Category: Food

WYSINWYG

What you see, is not what you get. While I enjoyed my Mee Cha Long at The Chaiwalla Restaurant in Banting, Alex Wong MF ordered a salmon steak. Who can fault him? It looked so tempting on the menu (inset). What arrived looked drastically different. I think we should all call out restaurants who use pictures of meals on menus that are overwhelmingly different.

Fast food companies always hide behind a disclaimer that states pictures shown are for illustration purposes only or that it may not represent the actual product. The salmon steak didn’t have the criss cross griddle lines or heat searing marks seen on steaks. Furthermore, it is thickly crusted.

Alex was quite happy with the salmon steak though. I guess in the end, that is what matters.

Meestery Of Chai Loong

I was traveling back from my Gold Coast, Bagan Lalang and Morib adventure with Alex Wong MF the other day. Since Alex was feeling a little sleepy, I suggested we stop at The Chaiwalla Restaurant in Banting for dinner and coffee.

Chaiwalla is my favorite restaurant in Banting since my first visit many years ago. I discovered very good western cuisine there and asked for the Chef to compliment him. This a tiny town and was surprised they serve Bangsar quality food. The Malay chef told me, and true enough, he used to work at La Bodega in Bangsar!

Wanting to try something different this time, I flipped through the menu and saw an intriguing Mee Chai Loong. I have eaten all kinds of noodles but dont know what is mee cha long. It is also spelled as chalong or calong in some places. Google didn’t reveal much except it is popular in the Kuantan and Beserah areas. No historical info or etymology of the name can be found. Maybe sister Jehan Bakar from that parts can shed some light? Or anyone who can help unravel the mystery. Thank you.

It was soupy and was pretty tasty. Yumz.

Sony Alpha A7R, ISO 2000, f10, 1/60 sec.

#banting #chaiwalla #meechailoong #meechalong #meecalong #foodphotography #localfood

Hua Mui’s Hainanese Chicken Chop In JB

That Thing They Do.

That famous Malaysian invention: Hainanese chicken chop from Hua Mui. Yumz.

Photography Tip: You can control lens flare without a lens hood or mattebox.

Use one hand to shade the light. In this case, I like the flare from the morning sun as it gives it the ambience.

To control or shade it a little, I can also use my friend Sharon’s iPad Mini as a ‘french flag’ or light cutter.

Hua Mui Restaurant is at 131 Jalan Trus, Johor Bahru and is certified Halal.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 320, f8, 1/200 sec.

#huamui #jb #chickenchop #johor #foodphotography #breakfast

Back At 168 And Sungai Wang

Back At 168 And Sungai Wang.

I was back in Sungai Wang Plaza for the second straight day in a row. I fell asleep on my glasses and broke it. FML. Johnny Ong was nice to drive me there today and the optician boss, Michael, was in a good mood and he replaced the pair without charges, even though it was my own carelessness.

The shop is Eyewear and you may want to search for my recent post entitled “Love At First Sight”. Bear in mind, you may not enjoy the same kind of liberal warranty, though.

This is the blog version of that post and the address is also given in it:
http://tvsmith.my/eclectic/love-first-sight

Was also happy Johnny got himself a new pair after eye examinations today and saved himself a bundle. Since Johnny likes traditional Chinese food, I suggested we go eat at Restaurant 168 as Pudu was nearby.

Johnny was excited hearing it, as he remembered me going there with mutual friend Anna Har the last time. We wanted to try the signature curry mee but to our big disappointment, it was already sold out at 2 pm.

Earlier blog post about Restaurant 168. Also on FB and IG:
http://tvsmith.my/food/restaurant-168

I asked for regular yellow noodles and kuey tiow “kon low” (dry mix) instead of wontan noodles and as before, it came with awesome wan tans and a sui kow. The sui kows were so good we ordered an additional standalone bowl. All washed down with Calamansi Juice With Sour Plums.

#restaurant168 #pudu #wantonmee #dumplings #noodles #streetphotography #streetfood #eyewear #sungaiwang

Calamansi Juice With Sour Plums

The refreshing drink or local Chinese cocktail at Chinese coffee shops is known as Kat Chye Shin Mui. It is yellow lime or Calamondin with preserved sour and salty plums. I found it a bit too salty and ordered another without the sugar and salt coated dried plums. There was only one solitary dried plum in the drink, anyway.

The preserved plums are usually imported from China are like a magic elixir for people who feel car sickness or suffer from motion sickness. I remember going up Cameron Highlands when I was a kid and every passenger in the bus was clinging to a packet of sour plums or were chewing it to combat the ill effects of the dizzying, winding roads.

I dont suffer from motion sickness normally, so I want to know if the effectiveness of the home remedy is true. Anyone?

The very nice Indonesian waitress at 168 Restaurant tried to discourage me from opting out of the plums as she claimed the drink wont be as tasty without the plums. The new drink came. It was still too salty. Maybe they add salt to the lime juice to contain the strong tangy taste, I suspect.

Chilled with plenty of ice cubes, it is a refreshing drink on a hot day with or without shin mui. In Malay restaurants the drink is known as asam boi with limau kasturi.

#restaurant168 #pudu #katchaishinmui #colddrink #calamansi #asamboi #streetphotography #cocktail #limaukasturi