add to the soup at the end but we were so busy eating I forgotten to take a picture. Again, my sincere apologies....

Anyway back to the food! As you can see above, the blackish bak kut teh soup is boiling away beautifully. The aroma from the soup is quite good but you will definately notice its not as strong as proper bak kut teh. Some how the watered down bak kut teh soup really works!!! There was notthing special about the ingredients that were put in but the soup tasted fantastic as we added more and more stuff into it. A definate must try for everyone!!! It must be said though that once the "Yee Mee" was put into the soup, the strong smell of the "Yee Mee" overpowered the soup but I still thought it was nice.

If you like steamboat and game for something deliciously different, I would suggest New Taste Steamboat in Taman Billion, Cheras!!

Makan Kings ratings = 7 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Happy Birthday!!!

2006-05-05T17:05:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to Makan Kings!!!

It has been exactly a year today since the Makan Kings started posting. All of us here have enjoyed eating and reviewing food all around the world and we hope to keep on posting for many more years to come.

Many thanks to all of you who regularly read our blog. Hope that you will continue to view and read our blog as we continue to eating and reviewing!!

Cheers
-Makan Kings-

Sundaes on Sunday!!

2006-04-24T10:33:00.000+08:00

The kings were in KLCC. As it was a Sunday, we decided to have some ice-cream. There are a few ice-cream parlours in KLCC to choose from like New Zealand Natural and Lecka Lecka but we ended up in Haagen Daz.

The first of the orders to arrive was the Banana Split (cant remember if they called it a different name). Sundaes dont get more classical than this!! A banana split into half and 3 scoops of gorgeous ice cream. The flavors were Chocolate, Strawberry and Cookies and Cream (if memory serves me right). Add some almonds, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry and its good to go. As usual, the ice-cream is to die for. Notthing much I can say really.....

Next is the Chocoholic. 2 scoops of chocolate ice-cream (both different but cant remember what they were). Again, gorgeous ice-cream and beautiful presentation.

Finally my order came!! Its called the Summer something (sorry, my memory is very bad these days). I love haagen daz's strawberry cheesecake so the inclusion of one scoop of strawberry cheesecake help in my decision. Cant remember what the other scoop was I think it was Pecan. Served in a huge waffle cone and drizzled with strawberry sauce with sliced fresh strawberries and banana on the side. B-E-A-utiful!!

As usual, the ice-cream at haagen daz was simply marvelous. I did however notice that the picture in the menu seems to suggest that the servings are huge but in reality they are not.

Makan Kings ratings = 7 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

The luxury of room service @ Prince Hotel

2006-04-13T00:27:00.000+08:00

One of the things we love to do is stay in hotels. Even better than the plush interiors and the beautiful rooms is the luxury of room service. One of our favourite hotels to stay in for a lazy weekend in is the Prince Hotel and Residence in Jalan Conlay. I personally like this hotel because of the ultra high pressure shower!! :D

Anyway, its time to review the food!! Room service is such a luxury. You can be in your pajamas and have a trolley full of delectable delights sent to your room! The only work required is picking up the phone and choosing the food. To start off, we ordered a ceasar salad (pictured above). The salad was good. I like the addition of quail's eggs. The veges were cold (very important) and crunchy.

Next was the tom yam soup. I didnt get to taste this but judging by how fast it went it must have been good. A nice touch was the addition of a fried roll. To soak up all the tasty soup!

For the main course, we ordered two things. Pictured above is the steak. It looks miserable I know. I thought the same thing when they opened the cover. It came with a side of salad and some black pepper sauce. It was an ok steak, abit on the tough side but still not bad. The black pepper sauce was good!

I think most readers will know that I keep the best of the review for the last. Its not different with this review. The best order of the night was the nasi goreng kampung. It came with sides of fried egg, keropok, assam prawns, pineapple pickle and 3 sticks of chicken satay with satay sauce. The rice was very fragrant and spicy. The prawns were huge, fresh and the tangy assam it was cooked in was oh so heavenly when eaten with the fried rice. The satay though was ok only. What can you expect from hotel satay right?

