chicken

Tom’s Too

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toms sibu

I returned to Tom’s Too for lunch a couple of days ago with a friend. She hasn’t been there before and I wanted her to try the food here. It’s just my second time eating here too and I was eager to check out more of their offerings.

charles

Tom’s Too has a range of Italian sodas and I asked Charles (one of the best waiters there – speaks good English and friendly) to show me what they were made of. It’s apparently just syrup from a wide range of flavors mixed with soda water.

butterscotch soda

I had the Butterscotch Italian Soda (RM 8.90) which came in a clear, sparkling liquid. It *did* indeed taste like butterscotch, and reminds me of the old flavored soda fountains of old. I’m kidding, I wasn’t even born when those were around. 😉

toms freeze

My friend has Tom’s Freeze (RM 9.90) – a house specialty concoction that features lychees as its main ingredient. She said it was good. I don’t know, I don’t like lychees. You know those old Chinese banquet dinners that serves lychees with peaches in ice as dessert? I only ate the peaches.

chicken cordon bleu

We both shared the recommendations for mains – she has the Chicken Cordon Bleu (RM 27.50) which was quite good. The chicken was done well and has a slice of ham inside and lots of oozing cheese.

chicken cordon blue

They used breast meat – Chicken Cordon Bleu is supposed to use boneless breast meat – not exactly my favorite cut from our favorite poultry but I rather enjoyed it. I’m pretty sure I ate more than my fair share.

lamb shanks

The other main we had was the Lamb Shank (RM 32.50). I’ve beard people telling me that it wasn’t so great – complains ranged from it being too tough to not having mashed potatoes to go with it but I found it delicious. The meat is tender on the inside and my only regret it…

lamb shank

…not ordering a side of mashed sweet potatoes. Arthur did that – it’s not on the menu but apparently you can ask for it from the chef. I shall endeavor to do that next time. The gravy is slightly sweet so I’m sure it’ll go very well with mashed sweet potatoes.

oreo cheesecake

Dessert was a slice of Oreo cheesecake (RM 11.90) from their counter deli. It’s pretty good for Sibu standards, but I wouldn’t write home about it, I’ve had better.

toms

A great meal nevertheless and we ended up talking (or I ended up talking) so much that it was nearly 3 pm when we were done. The meal cost about RM 100 and my friend insisted on picking up the bill. Thanks for lunch! 🙂

Running around like a headless chicken

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running around like a headless chicken

This idiom is actually quite accurate. My aunt was slaughtering chickens yesterday and I thought it was pretty interesting so I wanted to try it out myself. However, when I slit the chicken’s throat, I did it rather enthusiastically and nearly took off my own thumb with it. -_-

how to kill a chicken

Basically, you’re supposed to dump the chicken into a bucket after you kill it coz it thrashes around quite violently. I didn’t manage to coz my hands were slick with blood and I accidentally let the chicken go. I swear, I didn’t do that just to see if it would run around like a headless chicken. smirk

plucking chickens

Anyway, the chicken sorta flapped around all over the place when I *unintentionally* let it go. It was messy. I damn near decapitated the chicken with a very eager hand behind the knife but it still lived. It lives! Well, kinda. I finally caught it and dropped it into the bucket where it was soaked in hot water and plucked of its feathers.

I didn’t do much after seeing if the idiom was true though.

My mom said: Stop clucking around – if you’re not going to help and you’re just going to make a mess, go away.

I went away. action

Cempedak chicken

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cempedak chicken

This is a seasonal item available from boatHouse. Cempedak is a tropical jruit related to jackfruit. It tastes about the same – cloyingly sweet with a heady aroma.

boathouse cempedak chicken

Cempedak chicken is an entree that really challenges your palate – the chicken meat stuffed into the cempedak before being deep fried makes for an interesting sweet and salty interplay.

jackfruit chicken

It’s crispy, greasy and juicy – the chunks of thigh meat inside the cempedak would likely burn your tongue the first time you greedily gobble it, but it’s awesome! 🙂

Bak kut teh ramen with drumstick and egg

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Bah Kut Teh Recipe #2: Bak kut teh ramen with chicken drumstick and egg

bak-kut-teh-ramen

This is the second meal that we usually have after a bak kut teh cooking session. Remember the first recipe of chik kut teh with oily chicken rice? You’ll still have a lot of leftover BKT soup after that so here’s a quick and easy meal for breakfast!

drumstick

Take a chicken drumstick out of the fridge and dump it straight into the leftover soup. I didn’t defrost it so as you can see, the intense change from freezing cold to boiling hot warped the bone of the chicken. Heh! You just need to boil this on high heat for 3 minutes for the chicken to cook.

