Kabul Restaurant @ Sooka Sentral, Brickfields

Thinking back , there were a few postings where I didn’t end up eating where I had initially started out to, and be forewarn…this is one of them.

 It was a Saturday evening, we planned to have dinner  at Oriental Spoon as Chunny had a  dining voucher which was close to expiring, so, to Sooka Sentral we head, parking was RM4 per entry for after hours. The last time I was at Sooka was probably a bit more than half a year ago where Sooka was promised to be the ‘in’ place, with quite a variety of eateries and cafes. So, it was a big shock that the place was pretty dead for a Saturday night, most of the eateries weren’t open  and some had err..moved on to greener pastures.

There were 3 options available i) there is a bar/bistro..but we are not beer drinkers… ii) Kabul Restaurant- where we see 4 middles eastern ladies sitting at one round  table, and one other long table occupied by maybe around 10 men -who were pretty noisy…iii) leave ..but oh..then what a waste of parking fee ler..RM4 worr..very big money lehhh… we then decide to have a look at Kabul’s menu  before we make a decision, I guess the menu was pretty agreeable…

I ordered a mango lassi and Chunny had Masala tea. The lassi was pretty good, nice and thick.. not too sweet …the way I like my lassi.  The masala tea  came in a pot but I forgot did the pot filled more than 1 cupful.

 

The sitting area is pretty big, occupying 2 store front as well as the sides of the walkway.  The environment was pretty good, cozy and the waiter that served us was pleasant and helpful.

Chunny ordered Chicken Briyani and I ordered Cheese naan + Kabul special gravy chicken. Chunny’s order arrived first, a pampadam atop the rice + 2 bowl of sauces + one bowl of chicken curry..hmm..

My order came a few minutes later, and I was like..ekkk….the chicken so small bowl one mehhh …Chunny’s got a better deal lerr…I should have ordered nasi briyani too…sniff….

 

Then Chunny started her meal, and discovered the piece of chicken in the rice…so, turned out that the chicken curry in a bowl is the Kabul Special gravy chicken  ..and it’s MINE… so, my meal now looks like this >>

 Had a good laugh over our ignorance of nasi briyani… aiya..so dungu-loid one la..we all…I f only the waiter hadn’t brought this dish with Chunny’s order, this won’t happen lorrr…but in that case, we might think that Chunny’s dish is too simple  with just the pampadam and the two sauces…the moral of the story is— ‘check the  rice before you sue the chicken’..or ada ayam di sebalik nasi

 The cheese naan was good , filled with melted cheese..nice and warm..like comfort food..The chicken was pretty good too, slightly spicy, chicken was tender and well marinated, the curry does not taste like the normal curry, maybe it’s a different set of spice, this dish  goes very well with the naan. The dhall was good as well- the gravy much thicker compared to the ones at my usual mamak.

 Chunny seemed to have enjoyed her nasi as well, I tried some of the nasi, very fragrant, I am not sure what the gravy  were made of , but the whitish sauce seemed similar to the gravy  I get with tosai, and the other gravy seemed similar to my chicken curry.

We decided to share a Pistachio kulfi, and heyy..it was nice..very milky and I quite like the texture which was like a ‘hard’ version of the ice cream …i wish we didn’t have to share this ..

 Overall – an enjoyable meal..well, apart from the good food , I had good company mahh!

 Pistachio kulfi (2.90), Masala Tea ( 3),Mango Lassi ( 3.50), Kabul Special Gravy Chicken (8.90), Naan Cheese (4.50), Chicken Briyani (8.90)

 

Location :

Kabul Restaurant,

Lot 1.3 & 1.9, Level 1,

Sooka Sentral, Jalan Station 5,

50470 KL

Tel : 27851932

Checked out the  the www on what is Kulfi – and as usual- Wikipedia never disappoints – Kulfi or Qulfi is a popular flavoured frozen ice cream dessert 

Unlike other ice-cream, kulfi takes a very long time to melt. Unlike Western ice creams, kulfi is not whipped, resulting in a solid, dense frozen dessert similar to traditional custard based ice-cream. Thus, it is usually considered a distinct category of frozen dairy-based dessert.

Traditionally in South Asia, kulfi is sold by street vendors called kulfiwallahs who keep the kulfi frozen by placing the moulds inside a large earthenware  pot called a “matka” filled with ice and salt. It is served on a plate or frozen onto a stick. It can be garnished with pistachios, cardamom and similar.

Interested to make some kulfi ? Try the links below for the recipe. Tell me if it worked out, better still, send some over if it worked out..

http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/Recipes2/7171.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/indian-ice-cream-with-pistachios-pista-kulfi-recipe/index.html

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2008/07/22/pista-kulfi-pistachios-ice-cream/

DimSum -Oriental Spoon, Sooka, KL Sentral

I have read so many good reviews about Oriental Spoon dimsum  from the various blogs,  that when I receive an e-mail for the weekend+ public holiday dimsum buffet promotion at 18.80++( adult) from 11.30a.m  – 3 pm,   I was filled with glee and immediately forward it to Chunny and called Sooka to make reservations for Saturday.