All in all, I think we actually enjoyed the luxury of room service more than the actual food. Next time I think we will try other hotels.....

Makan Kings's rating = 6 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Eat Chinese.

2006-04-02T01:38:00.000+08:00

Some of us are back in penang for the chinese memorial day i.e. the day for most taoists to pay respect to their ancestors. Naturally, with distant relatives are usually back from everywhere in the world for this day and the typical chinese family will have a mini reunion dinner. It's always nice to spend time with your extended family and catch up. Tonight I joined Tofu Delivery King and his family for a scrumptious chinese dinner.

Yat Pan Wo - Black chicken soup base with dried scallops, fish maw, chinese mushroom, yu tun, and chinese cabbage. For strengthening and revitalizing your body.

The taste ? magnificent. We both had four servings each. So by then, we were 50% stuffed.

The Four Seasons Food Platter - consists of Fresh scallops with vege, Shrimp Balls, Kerabu Mango and and vegetarian wrap/spring roll.

Everybody's favourite dish - XL Prawn Fritters ! Yum

For the kids - Sweet and sour pork

Lin Yong Wo Peng - chinese pancake (lotus paste stuffing) *drool*

For the ladies and their skin : Soymilk served with bak kuo

Supper: After the dinner, we head back to my place and ate my mom's home made laksa forgot to take pics :( as for dessert, it's nothing but the kopi-o-peng & koay kor lok (banana fritters), to those who don't know, this is the typical afternoon tea snack for penangites or any malaysian.

-Posted by: Ketchup Queen-

Rating: 8.99999/10

Instant Noodles + Abalone + Wine = Best Home Cooked Supper

2006-03-28T16:43:00.000+08:00

Had some friends come back from overseas recently. They bought me some very good wine/champagne. Below is a picture of the stuff they bought for me. From left to right, Vintage Dom Perignon, Barons de Rothschild Lafite and vintage Moet & Chandon.

Decided to open one of the bottles and treat them to a luxurious supper of instant noodles! :D Below is a picture of the packet of instant noodles. It is my current favourite, Shin Ramyun.

The thing that will make this supper luxurious is pictured below. It is abalone!!

Just need to put the instant noodles in a bowl with water, add sliced abalone and nuke in the microwave!!

Open a bottle of Barons de Rothschild Lafite and you have the best supper anywhere!! :D

The wine complemented the spicy instant noodles very well. Apparently the salesperson at the airport my friend bought it from told him that it is good with Asian food. I must say that I agree!!

Makan Kings ratings - 7.5 out of 10 (wine)

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Jogoya - Starhill Gallery

2006-03-24T09:59:00.000+08:00

Been reading quite a few food blogs with reviews of Jogoya lately. This is my version. Jogoya is a famous japanese buffet chain from Taiwan. Unlike the likes of Saisaki in UOA2, Jogoya is meant to be more high class. There is your usual buffet style counters where you go and take what you want to eat but there is also a cooked food counter where you place your table clip(no picture but its basically a metal clip with your table number on it) in a bowl in front of a sample of the dish you want, the chef will cook it and send it to your table.

There are also member only dishes at each of the buffet counter. Membership cost RM1020 and it for life. Each time you dine using the membership, you are given member only coupons(depending on how many people dine, its one coupon per person). You can use these coupons to order members only dishes. The procedure is the same just that you have to clip the coupon with the table clip. Below are some interior shots of Jogoya.

To start we had sashim. They had several types of fish including the obligatory salmon and tuna. There was also scallop sashimi, sushi and fresh oysters. Pre rolled sushi and made-to-order hand rolls were also available. Sorry about not having pictures. We forgot to take many pictures and there are many reviews on Jogoya anyway.

Below is a shot of the buffet counter. Notice the bed of ice and the raw food on the ice. Also notice there are bowls with a tag saying what the dish is. You place your table clip in the bowl and after the chef has cooked the dish it will be sent over to your table.

