No Cows HERE

 When I think 'Bangi', I always think 'small, dingy coffeeshops, nasi goreng USA' etc. BUT, I have to admit that I am a terrible person who overgeneralises things. Because hello, Little White Cafe is situated smack in the middle of Bangi! The exterior looks so quaintly chic (or is it chicly quaint?), it looks like it'd fit in with other upmarket eateries in, say, Bangsar.

 The awesomeness continues indoors! Absolutely pretty, with a combination of ye olde English charm and contemporary zing in the form of a wall of really gorgeous photos. Sorry I didn't take a picture of said wall, I was too busy alternating between stuffing my face, and looking around in wonder like a total jakun. Oh, and posing for pictures *shamefaced*

 One of their most popular items is the English tea that's about 50-odd bucks for two people. Mmmm. English tea in Bangi. The mind boggles. With a pot of tea, in this case, chamomile. Would I have ever guessed that there is chamomile tea being served in sweet floral teapots in Bangi? Nope. That being said, I'm not being snobby in being so surprised. After all, there are cows wandering the roads not too far away from my uni. But back to the Little White Cafe!

 I like cream. I like pastry things. I like strawberries. And sugar. Looking at this picture makes me want to lick my screen!

 I also decided to choose something I've never, ever tried before - the Sausage Egg Bake. It's really interesting: it's bits of sausage, chunks of potatoes and some cheese, all embedded in egg, sort of like a casserole. Topped with cream and some chopped tomatoes to give it a bit of a zing. Yummy! Looks a bit.. yellow, but it's something different.

 And oh holy God the Red Velvet cake. I've had awesome Red Velvet, starting with Whisk's version, which has a stronger flavour for the cake, and sweeter cream cheese. This one is subtler all round, but just as delicious! The cream cheese icing is just.. God. Not too sweet, you can taste the cheese and scrape every last smear of it off the plate without being overpowered by sweetness. It's 1.10 in the morning right now, and I'm not doing myself any favours by staring at the cake. It's masochism, that's what it is.

Chrissy being lady of the manor. What did I tell you about the teapot?

Bangi, I forgive you the cows. And the monkeys. And the crazy drivers. Just make sure more nice food places open up! 

Sincerely, May Lee.

Food Post Part 2 - Poon Choy @ LYJ Restaurant

If you, like moi, thought "Who's Poon Choy?" then you would benefit from a short history lesson.

'Poon choy', or 'Big Bowl Feast' is a Hakka dish that originated in the Song Dynasty, when the locals of the Guangdong Province cooked a massive amount of food for the fleeing emperor and his entourage (they were invaded by Mongol troops), but had no dishes to serve them in. 

Problem: No space. 

Solution: Stick 'em all into washbasins!

And thus, Poon Choy was born.

Can I get an 'Amen, Hallelujah'?

This is heaven in a dish for gluttonous swine like me. Those in denial, come out of it, I can hear your stomach growling from here!

Okay, LYJ has taken us out of the times of wooden washbasins, and now we have stainless-steel dishes and 

 stoves(!)

to keep the food warm (Yay for technology!). But, they have retained the essence of the original Poon choy - food fit for an Emperor, all in one dish.

Mmmmm. We counted, there were about 10 varieties of food in there - fishpaste-stuffed fish, steamed chicken, roast duck, vegetables, oysters, some sea fungus thing, pork and a whole lot more - all sitting there bathing in each other's sauces. A word of warning - the Poon Choy can feed up to an estimated 10 - 15 people, depending on their appetites. There were about 12 of us that night, granted, a lot of us aren't exactly large eaters, but there was a huge amount of food left over! Oh, and the Poon Choy comes with a ginormous plate of vegetables on the side. 

Imagine your typical 10-course Chinese dinner, all condensed into one single course. And the fun of trying different sauces and gravies with different meats. They all taste good, you have my word for it.

Proof of LYJ's awesomeness - they have their write-ups on the wall. Photo (and the next couple of photos too) from this blog!

There, now you're all set! Just make sure you have a large group with you - or a large appetite. 

Bon appetit!

 

Food Post Part 1 - Yamada @ SS15!

