Recently in Chinese Category

I went to DucKing at Jaya One for our monthsary dinner on Friday night. DucKing ("The Different One") seems to be wordplay on the story The Ugly Duckling (which turned out to be a swan if you forgot your Hans Christian Andersen).



DucKing is packed pretty much all the time - we waited 15 minutes for our turn to be seated, but the waitress was gracious enough to let us in when she couldn't contact the previous two ahead of us on the queue list. There seem to be some problems with communication though - I got four calls during dinner saying that my seat is ready and I told them each time that I was already inside.



Price for this menu: RM 1,500 ++. I have been trying to spot this when I saw it on Cheesie's blog and true enough; it's in there. Haha!



I ordered INTIS (RM 78) an Argentinean Merlot meaning Sun God. It's the cheapest wine on the menu - I haven't started working yet, tomorrow is my first day at work so we figured we needed to conserve our funds. My girlfriend went for the Chinese tea, although she had a small amount (slightly more than thimble sized) of red wine as well.



You can't go to an establishment named DucKing and not order duck so for the appetizer, we had the Marinated Duck Tongue with X.O Sauce (RM 16.80). It tasted surprisingly good, I can't remember ever having duck tongue before. This one is served with the tendon (bone?) under the tongue intact, and the slight crunchiness adds to the appeal.



Next on the menu was the Beijing Duck Two Varieties. I ordered 1/2 a duck. It's RM 38.80 for 1/2 a duck and RM 62.80 for a whole duck. I love Peking Duck, especially the process that goes with it. Unfortunately, DucKing does not have the chef carve the skin off the duck in front of you.



Peking Duck comes in four (4) dishes - the crispy roasted duck skin, the paper-thin flour wrap, spring onions and other vegetables for garnish and flavor, and the sauce itself.



Basically, you take one flour wrap and place a piece (or two) of crispy roasted duck skin on top before adding some spring onions and dousing it with sauce. It is then wrapped like a tortilla. There is some debate about whether the sauce goes on first, but I prefer it just before I wrap up the entire thing.



The Peking Duck at DucKing is great! I love the soft, fragile flour wrap. I'm amazed at how tissue paper-thin it is. Excellent.



Beijing Duck is usually served in two or three courses - the skin in wrap, the meat cooked with vegetables and the bones in soup. Most establishments nowadays do away with the third installment though. DucKing gives you the choice of a wide range of preparations for the second course - we opted for the Deep Fried Bun with Roasted Duck Meat & Black Pepper Sauce (RM Included in the price of Beijing Duck).



The vegetable component of the food pyramid is completed with Braised Baby Kailan with Crab Meat (RM 28.80). DucKing cooks this dish with egg and starch and they're very generous with the crab meat - it's definitely proportionate with the price. There are huge chunks of whole crab meat inside the dish. Very nice indeed.



For the last dish, we indulged in the Braised Abalone with Shimeji Mushroom and Broccoli (RM 72.80). The abalone is indeed cooked to perfection and matches the sauce well. The mushroom is paired perfectly with the abalone and came out juicy and tender. I used the broccoli to mop up the sauce, that's how good it was.

DucKing does a very brisk business and the food is good, although it comes out very fast, suggesting mass production (or a chef with really deft fingers). The bill came up to a total of RM 280.85 but the bulk of that is from the wine and the abalone.



Happy monthsary, dear! Love always.

Yes, that is our couple t-shirt and also the distinctive look of a bulge in my abdomen from eating excessively these few weeks. ;)

Shanghai 10 is a Hong Kong style eating establishment located at Sungai Wang Plaza. There was a promoter passing out 10% discount vouchers at the escalators so we decided to check the place out. The full color brochure is printed with tantalizing photos of the dishes, some of which were quite unique.



Shanghai10 is a direct English translation of the Chinese name, which actually means "Shanghai Sky". 10 and "tien" (sky) is phonetically similar. The interior of the place is plastered with ancient Chinese scrolls and paintings - all in a contiguous length covering the perimeter of the enclosure, which is pretty impressive.



