Train2eat with Danny Chen

I haven't had ayam penyet for awhile now. The last time was in Singapore, at Lucky Plaza. So, just out of curiosity and of course hunger, thought I will give this rather fancy looking ayam penyet franchise a try. It is a self service restaurant. You are handed a paper menu - you tick what you want and then pay at the counter and they hand you a number standee and your order will be send to your table. Hmmm... so much for service... and have the rest of the staff standing around "looking extremely busy"... We ordered the ikan penyet, ayam penyet and the tauhu, telor and tempe. Strangely, the penyets does not come with the nasi (rice) and had to order separately... Apa punya nasi penyet ni??? Nevertheless, the fish was quite tasty because of the sweet sauce. Not a lot of flesh and perhaps can be more crispy. The chicken was nice too, taste wise but again, not very generous portion... maybe it is "ayam kampung", hence so skinny. In terms of the price... really not ...

I was having lunch with my colleagues and one of them recommended Maria's Cafe, for it's home cooked western meals. Even though, I have been living in Metropolitan Square for slightly more than a month now, I haven't had the chance to go there for a meal. So, with that reminder, I dropped by for dinner just now.   Maria's Cafe is at the commercial block facing the main road. Take the lift near Citibank to the 3rd floor. It was quite a cosy restaurant. Since it was a weekday, only around 4 tables were occupied. I think the restaurant can probably cater for about 15 tables. So, it didn't take too long for our food to be served. We ordered the chunky beef pie and the spaghetti alia oglio. The beef pie was nice... I like the chunky beef filling and the creamy sauce. I was expecting a red wine base brown sauce because the creamy white sauce filling normally goes well with chicken. Nevertheless, the beef was soft and juicy while the pie pastry was just right, not too crus...

Stumbled upon this place while I was shopping in the Curve. It is a HK style eatery with a life band. Parked at the corner adjacent to Sakai Sushi on the Ground floor, near the escalator from the Curve to Ikano Power Station.  Quite an extensive menu. All day a la carte meals or full course dinner. Reasonably priced.  What drew me to the restaurant was the band. Actually, a singing duo playing acoustic guitar. They were very good. Singing chinese and english repertoire. Both had excellent vocals. Perhaps, only area of improvement would be their english diction. Other than that, they were great.  We sampled their trademark a la carte meals. The kung pao squid rice and sea cucumber scallop abalone rice. The squid rice was RM8.90 and the latter RM16.90. The kung pao squid rice was a bit too starchy, while the sea cucumber scallop abalone rice was missing the main ingredients. The taste was good but I am sure I didn't find a single slice of sea cucumber and abalone. Maybe, what they me...

For those familiar with Bangsar, Jalan Telawi eateries, Chawan is situated at the corner lot, formerly Devi's... opposite Bangsar Village.  Quite a stylish up-market kopi tiam... minimalist decor, ample tables both indoor and out along the walkway. Spacious and airy.  Chawan which means cup in Malay, has a menu that comprises of everyday local delights from all around the country. The coffee selection is extremely interesting. You will find coffee from Kemaman, Batu Pahat, Ipoh, Sabah etc. Quite a change from your usual Arabica beans, or fancy branded coffee names from Colombia, Ethiopia to Brazil etc. What more, Chawan provides a description of each local coffee flavor. Available hot or cold. I chose the Kemaman coffee, which was buttery and smooth... almost with the intensity of buttermilk. So yummy... My friend sampled the Ipoh coffee, which tasted a bit watered down after the Kemaman, but still have this sharp local coffee taste. Since, I haven't had my lunch,  ordered the ...

Overseas Restaurant is a great place for business or reunion dinners. It is extremely busy during the weekends though. So, advance reservation is necessary.  I was still entertaining my colleagues from Singapore and since we were leaving for dinner from the office, Overseas is a good choice because of the close proximity. Even though it was a weekday, the restaurant was extremely busy. I suppose most were still having their CNY dinners or gatherings.  We were seated on the second floor. Overseas occupies 3 floors in 2 or 3 units merged shop lot along Jalan Imbi. You can't miss it.  Since we were still in the CNY period, we decided to order the yee sang. We were recommended the snow pear yee sang which was Overseas' specialty and we ordered other trademark dishes like the char siew, kampung chicken soup, big head prawn in special sauce and a stir fry vegetable. I wanted to order the petola and beancurd but it was not on the menu due to the CNY... "Seng kua" i.e. petola...

I sometimes wonder whether Yong Tow Foo truly originates from Foong Foong in Ampang old town. Today, you find it everywhere... in food courts, kopi tiam... in KL, Ipoh, JB and even in Singapore and it is generically known as Ampang Yong Tow Foo. So, I feel extremely privileged to be a KL-lite and have Ampang Yong Tow Foo right at home. It is also one of my favorite place to bring guests to. This time I have several colleagues in town. So, as usual, my chance to play food ambassador and continue to enforce KL's reputation as a destination for good food. Foong Foong operates very efficiently. At the counter, a staff would record down your order and then broadcast it over the PA system. The kitchen is an open kitchen, situated beside the restaurant. There you will find the staff busy stuffing the vegetable and the beancurd, some preparing the dumplings and some frying the stuffed vegetable. Another staff would confirm the order at the kitchen and prepares the orders.  We had our order...

