Category: Food and Drinks Review

Dining in the Dark @ Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumput

For my wife’s 31st birthday,  I brought her to Dining in the Dark KL. In Dining in the Dark, you will get to dine in total darkness. You can’t even see your food or utensils!

Dining in the Dark KL is operated by Werner’s and it is located on top of Werner’s at Changkat Bukit Bintang (parking is terribly expensive but try Radius Hotel). The interesting bit is that the manager and waiters of Dining in the Dark KL are blind! Our waiter, Darius, guided us to our table in total darkness. We had to hold on to him.

Once we are seated, we were served with a three course meal which remained a secret after the whole session. A session last about 2 hours. You can eat with your hands or utensils. I hate eating with my bare hands hence I ate using my utensils all the time. It’s tough eating with your utensils in total darkness!

My eyes were quite uncomfortable throughout the session. I guess I’m not used to total darkness.

I must say that the food is not bad. I wasn’t expecting it to be tasty. Sorry, no pictures of the food as we were required to surrender our phones before going into the dark room!


But here’s the menu. You won’t know what you will be eating until the end of the session. If there was a cockroach on top of your food, you wouldn’t know too 😀

Also, the menu changes from time to time. You can tell them to cut out certain stuff if you have allergies or certain preferences. You are also required to come on designated time. They don’t want people walking in and out throughout the session.

Lastly, one of the best parts of this experience is to be able to speak with people who have vision disability. They are just like us. I am told that Werner’s had made efforts to hire blind people to work with them to give them a better life. Kudos to them.

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Address
44A & 46A changkat bukit bintang
50200 kuala lumpur . malaysia
Tel: + 603 2110 0431
Fax: + 603 2145 1375
Reservation: + 6012 251 5797

Website: http://www.dininginthedarkkl.com/

New York City Food Guide – Part 2

My wife and I didn’t do much research on the places to eat. Most of the places we were found using Yelp when we were around a particular area. Fortunately, free Wifi was ample in Manhattan and we could surf the net anywhere we wanted. In fact, you can even get Wifi at parks!

Cafe Lalo @ Upper West Side

Apparently Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of War Horse, goes here. Famed for their organic food, you won’t find any pork or poultry on the menu.


Notwithstanding that, food was pretty good especially their Belgian waffles. Their crispy waffles is served with maple syrup, cream and fresh strawberry. Heavenly I must say!

There is usually a queue to get a seat especially during peak time e.g weekends.

Address
201 West 83rd St.
New York, NY 10024

Website: http://cafelalo.com/cafe/
Opening Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 8am-2am

Friday: 8am-4am
Saturday: 9am-4am

Sunday: 9am-2am
Holidays until 4am


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Clinton Street Baking Company

This place is located amongst the good eateries of Lower East Side of Manhattan. So good that the queue is extremely long queue. The wait can go up to 1 hour but fortunately we got in within 20 minutes. There is a cafe, namely Pause cafe, which serves good coffee and free WiFI. We had coffee there while waiting for our turn to be called.

We ordered Pancakes with warm maple syrup (USD12) and Southern Breakfast.


Blueberry pancakes was extremely good. Fluffy and large in portion. Maple syrup complements the dish.


Southern dish on the other hand was interesting. Their sugar cured bacon was awesome but the rest was just okay. I would order something else if I had another chance.

Address
4 Clinton Street (btw. East Houston & Stanton)
New York, NY 10002

Website: http://www.clintonstreetbaking.com/

Opening Hours:
sunday:
open 9am to 6pm (no dinner on sundays)
monday thru friday:
open 8am – 4pm and 6pm to 11pm
saturday:
open 9am – 4pm and 6pm to 11pm
The restaurant is closed Monday thru Saturday from 4 to 6pm.


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Yonah Schimmel Knishery

With over 100 years of history, the premise aged together with the business. Yonah Schimmel Knishery doesn’t have beautiful decor but it does have a lot of history on its walls. Sitting in the shop itself can be a history lesson of the place.

A knish consists of a filling covered with dough that is either baked, grilled, or deep fried and it is a Jewish snack food. To me, it taste like a savory tar sar peng but with potato fillings.

Address
137 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002
Between 1st & 2nd – The Lower East Side
Phone/Fax (212) 477-2858

Website: http://knishery.com/


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Laboratorio del Gelato

As the name suggest, this place looks like a laboratory. Its interior is mostly white and the walls are made of glass.


You can actually see how gelato is made in their kitchen.