The place is packed with patrons having brunch and we got ourselves a seat and decided to binge a little since we were famished from not having breakfast. My girlfriend went for the Iced Honey Lemon Jasmine Tea (RM 3.20) and I ordered Guinness Stout (RM 10.80) that still came in the old skool cans containing the proper 8% alcohol. ;)



Double Boiled Seafood Soup Dumplings with Shark Fin (RM 12)
This is one of the signature soups of the place. It's served with a rather generous portion of shark fin on top of the soup, which contains fish maw, crab sticks and several huge peeled prawns. The broth is hearty and delicious, especially with a dash of pepper after the shark fin has been consumed.



Shanghai Special Fried Bean Sheet (RM 7.80)
This tasted really good, with generous portions of seafood. I love the fried bean sheet and was enthusing about it to my girlfriend. We don't get that over here in Sarawak. The texture and size of the bean sheet is really nice.
Kei Chi Fried Rice (RM 5.80)
Kei Chi is the red bead thing that always goes into double boiled chicken soup. I don't know what it's called in English but its supposed help you with your eyesight. *shrugs* I didn't find this dish particularly interesting.
Shanghai Double Boiled Soup Dumplings (RM 6.90)
This is the famous "xiao long pau" (small dragon buns) which is made with the chicken broth still inside the paper-thin wrap. Shanghai 10 does a good version of this. It's topped with fish roe - a very nice touch.
Shanghai 10 Jade Shrimp Dumplings (RM 4.20)
This is the Shanghai 10 signature version of the popular dim sum. The har kaw comes with a huge, succulent prawn inside and it's juicy and tender. Nice!



The Shanghai Double Boiled Soup Dumplings is supposed to be pierced first to let the chicken broth drain out before consuming. The ritual has a pragmatic rationale - the soup is scalding hot, as Doris found out when she accidentally scalded her tongue on it. Probably ruined her taste buds for the day, that. ;)



This is the house specialty dessert - Avocado with Kataifi (RM 5.20). It's a Greek dessert originating from the Middle East, where it is known as Kanafeh. The crispy exterior of the Kataifi in Shanghai 10 goes well with the avocado paste inside. It's a bit too oily for our tastes though.



The other dessert we ordered is the Durian Pancake (RM 4.80). This dessert is served cold and comes in a durian skin wrap and a filling made of fresh durians. It's absolutely fabulous! The sinfully delicious dessert is creamy and rich, and it comes highly recommended from me. :)



Shanghai 10 is an agreeable dining experience for shopping mall standards. The bill came up to RM 62.80 for the two of us, after the 10% discount voucher that was passed to us at the elevator. I highly recommend it for the durian pancake. It's heavenly!

(pun not intended)

Taiwan Mei Shi is a restaurant that cooks authentic Taiwanese cuisine. It is located beside Mitsu Tea House, which creates massive competition for this eating establishment. It's truly amazing that it has survived thus far with that kind of contention. I've never been here before but Amy suggested going to this outlet for lunch, mainly due to the air conditioning, and she was driving, so we conceded.



The place does not have English signage so I got her to translate - Taiwan Mei Shi literally means "Taiwan Food" and it opens up to an al fresco seating area. The ambiance of the place feels very homely, with wood tones and handcrafts dominating the expanse.



The eating establishment is not as small as it looks - it actually takes up two shop lots, although the second one doesn't carry the sign board. The sliding doors to the right leads to air conditioned comfort - a blessing in the heatwave that Sibu is experiencing right now.



There is a net inside the air conditioned compartment with photos of the clientèle in compromising positions...eating. I asked about the photos and the friendly proprietor told us it is their practice to take photographs of happy diners and clip it onto the net for your viewing pleasure. I like that concept and got her to pose for a photo in front of the netting.



