Chocolatesuze - Sydney Food Blogger

Malaysia 2014

20 July 2014, 01:25

Aaaand a short flight from Thailand and we’ve landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, aka the land of gloriously pungent durian! We satiated our love for the king of fruit by stopping at a roadside stall called Durian SS2 as the usual durian stall down the street run by Donald had shut down. It was the tail end of the season for durian but you wouldn’t know it by the amount of people crammed in the area, digging into durians of all shapes, sizes and varieties. Street stalls are the best, sure they may feel a little ghetto at first but the food is super cheap and amazing and I have yet to get sick in Malaysia (knock on wood). You can choose the all you can eat durian option but only for certain types of durian but we stuck with the point and choose method because hey, moderation! Love that once you’re done eating you just chuck the shells into the nearest bin and amble away haha no fuss!


Breakfast with the rellies can be a crazy affair, HI UNCLE KEN AND MOON YEE! Village Park (5 Jalan SS 21/37, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya) is famous for its queues for their incredible Nasi Lemak (RM9/$3)- fragrant coconut rice, sambal, peanuts, dry anchovies, egg, cucumber and a choice of ridiculously crispy fried chicken, curry chicken, sambal udang (prawn) or sambal sotong (squid). We also ordered a rainbow of drinks- syrup limau ice (RM2.70$0.90), barley ice (RM2.70/$0.90) and syrup bandang (RM3/$1). Oh and Village Park’s Coffee Set (RM7/$2.30) which came with Roti Bakar loaded with kaya and slabs of butter, 2 half boiled eggs and coffee.


The whole family unit drove from KL to Taiping for my bros formal wedding dinner and with 3.5 hours in captivity I made sure I stocked up on snacks like these ridiculously fat chicken curry puffs (RM2.70/$0.90 each) from Homi in Mid Valley Megamall which has the flakiest of all the pastries in the land.


We ended up stopping in Ipoh for lunch at Restoran Onn Kee (51, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, 30000 Ipoh) and because it was next door to a confectionary store that makes sour plum candy. Ipoh is famous for fat bean sprouts. My favourite… But luckily there was also char siu with gloriously fatty charred edges, the famous kuey teow with chicken balls and a plate of silky poached chicken.


The banquet dinner with all the rellies was held in Hu Jing Ge Chinese Restaurant (1st floor Flemington Hotel, No. 1, Jalan Samanea Saman, 34000 Taiping) starring Mr Suckling Piggy! Super crisp skin + tender pork innards = YARMMM! There’s was heaps of other food but my camera died so you’ll have to take my word that everything was tasty.


Back to KL and Restoran Ahwa (66, Jalan 14/48, Petaling Jaya) is always high on my must-eat list, this kopitiam has some of my fave dishes in KL and I always chortle when playing the game of let’s see if they understand me when I order while sounding completely ‘strayan. There was a round of chicken and beef satay with addictive peanut sauce, pohpiah (fresh spring roll chock a block with shredded vegetables) and Sarsi (sarsparilla) is always my drink of choice in Malaysia (and yes I know I can buy them here but it’s super exxy).


But oh the dish Restoran Ahwa is most famous for: Hokkien Mee! And with bonus plate of deep fried pork fat :P My cholesterol is fine I promise.


There was multiple visits to Restoran Robson Heights Fresh Seafood (10B, Jalan Permai, 50460 Kuala Lumpur) that has got you covered for all your crustacean needs. Special mentions to the Claypot Crab with Rice, Salted Egg Yolk Crab and Fried Eggplant with Meat Floss.


For dessert we’re at Kayu Nasi Kandar (No. 64, Jalan SS2/10, 47300, Petaling Jaya) for mega roti tissue for supper! That baby was a meter long and all for the low low price of (RM10/$3.30)! Buttery, flakey and with a sprinkle of sugar, this has got to be the best dessert ever!


Of course not forgetting my kaya overload there was kaya happiness from Oldtown White Coffee, Papa Rich and Annie1 and also bonus serve of glutinous rice with mega dollop of kaya mmm <3 Aaaand that’s all folks! We return you to normal broadcasting shortly :D

 

 

Brighton The Corner, Petersham

13 July 2014, 22:09

I heart crumpets. Their purpose in life is to be fluffy and soak up whatever topping is drizzled on top and generally just make everyone happy. Am I right? So I convinced my brunch buddy that we needed to visit Brighton The Corner (49 Palace St, Petersham) for brekkie for the House Made Crumpets ($14). And they were beeyootiful with caramelised pears, quenelle of Dulwich Hill honey butter and a light dusting of cinnamon. The crumpets are on their all day menu but I hear every now and then they sell out so get there early or be prepared to experience crushing disappointment!


Raff ordered the Braised Brisket ($17) and I immediately had food envy. Luckily we have an unspoken rule of sharing or we would not be friends haha :P


The brisket was tender and rich and the shards of golden potato hash along with the perfectly poached egg lifted me to my happy place. There was some mojo verde on the side to cut through the richness, and onion rings with ethereally light batter crowned the lot. Perfect comfort food for winter!


By the time we’d finished eating it was 12pm which meant the lunch menu had just started and Raff was super keen to try the Pork Belly Sandwich ($11) with fennel and quince paste. While the pork belly was nice and tender, we both wished that there was just a bit of crackle because well, crackle makes us happy.


And because I was still a bit peckish and wanted something savoury to balance out my sugar intake, I ordered the Hot Smoked Salmon ($17). I was envisioning a nice slab of salmon but what came out instead was a salad of pickled radish, fennel, peas, quinoa and topped with a gooey poached egg. The salmon is smoked inhouse and it was super tasty but oh how I wished there was more of it! I normally have issues with pickled things but I was in love with the pickled radishes and searched desperately for each and every piece and the pop of the fresh peas was just so addictive!


