Nestled in a 100-year-old building in the heart of Chinatown, Ril’s Steakhouse opened its door last December with the aim of providing KL-ites with the best meat in the city. We chose to have our Christmas dinner here after hearing some good comments about the food. Parking could be an issue. We parked at an open car park on a back alley about 50 meters before Ril’s Steakhouse and the 50 meters walk was pretty terrifying. We felt as if we could get robbed/mugged any time because Jalan Tun HS Lee was dead quiet at night.

Taking the parking issue aside, The Warehouse Gallery and Cafe which houses Ril’s Steakhouse is a nice place. One can take a stroll to admire the art work on display or simply enjoy a cuppa.

When the proprietor Tunku Khairil Ibrahim and his wife Laurie first spotted this old shop lot, they immediately fell in love with the space and decided it would be criminal to waste such a beautiful building. I felt the same too!

Stepping into Ril’s Steakhouse, one will be easily attracted by the soaring ceilings, cosy leather furniture, and raw industrial accents amidst the rustic decor. White tablecloths and the hanging chandelier create a classy feel.

Ril’s Steakhouse menu features simple yet refined steakhouse classics with a selection of mouth watering starters, mains, sides and desserts. Head Chef and Owner, Tunku Khairil Ibrahim knows meat and just how to cook it. The steak at Ril’s Steakhouse is either Malaysia-reared Gemas Gold or air-flown Australian Angus steaks – we love the fact we know where our meet is coming from.

The types of butter they serve here reminds me of Prime @ Le Meridien.

We loved the bread roll too! It was so flavourful and dense! We tried not to eat too much but it’s awfully hard to resist the wonderful aroma of the freshly baked bread roll.

We started our meal with Lobster Bisque (RM 24) which combines the best flavour of the ocean. It was so creamy and every mouthful was bursting with flavour.

Ril’s Tiga Rasa Scallop (RM 24) was served in three unique ways, with an intense flavour profile moving from sweet to sour to salty. It brings out the best flavour of these plump and juicy scallops.

Slightly charred on the outside and vibrantly pink on the inside, our order of rib eye (RM 99, 500g) was incredibly tender, perfectly seasoned and rich with flavour. It is best to eat without speaking, savouring ever mouthful. The generous portion can easily feed two too. We made a wise decision of sharing the 500g portion. There’s also lady’s portion available for sale at RM 68, 300g.

Just like any other steak house, patrons can choose from the sides available; be it spinach, mushroom, fries, onion rings or baked potatoes (from RM 10 to RM 18).

Our order of Double Baked Potato Royale, Truffled (RM 18) was way beyond excellence! The potatoes were baked and cooked until done. The potatoes were then sliced and the contents were scooped out, leaving the skin to form a shell. The contents were then mixed with butter, cream, truffle and seasonings to achieve a creamy consistency. Place them back onto the shell, sprinkle on some cheese and return the potatoes to the oven. So much work but tasted so good!

Each of us got a complimentary mulled wine from the restaurant manager. It is a traditional drink during Christmas in the Germany. It is actually red wine combined with spices and  served warm.

Dessert was Salted Gula Melaka Ice Cream (RM 12) from The Last Polka. Good ice cream although a tad too sweet for our likings.

If you want incredible steak then this is the place for you, with great ambiance, attentive and friendly services, best quality steak and reasonable pricing. In terms of value for money, Ril’s Steakhouse is pretty hard to beat. KampungBoy thought it was the best RM 200 spent on a satisfactory dinner as such.

Ril’s Steakhouse.
The Warehouse Gallery & Cafe,
Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2022-0528.

Ril’s Steakhouse is open from 4.30pm to midnight daily, Tuesday to Sunday. Between 5pm and 7pm on weekdays, the Ril’s Happy Hour offers 2for1 cocktails, RM30 jugs of beer and RM60 jugs of frozen margarita, with the irresistible allure of free steak sandwiches. It is also open for lunch from 12pm onwards on Friday and Saturday, and for champagne brunch on Sundays from 11.30am to 2.30pm.

