tastebuddies

Spore Again....

2008-07-18T14:41:00.011+08:00

Tastebuddies members kept complaining that recently, I kept posting nice foods at Spore. And they grumbled that they could just watch and not taste it. Aiks....I'm sorry! I'm here again to introduce the miscellaneous delicacies that i'd tasted in spore. More to go, but since you guys complained, this might be the last post on spore. Haha....

The first thing I was told to try is the new Coca-cola Zero. I was wondering the difference between coke light and this coke zero. They said it was the taste that differs. Most of them used to dislike coke light because it tasted artificial and not as good as real coke. However, this coke Zero was invented to satisfy the cravings of those who liked coke but thinks it's too fattening. It tasted exactly like normal coke but amazingly, it's calorie free, sugar free and fat free!

-TAKO PACHI!!- A must try snacks for us whenever we went spore. The outlet we always visited was the one located at Takashimaya's food court. We've tried out those in Malaysia, but still a lot more to improve compare to this tako pachi. I just don't understand why there's always long que for those tako pachi stalls in kl(outside jusco), expensive and tasted bad! This one here only cost $ 2.30 for 3 balls. used to be $ 2 only. Damn inflation!

Prawn and Octopus balls are topped with mayonnaise and 'Japanese fish'. Served HOT! All ingredients are fresh and the goes well with the toppings. 5 stars given.

Bacon & cheese balls stays original.

-Octopus-

-Prawn-

-Bacon & Cheese-

-Green Tea Madness-

As mentioned before, I am in love with green tea stuffs. Anything made with green tea interest me! This include ice creams, sweets, starbucks, and lots more....

Came across this ice cream stall. couldn't make up my mind on which ice cream to choose. There were black sesame, milk tea, sea salt and etc... All tasted weird, so decided to choose Green Tea with red bean.

First time I tasted green tea with chunks of red bean in it. Yum! 5 stars given.

-Azabu Sabo Hokkaido Ice Cream- Will definitely eat this stall's ice cream whenever at spore. This stall is famous for it's Mango Ice cream, one of my favorites too. But still chose Green Tea. :)

-Mc Donald's McFlurry with Green Tea- Why? Why?? Why only available at spore, not msia?? Still craving for it now. This is a normal sundae ice cream mixed with green tea powder. I've requested for extra green tea powder. Hehe...Tasted really really good, good aroma too! 5 stars given.

err...doesn't looks tempting right?

-Starbucks' Green Tea Frappuccino- For those who doesn't like coffee, like me, can try this frappuccino. The only drink I order at Starbucks. :) Available at msia as well. Skim milk based, definitely a healthy choice. 4 stars given. Should request for double blending, the ice are still rough to be drank.

-McD's breakfast, Mc Griddles- Looked like normal burger? Yea...except the buns are sweet. They tasted like muffin buns. Sweet and had the burger texture. A new thing to try out. Not available at msia yet. Sigh! 4 stars given.

-Milk Toast- Was attracted by the lovely colour this sandwiches had. Coated with sugar and cost at $1.30 per peice. Too sinful to try it out. :(

Takashimaya's Food Fest from 4th July till 13th July. Was lucky enough to participate in this food fest located in front of Taka's Food court. Arrays of foods are available. I think this is part of the activities for Visit Singapore 2008.

Another green tea words caught my attention. Green Tea 'yiu cha kui' / 'yiu tiao' coated with sugar. Weird though. Again, too sinful to try it out. :(

Arrays of tarts such as Sardins, Durian, Curry n etc.

We couldn't decide on which to try out, therefore, we chose the stall with most people lining up.

They were puffs with cheese, choco, white choco, original, custard n etc.

A box of 10 costs us $ 3.50. Very very expensive. And wrong choice made. They didn't taste good at all. They were dry and nothing special about it.
1 star given.

Then we had this Korean Rice Cake, costs $ 3. Spicy and it tasted alright. It comes with a bird egg and some condiments. 3 stars given.

The rice cake's texture was chewy and for those who liked flour based food will desire this.

Sushi Tei Spore

2008-07-06T23:34:00.004+08:00

Dined at Sushi Tei, Vivo City. Beforehand, I browsed through the menu and realized that it was almost the same as Malaysia's Sushi Zanmai's menu. I can say that it was 90% similar, even the prices were the same except that they were stated in Singapore dollars. Not that worth it though. But still dined in because it was a treat from my aunt. :)

4 of us consumed 2 buckets of these ginger. Yupz....Broke out record!

-Green Tea-

-Sashimi-

3 words - Fresh! Fresh! Fresh! 4 stars given.

-Seafood in Paperpot- Contains slices of fish and other seafoods. We can refill the soup if desired. Best served with white rice. 4 stars given.

-Cheese Baked Scallops- Oh la la...Our favourite. Huge scallops with cheese. 4 huge scallops only cost around $ 8.00. I hope Msia could have this dish. Highly recommended. 5 stars given.

