Food reviews

Prosperous Mee Sua

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Okay, it’s listverse time! What do you need to do before Chinese New Year kicks down your door and sprays you in the face with FOX 5.3 million SHU OC pepper spray?

sibu haircut

Well, the obvious thing is to (as my grandma would put it) GET A FUCKING HAIRCUT. I’m totally down with that, I totally understand that an untamed mane is a liability when all and sunder gathers around during CNY eve a.k.a. The Reunion Dinner (TM).

I still haven’t figured out what to tell them when they bug me about not being hitched when I’m 30 but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. smirk

jeanie movie

Anyway, I’ve been hanging out with Jeanie the past couple of days and last night we ate this super sized portion of Prosperous Mee Sua (longevity noodles) for RM 18.50++.

It’s pretty good – there are lots of goods in the middle – squid, prawns, mushrooms etc etc but what makes this dish from Tanahmas special is the way it’s served. Mee sua in Sibu is usually soggy and drowned in chicken broth – this version is a crispy and soaked in gravy and it’s very tasty!

mee sua sibu

The portion is a bit too large though coz my stomach has shrunk during my hibernation (not eating for 24 hours) so it took us quite an effort to even make a dent in the dish.

I told Jeanie that according to custom, you’re not supposed to break the strands of mee sua lest the Powers That Be/God/Sol Invictus/(insert deity) frowns upon you and casually strikes off a few years from your lifespan in His righteous anger (at least according to my paternal grandma).

jeanie mee sua

I reckon we sacrificed 20 years (cumulative) of our lifespans coz we couldn’t finish the generous portion but still it was a good dish and I loved the goodies in the middle.

Broodje haring, Hollandse Nieuwe and herring in Amsterdam

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Frens Haringhandel

Amsterdam is famous for a raw herring dish served with onions and pickles called Hollandse Nieuwe. The best ones are usually found in stalls scattered around the canals. The traditional way of eating herring (as related to me by a Dutch citizen who saw me eating it and asked me what I thought of it) is by taking the tail of the raw herring, slathering it with onions and eating it whole.

Hollandse Nieuwe

However, the way herring is served in Amsterdam is sans tail. The herring’s tail has been amputated somewhere during its voyage from the North Sea. Instead, it’s sliced into manageable pieces and sprinkled with raw onions and some pickles. You’re supposed to eat it with a toothpick – mine comes with a nice Dutch flag on it – this is the famous stall in Koningsplein where you can get herring and broodje haring.

herring amsterdam

The herring (spelled haring in Dutch) is fresh and this place has a very healthy turnover of customers craving for some raw sea produce. It costs Euro 2.70 (about RM 12) for a whole herring and you can add Euro 0.50 for a broodje haring.

Koningsplein herring

Broodje haring is basically an entire herring sandwiched between a bun. There are two types of buns in Frens Haringhandel – the traditional one is the soft bun. I would recommend eating just the herring but if you need a bit of carbohydrates to fill yourself up, the boodje hearing is a great option.

Broodje haring

Fresh raw herring in Amsterdam is divine – it’s surprisingly creamy, a word I wouldn’t expect to describe fish. The haring has been deboned and practically melts in your mouth. It’s also slightly salty and totally unlike sashimi – definitely a must try if you happen to go to Amsterdam.

me herring amsterdam

Just look for the Frens Haringhandel stall near the flower market in Amsterdam!

Vietnamese Coffee

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hanoi coffee outlet

Hanoi does not have a coffee drinking culture, at least not in the Old Quarter. The people congregate and have communion over unsweetened iced tea instead. However, there are cafes around which serves coffee though I would hazard to say that tea vastly trumps coffee over here.

