Press Release | KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL

7 Sep

Featured in Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia!

Posted by kampungboycitygal in Press Release. 10 Comments

We have been featured in the September issue of Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia. The article also features some other great food bloggers across the region such as ZenKimchi, Market Manila, Chubby Hubby, Kyoto Foodie and Cha Xiu Bao. What a great honour and privilege to be placed next to them!

Many thanks to Amy Ma for featuring us and keep up the awesome work!

17 Mar

Recession Food? Vicchuda Tom Yum @ Damansara Uptown

Posted by kampungboycitygal in Damansara, Local Food, Malay Food, Press Release, Selangor, Thai Food. 15 Comments

Small Note: Our write-up on Nong & Jimmy was featured in The Star Sunday Metro

With more stories about credit crisis, mortgage meltdown and job losses, it appears we are heading towards recession, and it may not get better anytime soon. I figured I’d jump on the recession bandwagon by introducing some recession proof food that is light on the wallet but feels heavy on the stomach.

Vicchuda in Damansara Utama is a great place for some Thai food. The restaurant has done pretty well because it is simply the best – cheap, easy and quick. The owner himself originates from the southern part of Thailand too. Though Vicchuda is essentially a restaurant with Thai influnces, the menu roams freely with some Malaysian fares such as ayam paprika daging masak merah and curries too.

From top left: ayam paprik, menu, tom yum campur, kerabu perut, kailan with salted fish, cucumber with sambal belacan.

Served scalding hot, the tom yum campur is very spicy and sour, with a lot of fresh spices and herbs like lemon grass, ginger root, red shallots, lime coriander leaves, chili and kaffir lime leaves. The bits of cili padi floating on top of the clear soup may look too intimidating, do not fear as real tom yum should draw your sweat and tears. Unlike tom yum soup at other places, Vicchuda’s version has got omphhhh. It was spicy enough to make our scalp sweat but keep wanting for more.

Kerabu Perut. The tripes were thin, slighty crunchy and firm in texture. With dashes of fish sauce, lemon juice and sugar, the sauce is sweet, sour, salty and spicy. Very addictive stuff.

Apart from their specialties such as bawal masam manis udang petai, kerabu sotong, the usual fare like kangkung belacan, ayam papril, fried rice, and nasi pataya are pretty good too. We would highly recommend both kerabu perut and tomyam soup. At only RM4 to RM6 per portion (small), it is best to go for a greater variety of dishes. With 4 dishes, 2 rice and iced water, the total bill came at RM 23. Now this is what we meant by recession food…

Vicchuda Tom Yam Restaurant
24 Jalan SS21/35,
Damansara Utama
03 7722 3481

Opens from 11am to 12 midnight

(same row as Champion Duck and MayBank)

29 Oct

Restaurant Choon Yien @ Happy Mansion Apartment, Section 17

Posted by kampungboycitygal in Chinese Food, PJ, Press Release, Selangor. 14 Comments

Recognition from the local press is a sweet thing, and thumbs up for The Star for putting up a Food Blog column that feature Malaysia Food Bloggers every Sunday on Sunday Metro. I’ve seen food reviews of Boolicious, Wantan Production, Eat First Think Later, Lyrical Lemongrass, Sweets for My Sweet Tooth and it comes to my surprise that our review on JCO Donut was being featured last Sunday. The teeny weeny bit, no itsy-bitsy bit of The Star-dom will definitely push us to eat more and write more.

Proud to acclaim ourselves as regular customer of Choon Yien, this place never fails to serve us with some above average cha siu (sweet bbq pork), siu yoke (roasted pork) and crispy skin chicken. I suppose that Choon Yien is an open secret among KLites because it is so hard to secure a table or seat during lunch hour.

The serving staff, James can get real snobbish and impatient during weekdays but he’ll greet you as “Brother” or “Man” after peak hours. Funny character.