-Pan Fried Salmon- Crispy at the outside, juicy in the inside. But for me it's tasteless. Needed more sauces for that. 3 stars given.

-Gyoza- Pan fried dumplings. They were just alright. Nothing special. I could make better ones. :)

3 stars given.

Dessert Time

Not really sure about the name though.

This one was made with waffle and ice cream. Inside it, there's a layer of chocolate. 4 stars given.

This fishy shape was filled with red bean and ice cream. 4 stars given.

We prefered the red bean ones. :)

Overall, we will definately return for its cheese baked scallops and seafood paperpot which we can't get them at msia.

Earle Swensen's Spore

2008-06-29T01:11:00.007+08:00

This is a sub restaurant of Swensen's. Not many plcaes have this restaurant, this outlet was at Vivo City, spore's biggest shopping mall. Menu served was slightly different from Swensen's itself. However, the atmosphere was better and you need to que to wait to be seated.

We ordered a buffet style salad. It was stated only for one person. You can eat-all-you-can from the salad bar. The are a variety of starters to choose from. Including jack fruit snacks, pastas, fruits, corns, greens, croutons and etc. It costs only $ 11.30.

Beef CheeseBurger - Made from 2 huge homemade beef patties and cheese served with wedges. 3 stars given.

Chicken Teriyaki Burger - One whole big piece of thigh teriyaki chicken with burger buns and wedges. 3 stars given.

Baked Cheese Rice - This portion was stated to be for 2 person. But we need 4 person to finish the whole bowl. Too creamy and fattening. The rice was soaked wet. Not favourable. 2 stars given.

For dessert, we had Chocolate Fondue Ice Cream. Costs at $ 17.90. Normal. We could get better fondue with better price at other places. Not really worth to be eaten. 3 stars given.

Served with 5 sccops of mini ice creams.

Few cubes of cakes, slices of bananas and strawberries.

The Cafe Cartel Spore

2008-06-29T00:24:00.005+08:00

The Cafe Cartel - Famous for its St Louis Pork Ribs! The outlet i dined in was in IMM. This is a 'must eat' restaurant whenever I come to spore.

You can order a la carte menu ir by just adding $ 3.90, you can get a soup of the day, a soft drink and a free refill of bread.

However, if you did not order any sets, you can also get an unlimited refill of bread and butter. Fresh loafs of breads were baked every minutes. You need to be fast to get those bread at the counter, if not, within 5 minutes, GONE!

This is the so called St. Louis Pork Ribs - The lip smacking baby back ribs roacted with homemade BBQ sauce. This was the picture shown in the menu. Looks huge?

Yeah man! The portion was indeed as huge as shown in the menu. For the first time it was not just an illustration. Really worth eating as it only costs $ 15.20 per dish. The meat was roasted till you can just tear it from the ribs itself. The homemade sauce was sweet and thick. Great combination! 6 stars given.

Sirlion Steak - This medium rare steak was made from 100% New Zealand beef. It was tender and juicy. A generous portion and thick slice of beef was given and was served with spicy pasta, fries and baby carrots. It was topped with Texas Ranch Mushroom Sauce. Costs $ 15.90. 5 stars given.

Chicken & Fish Combo - Combination of grilled dory fish and grilled chicken with Texas Ranch Mushroom Sauce, served with bolognese pasta and veggies. Costs $ 14.90. The chicken was made from thigh meat, the best part of a chicken. 4 stars given.

Cafe Cartel offers a lot more delicious dishes and menus. For example, breakfast set menus, desserts, salads, soups, pastas, mainsourse and etc. Definately a great place to dine in. Highly recommended whenever you are in spore!!!

Honey Wholemeal Scones

2008-06-27T01:31:00.004+08:00

You need:

125g self-raising flour

125g wholemeal flour

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup natural yoghurt

1 tbsp honey

A pinch of salt

1) Combine milk, yoghurt and honey in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat.

2) Sift flour, wholemeal flour and salt into mixing bowl.

3) Add milk mixture to flour and mix lightly to form a soft dough. Add more milk if necessary. Knead dough briefly on a lightly floured surface untill smooth. Press out dough to 2cm thickness.

For Glazing: mix 1 tsp honey and 1 tbsp milk

4) Cut dough into rounds or squares. Place scones on trays and brush with prepared glaze. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at preheated 210 degree celcius oven.

Healthy and homemade scones which you couldn't get out there.!! :) Can be kept in jars and served as breakfast every morning with a teasopon of strawberry jam. Enjoy!

Villa de Fish Cafe

2008-06-27T00:56:00.004+08:00

Villa de Fish CAfe was located at Mentari area - shop houses opposite Yuen's Steamboat, sounded high class?? Hmm... We also thought so when we first enter the cafe. The atmosphere was quiet and fully decorated the seashells and fishes. We were excited. However, we were all disappointed when the waiter came to take our order. Doink! We repeated our order a few times and slowly so that he could jot it down correctly. The whole taking order process took quite a while. Then another waitress came to help him up and repeated our order. Stress...wrong again. Haha....all moods gone!