I have walked around the various streets and I’ve never seen the complicated Vietnam drip coffee contraption – except in high end (by Vietnamese standards) cafes. I choose to go where the locals go instead. This is a form of pride, I must admit – I shun all touristy places and eat and drink where the locals go to get a dose of their culture.

hanoi coffee stool

I am a very firm believer that when you go somewhere, you should do as they do, not go on some guided tour. Be a traveller, not a tourist and go about it yourself. I am a travel snob when it comes to this. I can never figure out why people come to eat…steak or drink beers which are available at their home. *snob

Anyway, back to Vietnamese coffee, they don’t put the drip contraption at your table coz there are no tables. smirk

hanoi coffee

You sit on the ubiquitous stools that are available while you enjoy your coffee. It’s served black with sugar over ice but you can also opt for condensed milk. The people there don’t speak much English so I pointed at a guy opposite me and said I wanted that. The coffee here is really good – rich and strong.

It’s a very refreshing drink on a hot day. I paid VND 20,000 (RM 3) for this and I saw the guy opposite me paying VND 10,000. I called them on it and they said it’s a different drink. How can it be a different drink when I specifically pointed and said I wanted the same drink? hmph

hanoi coffee guy opposite

Some places put a “foreigner surcharge” so I purposely waited until the guy paid since there are no menus or price lists over here. I guess they felt bad coz when I was about to leave they called me and gave me VND 10,000.

*thumbs up*

Posted: 7:00 pm Hanoi time

Nem Cua Be

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Nem Cua Be frying

I discovered this delicious morsel of a snack while wondering the alleys of the Old Quarter in Hanoi earlier today. I had 1 hour to kill before the acclaimed Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre so I was just wondering around and stumbled upon this hole-in-the-wall eating establishment.

Nem Cua Be

I just wanted a beer but I saw they sell Nem Cua Be for 8,000 VND (about RM 1.20) and I asked what it was. It turns out to be beef and vegetables in a sort of spring roll. It’s deep fried before serving but that’s not that best thing.

Nem Cua Be dipping sauce

The dipping sauce (the ubiquitous fish sauce in Vietnam) is hot (as in warm) so it made the entire thing tastes really good. They had some meat floss action going in there too.

Nem Cua Be birds

Best enjoyed with a Bia Ha Noi. smirk

Posted: 12:26 am Hanoi time

Devonshire tea and Welsh rarebit @ Ye Olde Smokehouse

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me at ye olde smokehouse having devonshire tea

A rather dignified looking gentleman who looks remarkably like me having a civilized tea session at Ye Olde Smokehouse, Fraser’s Hill.

menu

It is almost certainly a sin (or at least it should be if it’s not) to go up to a British colonial hillside resort and not have Devonshire tea. The cool highlands breeze caressing your senses as you enjoy the scenic misty view while eating hot scones with clotted cream. Divine!

devonshire tea frasers hill

*record scratching sound*

Of course, it goes without saying that your food gets cold REALLY FAST. *potong stim

devonshire tea

My friend went for the Devonshire tea, which comes with scones, strawberry preserve and clotted cream. It’s RM 18 for the entire set.

tea

I was craving for something savory so I opted for the Elegant Highland Rarebit (RM 20), a fancy name for Welsh rarebit. The Welsh rarebit is served with a side of fries and my monthly quota of vegetables. I really liked it as it used real streaky bacon instead of that beef bacon nonsense.

welsh rarebit

Welsh rarebit is usually made with beer or ale, but I don’t know if they do that over here since I couldn’t detect it. However, this concoction of bacon and hot melted cheese on top of toasted bread tasted delicious!

cream

All photos taken using the Sony Cyber-shot TX-5.

Guilin Mi Fen with Horse Meat

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There’s no horsing around in this outlet. smirk

guilin mi fen horse meat

Okay, the first thing on the agenda when I arrived in Guilin is to eat the famous Gui Lin Mee Fen (rice vermicelli) with horse meat. However, that proved harder to find that I initially thought. Rats too for that matter, but that’s another post.

guilin mee fen

Anyway, after walking 1,000 miles and nearly getting run down by several cars and buses (it’s left hand drive here in China) I decided to consult a person from the industry that knows everything about anything obscure or illegal – hard to find cuisine, the oldest profession in the world, substances, basically The Travelers Guide to a New City (TM). Your friendly neighborhood taxi driver.

gui lin mi fen eat

Within minutes (and a RMB 10 fare, which is RM 5, pretty damn cheap cabs over here) I was on my way to the oldest Guilin Mi Fen with Horse Meat establishment in town. It has reputedly been around for about 40 years (as told by two different sources) and caters to the locals instead of tourists (just the way I like it).

gui lin mee fen

Alas! How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! In the past, horses were used for transport, war machines by knights, riot control by mounted police, and prized stallions on the racetrack. It has now been relegated (at least in China) to food. Heh!

gui lin mi fen horse meat

The Gui Lin Mi Fen is not rice vermicelli as we know it, it looks more like rice noodles to me. You are free to add as many condiments, pickles and spices as you want. I highly recommend their chilli flakes – Guilin is known for its spicy food so go wild with this one.

gui lin mi fen

Gui Lin Mi Fen with Horse Meat is a soup dish, which is not what I usually eat, but since it’s the local specialty, I tasted it and pronounce it GOOD. The spring onions adds a lot to the taste of the soup while the peanuts contribute that additional texture to this dish. Best of all, it only costs RMB 6 (RM 3) for a large bowl.

guilin mi fen

I love it, mostly coz of the horse meat. Horse meat can best be described as something of a cross between beef and lamb. It’s sweet and has a nice gamey aftertaste and it’s surprisingly lean.

guilin mee fen good

Mmm…equine meat!

Posted: 7:19 am China Time (Guilin is in the same timezone as Malaysia)

Rhu

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rhu

Rhu is the flagship fine dining eating establishment in Tanjung Rhu resort. There’s a dress code and I can’t pronounce most of the items on the menu. It is one of three restaurants in the resort and offers a great view of the sunset in Langkawi.

rhu sunset

The ambiance is unbeatable…imagine dining al fresco, sipping wine as the sea breeze whets your appetite while you listen to the haunting refrains of a great string quartet playing in the background.

I was amazed by their talent – they had me at cello. 😉 I was walking around the first day when the wind carried the violinist’s soulful rendition of Phantom of the Opera over. I could not help but be mesmerized.

dinner at rhu

Okay, back to the food at Rhu, they have a set gourmet menu priced at RM 195. I had the pleasure of dining with the manager of Tanjung Rhu – Melvin, and his daughter Isabell. I was there with Douglas and Alice (their daughter Louise was with the babysitter coz the Rhu does not allow children).

banana flambe

I opted for the a la carte menu instead of the gourmet meal. I wanted to eat seafood since that’s what you do in Langkawi! Hell, I had seafood for every single meal while I was staying at Tanjung Rhu.

Crab Kerabu Ketam

This is the Crab Kerabu Ketam. It’s served on a bed of fresh mango and avocado salad with ketta caviar and sweet spicy dressing. This cold appetizer weighs in at RM 58 and it’s well worth the price tag. The shredded crab meat goes very well with the mango, a contrast that dances across your taste buds.

Fresh Canadian Lobster Cream soup

I also had the chef’s specialty – Fresh Canadian Lobster Cream Soup (RM 49). It’s flavored with fennel and served with baked sesame seed puff pastry. I love the thick and creamy texture of the soup – it’s heartwarming, a broth for the soul as well as the stomach.

Grilled Lemongrass Lobster Tail

For the mains, I went for the Grilled Lemongrass Lobster Tail (RM 147) which is served on a seafood dumpling and a side of sauteed kai lan and mild curry sauce. I like the cuisine fusion but found the curry sauce to be a bit overwhelming for the lobster tail. I prefer the natural taste of the grilled crustacean – slightly charred on the outside, but juicy when you bite into it.

