Food in Kuching Part 4: Going back in time

Previous related posts:

Food in Kuching Part 1
Food in Kuching Part 2
Food in Kuching Part 3: Foochow Food

For today's post, it is more indigenous and Malay.

We tried Sago Pancakes in Sarawak Cultural Village. It smells yummy and it tastes best eaten when it's fresh. If not it'll be dry. The pancake is not super sweet. Support the people working there :D And haha, I did not take down the price. Wahahahah... ahahahha..hah (OMG how could you do this to us?!)

Ok it's RM 2. It is not cooked or fried with oil.

Sago Pancake

Since it's the cultural village and this blog is about food, I'll post some pictures showing how the kitchen looks like in those days.

Check out how they store the red spoons int he picture below. It's ingenius for me!

Big pan and big stove and big fire..

Imagine all the embers flying about while you cook! Ouch ouch ouch and smoky.

I think cooking with these kills two birds with one stone.

You cook and get food, and you get a sauna at the same time.

Cherish our modern stoves and ovens :P

Opposite the Cultural Village is the Damai beachfront. They have a food court there where performers from the cultural village eat as well. I ordered Butter Chicken Rice from Stall Number 10 and I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted good.

For dinner, we took a boat across the Kuching waterfront to the restaurant called Barok (or My Village Barok). We were recommended to go there to try the Ayam Penyet. The best description of the restaurant I can give is it's behind a big food court and it's a wooden house. When I first entered, it reminded me of Aunty Juliet's in Kota Kemuning.

In Barok, they have a lot of set menus to choose from. We chose the one with Chinese tofu (they make it really like the Chinese style and good!), pakis cooked with garlic called Midin (green vegetable that we do not have in KL, good too), vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms etc), chicken (Ayam Penyet) and rice.

It must be good because the cats there sat beside me on the stool. The waiter had to chase the cat away. Another customer next to us helped too. Everyone was friendly :D even the cats, so no fear.

From top right clockwise: Rice (everybody knows so it's a good starting point XD), Chinese tofu, the bowl of vegetables, pakis called Midin, fish and then the chicken (Ayam Penyet).

The fish was awesome. It was cooked right and smooth. Nyam nyam nyam. Mahu lagi. We ordered siakap fish cooked in sweet and sour sauce.

For drinks, we ordered the Barok Special. In Barok Special, there's Sunkist, lime, lemon, asam boi and lychee. I would describe the taste as refreshing :D

Avoid This Fish

I clicked on this video by Justin James Hughes. I got to know about him through Ryan Higa's internet show called Internet Icon. In short, what he said was he ate this fish and then he was having an explosive diarrhea: leaking orangey fluid which was like oil.

"Escolar's wax ester content can cause keriorrhea (Greek: flow of wax), gempylotoxism or gempylid fish poisoning. Keriorrhea is similar to diarrhea, only the body will expel yellowish-orange drops of oil instead of liquid bowel movements. Some individuals suffering from escolar-induced keriorrhea also report other digestive issues, including stomach cramps, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and anal leakage; onset may occur between 30 minutes and 36 hours following consumption. This condition may also be referred to as steatorrhea."- Wiki (XD)

Since I was bored, I decided to Google search this fish called Escolar. Yikes. It is real.

You can do a Google search on your own and read all about it. Looks scary too. Thought of a piranha!

"Sometimes it's under the name "butterfish," "oilfish," or "waloo/walu." Sushi restaurants occasionally serve it as "super white tuna" or "king tuna."- The Kitchn

Escolar is labelled under many names (eg Atlantic Cod, Chilean Sea Bass etc)

The article, Use Caution When Eating Escolar, I read was from The Kitchn. People still can consume the fish BUT never in portions more than 6 ounces. (How much is 6 ounces?!)

"Two known ways to reduce the likelihood of escolar-induced keriorrhea are to limit portions to six ounces or less and to consume portions close to the tail, which typically have a lower wax ester content."- Wiki (XD)

What a fish.