For reservations call +60) 3 2022 0528, email info@thewarehouse.com.my or visit www.thewarehouse.com.my

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Typica Cafe, 原来真好 。

Typica Cafe in Shaw Parafe was a place I discovered by chance. We were yearning for coffee after a very filling lunch of Yap Hup Kee’s yong tofu. We walked around aimlessly until I saw a Typica Cafe that seemed to be open and had cute teacups filled with coffee beans at the entrance.

The homey little cafe was gorgeous! The interior is lovingly designed to give you a sense of calm and warmth.The owner and the wait staffs were incredibly friendly too.

They prepare their coffees in 2 methods; syphon and filter. Syphon method produces a more intense flavor compared to the filter method. To order, we chose the brewing method and the variation of coffee beans. Syphon method produces a more intense flavor compared to the filter method.

chilling out with the girls.

I’m not a coffee aficionado, but we were enticed by the extensive choices of blend, country and style.

Green Tea Latte

Oh, I forgot to keep the receipt but it actually offers a delicate floral notes and there’s a bitter aftertaste to it.

Typica Cafe is the perfect place for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Do drop by and be amazed by their wide selection of coffee blends, espresso beans and gourmet coffee.

Typica Cafe
GL-08, Ground Floor,
Shaw Parade Plaza,
Changkat Thambi Dollah,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel:+603 – 2145 0328

Business Hours
Mon-Sun: 11am-9pm
Website: http://typicacafe.blogspot.com/

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

My pre birthday lunch with KampungBoy, Christine, Chris and Ivy was amazing. I am very happy that they did those extra thoughtful gestures to make my birthday meal a memorable one. I am also absolutely delighted by the fact that Xiao Fei Yang is the chosen venue for our rendezvous. I’ve been there twice; all for the love of the comforting and nourishing brew of “má là” 麻辣 hot pot.

A no-frills, but clean and bright restaurant like Xiao Fei Yang gives me a good vibe. Though located at a hideous part of the city with limited parking space, they were doing brisk businesses.

We had the signature yuan yang soup base – Herbal Chicken Soup and Ma La Peppercorn Seed Soup. The mala soup base was heavy, oily with liberal use of pepper that creates a numbing and tingling sensation on the tongue. The herbal soup was ordered to counter the spiciness of the ma la soup. Deemed useless anyway, because our lips were all swollen after that.

We spotted sterilized utensils, which is provided in most restaurants in China. Just like China’s restaurant diners, we were entitled to pay RM1 for each set of utensils used.

I love these dipping sauces that come with our hotpot. Those spicy and salty dipping sauces gave our hot pot ingredients an extra kick.

simple appetizer that perks up the palate and appetite.

The wait staff recommended us some cold dishes to go with the hot pot. We went for the pork belly slices on a bed of greens, tossed in a delightfully refreshing and tangy dressing. The “unidentified” greens from China was fresh and crispy and went well with the salted pork belly slices.

Another interesting cold dish that we had is saliva chicken. This gross sounding dish is actually very delicious. It derives its name from that fact that it is so delicious that it will make your mouth water.

Hot Pot Ingredients:

Other than XFY’s signature sliced lamb, I reckoned that pumpkin, yam, cold tofu (bottom left) and hand made noodles (next picture) are among some of the “must order” ingredients.

Overall, it was a very satisfying meal where each of us paid about RM 30 for ALL THAT FOOD. Pretty reasonable I would say.

pictures credit to Chris

Thank you for the wonderful surprise and cake that you girls put up for my birthday. <3

I’m a year older, officially. Thank you god for granting all my little birthday secrets last year (secret!!). This year, I will try to live my life to the fullest and to make sure that I love what I am doing. I’m loving my soul mate who is always there for me, my job (except for the daunting professional papers part!) and I love what I do with my food blog, especially.

I’m blessed, and I hope you are too!