I was back in Singapore for my job handover and was in the East. Couldn't resist the temptation of my favorite Hakka Yong Tow Foo at Changi Road. Nothing beats, simple home cooked food... not too pretentious and yet, taste really good. We were quite greedy as I was up to my usual self. I ordered my yong tow foo, dry but without the chilli and sweet sauce on top, yee sang, "shun pun chi" or literally translated abacus seed and "la la" a.k.a clam soup. Yong tow foo was consistently good. Honestly, nothing really special about it but again, good food doesn't need to be too fanciful. It is tasty, fresh and full of nutritious values. Good meal for those who are watching the waistline too ; P The yee sang was as usual swimming in a pool of sesame oil and seabed of coriander and spring onion. I order it every time but must admit it doesn't really swim well with my palate. The abacus seed, a typical Hakka dish was fragrant. Powdered with generous amount of ...

I am so excited. Just got back from family CNY dinner. My mum has been nagging us to bring her to a "pun choi" dinner for the longest time. So, finally my sister managed to find this place, Bonny's Kitchen at Plaza Damas, that specializes in Hong Kong cantonese cuisines.  Bonny who is the owner and chef, runs the restaurant with her husband. She is a true blue entrepreneur - opens for business on first day of CNY and walks the floor personally to solicit feedback from her customers. It was obvious that she imports her top notch ingredients from Hong Kong.  For those who do not know what "pun choi" is... It literally means "big bowl of food". Nowadays, pun choi is served in a claypot instead of a metal basin. It is really assorted food layered into a big claypot or a basin with some broth. Pui choi consist of seafood, meat piled in layers on the top and laced with vegetable at the bottom. Apparently in the olden days back in the New Territories in Hong ...

I was back in Singapore for a week to do my handover and I prepared a list of restaurants that I wanted go to... mainly, ones that I am missing their food or ones that I have not had the chance to patronize.  Valentino's is one that I never got to when I was living in Singapore. It was always fully booked during weekends. Located at Jalan Bingka off Rifles Range Road, at the end of Bukit Timah, it is one of those restaurants that had such a reputation that it draws fans from all around the island to its less than ideal location.  During my visit for lunch on Jan 20, I was convinced that Valentino's winning formula was not just its good food but more so its cosy family restaurant ambience, friendly and attentive service. It was great to see the owner/chef, Valentino Valtulina and his family hosting their guests with smiles and laughter, exuberating the warmest Italian hospitality, bringing guests flocking back for more. My colleague who was one of these returning guests, waved t...

We had an early family reunion dinner this year because my brother who was back from New York, could not stay till Chinese New Year. For everyone's convenience, we chose a restaurant in P.J. (Petaling Jaya). Since, I will be coming from my apartment in Damansara Perdana and my 2 sisters will be going from work (their offices were in Bukit Damansara and P.J. respectively).   Loong Foong (Dragon Phoenix) is a your typical "jie char" coffee shop situated on a corner lot at residential cum light industrial area. It's specialty is the roast duck but for the CNY period, they offered a RM388 9-course dinner menu. Getting there may be a bit of a hassle because you will have to fight the traffic on the Federal Highway to get to Section 14 and then to Sea Park. Alternatively, take the Damansara-Puchong Highway and exit SS17. At the BAT roundabout, go towards Sea Park and Paramount Garden passing the Perodua showroom. Difficult to find for those who are not familiar with P.J. bu...

This is my last review on Win Heng Seng... I wanted to check out the char kuey teow because I remember reading a review on the char kuey teow seller. He is known as the "Dancing Char Kuey Teow" man... because he shakes his butt and clang his wok as he "chars" his "kuey teow".He is quite an interesting character. Sadly, his char kuey teow was just mediocre. In terms of taste, it was a bit bland and the prawns were really small and not exactly fresh. The only thing that I liked about his kuey teow was the generous amount of egg. I like my kuey teow eggy. Btw. there is also a pastry stall inside the coffee shop equipped with its own confection oven which occupies a tiny space at the corner of the coffee shop. You can get siew pau, egg tarts, char siew bun and other pastries. It is quite a sight watching the owner prepare his frozen pastry and baking them in the oven.  I am moving on to another coffee shop in Imbi Road... stay tuned. 

There are many, many good nasi lemak stalls in KL but this is one, outside Win Heng Seng Restaurant is one of my favorite. Love the chicken rendang (the meat is so soft) and the sambal cuttlefish (sweet and spicy). The sambal is average but it is quite spicy. My only complaint is the "nasi" (rice) is a bit too little. RM5 for this plate. The photo is probably not doing it justice. Fyi. photo taken from my 2.0 megapixel iPhone. People are complaining to me that I should clean my lense more often or use a better camera. Point noted. It's coming.

A few of my dearest friends brought me out for a "welcome back" dinner and we went to King Crab Restaurant in Kelana Jaya. King Crab is one those typical chinese seafood restaurants with fish tanks displaying their seafood and the setting is bright and noisy - the usual chinese restaurant.  We took a while to order the food... busy catching up and since I was seeking their opinion on what car I should buy, they were too generous with suggestions. After a good half an hour, we finally placed our order. Surprisingly, it didn't take them very long to whip out the dishes. Not like as if the restaurant was empty... It was fairly busy.  First dish up was the Specialty Golden Bean Curd with Mince Pork. You are probably wondering what is the green stuff on the bean curd... nope, it is not some homemade fermented bean curd or seaweed on top of the bean curd (though I have had seaweed bean curd before) but instead this is some vege... hence, so special... maybe I should have asked...