BKK Food I Missed

This is going to be a short post. I am now craving for the juicy cockles in Bangkok.
 
Lunch at Chinatown in Bangkok, I normally go for either fish ball noodle or pork leg rice. Both are located on the same street. Meal in Bangkok is not cheap too. Average BHT350 - BHT 500 normally. About RM3.50 to RM5.00. 






Pork leg rice with chrysanthemum tea. The chrysanthemum tea is rather sweet though.
 



The salted crabs, crab from paddy field. It's called poo naa in Thai, it is used for som tum pbooh salad - mix with green papaya, long bean, fish sauce, chili, etc.




Sibu has it too, salty type. Thai's version is sweet because they add sugar too.




The juicy cockles I missed




This is the dinner I had normally in Bangkok. Steamed cockles and one plate of green vegetables. I can finish all by myself.

Kedai Makanan Nam Heong 南香茶餐厅, Ipoh

Location: 2, Jalan Bandar Timah, Ipoh, 30000, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

As a Malaysian, you should know where's white coffee originated from. Every instant white coffee has included "Ipoh" on the packaging. So if you come to visit Ipoh, you must not miss white coffee and Kedai Makanan Nam Heong is the origin of old town white coffee. Though my friend and I just finished our meal at Thean Chun, with full stomach we still proceeded to Kedai Makanan Nam Heong.

They sell dim sum too and curry mee too.




The authentic white coffee




Full of bubble like teh tarik eh. Thick coffee aroma and it's nice!




My friend and I love its egg tart and curry puff. Wanted to order take-away but decided not... because it tastes better while still hot. 




End of my post with the photos of Ipoh train platform and ETS train. Train fare is RM32 for KL Sentral - Ipoh route.




The interior of train cabin, it's clean and comfortable.

Restoran Thean Chun 天津茶室, Ipoh

Location: 74, Jalan Bandar Timah, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

I was digging out old photos and decided to complete my blog entries for the Ipoh trip (it has been a year!). Kedai Makanan Nam Heong will be the next. Just for the sake of my own record, otherwise I feel like something is missing.

I googled online for the must-try food list in Ipoh town. Picked Lou Wong, Tuck Kee, Thean Chun and Nam Heong. If you ask me which makes me unforgettable, I would say Tuck Kee. I really like their wat tan hor 滑蛋河. Another must-try food in Ipoh is the chicken & prawn kuey teow 鸡丝河粉. If you google online, Restoran Thean Chun is always in the top list of search results. And they are not famous with chicken kueh tiaw soup only, what moved me is their caramel egg custard. Selling caramel egg custard in a coffee shop? That's interesting!

The uncle selling authentic chicken & prawn kuey teow.




Chicken & prawn kuey teow. The broth has a bit of sweetness. Overall it is good.




Fish ball noodle, I picked a few ingredients.






The famous caramel egg custard. Almost every table ordered this dish. The texture is smooth and sweet. Haaa.. so lame right.. it should be smooth and sweet what. Lol




Popiah is also a must-have food at Thean Chun




Ipoh white coffee




Many customers ordered the satay too. As we are not a huge fan of satay lover so we didn't order. We kept some space for Nam Heong white coffee instead.

Restoran Kin Kin, The Chili Pan Mee 建记辣椒板面

Address: 40, Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1, Off Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Chow Kit, 50300 Kuala Lumpur

This is nothing new to food bloggers in KL. Well, I have been there for few times too. Around 5 times I think? My friend loves to have it. The location is not hard to find, it is just somewhere behind Tune Hotel downtown.

I seldom take spicy food. But I always have bigger fond of pan mee. Slurp.. Some might think it's tasteless, but I just enjoy the fragrance of noodle very much. The combination of poached egg with pan mee is even a perfect match!

Stir it with an amount of chili flakes to your liking. Oh, don't overestimate your capability of taking the spiciness, it's really hot and spicy.

Fish balls, meat balls and beancurb skin soup. I like this too.

There are some reviews by some famous bloggers online which bad framed Restoran Kin Kin. Well, I never experienced it. The tauke was friendly to us. For me, it is worth to visit repeatedly. But I had it too many times, guess that's the max visit I can do. Unless my friend craves for it again one day. Lately, he found another nice pan mee too: Super Kitchen. The competitor opposite Kin Kin. He said he prefers Super Kitchen, but I prefer Kin Kin still. Have you ever tried Super Kitchen's wanton soup? Gezz... it's a disaster to me. Super spicy because of the pepper and tastes extremely salty. And you will feel thirty after having it because they put a lot of sodium salt to enhance the flavour.

Chop Hing Huong, 兴园茶室 The Famous Ding Bian Hu 鼎边糊, Sibu

Location: Alley besides Ah Hee Kopi Tian, Butterfly Garden, Sibu, Sarawak

I'm going to Sibu this weekend for my grand mother's 80's birthday celebration. This reminds me of the famous ding bian hu 鼎边糊 which I should blog. Everyone in Sibu knows where to have it and the shop has been existing more than 30 years, even during the courtship of my parents, I guess? Every trip to Sibu, this is the place my father and I will not miss out. Since kids we always went there for a hot bowl of ding bian hu and a bottle of local-made soda drinks. That's our childhood memory.