A perfect prelude to the hearty meal would be the complementary soup of the day. It varies from day to day where sometimes we get lotus root soup, chicken feet with peanut soup or the Chinese watercress soup, being our favourite. It is good cooling soup, nutritious and satisfying and always reminded me of mum.

A special mention to the chicken stock base rice, fluffy, fragrant with some garlic and ginger residue.

Unlike Meng Kee’s version with a few layers of sweet and sticky glazing applied, Choon Yien’s version is simmered with some soy based gravy and sprinkled with the perfect amount of garlic crust.

“Boon Fei Sao” (half fat and half lean) is our default order because too much fat is gross while the leanest pieces are not always tender. Boon Fei Sao is wonderfully tender and so, so succulent.

The siu yoke that looks promisingly good. Distinctive layer of crispy skin, fats and meats are felt in our mouth. Even though they are not reputable as the best siu yoke in town, but I love the fact that it is not too oily and I feel less sinful to indulge on these goodies.

The crispy skin chicken is not your average roasted chicken that we found at anywhere else. It does require some skill to keep the chicken moist and the skin crispy because the chicken has to be air dried for hours so the skin becomes crispy when it is being deep fried. If I were to rank among the three, it would be crispy skin chicken, cha siu and finally roasted pork. Pricing is quite reasonable, it ranges from RM 5 (plain cha siu rice) to RM 10 per person (cha siu+siu yoke+chicken with rice).

Restoran Choon Yien
CG-1, Happy Mansion Apartments
Jalan 17/13
Section 17
46400 Petaling Jaya
11 am to 1 pm
(Please refer to the Food Foundry’s map)

Mr. James – 016-2809043

18 Jun

Our Blog On Local Press

Posted by kampungboycitygal in Press Release. 15 Comments

Jesscet from MalayMail contacted us couple of weeks ago as our joint blog is related to her article “Time for Two”. Check it out here. Hmmm it’s about some interesting stuff or activities that couple could indulge in and it sparkles up your relationship indirectly! Other than joint blogging, she featured couples work out and doing rock climbing together. Here is our part in the article (Print Screen from www.mmail.com.my):

Chin Wei Zhi and Lim Dao Feng, both 21, are second-year students from Multimedia University Cyberjaya

Wei Zhi and Dao Feng have gone out together for almost two years, and share a common passion – food. They are proud owners of a food-based blog called KampungboyCitygal (http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com).

“Both of us are food lovers and we want to share our personal experiences of dining out and food recipes through our blog,” says Wei Zhi who is from Ipoh.

The blog includes published food reviews on restaurants around the Klang Valley and Ipoh; quick and easy recipes for students, and snippets of the couple’s lives.

Wei Zhi writes food reviews because she enjoys expressing her thoughts on the food she has tasted. Dao Feng is the photographer and photo editor as he says he has the artsy gene in him.

Has their relationship improved through their blog?

“Definitely! We used to be conservative in our food choices. But as food bloggers, we became more adventurous in trying out new food. In the process, we got to spend more time together, in among other ways, replying to our readers’ comments and choosing pictures to upload on our blog. Overall, it has improved the communication between us,” she says.

They agree that blogging is now a trend among young couples.

“It doesn’t have to be a food-based blog. They can blog about their personal lives and shared interests, such as sports, movie and music – to add spark to their love life!” quips Wei Zhi.

Wei Zhi and Dao Feng find it exciting knowing that people enjoy reading their blog.

“We get compliments from friends and family and we have made new friends through our blog. In fact, some of our friends use our blog as a dining guide and sometimes my mum actually refers to my recipes found online,” says Wei Zhi.

Thanks to Jess from Malay Mail that fitted us into the article. We are overwhelmed by sms from relatives and friends that saw us on the paper. Eventhough it’s not something about the hottest male and female bloggers or the best food blog, we are just as flattered. It just meant something for us, that all our hard work and time dedicated to this blog for the pass 6 months is getting noticed. I’ll reserve the thank you speech for our blog’s 1 year annivessary then. Big warm hugzzz to everyone!