Noodles in a sauna

We went to Mama Kim Sauna Mee for lunch. The shop's tagline is "Where healthy is yummy".

sauna mee (fish), RM15

There were fish and vegetarian versions to choose from, and in addition, we can choose either rice noodles or pumpkin noodles, or simply brown rice. We chose rice noodles; it didn't taste especially different from normal noodles. I'm not sure whether the brown rice would be served in a separate bowl, or in the sauna pot. What's special about the sauna mee is that they bring you the heated pot with all the ingredients inside, and then pour the soup over your noodles at your table. You can also ask for soup refills. The soup is really good, and we refilled twice.

However the portion of noodles was really small. There were only those three slices of fish (the ones you see on top), and the rest of the ingredients were the mushrooms and vegetables.

baked herbal chicken rice, RM15

There was cheese on top of the herbal chicken, and plenty of colours of vegetables (as advertised). There was tomato, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and potato. The rice was their brown rice (you can see the purplish grains between the broccoli and carrot).

Another version of this was cheese-baked mushroom rice, which I suppose is the vegetarian version.

black porridge (fish), RM9.50

The porridge came in a covered bowl, with three condiments beside it. There was also very little fish, but the porridge was flavourful enough that it didn't matter. It was good with or without the condiments. The condiments added some umami taste (I think) that made the porridge taste better.

Again, there was a vegetarian version, which is true for the dish below too.

cantonese seafood noodles, RM16

The seafood noodles were similar to yee mee or sang mee. There was one mussel, one prawn, one squid (the red Japanese one, you can see it in the photo), pieces of fish and crabstick. The condiment that came with the noodles was the same as one of the condiments that came with the porridge, but we didn't use it for the noodles; instead we stirred it into the porridge.

The sauna mee portion was small, but the others weren't, so with the four of us sharing this, we did manage to get full enough.

signature coffee, RM5.50

The coffee was for us to pour into the glass by ourselves. I don't know how to rate it because I don't like coffee anyway...

vegetable juice, RM6.50

Their vegetable juice tasted a bit like apple or kiwi, so we think they mixed these fruits with vegetables to make the juice. It didn't taste like raw vegetables, which was good. It was also very thick, like a smoothie.

Basically everything was quite good, but I wouldn't say very good. Good enough to not taste like you're being forced to eat healthy food.

The bill came up to RM75.60 after adding 6% service charge and 6% service tax.

Child's play

Last week's theme was child. This magnetic whiteboard is for children!

Pretty dishes at Azuma

We were at Azuma for lunch. Each of these dishes cost around RM30.

I ordered the eel on rice above. There was another set with some egg cooked together with it, but I was afraid it would spoil the unagi taste, so I opted for this simpler one. This one had a bit of shredded egg instead.

Two of the others ordered a set of rolls each.

I wondered what was on top; they said it was salmon skin.

They actually put the two sets of rolls on a single plate. I'm surprised they didn't ask beforehand whether we were okay with that.

Presentation was good, food was good... price was not so good but since it was a claimable lunch, we were happy using up that budget. :P One of the others had a Parkson card which allowed us to get a 10% discount, which allowed us to stay within budget even with drinks (hot green tea) included. Our Motorola badge used to get a 10% discount too, but unfortunately they don't accept it any more...

Another two dishes at The Six

We went to The Six again, this time with Snorlax, specially to let him try out this restaurant.

This time we tried two new dishes.

classic fish fillet with curry paste, RM19.80 (set)

crispy lotus root with salted egg yolk, RM12.50 (à la carte)

The lotus root was not so good because some pieces were hard instead of crispy.

The curry fish fillet was slightly different from the signature fish fillet that we had ordered the other day. The signature one came with bean curd and some shimeji mushrooms. This one came with bean curd puffs (tauhu pok), and more vegetables (ladies' fingers, French beans, brinjal). And also, it actually had curry leaves (I guess it was actual curry, as opposed to the signature one which was "like" curry but not really curry, hehe). The tauhu pok was slightly crispy on the outside, which I liked.