egg

Next, transfer the cooked chicken drumstick and a bit of bak kut teh soup into a smaller cooking pan. I do this to avoid stray bits of noodles from going into the main BKT pot. Crack an egg into the new pan of soup for a more complete ramen meal. It’s probably wise to use low heat now if you like your eggs to be firm and yet have a runny yolk.

ramen

The final step is to open a packet of ramen and put the brick of instant noodles into the soup. The best thing about this is that the BKT soup is more than tasty enough to stand on its own and as a bonus, you have extra ramen flavor sachets which you can use in the future. I love eating 3 packets of instant noodles with 4 packets worth of flavor sachets. 😀

chik-kut-teh-ramen

Let it cook for about 3 minutes and you’ll have a healthier version of ramen – a hearty bak kut teh broth ramen with chicken drumsticks and an egg. You can also try adding crab sticks if you like your breakfast ramen with more condiments. It’s delicious! 🙂

Chik kut teh with oily chicken rice

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Bah Kut Teh Recipe #1: Chicken bak kut teh with oily chicken rice

chick-kut-teh

Bak kut teh or pork bone soup is a hearty herbal delight that’s very versatile and delicious. We’ve come across a routine that can make the same BKT soup last for 3 meals with three very different recipes. However, I hear you asking – Why chick kut teh?

Well, for one thing, pork is damn expensive in KL. It’s really cheap in Sarawak. However, the main reason is coz this is fast and easy to cook without compromising on taste!

I remember when I was a kid, there was this huge Nipah scare and everyone stopped consuming pork. Chik-kut-teh outlets practically sprouted like mushrooms overnight! There were even dedicated chick-kut-teh restaurants when people started saying that it tasted just as good as pork. However, they were all gone within a year and people went back to eating real pork bak kut teh when the outbreak was over. Heh!

Note that this recipe is still not halal since we found the BKT package in the non-halal section of the hypermarket.

You will need:

chicken drumsticks

  • Yew Chian Haw Bah Kut Teh herbal mix
  • OXO cubes chicken stock
  • Quintessence Garlic & Parsley infused oil
  • Chicken drumsticks
  • Garlic
  • Salt

bak-kut-teh herbal mix

This was actually inspired by the photo on the BKT package. You can use any brand you like but we found that this is the best tasting one we’ve come across so far. Yew Chian Haw BKT mix can be located hanging beside the open meat refrigerated shelves in the non-halal section. The ingredients are fresh and the bak kut teh package has to be put in the fridge (crisper section) so it won’t go bad, unlike regular ones which can be stored at room temperature. It serves 4-6 people and that’s how we managed to extend this into three meals.

water

It’s the second time we’ve cooked this. Drumsticks are the best cut of chicken that you can use – BKT soup requires a bone based meat for flavor. The trick is in the marrow that leaches out after boiling. 🙂

bak kut teh soup

First off, bring about 3 liters of water to boil and dump in the contents of the bak kut teh package. Put in two whole bulbs of garlic and add 2 heaped tablespoons of salt to the pot. The garlic tastes great when eaten like that. Unfortunately, we only had about 3/4 of a bulb left so we put in the cloves of garlic instead.

chik-kut-teh soup

It’s important to note that you should not peel the garlic or it’ll disintegrate during the boiling process.

bak kut teh chicken

Let the soup boil for about an hour on high heat and turn off the stove. Add in the chicken drumsticks and continue to let it simmer for another half hour on low heat. You can put in as many chicken drumsticks as you want – we put in 5. I usually eat 3 drumsticks and my girlfriend eats two.

oxo chicken cubes

While all that is happening, prepare the oily chicken rice by dissolving an OXO chicken cube into some water and adding it to the rice. We use 1 chicken stock cube for every two cups of rice.

garlic parsley oil

Pour about a teaspoon of oil into the rice and chicken stock mixture and turn on the rice cooker.

oily chicken rice

The garlic infused oil makes the rice taste richer and the bits of parsley lends a bit of much needed color into the entire shebang.

chicken bak kut teh

Scoop out the chicken drumsticks after the 1 1/2 hours of boiling is up and serve it with the oily chicken rice. You can chuck the BKT stock in the fridge for future use – it’s only going to get better each time as it absorbs the essence of each meal. 🙂

chik-kut-teh-century-egg

The garlic and parsley infused chicken rice goes very well with the piping hot chik kut teh. The drumsticks have absorbed the herbal notes of the BKT soup and it’s delicious! The meaty herbal soup complements the oily chicken rice and it’s great for those rare cold nights.

chik-kut-teh dinner

It’s a simple but rich treat that easy to make and delicious to boot!