SS15/5A is definitely best known in the food context as the Japanese food street. You think I'm kidding? There is Tomoe, Gin Ryu Tei (formerly Ryu Men Tei), Rakuzen, Jyu Raku, Hyotan (further down the street), and now, Yamada, which jumped onto the bandwagon about 6 days ago, according to the lady boss. The awesome (some might say crazy) thing is that almost all of them are next door to each other, which means that 'fierce competition' may be a euphemism for what actually goes on while the customers contentedly stuff their faces with sushi and terriyaki chicken.

Now, you may think 'GILA! Yamada is the new kid on the block, confirm die d.'

Hah. You is wrong, my friend.

For one, Yamada is helmed by none other than Yoshiharu Yamada, the selfsame chef who ran the kitchen of Munakata for about 25 years. Yes, the Munakata.

Do you want to know something coincidental? The Yamadas have a daughter who goes to the school my dad teaches in. Talk about a small world!

Back to the restaurant:

I don't consider myself a 'food blogger' since my posts are always so fail - I just like to post illustrated gushes about good food. I shall proceed to gush now.

One, the chef is the uber experienced and fabulous Yoshiharu Yamada.

Two, jockey service so you don't have to make ten rounds around SS15 looking for one lousy parking spot.

Three, THE FOOD.

Mmmm. Appetiser on the left, some really awesome beef cubes that are salty-sour and chewy and GOOD. On the right, the salad that comes with the set. They make their own dressing!

 My set! Sorry, the name escapes me. But it's a ginger-flavoured beef set. At RM25, I think it's really reasonable! The mound of beef may look small, but it's actually a LOT of thinly-sliced beef, so tender and juicy the strips almost fall apart in your mouth. Flavour-wise, I can only drool expressively in the hopes you get what I mean. Delicately flavoured with garlic and a gorgeous slightly buttery juice, it's really something I'd recommend.

The sai lou with the bowl of garlic fried rice (RM9). It isn't on the menu, but the chef said 'No Problem!', and voila! Fragrant, delicately fried, and a rather huge portion. Can I get a 'YUMMY!'?

The chicken terriyaki set (RM21), the name of which I've forgotten again. I solemnly swear to bring a notebook next time I go out to eat. I have the memory of an aging goldfish. 

The chicken is also a thing of beauty and joy! It is deep-fried, but I don't know why the texture and taste is a little bit reminiscent of satay. Covered in a terriyaki sauce that isn't too heavy and overpowering, can you blame me for stealing bits of chicken from my brother?

Hmm. My picture of the Saba Shio set (muahaha I got the name from another review found here. Go read it, the pics are WAY better than mine AND the reviewer remembers the names of the food!) is really horrendous. Go read the review in the link, the pic is much nicer.

The saba is filleted, something you don't get in regular, run-of-the-mill Japanese restaurants. A whole saba fillet, beatifully seasoned and delicately pan-fried. Juicy, pesky bone-less, and slightly crispy on the outside, it is a steal at RM21. Seriously.

To top everything off, check this out! Complimentary sashimi from the chef! 

You can literally TASTE the freshness. I kept the wasabi at a minimum, just enough for a bit of a kick, but so little I could taste the flavours of the sashimi. Fresh, light, and tender.

Are you drooling yet?

Yamada Japanese Restaurant
5, Jalan SS15/5A,
Subang Jaya,
Selangor.

Dinner @ Skewers!

Ling and Thai took me to dinner for my birthday (so sweet right??), and there were a few venue choices:

Ling: So babe, where do you wanna go?

Me: *slightly panicky because I really suck balls at picking places to eat* Uh...... where do you wanna go?

Ling: Uh.. it's your birthday!

Me: I really dunno! *hyperventilating*

Okay, so that was a bit of an exaggeration. Just take out the hyperventilating and stick in 'unable to think of a single food place in Malaysia, let alone a nice place to have dinner', that's how it really was.

Anyway, the choices were Las Carretas in Taipan, Rakuzen in Empire, Skewers in Subang Avenue, and some Chinese place (dunno where). Since I had only recently read a really good review of Skewers, when the name popped up, I was like "Skewers sounds awesome!!".

A word to would-be customers:

Skewers is really quite happening, especially on football nights. MAKE RESERVATIONS. Or else you may end up:

Being seated; given a weird set menu, only to have it taken back because it is specifically for a private function; then have a lot of wait staff demanding what we're doing there, and if we're part of the private party to which we answer "Uh.. No? Is there a problem?" and some harried-looking waitress says "No, no, stay where you are". Later, a grumpy (or just stressed) waiter runs up and says "You cannot sit here, this table is for a private function", and we have to sit at the only table available, one of those tall ones for drinking. Then the private function guy comes to us and says "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run you guys off, we're not using the table, so you can sit there if you want", and bingo, we're back where we started!

