Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant @ The Gardens

We have walked past Fong Lye Restaurant numerous times, but everytime there is a huge queue, which puts us off dining here. Today, we were slightly earlier (11.30am) and surprisingly the restaurant was still very empty. So, here's our chance to dine here.. surely the crowd we usually see in here equals good food?

The restaurant is very bright with simple decor.

GP ordered one of the recommended dishes, the Taiwan Braised Beef Noodles (RM19.80). I ordered the Taiwan Braised Beef with Glass Noodles (RM19.80), the only difference with GP's dish is the noodle type. I like the presentation of the dish, the food came on a wooden tray. A big bowl of beef noodles in a hearty beef broth with a hint of chilli oil, thick slices of beef and garnished with chinese leaf and scallions. Served with this are 3 side dishes; herbal egg, dumpling and green beans with minced meat. The herbal egg and green beans were yummy.

Fuji ordered the Tea Smoked Duck with Glass Noodles (RM15.80). The glass noodles is served with a clear broth with slices of duck and beansprouts. The noodles must have been good as Fuji almost never finishes her noodles. As for the duck, I couldn't believe how big a portion it was, there were at least 15 slices of duck meat! You can certainly taste and smell the tea leaves used to smoke the duck.

For dessert, we shared a Ice Red Bean Milk (RM7.30) - ice shavings topped with condensed milk, red bean and red bean ice-cream. Certainly refreshing.

I would like to commend the service here. The waiting staff here are very friendly and very efficient.

Would return here again!

Location: Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant, Lot T208, 3rd Floor The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur. (opposite Borders, Robinson's side)

I cooked: King prawn fried rice

One of my favorite dishes for lunch - so easy to cook and always tastes good.

All you need is some leftover rice, an egg, some sliced green beans, big juicy king prawns, some oil and soy sauce for flavouring.

King prawn fried rice
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 2-3 persons

Ingredients
1 cup White Rice (preferably leftover rice)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 medium-sized egg
8-10 Green beans, sliced (or peas)
10-12 raw king prawns, peeled
Soy sauce

1. Heat the oil in a wok and add the garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
2. Add the green beans and saute for 2-3 minutes.
3. Place the egg into a bowl and beat. Add to wok and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add king prawns and fry for 1 1/2 minutes.
5. Finally, add rice and soy sauce to taste. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
6. Serve immediately.

Who wants some king prawn fried rice?

Jade Dragon (Da Chang Jin) Korean Restaurant, Seremban (revisited)

Recently, we revisited Da Chang Jin for some good hearty Korean food. We decided to try something new from their menu, so this time we ordered the Saeng Dung Sim "grilled prime beef" (RM68), Sam Gyup Sal "grilled pork strips" (RM25) and our favorite soup dish, kimchi jigae.

The complimentary steamed egg.. steaming hot

In this restaurant, they grill the meat for you on a hot plate at the next table.

The pork belly strips were served with a sesame oil and salt dip - they were really tasty! There were at least 20 strips of pork and I must have eaten 1/3 of them.

The grilled prime beef was served with lettuce, raw garlic and green chillies and ssamjang (thick spicy paste).



Ban chan (side dishes) and kimchi jigae

As we were finishing our meal, the waiter brought a dolsot bibimbap (claypot rice) to our table. Hey, we didn't order this.... but the ladyboss explained that it was "on the house". Wow! More food!

On a separate visit, Hubby and I came here to have lunch. I ordered the Gal Bi Tang (RM18) off their a la carte menu - this is beef short ribs soup, served with rice. Certainly very healthy!

Hubby ordered the shrimp fried rice (RM10) from their lunch menu. This dish is very much like Chinese fried rice, but with a little addition of kimchi, you can quickly transform it to a Korean dish.

Ban chan (side dishes)... my favorite is the kimchi...

To read more about the food at Da Chang Jin, click here.

Location: Da Chang Jin (Jade Dragon Restaurant), No. 109-1, Lorong Haruan 5/4, Oakland Commerce Square, 70300 Seremban, N.Sembilan (near Tesco Extra).

The Manhattan Fish Market, Jusco S2

We have walked past the Manhattan Fish Market restaurant many times, but have never dined here. We decided to give it a go today.

We ordered the Platter For Two (RM47.90) off their "Great Value Set Lunches". The dish consists of a whole seabass, mussels, prawns and whitebait. For a chain restaurant, the seabass was huge and surprisingly fresh - the fish was deep fried and topped with a delicious garlic butter sauce. The seabass was undoubtedly my favorite.

There were 4 half shell mussels, also topped with garlic butter sauce. The flaming prawns are supposingly one of their award winners, I think it was topped with cheese and they torch it with a flame just before they serve you. There isn't much meat in them, you have to work hard and scrape for some prawn flesh, but whatever you get is tasty. The whitebait was crispy but I find them quite tiny compared to the ones I've had in the UK before.

This set lunch is served with 3 side dishes - garlic butter rice, chips and coleslaw. All very nice.

The set lunch also comes with 2 lemon lime drinks, which was very refreshing.

Set lunch is available Mon-Fri 12noon-3pm.

Location: The Manhattan Fish Market, Jusco Seremban 2.

Bavarian Bierhaus @ The Curve

Wanting to celebrate Oktoberfest (which is ongoing in Munich, Germany), we chose to dine in Bavarian Bierhaus restaurant when we were at The Curve.