Easy no-marinade caramelized garlic chicken leg

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whole chicken leg

I used to nuke a lot of “Asian marinated drumsticks” when I was in high school in Christchurch, NZ. It’s sold at Countdown (one of the largest hypermarket chain) and I just put it in the microwave when I felt like a snack. I set it for 1 minute on high for each drumstick and it tasted really good…well, as far as microwave food can taste.

Now, I got thinking about that good ol’ comfort food that helped me through the cold winters and I decided to make my own version. The “Asian marinate” is nothing more than soy sauce and I reckon I could make a far better version. I managed to come out with a delectable dish – it’s so good I’m drooling as I write this. 😀

You will need:
Whole chicken leg
Dark sweet soy sauce
Light salty soy sauce
Garlic
Sugar (a lot of it)

chicken leg

Chicken legs are an excellent cut for this dish. It has just enough of the fattier bits of the chicken for a whole meal. Now, when we cooked this for the first time we were both very hungry and didn’t feel like taking the time to marinate the chicken. That turned out to be an excellent decision. The no-marinade caramelized garlic chicken leg was born and here’s how it goes! 🙂

First, put the chicken leg inside the cooking pot and dump in the dark and light soy sauce. Add your 4 tablespoons (not teaspoons – tablespoons) of sugar and let the heat caramelize it for a bit.

garlic

Next, peel at least an entire bulb of garlic and put the cloves in whole. You need the entire chicken leg to be covered so add a bit of water if you need to. Let the chicken simmer in the pot for about 30 minutes.

simmering chicken leg

It’s now ready to serve! Just take out the chicken leg and pour a bit of the sauce on top of it. Remember to spoon out all the garlic, it tastes heavenly with it.

This method of cooking the chicken tastes even better than marinating it. The slow simmering process tenderizes and allows all the flavors to be absorbed into the chicken. It’s absolutely fabulous – sweet and garlicky. It goes really well with steamed rice and the sauce is to die for.

caramelized garlic chicken

Garlic fans would LOVE this. I can eat plates of rice with just the caramelized sauce and melt-in-your-mouth garlic cloves.

Just remember your breath mints after having this for dinner. smirk

KFC O.R. Chicken Chop with mushroom gravy

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kfc

I passed by the newly relocated KFC at KLCC with Jeanie a few days ago. I haven’t eaten for 24 hours prior to this (we were down with a bug) and was quite keen to get started. I noticed they have a new promotion going on – the KFC O.R. Chicken Chop with mushroom gravy.

chicken chop
The latest version!

I remember having KFC’s O.R. Chicken Chop back in 2006 so I was keen to check out the new and improved version. We both ordered it and this seems to be a whole different incarnation. The platter of the good stuff came with a chicken chop, some potato wedges, sweet corn kernels and mushroom sauce served on the side.

kfc chicken chop plate
This is KFC’s ’06 varient – you can tell by the smaller photo – that was the standard size in my blog back then. 🙂

Chicken chop is a uniquely Malaysian dish – created by Hainanese cooks back when the British ruled the lands. However, it has become a standard feature in a lot of places now. KFC’s variant is slightly better – it’s also de-boned so you can eat the entire drumstick (chicken chop is always made with a drumstick) but it’s battered and fried in the tradition of KFC’s Original Recipe.

kfc or chicken chop

The KFC O.R. Chicken Chop (circa 2011) is very crispy on the outside and retains the tender chicken juices on the inside. The have also improved on the mushroom sauce this time around. I like how it’s served on the side so you can decide how much you want on your chicken chop.

me

However, the best part about the KFC O.R. Chicken Chop is the addition of sweet corn kernels. I love sweet corn and this provides a whole new dimension to the dish – there’s a sweet component when you shovel some of the corn into your mouth and it goes very well with the chicken chop – a very nice touch!

chicken chop promo

The KFC O.R. Chicken Chop with mushroom gravy combo retails for RM 9.90 with all of the above and a drink of Mountain Dew. It was so good we finished everything except for the potato wedges (my stomach has shrunk during the 24 hours without food).

kfc chicken chop

The KFC O.R. Chicken Chop with mushroom gravy is a wonderful option when you pass by a KFC outlet the next time. It’s quite different from their 2006 incarnation and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

manager

…it’s great comfort food! 🙂

Homey delicious opening day review

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homex delicious

Homey delicious (with a fork and spoon
forming the Y – initially thought it was an X) is a food establishment
that just opened today, from the banner practically blaring out for all
to see – 2nd December, 2004. It caught our attention and we decided to
go here for lunch, it isn’t everyday you pass by an opening place.