Tokyo Pasta Mario in 313@Somerset

Hi guys. Ever since I hit the maximum photo upload quota, I feel very lazy to blog because it took a longer time to complete a blog post. It has become a hassle of some sort. If you guys have any simpler photo host to recommend, please let my friends and I know. I am using Flickr and it is a pain.

Anyway this is the Singapore post which got delayed.

My family and I went to 313@Somerset and ate in this shop called Tokyo Pasta Mario. Sounds like a n arcade game no?

You can choose to sit at the counter or you can look for more tables and chairs at the back. At the back, there's a long table. That was where I sat.

Look at this HUGE plate on display. The plates on the left are the regular sizes.

I took the menu for everyone! XD On the bottom left corner, you can see the Spicy Choice and the notice that says their curry contains pork.

There is curry for everyone. You can choose the level of spiciness for your curry. There are 5 types of spicy: Normal Hot, Extra Hot, Very Hot, Super Hot, Monster Hot. All of us chose Normal Hot.

Once you order, you'll get the familiar UFO. When it blinks or flickers red, it means your dishes are ready to be collected.

Fish Fillet Curry,  S$ 8.80

This is Fish Fillet Curry. It costs S$ 8.80. It was nice and all-meat. However I don't really fancy the salad dressing. The salad dressing did not taste like thousand island and was very sour for me.

Chicken Katsu Curry,  S$ 9.80

The next dish is Chicken Katsu Curry. It costs S$ 9.80. The fried chicken is not oily and done just nice. Juicy meat with yummy rice! Om nom nom! The curry got salty for me after awhile but it is alright when eaten with rice and the chicken meat. There is pork inside the curry so it is not halal.

Cheese Chicken Katsu Curry,  S$ 10.80

My cousin ordered Cheese Chicken Katsu Curry. It costs S$ 10.80. When it came to the table with Chicken Katsu Curry, we could not differentiate which was with cheese. We decided to taste the meat from each dish but it both tasted the same and we could not taste the cheese! Both of the dishes tasted the same so we just chose a plate and got on with eating.

Pork Katsu Curry,  S$ 9.80

The Pork Katsu Curry costs S$ 9.80. My dad said it was nice.

Cheese Omelette Curry,  S$ 9.80

My sister ordered Cheese Omelette Curry. It also costs S$ 9.80. This dish has only pork meat in the curry. She finished eating all the curry on her plate.

Address: 

313@Somerset,

313 Orchard Road,

#05-01/ 02/ 03,

Singapore 238895
(Food Republic, Stall 24)

Directions:

View Larger Map

Contact number: +65 6509 6643

Rockfish Fusion Gourmet @ Puchong

I wanted to blog about this and I usually keep receipts because I don't remember prices.

When I decided to blog about this restaurant, I couldn't find the receipt!

Anyway, luckily for you guys, I did snap a few pictures of their menu!

XD

The restaurant is known as Rockfish Fusion Gourmet.
It is also known as ROCKFISH Restaurant & Bar.

Greeting us at the entrance is a penguin.

The penguin was holding the door for everyone. However, a kid went and hit it. Not a grateful kid :P

This is the interior of the shop. Asian Fusion.

The first thing I noticed in the restaurant was the picture on the wall. It reminded me of the drawings in Roald Dahl's books. Not exactly the same, but it gave me the feeling that reminded me of the illustrations in the books.

The second picture on the wall. Both pictures have different faces in it.

Some of the decorations beside the picture.

Behind where I sat, there are dangling fish bones. 

Now we come to the food! 

I ordered Katsu Fish and Chips.

It costs RM 15.12 (It was 20 percent off that day)

It does not taste oily and it was good.

The fries were not soggy or super hard either, it was just nice.