The dishes we ordered came with this cute little rabbit shaped eggs. I can say that this was the only thing we were impressed of.

We ordered:

Thai Crystal Chicken at RM 7.50. All rice dishes comes with a small bowl of soup which some said acceptable but i think it was nit desirable. 3 stars given.

Szechuan Minced Meat Noodles at RM 6.50. This tasted slightly better than other rice dishes. The noodles and meat sauces were good, combined with the crunchiness of carrots and cucumbers. You have to mix everything up before consuming. 4 stars given.

Marmite Pork at RM 7.50. Definitely not enough for those who are very hungry. The pork served was only 4 tiny little pieces. This dish can only be a starter of everyone. 2 stars given.

Marmite chicken at RM 7.00. Not favourable as well because the chicken were mostly the fatty parts and hardly get any meat in it. 2 stars given.

Tom Yam Bee Hoon at RM 8.00. This dish was okay compare to the above disasters. For me, I don't think it was spicy enough but there was quite a lot of seafood in it. 4 stars given.

Pineapple Fried Rice at RM 7.00. I could say that this was the biggest portion among all rice diches. But it tasted like normal fried rice with big chunk of pineapple in it. You can get better fried rice with cheaper price outside. 3 stars given.

Overall conclusion from us, WE WON'T RETURN to this restaurant again.

Tian Yian Cafe - Vegetarian

2008-06-27T00:15:00.004+08:00

Came across this vegetarian restaurant, Tian Yian Cafe from my parents. The cafe was located at Taman Miharja, Cheras. Opposite Wisma UE3. Suitable for those who would like to try a variety of vegetarian menus.

This is only part of their menu. Anything you can think of, they will have it for vegetarians.

Hi Fibre menus

The cafe was also famous for their vegetarian cakes without eggs!

They offered refillable OSK green tea at only RM 3.50 per cup.

Ocean Soup Noodles - Err...Not recommanded as it suppose to taste like seafood noodles but it doesn't. Costs RM 5.50. 1 star given.

Tauhu Rojak - Their specialty. This dish was tremendous, especially the peanut sauce which was not too spicy yet having rich taste of coconut. Costs RM 3.50. 5 stars given.

Banini Spicy Steak Sandwich - The texture of this Banini bread was soft. The vegetarian steak tasted exactly like those real one. A very special dish to try and highly recommended. Comes with an ice lemon tea which costs RM 10.00 a set. 5 stars given.

Hamilton Cheese French Sandwich - Healthy yet delicious. Made with whole meal bread and thin slices of vegetarian ham and salads. Costs RM 5.50. 4 stars given.

Hawaiian Nut Cookies

2008-06-26T23:33:00.004+08:00

Hawaiian Nut Cookies - The so called Famous Amos Cookies. Got this recipe online which was indeed the real recipe for Famous Amos cookies. The ingredients used will result in the taste of the cookies. Very good recipe to jot it down and try it yourself. You can save loads by buying Famous Amos itself. : )

To make around 100 cookies, You need:

1 cup butter

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup fine sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal

340g chocolate chips / chocolate buttons

1/2 tsp salt

250g grated chocolate bar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

1 tsp vanilla essence

You can get a 500g chocolate bar in packed like this from any stores. If possible, use cooking Cadbury bar. Unfortunately, I've not seen any of those in Msia, therefore have to use this brand. :(

If you couldn't get a high quality chocolate bar, I would advise you to get better chocolate chips. or chocolate buttons.

I personally prefer Silverbird Chocolate Chips than Van Houten's.

1) Cream butter and both sugar in a mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla accordingly.

2) Blend oatmeals till fine.

3) Mix in flour, blended oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda into mixture.

4) Add grated chocolate bar, chocolate chips / buttons and nuts (almonds).

5) Knead mixture into a dough. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.

6) Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart.

7) Bake for 10 mins at 190 degree celcius.

8) Or you prefer nutless cookies, just void those nuts and add a little more chocolate chips.

Birthday Celebrations at Yuen's Steamboat

2008-06-10T19:10:00.008+08:00

On the 29th and 30th May was Peh Fang's and Yin Mun's birthday. Oh ya, on the 28th was Angel's. We called them 'SHE'....hahaha! Doesn't suit though. Jkjk....Aiks!

-Peh Fang's bday cake-

She loves to eat bahulu, so we decided to buy her 30 pieces of bahulu for her bday. Haha...

-Mandy's bday cake-

Though it's small but more than enough for us to have a HUGE cake fight! Yea~~ We had great fun! Saw 'Tom Yum Kung' on the cake?? Yeah...that's her nick name! Her sir name is 'Tom', called "Yum Kung"...haha!

At first, we booked a table at Shabu Shabu, Puchong for celebration. But we ended up at Yuen's. Long story though. Sigh. :( Nevertheless, we had a great dat celebrating at Yuen's. There were a variety of foods and it's amazingly worth it. It only costs RM 18.80++ per head. Buffet style. Opened from 5pm to 11.30pm, if not mistaken. Located at Mentari, around shop lots area opposite sunway pyramid. 4 stars given.