It’s just a few streets away from Clinton Street Baking Company. It’s been featured in many mainstream medias.

We had their strawberry gelato. It was not bad. Salted caramel seems to be pretty popular as it was the only flavour that ran out.

They also have other unique flavours. Ginger is one of them. Big fat Euw!

Address
188 Ludlow Street
(at East Houston)
New York, NY 10002
Te: 212 343 9922

Opening hours:
monday to thursday 7:30am – 10pm
friday 7:30am – midnight
saturday 10am – midnight
sunday 10am – 10pm

Website: http://www.laboratoriodelgelato.com/


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La Mela Ristorante @ Little Italy

Another Zagat rated restaurant on Little Italy. This Italian ristorante occupies three lots.


Three Types Pasta was awesome. Although small in proportion, one dish was enough to feed my wife and I.

Surprisingly, their cafe latte was not bad.

Tirasmisu on the other hand was just alright. Nothing to shout about.

I would recommend people to come here for their pasta.

Address
167 Mulberry Street
New York,
NY 10013, United States
Tel: (212) 431-9493

Website: http://www.lamelarestaurant.com/


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Norma’s @ Le Meridian

This place was a little bit upscale. Food starts from USD20. Cappuccino was USD7 and orange juice was also USD7!

Apparently this place is well known but Yelp criticized this place like mad.

But I must say that their Crispy French Toast (USD21) was great. Sprinkled with crispy rice, it was massive in size. Crust was crispy but the bread was soft. My wife and I shared it and it filled the both of us up!

[Note: Also try Burger Joint if you’re in the same building]

Address
119 West 56th Street
New York, NY 10019,
United States
Tel: (212) 708-7460

Website: http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat1.php


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Totto Ramen
After waiting for 30 minutes for a spot, we finally managed to squeeze ourselves into this small tiny Japanese restaurant.


Maximum 4 people per table.


Niku Ramen was good. It was a meat galour. Full of yummy tender beef!


Half meat, Half Fat. Ah.

Broth was thick and flavoured. But it is not as good as Ichiran in Fukuoka. Although the first few bites were good, the taste sort of died down towards the end. It is no where near Ichiran in Fukuoka!

Address
366 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019,
United States
Tel: (212) 582-0052

Opening Hours:
Mon – Fri 12pm – 12am
Sat 12pm – 11pm
Sun 5pm – 11pm

Website: http://tottoramen.com/


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Muar Creampuff @ Fung Seng Confectionary, Jalan Abdullah, Muar

I was at Muar with my wife to attend my former house mate’s wedding. My former house mate, Alex Ng, moved back to Muar to practice as a lawyer after years of serving as a lawyer in one of Kuala Lumpur’s reputable firms. He now runs his parents’ legal firm.

The wedding was massive. There were more than 90 tables.

So back the topic of food, I went back to the chicken rice ball and otak-otak place for lunch.


The place was packed. But it was well worth the wait especially the concoction of chicken rice balls, otak-otak with dark and thick soya sauce. You can read my earlier review here.

Lynnzter recommended that I try the cream puffs at Fung Seng confectionery at Jalan Abdullah. It’s a massive bakery with all sorts of cakes and pastries. Since I was quite full with lunch, I only bought their cream puff which came in a box of 8 small mini cream puff.


Each cream puff was chilled. Their corn flavoured cream filled the pastry to the brink. It was absolutely delicious!

Not much is said about the creampuffs on the internet but I think it’s worth buying back home for friends and family. And it’s only RM2.80 per box!

Address
89, Jalan Abdullah,
84000 Muar
Johor

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Restoran Y & L (妙记面粉糕)

I was in Kuantan for a friend’s wedding few weeks ago. My friend arranged for a home stay for me to stay. The room was a little creepy. So much so that I tweeted, “In Kuantan stayin in a creepy hotel. Aaaaaaahhh leave me alooonneeeee”. A friend responded and we eventually ended up talking about food.

One of the places she recommended is Y&L restaurant for its excellent pan mee.

It took me a while to find the place. My only landmark was Public Bank and there were three in town!

The specialty of this shop is pan mee (handmade noodles). I ordered their dry version of pan mee.

It came in a sweet thick sauce, fishballs, sliced mushroom, soft minced meat and. topped with fried ikan bilis. It was very nice! It reminds me of Kota Kinabalu’s sang yuk mee (pork noodles). The soft minced meat deserves special mention because it dissolves in your mouth. mmmm

It’s so nice that I went back there again the next day for lunch!