Moral of the story: Make reservations!

Of course, I think this is because Skewers is really new, and the staff were all a bit harried because of the party, and an event was supposed to start later (we didn't stay for that, but it looked like it would've been fun!).

And the manager (not too sure, maybe he's the owner but he definitely wasn't a waiter) has EXCELLENT customer service - he managed to turn our 'okay, not coming back here anymore *simmer*' to 'teeheehee not bad ar this place!', not just by being super attentive, and telling us which dishes were the bestsellers, but also by giving us 

THIS!

A complimentary dessert on the house. Chocolate cake, I think. With CREAM (*tries to lick the computer screen*) on the top! Mmmm. I LIKE you, Mr. Manager/Owner. But I'm getting ahead of myself; I should show the main course first right? Bah. I is fail at food blogging.

So, main courses!

Thai had a sandwich, I think this is a Chicken.. Something. Sorry, I can't remember! It was a bit bland though, not really stupendously delicious. If it were, I'd remember its name, for sure.

Ling had Minty Lamb Skewers. Very nice, the minty sauce went well with the lamb and the buttered vegetables as well as the pilaf rice; but the lamb was quite fatty and therefore it was really hard to get a small bit off the stick! I was practically murdering the poor lamb again, the way I was trying to hack at it in my attempts to get a bite-sized piece of lamb. I ended up gnawing on it in a very unsophisticated manner.

And this here is mine: Rosemary Beef Skewers! Okay, it looks like the least yummy of the three, and the Manager/Owner didn't even list it amongst the best sellers (Minty Lamb is a number 2 best-seller, btw), but in our humble opinions, it was the nicest dish that night! Muahaha May Lee crever to pick food.

The rosemary went perfectly with the beef and the grilled pineapple, and the subtly herbed pilaf rice was a good complement to the flavourful beef and the tart sweetness of the pineapple. I kinda wish it came with some vegetables though, at least for the colour if nothing else.. My plate was all brown and yellow!

We've known each other since high school.Ling and I used to always kena from the prefects for 'Coli berwarna' and I came late to school almost every day. Now look at us being all grown up! *sniff*

And after the main course,

NOW it's appearing in the proper order!

Mmmm. Chocolate-y goodness.

And of course, the requisite camwhore photos!

You can see the Skewers sign in the background!

By the way, Subang Avenue is next door to the Carrefour in Subang Jaya, in case you were wondering. It's really quite a happening place to eat, drink some beer and watch football, as well as check out some hotties (and where there is good food, there will be hotties!). Just don't forget to make a reservation first!

03-5631-4353

This is their number, you're welcome!

NERDS

are yummyyyy!

No, I'm not talking about 

THIS kind of nerd.

I'm talking about

 

*drumroll*

THIS sort!

NO, NOT ME! The little boxes beside my head!

Wonka Nerds, to be exact. I see them on sale only sporadically (or maybe I don't go grocery shopping often enough *shamefaced*), so when I saw them today in Jaya Grocer (YES, EMPIRE AGAIN, I can't help it if I love that place!), I totally bought two packets. One for me, one for my little brother. See, I'm so nice. Anyway, it's his birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAI LOU! I'M REALLY GLAD (MOST OF THE TIME) THAT YOU WERE BORN 12 YEARS AGO! <3 <3 <3

Okay, enough about him. On with the Nerds!

STOP THINKING I'M REFERRING TO MYSELF!

Nerds are little candies - "They look like dog food", as quoted by Aaron - that are sourish-sweetish AND OH-SO-GOOD. As you can see from the box, they come in two flavours per box:

TAA-DAAAH! Sorry ar, picture a bit blur. 

Anyway, this is strawberry and grape-flavoured, and you can eat them together, or separately. They taste good together, though! So try them that way!

I wanted to eat them, but I decided to camwhore first. Such is my dedication to my craft.

Don't ask what my craft is. I just put that part in there to seem more awesome.