We manage to get seats after waiting for 15 mins. We were desperately hungry!! No consumption of food for 8 hours! Can u imagine? :( Our seats were at level 3...first time confronting buffet style with 3 levels. Cool...and can you imagine the crowd?

-The array of steamboat ingredients-

Includes seafoods, all types of balls, veges, side dishes and etc etc.

The empty tray was for the chicken wings.

We ordered 2 soup bases. The chicken just for yng and tom yum for all of us(mandy n gan ma's favourite)! The tom yum base tasted so good, it's not so spicy yet has the rich taste of tom yum. We refilled the tom yum base many times but not the chicken base. You can see the red dates floating on the surface of the soup. Those was not included in it, our beloved mandy added them in and said it can make the soup taste better. But....no difference though, and it took up much spaces! Haha...poor mandy, was 'ejek' by us. Haha...

Don't look down at these black black chicken wings. They tasted 'magnifique'! We manage to snatch(i really meant snatch!) 2 big plates of these chicken wings. Thanks to Jo. She alertly saw the server serve those chicken wings and in 2 seconds, Mandy and her came back with 2 big plates. We saw one guy from the table beside us went back to his table with disappointment as he only had one tiny chicken wing on his plate. Aww....But the chicken wings will be refilled every 15 mins. No worries! These chicken wings were marinated throughly and we could taste its sweetness from the honey. WoW~ heavenly bites! No wonder we need to snatch! No doubt!

Oily though, but who cares! 5 stars given.

-Candid Shots-

-BEFORE-

We only took one round and surprisingly.......

-AFTER- Bburrppp~~! We could finish them! We also had several rounds of ice cream for desserts. Gan ma's favourite part! There are yam, pistachio, mango and vanilla flavoured ice cream. Yuhu~

-Group Pic-

Tastebuddiess and 'Mandy cum Tom Yum Kung'

-The 2 birthday girls-

Bonne Anniversaire!

Cream Caramel

2008-06-10T18:15:00.004+08:00

Cream caramel? Cream Brulee? Baked custard? So many different names but all ended up with the same ingredients. I made this especially for yng! She loves cream caramel. Baking this reminds me of those days when we were having our kitchen classes. Really do miss those days where there were laugthers and tears. Tears as in some of them 'used to' cut their hands every classes. Haha...they will know who am i talking about.

Cream caramel has the pudding texture that it will just slurp into your mouth without needing much strength to bite it. YUM!

The ingredients are simple.

You will only need

170g of sugar,

4 eggs,

500ml milk and

1 tsp of vanilla essence.

Prepare Caramalize sugar:

1) Firstly, melt 70g sugar in a saucepan.

2) Wipe side with wet pastry brush to avoid sugar from burning. Stop cooking when caramel become light brown.

Make sweet egg custard mixture:

1) Combine vaniila essence and milk. Set to boil.

2) Cream whole eggs and 100g sugar.

3) Pour boiling milk into mixture.

Bake cream caramel:

1) Pour strained mixture in prepared mould. Make sure the surface of mixture is smooth. Strain again if necessary.

2) Bake cream caramel in hot water bath.

3)Bake in oven at 180 degree celcius for 45 mins till firm.

4) Scrape the side of the mould and flip over with a plate. Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Best served chill. You will then have a mouth-watering cream caramel.

Moist Carrot Cake

2008-06-10T17:38:00.005+08:00

It's my dad's birthday and decided to bake a cake for him. I couldn't decide on what to bake and ended up baking this carrot cake. My first time confronting this kind of cake. Carrots with butter and flour??? Weird combination! But ended up tasted like butter cake with lotsa nuts!

You need:

175g grated carrot,

50g raisins,

50g dried cranberries,

100g toasted walnuts (chopped),

175g butter,

160g sugar,

1 tsp vanilla essence,

3 eggs,

200g plain flour (sifted)

1 tsp baking powder,

1/2 tsp cinnamon,

1/4 tsp salt.

1) Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Add in vanilla essence.

2) Fold in sifted flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

3) Stir in carrot, raisins, cranberries, and walnuts.

4) Transfer into lightly greased baking tray. Preheat oven at 180 degree celcius.

5) Bake for 40 mins at 180 degree celcius and 160 degree celcius for 10 mins.

There you go! The nutty and crunchy texture as well as the sweet raisins and cranberries just make you can't stop eating it.

This cake was suppose to bake for my dad's birthday but my mom ended up eating the whole cake alone. She loves it! :)

Baked cheese cake

2008-05-23T20:13:00.007+08:00

Finally got a bigger oven! Yeah! **Happy** I could bake more and more cakes and cookies. This means that there will be more recipes to be posted. I baked this cheese cake in order to celebrate Mother's day as my mom loves cheese cake. Though she loves Secret Recipe High Fibre Cheese Cake, I thought that making one myself will be more meaningful. :)

You need:

For crust :

160g Mc Vites Biscuits or Marie biscuits

1/2 cup rolled oats (optional)

50g melted butter

3 tbsps fresh milk

For mixture :

500 g cream cheese, leave in room temperature for 1 hour

160g castor sugar

3 eggs

100ml whipping cream

30g yoghurt

1tsp vanilla essence

1 orange & lemon zest (optional)

1) I use Mcvites Digestive biscuits instead of marie biscuits to create the high fibre texture for the crust.