Oh and here’s our drinks, a piccolo latte ($3.50) to wake me up and a refreshing Watermelon and Basil house made soda ($4.50).


The service is attentive and friendly without the hipster ‘tude. The kitchen does get a bit smashed when it’s busy but the food is amazing so it was worth the wait.


There’s plenty of street parking and it’s just a 5min walk from the station which is win.

 

 

Bangkok & Krabi, Thailand

7 July 2014, 01:43

So after Japan, we flew to Bangkok, Thailand and met up with the parentals for lunch at the Hua Seng Hong branch in Central World (Floor 6 ZEN). Hello suckling piggeh!!! Food in Thailand is so ridiculously cheap, this suckling pig was enough for 4 very hungry people and only cost 1600 baht ($53) and once we’d eaten all the skin they chopped up the rest of the piggy and deep fried him so each piece was just glorious and not at all oily.


The food courts were all kinds of amazing, with the usual fast food chains mixed in with stalls selling local dishes and fresh produce. One stall had these incredible buns that were filled with molten salted egg yolk! You had to be super careful eating them, take too big a bite and you could burn your tongue, take too little a bite and the egg yolk would spurt across the table…


We ended up going back to our hotel, crashing and sleeping all afternoon and only wandered out when we started getting hungry. Like magic a whole lotta stalls had set up along the road just down the block and everything smelled AMAZING.


Foods on sticks! But it was way too hot and humid to queue for this, let alone eat.


Normally I avoid getting fruits at roadside stalls but I had a mad craving for jackfruit so a bag of jackfruits and a bag of mango was procured along with the instruction of helping ourselves to the containers holding a chilli and pepper concoction to sprinkle over the fruits.


After the fruit and a bit of random souvenir shopping we stopped and watched mesmerised at this dude cracking in eggs to make pad thai.


Resistance was futile! One freshly cooked Pad Thai with heaps of fluffy egg, fat bean sprouts and the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. No idea on prices but this and the next 2 dishes worked out to be less than $20 all up. Win.


The table next to us were scarfing down plates of Khaophat Kai aka Fried Rice so we were swayed into ordering it too. It was pretty tasty especially with a squeeze of the fresh lime.


I randomly chose the Khao Khaichiao Mu Sap and it was pure comfort food, the golden omelette held a jumble of minced pork and a bunch of chopped chillies, lime and herbs.


We wished we could’ve kept eating but we had another flight to catch…


To Krabi! From the airport we were driven to Krabi Pier and then a short speedboat trip down the coast to Rayavadee Resort.


My brother had told us we’d be getting to the resort via tractors. We didn’t know if he was joking until we saw this tractor hooked up with a trailer coming towards our boat to take us onto the beach.


You see we were here for my brother Jason and Shirley’s wedding and the place is so fricken beautiful it hurts. There were coconut trees aplenty but best of all there were pandan plants all over the resort so the whole place just smelled incredible!


Check out our 2 storey pavilion!


So pretty! That bed was seriously like sleeping on a cloud. Oh and I may have been a little too excited about the jar of freshly baked cookies that appeared each night. And super loved all the gorgeous candles which were lit at turn down service while we were out for dinner.


It was so freaking humid that this was where I was camping out at the whole time.


Or alternating submerging my body here. Randoms aren’t allowed into Rayavadee and while the beach can be packed with tourists during the day, all of them have to leave by 4pm.


There were 4 restaurants at Rayavadee and I’m not entirely sure which pic is from which restaurant but this salad with super fat scallops was delicious.


Loved the cornflake prawns!


Papaya salad because, Thailand.


The seafood platter was humongous! The epic platter had grilled rock lobster, crab, king tiger prawns, jumbo scallops, calamari and sea bream. There was also fried rice and papaya salad and all for 2700baht/$90!


But onto the big day!


Bro with groomsmen Alvin and Sean.


The beautiful Shirley being walked down the aisle by her mum.


[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] Seriously how perfect is this? The ceremony was in The Grotto, a limestone cave sculpted over thousands of years by the Andaman Sea.




[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography]






[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] Welcome to the family Shirley!


Reception was held in the Umbrella Tree Court and while Jason and Shirley were getting photos taken we set up the signing table and had a beverage or two.


Suuuuunnnnsettttt over the beachhhhes ♪♫ ♪


[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] There’s just something about fairy lights that makes everything magical.


[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] SQUISH!


[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] Muahaha games time


[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] Speech! Speech!


[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] Cake cuttin’


[Photo from Aiden Dockery Photography] And then it was time for the after party! Back to the Grotto to drink and dance the night away! So many drinks. So much dancing. :D


Everyone was a bit worse for wear the next day but I wasn’t going to miss breakfast. Breakfast buffets are the best!


Fresh juices, fruits, breads, cereals and yoghurt.


My favourite station, the baked goods with amazing banana bread, danishes, croissants, muffins AND DONUTS!


And some items off the alacarte menu- french toast, waffles and er congee for Noods.


We nicked some bread to feed the colourful koi. Noods is trying to make them work for their food…


I felt bad that we didn’t really do any activities like kayaking, snorkelling, cooking classes or even rock climbing in Krabi as I was still recovering from my cold.


So with 15mins to spare before our boat left, Noods and I walked down Railay beach where we’d heard there was a shrine of some sort nearby at Phranang Cave.


The whole area was packed with both locals and tourists crowding around…


Penises. Insert immature giggle. Turns out the wooden phalluses are not fertility symbols but are symbols to appease the spirit of the princess Phranang who died nearby and thank her for a safe journey.


And with that, we depart Rayavadee and fly to Malaysia for our last leg of the trip!