CRIZ BON APPETITE

Note: Yaw’s Roast & Grill will be shifting their business to Jalan Transfer (next to Esso petrol kiosk) effective 22 July 2009.

Name: YAW’S ROAST & GRILL
Address: 1, Gerbang Midlands, 10350 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 604-227 6273 / 012- 484 8178
Opening Hours: 5.30pm – 11.00pm (Closed Monday)
GPS: 5.435490, 100.307708

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 9/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 1% [?]

It is not hard to find the tea garden as it is strategically located opposite the Prangin Mall’s Pizza Hut. Drive from Penang Road into Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong (previously Prangin Road), and you will reach a traffic light. The tea garden is on your left. You can find some parking by the road side or in a car park on your left before the next traffic light.

Name: FUN TEA GARDEN / DYNAMIC CAFE
Address:
150 & 152, Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong, 10100 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 013-421 1274 (Danny Ooi)
Opening Hours:
Dim Sum: 7.30am – 6.00am (Closed Thursday)
Economy Rice: 5.30pm – 3.00am (Closed Thursday)
GPS: 5.414822, 100.332148

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 1% [?]

After shopping in the Pavilion KL, three of us decided to retire in Crystal Jade Meal3 Restaurant in the mall for dinner. The ambience of the restaurant was great with some soft music being played throughout our meals. Since I was still quite full with all the eating sprees, I ordered some appetizers such as Deep Fried Salty Cuttlefish and a Puffy Mushroom Soup. The cuttlefish was just average. It tasted like soggy tempura, mixed with some chili sauce and sprinkle with salt water. Nothing very special at all. The mushroom soup tasted like diluted instant mushroom soup topped with not-so-puffy pastry. They could have done better with this dish.

One of my friends ordered the Baked Rice with Seafood and Cheese. This dish tasted real great with generous amount of clams, mussels, squids and prawns. The creamy cheesy topping was matching enough with rice.

The other friend of mine ordered Aglio D’Olio Chix. It looked like spaghetti bolognaise but the taste was totally different. The chef did a bad combination of mixing spaghetti with some blended chili and herbs. On top of that, the chicken topping tasted like not marinated chicken coated with flour. Impressive presentation but taste wise was poor.

Maybe I was born and bred in Penang and got used to the rich taste of the food prepared here. Overall, with 3 drinks and 3 glasses of water plus 10% service charge and 5% government tax, the bill came up to RM81.55 which is quite pricey for the quality of food served.

The restaurant has many branches all over the world and 6 branches in Kuala Lumpur. There are two in the Pavilion, three in Midvalley Megamall and one in Lot 10. To get there, just walk into Pavilion Kuala Lumpur along the famous Bintang Walk (Jalan Bukit Bintang) and get a Pavilion map from the customer service counter. Find your way to the level 3 outside corridor of the mall. The restaurant is just right at the corner. This place also has bar corner for you to laze about and relax until quite late into the night.

Name: CRYSTAL JADE MEAL3 @ PAVILION KL
Address:
Lot C3.02, Level 3, The Pavilion
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603-2148 2116
Opening Hours: 10.00am – 10.00pm
GPS: 3.148518, 101.713936

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 6/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: unranked [?]

Petaling Street or Chinatown as most tourists would call is not only a haven for good bargains of items such as clothes, DVDs, watches, bags and shoes. It is also a haven to please your appetite up to the wee hours of the morning. If you know how to explore further into the many lanes and corners of this street, you will discover many delicious hawker stalls hidden from the main shopping area.

One such stall which I have discovered some years back served the most amazing Hakka Mee and Pan Mee in that area. Not only are the noodle portions quite a lot, they are also cheap. RM3.50 per plate compared to RM4.50 in any of the cafés on the main road. Now you know why I have never stopped visiting this place. The stall also served many other noodles variety such as the Curry Chicken Wan Than Mee which is just as good. Here are the two noodles which we had ordered.

