Rainy Friday...

It's was a cold cold rainy evening and what better way than to get warm with some soup.
Tomyam noodle soup to be exact.

And a plate of belacan fried chicken.
I'm feeling warmer already.

delicious @ straits quay

It was our anniversary and we wanted to try something new.

We've always gone to that ribs place or that friday place or that seafood place.

So when we heard there was a new restaurant in straits quay called "delicious", we just had to try it.

"delicious" has a nice selections of soups, pies, mains ,pastas, appetizers, sandwiches and really cool desserts.

Aiyah, see for yourself laah : http://www.delicious.com.my/#menu

Seriously tough choice for me as there were a lot of things i wanted to order

I finally chose the pan seared salmon and elpea took the marscarpone pesto chicken

Mascarpone Pesto Chicken served with Fried Potatoes & Asparagus	RM39.90
Pan-seared Crispy Skin Salmon served with Coriander Relish, Asparagus & Fried Potatoes RM39.90

The drinks came first, of course.

Elpea took the frosty guava+sour plum and i had the frosty lime+lychee.

Both drinks had really unique tastes. seriously unique.

But they were definitely refreshing on a scorching hot day.

Service was pretty fast as the mains came not even 10mins later.

My salmon was well cooked and tender and as the name says, it had a nice crispy skin.

And it was a really big piece of salmon. i loved the coriander relish.

The fried potatoes and asparagus were a nice accompaniment as well. The potatoes were not too oily and the asparagus still had that "crunch".

The mascarpone chicken was quite good as well. The Pesto sauce went well with the chicken but the portion was too huge for elpea.

Dessert was a really hard choice.

How to pick laah??!!?? look at the list below..!!!!!

Butter Cupcakes	RM6.90
Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Raspberry Swirls	RM6.90
Classic Vanilla Cupcake with Strawberry Frosting	RM6.90
After 8 Chocolate Cupcake with Mint Frosting	RM6.90
Chunky Apple Cupcake with Butterscotch Frosting	RM6.90
Scones with Preserves & Rodda's Fresh Cream	RM9.90
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Topping	RM9.90
Banana Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce & Vanilla Ice Cream	RM9.90
Flourless Orange Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream	RM9.90
Blackberry Apple Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream	RM10.90
Peach & Banana Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream	RM10.90
Marmalade Bread & Butter Pudding with Custard Sauce	RM10.90
Banoffee Pie	RM10.90
Lemon Meringue Pie	RM10.90
Coconut Cake with fresh Coconut Filling & covered with Hawaiian Coconut Shavings	RM10.90

Black Forest in a Glass	RM11.90
Classic Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream	RM11.90
Chocolate Brownie with Chocolate Sauce & Vanilla Ice Cream	RM11.90
Mango Cheesecake	RM11.90
Tiramisu in a Glass	RM12.90
Strawberry Cheesecake with Berry Coulis	RM12.90
Peach Frangipane with Vanilla Ice Cream	RM12.90
Berrilicious Chocolate Pavlova	RM12.90
Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce & Vanilla Ice Cream	RM12.90
Chocolate Banana Cake	RM12.90
Applelicious Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream	RM12.90
Macadamia Cheesecake topped with Crunchy Macadamia Nut Brittle & Caramel	RM13.90
Chocolicious Sundae with Fresh Strawberries	RM14.90
Additional single scoop of vanila ice cream	RM2.50

And elpea did not want me to pick something that she had already made.

so, i finally picked the banofee pie.

banana + toffee in a pie.

how can you go wrong?

the crust was excellent.

cross section :-)

desserts.....

and more desserts.

The ambiance was very nice and cosy though i don't think i would take the kids there for dinner.

Lunch , maybe.

They also have dining tables outside but during lunchtime, i do not recommend it as it gets pretty hot during noon time.

though i must say it was pretty cold inside the restaurant.

i really like that they have a few dedicated couches for those who are having dessert or tea only.

Going back?

Definitely 100% yes.

