Weekend of 13th & 14th October
Selamat Hari Raya!!! Ok, maybe it is a bit too late since I'm posting this blog so late. But anyway, for the muslim friends, hope you had a great festival and for the non-muslim ones, well, hope you enjoyed the holidays. As for me, what a weekend. No, it was not a crazy weekend of booze, clubbing and rendezvous with totally unknown strangers (this happened only once. Honestly. Ok, maybe twice. That’s it). Nothing crazy as that, but it was a weekend of wild gastronomic intake of logic defying proportions. In other words, I just ate and ate and boy, what else did i do? Just more eating!!! Am i suffering from emotional stress and wanna let it all out by eating? No, ‘cause over the Raya weekend, there was nothing to do but to eat. I mean, clubs were dead, many friends left for holidays over the long weekend, and I had to make the best of whatever i can do to entertain myself. Ok, that may have sounded obscene, but for a growing guy like me, i gotta do what a growing guy gotta do. Which is to eat. So, without much ado i grabbed any friends that i can get over the weekend and went for a gastronomic spurge throughout town. Here we go:
Saturday
For a typical Chinese guy that i am, early mornings without work is a morning for Dim Sum. Yup, i love Dim Sum and i love it since i was a kid. So, i grabbed a friend that shared this same passion as me and went to this place in Taipan 2 called ‘Onn Kee’. Lemme tell you, this Taipan 2 is turning into a Dim Sum street and people just flock to this street as if they were giving gold for free. First time i was there, there was only 1 shop. The second time, another shop popped open. Then, another. I mean, wow. Anyway, we tried the mentioned shop which is the latest addition to Taipan 2 and it turned out good. The food was good, i think it is better than all the rest at Taipan 2 (i’ve tried all). The ‘har kao’ is scrumptiously fresh, the ‘siew mai’ is just nice (not too meaty) and ‘char siew pau’ had filings in abundance. In short, recommended for the taste, the reasonable price and variety.
Well, onto lunch. And its Dim Sum again. Yup, told you i love Dim Sum. This time went for slightly upper class Dim Sum in Tai Tong, KL. It was in ‘Wisma Selangor Dredging’ along Jalan Ampang. It was more expensive (double the price from Taipan 2 actually) but the quality is much better, the environment is cleaner and much more comfortable. And the taste? Well, slightly better than Taipan 2 but does it justify the double price? Not really. Oh well, nice place to chill and relax but not a place to save on the wallet. But still good food though...
Now it was time for some light past-afternoon snacks. Dropped by at Mid Valley to see what the hoo-ha was with this ‘The Gardens’ thingy, well, not impressed as the car park was severely flooded when i was there and inside the mall itself the roofs were leaking water worse than by grandma’s house. And the walkways that link each side of the shopping mall, well, the glass floor shakes whenever my feet hit the floor and it’s well freaky. And this was on the highest floor. Can anyone say deadlines?
Anyway, back to the food. We went to ‘Zen’ in Mid Valley for the post-afternoon snack which is a clone to ‘Secret Recipe’ as the menu is close to ‘Recipe’ than anything else. I mean, even the price is slightly the same, RM5.50 per slice. But this ‘Zen’ is slightly different than the regular ‘Secret Recipe’ dens as it had an open concept (i.e. the cafe is not inside a shop-lot but in situated in the middle of pedestrian walkways, right outside ‘Pets Wonderland’). Effectively, people walking past can catch a glimpse of what you are wearing that day and see what sinful delights you are gulping down, and with who are you enjoying such joys with. So if you want to be seen and got something to flaunt, then ‘Zen’ is the place but if you got too big a pot belly to hide from the mass public, then stay well clear of this attention grabbing cafe.
After ‘Zen’ we felt thirsty so we wanted some coffee to chitchat while waiting for our movie (Resident Evil 4, which was a bore). Tired of the usual Americanized brews at Starbucks or Coffee Bean, we decided to go anti-American for a moment and we gladly stepped into ‘Vietnam Kitchen’ and ordered their Vietnamese filtered coffee. And what a coffee it was. With a strong aroma and a distinctive taste, it was truly an exotic coffee that in my experience cannot be found at any other coffee shops except Vietnamese ones. For all coffee lovers out there, try it and my god you will love it. A new drug has thus been found, Amen.
Refreshed and aroma-rized from the coffee, we headed for the movie and duly the energy got sapped right out from my body. The movie was lame and a big bore, the action was tame compared to ‘Resident Evil’ 1 and 2. I should have gone for a second viewing of ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ instead...
Anyway, with the feeling of boredom bitten out from us due to the bad movie, we decided to leave Mid Valley and head off in search of something less western or anything less classy. Chicken rice was being thrown around for deliberation, and chicken rice it was and what place to eat it then the famous Jalan Pudu ‘Fei Por’ chicken rice. People by the droves come here to enjoy chicken rice that is to my opinion, the closest to Ipoh Chicken Rice than anywhere else. ‘Kar Heong’ in Subang comes close too, but this one is better. The chicken is tender and most importantly, the sauce is perfect. You would have to experience it to believe it.
After a big chicky dinner, i headed back to Subang for the England vs. Estonia game at a mamak stall. Extremely boring game, so me and my friends abandoned the match at halftime and went to SS2’s Murni’s for some sinful cheese nan that is served with condensed milk. Sweet and tasty, it was a perfect supper and was accompanied by a glass of hot teh tarik kurang manis. It was a perfect night cap and duly headed back home for some rest, as i think my stomach really needed it...
Sunday
Woke up super late, didn't do much and hanged around the house for much of the day. I woke up so late, (i think 4pm gua), it was soon time for dinner and again, went out for makan makan. This time went all the way down to Ampang for the ever famous 'Yong Tao Foo' and it was has tasty as ever:
So little food to eat? Nah, this is just starters!!!
After dinner went back to Subang and a few friends call for a game of pool and we played non-stop until 3am. Tired, broke and smelly from the cigarette smoke, went back home took a fast shower and that was pretty much it for the day. Hope your weekend was great too and may happy times continue!!!