homex interior

The interior of Homey delicious is typical of the cafes springing up
in town nowadays. It’s spacious enough to accommodate a small sized
lunch crowd, with some seating arrangements in the shaded porch. The
staff is all wearing Toga style uniforms.

homex menu

The menu is done in a color scheme that is likely to send diabetics into instant insulin shock…

homex menu burger

…and I ordered something called “Homey Burger”. I was wondering if
they meant homey as it “Yo, gimme the 411, homey” or as in “home made”
i.e. home cooking.

homex burger

This is Homey Burger when it came out of the kitchen. It instantly
confirmed that they meant home style cooking. Sheesh, I could slap
together a burger that’s better than this, in half the time they took
to bring it to our table. There is a beef patty, a slice of lettuce, a
thinly disguised slice of cheddar cheese inside a stale tasting bun. It
was disappointing.

homex prawn rice

The rice that Mancy ordered was sweet and sour chicken, but sweet
and sour prawns came out. Robyn took it anyway, coz he likes prawns. It
tasted alright, best dish during lunch.

homex ginger chicken

Here’s ginger chicken rice. It’s not too bad, but the food turnover
time is unacceptable. Granted, they did note that a 20 minute wait is
expected, but still…for a working lunch crowd?

homex chicken

This is the real dish that Mancy ordered – sweet and sour chicken.
It tasted okay, and it came with one of them rice worms and a single
strand of hair. 😉 5 minutes later, another plate of sweet and sour chicken came out! Jesus Christ…

We promptly sent it back.

homex special ice

This is easily the best thing in Homey delicious – Homey Special, a
concoction of fruits and jelly topped with shaved ice. It’s great for a
hot day and today is a bit of a scorcher.

Well, I can’t say this review would be indicative of what the
service would be like once they sort out their teething problems. Homey
delicious might still have potential yet. The people there are polite
and apologetic about the mistakes, so all is good. I will go again
after a couple of months for another evaluation…

Rasa Ayamas Arabian Delight

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ra kl sentral

Arabian Delight is the new offering by Rasa Ayamas and it retails at
RM 7.50 for a meal consisting of 2 pieces of Arabian Delight and
crinkle fries.

ra arabian delight

Here’s what it looks like. It’s actually something like a KFC
Twister being cut in two so it’s really one piece instead of two.
Arabian Delight is also served with secret Dakkous Sauce, whatever that
is.

ra arabian close

Here’s a closer look at Arabian Delight. The meat is nestled
underneath so you can’t actually see it. The wrap is warm while the
filling is cold. It didn’t taste all that good to me.

This is the last KL post, I had this at KL Sentral before flying
back to Kuching. I’ve cleared all the backlogs. Posting will go back to
real time as of now. 😉

Chinese Barbecue Specialist

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chinese barbecue specialist

Chinese Barbecue Specialist. It’s a big name to live up to. This
outlet is located at the end of Jalan Padungan and it’s quite famous
for it’s barbecue offerings. I went there for lunch today. This is what
the stall looks like:

chinse barbeque specialist

Apparently, the “e” has fallen off the sign, showing “Chin Se
Barbecue Specialist”, which puzzled me for a while since the shop sign
is Chinese Barbecue Specialist. This is the flagship of the coffee
shop, don’t go asking for steamed chicken or anything like that – this
outlet offers BBQ meat only.

chinese bbq offerings

As you can see, there are several BBQ stuff on offer. You can order
BBQ chicken rice, but to fully appreciate the wonders of barbecue meat,
you have to try the “mixed plate”. There are other BBQ staples like
char siew rice, pork ribs rice, etc. Basically just about anything you
see in the picture above is available in whatever combination you can
think of.

chinese bbq chopping

Your choice (in this case “mixed plate”) is prepared by the proprietor…and it’s delivered to your table:

chinese bbq mixed

There’s the fork and spoon with a napkin, sorry, i mean tissue,
broth, apologies, i mean soup (this joke is getting old, isn’t it? ;)),
sauces and a plate of mixed bbq stuff rice.

chinese bbq closeup

Here’s a closer look at the plate. There’s barbecue chicken (the
white stuff), crispy pork (the brown crispy stuff) and char siew (pork
cuts of an unknown origin). This is all lying on a bed of chicken rice.
It tastes really good, despite the simple appearance.

chinese bbq sauce

These are the two sauces – the BBQ sauce and the chilli sauce. You
want the barbecue sauce (the brown one). This is the secret to a good
BBQ meat meal…the sauce makes the dish (or something). Just liberally
apply the barbecue sauce and you’ll definately enjoy your meal. I like
this place, there’s a homely sort of feel to it, and they serve good
barbecue meat. Do they deserve the “specialist” title? Personally, I
think they do. 🙂

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