Xiao Fei Yang restaurant,
18, Lorong Thambi Dua,
Pudu, Kuala Lumpur 55100
Tel: 03-2142-6789‎
**Branch opened in Damansara Uptown

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Feeling adventurous on a Sunday night, we venture into KL area, Pudu Wai Sek Gai (Glutton Street). We are not a KL person; places that we are familiar with are limited: Jalan Alor, KLCC, Time Square, Star Hill Gallery and Pudu Raya. Full Stop. Ooo can Citygal adds Asian Heritage Row to the list?

We were so tired we considered giving up pretty much immediately when suddenly I thought of Jackson. Thanks Jackson, you are the savior! After much turnings and wander around, we found the place one hour later.

Shabby stalls offering good hawker food was parked along the alley. Hankering for food after being stuck in the car for one hour, I was pretty excited to start ordering. CKT is sold out, never mind, I’ll get the stew egg dessert, sold out again, never mind, there’s still stir fry radish cake, uncle is doing the last three plates.

The perfect golden fried chicken was crispy, tender and flavorful. I like my fried chicken with a crust where I can get your teeth into. It was marinated and breaded in the special mixture of seasonings. We were eating with much gusto even though most of the must try items were sold off.

The chee cheong fun is thin and smooth, the accompanied curry gravy comes with lots of fried shallots and pounded dried shrimps. Maybe they can add extra chillies to kick up the flavour intensity.

Boiled cockles for the brave at heart. The bloody cockles is bloody good, it was so fresh that the blood spatter on my hand when I tried to open it. The freshly-dredged cockles were boiled rapidly and ready to be served in a short while. It was best to be eaten with a spicy local chilli sauce with squeeze lime juice.

I couldn’t help thinking about “hepatitis” when I popped these giant juicy cockles into my mouth, sigh, eat first think later lar!

Grandma always instill with me the believe that charcoal produce delectable tong sui, smoke from smoldering charcoal will make your food tastes better. I know that I have to buy the tong sui (Chinese sweet soup) from the chee cheong fun where they subsequently boiled the tong sui over charcoal fire. The bubur cha-cha is real good stuff , the combination of sweet potato, yam, black-eyed beans, tapioca jelly and sago pearls in thick coconut milk gives you nothing but GUILT. Flap like a chicken, shake your butts and go cha-cha.

In case you guys lost in the middle of nowhere Lesson learnt for KampungboyCitygal.

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Being a KL road-blind ourselves, it is a stressful event to drive around the city without any guides or maps on hand. Usually we would avoid entering into KL at all cost, good food is an exceptional case of course.

Once a road notorious as Red Light District, Jalan Alor has emerged with the name of Wai Sek Kai (glutton street) with shabby stalls offering good hawker food all over.

Meng Kee is famous for their grilled seafood. The grilled ikan pari is done in different way, the skin is crispy and the flesh remain juicy as seen in Lyrical Lemongrass review. We were early and the seafood is not even defrosted!!

Few steps after Meng Kee is Restoran Sai Woo, famous for their delicious pork mee suah. Again, we were too early and the piggy is not even slaughter yet.

We tried 1+1 dim sum and wantan mee before, so it is always better to reserve some space for new choices.

Here we are, Wong Ah Wah who made a really big name for themselves as the best grilled chicken wings in town. The waiter lead us to an air conditioned place where everyone is having tai chow dishes. It is a bit embarassing to order nothing but chicken wings but we did so eventually.

We had one dozen of these juicy and scrumptious chicken wings. I’m expecting some sweetness from the honey coated chicken wing, but surprisingly it is savoury with some taste of shao xing or wine?? The chicken wings are grilled to perfection and well marinate. Can I have this everyday??

Frog Porridge for the brave at heart. Some of my friends were pulled off from this delicacies because of gross looking frogs (tin kai). It is not hard to spot this No-Name stall as they are the only one who offer frog porridge.

Frog Porridge for Two filled up our stomach instantly.Great stuff if you like eating amphibians. I love those little drunmsticks, tasted so sweet and succulent. The porridge sprinkled with dashes of spring onion, ginger and sesame oil was nothing fantastic though. I’m drooling over the Kong Pou version that Mei Yen had with her darling. Shall drive down to Jalan Alor again, drooling over the grilled seafood!!

