PappaRich Express @ TARC

Local University and College students are definitely luckier these days compare to my time.  They are not only pampered by lecturer with spoon feed lecture notes and tips for exam. These days they even have their favourite chilled out place right at their finger tips. 

Was at Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC), Jalan Genting Klang Campus yesterday for an event. Since my event ended at about 6pm, my colleague and I decided to stay back a little the chill and avoid the jam back to PJ which is known to be horrible at these hour. So we chilled at PappaRich Express @ TARC which is located just outside the TARC Library (the Library is pretty impressive too, with more than a 100 units of Mac desktop, its also equip with more than 25Mbps of Internet connection powered by Unifi).

The business at PappaRich Express @ TARC is rather good. Not too sure about the profit, but I think this outlet has the best customer turnover rate. When we were there, the was a long queue at the entrance to the cafe. The concept of PappaRich Express is that you will have to queue up at the counter, orders your food and drinks, make payment and proceed to your assigned table. Your orders will be served in less than 10 minutes. 

The only drawback about PappaRich Express is that, if you are still hungry or thirsty and would like to make additional orders, you will have to get in the queue again and wait for your turn which a turnoff for me. However the price difference really made it worth while to queue if you are a student living on a shoe string budget. On average, the food and drinks on the menu is 30% to 50% off the price you find at the normal PappaRich outlet. Do 

Since this is an express outlet, do take note that the menu also has much less variety, but will will still find the famous Nasi Lemak, Curry Laksa and Roti Bakat with Butter and Kaya on the menu. Barley Lime is only RM1 which is a super cheap. 

It's also a nice hangout spot with free WiFi. Now I wish I'm a student again studying at TARC.

Al-Amar Express, Fahrenheit 88 @ Bukit Bintang

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Celebrated Christmas eve with a little twist this year. Started with dinner with someone special at The Ship, then followed by the screening of Gulliver's Travels @ GSC MidValley and then Christmas eve countdown at Bukit Bintang.

Everything went on well until me and my date arrived at Pavilion for the countdown celebration. It's was the most horrible countdown that we've been too, a handful of the crowd were terrorising all the innocents people like myself with fake snow spray sold by unscrupulous traders who took advantage of the celebration and make some handsome profit.

To avoid being a victim of the chemical made snow spray, me and my partner had to slip and hide among the crowd commando style. That's when we decides to make Al-Amar Express (Lebanese restaurant) our temporary hideout. Located in an aquarium style designed outlet at the entrance of Fahrenhiet 88, it seems to be the perfect place to hide out while being able to have glimpse of the situation outside, not to mentioned try out some of its menu.

Having had a heavy dinner early, we decided on something light to munch. So we ordered these:

Baked Potato @ RM12 ++

Nothing to shout about, just your regular baked potato stuffed with butter and cheese and served with sour cream. Still love making it myself with chicken mayo. For RM12 ++ its definatelly overrated and overpriced.

Cheese Roll @ RM2.50 ++ /piece

Nothing special, prepared with spring roll wrapper with cheese melted in it. Still prefer the traditional chinese spring roll served with savory seasonings and crisp texture of vegetables.

Bavaria Peach @ RM10 ++ / bottle

As for drinks, my date tried the non-alcholic beer, the Bavaria Peach which she like very much but I still prefer my all time favourite, the Hoegaarden. On the other hand, since this is a halal restaurant and no beer were served, I choose the conventional all time favourite, Ice Lemon Tea.

Ice Lemon Tea @ RM8 ++

Overall, the restaurant has one of of the most sough after location which is strategically located along Jalan Bukit Bintang, couple with its aquarium style design which enable its guest to enjoy the bustling life of Kuala Lumpur. When it come to food, I wasn't impressed at all but this is probably because I've not tried their authentic Lebanese recipe. Will make it a point to visit this place ago to do just that.

No 1 Pork Burger @ D Legends Bar

Warning: This is a non-halal post. If you feel offended in anyway, please feel free to close this page or navigate away from this post.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After I've tried El Meson @ Bangsar in the previous #No1PorkBurger hunt with Eric & gang, we continue continue with out journey to hunt for the best pork burger in town. This time around the hunt bring us to yet another affluent neighborhood, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI). We stomp D Legends Bar @ TTDI in a group of more than 15 people.