2) Crush the biscuits by using a bag with a wooden roller.

3) In a mixing bowl, mixed crushed biscuits, rolled oats and butter. I've reduced the amount of butter to make it less greasy. Instead, I substituted it with fresh milk or chocolate milk. Another low calorie secret. Hehe... Add in milk till you feel that the biscuits are just enough to stick together.

4) Then, line and grease a round baking tin. Line baking tin evenly with the biscuits mixture. Press firmly. Put in fridge till set.

5) In a new mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Then add in eggs one at a time.

6) Next, add in whipping cream, yoghurt, vanilla essence and zests. Beat mixture till smooth.

7)Pour batter over refrigerated crust. Slightly hit the baking tin to force out the air that was trapped in the batter.

8)Bake in a preheated 180 degree celcius oven for 1 hour.

9) After an hour, take out the cake and leave it cool under room temperature. The cake might crack on the surface. This is normal. No worries, but doesn't look good though.

10) After cake cool, refrigerate it in chiller overnight for best results. There you have your baked cheese cake. You could make it as marble cheese cake by just dividing the cake mixture into 2 portion. Pour one portion over crust. Mixed another portion with 30g melted chocolate. Pour second mixture on top of the first. Using a toothpick, swirl mixture for marble effect.

Happy Mother's Day!!! Cheers! :)

Gasoline Station @ S. Pyramid

2008-05-23T00:37:00.005+08:00

We came across this cafe on the top level of Sunway Pyramid's new wing, Asian Avenue. It was newly opened and we decided to give it a try since the whole theme of the cafe was quite interesting.

The outside of the cafe looks normal, but not till we enter into it. We was amazed by how it's design was. The coozy yet private partitions for every dining tables were special. We like it as it provide privacy to customers. But we were somehow confused about their theme, was it a Pirate theme or Japanese theme? As their seats were like japanese restaurant that we would sit on small cushions on the wooden floor. Oh yeah, Please do not wear skirts if you are planning to visit gasoline. No no!!

The foods and drinks they offer are basically similiar as Kim Gary, Hong Kong style + Malaysian style. Prices are reasonale, affordable by students though. There were hundreds of choices to choose from.

Their drinks were special but expensive though. A watermelon juice will cost around RM 5.90. Hmm....The one in the middle was Ice lemon Tea which cost around that as well.

This one ordered was kind of special instead, just RM 6.90, you can get this huge cup of ice blended shake. I forgot what does the real name called, but sure of something related to plum and apple jelly on top. Highly recommanded! Really tasted good! There were some sort of ice cream mixed in it. Thick yet delicious! 5 stars given

This is fish fillet with milky beehoon soup. Recommanded for those who like ginger. The ginger taste were too strong but acceptable. But, No No to the layer of oil I found on the soup. This was caused by the deep fried fish fillet. Ate with guilt! 3 stars given

This is Baked Chicken Chop with Cheese. According to them, it tasted like pizza. Hmm...may be it was the cheese. 4 stars given

Blackpepper Mushroom Beef Steak. Looks good huh? Yeah, it tasted good as well! Reasonable price and surprisingly big portion compare to those staeks out there. The steak was marinated thoroughly and was so tender. 5 stars given

This is another special dish called Sha Cha Chicken Chop. It is quite popular in taiwan as they use tea based sauce for the chicken. But not everyone's favourite. 2 stars given

These 2 dishes below are butter chicken and marmite chicken. The portion looks big right? Nope, they don't, in real. For those who are really hungry and are looking for filling meals at gasoline, please do not order the rice dishes. There were only a few bite size chicken served with rice. Doesn't worth the money. The taste was common as well. 2 stars given

Steam Glutinous Rice with Chicken

2008-05-23T00:13:00.005+08:00

Suddenly came across this recipe and decided to give it a try. As always wanted to eat one of those 'lor mai kai' you get out there but it's so so oily, so I decided to make one huge one myself... Advantages: Less Oil (most important), Much much lower ingredient costs, and easy to cook.

You need:

500g chicken fillet, trimmed

500g glutinous rice, soaked for 1 hour and drained,

2 cloves garlic, chopped finely,

Chinese mushrooms, soaked till soft,
1 large red onion, finely chopped

Seasoning for chicken:
3 tbsps oyster sauce 2 tbsps rice wine (optional)
1 tbsp ginger juice 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tsp sesame oil 1tsp sugar 1 tsp cornflour
2 tsps water

Sauce (combined):

3 tbsps oyster sauce

2 tbsps sesame oil

2 tbsps light soy sauce

1 tbsps fine sugar

1 tsp thick black soy sauce

1 cup water

1) Marinate Chicken with above seasoning ingredients for 1 hour. Soak glutinous rice as well for 1 hour.