At only RM4.90 per box, it's really quite affordable and different from the usual stuff you find on the shelves next to the cashier. By the way, I really think they arrange it that way so you get tempted to buy sweets while waiting in line. Quite pandai huh. Crap, I totally got sucked into the consumer trap.

Oh well. The trap is yummy! Keep importing Nerds, and you'll have a happy May Lee leaping into the trap.

Daddy Day = Eating Extravaganza

I am very, very important; because if I were never born, my dad would've had to wait an extra ten years before my brother would've made him a dad! Ten years of no presents, can you imagine?? You're welcome, daddy.

Anyway, nonsensical babble aside, we celebrated my dad's day in true Lim family style - eating! We started with dinner on Saturday night, and continued on Sunday with lunch, tea and dinner (yes we are gluttonous pigs.. that's how we roll, baby!).

Had dinner in Empire (yes, again! My parents are slowly working their way through all the food places there), at the newly-opened Lammeeya. In case the name doesn't make it incredibly obvious, Lammeeya serves Lam Mee, the yummy noodles that one can find almost anywhere. By this, I mean that Lam Mee is very common; therefore the thrifty Chinese soul that lives buried deep, DEEP within my psyche quails in horror at the thought of spending RM 12.80 for a bowl of Original Beef Lam Mee that would probably cost, at most, RM 8.50 in a hawker centre. Yes, I have a deep, undying horror of paying big money for Chinese and Malay food. Madam Kwan makes me want to eat the plate as well in an effort to make it worth my money.

My natural kiam-ness aside, we were quite keen to see if this place would be extra-super awesome, which would then justify the price (to be fair, they are in a shopping centre, and the cost of the rent itself would drive the price up by a good 40% at least). 

The menu is extensive, with a whole lot of Lam Mee options, as well as stuff like BBQ Rice and dishes you can eat with their Lard Steamed Rice (looked quite tempting, but I was there for the Lam Mee, baby!).

My dad's order - the Original Beef Lam Mee (RM 12.80). It was really quite yummy, the soup was thick and good. There could be more beef, though. All in all, not too bad.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!!

The char siew bun (RM 2.90) is a little bit pricey, but GOOD. Really, really good. The bread is nice and soft, and the char siew is perfect. Would I go and spend 3 bucks for a bun? HELL, YES. The buns in The Loaf cost more, and don't have CHAR SIEW *outraged*.

I love The Loaf, though. =D

My mum's Mushroom Lam Mee. Unfortunately, the amount of mushrooms in it does not justify it being named 'Mushroom Lam Mee'; it should just be Lam Mee with Mushroom Garnish. At RM 9.50, it is totally FAIL.COM.

 My brother's order - BBQ Rice (RM 13.80). It comes with four types of meat: char siew, pork sausage, chinese sausage and steamed chicken. I guess the amount of pork in it made it expensive, but it wasn't very satisfying to be honest.. plus, there was something (i think it was the pork sausage) that had this WEIRD taste. Maybe I'm not chinese enough to enjoy it, but I really thought it tasted gross, and that effectively ruined the whole thing for me. Verdict: So-so.

 Me eating char siew bun! With chopsticks! I finally learned how to use them properly, note the proud grin. Yes, I lived to be 21 using them wrongly (and not caring). My brother laughed at me for so long, I finally decided 'THAT'S IT! I AM GOING TO USE THEM PROPERLY!' and I did. It's amazing how much one can accomplish when one really makes the effort!

Oh, and if you're wondering why I have no Lam Mee, this is what happened: I waited for ages, patiently eating that bun and taking pics; and after asking the waitress about the status of my order twice, I finally got my answer - "So sorry, but your one is out of stock."

FML.

So that is why I had a char siew bun and 

a Toast Bun (RM 2.80) for dinner. The bun is yummy! Freshly toasted, it wasn't even browned, but yet light and crispy on the outside, and perfectly soft and delicious on the inside. The butter was all melted, though. Just a minor grouse.

 To cut a long story short, this place serves regular food at a jacked-up price. Will I go back? I highly doubt it. And even if I do, I'd just go to get my char siew bun cos IT IS GOOD. 

LAMMEEYA? How about a LAMMEENO instead? *disgruntled*

Oh, and we took my dad to Snowflake for dessert after lunch yesterday.  

Remember their UFO thing that tells you when your order is ready?

 Teehee. That's not all it's good for!

Game score: 1-1 

 Me and my mummy. Matching, kan? 