Chocolate Mille-Feuille

The dessert rounded up the meal nicely – this is the Chocolate Mille-Feuille, a concoction served with mini apple, nougat ice cream and raspberry coulis (RM 39). I would highly recommend the banana flambe, which is prepared with gusto right beside your table. True to all gourmet restaurant, the portions are small at Rhu and you won’t be hard pressed to find space for after dinner drinks.

isabell

It was a night of good food and great conversations, ranging from psychology to literature, a delicious end to the trip to Langkawi.

Yin Yang Steamboat @ Cameron Highlands

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mountain house hotel

A trip to Cameron Highlands would not be complete without the obligatory yin yang steamboat dinner, since the ambient temperature and wind chill factor can be pretty cold at night. We went southbound to Brinchang instead of Tanah Rata but it turns out that both towns were equally packed with tourists.

organic steamboat

There are a lot of places offering steamboat dinners, most of them yin yang style – so called due to the two different broths and the similarity to the symbol of good and evil. We went to Restaurant Mountain House Hotel, which offers “organic” steamboat priced at RM 16 per head.

yin yang

The yin yang steamboat comes with seafood, tofu (urgh…), noodles, rice vermicelli, assorted super processed food, and homegrown vegetables. Cameron Highlands produces a huge amount of fresh, organically grown vegetables, so it’s really cheap there…which is probably why we got an ultra generous portion of veggies.

noodle trick

The yin yang steamboat consists of a chicken broth and a tom yam broth – it’s usually a mild broth with a spicy broth, keeping with the themes of absolute good and absolute evil. Exhibit A above shows the patented sixthseal.com method of ensuring your noodles are cooked.

1. Use your chopsticks to snag some noodles.
2. Apply pressure to the noodles with your fingernails.
3. It needs to be slightly soggier than al dente – you’ll get a feel for it (pun not intended) the more you do it.

It was originally invented a good 17 years ago by yours truly, intended to gauge whether instant noodles are ready to eat when I started cooking Maggi at 10. 🙂

me doris steamboat

This photo is making the post look dated – I went to Cameron Highlands with my ex last month, but never got around to posting it until today due to a massive backlog of posts. Quickly switching subjects, the vegetables in Cameron Highlands comes in the most vibrant shade of green I have ever seen!

no veggies

Nooooo….no more veggies!

Big Red Strawberry Café

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big red strawberry cafe

Big Red Strawberry Café is located in the renowned Big Red Strawberry Farm in Brinchang, Cameron Highlands. The place was packed full of tourists during the long weekend. We went on Sunday afternoon and I couldn’t even take a decent shot without at least two tourists armed with cameras blocking my view. 😉

cafe montage

We headed straight for the Big Red Strawberry Café (the official café of Big Red Strawberry Farm) coz I was famished – we woke up late after sleeping in until 10 am and haven’t had anything to eat since the previous night. The Big Red Strawberry Café mainly concentrates on strawberry products but they also serve a very fresh salad due to vegetables being one of the main produce of Cameron Highlands.

big red indulgence

Behold! The strawberry indulgence (overdose?).
The actual food looks nothing like the photos – this is after all, a tourist trap and they make do with disposable forks and spoons and paper plates instead of the well presented menu pictures.

big red drinks

I had the Strawberry Juice (RM 3.90) while my girlfriend went for the Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie (RM 5.90). The strawberry juice is very sour – Cameron Highland strawberries tend to be small and a bit on the acidic side, but it tasted very fresh. The Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie was better, since the tanginess is diffused by the yogurt.

big red strawberry waffle

The Fresh Strawberry Waffle (RM 5) is a mass produced item made with a waffle iron (I stand witness) and strawberry preserve and jam. It still tasted pretty good though due to the rather frigid temperatures up there. Big Red Strawberry Farm is located on the highlands and the wind chill factor can be quite cold. It’s topped with ice cream AND whipped cream.

