Motormouth From Ipoh – Malaysian Food & Travel

Sexy, slender and gelatinous feet of a chick. Braised and served with earthy bites of shiitake mushrooms, a few stalks of Chinese mustard greens and of course, the star of the show; heaps of fresh noodles.

I have been eating noodles more than rice since coming to KL. Not that I have an aversion towards one or the other, but the abundance of shops and stalls selling wantan noodles, beef noodles, pan mee, fish ball noodles got me dizzy from all the extensive choices.

And can’t deny that when you’re not in a large group, ordering dishes with rice sounds kinda silly. Hence, individualized portions are the way to go.

This was last week, when the Witch thought of a late lunch with this Motormouth who’s almost perpetually stuck around Subang area. (hint hint … so now you know where to find me?) A random search on the web found me this not so encouraging review from vkeong on Uncle Seng‘s, and I had doubts. Nevertheless, we soldiered on since Witch has been there, and there were rave reviews on the eatery too. So how did this go?

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The spread of delicious Korean dishes at Daorae; they should have ushered us to a bigger table earlier. They probably did not foresee the impending madness that ensued; food enough for 4-5 pax maybe?

Coincidentally, my first Daorae Korean BBQ experience was another ‘threesome’ at work. No, we did not participate in hot, sweaty and explicit physical exchanges (or union of bodies?). But one not-so-fat monkey and that cheeky gym rat carted this Motormouth off on an excursion to everywhere but the intended destination. Haha …. to imagine we were supposed to go for tea at FRIM in Kepong, only to change to Sumi-Ka for yakitori (ahem, and since they open from 6pm onwards, it does not make sense to camp and wait for half a day more?), and finally a brilliant contingency plan to shift to Mr Mak’s Fish Head Noodles at USJ.

But lo and behold, Kopitiam Que Up chose to be closed on a Saturday afternoon. How (in)convenient. And that after witnessing some reckless driver flying off the divider and crashing into the middle of the roundabout at Subang Jaya; causing the traffic to come to a standstill on most roads leading to and away from that spot.

And if you’ve been driving in Malaysia for long (Klang Valley especially), you can’t help but realize that our generic pastime/custom/tradition is to slow down whenever a mishap on the road happen, and either jot down the plate number, look and see whether you know the poor creatures, OR plain kay-poh-chee and look-look-see-see for the fun of it. Furthermore, punctuality has never been one of our forte to begin with.

Chew on some tongues and grilled raw garlic for that extra punch.

And so, after suffering the almost an hour’s ordeal of warping all around Subang Jaya without successfully feeding these 3 hollowed stomachs, we settled for Korean food at Daorae in Taipan USJ. Already in half-famine states, we rushed up the elevator (which was smelling like some sweat socks …. I did not coin this, the Monkey did!) and thanks-be-to-the-gastronomic-lord-from-above for Daorae’s operating in full swing that afternoon! Read the rest of this entry »

Essentially, these are bowls of premium shaved ice with grass jelly (cincau), a little syrup, some chewy beads of taroballs and an optional cup of creamer for good measure. Simple, faultless combination that cost double of your usual bowl of cincau from hawker stalls. But look at how Snowflake Taiwanese Dessert Secrets have grown to become!

Kindly allow me to shut that motormouth for a day; and start the week on a breezy note. Monday practically flew by, and to no surprise, the caffeine addiction kicked in more often than not. No thanks to that instant coffee machine in the pantry. I’m poisoned. Is there even a Caffeine Addicts Anonymous group?

The crowd were all barely of puberty age yet. Okay … maybe slightly exaggerated. But then again, when I was there I felt like an old uncle trying to stay hip by mingling with people half my age.

And thus, here’s a short one on possibly the next up and coming desserts chain that will take off; much like how KTZ created such a buzz back then.

Then there were the Honeymoon lah …. Lucky lah …. Hong Kong lah …. Tim Pun Gor Gor (don’t ask) lah …. and whatever gimmicks they can come up with.

Sadly, no designated kiosk/cafe for authentic Malaysian desserts huh? Like pengat pisang, nyonya kuih, red bean soup, Indian sweetmeats, etc. But for now, let’s look at how Snowflake has changed the palate of the younger generations ….. Read the rest of this entry »

Pontian Wanton Mee – Comes in 3 different sizes; the smallest size being the “S” priced at RM4.00/USD1.30 seemed to be enough for a light dinner. Bouncy, egg noodles without the curls.

WHAT?! Wanton Mee again ah? Wait wait, Before you go and throw tantrums over Motormouth’s tiresome ordeal of seeking for dinner every single night, bear in mind that in KL (generally), a few types of street food tend to stand out amongst the crowd.

Of course, let’s not take into consideration the various Ipoh Chee Cheong Fun, Kai See Hor Fun (Chicken Kuey Teow Soup) or Penang Char Kuey Teow. Those imitators/emulators never failed to amaze me. Not so much for the authenticity but more for their tenacity. In other words; thick-skinned. But let’s not digress.

The ambience should be sufficient to calm a child with ADHD down in an instance. Or maybe not.

And can you imagine this was already my third or fourth wantan mee experience in KL? In a matter of 3 weeks, I have already ventured a few places, and ended up with more or less the same stuff.

Mostly noodles, there was one day when I had pan mee TWICE in a day! Silly me for waltzing in a cool manner without realizing that the shop sells only pan mee. Better let the instincts lead the way, rather than the hunger pangs. Anyway for today folks, let’s see what this specific Pontian Wanton Noodles (with 60 years of history, no less!) in SS15 of Subang Jaya managed to dish up …. Read the rest of this entry »

Fresh oysters on the Rocks – Go crazy on these and guaranteed satisfaction. In every sense of the word.

I once stayed at Holiday Villa Subang, sometime back in 2008 or 2009. Good experience though, still remember how spacious the room was, and the easy access to everywhere around PJ and Subang. That experience (back when I was still with the civil service) was definitely one of the better ones throughout my tenure in the service. If you’ve been following this blog since 2008, you would have realized that travelling’s part of the job. (To some extent … eating as well)

Anyway, fast forward a couple of years and here I am, stranded relocated to the almighty madhouse that is Kuala Lumpur. But good to know that I am in good company, surrounded by foodies with a deep passion and penchant for everything and anything edible.

From the look of it, this poor baby ain’t gonna miss his Mama too long …..

Holiday Villa Hotel & Resort Suites Subang (that’s the full name, btw) recently held a tasting session for the media; launching their inaugural New Year’s EveCarnival – BBQ Poolside Buffet. As far as Christmas and New Year buffets go, every year we’ll see tough competition amongst the F&B players and no doubt the thousand-and-one hotels in the Klang Valley.

Routinely, to set each other apart from the competition, the hotel would go to the extent of organizing a feast surrounding a particular theme. A gimmick or a timeless business strategy, it all depends on the execution of the tactics.

For this year, the management of Holiday Villa Subang has decided to embrace a carnival-like theme; and judging from the camaraderie of wacky costumed personnel, fancy decorations and the experience of eating beside their Olympic-sized swimming pool; caressed by the warm breeze of the night ….. Read the rest of this entry »