Banana Leaf Rice @ Bangsar

First time i've tried banana leaf rice among the 4 of us there that day.. paiseh. So i was a bit enthusiastic and jakun. hmm. and so i decided to blog it!

No sharing of food, so all of us ordered one each. and i finally had my 'limau ais' drink to go with it.

Comes with 3 types of vege for sides, a salad kind, a fried vege and a deepfried in batter bittergourd. yummy. And the rice, comes with choice of 3 kinds of curry to pour over it- fish curry, chicken curry and dal. Mine(pic) is fish curry. spicy, i like!

btw, it also comes with papadum and we ordered an extra mutton curry. which were both delicious as well! cant remember how much it was.. but affordable mamak price (rite?) and altho i wasnt very hungry i finished up my rice. service-wise, thumbs up as well. hahaha.

crab again ;)

and crab again..hehe. ths time, this crab is from this famous crab restaurant in kepong. wa, this place...i arrived at 7 something n it was packed wit so many ppl...n i had to line up just to get a table. but i must say, it's so worth the wait! coz the crab here is soooooo gooooooddddd!!!!! famous for their cheese crab or salted egg crab, i ordered the salted egg crab. yummy!

crab!!!!!

yummy sri lanka crab from this restaurant in ampang...
wit it is the delicious mini fried pau(s) to dip the sauce ;)n delicious pork ribs......

Din Tai Fung

introducing restaurant Din Tai Fung, in Garden's ....


the beef la mien was delicious! compared to Dragon i, the noodles are the same. but the soup here comparing the same flavour there, is very different. both hav their own special taste. both oso nice la hehe :)

siew long pau here oso very good. but i still like the siew long pau in Dragon i a bit more, coz there the one not so strong the smell..hehe...

this fried rice may look simple, but then when it comes to ur table, ur mouth start to water coz it smells so 'hiong'. then it's oso yummy yum. the rice summore it's the jap rice..round round...but it's not sticky la. so just nice!

Marmalade, bangsar village :)

yummy yum. this is marmalade's delicious carbonara. not too rich, just nice. coz most of the time, carbonara are too rich that when u eat more than 3 spoons u'll feel 'gelak'. but this one however is just nice, that i could finish most of it :)

my friends ordered chicken pie n beef pie each. the beef pie's good, but chicken pie here's a bit tasteless.

n here's 2 old pics of 2 other great delicious dish that's served here. this pic was taken during our breakfast few months ago ;) (wit seyin,eve,anu,shang). the cupcakes are yummy yum :) i think i can eat 10 of these in 1 shot hehe.n this mushroom spagetti, oso supereb!

Triple Chocolate Brownies

This is simple, quick and yummy! ;)

Ingredients:
275g plain chocolate
275g unsalted butter
85g pecans, broken into pieces (I used hazelnuts)
85g milk chocolate, cut into large chunks
85g white chocolate, cut into large chunks
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
325g caster sugar

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line a tin with lightly buttered greaseproof paper/ foil.
2) Put the plain chocolate and butter in a large bowl, place over pan of simmering water and allow to melt.
3) Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and stir in the sugar. Add eggs and vanilla essence. Fold in the flour, nuts and chocolate.
4) Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared tin. Place in oven and bake fore 20-25 minutes. The top should be firm, but the inside should feel soft when cooked. Allow to cool in the tin. Remove the brownies from the tin and cut them.
5) Serving suggestion: Eat with ice cream and/or chocolate/ toffee sauce! XD

Meatball Spaghetti

Serves 2.

Pasta
200g spaghetti
olive oil
salt

Sauce [cheat]
1/2 bottle tomato based pasta sauce of your choice (i used Leggo's Bolognese with mushroom)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 brown onion, chopped
1/4 stick medium carrot, grated
olive oil

Meatballs
250g minced meat of choice (i used beef)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp milk
1/4 stick medium carrot, grated
1 egg
1/2 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
dash of parsley
dash of oregano
dash of salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Boil spaghetti with hot water for 10 mins. Rinse with cold water. Drain. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Toss. Set aside.
2) Sauteed onions and garlic with olive oil. Add carrots. Toss. Add in tomato based sauce, bring to a boil. simmer on low heat. Cover.
3) For meatballs, mixed all the above ingredients until it forms a consistent paste. using 2 tablespoons, shape mixture into a ball and pan-fry with olive oil. Brown all sides. Place meatballs in simmering sauce. and cover for 5 minutes.
4) Using the same pan from frying the meatballs, toss cooked spaghetti from (1). Pour in meatballs and sauce. Toss.
5) Serve with parmesan cheese and basil leaf (which i sadly do not have hence the plain presentation :P).