Below is a picture of one of the buffet counter. Jogoya is huge and it it quite impossible to eat everything they have to offer in one sitting.

Below is one of the member dish. It is a plate of deep fried soft shell crab. We were expecting maybe one soft shell crab when we ordered this dish. When it arrived we were all shocked. They gave us a plate with 3 sizeable soft shell crabs. It was nice and crispy but tasted slightly bland to me.

The dish below is pan fried scallops. This is not a member only dish and everyone can order it. This dish although it doesnt look like much is spectacular. The sweetness of the scallops really shines in this dish and the chef did a good job of not cooking the hell out of the scallops.

The fish below is the grilled white prompret. This dish was also quite good. The sauce that the dish came with is a salty slightly spicy sauce and complemented the fish quite well.

Below is the favourite dish of our table. It is the paper steamboat. You can see the condiments that you can add to the steamboat. Prawns, giant crab legs and chinese cabbage.

The pictures below are the paper steamboat filled with giant crab legs and chinese cabbage. We choose the chicken stock. If you go to Jogoya, you should get this dish first as it takes quite a while for the soup to start boiling.

The giant crab legs are simply divine!! And the soup left after eating the giant crab legs is just heaven. It taste sweet and slightly creamy. Definately the best dish of the night.

If you have space left after all that good food, there is also a wide selection of cakes, biscuits, ice-cream and fruits for desert. Below are pictures of the dessert counter.

As we were all very full after the hefty meal, we decided to try just two cakes. The one below is a members only cake(we had one member coupon left over and didnt want to eat any more seafood). It is a strawberry cake and it was delicous. The cake was light and the strawberry frosting was creamy and not overly sweet with nice taste of strawberry(not those artificial taste you get from really cheap strawberry cakes).

Below is the other cake we tried. Cant remember what this cake is called but it was also quite good.

Overall I think Jogoya is a nice place to go for Japanese buffet. The amount of seafood that is available should justify the price. Also, during this visit there I noticed that all the seafood were really fresh. I really enjoyed the sashimi and tempura(sorry, no photos of the tempura). Do be warned thought, you might get an overdose of seafood when you eat there just like I did.

Makan King's ratings = 8.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Mini Post on Irodori.

2006-03-07T12:25:00.001+08:00

Irodori is a quaint japanese restaurant in Grand Hyatt Taipei, they offer buffets and ala carte dinners, but they are famous for their buffet dinners. Each per costs roughly about rm120, which i think is reasonable because the quality of the food is excellent. Didn't really take alot of pics just abit of here and there - we were too cold and too hungry at that moment. This is me and tofu delivery king's table. Ofcourse the sahimi part of the table is his. Would like to say thank you to him as he paid the bill *shy*, *evil grin*. ngek ngek ngek.

Why?
-helpful attendants
- free flow haagen daz ice cream, they got green tea served with japanese red bean paste - oooh my fav ! had to mention desserts first cause i love desserts. :P
- japanese candies which are quite expensive as i bought some before.
- the best chocolate mud pie and peach meringue.
- Instant skewered beef balls, meat, fresh fish.
- Fresh udon and soba either with soup or fried or cold.
- They also got suyiyaki for beef lovers.
- Offers a few fusion dishes at the main buffet belt.
- Offers fresh seafood paper steamboat.
- Fresh clam seafood miso
- Quality of food = 9/10.
- Sushis are execellent so are the sashimis.
- All sorts of variety of japanese food but to me it's the quality of the food that counts, they taste really good individually it's like having a ala carte bufet in a japanese restaurant.
- Proper Japanese Bowls and Plates unlike those jap buffets that serve you with white plates. Japanese restaurant hello ~~~ serve with jap plates.
- Restaurant is always at capacity had to wait for 20 mins before getting a seat.

-Posted by Ketchup Queen-

Taipei - Our Best Japanese Fine Dining Experience Seafood wise

2006-02-26T13:30:00.000+08:00

Well the Makankings wanted to try the real deal so we went to San Jing Taipei.

