Serdang Home Cook Restaurant沙登小厨美食馆@ Serdang

I had a light breakfast ( not because I wanted to, just that it was raining and I was lazy to go for a drive, and hence had to make do with some Digestives and …and and…) , which lead to being hungry at an earlier hour than usual.

We were the first customer at Serdang Home Cook Restaurant ( it was  12 pm) and were ushered into the air conditioned area by a friendly waitress. We  spent a few minutes reading the newspaper clippings plastered on the wall – smiling politicians giving their thumbs up for  the food  and the recommended dishes.

We decided to go for their specialty : lotus leaf  fish (荷叶马友鱼) and  bittergourd with salted egg.

 The waitress came by our table and said that she will give us a complimentary bowl of soup ( which was chicken feet and peanut)  and in the same breath, mentioned that the  chicken feet and the peanut is not very soft as the soup had just being boiling for 1.5 hours. Anyway, I would never say no to free soup ( and for that matter, any freebies )

The soup tasted just like homecooked soup , which meant it was pretty ok, and not overly salty or oily.

 

When the Lotus leaf  fish arrived at our table, we were wondering should we make some calls and get more people at  the table to help us finish the fish as it seemed an overly big fish for 2 persons. The fish, deep fried and drenched with gravy came wrapped in a piece of lotus leaf. I find the meat a bit dry and ‘rough’ ( fish used :- Kurau) , the thick gravy was not too bad,  it was heavy with the flavour of belacan ( prawn paste) plus some  sourness and had generous amount of onions. It was ok although  I prefer the assam fish at Choon Sun .

 

 Bittergourd with salted egg, I was a bit surprised that the dish looked  so dry but after biting into the first slice of gourd…oh la la…this was superb, first phase  : tongue taste salted egg and Umm…yummy..the distinctive taste of salted egg and the sandy texture of the salted egg coat, after biting passed the surface , the second phase – the bitter of the guord ozzes out and surpassed the taste of the salted egg …what a wonderful dish.

 

 The damage : fish ( 600g) RM24, bitter gourd with salted egg – RM8, rice RM 1 / bowl.

 Overall : an enjoyable meal, price was reasonable , I would like to return and try out the other dishes ( and re-order the butter gourd with salted egg)

When we passed the restaurant later that night, the place was very crowded and even the  tables set up outside the restaurant ( non airconditioned) were all taken up

Note : the restaurant also offers set lunches ( from mon – fri) which range from RM29.90 ( soup + 3 dishes ( fish+ meat +vege)) for 2-3 pax, RM49.90 (soup + 4 dishes  + fruits)   for 3 -5 pax, RM69.90 (soup + 5 dishes  + fruits )  for  6-8 pax and RM89.90 (soup + 5 dishes  + fruits) for 8 – 10 pax

 

 Business hours : 11:30am -2;30pm, 5:30pm – 1.00 am

Close on Tues every alternate week.

Serdang Home Cook Restaurant

PT 219, Jalan SK 6/1,

43000 Seri Kembangan, Serdang

Tel : 8945 7066 h/p 012 363 7066

 

Location :

Chynna @ KL Hilton, Brickfields

I don’t normally look forward to these meetings, but when at the end of the day I get fed- well, meetings aren’t too bad after all (yes, I am a pig)

I dined once at Chynna and was impressed with the rich decoration , the food and of course the bill.We did a last minute reservation and manage to get a private room, once we stepped into the private room, everyone Ohhhhh and ahhhhs over the posh decoration, nice heavy thick burgundy curtains, the lantern ( which was hanged pretty low) above our table, the  crockery …everything about the room spelled opulent  ( and expensive)

Almost everyone wanted to’take’ the beautiful crockery home

Once we were seated (where most of us were  trying not to make it too obvious that we do not want to sit next to Da Boss), the serving of tea begin, the waiter came around the table with a pot with a long sprout and ceremoniously poured 8 treasure(八宝茶) into our cups , we commented that in China they do some acrobatics while serving tea and  only then did our friend ( who was from Qingdao) did some elaborate  movement of swinging the teapot over his head, around his body etc before pouring the tea into our cups ( identity of the  pumpkinheads were withheld)

I didn’t get a chance to view the menu, so the names mentioned here will be basic without the flowery language . First up – Beijing duck, the duck was carved at the side table ,

 

and each of us were served 3 small pieces, and  each piece had different toppings, the meat was a bit cold,  with the slightly oily layer beneath the crispy layer, nothing to shout about.