really easy! try it :)

seremban's always famous for their crabs, donno why. always thought the crabs here are nothing great compared to kl's crabs, summore the prices of crab in seremban is nearly double the crab price in kl. but i tried this super delicious crab that day in seremban. sorry guys, the pic doesnt look that nice, coz i took the shot from my phone. but anyways, the 'siew hai'...ketam bakar, here is damn good. it smells so good when it's brought to ur table. n when u bite thru the meat, it's so juicy n sweet that u feel like ur eating crab in wonderful crabland :) the crab was so fresh, that the meat was tender n juicy. seriously, guys, we must go eat this siew hai when u guys come back. it's super good. totally recomend it.

the shop's just a shed beside the road. nothing great, but it's always crowded with ppl if u come late. the food's fantastic thou...that's the most important thing right? :) they also serve porridge, 'lou si fun', laksa, ikan bakar and sotong bakar there.

Sinful Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
105g unsweetened chocolate
170g butter
375g all purpose flour
3g baking soda
2g salt
5g baking powder
375g white sugar
3 eggs
8ml vanilla extract
230g sour cream
505g semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. In microwave or over a double boiler, melt unsweetened chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally until smooth. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2) In a medium bowl, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla until light. Mix in the chocolate mixture until well blended. Stir in the sifted ingredients alternately with sour cream, then mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3) Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

El Duo

I think I am not only in Medical School in Belfast, but in Culinary and Baking School as well. It's just that I will not graduate with a certificate from the latter. Whenever we celebrate our friends' birthdays, we actually bake the cakes ourselves, because cakes are just too expensive to be bought here! So here I am to share 2 recipes which are my favourites so far...


Strawberry CakeIngredients:
400g white sugar
225g butter, softened
4 eggs
400g sifted cake flour
10g baking powder
240ml whole milk
15ml vanilla extract
2 packs of fresh strawberries - make into puree.
Whipping cream
Icing sugar
Strawberry gelatin

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Grease and flour 2 tins. (to make it 2 layers!)
2) In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternatively with milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between prepared pans.
3) Bake for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cake to cool in pans for 10 minutes before topping out to cool completely.
4) Place thickly sliced strawberries with whipping cream in between the 2 cakes.

For the puree - crush fresh strawberries and mix it with icing sugar.

For the decoration and presentation I used whipping cream, sliced strawberries and strawberry gelatin. It can be changed according to your preferences!


Chocco-Mocha Caramel Cake
Ingredients:
2 tsp instant coffee granules/ powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp hot water
175g softened butter
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup
200g self-raising flour
4 tbsp milk
2 x 50g chocolate caramel bars (I used Cadbury Caramel Bars)

For the icing
2 x 50g chocolate caramel bars
50g butter
2 tbsp milk
100g icing sugar, sifted

Method:
1)Preheat oven - 160 degrees C. Butter the cake tin. Line the base with baking parchment.
2) Measure coffee and cocoa into a cup, add hot water, mix into a smooth paste. Put butter, sugar, eggs, syrup, flour, milk and cocoa paste in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Break caramel bars into sections and stir into mixture.
3) Turn the mixture into prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until top springs back when you press it lightly. Cool for 5 minutes, turn out, peel off lining paper, leave to cool.
4) Make icing - break up caramel bars and put in a small pan with butter and milk. Gently heat until smooth, stirring all the time, then remove from heat and stir in the icing sugar. Leave to cool until it thickens to leave a trail when you lift the spoon. Put cake on a serving plate, spread icing over the top, letting it fall softly down the sides, leave to set.

I used caster sugar and chocolate chips for decoration. Again, that's up to you own preferences.

That's all folks! I thought the latter was easier to make, but do give both a try, if you guys are free! ;)

Europa (@ the Bay)

Europa serves traditional and authentic italian food. Chris and I tried the blue "something" crab pasta (sorry-lah can't remember) which was their chef's specialty and good 'ol pepperoni pizza! the taste is heavenly.. *drools* thinking of it makes me wanna go there and have dinner NOW!

prices are average, as you would expect in an italian restaurant (AUD 15-20/per pax).

sadly, the service wasn't as fantastic as their food were (i bet my sentence is grammatically incorrect *sigh*)

great location, just opposite the tram stop, very near the beach. definitely worth a try!!