80th birthday dinner @ little cottage 2

we were deciding where to host my aunts 80th birthday and we seriously had no idea where to start.

the parameters were simple:

30 people family and friends, place to talk, make noise and take photos without worry of being rushed in finishing our meals.

cater at a hall?

go eat a chinese 8-course dinner?

eat buffet at a hotel?

find a nice cosy restaurant?

fate intervened.

as we we driving home one evening from dad's place, we spied this place.

its been there forever and i'm amazed that i've never eaten there.

so we booked the place.

(infinite thanks to elpea for handling of the logistics, multiple calls and emailing, etc and syncing of the food and guest list with the restaurant.what would we do without you? ^_^)

the menu for our party of 30.

quite an interesting spread actually.

golden fried mahi fish mandarin sauce

grilled german sausage

butter for our rolls

chicken ham spaghetti olive oil

chicken chop little cottage style

tempura chicken breast spaghetti

grilled chicken with chef's special sauce

little piece of cake/pudding ( i couldnt decide what it was) for dessert

eer, cuppa coffee or tea..?

i must say i was very impressed with the quality of the food,

it was excellent, even for a party of 30.

my 1st thought was that the food would be mediocre.

it wasn't.

my spaghetti was al-dente perfectly and tasted quite good with the olive oil. i was craving for more actually.

the hit of the evening was the chicken chop, i hear.

i think everyone had fun at the "party", meeting old friends, making new friends, finding lost relatives (granpa's elder brother's son) and the non-stop photo session.

i was also surprised that they prepared a private room for us, with a really long table setup.

nice touch there.

would i go back here?

yes.

Nasi Lemak and assorted dishes

Last Thursday was Nasi Lemak day a.k.a happy day.

Cooked a few dishes.
Some not really normal nasi lemak fare but it worked in general and well received.


ladies finger with sambal har-bee (dried shrimp)..
the boys all time favorite.

egg sambal,
the std supplement to the nasi lemak.
yummy and easy to make.

chicken rendang,
1st time i tried this recipe. think it turned out okay.

potato massala,
tastes much better than the ones in the lunch stalls.

sliced cucumber,
crunchy and...eer..cucumbery..
how can you have nasi lemak without this, right..? a sin.. :-)

a good meal indeed.

afternoon tea @ the suffolk house aka "a slow food afternoon"

It was a pleasant weekday afternoon and it was just nice for English tea. eating sandwiches, pastries, pies, scones and sipping a cuppa tea.

it was a real "slow food" afternoon for me, sitting in the shade of an olde english mansion enjoying the cool breeze as we savour the flavours of the food.

welcome to the Suffolk house,

tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of busy jalan dato keramat, right behind the noisy Methodist boys school.

we arrived there around 300pm and it was raining. by the way, you cant drive in, you have to park outside and walk in about 100meters to the mansion.

it was a weekday so there wasn't much people around, we were part of 3 tables that were occupied for afternoon tea.

the afternoon tea menu...

a normal set is for 2pax but since we were 5, we took 2 1/2.

the set comes with a pot of tea and set of pastries and sandwiches etc. you can choose from an assortment of teas available.

we chose 3 types of teas, the "earl grey", which is what capt picard drinks :) , the "morgentau" and the "mint and fresh".

the first tea to arrive was the "mint and fresh". i do not drink minty drinks so this was a no-no. my sis and the rest found it refreshing. I'll take their word for it.

the morgentau had a fruity flavour, which did not appeal to me. the rest of them liked it though.. yes, i know, i'm picky... (heeey, i drink iced lemon tea, right...? :-) uncultured swine....)

the morgentau comes in a much smaller tea pot, but we refilled it with hot water..

hey, its tea maah..

aah, finally, the earl grey..

the assorted pastries... raisin biscuit - its a raisin biscuit laah ( but i must admit you could taste the richness)

almond biscuit - its an almond biscuit laah (same comment on the richness) chocolate cake - it was so sweet, it was bitter. not sure it if was intended that way. hated it.

apple crumble tarts - these were good. bite sized and topped with a slice of strawberry

the accompaniments for the scones: pineapple jam - my favourite.