So what's so special about this ding bian hu? It's Foochow delicacy. Mix the rice flour with water, cook it around the rim of wok with the broth boiling in the wok. When the rice flour is cooked, scrap it into the broth. Garnished with fish balls, cuttlefish, black fungus, deep fried shallots and pepper. It should be served with ceramic bowl and spoon (it does make the taste different).

Chop Hing Huong's ding bian hu is different from others is because they made the fish balls themselves.

Cream soda manufactured in Sibu. It is only available in Sibu. Less gas and sweet. Full of our childhood memory.






There's another brand of cream soda made in Sibu too. I would still prefer N.K.'s cream soda.




After ding bian hu, I always got attracted by the aroma of kuih bahulu from next door. It's a must have food for me. I had 2 pieces of bahulu after a big bowl of ding bian hu.

Kuching has better taste of ding bian hu too, one at Peach Garden Jalan Song (evening operation) and one at Sing Garden Hui Sing (morning operation).

Dayak Ruai, Brighton Square, Kuching (Sorry, business closed)

It is quite sad to see Dayak Ruai disappeared in Kuching due to financial shortage to keep business running. Food quality is good, I must say. I hope to see Dayak Ruai again in the future. 

Location: Lot 7691, SubLot 29, Brighton Square Commercial Center, Kuching
Business Hours: Tuesday - Saturday: 11:00 am - 12:00 am; Sunday: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm;
closed on Monday

Dayak Ruai at Brighton Square is another Dayak cuisine restaurant I brought my friend to after The Dyak. It's a new Dayak restaurant in town. I was tempted to try for quite sometime. Finally the opportunity came.

Their menu is very simple. The owner told us the menu will keep changing as it depends on the materials he can get from market in the morning. We like his idea, can benefits the customers to try something new every time.

They have the set deal: one person RM9.90, two person RM25.90 and 4 person RM49.90. You can choose 1 meat and 2 vege, the set comes with the bamboo soup too. What a bargain right.

Or you might be interested to try their ala-carte menu too. The pricing is the same as The Dyak.

Different from The Dyak, their drinks are more unique with reasonable price. The Dyak's price for drinks is rather too high, though fine dining rating but serve the drinks where you can at any coffee shop. I don't think it's acceptable.

They sell tuak too. Tourists who are interested can get the tuak bottle here. But exporting it out could be problematic, I think. 

Cucumber Limeade Juice and Calamondin (RM4.50 each)

My choice of set deal: Cenchalu (salty shrimp paste), Rebung Masak Tebus Belachan (stir-fried baby bamboo with belacan) and Jani Masak Kunyit (turmeric pork soup).

My friend's choice of set deal: Manok Gulai Nanas (pineapple chicken), Pucuk Maimet and Pucuk Timun Masak Ikan Bilis (cucumber leaves stir-fried with anchovies)

Chicken bamboo soup aka pansoh (manok lulun). It is included in the set deal. Compared to The Dyak, Dayak Ruai's pansoh is less oily.

Petai Kenchala RM12. We enjoyed this one very much.

The emerge of Dayak Ruai brings us more choice of authentic Dayak cuisine. I would recommend Dayak Ruai's set deal because you can enjoy different dishes at a bargain price. Unlike The Dyak, two of us ordered 4 dishes but couldn't finish it all (we have tried our very best though). So the portion of set deal is just right for both of us.

The Dyak, Authentic Dayak Cuisine in Kuching

Location: Ground Floor, Panovel Commercial Complex, Jalan Simpang Tiga, 93300 Kuching
Operation hours: Monday - Saturday: 11:30 am - 8:30 pm, closed on Sunday




Dayak cuisine is very unique that only available in Sarawak. In the past, it was never an easy task to find Dayak cuisine until the establishment of The Dyak in 2011, the first Dayak fine dining restaurant in Kuching. Recently my friend came to visit me from Singapore. As she showed little interest to go for international cuisines, I suggested Dayak cuisine. And we would be able to have a healthier meal that contain fibers too.



I enjoy wild plants very much. Those wild plants you can find it at Pasar Tamu (market selling a range of local products) but lack of knowledge how to cook it. At Dyak, you can savour the authentic Dayak cuisine with a real taste wild plants.

Their Menu:










They serve brown rice only. A bowl of this rice costs RM3 if not mistaken. Quite expensive for me.




Jani Empikau RM25 (Seasonal). This is my friend's favourite dish. Durian is seasonal, so does this dish. If you are durian lover, you should try this too.




Dayak's famous dish: Manok Lulun (RM25), chicken stewed in bamboo with tapioca leaves, commonly known as pansoh. This is my favourite. I like the soup a lot, Dayak's version of chicken tonic soup.




My friend likes cangkuk manis (star gooseberry). So we ordered this too: "Changkuk Manis Labu" RM14. Star gooseberry leaves stir-fried with pumpkin.




Paku Kubok RM10. Giant jungle ferns stir-fried with wild ginger flowers, anchovies and chillies. Highly recommended. Not very spicy actually but fantastic taste.




I have been to The Dyak for 4 times so far. Below is the photos I took on my first visit:

Petai is my favourite. Petai Gulai Kechala (Price has increased from RM10 to RM14).




Jani Guring (Pork stir-fried with soy sauce)




I kinda missed this type of lamp.




Interested to try Tuak? You can get it here at The Dyak too. They even have tuak ice cream..




Though expensive, I must say it's worth to have a try. I'm going to write another post of Dayak restaurant in Kuching soon. Stay tuned!