2) Steam soaked glutinous rice over hot boiling water for 45 mins. Set aside till ready to use.

3) Stir fry garlic for 30 secs. Add mushroom and stir fry for 1 min till soft. Remove and set aside.

4) Lightly grease 10 to 14 rice bowls with vege oil. Or you can substitue with one large steam bowl. Arrange mushrooms and marinated chicken on the bowl.

5) Saute onions till fragrant, add steamed rice and pour in the sauce. You can also add in the extra sauce from the marinated chicken. Not to waste :) Stir-fry till sauces are fully absorbed by the rice. Note: Not to stir-fry till too dry.

6) Fill the bowl with stir-fried glutinous rice and press firmly into bowl.

7) Steam over rapid boiling water for 40 mins. Flipped or turn over the steam bowl with a plate and serve.

Normal price sold for one small lor mai kai will be around RM 2.50 to RM 3.00. This homemade lor mai kai which can serve 5 people will only cost less than RM 10. And most importantly, it's much more healthy and tasty than those you bought at stalls!!!

A Must in Penang - Assam Laksa Farlim Shell Station Branch

2008-05-07T01:08:00.008+08:00

Whenever you came to penang, you must eat laksa. It's a must, i don't know why. So during last long weekend, some friends were in town. Once again, we "must" go for laksa. The most famous laksa stall in Penang is at Ayer Itam, near Kek Lok Si. Even you never eaten before, i think you sure heard of it before. But the stall i went was another one , because one of my friend don't want to expose under the sun. It is branch from the one opposite the Farlim Shell Station, which also very famous among penengites.

I forgotten how to go there as i'm following other's car. I remembered it's located at shop lots of a taman, near to a padang and surrounded with few cybercafes.

This is the only map that i can found.
http://wikimapia.org/6582451/Farlim_Shell_Station_Laksa

This is the signboard. It written Farlim Shell Station. Quite a lot of people eating there during 4 in the afternoon and the stall situated at Ayer Itam too.

First,a sweet Qing Bu Liang a.k.a Leng Chi Kang to cool us down. This is delicious, as it really cool you down and not that sweet. *ratings: 4 star*

Look at the picture first, is this attractive?

*Slurp...!*
Okey, here you go. The Laksa!(RM3.00) This is superb. Eventhough it is not the Kek Lok Si original, but i gave 2 thumbs up for the taste. The soup is really thick and with generous amounts of shreaded fish bits in it.Can you see it? A whole Kembung Fish laying on top the laksa. The rice noodles is perfect Q. The combination of spicy and sour is just nice and mild. You can get laksa anywhere, but you really can't get the original taste as Penang. This laksa is sweeter compared to others as they add prawn paste "har kou / heh kor"inside and pineapples too. The Kek Lok Si one is more to spicy and sour type. I'm a typical penengite, and i love Laksa of course. This one i give 5 star! *****

Oh! A special thing about this laksa is, they eat the laksa with popiah. You can dip the popiah into the soup and it taste unique. This popiah is crispy but quite small. This plate is a portion of 3 rolls of popiah (RM0.80 each roll).
I give 3 star for the popiah, 4 star for the popiah dip with the soup!

Overall, this laksa is good. Personally recommand to all of you.

p/s: I'm so hungry after writing this post. More penang foodies coming after this!

Low Calorie Pan Mee

2008-05-02T14:32:00.004+08:00

After eating the Kung Fu Smooth Pan Mee, someone suggested to make our own thick pan mee. Due to ingredients shortage, Gan ma made use of what was in her fridge and came out with her own style of healthy pan mee.

To make pan mee dough,

500g sifted plain flour,
1/2 tsp salt,

2 eggs,

2/3 cups of water,
starch powder / flour for dusting.

1) In a mixing bowl, make a well in the middle of the flour. Add in eggs, salt and water. Knead the flour into a stiff dough. Let dough rest under wet cloth for at least one hour.

2) After an hour, cut a small piece of dough, roll it into flat piece of dough. You may use those flattening machine if you had it at home.

3) Then, cut it into desired pieces. You may roll the flat dough and cut it into thick pieces like below. You will have your own thick pan mee. Or you can just tear it into bite-size pieces, you'll get "Mee Hoon Kueh".

4) Bring a pot of water to boil, add in dough. Let it boil for around 5 minutes till cooked, depends on the thickness of the dough. Drain and let it run under cooling water to avoid noodles to stick.

5) To prepare stock, you may prepare your own stock or instant stock. You may include anchovies(ikan bilis), scallops, salt and pepper. Let them simmer for at least 2 hours to get the rich taste of stock. If you have time constraints, you may use "Tumix" or "Maggie" chicken powder stock and a dash of pepper for the soup. Note: Taste differs if instant stock powders are used. Then, add in whatever ingredients and vege you have in your fridge to the stock. Lastly, add in cooked noodles. Serve.

Voila, your own healthy low cal pan mee. :)

IF you would like to make normal pan mee like those selling in hawker stalls, basically the ingredients for dough and stocks are the same. On the other hand, you need meat sauce and deep fried anchovies to be sprinkled on the noodles. To make meat sauce,

500g minced pork,

sliced mushrooms,

2 cloves of garlic,

Flavourings: Soy sauce, sugar, black soy sauce, chicken stock, a dash of pepper, water and cornflour+water to thicken

Saute the chopped garlic with oil, add in minced pork and stir fry till pork for 3 minutes. Add in mushrooms and 1/2 cup of water. Add in the flavourings according to individual taste. Some may want it more salty or less salty. Cornflour+water to be add last to thicken the gravy. Easy job!!! You will have at least 5 servings of pan mee. Try it yourself at home or with your friends.

Kung Fu Smooth Pan Mee

2008-04-23T15:08:00.011+08:00

During lunch break, fang fang wanted to have something HOT!! So, we ended up at this pan mee stall. It was located at quite a "rural" area...Yea, "rural" as in you have to drive through small roads and old apartments in order to reach there. First timer visitors might think it's hard to get their way there. It's located at shops under those apartments. Save rental costs i guess??

Still cannot locate the shop??? Lets have a closer look....

Yeah....small and simple but you can imagine how rich the "lou sai" is. The shop is famous for it's Kung Fu Pan Mee. Newspapers, magazines, TV shows have came to introduce this shop. They don't even have a proper banner for the shop name. Customers have to sit outside and i wonder what if it rains?? Hmm....yea...good question!!

Here the address : 28, Jalan Seri Sentosa 9A/133, Taman Sri Sentosa, Bt. 6 1/2 Jalan Klang Lama. Contact no: 016-264 6054.

Never heard of the place?? Haha....you need some effort to find for good food....Yeah!! But wil try to scan in the site map sooner or later.

We ordered their famous Kung Fu Pan Mee (Big), consists of 8 strips of noodles which costs RM 5.50. Some might think....WAT??? Only 8 strips?? Some more it's big??? Yeah....later on you will see how big the strips are. After we ordered our food, we smelt something bad...sniff sniff*** Guess what?? The shop was located opposite a garbage area...gosh! But it didn't spoil our appetite...

5 minutes later, our pan mee arrived....

Ta Da!!!! So you can imagine why it only consists 8 strips??? If you ordered small (RM 4.50), there's only 4 strips. The noodles are thicker than usual and tasted extraordinary. Especially the soup base...it tasted so good! However, for those who've eaten before, they still think that it tasted better last time. 4 stars given

Frankly speaking, though it's thick but "big" was still consider quite small for us....muahaha!! So we ordered Pork Ball as well....Yng's favourite!!!

There's 6 huge balls in one bowl. Haha....we said....WAT??? Only 6?? Definitely not enough for Yng....So we ordered 2 bowls which costs RM 4.50 each....hahaha!!!

This was the satisfied face of Yng after having her pork balls. She said...." This is what you call pork ball!! Huge and bouncy!!!" Bcuz normally, kl's pork balls are smaller in size compare to ipoh's.

4 stars given

Overall.... 4 stars given to this Kung Fu Pan Mee.... Must try!

Vic vic's treat ended up at Italiannies@SunwayPyramid

2008-04-21T20:34:00.002+08:00

Today, after a really boring class(seriously boring), vic vic suddenly said " Lets go for dinner!" Ganma and Yng were shocked!! It's like once in a blue moon thing! Only 3 of us went as jo was busy with her date and fang fang....err....not there la...

After 5 minutes, staring at pyramid's directory board (what we usually do).............

Vic : Ok la, I treat u guys Italiannies instead of Ole Ole Bali. Note: she suppose to treat us Ole Ole Bali cuz she got Honourable Pass for Finals. Yepz! It's a bet among 3 of us.

Yng & Ganma : Err...Sure or not???

After a while...ganma and yng said OK la...since u insisted!!! (Cuz vic vic was lazy to walk any further to any other restaurants....sigh, as usual!haha...)

We ordered.......

-Fried Calamari- Yng's n Vic's favourite!!!

-Bigger portion-
Compare to TGI Friday's Fried Calamari......

OF COURSE..... Italiannies!!!!

The crispyness of the deep fried calamari sprinkled with herbs...certainly tasted much better than TGI's plain batter. Both served with salsa sauce. 4 stars given

-Classic Carbonara-Yng's and Vic favourite aussi.
The carbonara was so rich, thick and creamy. The first mouthful itself make you feel like heaven!Fattening though. The bacons were just nice, not too salty nor dry. Since the last time we ate pasta mania's (Jusco, Klang) carbonara, this was the best so far from what we've eaten. Thumbs Up from 3 of us!!! 5 stars given

-bigger portion-

-Pepperoni Pizza-
The pizza were okay. Not our favourite. Still Dominos tasted better. No comment. 2 stars given

Besides, we've tried another 4 dishes before....

-Smoked Salmon Pizza-
Tasted better at One Utama's Italiannies compare to Sunway's. We have given comment on that to the waitress. But, what can they do??? Disappointed. Never other this dish at Sunway since then. This dish is a very healthy dish. Especially the cube cheese and the smoked salmon strips!! Not a drop of oil from the pizza. Ganma's favourite! Yeah!! 4 stars for 1u's, 1 star for sunway's.

-Speghetti Meatballs-
This dish, they should really highlight the word meatballs as they are damm HUGE!!! Gosh! The largest we've ever seen. We were wondering how long they took to cook those huge balls. The tomato based speghetti were okay. But those beef meetballs were amazing. That's why it's their specialty. Good Job! 4 stars given

-Baked Beef Lagsana-

This is not our favourite though. It's not as good as the carbonara. Contains too much minced beef and it's not really fresh. The cheese are too thick and overall 2 stars given.

-Strawberry Cheesecake-

This cheesecake is good especially with the strawberry puree you have it at the bottom. It's very creamy and cheesy. But the base of the cake was not up to standard as it spoil the whole taste of the cake itself. Surprisingly, it tasted a little salty and soft. Hmm... 3 stars given.

3 of us couldn't finish those dishes we've ordered. Hence, vic vic actually told an indian server that she want to 'ta pao'(take away). Hahaha......Luckily the server understood and later he brought those take aways and said "Ma'am, here's you 'ta pao'." Yng and Ganma couldn't stop laughing. Hahaha....Vic oh vic.....that's a fine dining restaurant though, not hawker stall!!! Luckily she didn't call him 'Lou sai'....

3 of us did enjoy our dinner....Merci beaucoup vic vic....Still owe u Baskins from Yng and Carl's Junior from Gan ma....

Best Pretz!

2008-04-19T10:58:00.000+08:00

I bet anyone out there had ever heard of the brand 'Glico'. No?? Then how about 'Rocky' or 'Pocky'?? It's under 'Glico' as well. Pocky was an instant hit among Japanese teenagers. In Malaysia, Pocky was renamed as Rocky, to avoid a vulgar word in Malay with similar pronunciation.

We would like to strongly recommand this range of Pretz snacks. The range includes Larb, Corn, Pizza, Roast, Fried, Digestive and etc. The pix shown are 3 of our favourites.

You can get the rich taste of Corn or Pizza in a single stick of Pretz!! Amazing!!!! Anyone craving to have Pizza but think that it's too filling, YOU MUST try the Pizza Pretz!!! You will be amazed by the rich flavour u get. YUM YUM!!!

The one below will be Roast flavour. It actually tasted original but it's Jo's favourite.

Yng, a corn lover, she loves anythin with corn, higly recommand the Corn Pretz to others.

Or for spicy lovers, you must try the Larb Pretz! OMG!! It's so rich in taste... Okok...gonna go have one packet right now. It's finger likin' GOOD!!!

You can easliy get them from Jusco, Giant of any Hypermarket nearby!! It only cost you RM 1.80 - RM2.00 for 38 sticks or RM 0.99 for 19 sticks. Perfect snack at a perfect price!!!

About Tastebuddies

2008-04-17T21:52:00.000+08:00

As a student, lunch time should be our favourite moments of all. I suppose that anyone out there had encountered times where one whole gang of friends gathered in the middle of no where, thinking of what and where to eat. Agree???

We've got bored since it's our 4th year in d same college, having the same old restaurants and food everyday. We've tried to explore good food around pj area. Hence, we've decided to start Tastebuddies. Tastebuddies will introduce cheap, delicious, healthy food, and own recipes for those students out there who are struggling of what eat during lunch time or anytime!!! BON APPETIT!!!

These are the siao-siao(crazy) Tastebuddiess members:

Yng yng : Ipoh ipoh mali...the most happening one. Not a sushi fan but definately a Pork Ball(zhu yok yun) fan! Whenever she hears anything about pork, she gets excited!

Vic vic : Sandakan ppl...No. 1 ffk. Used to be MK 6676, now change filght no. to MK 2112. Bak Kut Teh fan but always eat very slow.

Fang fang : Tanjung Sepat cum Klang...Yng's room mates, note: always 'fight' with yng for no reason. "K.O."- Behave!!! Not a burger fan cuz mouth too small..hehe...

Gan ma : Proud to be local...The so called 'step mom' of many(i mean many) ppl. Was introduced to ppl as ganma instead of real name. Japanese food and Ice-cream fan...Always eat healthy stuff but not when it comes to her favourites.

Jo : Penang person...Always eat here and there without us! She definately knows where to eat. All food fan..esp mushrooms but not pork! Weird chinese! Halal gal...but sometimes 'curi makan Bak Kut Teh'. Haha...

Voila, we are proud to present u Tastebuddies!!! Intro ends.....Enjoy!!! Cheers!!!