Projek Nasi Lemak

I'm surprised to discover that I haven't posted the photos of my visit to Projek Nasi Lemak at Solaria Square. We went there for a team lunch several weeks back.

This should be the signature dish:

The sambal in the dish is more sweet than spicy, so one of my friends (who had been there before) asked for an extra dish of sambal. There is another type of sambal (beside the pappadam) which is spicier, but not as good as the sweet sambal. (that depends on personal taste too)

Every one of us ordered coconut shake, which seemed to be their signature drink.

This tasted very good! It was ice-blended, so I had to wait a bit for the ice to melt to avoid brain-freeze.

Three of us (including myself) shared a set. The set is more worthwhile price-wise because it comes with drinks included. However we don't get to pick and choose the dishes (like chicken/fish) that we want. This set for three comes with one fried squid, one black sauce chicken (ayam kicap) and two stuffed fish. It also comes with a dish of sambal veggies.

Personally I don't find the food that great... the sambal was good, which basically made everything good. But the fried squid was not specially good, just simple fried squid with the batter like the one used by the Taiwan chicken chop vans. The ayam kicap was like grilled chicken with soy sauce, and the stuffed fish can be found at some economy rice stalls. Basically the verdict is "good but not great". The best parts of it is the sambal and the coconut shake.

I don't remember the exact price for all these dishes, but the fried chicken set should be at around RM15 (fried squid set was more expensve at RM18 or RM19). The set for three people cost around RM50+ (as in RM5x, not RM50.xx :P ). Coconut shake should be priced at RM5.50 if not mistaken.

Some time after that, I went to the original Projek Nasi Lemak branch at Jalan Dato Keramat with Snorlax. The nasi lemak there was cheaper, RM10 for a set, but it also looked less appealing.

The chicken skin is not as well puffed up as the one in Solaria. The taste was still good, though. But I can't compare with the chicken in Solaria because I didn't eat the fried chicken there...

We also had the coconut shake here (RM5.50), and it tasted the same as the one in Solaria.

Three dishes at The Six

Last week, we went to Queensbay Mall on a weekday. We saw that The Six (a pricey Cantonese restaurant) had set lunches at below RM20, so we decided to give it a try.

roasted duck with rice, RM19.80

The name in English says "roasted duck", but my mother says that the Chinese name was more specific and mentioned that it included something like "lak cheang". The rice actually comes with lak cheang, roasted chicken, and roasted duck. (did I miss anything?) Then there were three side dishes that were the same for all the sets (one tiny smoked duck skewer (skewered on a toothpick), some French beans stir-fried with minced pork, and fried chicken salad (chunks of battered fried chicken, chicken chop-style, with salad sauce on it)). And a bowl of soup.

close-up of the bowl of roasted duck rice

fresh garoupa fish head with soup, RM19.80

This set comes with the rice separate, and a stove to keep heating the soup. I switched it off after a while, because we're not fans of piping hot soup.

close-up of the fish head soup

close-up with the fish scooped up

The soup tasted nice, but because the fish head was deep-fried, there was some soggy flour on it. That made the dish less nice than it could have been.

For the last set, I didn't even bother taking a photo of the whole set any more. It came with the same side dishes, a bowl of white rice, and a bowl of soup (similar to the first set above).

signature fish fillet with bean curd pot, RM17.80

This was actually curry fish fillets. The curry tasted very good, great to go with white rice. It didn't come with a stove, but instead there was a holder with a flame beneath the pot (the flame went out after a while).

Each set comes with a drink (either soya bean or iced lemon tea). We all chose soya bean, which tasted normally good (or "not bad", you could say). The food portions were rather big too. My father was very satisfied. He kept saying during the meal, "This is not expensive!" lol

The total bill came up to RM66.60, because there was service charge and service tax added on to the menu price.

