Old Man II

During our visit to the Arabian House Restaurant recently, we noticed a place named Old Man II nearby. We have written about the Old Man Restaurant before and that place is located close by too. So we decided to give this new outlet a try and find out if the restaurants are related.

We were given a nice menu with an extensive selection. It reminded us of Esquire Kitchen. There were many one dish rice or noodle options as well as a la-carte choices. We decided to go with the latter and ordered some of their signature dishes:-

First up was their House Special Steamed Tilapia (RM23). Well this house must be very tolerant to chillies as we found this to be pretty spicy and pungent. The fish was fresh and tasty though. You'll enjoy this if you like the spicy stuff.

The Mongolian Style Pork (RM15) had slices of pork stir-fried with lots of onions, black pepper and curry leave (?) as well as a sprinkling of chilli padi. Hmmmmm...I never knew they had curry leaves in Mongolia? Putting aside the rather inappropriate name of the dish, it tasted pretty interesting actually.

Four Treasure Tofu (RM13) had fried pieces of silken tofu topped with a sauce that had carrots, green beans, red peppers and fish paste (the four treasures?). Pretty decent.

The Shrimp Omelette or Foo Yong Tan (RM10) came with plump and juicy prawns. Nicely executed.

The Stir Fried Lotus Root came with mushrooms, celery, green beans, carrots and cashew nuts as well. Nicely done too.

After the searing hot chilli, we needed something sweet to cool off. The Vietnamese Iced Coffee I ordered was too sweet and not strong enough. The Longan and Sea Coconut too was rather sweet. However the fresh Kedondong Juice served with Assam Boi, was the right choice to cool down.

We found the cooks to be quite restrained in the use of salt (which I personally think is a good thing) and we assume not much MSG was used as well. Overall the results were rather mixed but it certainly warrants more visits. And yes, they appear to be under the same management as the Old Man Restaurant nearby as we spotted a couple of familiar faces here.

Location : No 21-G, Jalan Putra 3, Taman Putra Kajang, Sg Chua, Kajang
Contact : 013-2802898

CLOSED-Kg Lobak Thai Seafood & BBQ, Seremban

This is an overdue post from an outing last year. We took a long drive all the way to Jalan Lobak in Seremban to sample some Thai food at the (then) newly opened Kg Lobak Thai Seafood & BBQ restaurant. Located just beside (or behind) the Petronas station along Jalan Lobak, it's easy to find and there's ample parking at the side and front.

We tried some Thai staples. The Chicken Feet Kerabu was was nice and well balanced; sweet, hot and sour as it should be.

The Pandan Chicken was well marinated and tasty. Thumbs up.

The Fish Cake was springy and tasty.

The Tom Yam Soup was suitably hot, sour and slightly sweet too. I personally prefer the tom yam with coconut milk so this version without santan did not hit the spot for me although it was well executed.

The Thai Lemon Sauce Fish on the other hand hit the spot for me and was good to the last bone. Sweet and tangy, the lemon sauce was a perfect foil for the fresh fish.

A small serving of Fried Rice topped off our lunch.

We had a peek in the kitchen and found that it was manned by Thai cooks who cooked everything from scratch, using fresh ingredients.

Overall, a great addition for the Seremban folk craving for authentic Thai food. May be worth the drive down too.

Location : Behind the Petronas station, Jalan Lobak, Seremban, Negri Sembilan.

Arabian House Restaurant

I’d noticed a new Middle Eastern restaurant at Taman Putra, Kajang about a month now. It’s located near the SILK Highway Sg Chua toll plaza. Take the last exit on the left just before the toll plaza heading towards Putrajaya and the restaurant is just on the left side of the exit. It’s brightly lit but does not have much in terms of Middle Eastern décor. 

The waiters are mostly Middle Eastern too and there’s some communication problem when ordering. Best to indicate the numbers on the menu once you’ve made your selection. Asking for explanations of the menu items is not advisable unless you speak Arabic. On our maiden visit, we decided to have a rice and chicken dish and some barbeque meats / mixed grill. Blame it on a menu that is not very clear but both dishes came served with rice.

The ‘Kapsa’ chicken (RM12) was described as ‘tender chicken meat stewed with fragrant rice’. Sounds a bit like briyani? The chicken was truly cooked till tender and practically dropping off the bone. The rice was imbued with the flavors of the chicken and was tasty and flavorful. No gravy was necessary although id did seem rather dry by Asian standards. Highly recommended.

The Mix Grill (RM15) consisted of kebabs and barbeque meats. The lamb kebab was probably the tastiest lamb I’ve ever eaten. Slowly cooked and moist inside, the lamb had also been nicely marinated. Highly recommended. The chicken pieces had a spicy marinade and was similarly moist inside. Highly recommended too. There was a third kebab which was quite pale in color which I assumed was minced chicken. This too was moist inside but lacked the flavors of the lamb and chicken pieces. Overall a great introduction to Middle Eastern grilled kebabs and meats. Served with long grain rice and a sauce on the side, it was good to the last grain. Very good.

The lemon juice with mint drink (RM6) was just the right drink for the hot weather and to end a great meal for Ros. 

I had the Turkish coffee (RM4). If you’ve never had Turkish coffee, be warned that the coffee grains are not strained out. It also has a bitter aftertaste. But I’m a coffee addict so I’ll take my coffee in any style or form. 

We spotted three Middle Eastern cooks in the kitchen. A rotating grill for the grilled chicken and a barbeque pit for the grilled kebabs could be seen too. Overall very authentic and tasty Middle Eastern food. We’ll be returning to try more from their extensive menu. Now, if only we could speak Arabic……..

Location : 1G Jalan Putra Kajang 5, Taman Putra Kajang, 43000 Kajang, Selangor
Contact : 03-87343476

Koya Japanese Restaurant, Bandar Mahkota Cheras

We finally found a Japanese place around the Kajang area worth writing about and one that we can recommend. It’s located at Bandar Mahkota Cheras near the Rotiman bakery (one of our favorite cake shops in South Klang Valley). 

We understand that the cook is Japanese. This was our first visit and we just tried a few items on the menu. First was the ‘tobiko sushi’(RM6), laden with flying fish roe, this had the usual crunchy and fishy taste. Good (sorry no photo as it came out blur).

Next was the soft shell crab and avocado roll (RM15). The soft shell crab was still hot and crunchy and this was balanced by the soft avocado. Bits of sesame seeds and tobiko gave the roll different textures whilst the Japanese mayonnaise gave it some sweetness and creaminess. Very good and recommended.

 Next was the ‘gyoza’ or Japanese dumpling (RM8). I think it was steamed and then finished on the grill. It was a little soft (compared to Chinese dumplings) but the fillings were tasty. Good.

We had the ‘unagi’ set (RM31) which at first look was a little disappointing in terms of the size of the grilled eel serving. However we could not fault the taste. The accompanying ‘chawan mushi’ (egg custard with meat) was soft and silken with a nice slight eggy fragrance. No fault with the ‘miso’ soup either but the rice was not the Japanese variety but a local long grain variety. 

They have quite an extensive menu with the usual Japanese items including sashimi (raw seafood items), agemono (deep fried), yakimono (grilled or pan fried), stewed dishes and noodles. No doubt, enough reasons for us to make return visits in future. Japanese sake is also available.   

Location : No 56, Jalan Temenggung 1/9, SCK 9, Bandar Mahkota Cheras, 43200 Kajang, Selangor
Contact : 03-90198260