Unlike El Meson, Pork Burger is readily available of D Legends Bar Menu at a pretty affordable price too. Similar to all my previous pork burger review, I shall rate the burger based on the same 5 criteria, looks, taste, juiciness, portion(price over serving size and bonus point(depending on how happy I'm during and after the meal).

In term of presentation, D Legends Bar isn't too far away from El Meson's. For that, I will only rate it a 5 on a scale of 10. Among the few reviews that I've done, the burger was somewhat a little lacking in term of taste. That's probably due to D Legends Bar's unique spicy recipe which was a little too much for my taste bud, something I don't fancy when it comes to burger except for McD's Chicken Prosperity Burger. The spiciness actually cover up the flavour of the burger. As such I would reluctantly give it a 4 in term of taste.

As for juiciness, I would rate it at 6. I would have been given more if it weren't for the spiciness of the burger that ruin my taste bud. The portion was pretty average for most people. The portion wasn't really big but it manage to fill my empty stomach. For that, D Legends Bar earned it self a 7 from me.

As far as bonus point is concern, I'll rate with the higher point among the 5 criteria due to its friendly waiters who constantly stand by the table and put on a smile while serving me. That's an 8 for having a good customer service experience

In total this place gets a total score of (5 + 4 + 6 + 7 + 8) / 50 = 30/50 or 60% only. Though its only rated 60%, Personally I think they could have done better if its wasn't for the large amount of orders from our group. I mean, how often do you have 15 customer walking in as a group and order a pork burger each. If you like pork burger and love it spicy, then this is a must try.

D Legends Bar, TTDI (link)
Address: 24 Jalan Datuk Sulaiman,Taman Tun Dr Ismail
Contact: 012-2887871
BBM pin - 226238B4
Twitter Handle - @dLegendsBar

No 1 Pork Burger @ El Meson

Warning: This is a non-halal post. If you feel offended in anyway, please feel free to close this page or navigate away from this post.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Writing this post would be my second attempt on the #No1PorkBurger outing(read about previous outing here). Together with 8 others bloggers/twitterers, we visited El Meson, a high end Spanish Restaurant located along Jalan Telawi, Bangsar.

Sorry for the bad picture quality. forgot to bring my trusted camera with me, thus have to rely on my blackberry which isn't really good with night shoot.

Similar to my previous post, I shall rate the burger based on the same 5 criteria, namely Looks, Taste, Juiciness, Portion(Price Over Service Size) and Bonus Points(Depending on how happy we are with the service). At El Meson, the pork burger isn't available on the standard menu, thus you will have to ask the waiter/waitress if pork burger is available when you visit them. Without wasting anymore time, lets start with the looks.

Looks wise, there isn't really much to shout about, its just plain pork burger without much effort in the food presentation as far as I'm concern. As such, I would give it a 5/10.

Looks aside, it actually taste good. The pork patty was thinner compared to my previous reviews. A slice of bacon was added on top of the pork patty with melted cheese, giving it an extra yummy-licious taste. I will give it a 7/10 for its taste.

Juiciness is something El Meson's pork burger lack. In fact it was a little too dry for my liking, thus scoring only 6/10. As for its portion, I will only give it 7/10 for its moderate serving which left me hungry even after finishing the burger and fried potato's.

Sharpen Up

As for the bonus point, I would give it a 9/10 for its extremely friendly staff. let me tell you why, the waiter actually took the effort to get me a power extension and also help to separate the bill which was already ready. All these without a slight complain utter from his mouth. Now thats customer service.

The total average score would be 34/50 points or 68%. Despite only scoring 68%, I would still recommend that you try it out. Don't forgot to share your opinion after you have tried.

El Meson Espanol
Address: No. 61-63, Jalan Telawi 3,
Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 22828290

Day Trip Around Klang - Yao Yao Ping, Pandamaran.

Our next and final stop after coming back from Pulau Ketam was to this place called Yao Yao Ping @ Pandamaran Klang. Apparently this place is famous for serving one of the BEST fried Chicken in Klang Valley and maybe Malaysia.