Katsu Fish and Chips

Andrew ordered German Fish & Chips. It was also 20% off so it costs RM 18.32.
Both of us couldn't taste the difference between our fish and chips, they tasted the same. The only difference we could ascertain was the crust, or the outer layer was definitely different.
His was hairier (HAHAHAHAHAHA!)

I'm not too sure how to describe the outer layer so I said it was hairier.

 Hairy/ German Fish and Chips.

My sister ordered Katsu Pork Chop with Carbonara Spaghetti.

Again 20% off so it's RM19.12. My sister did not like it because there was capsicum. That means it tasted alright, just that she didn't like capsicums.

Katsu Pork Chop with Carbonara Spaghetti

Dad ordered Katsu Pork Nuggets.

It was so tasty everyone had a bite and I could only take this one picture.
And I didn't take this part of the menu so I don't know the price T_T

The Last Pork Nugget alive.

Address:
A-G-32, IOI Boulevard,
Jalan Kenari 7,
Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47170 Puchong, Malaysia

Directions:

                                       View Larger Map

Contact number: 03-8071 6668

Email: 32rockfish@gmail.com

FB Page: ROCKFISH

Business Hours:

Open Monday to Sunday: 11.30am- 11.00pm

Check out their promotions.

Restoran Lan Je (Kelang Lama) @ Taman Tan Yew Lai

Like what was said about myself, I like eating fish!

So my dad brought me to this restaurant. He has been waiting to take me there for some time now and we finally got to go!

The restaurant is called Restoran Lan Je (Kelang Lama) Sdn. Bhd.

They say they are pork-free, but it's safer to check if they are certified halal.
(I don't want to mislead you guys but I'll tag it as halal so you won't miss out, incase you end up actually liking this restaurant after all.)

It is a corner shop and a lot of people dine here. I think it is because it is in a housing area.

Anyway, it is pretty easy to spot.

What's so special about this restaurant?

Check out the picture below, if you know how to read Chinese.

Read the red characters on top of the picture.

It says, "One person one fish!"

Yi ren yi yu 

(The pinyin. You know what I mean. Heeeeee)

Yup, each person gets one fish all to himself or herself!

My dad and I are small eaters so we only ordered rice, fish (of course) and a plate of vegetables.

The fish we had was the Black Tilapia.

One fish costs RM 16.

The meat was smooth! Goes well with the sauce (of course -__-)

My dad said I cleaned off the fish better than he did.

The plate of vegetables we ordered was mostly bean sprouts topped with anchovies.

There are carrots and green vegetables in it too.

It costs RM 7 for one plate.

It was alright. I mean it's vegetables, it tastes like vegetables :P

I ordered a coconut to drink.

It is pandan flavoured. However, it was an old coconut so the flesh was very thick so I did not eat it.

Not that I did not try to. XD

If you don't try, you'll never know or you'll miss out.

The coconut costs RM 4.80.

It was raining very heavily when we finished eating so they took out their umbrellas to escort us to our car. They did that for the other customers too, which was really nice for me.

Another picture of the fish.

Address:

No. 29G, Jalan Dato Tan Yew Lai,

Off Jalan Puchong, 58200 KL

Location:

                                      View Larger Map

Contact number(s):

03-77811366

012-3662434

016-9147678

Wifi: 

Available

Business hours:

Open Monday to Friday: 11am- 3.15pm, 6pm- 9.30pm

Sweet Deli Station

My family and I like this restaurant and we usually come here for dinner.

I brought two friends to this place too and they said it's worth coming from Puchong to eat here in OUG.

The restaurant is called Sweet Deli Station.

It is beside Chatone, or I would say it's opposite The Baker's Cottage.

Sandwiched in between Plaza OUG and Central Market.

Their Benton sets are good.

The main meal comes with a bowl of soup, two watermelons, a small plate of mashed potatoes and eggs and another plate of fried wantan.

The portion was just nice for me. For my two friends, they were very full after that so as usual, it varies for individuals.

I will usually order their Lemon Fish or Marmite Fish.