Hubby decided against having a beer since he was driving. We both ordered milkshakes (RM9.50) instead. The milkshakes were nice - cold blended ice cream.

The food however was not that great. I had the Cider braised pork shoulder served with caramelised onions, bacon bread tartlets and sauteed asparagus (RM43). The meat was quite tough and didn't taste of cider. The best bit of the dish were the caramelised onions. I was deeply disappointed as this dish was off their 'Pork Specials' so I expected it to be half decent.

Hubby had the Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb served with pancetta ham, french beans, mashed potatoes and brown gravy (RM38). His dish fared slightly better than mine.

Comfort: We were the first to arrive and the fans or A/C were not on, so it was hot.

Service: Good.

Food rating: 3/10. Food didn't taste great but the food presentation was OK.
Price: Quite pricey. I wouldn't have mind if the food was good.

Location: Bavarian Bierhaus, Lot G66, Ground Floor, The Curve, No 6, Jln PJU 7/3, 47800 Petaling Jaya.

Xinjiang Court, Klana Resort Seremban

Xinjiang Court is the Halal Chinese Muslim restaurant in Klana Resort, Seremban. We have dined here various times, mostly for the dim sum. You can either order from the a la carte menu or opt for the buffet "eat as much as you like" dim sum (RM30++ per person), where you also order from the menu so the dim sum is freshly prepared. We usually go for the buffet since we love dim sum and it's good value for money.

The interior

A complimentary bowl of shark fin's soup is served. Delicious soup with generous amounts of shark fin's and sea cucumber.

You can order as many rounds as you like. We order 4-5 dishes each round so that the food doesn't get too cold when we get around to it.

Round 1 - Steamed Prawn Rolled with Rice Flour ("chee cheong fan"). The dried shrimp topping is very tasty.

Round 1 - an assortment of steamed dim sums.

Steamed Prawn Dumpling. Big juicy prawns!

Steamed Japanese seaweed roll

Steamed BBQ Chicken Bun

Steamed Fish Ball with Vegetable

One of my favorites - Steamed Fresh Scallop Dumpling. If you're a scallop lover, order this! Do not order the steamed scallop dumpling which is a totally different dish (scallop in this dish is much chewier and dried type).

Round 2 - The Deep Fried Round

My favorite deep fried dish - Prawn Triangle with Salad Cream. So yummy!

Deep Fried Sago Pancake

Deep Fried Mango Rolled with Seaweed

Deep Fried Cheese Roll with Prawn - similar tasting to the above dish minus the mango

Round 3 - Dessert

Herbal jelly with sea coconut

Tong yuen in ginseng soup

Steamed Hong Kong sweet corn custard bun

For me, this is the best place to have dim sum in Seremban. The seafood used in the dim sum is always fresh.

Comfort: Good.

Food rating: 9/10. Nice dim sum!

Price: Good quality dim sum! Good value for money. RM30++ per person.

Service: Tea service is a little slow, otherwise very good service. Friendly staff.

Opening hours: 12.00 - 2.30 for dim sum/ lunch.

Location: Xinjiang Court, Klana Resort Seremban, PT4388, Jalan Penghulu Cantik, Taman Tasik Seremban, 70100 Seremban.

Tel: 06 - 766 7888

Roasted Mackerel@Oktoberfest München 2009

When you think about Oktoberfest few things come to mind...

Beer...
Dirndl and Lederhosen...Rides...
But one of the stars of the show was the fish on sale outside the Augustiner Vroni beer tent!

The fish was roasted on an open fire with nothing more than coarse salt. The taste? Lip-smackingly delicious!

The fish was consumed in a matter of minutes. The only downside was the price which for a mackerel was 2.65€ for 100g. And that was the cheapest fish on offer! So next time you go to a beer fest...don't just think beer... think roasted mackerel as well! :)

Gonbei Japanese Restaurant, Starhill Gallery (revisited)

We received a complimentary RM50 food voucher when we checked-in at the Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur. This voucher was only valid for the day at Fisherman's Cove or Gonbei Japanese Restaurant in Starhill Gallery. I fancied Japanese food so we opted for Gonbei.

We both ordered from their lunch set menu. I had the sashimi & tofu set (RM40) while Hubby had the unagi kabayaki set (RM43). Firstly, we were served a complimentary starter - various types of braised nuts and shitake mushroom. Quite tasty.

I enjoyed the sashimi & tofu set very much. A nice portion of "ami ebi" sweet red prawns, salmon, tuna and white fish sashimi. As always, the food here is very fresh. Served with white rice, chawanmushi, pickles, miso soup and a fruit platter.

Sashimi platter

Fried tofu pouches

The sashimi & tofu set

Silky smooth chawanmushi

Hubby's unagi kabayaki set was equally delicious. A very generous portion of unagi grilled to perfection as well as a portion of tempura (prawn, vegetables and crab). Served with white rice, chawanmushi, pickles, miso soup and a fruit platter.

Apologies for the poor picture quality, silly me forgot to charge my camera before we went out.

Comfort: Still love the decor here.

Food rating: 9/10. Very tasty food.

Price: Good value for money.

Service: Very good.

Opening hours: 12.00 - 4.00 for lunch

Location: Gonbei Japanese Restaurant, T2, Relish Floor, Starhill Gallery, 181 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.