It's a really nice restaurant always fully booked so it would be wise to make reservations before going.
The restaurant do not recommend people to order ala carte as they have extremely LIMITED dishes.
So most people go there to have set meals. Price range from 2880 to 6000 new taiwan dollars per person. But the quality of their seafood and the designs of their food is worth every penny.

This is mini lobster with not cheese, but egg and spinach feeling. The prawn itself is so fresh and all of us were reluctant to swallow it.

Here we have fried fresh scallop. Just look at the size, need we say more?
My personal favourite.
This is the Paper-Base steamboat that we had ingredients are fish, crabs, musells, clams, hairy crab all from hokaido - according to the waitress that served us.
The soup base is a bit bitter, I think it's a mixture of herbal soup and a wee bit of milk

This is a very adorable appetizer. It's garlic wrapped with different types of vege
This is the vege tempuras, cherry tomatoes, flower mushrooms and potatoes which is not pictured because 'someone' ate it before we took the pic.
This is the miso, ginger and fish based. Very refreshing and the fish taste good too.
This is a lamb cutlet. I'm not even sure it's lamb because it doesn't smell the way a normal lamb would, i'm not sure if it's the leaf that they used to cover the smell. Lamb is tender and juicy and sweet at the same time.

This is my favourite dish. Hairy Crab, which the legs are the only edible part of the crab. The taste? Fabulous.
This is baked to perfection on top of a bed of salt and the smell is so good, the crab meat, i would say tasted better than lobsters.
This is frilled fish, what type fish it is, i'm not really sure but it tasted really really good, although i'm not a fish fan.

This is the prawn tempura. The prawn itself is soooo big, and the taste is very fresh. Unlike those they sell in normal japanese restaurants. The seafood here is freshness guaranteed.
This is "someone" favourite, as she ate my portion as well. It's the prawn cocktail salad, which was so good "someone" have the need to steal my food.
This is 'hoi tam' fish's pankreas or liver or whatever they call it i am not sure, one thing for sure that one it's pricy and two, nobody dare to even try it.
We ordered extra rolls while waiting for the food. the taste is normal, nothing special
This is the sahimi set. The best sashimi set i've ever tasted. I can't remember the exact name for the pinkish fish is called but it definately tasted better than the regular sake.

Posted By : Tofu Delivery King Ratings: 9/10

Happy Saint Valentin !

2006-02-13T06:51:00.000+08:00

Valentine's day sweets. I love the Strawberries and custard flan mmm :)

As commercialised as this day is, it's always nice to pamper your partner on this special occasion.

-Ketchup Queen-

Cheap Eats in Dirty ol' London Estimated Cost = 50 pounds

2006-02-13T06:01:00.000+08:00

Carluccio's The authentic Italian restaurant. Tube: South Ken. Stn.

EVERY SINGLE DISH FROM THEIR MENU IS IMPORTED FROM ITALY, you always watch Uncle Antonio Carluccio's show on Discovery Travel and Adventure channel? Now taste his food ! It's lovely !

The fatty cook in action.

This time besides eating, I bought some souvenirs. Their hand made thin egg pasta (Best served with their signature WILD BOAR Ragu Sauce) only available on the today's special menu . Their Olive grossini (breadsticks) is the real stuff, i also got piedmont biscotti that came with the gelati that we ordered (ice cream is just normal) .

Recommended eats : Fried Rice Dumpling with mozarella and minced meat; Wild Boar Pasta; Rissoto and a special dessert which i forgot to take a picture and can't spell it in italian well it includes milk, warm chocolate and espresso served in three individual cups and you have to mix according to your taste into a coffee cup and serve. Talk about the science in food.

The menu includes transportation, a brand new vespa scooter for 1799 GBP. Cute right? if only i could ride a bike.

The Queue to get a place to sit in Carluccio is forever. The restaurant's interior design is modern chic - me likey.

This is the clam pasta which the clams have a really refreshing taste

Spinach Ravioli !! my fav pasta :) eat that all the time it's really good

I had the today's special - Mushroom Rissoto (let's just say it's the BEST rissoto i've had in England! )

Must try for mushroom soup lover. This is not a typical creamy mushroom soup you always get. It is made from various type of mushroom in clear soup with bacon bits which are extremely addictive. It looks plain but the taste is magnificto

Heart Shaped Fried Mozarella (amazingly delicious !) cheese is sweet and salty at the same time. Served with extremely good salsa and rocket leaves. Something that taste and look good at the same time.

Makankings Rating: mm.. er.. 7/10

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Tentables London Tube: Gloucester Rd Stn. Cuisine: Spanish

Recommended Hot Tapas : Grilled Chilli Prawns, Mini Paella and Cod Fish Croquette (where are the pics? it's too good i was too hungry i forgot to take)

Grilled Pork Chop with Apple Sauce and Mash - yummy - pork is tender apple sauce yummy !

Second Dish is Lamb Shank again, lamb was grilled to perfection

This is my favourite (dish i ordered) grilled salmon with mini prawns on top served with white cream sauce and chips which are too cute to eat they are really fat looked more like individual cubes of chips.

Makankings Rating: 5/10

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-Posted By: Ketchup Queen - where her world revolves around ketchup :) -

Happy Chinese New Year 2006 - Year of the Dog!!

2006-01-28T14:13:00.000+08:00

Wishing Everyone out there a Prosperous and Happy Chinese New Year!! We at Makan Kings welcome the year of the Dog! May it bring much luck, wealth, health and prosperity.

Cheers from all of us at
-Makan Kings-

Restoran Kawan Kita @ Semenyih Part II

2006-01-27T10:01:00.000+08:00

Have visited Restoran Kawan Kita a few times already. The food has always been good. Here is one of the more memorable visits....

Above is a picture of Celery fried with "Siew Yoke". Very very good. The saltiness of the "Siew Yoke" goes very well with the fragrant crunchy celery. A bit the oily la but its GOOD!

This is the "Fu Yong Tan" which I have talked about in the previous post on Kawan Kita. It taste the same as last time. Showing that they have some good QC. :D

Cant remember the name of the dish above. Its a red tilapia on a hot plate covered in a sambal sauce. This is not like your usual malay sambal. Its a typical chinese type of sambal. Quite good and the fish was fried to a nice crisp. Red tilapia seems to be the predominant fish served in Semenyih/Broga. Easy to catch?

The last dish that came is Guiness Pork Ribs. This dish was the best dish of the night. They should have brought it out earlier cos we were all quite full when it arrived. The Guiness sauce was deliciously sweet. No bitterness from the alchohol at all. The meat itself was really infused with the sauce and wasnt too tough.

Makan King's ratings = 7.5 out of 10 (went up 0.5 points on account of the Guiness Pork Ribs)

Cheers,
-BKT King-

Fat Auntie Chicken Rice @ Jalan Pudu

2006-01-24T18:40:00.000+08:00

We've visited "Fei Por Kai Fun" many times before but this is the first time we remembered to take photographs. You can have your steamed chicken with a variety of things such as fragrant rice, rice noodles or porridge. Below is the picture of the chicken porridge. As far as porridges goes, this is about average. Notthing compared to the superb porridge in Petaling Street.

Next to arrive was the "cha siew". Now this is really really good "cha siew". The meat is nice and juicy (althought can be abit fatty at places) and the sauce that they put on top is out of this world. Kind of regret ordering porridge as the sauce would have gone very well with the fragrant rice.

The last thing to arrive was the mandatory steamed chicken. One thing about "Fei Por" is that her chickens seem to be quite big. So be wary when the person taking your order recommends half a chicken. I would say order for the amount of people eating rather than quarter/half/whole chickens. The chicken is not bad. Again the sauce that the put on top is good (different than the one used for the "cha siew" but also very good!)

On other occasions we have ordered the bean sprouts and the meat ball soup. All in all a very decent chicken rice place but it can be quite expensive.

Makan King's rating = 6.5 out of 10

Cheers,
-BKT King-