We wondered where was the rest of the duck, and was told that they will serve this to us in a pancake. I find the  pancake a bit heavy and floury, and after taking a bite, I tasted more flour than duck. The sauce was tasty though.

 

 Next up was the soup – this was served in a ceramic pot , the ingredients include : old cucumber, dried scallops, dried oyster, sharkfin, chicken,  dried octopus. This was delicious with layers of taste from the different ingredients, you could taste the goodness and richness of the soup with each sip . The portion was a bit too large though ( I think this was more maybe even more than 3 small bowls) and although it was tasty, it still took  a bit of an effort to finish. ( I guess people will complain about everything and anything, small serving –complain, big serving, also complain, bahhh ! hamburg )

 

Salmon with inoki mushroom – the dish was beautifully presented. Although the distinct taste of salmon was still retained. I find the salmon a bit over cooked-  the meat was overly dry- the sauce that was dribbled over salmon was like the chili sauce for chicken rice, which was a weird combination..someone bit into the chili padi and had to gulp down beer very quickly..or maybe that was just an excuse to have  more beer…The inoki mushroom- tempura style was a bit wet and not as crunchy as I would expect of a tempura style thingy

 

Duck feet  with dried abalone and shitake mushroom ( I guess this would have a more glamorous name than this) ..the duck claw was yummylicious, . The sauce was just nice and the claw was cooked to perfection .  the skin was smooth, moist and came off easily, the abalone was soft and chewy- the shitake mushroom was soft, juicy, succulent with the gravy..major yum !! the Mat Sallehs braved the horror of ‘HUH, what ? duck feet …errr…are you sure this is safe to be eaten , don’t they walk with these ..? ‘ and took a few bites of the kaki, and I think it wasn’t as bad as they thought.

 

Prawns with lobak- the prawns  in light batter were deep fried – the gravy was thick and sweet ( maybe a tad too sweet) . lobak was ok..the taste of 5 spice powder was not as prominent as the regular roadside lobak Penang is famous for ..Weird combination for a cantonese restaurant, this is what they call fusion food, I guess ..the lobak had some chili sauce on it ..initially I thought it was keropok lekor..if they did serve this combination, I would be flabbergasted…a scenario like  where Hang Li Po meets Nik Aziz

Black pepper beef with cashew nuts …the beef was succulent, tender and well marinated , ozzing with the taste of black pepper . Very tasty..not sure was it wagyu beef, I never had eaten a cow that was massaged,  and neither have I ever massaged a cow… so , I wouldn’t know..but the crux of the matter was – this was very good.

 

Wantan – I think the wan than in my bowl looks like a goldfish..the filling was fresh, sweet and succulent  prawns and with some minced meat, the broth was tasty .This was yummy , the skin was smooth and soft and just slip through your throat…Although by then  I was up to full tank capacity, this still tasted very good.

 

We were also served noodles with minced meat in bean paste, well marinated  minced meat – sweet-spicy  bean paste gravy , noodles texture was good. Good blend

For dessert we had a choice of sago with ice cream and tau fu far..most of us grabbed the ice cream and left a few disappointed Mat Salleh with the tau fu far , I don’t think they liked the idea of having tofu as a dessert lahh….the taste of vanilla  ice cream wasn’t too prominent, and I would have liked the evaporated milk that the ice cream  was swimming in  to be a bit sweeter to bring out the taste.

 

The damaged came to ~ RM3K + inclusive of 3 rounds of beers which, from passed experience was less than what I was expecting we would have to pay, turns out that this was a set menu, so the pricing were ‘special’

Overall, there were a few outstanding dishes like the black pepper beef , with  the duck feet and wan tharn would come a close second and third , the other dishes were average lah.

Operation hours:
Lunch
Monday to Saturday – 12:00 noon to 2:30 pm
Sunday & Public Holidays – 11:00 am to 2:30pm

Dinner
Daily – 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm

Chynna

Hilton Kuala Lumpur
3 Jalan Stesen Sentral
Kuala Lumpur Sentral
50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: +60 3 2264 2264
Fax: +60 3 2264 2266

Web site: http://www.kl-studio.com

Amarin Heavenly Thai @Midvalley Megamall

Our office had some foreign guests and after an elaborate Chinese meal the night before ( details still to be posted) and all the tea breaks in between, most of us were groaning when it’s time for dinner and would pretty much rather have a lie down then eat. Anyway, eat we must, and everyone ‘aye’ when Thai food was suggested( actually,I think they would say  ‘aye’ to anything as long as they get some beers with the meal  )

When we called Amarin to reserve a table , they said that the private room was already taken up, and the waiter suggested that we order the food first as they have quite a big crowd that night and we might be in for a long wait, anyway, we decide to order when we get to the restaurant.