Amy had hot Milo (a malt drink) which came in a squarish cup that I found interesting. The quirkiness of the angular drinking receptacle makes the presentation unique. I had the Super Greeny Jasmine Green Bubble Tea just coz I found the name amusing. ;)



This is the obligatory shot with the waitress. I noticed that she didn't look at the digicam in each of the four shots that my colleague took...and we finally figured out the reason why. She didn't look us straight in the eye while taking orders too! Some people shy, okay? :)



Back to the food, we ordered four dishes:
Taiwanese deep fried fish fillet in sweet and sour sauce
This is good, and the sweet and sour sauce is not heavily tomato influenced and tastes rather like a BBQ sauce instead.
Salted egg with bitter melon
Everyone liked this dish - bitter melon (bitter gourd) is supposed to have a slightly bitter tinge to it, but it was offset by the salted eggs. Nice.
Sautéed beef with Szechuan preserved vegetable
I love tender beef slices and the mixture with the Szechuan vegetables (which includes a healthy dose of dried chillis) and claypot style serving does wonders to the appetite (and palate).



This is their signature dish - Taiwanese Three Flavor Chicken. It came in a small claypot with whole garlic, onion slices and spring onions. I'm not sure what the three flavors are supposed to be - I could taste sweet and salty tones but the third flavor eludes me.



The proprietor was kind enough to serve us dessert for free - this is a special cincau (black jelly) mixture that's supposed to be "cooling". It came in a traditional Taiwanese cup for (sweet) soups - literally dessert. The two jellies are both made by the proprietor and not bought off the shelves, as she stressed (repeatedly).



It has the consistency of jelly, and yet maintains enough slippery fluidity to be slurp-able. Better still, the dessert was chilled, so it countered the heat while the thirst absorbing qualities of the second substance (which for the life of me I can't remember) counters the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome inflicted by the MSG laden food. ;)

Taiwan Mei Shi is not a bad place to eat - the food is good and the service is great. It's a little overshadowed by the other titan eating establishments beside it, but it's worth your time to check out the food. However, the bill came up to RM 44.40 for the three of us, which is a very inauspicious number in Chinese numerology. ;)

David Bak Kut Teh is a coffee shop specializing in bak kut teh (pork rib tea). There are a lot of bak kut teh establishments springing up over here now, but David is the oldest and most recognized of them all. It's located at the traffic cop magnet beside the fire station in town so be prepared to move your car frequently if you park at the yellow line right in front, since parking is scarce at that area.



David is the proprietor of the place, the waiter and the cook all rolled into one. The man is a very friendly person with an amicable personality. He's not actually a cook by profession, he came over from JB eons ago and worked in a department store as a salesman. Story goes, he tried his hand at cooking bak kut teh and spent four years perfecting his recipe.



His first operation was in a stall at the coffee shop beside his current premises. His bak kut teh was so popular that he finally expanded to his very own place...right next door. :) He runs the entire place with the help of his wife, and despite all the work, he's a very jovial man. I'm quite impressed by his tenacity when he moved over to Sibu and the hardships he went through.



Anyway, enough about him. I had lunch with Autumn there and had their signature dish - bak kut teh. I like my bak kut teh with everything inside it, so there's pork ribs, pork intestines, pork belly etc. Basically everything in the oink oink is inside the bowl of soup (tea).



It's pretty good, the bak kut teh is done well, and I remember the distinctive taste from my childhood as how "bak kut teh" should taste like. It's hearty soup with pork, served with a kickass combination of soy sauce and chilies.



Autumn opted for the ma yu chi lou (Sesame Oil Chicken) which is another one of David Bak Kut Teh's specialties. She's not a big fan of pork, beef or lamb so chicken is just about the only option she has. It's served with rice and is surprisingly good. The only beef I have with the dish (haha) is that she requested for lean meat (breast meat) while I prefer thighs. No innuendo intended.



David Bak Kut Teh is a nice place to have lunch if you don't mind dining al fresco in Malaysian weather at 12 noon. Autumn had to take off her sweater and was even considering going further if not in public. ;)

It's Mid-Autumn Festival again! I chanced upon a live demonstration of the making of a mooncake at Wisma Saberkas and watched the progress of a snow skin mooncake from inception to retail.

The snow skin mooncake moulds are kneaded from small rotund pieces of filler before being filled and formed into larger pieces of round balls.