Yao Yao Ping with it's rather old sign board.

We ordered about 28 pieces of fried chicken. (RM2.30 each)

I must admit that that really live up to the various recommendation and endorsement for serving the best fried chicken in Klang Valley. I knew I fell in love with it's fried chicken the moment my teeth sunk on its chrispy chicken skin and tender chicken meat. Despite being deliciously frieded, the chicken was still very juicy and it taste far better than the infamous fast food chain called Kentucky Fried Chicken. FYI, Yao Yao ping was once featured in the famous food program HoChak! on 8TV. We only have 2 pieces of chicken each as it was already 5 plus and didn't want to filled our stomach to the max as we had dinner plans.

They also serve roast chicken, but we shall save that for the next visit.

Yao Yao Ping (Delicious Ice) @ RM1.30

Yao Yao Ping is an Ice blended drink comes in a variety of flavour including sour plum, lychee, red beans, mango, and bubur cha cha.

Rating
Ambiance: 6/10 - The Place is air conditioned but lack in term of cleanliness.
Taste: 9/10
Service: 7/10
Price:8/10
Bonus: 9/10
Overall: 78%

Verdict: I will definitely come back for more finger licking good fried chicken. The delicious ice really live up to its name, even 7Eleven's slurpy is no match.

Try it yourself at:
Name: Kedai Kopi Yao Yao Ping
Address: 1503B, Jalan Young, Pandamaran, Klang, Selangor (Opposite SMK Pandamaran Jaya)
GPS Coordinate: N3 00.376 E101 25.243
Contact No: 012-299 9029 / 012-282 2099
Business Hour: 12pm to 7.00pm

Day Trip Around Klang - Pulau Ketam

After breakfast, we head over to the Klang Port to catch the ferry to Pulau Ketam (direct translation: Crab Island), a small little island located southwest off the coast of Port Klang.

It cost us RM7/pax for an approximately 30minutes journey which takes us though a mangrove river and the Straits of Malacca.

Waiting for the ferry was a rather HOT affair as we have to stand right under the hot sun for close to 30 minutes. Learned my lesson well, shall bring an umbrella if I ever plan to visit Pulau Ketam again. Advice to all of you out there who intend to visit Pulau Ketam, PLEASE bring an umbrella.

The interior of the Ferry.

The ferry which has a capacity of about 70 paxs is not well maintained. Perhaps the government could help refurbish the ferries to better promote Pulau Ketam as a tourist.

View from the Ferry via an old tinted window.


Upon arrival, we were greeted with a big seafood restaurant which we later dine at.

Pulau Ketam is village that thrived on fishing activities with majority of its population being Chinese. It's said that Pulau Ketam was lifeless until about 20 years back when some Chinese immigrant landed and decided to call it home. The island is so small that people on the island travel by bicycle only. There were no motorise land vehicle sighted throughout the island.

Fishing Boat

Pulau Ketam volunteer fire brigade.

I just cant imagine how the fire brigade operates with fire bicycles instead fire engines.

Look!!! they have satellite TV too, impressive.

I'm amazed and impressed that they have satellite TV because I'd always thought of Pulau Ketam as a lay back fishing village.

Pulau Ketam Fried Ice Cream

This fried ice cream store which appears to be the one and only ice cream store on the island is operated by an old couple in their 60's. Unlike the wide variety served at Baskin Robin, it comes in 4 flavour only, namely Chocolate, Yam, Vanilla or Strawberry. Each being sold for RM2.20 (USD 0.71)

Pre-prepared ice cream stuff in some sort of pastry are kept in a portable freezer.

The frying process take less than a minute.


After frying, the uncle took it to drain off some of the oil before serving it wrap in serviette


Tadaa..... Fried Ice Cream anyone?

The CHIA 's Descendant Association


This place is packed with local tourist, mostly day tripper.


There is a moderate size temple on the island, indicating Taoism is a major religion on the island.




Table Soccer is one of the local's favourite past time.

