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.

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Few weeks back, we went for an invitation dinner courtesy of Andrea, the friendly marketing executive of Coca Group Restaurant Malaysia at Coca Restaurant Subang Parade. With our palate getting ready for some fiery hot Thai tom yam steamboat, we were rather surprised when told that menu for the day was ala carte dinner. Well no harm trying something new right?

Victims!

While waiting for the chef to whip out the dishes, we had Thai ice tea and a refreshing longan drink. The Thai ice tea deserves a special mention. It begins with aromatic Thai tea, plenty of palm sugar and a liberal shot of fresh milk. The tea is almost overwhelmingly rich and strong with a delightful aroma.

For appetizer, we had deep fried mussels (RM12.80) and Squid with Garlic and Pepper (RM12.80). The breading is light and crunchy with hints of curry spices, while the sweet, plump mussels are really fresh! I was all but addicted to these deep fried morsels.

Squid with Garlic and Pepper (RM12.80). Lightly coated in crunchy deep fried garlic and pepper seasoned flour, the squids are cooked to perfection, sans the chewy rubbery texture.

Tom Yam Seafood Soup (RM13.80). Overflowing with mushrooms and seafood, my lips tingled a bit and followed by a palate-searing pyrotechnics after taking a sip or two of the fiery soup. However, the two monkeys, Cumi & Ciki were expecting a little extra kicks and oomph. Very strong resistance to spiciness.

Green Curry with Chicken & Fish Ball (RM11.80). The overwhelming basil smell is quick a shock to our palate but the tender chicken pieces and freshly made fish ball do make up for it. Do note that yoghurt is used to replace coconut milk for health reason.

Stir Fried Baby Kailan (RM11.80). It is slightly too bland and lacking of the right amount of punch, the dish definitely has more room for improvement.

Thai Butter Prawn (Market price – RM16 per 100g). The jumbo sized prawns are perfectly cooked with a bursty and bouncy bite. Other than the usual curry leaves, the brilliant use of various spices make this dish distinctively delicious.

Steam Siakap with Lime & Chilli Sauce (Market price – RM9 per 100g). The flesh of the fish is tender and glides smoothly down the back of your throat while the sauce is rich, tangy with a trace of spiciness.

Coca Special Curry Live Crab (Market price – RM12 per 100g). We were told by Andrea that the mud crabs must remain alive until they are cooked or the meat will shrink and taste watery. The rice sauce, scrumptious when soaked up with Coca Mini Bun (RM1.80 per pc) is unbelievably delicious.

The host brought to us some sweet treats after scrumptious meal. Water Chestnut with Coconut Milk (RM7.50) is a visual delight. Besides being colorful, the water chestnut coated with a layer of tapioca is jelly-like on the outside, but crunchy in the inside. Sago in Coconut Milk (RM7.50). I truly enjoy the plain pearls of sago and honeydew cubes drenched in the sweet and rich coconut milk.

We had a great time lingering in conversation with Cumi & Ciki and Andrea during the long and filing dinner. Dining at Coca comes with a little heftier price tag but I thought the food quality, service and attention to detail is quintessential.

COCA Subang Parade
Lot G28, Level G, Subang Parade
5, Jalan SS16/1 Subang Jaya 47500 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03 5632 8766 Fax: 03 5632 8767

What can RM 25 buy you nowadays? Quarter tank full of petrol? Two Mcdonald’s value meal? A hair cut (not for some, who’s a regular at Peekaboo/A Cut Above)? An all you can eat shabu shabu buffet? Sounds more like it!

Located at Bandar Puteri Puchong, near to Giant Supermarket and same row as Citibank, Restaurant Shabu-Shabu is hard to miss with perpetual queue on a weekend night.Their sister outlet Mizi Shabu-Shabu, located at the other side of Giant, serves only ala carte steamboat are relatively quiet.

One has the option to go for ala carte steamboat at ground floor or the RM 25 nett PLZ (peng leng zeng) buffet spread at first floor. Quick and no frills conveyor belt concept is adopted, patrons are seated around the kaiten belt and feel free to grab anything/everything that they intended to eat.