Finding this noodle stall would be quite hard as it is hidden in one of the lanes. If you are walk into Petaling Street, Chinatown’s main entrance from Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (opposite Kota Raya) and you will reach a crossed junction. Hong Leong Bank is at the corner on your left. Turn left into the road (Jalan Hang Lekir). Walk straight up until you see a lane on your right. There will be a shop selling DVD there. Walk inside and you will see the stall. Next to the stall is a Roasted Chicken/Pork (Char Siew) Rice which is just as good.

Name: PETALING STREET (CHINATOWN) HAKKA/PAN MEE
Address: Jalan Hang Lekir, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 9.00am – 8.00pm
GPS: 3.144298, 101.698025

RATING:
Ambience: 4/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Whenever Penangites think about Bak Kut Teh, it will always be the soup based type where they will choose whatever parts of the pork which interest them most. Recently, I was invited by a friend in Klang to try out one of the best Bak Kut Teh there. To my surprise, the Bak Kut Teh came in two types – the dry and the soup based. The soup based Bak Kut Teh was like those served in Penang except that the pork inside were meaty choice pieces. But the dry one made me want to go back there again to eat more.

The meats, mostly belly parts were cooked in herbal soup and then cut into smaller pieces. The meat were then fried in some yummy dark sauce, cuttlefish strips, sliced lady’s fingers, dried chillies and some mushrooms and brought to boil in a claypot to maintain its hotness. You should try out this yummy dry version.

The two claypots of Bak Kut Teh cost 3 of us only RM23 with 5 bowls of rice. Here are the photos on how the Bak Kut Teh looked like.

The restaurant is within the Taman Bayu Perdana area along the main road of Persiaran Pegaga. You would not miss the place as it has an airplane logo on the sign board. If you are not sure, just ask around as most of the Klang people would know the location of this shop.

Name: RESTORAN FEI KAY
Address:
95 (Tingkat Bawah), Persiaran Pegaga,
Taman Bayu Perdana, 41200 Klang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Tel: 019-340 8883 (Fei Kay)
Opening Hours: 8.00am – 10.00pm
GPS: 3.019970, 101.431875

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 2% [?]

While I was down in Kuala Lumpur, I stumbled upon a stall in Low Yat Plaza selling soy milk and douhua (soy pudding). What caught my attention was the Tang Yuan served with soy milk. For your information, I love Tang Yuan and have been seen frequently patronizing the stall along Jalan Magazine in Penang.

The Soya Shop served great Tang Yuan with soy milk. It is a great dessert for the young as well as the old. Not only was the soy milk fresh and hot, you could freely choose either plain syrup or brown syrup of your choice, easily available on the table. This is a great idea for those, especially diabetics, who like it plain or not too sweet. The Tang Yuan comes in four flavors, namely Coconut, Chocolate, Red Beans and Pandan Lotus Paste. All of them were juicy soft and tasted great. Each bowl only cost RM2.80. The products served are completely halal.

I was too full from my lunch before this to try another bowl of douhua. I heard from Masak Masak that they do serve douhua with red kidney beans too but I did not see any publicity from this stall. Maybe they have it in another branch.

Photo Courtesy of Masak Masak

The Soya Shop has many branches in Hartamas Shoppig Complex (2nd Floor), Summit USJ (Ground Floor), Endah Parade (1st Floor), Low Yat Plaza (4th Floor), City Square Food Court (Lower Ground), 1 Utama Shopping Centre (Lower Ground) and Pasarakyat (Ground Floor), Giant Hypermarket, Bandar Kinara (Lower Ground) and many more to be set up soon. I managed to try out the one in Low Yat Plaza, so here is the map for the Bukit Bintang area branch.

Name: THE SOYA SHOP @ LOW YAT PLAZA

Address:
Level 4, Low Yat Plaza, Off Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603-6275 8803 (Pasarakyat)
Website: http://www.thesoyashop.com/
Opening Hours: 10.00am – 10.00pm
GPS: 3.143933, 101.709784

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 3% [?]