tomato jam - eem not so favourite.. c'mon, its tomato...!! ok, i exaggerate, it was not so bad. apple jam - another yummy choice.

strawberry jam -was good as well.

butter - skipped this.

clotted cream - i skipped because i thought it was bland. reminded me of yogurt and i hate it.

one thing to note is that the jams had pieces of the actual fruit in them. how cool is that? i found that to be really nice touch.

the other thing to note (which i failed to remember) was that the jams were actually "fusion" of fruit and spice.. if i remember correctly, it was apple and chili, pineapple and ginger...and sadly i cant remember the other 2. but the thing was the fruit+spice fusion worked very well together.

you get an explosion of flavours in your mouth when you bite into that scone and that bit of jam.

the "mains" were made up of sandwiches, scones and pies.

cucumber sandwiches - it was ok.. tasted so-so . salmon sandwiches - this one was very nice and tasty.

the really lovely scones, crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.

we ate these really slowly and spooned the various jams on with every bite. i enjoyed all the jams except for the butter and cream. the cream tasted bland to me and i preferred a "sweet" taste rather than buttery taste when eating the scones.

we underestimated the scones. they looked small but were actually quite filling as well. we struggled to finish them. really scrumptious, i say again.

the chicken and mushroom pies.. they were quite filling and bursting with meat and flavour

my "cuppa tea" pose with my pinky extended... earl grey of course... "make it so"

this is the back part of the mansion which was where we had our tea. there's actually a river behind the mansion. those colonials really like mansions next to rivers.

i think once in a while we just need to take a step back and look at the world with "slower" lenses.

things pass us by so fast these days that we hardly take the time to appreciate things or even to "taste".

i think i will come back for afternoon English tea one of these days and i'll bring elpea with me...

fyi on some history of the mansion, if you're interested..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_House,_Penang

ipoh hainanese bean sprout chicken rice

we were in ipoh for a day trip and decided to wander into town for the famous hainanese bean sprout chicken rice. everything seemed to be focus on a single crossroad. there were more than 4 restaurants selling the same thing plus two others and a bike stall selling salted chicken which we ended up not buying. i googled up "ipoh hainan chicken rice" when we were on the way there and so we went to the 1st result listed which was also the most packed. we ordered: 2bowls of chicken rice for ry and elpea, a bowl of noodles for me. an order of white chicken for 2 adults/2 kids and a huge plate of beansprout. service was super fast. everything was delivered to the table in like 30seconds. really..!!

the serving for the chicken was quite huge and we didnt manage to finish it. taste wise its definitely much better than anything i've tasted in pg and the texture of the chicken was really smooth and tender.

the bean sprout was really really really good as well. nicely, tastefully seasoned and most importantly, crunchy. i wish i had more time and stomach space to enjoy it.

i kind of regret ordering the noodles. it did not really suit my palate. it just tasted weird to me. elpea and ry had this and they said it was very good. overall, it was a great meal and i would definitely go back there again.

this time around it was a pretty rushed meal so i dont think we enjoyed the food 100%.

the next time we go back, we need to go with more people to enjoy the food, as well as, take more time to savour the flavours more thoroughly.

next time....

manila place @ gurney plaza

We were planning to go to A&W for lunch but it looks like it was not meant to be. Gurney was under renovation and that whole restaurant wing was closed. Actually we looked at the new shop listing but A&W does not seem to be on the new list. Closed?

So anyway we walked around and decided on “manila place” as we’ve never been there before.

Quite cozy place and it was 60% packed.

Ry had the kid’s meal of boneless chicken with mushroom sauce and fries.

Elpea had the soup in a bun thing.

I had the fried soba noodle. Nothing very spectacular.

Elpea had the iced peach tea, I had the iced lemon tea and ry had the orange juice.

They actually had a separate menu for drinks and dessert. And they served pancake and crepes. Yummy.

We chose the mango crepe for dessert. It was choc full of mango slices which elpea said could be better.

We were too tham chiak that we forgot take more photos

We were served quite fast and overall food was average.

And this is the 1^st time ry finished the whole kids meal by himself.

Price was quite reasonable as well ~$70.