The more luxurious item like pork slices (being the ONLY type of sliced meat offered) and deep fried snacks are churned out by the serving staff from time to time. If you’ve missed the first round, sit back and stuff yourself silly with more fish balls while waiting for the second batch.

All in all, the shabu-shabu buffet is of different league from Nagomi Shabu Shabu in terms of pricing and quality. However, for a decent malaysianized shabu-shabu or steamboat with some Japanese touch, this place beats Shabu-Shabu King SS2 hands down. Do remember that reservations are obligatory on weekends to avoid long waits.

Shabu-Shabu Restaurant
No:19, Jalan Puteri 1/6,
Bandar Puteri,
47100 Puchong.
Tel: 03-80605221
Business hours:5 pm – 11.30 pm

The shabu shabu dining experience originates from Japan, where thin slices of beef is being swish to and froth in pots of boiling clear konbo and daishi soup. Nagomi, unlike other Malaysianised shabu shabu places with fish balls and mock meat, offer us a truly Japanese swish swish experience.

Since the Menara Hap Seng branch is located near to my working place, together with my colleague, we checked out the place on their second day of opening.

The best thing without a doubt was the atmosphere but the service was slow and a little chaotic; it takes ages for the serving staff to bring in the menu, another long pause before we get our serving of soup, and finally our order of shabu shabu sets arrived after a freaking long time.

When we asked the waitress to check on our order of food and why is it taking so long, she shoved her tongue and answered “I duno wor”. Classic.

The shabu-shabu servings are available in sets (salmon shabu-shabu RM45++, chicken set RM28++, duck set RM 29++, beef shabu shabu RM33) and all set comes with the clear broth, a bowl of rice and assorted vegetables.

Everyone gets an individual pot and individual serving of soup. Most of us chose the signature clear chicken broth, Nagomi while another colleague chose the spicy soup.

The Step By Step Guide

1. For a more flavorful broth and to bring out the taste of the meat, cook all the white vegetables, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, onions and leeks first.

2. Dip a slice of meat into the hot boiling broth, and swish it back and forth for less than a minute. Poultry may take a longer time to cook than meat.

3. Dip the cooked meat in our homemade sauce. Ponzu is great with vegetables, goma to enrich the meat and chili to suit Malaysia taste buds.

4. Intersperse the cooking of meat with other green leaf vegetables and tofu.

5. Pour the steam rice into the leftover broth, let it simmers a little, enabling the rice to absorb all the goodness from the broth.

Other than the set item for shabu shabu, Nagomi serves all kinds of salads, Japanese tapas, sushis and sashimis as well. We were too horrified to order extra sides by then. We paid around RM40++ per pax, pricey but one can be sure that they are getting what they paid for. I hope that service has improved by then because I can almost be assured by their quality and commitment towards their Japanese Shabu Shabu.

Nagomi Shabu Shabu
http://www.nagomishabushabu.com/

Jaya 33,
No. 3, Jalan Semangat,
Seksyen 13,
46200 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.

Suite 1-19,
1st Floor, The Podium, Menara Hap Seng,
Jalan P.Ramlee,
50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Hartamas Shopping Centre, Ground Floor.

Business Hours:
11:00am to 10:00pm (daily)
Contact:
603 7986 2330 (Tel – Jaya 33)
603 2141 6332 (Tel – Menara Hap Seng)
603 2141 6331 (Fax)

Days before Chinese New Year, my family would give the house a thorough cleansing and “makeover” to sweep away all the bad luck and make way for good luck for a new year. My mum loves to decorate the living hall with paper cutouts of zodiac of the year and upside down “fu” that symbolize luck of fortune has arrived. Various food and offerings are put up at the altar of god and ancestor as appreciation for their blessings.

Here comes the fun part, Chinese New Year cookies/snacks making. My siblings and I will help mum out in whipping out goodies; from deep frying crab filament sticks, arrowhead crisps and chicken floss spring roll to baking goods like almond cookies and groundnut cookies. Of course, some cookies that is pain stakingly tedious such as kueh kapit (love letters) and chicken flavour biscuit (gai zai beng) are bought.