However, I ordered Herbal Chicken Benton that day and it was good as well :)

Everything was cooked just right. 

It costs RM 10.90

You know sometimes there are shops that overcook their chicken meat but this chef doesn't. XD (the one I had in Station One was a torture, skinny chicken, almost no meat. All tanggal and lost somewhere.)

Ern and Ying, my sisters who are twins, ordered Scrambled Egg Sausage Benton.

It costs RM15.80

When Ern comes here,  she always orders this so it must say something good about this dish eh?

Ying is much more adventurous.

Another dish that  Ying likes and my dad ordered is called Salted Egg Steamed Minced Pork.

It costs RM 9.90

Ying also ordered a different drink this time.

The drink is called Chocolate Explosion.

It costs RM 5.80

We were able to drink from the chocolate wafer :P

It was tasty. Inside the drink, there's chocolate pudding.

For me, it was alright in the beginning but after some time, I just want the pudding to go away.

Too full lah.

Address:

89, Jalan Mega Mendung,

Taman United, 

Off Jalan Klang Lama,

58200 Kuala Lumpur.

Location:

                              
                                       View Larger Map   VQW6F7RKEX7F

Contact number:

03- 74512899

Business hours:

12pm to 12am

Closed every Tuesday

A&W PJ Drive In

If you have felt that A&W is disappearing, you are not hallucinating.
The A&W outlets in Malaysia are closing down one by one.

You can read this article to find out why:
KUB to exit fast-food biz by year-end

Andrew and I decided that we should dine in A&W while there are still a few outlets open.

We asked Amelia to come along too.

I like the A&W in PJ because they have the diner feel. 

Very classic.

They even have the drive-thru signboard.

The signboard says that you can drive-in and it's open for 24 hours.

There were lots of people flocking A&W that night.

We could see families and couples dining.

Almost no parking spaces.

If you have children on tow with you, you can let them sit on some of the rides available outside the diner.

If I am not mistaken, it costs 50 cents.

I saw a grandfather letting his grandchild sit on the ride.

His grandpa went inside to ask how much the ride costs and I overhead :P

Lovely grandpa!

Here are some of the things that you can see once you enter the diner.

I made it look a bit classic. :P

The original colour!

My dad said when he started working in KL years ago (when he was still a young man and I'm not sure whether he married my mum yet. LOL), he always ate the coney dogs.

From this we know that this diner is OLD!

There's some history in this building.

Imagine all the good times and bad times people could have experienced in here.

Of course we have the famous mascot!

I find it interesting that we order and pay for everything at the counter and then we wait for our waffles at another station.

It saves time and keeps the crowd moving.

Try to spot Andrew (for those who met him before XD) in the picture below.

The waffle and ice-cream station!

The three of us shared a large root beer float, curly fries (I love them) and an ice-cream waffle.

The root beer tasted flat. It was like it was not carbonated anymore.

The ice-cream was already melting when it was handed over to us at the counter.

Usually it would look round and solid.

Something wrong with the ice box that night probably.

Anyway, it was still an enjoyable drink.

The fries was awesome and crunchy when it was still warm.

This branch still serves the best A&W waffles.

It was vanilla ice-cream with Hershey's chocolate syrup.

We find that the chocolate syrup tasted more authentic than the strawberry syrup.

Once, I ordered butter and maple syrup waffles in another A&W branch that resembled a fish to me.

I used lines and circles to help all of us see what I saw.

It reminded me of Flounder, the yellow fish from The Little Mermaid.

From our seat, we saw an old picture of A&W.

Look at that!

Hot dogs were only 10 cents in the US at that time. 

Root beer was 5 cents.

The receipt below showed how much we spent that night.

If you're wondering whether A&W is halal, it is.

Free Wifi is also provided.

Best to have your fill of A&W before they are gone from Malaysia forever!

Address:

9 Lorong Sultan,

Seksyen 52, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Telephone:

03-7957 6250

Direction:

                             
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