Address
Jalan Haji Abdul Aziz , Kuantan, Pahang
(Opposite AmBank and Public Bank and same row with Hai Peng kopitiam).
Business hours:
8am to 2pm on weekdays
8am to 1pm on weekend

Map

Sumi-ka @ SS15, Subang Jaya,

Two weeks ago, my former dock brief mates, A and myself met for our occasional dinner at Sumi-ka Japanese restaurant. Ever since we completed our dock brief course back in 2005, we still meet up for dinner once in a while. Most of us are still in practice except for Kevin who has gone in-house. Time flies.

This time round, we had dinner at this hidden but well known Japanese yakitori restaurant. It’s a haunt for many Japanese salarymen and families. You know a Japanese restaurant is good if Japanese eats there.


Door leading to Sumi-ka. You’ll see loads of rats and cockroaches before entering the door XD


Raw cabbage with special soy sauce is served as appetizer while you decide what you want. The owner cum Japanese chef will cook it once you decide.


Boss at work

The price of each stick of yakitori ranges from RM4 to RM9. One stick is quick small and it is usually not enough to share.

My personal favourites are the sweet potatoes, beef ribs and shitake mushrooms.


Sweet potatoes wrapped in foil.

It may be quite difficult to find the place. The entrance is a small door and it’s on the 2nd floor. Also, do make reservations if you’re coming in a big group.

Address:-
No 19, 1st Floor, Jalan SS15/4,
47500 Subang Jaya
Tel: 035632931

Map

The Haute Food Co @ Plaza Damas

Sui Lin recommended this place for its well known sandwiches. A and I made a trip down to The Haute Food Co at Plaza Damas.

It’s a small cafe with limited seats. Some seats are placed outside the cafe to accommodate customers. When we were there on a Saturday afternoon, the place was packed!

I ordered their roast beef sandwich and cafe latte. For their sandwiches, one can choose either white bread or rye bread.


Their latte was alright. Nothing to shout about. It’s a little bit too small. I still prefer Departure Lounge’s coffee.


Sandwich was awesome. Served with a generous serving of fresh salad on the side!

Dessert is highly recommended by many. Unfortunately, I was too full to have one when I was done with my meal.

The price of the meals is not cheap. My roast beef sandwich was RM13.50 and latte were RM8.50. But when it comes to food, I don’t skimp!


xes.cx approves!

Address
(H-0-2) next to the Mayland Management Office (not the sales office)
Block H, Plaza Damas
Ground Floor
60 Jalan Sri Hartamas
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 0362013168
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Haute-Food-Co
Website: http://www.hautefoodco.com/
Open from 10am – 6pm : Closed on Tuesdays.

Map


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Cristang @ Avenue 8, PJ New Town

Richard Wee raved about the pork burger of this place to me since the day I know him. After a few years, I finally tried their famous pork burger with the LoyarBurok gang. Cristang pork burger is dubbed by many as the best pork burger in town.

One notably LoyarBurok participant was King Chai, who is one of the UKM4 gang. The UKM4 is a group of 4 University Kebangsaan Malaysia students who were arrested and are to face disciplinary proceedings under the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA). UUCA is, among others, a law prohibiting students from joining political parties or take part in political campaigns or protests. The UKM4 were accused of doing so and they are now challenging the constitutionally of the UUCA.You can read about their story here.

While the UKM4 are doing something to change lives at such a young age, I was partying, playing computer games and watching The Simpsons and South Park at their age. Dayum!

So anyway, immediately after settling down, I ordered the fehmes P7 pork burger also known as Petai burger. It didn’t take long for it to be served.


The patty was thick, meaty and juicy! It was topped with grilled back bacon and minced pork petai sambal! Absolutely delicious!


Cristang’s pork burgers are given a prefix “P” followed with a number. According to Richard, each number denotes the number of ingredients in the burger. If Gerald is around, you should ask him about each dish he has on the menu. Each dish is like an art. It’s a mixture of all sorts of ingredients and techniques!

On another note, if you’re thinking of asking for condiments to put on your burger, think again. It’s an insult to a Chef to have his customer putting condiments on his food. To him, the taste of his food is already perfect!

After our scrumptious burger, we had Oreo ice cream and buttercake.

The latter is fried with butter! Richard said it’s the “sure die dessert” whereas Gerald described it as “artery clogging something something die die fat fat something cake”. The buttercake was so sinful until it made Oreo ice cream like a bowl of salad!

Address
Jalan Sungai Jernih 8/1
Seksyen 8, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: 03-7956-7877
Facebook Page

OPERATING HOURS: Tuesdays to Sundays 11:00 am to 3:00 pm; 5:30pm to 11:00pm. Last call @ 10:30pm.
CLOSED ON MONDAYS

Map

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Restoran Juimoon, Mentakab, Pahang

Although I’ve been to Mentakab three times, I haven’t been able to find a hawker stall that serves good food. I tried googling it but nothing came about. All I know is that Patin fish is good in Mentakab.

However, Restoran Juimoon is quite good for dinner. It’s a nice Chinese restaurant. There is a section for people to hold weddings and birthdays. I was there to attend a wedding and also a birthday.


A’s cousin got married and she got a designer from Beijing to make her a Lady Gaga-style-dress.

If you’re in Mentakab and would like to find a good place to eat. You can try Restoran Juimoon.

You must try their fish, roasted piglet and shark fin’s soup (yes, I know its cruel to eat but it mmm yummyyy).

There aren’t many things to do in Mentakab at night. But if you like fishing, try heading to “Relax One” to catch prawns and fishes. It’s just a few minutes drive from Juimoon.

Nice place to relax and remember to release the fishes or prawns back into the pool after catching them.

Other than Juimoon, anyone knows what else is good at Mentakab?

Address
26, 28 & 30, Jalan 2/4, Taman Perindustrian Temerloh, Mentakab 28400
Tel: 09 270 1710, 013 934 8899

Map

Nihon Kai Japanese Restaurant @ Old Klang Road, Kuala Lumpur

A has been raving about this place being cheap and nice for the longest time. Although I live in Old Klang Road almost all my life, I have never heard of this place. A lot of people says that this place is a hidden gem.

On Valentine’s Day, A and I headed there for dinner. The place was extremely crowded and there was a line to get a table. A was smart to call to make a booking. Nihon Kai was kind enough to save the spot for us although we were half an hour late!

Nihon Kai consists of two floors. The 2nd floor is air conditioned and it has a few private rooms. You may book a room for a function.

We ordered this..


Nihon Kai Sp Maki (RM16) – sashimi and vegetable wrapped together with rice paper and with mayonnaise and ebikko on top!


Sashimi..mmm


A’s set dinner – Grilled Fish


My set dinner – Grilled Unagi Rice (RM34) – very (or maybe too generous) with their unagi. My stomach almost exploded after finishing the stuff we ordered!

Overall, it was good! Food was fresh and ample. Ambiance was great. It was well worth it!

I am told that the place gets pack during dinner. Make a reservation before going!

Address
Nihon Kai Japanese Restaurant
No. 4-2, Jalan Telok Gadong,
Off Old Klang Road,
Kuala Lumpur.

Contact: 03 7982 3668
Business Hour:
12.00pm – 3.00pm
6.00pm – 10.00pm
(Open Daily)

Map

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Other Reviews:
Babe in the City – KL – Review: Nihon Kai Japanese Restaurant
Nihon Kai Japanese Restaurant @ Old Klang Road | KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL
Nihon Kai Restaurant @ Old Klang Road, KL | caffeinedoll
My story~: Nihon Kai Japanese Restaurant @ Old Klang Road

Lou Shu Fun @ Restoran Yi Poh, Seremban

I got to know about this place when it was featured on Ho Chiak, a television programme covering various makan place around Malaysia.

The highlight of this place is their “lou shu fun”, which literally means “rat noodles”. The lou shu fun here is different from the usual. Instead of looking like rat’s tail, it’s “lai fun” (rice noodles) – the noodles people usually use for assam laksa.

On our way back from Port Dickson, we dropped by Yi Poh for lunch. It was packed when we got there. So much so, they forgot our order and the waiters didn’t bother to check on it when we asked them to do so. Luckily, one young boy (probably boss’s son) was kind enough to look into it and got our noodles in no time.


After mixing!

The smell of fried minced pork overwhelms the dish but the taste is quite light. It’s like eating hakka noodles with dark soy sauce.

Map

Address
26, Ground Floor, Jalan Seng Meng Lee (Off Jalan Temiang),
70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan
Negeri Sembilan, 70200

Other reviews:
Makantrip.com – Seremban – Dry Lou Shu Fun @ Yi Poh
AhKingFoodTalk – Seremban Restoran Yi Poh 姨婆老鼠粉
FoodWhore – Restoran Yi Poh, Seremban