The most important part of would be the New Year Eve cum reunion dinner among our families. My parents are so going to kill me if I’m absent from any of these dinners. Family members would gather around a round table, having the obligatory steamboat and a beer or two. Steamboat is less hassle to prepare where all various ingredients such as sliced meat, sea cucumber, fish ball, jelly fish, leafy greens and tofu are cooked in a simmering broth. To some people dismay, the leftover are use for some stir fry dish on the next day.

After the dinner, we often stays till the wee hour, as it was long believed that by doing so our parents would live a longer life. In return, our parents would give us some age suppressing money (ya sui chien) to be placed under the pillow to signify infinity good luck.Stay tuned for more Chinese New Year posting, then you’ll be able to understand the sudden bloatedness in me.

I was browsing through my picture folders and realized that I tonnes of pictures yet to be posted up. I’m sorry because there were too many events, gatherings and parties going on for the pass few months. I’ll try to update regularly ok?

This is another steamboat place at Seri Kembangan yet to be discovered! They are having this special promotion in conjunction with their new opening at RM 18.80 or RM 20.80 (Inclusive of drinks) per head. From what I know, their price remained ever since. -_-

If you are coming from the direction of Equine Park, turn left once you reached Sri Kembangan town area. It’s hard not to notice this place with their big signage and colourful shiny neon lights.

The place is spacious, they can accomodate about 400 people. I love the atap leaf roofing that gives it a very “kampung” feel!

Look at the varieties! Competition for steamboat buffet place are stiff nowadays and in order to sustain, they need to have a wide variety of food choices. One minus point is that their seafood is not really fresh and we try to avoid it by taking more red meat and fish ball.

It’s all under one roof – porridge, tom yam, bakuteh, SzeChuan spicy soup. Why travel all the way to Cheras for bakuteh steamboat when you can have it here. Besides that, the korean stone grill deserves special mention. Grilling your own food and keep it simmering is fun, and here the meat is well marinated.

Highlight of the night – D.I.Y Ice Kacang with the ice shaver provided. You can choose from the buckets of sweet red beans, crystal jelly, sweet corn, sweet atap chee, peanuts and topped your shaved iced with multicoloured sugar syrup including palm sugar .

Personal shot of poser liang..Hahaha..Wishing him all the best for his beginning of adulthood!

These are the accountants to be..Can you spot kampungboy with his cheeky smile?

Yichang, this will be your ideal BBQ place right? Sweaty, Hot, Smelly, Oily and noisy crowd walking around (That would be me and you ok?)..LOL

You can spot this place easily as it is located beside the famous Kaki Corner at Taman Billion. They are having a new opening promotion with RM9.90 per head and hence we decide to give it a try. This place was full with patrons the time we went. Hmmmm..bak kut teh steamboat is distinctive from other ordinary steamboat and it sounds new to us! You can read more about this place from The Star Kuali.

Their dippings..Nothing to shout about..Still prefer those from Coca or BBQ Plaza..

Portion for 5..Quite big huh?? It’s worth it with only RM9.90 per head during promotional period (last until 30 april)

We had both bkt and tomyam soup base..I think they have tone down the herbally taste of bakuteh..It tastes funny at the first bite because I’d never had chicken, fishball, tofu, crabsticks with BKT soup..But it tastes better and better that I can’t stop chewing!

YeeMee is a great match with BKT Soup!! Trust me!!

Fried Bean Curd..My hokkien friend called it “Tau Kee”

Enoki Mushroom which comes seperately RM 7.50 per portion..Love this one as its so crispy..We made a dirty joke out of this but I won’t tell you! Blek

NEW TASTE STEAMBOAT RESTAURANT
24 Jalan Siput Akek
Taman Billion, Cheras
Tel: 012-386 2855, 016-432 2296
Business hours: 6pm to midnight nightly
Non-halal