big red fried ice cream

This is the Strawberry Fried Ice Cream (RM 3.90) adorned with two Cameron Highlands strawberries. The strawberries they serve in the Big Red Strawberry Café is a bit on the minute side, the big and juicy ones are in the farm, where you can pick your own. It’s good nevertheless, I like fried ice cream – despite knowing my physics and heat transfer it still amazes the inner child in me that the ice cream does not melt while being fried. 🙂

big red yoghurt

My girlfriend had the healthy Strawberries with Honey and Yogurt (RM 3.90) for dessert. Big Red Strawberry Café uses real yogurt (e.g. the very sour kind) and it goes well with the honey (from a bee farm in Cameron Highlands) and strawberries. I pronounce it Heart Healthy (TM).

big red sundae

I, being no stranger to cardiac arrests and strokes, opted for the Strawberry Sundae (RM 5.90) topped with whipped cream. In my defense, it has a plethora of fresh strawberries at the bottom of the sundae…at least a quarter of the dessert consists of fresh strawberries.

big red strawberry cafe us

I think we both felt nauseous after the strawberry themed brunch – I had to eat a healthy plate of Maggie Mee Goreng with a Heart Healthy (TM) cholesterol laden sunny side up egg to counter the fructose and glucose intake.

picking strawberries

The best part about Big Red Strawberry Farm? You get to stroll through the strawberry farm and pick your own big and juicy strawberries. 🙂

Jarrod & Rawlins, 1U

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jr restaurant

Jarrod & Rawlins is the self-dubbed “Purveyors of fine food & wine” and I decided to check out the place by virtue of a single sign:

jr fresh bacon

Jarrod & Rawlins serves pork and is a restaurant, deli, café and bar all rolled into one. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not an English establishment, but a homegrown operation with the first outlet in Desa Sri Hartamas.

jr promo

I went to the one in 1U with my girlfriend to sample their renowned Sizzling Mix Platter. I have to admit that the tantalizingly placed RM 50 for 5 bottles of Heineken promotion at the entrance was another factor in our chosen destination for lunch.

jr montage

Jarrod & Rawlins is physically partitioned into two dining experiences – there is seating at the front with a café/deli environment and another section to the back called simply “The Pub”, with a more relaxed ambiance. There is a delicatessen serving a wide range of cold cuts and cheeses as well as a pastry counter with offerings of the flaky and puffy variety.

jr beer

I ended up drinking most of the Heineken since Doris opted to go for the orange juice instead so I estimate that’s about 1.7 kg of appetite ruining liquid down the hatch during lunch. I should have gone for the imported beers instead and have a more reasonable amount instead of bloating myself with all that amber fluid.

jr steak sandwich

Steak Sandwich (RM 28)
This is the steak sandwich that I ordered with everything on. They have optional onions and butter for the more health conscious ones amongst us, a fraternity that I’ve never been part of. 😉

jr steak sandwich macro

You can also choose how you like your steak – I had it medium rare, which most establishments mess up, but Jarrod & Rawlins knows what medium rare is. I can’t say that I enjoyed the steak sandwich though, it’s a little plain and on the bland side, not adjectives you use to describe good food.

jr sizzling mix platter

Sizzling Mix Platter (RM 38)
Mixed platter of caramelized ribs, dynamite chili, chorizo, pork belly and streaky bacon served with fries, corn on the cob, asparagus, semi sun dried tomatoes and black pepper or onion gravy in a proper sauce dish on the side.

This is the signature dish of Jarrod & Rawlins and it did not disappoint. There is a wide range of pork offerings and it came sizzling hot. It literally sizzles for about a minute or so due to the hot platter it was served on.

jr sizzling montage

The Sizzling Mix Platter came in a generous portion that took an almost gargantuan effort on our part to finish. I love the spicy pork sausage in this dish – it’s not just mildly spicy, it’s Head for the Hills (to milk the cows) hot. Highly recommended!

jr us

Jarrod & Rawlins is a great place for a hearty lunch. I recommend the Sizzling Mix Platter if you’re feeling particularly famished and there are other menu items to cater for the more health conscious ones amongst us.

jr sign

The bill came up to a total of RM 147.20. It’s not cheap but you could probably shave the bill to a little under RM 100 if you don’t order alcohol.

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