A very good looking waiter ( drat ! I didn’t get his name) took our orders and our guests were pretty disappointed when they wanted to try Singha beer and was told that it was out of stock, so they had to do with the other regular brands .

The placemats deserve a mention, it had Thai (/ Chinese ?)  animal horoscope on them, and we were swapping placemats around the table in order to read about what the year had in store for us

For starters, we had Mieng Kam ( RM15), this is one of my favourites at Amarin as not many Thai restaurant in KL serve this. The platter includes ( pix below, clockwise)  : Daun Kaduk ( kaduk leaves)- which look like dauh sireh ( same shape) but it’s not , ginger, onions, chili padi, lime, roasted dried prawns, roasted coconut and roasted peanut, in the middle is the sauce. Procedure : take a piece of daun kaduk, apply the sauce (don’t worry ,  it’s not spicy, – kinda sweet sourish) and then add whatever you fancy into the leave, roll it up and then take a bite. Yummyy..the sour of the lime, the crunchiness of the peanut, the spiciness from the chili, the heat from the ginger, the fragrant of the coconut, dried prawns – what a great combination.

 

Fish Cakes ( for RM15 you get 5 pcs) , the Thai style fish cakes are usually ‘tougher’ compared to the softer Malaysian fish cakes. There were some bits of chili padi and long bean in these too. This was ok – although I would prefer more long beans in the fish paste.

 

Fried bean curd ( RM15) was nice, deep fried and crunchy on the outside , soft and tasty on the inside. The tofu  went very well with the chili sauce which was sweet and mildly spicy.

 

Green curry chicken ( RM16) – the chicken slices came with brinjals and long bean, the gravy was very rich and aromatic . It wasn’t spicy and the mat sallehs enjoyed this very much.

 

Mango salad with soft shelled crabs ( RM19) , the other option was salad with fish but since we were going to order a main fish dish , we decided to go with crabs, and I must say that was a good choice. The crabs were coated in a thin batter and deep fried, you get to experience biting into a few different  texture as you bite passed the crunchy outer crust , the crunchy ( soft shell) and into the soft flesh. The mango salad was a disappointment though, the spiciness overpowered the sour and sweet , which was lacking in this dish. This dish was packed with Chili padi and this resulted in many red faces ( and sudden gulps of beers ) as they accidently bit the chilies

 

The Japanese guest would like to ‘try’ Tom Yam, so we ordered a pot ( for 2-3 pax) of Thick Tom Yam Seafood ( RM39.90). You can decide on the level of spiciness of the soup when you order, so, if you want to be a hero, go ahead. Anyway, we asked for ‘mild’. The mat sallehs stayed away from the soup but fished out the ingredients which include : chunks of fish, cuttlefish and prawns. It’s  bearable spicy ( my level, which is very low) and had a distinct  lemongrass flavour , slightly sourish, we managed to get about 6 half full bowls out of the pot.

  

Fried fish with Thai chili ( RM48) – the fish was deep fried and thai chili sauce poured over it. This was nice , although the sauce looks pretty spicy, it was only mildly spicy, slightly sweet and mildly spicy to be exact ,  and blended very well with the fish.

 

 We also had Kailan with salted fish- which was normal. (they started attacking the dish before I get a chance to  get my camera, so, sorry, no pix)

If you are undecided on what you want for dessert, the waiter will come around and bring you a ‘sample’ of what they look like. We ordered Chestnut with coconut milk ( RM8), Thai Cendol ( RM6) – which looks and taste like local cendol  and Mango with sticky rice (RM12).

Overall , an ok meal and in terms of price, it’s can be pricey, although please watch out for promotions, we dined at Amarina few times and I think we never had to pay in full  as there are always some kind of promo or another from selected credit card companies, and you get 15- 20% off the bill ( food only, minus beverages). And during this visit, we get 50% off for using a CIMB credit card! 

 NB: Amarin means “Heaven” in Thai

Amarin Heavenly Thai
Level 2, Center Court
Mid Valley Megamall,
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 03 2938 3187