 

11:30 Before arriving at our table, we had to walk past the glass enclosed kitchen and saw the chefs busy at work, the kitchen counter was filled  with an array of dough, bamboo steamers, meat, utensils etc etc..we were very pleased to be shown to a table with it’s own enclosure.With the beautiful setting and the ambience…expectations are running high

                    

 

 

T-pot

11:35 : A  waitress gave us the menu and asked us what tea would we like and after making a decision, we asked her how do we order, is there a cart that goes around ? waitress reply, oh, for orders, we have to speak to her supervisor ..ok..supervisor  came to our table ( we were still 4 person short at that time) we choose the ‘Har-gau’ prawn dumplings 過海蝦餃皇  ,fried dumplings, steamed  beef balls in beancurd skin 腐皮牛肉球   ,  ‘siu mai’with scallops帶子干蒸賣,   ‘lotus root in guai-far broth  桂花糠蓮藕 and  ‘wu kok’- yam dumplings ..and we waited..and waited and waited…

 

 

 

  

 

11:50 : it was almost after 15 minutes (at which the other 2 friends had arrived)  before the ‘Har –gau’ came, there were  2 crunchy  fresh prawns inside each ’gau’ but the taste was pretty bland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

12:00 The beef balls came next and being more used to the ‘springy’ beef balls , we find the texture of the beef balls at Sooka was soft and the taste so-so. By now, the expectations of the food  had dropped to about a 30% level with suggestions  around the table on better dimsum around KL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12:10 then..the Wu Kok came to the rescue… the outer yam layer was crunchy yammy, and the filling was tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

12:20 The lotus root thingy came next and the exclaimation that came from the first ‘food tester’ was..’eh..why sour one’ ? the holes of the lotus root was stuffed with something and the pieces came in  some kinda soupy thingy. I won’t order this again.

 

 

 

 

12:30 We started another round of ordering (and the fried dumpling hadn’t  arrive after almost 45 minutes) which included shark fin -‘siu long pau’, ‘egg tart’ , spring rolls, bitter gourd + fish paste 順德釀涼瓜  and  ‘yam cake’

 

12:35 Siu Mai came next, they looked appertizing and luckily didn’t disappoint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 12:45 We enjoyed the egg tarts , the pastry were very flaky and the custard was not too sweet.

the queen of hearts, she made some egg tarts...

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13:00 At this point of time, we have been sitting at Sooka for one and a half hours’. ..all the tables were taken up…I would say that from time of ordering , to getting the orders at the table, was extremely slow… after ordering, the dish will arrive after 10 minutes, some after 30 minutes and some didn’t turn up at all..as Alice would say ..curiouser and couriouser…!there were quite a number of waiter/ waitresses running around and they are very prompt to refill the teapot if you manage to get their attention, so it must be the kitchen’s fault that food is so slow ?

 

13:10 The rest of the company had arrived by this time, and another round of orders took place, congee, radish cake, stir fried vegetable, phoenix claw, beef and radish, and   including a repeat of the ‘har-gau’ , egg tarts, wu-kok.

 

13:20 And we ran out of food at the table !  it was almost a 10 minutes lapse  before the next dish came, the siu long pau, there were something resembling shark fins as the garnishing, and the comments were, ‘so dry one, no soup inside’ out of the 4 pau, only 1 had some broth in it, I didn’t try this, so can’t comment on the taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

13:30 The stir fried vegetable was so-so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Radish cake

 

 

13:40 Next came the yam-cake and the radish cakes, , which were pretty ok. And by this time, we had come to a conclusion…there is an ‘expiry’ time , if you don’t get your orders in say, 45 minutes after ordering , then consider that your order had expired (or self destruct – like the ‘Mission Impossible’ recording devices), and you would have to re-activate / re-order again. Which made us feel that -as if, since it’s a buffet, they don’t care that whether your orders get to your table or not.

 

 

 13:45  another round of ordering

red red claws

 

13:50 The phoenix claw looked as if it was bleeding after being  the loser in the heavenly combat with a T.Rex – why so red one ? We find the taste a bit too overpowering and wahh..why even the bones also so red one … 

 

 

 

13:55  The stew beef + white radish 蘿蔔燜牛腩  came  in a claypot, the general comment – the beef was tough

14:00The 2^nd har-gau order came, and the comment was – better than the first, then surprisingly a 3^rd order of har-gau  ( which we didn’t order) arrived, and instead of the four dainty ‘gau’ as  a foursome in the middle, they were ‘hiding ’ in a row at the side of the steamer.

 

14:10 we checked with the waitress on the ETA of  the egg tarts and we were told that, they ran out of egg tarts…hmm..and they didn’t bother to tell us.

 

I had to leave before the meal ended, so I have no idea did the spring roll, congee, char siu pau, …… ( and the other earlier orders) finally turn up at the table…i think it must be something about the cart that makes dimsum arrive faster at your table lah ..

 

Location : Sooka Sentral is the  building directly opposite the MAS Check-in area at KL Sentral.

1st floor, Sooka Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 5, 50470, KL
Tel: 03-2261 3222