12-14 Jetty Road

Glenelg, 5045.

j.co's donuts :)

check out this delicious donuts ppl! i was walking around in pavilion yesterday when i saw a long long line outside this shop name J.Co Donuts and coffee. i thought...hmmm...must be good stuff. so knowing me..i joined the line to buy some donuts.

yummy yum! it taste so soft...it melts in ur mouth. the pastry is so amazing. it's something like big apple, but even softer! n the choc was so good...not too thick or too thin..not too sweet, just nice! the almons were amazing. the best was still the original flavour thou...i think it's even better then krispy kreme :)

guys, u must seriously try one. i wanted more after that but the line was even longer then. so i think i'll go back another time..hehe ;)

Asian delight in Manchester : TAMPOPO

It's not the only of it's kind here. There's Wagamama, Fuzion, well the list goes on. It's just that Kailyn and I decided to celebrate finishing our SSC report. (Hard work! we sacrificed CNY for it... starting serious work from cnyday1!) wanted to eat at Yo!Sushi, sth like SushiKing/GEnki kind, which unfortunately, was closed at 7? So early. i gues it closes when 'Selfridges' closes. And i totally regret FORGETTING my camera. these are taken wit my poor 2mp w910i..

Fresh Eastern Cooking. Their menu, quite pretty. Yasai Gyoza. vegetarian gyoza with water chestnut and such.
This was so-so. maybe the meat one wud've been nicer?
This is my japanese udon wit chicken, red pepper, beansprouts,
and rice wine. not bad. pass i give 3/5. GBP6.95
this is kailyn's indon savoury. it's called 'Gado-gado'. cute name?
and looks really healthy too rite? The spicy peanut paste was damn good!! GBP5.95 this one can get 4.5/5! of cos for those cow stomachs one maybe not filling enuf. ekeke.
and Ta-Da!!!!! we were sooooo delighted to find this on dessert menu!!
Bubur Pulut Hitam!!!! GBP3.25. Super delicious, it deserves 5/5!!

So special tat we just had to take pic wit it!!

oh... and the green tea was superb too. 5/5. Service was 4/5 (sometimes very hard to catch their attention, BUT very very friendly service!)

Apparently they also had singapore laksa, char kuey teow, mee goreng, indon fried rice, some other korean cuisine and a tampopo platter which has like, tempuras for sharing..saw the nex table eating looks pretty delicious. I will definitely go back there to try other food, even if not, just for the pulut hitam i def will! (oh, there's 20% student disc too!)

TAMPOPO.
16, Albert Square
Manchester
M2 5PF

also in leeds, fulham, & trafford centre!

Matcha (Green Tea) Ice Cream

i've got this crazy green tea ice cream cravings lately.. the taste is refreshing, not-too-sweet and creamy, makes you wanting for more, more, MORE!! green tea ice cream goes very well with red bean, mochi and spongecake (as in parfait).

so far, only 3 places managed to satisfy my cravings!

they are:



Zipangu @ Shangri-La KL (btw, their buffet is EXCELLENT!!! fresh air flown sashimi 3x/week from Japan)
Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL
03-23022388

Kampachi @ The Pavillion (also @ Equatorial Hotel) i thought the food was so-so, their dons and bento sets were not bad. but the sashimi wasn't very nice. the soba was disappointing. i reckon the one at the hotel is better. most ppl tell me that. but their green tea ice cream? rocks my sock!
The Pavillion
Jalan Bukit Bintang
03-2148 9608

Sun With Moon (the food here was okay. the standard taste you can find at any decent japanese restaurant)
01-70/71/72 The Central @ Clarke Quay , Singapore
+65 6534 7784

p/s: i think emily@cyin's format of food review is good. haha.. i think we shld stick to that :)

NEW SAMSI : Eve's early bday08 celebration

Yup, it was 2weeks early, but it's not easy to have all of us here!! so there we all were, at Manchester's very own 'new samsi'. thanks to our organiser - shirlyn@layin and coordinator - kenn!

Eve, LayIn&LayTeng, & I ordered katsu-don with pork and sweet egg, evie's recommendation! was surely good! yummm

And also a platter of 12 sushis to share with kailyn, shund, in & lay teng!

the waiter brought our 'surprise' cake for eve...

a grp of full, happy people but a bad quality group pic

36-38 Whitworth St
Manchester, M1 3NR
0161 279 0022
http://www.samsi.co.uk/

Mini Sardine Puffs - in an attempt to revive the blog.

all of us lives away from home, chasing our dreams.. cooking seems like a hassle sometimes. here's a quick and easy snack to make!! :) you know why it's so easy?????

the answer is right before your very eyes!!! yes.. pampas puff pastry! the greatest invention, since.. mobile phones :P


the filling is as simple as ABC!!

all you need is:
a can of sardines (in tomato sauce) - mashed
half a big onion - thinly sliced
chilli - sliced (you can use chilli powder instead, if you want)
juice from one big lime

for the glaze-beat one egg with 1 tbsp milk

sauteed onions in 2 tbsp of oil. add mashed sardines, chilli and lime juice. bring to a boil. cool mixture.

(alternatively i saw this new ayam brand spicy lime canned sardine which can be used as a substitute - the simple solution!!)

preheat fan-forced oven to 200 deg C. cut a rectangular piece of pastry say 4X8cm. place filling in the centre, fold in both ends. glaze the top of the pastry. bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Makan Makan!

We've always talked about making Makan Club international.. and I've done it ;p not that I've recruited members or made Makan Club known to the locals or other international students in Manchester but together with some friends we've tried out some restaurants in the City!

Check out my post Makan Makan!.. I've put in loads of pics too ;p

Cheers!

Steamboat @ 69 Longfield!

Evie suggested we should have a steamboat last weekend! So we went to the only oriental supermarket we knew existed at Preston (at tat time, and how to get there of cos).. and got all these stuffs!! And we're all set! =)

ta-da... chef evelyn cooked da soup summore.. woohoo!

took this group pic from evie's facebook upload! ;) we also had amanda and justin over ;) can say it was quite successful we were so full i ate til i could hardly move >.<>

my little cupcake frenzy.

attempt #1

attempt #2

somebody help me with the frosting!!!!!! ahhhh!!!!!! any good recipes?

i think the cupcake is pretty good, especially at the second attempt. the icing looks a bit gross cos i re-used yesterday's icing :D my hands very tired la, have to manually whisk the frosting............

attempt#3

complete success! yay!

Ipoh Craze

My list of accomplishments when I went back to Ipoh for the last time before I flew off. Aunt decided that listing down on my litle cousin's whiteboard was the best way to make sure we don't leave out any of my favourites. The following torturous pics are not in any particular order.

Funny mountain Pak Pak (White white) which is Tau Foo Fa and Soy Milk. I love the way it just slithers down your throat. Smoother than a baby's bum. The best thing is that you can drive in, wait your turn behind somebody else's car for someone to take your orders.

Ipoh white coffee and Yin Yong toast. Somehow KL's coffee doesn't give as much aroma as Ipoh's especially when its iced. Plus, the toast just melts in your mouth. You have to be careful to not to hold it too hard or else it'll just crumble away.

I know Pro-Penangites will defend their laksa but after tasting this, you might change your mind. Ipoh people like to eat laksa with Foo Pei. Gives the extra kick!

My favourite dessert of all time is the Green Town Cendol. I love that its more water than ice and the cendol's not frozen. Not too much santan and not too much gula melaka makes eating this really really lovely.

Again something the Penangites will like to contest. This is Ipoh's Char Kuey Teow style. Fry the egg in the wok first than kuey teow on top. Serve with homemade chilli-belacan sauce. Yummy!

This is none other than the famous Kai See Hor Fun in old town which my uncle and aunt absolutely loves. I think the secret lies in the soup and the fine texture of the noodles. Let's just hope somebody inherits the recipe and continues the trade.

Our taugeh has got to be the fattest, the shortest and the juiciest ones you'll ever taste. I can eat this alone without anything. Sad to say, I haven't found any in Liverpool, not even in Chinatown.

Chee Cheong Fan is not one of my favourites and I would never order it in KL but in Ipoh, its a different story.

For dinner, we popped by to Kok Thai restaurant near Kinta City for this. The star of the meal. Cod fish fried with soy sauce. There is an art to frying this fish. Too short a time, it'll be too raw and too long, it'll be too dry. The chefs here does it just nice so that the skin is crisp but the fish meat is still supple.

The famous curry mee which I posted some time ago and I'll always ask for more mint leaves to go with it. Usually by ten in the morning, the uncle and aunty is already cleaning up their store cos everything is sold out.

I'm not a fan of dim sum but Foh San holds a special place in my heart. When I was young, I remember being dragged out of bed together with all my other sleepy head cousins just so that we could get a table here and we would wake up to the smell of har mai, egg tarts and the voices of waitresses. The reason why I didn't post a pic of the dim sum is cos it dissapeared before I realised I haven't snapped any pics.

Chinese style Apams which you rarely find in KL. Its a much lighter version compared to its Malay cousin which we usually find in KL. It makes an excellent supper.

I'm finally done and there's nothing else to say except that we the overseas members shall now join in suffering together. Absence does make the tummy growl louder ;)