After walking round the little island and trying our the variety of street fare, we proceed for seafood lunch at Kuai Lok Hian Seafood Restaurant. Here's some of the dishes we had:

Crabs cooked in Sweet and Sour style

Steam Fish

Steam Lala (clam)

Fried Sotong/Squid (the upper class people call it Calamari)


Fish Ball Soup


Prawns cooked in Asam Style

We spend about RM160 for 8 dishes, rice, Chinese tea, coconuts and few bottles of Guinness. That's pretty cheap for 12 people and the amount of fresh seafood we had. The result:

We left there fully satisfied.

Honestly the food isn't really that fantastic, the it was really fresh and that made up for the taste. Certainly a good place to be at if you are looking for fresh and cheap seafood. We had good companies too, and that made it even more special.

Right after lunch, some of us crave to try the Fried Oyster aka Ho Jian which is being sold at almost every corner of the street, with each of them claiming to the be the best and authentic staff. Almost all of they even have a newspaper cutting to backed their claim. Besides friend oyster, they also have friend lala(clams).

This stall has a news paper cutting which claim that it's one of the best in town

We decided to buy from this uncle simply because it looks the best among all the stalls.


Just to look of this make me hungry.

Though we bought 1 each of the fried oyster and fried lala, we never really had to chance to try it while its hot as everyone was busy yapping away. We ate it together with Yao yao ping fried chicken later in the evening. By the time we try, it didn't taste that good, probably because it already cold.

Next we had egg shaped sorbet which is being sold at a sundry shop right beside Kuai Lok Hian restaurant.

The seller claim that its made from fresh fruit juice. However I doubt so, cause it didn't taste fresh.

The variety of sorbet in the freezer.

and this is my Dragon Fruit Sorbet.

Overall its nice place to visit, a must for everyone who stay in Klang Valley. Basically if one plans to visit this place, please try to control yourself to avoid being con into buying underrate stuff and food just because there is a sign which says its famous or special.

Day Trip Around Klang - Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh.

On the second day of raya, I joined a group of bloggers and tweeples for a day trip around Klang. Thank to Eric Yong for organising and getting everyone together. The goal for the day was to have Bak Kut Teh for breakfast, Seafood in Pulau Ketam and Fried Chicken in Pandamaran. And we are gonna have all this with a budget of not more than RM100.

So we gathered at BHP Petrol Station, along Federal Highway, right after Shah Alam Batu Tiga toll before convoying with 3 MRS to Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh, the Famous Under the Klang bridge Bak Kut Teh @ Klang Town. If you are clueless what Bak Kut Teh (BKT) is, read here at Wikipedia.

Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh

As usual, the place was packed when we arrived, lucky for us, Thomas Yap arrive early to reserved 2 large table for about 21 people. We later added another large table so that everyone can sit comfortably.

Yau Fan (Oily Rice)

Yau Fan or Oily Rice is often prepared by mixing white rice with fried shallots.

Yau Char Kwai

Yau Char Kwai is a long deep fried dough known in English as Chinese Oil Stick (just i case you are not know what Yau Char Kwai is click here Wikipedia for more info). What you see in the picture had been cut into pieces and served in bowl.

My bowl of bak kut teh

The bak kut teh is served in bowl just as there were traditionally. As there were so many of us, its rather hard for us to share, so we order a bowl each(with a mixture of pork rib and pork intestine.

After my recent visit, I'm sad to say that the standard @ Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh has dropped tremendously compare to my last visit 2 years back. In fact my regular BKT outlet near Sentosa Klang taste much better (anyway that's another story to share). The soup wasn't as tasty as it use to be that I didn't even ask for more soup. The amount of soup you see in the picture is all that I had for the day. Traditionally people who loves Bak Kut Teh, will never have enough of the soup, and would even go to the extend of soaking the rice into the soup before eating it.

I'm not condemning that the food is not good but the quality drop significantly and I find my regular BKT stall to be better than this. Hope Seng Huat BKT will do something to improve their quality and bring it's BKT back to its glory.

The meal cost us about RM11/person. Affordable by KL standard but maybe a little pricey for some.

If you have not tried it and would love to do so here are the details:
Restaurant Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh
GPS Coordinate : N3 02.612 E101 26.895
No.9, Jalan Besar, Klang, Selangor.
Contact No : 03-3371 2652