Black and white

Twenty-six months ago to the day, the theme black and white was the first challenge that I took on Photo Friday. Now we have come full circle: the same theme is back. And there happens to be a story behind my photo!

The other day, I woke up to find two SMS-es on my phone, received in the middle of the night. They were to notify me of online purchases that had been made with my CIMB debit card (which I obviously did not make). I immediately called CIMB, and they blocked my card to prevent further theft. But that also meant that I couldn't use CIMB Clicks online, in addition to not being able to use my bank card.

So I had to go to the bank to get a new debit card, and at the same time fill in a dispute form to get a refund. I asked for a photocopy of the form, and it just occured to me that this is a good black and white!

I still don't understand how they managed to use my card without a TAC (none was sent to my phone). There must have been a lot of effort put into entering random numbers until something worked?

(Yay, my Photo Friday is early for once in a long while! :P )

Another visit to the local Bangkok

Another place that we went to again is Bangkok Tomyam. We ordered pretty much the same dishes as before.

daging merah (medium, RM9.90)

som tam (medium, RM7.90)

sotong goreng tepung (large, RM14.90)

telur bungkus (medium, RM8.90)

tomyam campur (medium, RM12.90)

The tomyam was really good, and not very spicy. So we finished up all the soup. It was clearly better than the white tomyam that we had on our last visit. Maybe we just prefer red tomyam...

The daging merah was also very good. I had tried it before when I ordered it for take-away with white rice, so I recommended it to my parents when we were wondering what meat dish to order.

The telur bungkus and som tam was similar to what we had before. The sotong, however didn't taste so good this time round... it seemed tougher. Just when we ordered a large portion...

We noticed that they provided cold water for free, so we didn't order drinks this time. So the total bill was less than RM60, no service charge or government tax!

More food at Mir's

We went to Mir's Kitchen again.

Once I went with some friends, and one of them ordered grilled chicken. She asked for the gravy to be set aside (kuah asing). The dish looks pretty good (the gravy was in a bowl, quite a lot of it). These two small dishes were in addition to the gravy.

I ordered nasi ayam penyet, which was really good too! The tempe was slightly crispy on the outside, which was pretty good. The other piece is a tauhu keras (hard/firm tofu).

Then I went again with my family. Besides the mee kuah tulang (which I have already featured in my previous post linked above), we ordered three other dishes:

nasi lemak ayam berempah

signature fried rice

This one was not so good. From the photo on the menu, we saw that they had satay and prawns. The satay was okay, but the prawns were mushy, and the sweet sour sauce was not particularly good (just like with Thai chilli sauce). As for the fish, I think it was a dory fillet. I'm simply not a fan of fish with mayonnaise on top. (finally I found a dish that I didn't like at Mir's Kitchen! lol)

signature nasi pattaya

This is a dish that we have ordered before, but this one is with beef instead of chicken (for some reason, they didn't ask us which one we wanted this time). I loved the beef! I could just have this beef dish with white rice. I wonder whether the beef would be the same every time, or whether they would just give whatever they happen to cook on that day...

Shadows and light

It has been a while since I posted a Photo Friday pic! First there was a theme that lasted two weeks, and then I just didn't find the time to post the photo, till another week (and another theme) passed. But it's okay, the photos were taken well within the "deadline".

The theme for 16th November was shadows. When the sun is shining brightly, there's a really clear shadow beneath the blackout curtains in my room.

The above theme ran for two weeks, then the theme for 30th November was light. I took a number of photos for this theme, but in the end the most representative photo of this theme should be this one:

This photo was taken from my car on the way home from work. It had been raining, but the rain somewhat stopped when I was reaching the Krystal point roundabout. While waiting for the traffic light to turn green, I managed to snap this scene of the light coming from behind the dark clouds.

Another photo that I snapped while waiting for a traffic light is the one below; it was taken on my way to work, on the highway. Nice light reflecting off the surface of the sea this time. What's notable about this photo (and made me keep it) is that I managed to catch a bird in flight!