 My drink is a cincau ice topped with pearls and cincau jelly, and WHIPPED CREAM. Can I get a 'YUM'? 

My brother is sipping on Stringz, which is this month's special. What makes it special is that it has jelly noodles in it. Imagine sipping a deliciously refreshing, cold and not-too-sweet drink, with long jelly noodles that are chewy in texture. ABSOLUTELY YUMMEH. Take my word for it.

 We were all sharing cos the portions there are all pretty huge. Snowflake - BIG HIT WITH THE LIMS. 

Conclusion: 24 hours of eating, resting, eating, wandering around malls, eating. I'm exhausted. 

*hunts for diet* hmmm... I'm SURE I just put it down for a second! 

Funfair and Taiwanese desserts. Awesome date? You bet.

I love random plans! So when LoverBoy called me up and suggested visiting the funfair near his house, I was like 'YES!'

It was located in the parking lot of the Carrefour in Kota Kemuning and was pretty small, as far as funfairs go. But small or no small, funfairs are funfairs and madness can ensue wherever May Lee and LB go, because we're just funny that way.

Pictures!

LB playing darts to win me my soft toy: ROUND 1

Stall lady: Hmm. Not enough to get a soft toy. Here, you get a pen!

LB: *tulan* 

Stall lady: Nevermind, if you play three rounds, you can get a soft toy!

LB: ONS! 

ROUND 2

Round 1 = 1 pen. Round 2 = 1 pen. End result: 2 pens.

LB: GRAWR. I WANT TOY

ROUND 3!

Meet Waste of Money, the fruit of our love and copious token-spending.

The proud Papa

The amused Mama

By then, I was pretty bored of watching LB play darts. I suggested:

FERRIS WHEEEEEEL!

(People always get up to monkey business right at the top of the wheel, heh heh)

But not us!

Honey, I'm hungryy *GRNYAAAAAAAMMMM*

YOU CRAZY WOMAN, YOU'RE EATING OUR BABY!

But.. but... IT IS NOT ANATOMICALLY CORRECT!

This problem comes from YOUR side of your family.

TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID!

LB: I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!!

I wonder what the other people on the wheel were thinking when they heard the maniacal laughter and saw the bright flashes of light coming from our compartment.

Back on the ground, 

LB wanted one more chance at getting a big prize

"OOH! L! What is L?"

"Ooooh! We is get patung! Yay! High five!"

"......................................"

"So small one"

"DAMN UGLY WEI"

"DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT OUR CHILD!"

"I DON'T WANT THIS TERBANTUT CHILD!"

The face of ultimate disappointment.

We left shortly after, with our two children Waste of Money and Waste of Money Jr.

Next stop: SNOWFLAKE!

LB was horrified when he found out that I hadn't ever been to Snowflake, so he made an emergency detour into SS15 (opposite Asia Cafe, the Starbucks row) to feed his deprived girlfriend.

There is a bigger signboard in front, but I didn't want to stand out there like a jakun, so this will have to suffice!

Q: How can you tell a place is good?

A: When it's jam-packed like this!

Made it extra-large so you can read the teeny-tiny words. THIS IS SO CUTE. Makes life easier and more efficient, and you don't have to hang around the counter waiting for your food!

The sign said that it's the best-seller

And May Lee added one more bowl to its statistics!

LB didn't. Tsk.WHERE IS YOUR HERD MENTALITY?

Both are awesomely yummy though! Mine was an awesome bowl of cincau ice (cincau-flavoured ice), topped with cincau jelly, and topped further with taro balls. They're glutinous-y and chewy in texture, and the yam flavour really goes well with the cincau! It comes with creamer on the side, so you add it in according to your tastes; I tried it both ways, without and then with the creamer.. they're both good!

LB's one is a soya bean ice thing with pearls (the bubble tea pearls), topped with yam, cincau and red beans. Sounds a little weird? BUT IT IS SO YUMMY. The ice tastes like good soya bean - not too sweet - and is refreshingly un-creamy! Think of soya pudding, and convert it into crushed ice. Yes, it's good. The red beans and the yams were quite foreign to me, and I found out yesterday that I LOVE ME FOREIGN-TASTING FOOD!

Go on warm nights, sit in the smoking section (you get a view of Asia Cafe, and hopefully, good-looking people), and slurp your icy goodness. Life is good.