The relatively uniform balls of snow skin mooncake is then powdered with an unknown but non-psychoactive substance and then transferred to a mould.

The mould is a wooden contraption where the balls of snow skin mooncake is pushed into, forming the unique auspicious characters on the top before being knocked out.

It's a relatively simple process and the molded mooncake is then transferred to receptacles suitable for retail purposes.

This is the finished product (Crystalline Twin Flavor) and it costs RM 11.50 per mooncake.

The mooncake is a yam snow skin mooncake with a carrot and lotus seed filling, a unique amalgamation of ingredients.

I've often passed by this eating establishment, coz the place to pay utility bills here is just beside it, but I've never been there for lunch before. I went today with my coworker for lunch.

The ambience of the place is alright, it's pretty crowded during lunch hour and the popularity of this place surprised me. The cuisine is self-dubbed Taiwanese.

This is the main counter. I found the mix of ancient Chinese tea cups and wine glasses to be pretty odd...

I had a concoction called Drunken Lady for my drink. I can't establish what is inside i.e. what it's made of, but Bernice says she tasted Ribena, but I didn't.

This is what I ordered for my main meal - Taiwanese Style beef noodles. It was recommended by the waitress as being their flagship dish and the most popular one. It was alright, but nothing to write home about.

This is what Bernice had - Spicy noodles. We both agreed that it wasn't spicy enough. It seems that we're similar in this sense...we like to eat ultra spicy food. Heh!

Jade Pot Tea House. Pay your utility bills and eat at the same time!

BDC Seafood Restaurant is the mammoth three storey high restaurant located, aptly, in BDC Commercial Center. It has see through window panes on all the levels, allowing passerby's to see the diners...er, dining, in all their glory.

This is the main entrance to BDC Seafood Restaurant at the ground floor.

The interior of the place is well decorated, typical of a Chinese seafood restaurant, but reassuringly familiar all at once.

I opted for Yang Chow Fried Rice (RM 4). This place is well known for it's affordability and good food.

This is the Nestum Salad Chicken (RM 8). The chicken is coated with a batter which has Nestum cereal inside before being deep fried, sliced into manageable pieces and served with mayonnaise. The Nestum cereal flavors carries well into the dish - highly recommended.

Here we see the Claypot Drunken Prawn (RM 20). The claypot dish has large prawns simmered in a wonderful broth, and the wine taste and flavors were overwhelmingly tasty, with the wine flavors again carrying through perfectly.

This is a non-menu dish our attendant recommended. It's going to be a menu item in a while and he gave us a chance to try it out before then. They're going to name in "Three Joy" or something to that effect (in Chinese of course). It's a vegetable dish that's made with long beans, potatoes and brinjals, cooked with spicy belacan. It's very unique and tasty.

I present to you...the largest oyster omelette (RM 15) in Kuching, Sarawak, and probably the world! ;) I was amazed by the sheer girth of this o-chien (oyster omelet) when it arrived on the table. The amazing proportion just overwhelmed me and rendered me speechless. The others had eaten here before and were used to it - and they confirmed that it was the largest oyster pancake in town, to the best of their knowledge.

I had a concoction of sago, raisins and shaved winter melon soaking in a coconut infused sweet milk for dessert. The complex textures and flavors were amazing.

I would recommend BDC Seafood Restaurant for a nice, affordable meal. They cater for weddings and special occasions as well, and you have three floors of dining space and an attentive staff along with the good food.

I went to BB Hailam Chicken Rice at Bukit Bintang for lunch after mass today. We were in the area coz I thought the KL Horse Fair and the Shetland ponies were still at Lot 10. Anyway, the chicken rice was good, this is what I had:

Here's a close up of the chicken:

It's a boneless drumstick...mmm, and the sauce is very delicious!

This is one of the side dishes - kerabu with chicken feet. I didn't order it, it tasted interesting to say the least. Too vinegary for my tastes but the chicken feet was okay, it's boneless as well.

The middle dish is the chicken rice var roasted. The one I had is steamed. Anyway, it's great if you like your chicken rice with the tender and boneless drumstick saturated with salty chicken essence. I loved it.