A few other photos I took for the "light" theme was at Queensbay Mall. The Christmas decorations had some flower-bulbs with lightbulbs inside:

I prefer the first two photos for this theme, but the Queensbay photos don't look too bad either, so I decided to keep them.

What did I eat?

That is what I set out to research tonight. You see, we went to a Middle Eastern restaurant for our team lunch. Besides the main dish (I ordered lamb briyani which was highly recommended by the person who had visited this place before), we also shared a plate of mixed appetizer, and I wasn't quite sure what I was eating. :P

The restaurant is called Halab. Luckily their menu is available on their Facebook page, so I could look back at the description of what we had ordered.

mixed appetizer, RM40

This came with a basket of bread (two pieces of flatbread, though the bread is puffed up :P ) Since there were ten of us, we added two baskets of bread. They said they charged RM4 each (not sure whether it was each piece of bread or each basket).

our basket of bread

The bread tastes better than it looks! Actually another basket looked better. This basket was the first that arrived, and I didn't want to spend time looking for a good angle because everyone was already hungry (our food took a long time to arrive, even the drinks and appetizer!)

This is what we had on the appetizer plate. The waiter said that it is basically all the appetizers that they have. (I copied this off their menu)
1. grape leaves - rolled grape leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables boiled in lemon water
2. moutabal (top left) - tahini, roasted eggplant, garlic, yogurt, olive oil and lemon juice
3. muhammarah (top right, the red one) - no description for this, but it was a bit like sambal. Online, people call it a hot pepper dip or a red pepper and walnut dip/spread.
4. baba ghanoush (bottom left) - roasted eggplant with chopped parsley, tomato, green pepper and red pepper, seasoned with lemon and olive oil
5. hummus (bottom right) - smooth thick mixture of mashed chickpeas, tahini, oil, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil (this is basic hummus, the others are variations)

I think I liked the moutabal best. They were all more or less good, so I'm not sure whether there is a clear winner. The basic hummus was the blandest among the four. I felt that the grape leaves were not that good; it was just plain rice inside (if there was seasoning, I couldn't taste it).

On to the main dishes.

lamb briyani, RM30

chicken mandi at the back, RM25

There were lamb and chicken variations for four kinds of rice. I settled for briyani because it seemed the safest. I wasn't sure whether any of the other rices would taste as flavourful as briyani.

Both the briyani and the mandi were served with tomato-chili sauce. But the sauce wasn't really necessary... both the rice and the lamb were flavourful enough to be eaten on their own. And the briyani rice was not dry like in some other places (at those places we usually need to put dhal on it so that it is less dry), so we could really have done without any sauce at all! But the sauce was good too, so I used it as well.

Four of us ordered lamb briyani, and it seemed that all of us received this part of lamb. So we suspect that they really use only this part of lamb for their briyani. (probably other parts are used for their grills?) The lamb was not really super tender, but it was just soft enough to eat without needing to tear on it. How do we say it... it's not fork-tender, but tooth-tender? lol

Oh...and I liked that they had quite a number of cashew nuts in the briyani.

By the way, if you notice the cups of tea in the photo above, that is adeni tea (milk tea with cardamom and other spices). It is priced at RM7 a cup, but we can also order a pot for RM10 or RM15 (small and big sizes). The waiter told us that a big pot was good for eight cups.

lamb chops, RM40

The menu said that the lamb chops are served with french fries and garlic sauce, but I don't remember seeing any french fries. Not sure whether I just missed taking a photo of it.

grilled chicken with cheese, RM28

This was served with garlic sauce as well. In addition, they also gave a basket of bread (two pieces, like the one for the appetizer) With the big portions and the bread eaten with the appetizer, all those who had ordered this needed to pack their bread home. When the plastic bags came, the bread was no longer puffed up; they had rolled up the bread and wrapped them in paper. Maybe that's how they pack the bread for take-away too?

Here's our team photo: