Lakeside Hometaste Restaurant (tepi rumah)

Front Entrance to Lakeside Hometaste Restaurant (side of a house next to lake)

On a cloudy late Sunday morning, decided to go food hunting in Sg. Chua with my partner-in-crime, the unexplored territories. Following my GPS to a so called 'free range chicken' place nearby - which we presumed had closed, we accidently found this place as there were many cars parked there. We decided to try it out. It is right opposite the lake from the famous Thai restaurant, A-Wet.

Loh Pan-Mee before adding black vinegar

Basically its a noodle place with most of them going for pan-mee base. There was Yee Mee, Pan Mee, Loh Mee, Curry Mee served dry (kon lo) or soupy. I tried the Loh Pan Mee in thick Pan Mee (they also have thin Pan-mee) - which I found it to be tasty but a little thick on the broth. My PIC went for Kon Lo Pan Mee which was quite tasty too. Side dishes were fried dumpling and fish ball soup. Fried dumpling was a little small but very tasty where as the fish ball soup was big but the fish ball lack the springy texture and ordinary in taste. I do intend to try other side dishes next time there.

Kon-loh Pan-Mee & fish ball soup

The airy spacious enviroment was a plus point, it has lots of fans too, clean and nice. There was a constant flow of customers but it was not crowded/congested. 

This place gave me the feeling you were seated at the verendah of your house, overlooking the lake in front and enjoying your Sunday morning brunch. They also make lovely kampung styled kopi-ais which went great with the meal. Nice place, nice food and some SYTs to serve you - what else could you ask for? BTW. I was told, there have been in business since 2015, so its not that new.

Fried dumplings

CLOSED- Kafe Vietnam @ Bandar Puteri Puchong

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone celebrating! It's a long weekend and with most Chinese restaurants closed, we decided to venture further for something different. That's how we ended up in a quiet part of Bandar Puteri Puchong is a nice little cafe  called Kafe Vietnam. Note the mannequin dressed in Ao Dai (traditional Viet costume) outside that seems to be calling you to enter.

 

The quintessential Vietnamese starter - Cuon Tom or fresh spring rolls - with fresh herbs and prawns - a great start to any meal. Dip it in the spicy peanut sauce for full effect.

Fresh spring rolls - RM7.90

Next, Goi Rau Cau Tom Thit - a pork, prawn and jelly salad. Sounds weird on paper but it came together very well on the dish. Best when scooped up and eaten with the provided prawn crackers. 

Salad of prawn, pork and jelly served with crackers _RM13.90

Another quintessential Vietnamese dish, Bahn Xeo - a crispy crepe with various fillings. This one came with slices of pork and prawns. Best eaten wrapped in the salad leaves and dipped in the accompanying chilli sauce. 

Bahn Xeo - RM15.90

For many, Pho is to Vietnamese food what laksa is to Malaysian food. There are many variations, and this this premium version of Pho Bo Dac Biet came with tender slices of beef, brisket, tendons and beef balls in a light but flavorful broth. Add whatever herbs and vegetables you wish and a squeeze of lime or some chilli padi or fish sauce. This would be a perfect brunch for me.

Pho Bo Dac Biet - RM16.90

A dish that is found everywhere in Vietnam is Com Tam (broken rice), almost like chicken rice in Malaysia. Usually served with pork chop or fried chicken, other side dishes are a sunny side up and runny egg, a slice of steamed minced pork and egg, pickled vegetables and slices of tomato and cucumber. The marinated pork chop here is flavorful and is a perfect foil for the broken rice. A simple dish that I could happily eat everyday.     

Com Tam - RM14.90

Another noodle dish, Bun Moc is a rice noodles soup with various pork ball, minced pork slices, pork cuts and sprinkling of fresh spring onions and herbs as well as fried shallots. Again, you can add fresh herbs, lime or chillies to your own taste but for me, the stock was flavorful enough as it was.  

Bun Moc - RM14.90

For the Lunar New Year or Tet Festival as it is known in Vietnam, a rice dumpling similar to the Chinese chang is served. They did not have the dumpling but we sampled Com Chien La Sen a fried rice in lotus leaf. The lotus leaf imparts a lovely fragrance to the rice, which is fried with slices of pork sausages.  

Com Chien La Sen (Fried Rice in Lotus Leaf) - RM19.90 for 2 pax

The iced coffee is thick, strong and sweet just like in Vietnam. Highly recommended as well. You can also pick up Vietnamese coffee, instant noodles, fish sauce, rice paper, pickles and a few other  supplies from the store. 

 

A lovely place for a weekend brunch, we understand that it is considerable crowded at dinner time.  

 

Overall, this was a great find. The food took me back to my trip to Ho Chi Minh City. We spotted groups of Vietnamese workers eating here too, so the food must be pretty authentic for them to be here too. Service was lovely too since it was pretty quiet when we visited.  Possibly the best Vietnamese restaurant in Klang Valley? Give it a try and tell us what you think.

 

Location : No 1, Jalan Puteri 4/1, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong

Contact : 03-80527472  

FB Link :  https://www.facebook.com/kafevietnam?ref=ts&fref=ts

Food Taiwan Restaurant @ Bandar Teknologi, Kajang

Fans of Taiwanese food can rejoice with the opening of a new restaurant tucked away in a obscure location in Bandar Teknologi Kajang.

 

Looking  like a normal coffee shop, it offers up some variations to the usual local fare. These include:-

 

Beef noodles - a thick beef stew  with springy noodles. It was a little salty and just average in taste.

 

Fried rice with pork. Very generous with the pork but rather average taste. 

 

The highlight of the visit - the famed Taiwanese Stinky Taufoo. And wow, did it stink. This was a real Fear Factor moment for me. Both Ros and Jeremy were nauseous from the smell so it was left to me to wolf it down. The first mouthful smelt like sewage in my mouth. And the chilli topping and pickled cabbage did little to add flavor to this dish. It tasted flat and disgusting. Anyway, as per my personal motto - I'll try anything once - I persevered and finished the whole plate. And for that, I was left with a disgusting taste and smell in my mouth for the rest of the day! Once is enough for me unfortunately.

 

The desserts here were more promising though. This red bean, grass jelly and bubble tea thingy was huge for RM6.90 (I think) and enough for 3 persons.  

 

The honey tea was thick and nice. Enough for two persons too.

Overall, this is a nice little Taiwanese cafe. Go for the desserts and snacks. 

Location :  No 3 Jalan 1/3, Seksyen 1, Bandar Teknologi Kajang, Off Jalan Semenyih, Kajang

No 1 Jalan 1/3, Seksyen 1, Bandar Teknologi Kajang, Selangor Darul, Seminyih, Selangor, Malaysia - See more at: http://my.nusalist.com/restaurants/all/2.965659/101.826843/no-2-jalan-p21-bandar-teknologi-kajang-43500-semenyih-selangorno-2-jalan-p21-bandar-teknologi-kajang-43500-semenyih-selangor-malaysia#sthash.YFdwcdB6.dpuf

No 1 Jalan 1/3, Seksyen 1, Bandar Teknologi Kajang, Selangor Darul, Seminyih, Selangor, Malaysia - See more at: http://my.nusalist.com/restaurants/all/2.965659/101.826843/no-2-jalan-p21-bandar-teknologi-kajang-43500-semenyih-selangorno-2-jalan-p21-bandar-teknologi-kajang-43500-semenyih-selangor-malaysia#sthash.YFdwcdB6.dpuf

pH Pastry House @ Lakefields, Sg Besi

I read about pH Pastry House in a recent issue of Time Out KL magazine and decided to see if it was as good as reported.

 

It was my first visit to the Lakefields area in Sg Besi and on arrival, I must say that I was impressed by the external fascade and lighting (we visited at dinner time).

 

A display counter showed off their selection of cakes and desserts. There were quite a few cheesecakes and tarts on display. We were impressed.

 

To begin, we selected a Starter - Honey Barbecued Short Ribs. The honey barbeque sauce was thick and tasty but the ribs were tough and contained too many chewy sinews. Some trimming of the meat would have elevated this dish.  

 

Our Main Course arrived next - Beef Wellington. The beef for this dish fared better - lean and juicy. The pastry was buttery and flaky but overall the dish needed more seasoning. The sides of mashed potato and boiled vegetables were rather flat and uninspiring.

 

Our Salad arrived after the Main Course. Perhaps the crab for the Soft Shell Crab Salad  took time to be deep fried first? When it arrived at the table, we were not sure if it was our order. It looked more like a main dish rather than a salad. Anyway, there were two large pieces of soft shell crab coated in a thick batter and deep fried until crispy and topped with a tomato salsa sauce. The salad (on the side) came with avocado, olives, lettuce, baby tomatoes and cream. A real mish-mash salad which didn't really work for us.  Perhaps it should be moved to the Main Course section and renamed Deep Fried Soft Shell crab with a side of salad?

 

Alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks are available. We picked a drink described as Passie (Passion Fruit). It arrived in a shocking blue color and had only a mild passion fruit flavor in it. Hmmmmm. 

 

There were more misses than hits thus far, so we were hoping the  dessert would fare better. We chose the Lady Royale (fancy name for a Blueberry Tart). It looked great, and tasted OK. But the crust was just too thick and hard. In fact it was so hard we just ate the topping and left the crust behind. For a place that calls itself a pastry house, this was disappointing.

   

The total damage was RM112.75.

Final verdict - mediocre. I don't think I'll be making another drive to Lakefields to eat here again.

Location : 1, Jalan Tasik Utama 3, Medan Niaga Tasik Damai (Lakefields), 57000 Sg Besi, KL

Contact : 03-90548339

Taste Gallery @ Bandar Mahkota

Here is a place that was listed in a Top 10 list of places to eat in Bandar Mahkota by an online portal recently. We decided to give it a try and here's what we thought:-

 

Drinks - passion fruit green tea was OK. Iced coffee - OK also. They have Illy coffee too but we did not try it this time.

 

Chef's signature Assam Laksa was OK. We would have preferred chunkier pieces of fish and more sour laksa gravy. And more prawn paste. 

 

We couldn't try their signature charcoal bun burgers on the the day we visited as they had run out of buns! So we settled for a Soft Shell Crab burger in a ciabatta bun. The soft shell crab was nice and crispy and tasty but they killed it with too much mayonaisse. There is much to be said about moderation with sauces. The fries that accompanied the burger were perfect - chunky in size, crispy on the outside and soft inside.   

 

The damage - RM44.75.  

 

First impression was rather average but we're undecided about this place. Needs more exploring of the menu. Give it a try and tell us what you think. 

Location : No 22, Jalan Temenggung 19/9, Bandar Mahkota Cheras, 43200  Cheras, Selangor

Contact : 03-90118016

Banh Mi @ Bandar Puteri, Puchong

After my recent trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, I have been on the lookout for nice Vietnamese food in Klang Valley. After reading about this place on Eat Drink KL blog, I was tempted to give it a try.

Located behind the Columbia Asia hospital in Bandar Puteri, this is a relatively quiet neighborhood for a restaurant, far from the hustle (and parking madness) of the Bandar Puteri town centre. Lots of parking in this vicinity.

They have a very limited menu - maybe less than 15 items, of which half are choices of Banh Mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches). You can have it with choice of pork (bacon or grilled pork), fish, chicken, egg or a combination of these (on request).

Banh Mi with bacon - RM6.80

Banh Mi with grilled chicken - RM6.60

Banh Mi with Grilled Pork - RM6.60

I liked the grilled chicken and grilled pork as these had the added smoky aroma and flavors from the grilling. Recommended.

Also available are rice sets with braised pork belly or lemongrass chicken. I tried the lemongrass chicken which was served with stir fried bitter gourd with egg and a vegetable soup. The chicken was nice and tasty but if would have been better if it was served with hot steaming rice instead of the lukewarm rice I got.

Lemongrass chicken with rice set - RM6.80

Lastly, we had the Bo Kho or beef stew. Served with a baguette, the stew was nice but not as thick and flavorful as I anticipated.

Stew beef with baguette set - RM6.60

Special mention about the unique decor made with real unused baguettes. The baguettes are made fresh daily so the unused ones get used as decor for the shop. Brilliant! It's a small non air-cond cafe so it does get stuffy in the afternoon.

The entire operation is run by Vietnamese so you're ensured of an authentic experience. Vietnamese drip coffee (hot or iced) and Ice Lime Tea are available and are recommended as well.

Location : No 21, Jalan Puteru 7/9, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong, Selangor (opposite the Bandar Puteri Police Station)
Contact : 012-3225548 (Cindy Pham)
Website : www.banhmi.com.my
Operating hours : 10.30 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. (closed once a month)

Le Moon's @ Jade Hills

Jade Hills comes to life with the opening of Le Moon's, a cafe, bakery and 'zakka'.

I haven't found out what 'zakka' means but here's what we have tried.

Confit duck leg. This turned out rather dry and the skin was not crispy as expected.

Thai chicken salad. Crispy fresh vegetables but the 'Thai' chicken was heavy on the turmeric and it did not really have any  Thai chicken to us.

Chocolate Marquee. This was finally redemption for Le Moon's. A rich and not overly sweet chocolate cake served with a raspberry coulis. Great balance of rich and tangy. Excellent.

They serve Illy coffee here, which is reasonably acceptable but unexciting. We also packed some pastries - a Chocolate Danish and a Raisin Danish. Both were suitably flaky and buttery. Excellent and recommended.

Conclusion - Le Moon's is a place to go for a cake and pastries. The food menu (at least the items we tried) needs more work. However they win hands down for The Prettiest Cafe in Kajang. Give it a try.

Location :  18-G, Persiaran Jade Hills Utama 1/1, Kajang
Contact :  012-620-3638 or 010-289-9585