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Being a KL road-blind ourselves, it is a stressful event to drive around the city without any guides or maps on hand. Usually we would avoid entering into KL at all cost, good food is an exceptional case of course.

Once a road notorious as Red Light District, Jalan Alor has emerged with the name of Wai Sek Kai (glutton street) with shabby stalls offering good hawker food all over.

Meng Kee is famous for their grilled seafood. The grilled ikan pari is done in different way, the skin is crispy and the flesh remain juicy as seen in Lyrical Lemongrass review. We were early and the seafood is not even defrosted!!

Few steps after Meng Kee is Restoran Sai Woo, famous for their delicious pork mee suah. Again, we were too early and the piggy is not even slaughter yet.

We tried 1+1 dim sum and wantan mee before, so it is always better to reserve some space for new choices.

Here we are, Wong Ah Wah who made a really big name for themselves as the best grilled chicken wings in town. The waiter lead us to an air conditioned place where everyone is having tai chow dishes. It is a bit embarassing to order nothing but chicken wings but we did so eventually.

We had one dozen of these juicy and scrumptious chicken wings. I’m expecting some sweetness from the honey coated chicken wing, but surprisingly it is savoury with some taste of shao xing or wine?? The chicken wings are grilled to perfection and well marinate. Can I have this everyday??

Frog Porridge for the brave at heart. Some of my friends were pulled off from this delicacies because of gross looking frogs (tin kai). It is not hard to spot this No-Name stall as they are the only one who offer frog porridge.

Frog Porridge for Two filled up our stomach instantly.Great stuff if you like eating amphibians. I love those little drunmsticks, tasted so sweet and succulent. The porridge sprinkled with dashes of spring onion, ginger and sesame oil was nothing fantastic though. I’m drooling over the Kong Pou version that Mei Yen had with her darling. Shall drive down to Jalan Alor again, drooling over the grilled seafood!!

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Claypot lo shu fan (rat tail noodles) were served with the thick savoury gravy, topped with abundance of spring onions, minced pork and raw egg. Tossed the raw egg with everything and you’ll get a thick smooth gravy. Delicious! Somehow, I still prefer Murni’s claypot lo shu fan with the Ooo Laa Laa cili padi than Seng Kee’s.

Another most order dish must be their siu yoke meen (roasted pork noodles). The sang meen was mixed with roasted pork, vegetables and garlics. I have to say that the standard deteriorated. The sang meen has a very unpleasantly strong lye water (aqueous sodiam carbonate aka ‘kan sui’) smell and the roasted pork was hard instead of crispy. Nobody was willing to finish off the plate after one or two bite of this.

The deep fried yong taufu served some sweet sauce is nice though. I was a bit tipsy (not drunk) to take a good shot of this. Sorry! The bills came at a whopping RM 88 for 2 large claypot lo shu fan, 2 large siu yoke meen, 2 plates of yong taofu and some drinks.

It’s located at Jalan Sultan (after Popular Book Shop or opposite Shanghai Bookstore and Southern Bank). In Wantan’s Production review, he mentioned that Seng Kee actually has another two branch which is Mama’s Kitchen @ TTDI and Potz Cafe @ Sunway Mas.

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Shin Kee Beef Noodles Specialist. Operating hour from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm. We bear this in mind as we missed it during our first visit. We went there at 4 pm and of course theres no sight of the lady owner or smell of beef stew.

The noodles came with a bowl of soup with slices scallion, tripes and beef balls. The soup is so good that we left not even a drip of it behind. Small noodles RM 4 and Big one is RM 5.

Another two popular place that we heard of are Ngau Kee, Tingkat Tong Shin and Lai Foong just across the road from Shin Kee. Can anyone tell me which is the best? The best I had eaten is a little stall in Seremban wet market.

Shin Kee Beef Noodles Specialist, on Jalan Tun Tau Cheng Lock, about a half block from the entrance to Petaling Street.

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL/KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL - A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG