Other food encounters - Part 1

Been a bit remiss in my postings earlier. Had quite a few makan-ing sessions over the past month, but have not been updating regularly. So here’s me playing “ketchup” (catch up – get it?) Hahahaaaa….. never mind me, private joke:

A Korean Encounter
I think I have been at least twice within the month to two different restaurants in the Korean Village opposite Ampang Point for Korean BBQ. Both outlets were opened by authentic Koreans, and when you see other Koreans eating there, you can bet the food is genuine enough. My younger sister goes for the ox tongue BBQ. Personally, I think it is so-so only. My preference is for the marinated oink oink meat, as well as the BuGoGi. I find the unique thing about Korean makan is that there are a lot of side dishes to go with the mains. Yummy..








A Japanese Encounter
Another encounter split over two sessions at two different Japanese outlets. The first is an outlet called Kiku Zakura. It’s a chain of restaurant situated in selected shopping malls. They do a mean tasting Teriyaki Chicken! Tried their fried yam ice cream dessert, came in two pieces, and with yam ice cream oozing out upon opening the crust…. Ohhhh - slurpp……..







The second Japanese encounter was at the Japanese restaurant in KL Hilton. A bit on the posh side, but catered well for business lunches. I had a Unagi and Tempura mix set, as well as one soft shell crab temaki (handroll). Surprisingly, I was kind of disappointed with the presentation of the dishes given its so called prestige, but food quality was quite good. And guess how much was EACH of the soft shell crab temaki? RM5? RM10? RM20? Nope. RM25? Nope. Higher, my good chap, higher! But, it was damn good (even before I found out the price). Fresh and well fried to a crisp! The dessert was also quite good, a plate of fruits, with some black sesame ice cream. Don’t mind the position of the spoon (ahem), I had it nicely laid out for my photo taking, but one of my lunch companion thought that it would have more character placed this way… oh well…








A Durian Encounter
Was invited to a “all you can eat” durian fest last weekend by one of the bankers who played host at Bukit Kiara enar the poolside. They bought different types of durians by the truckload. It rained initially in the afternoon, but subsided to give a nice cool atmosphere. I tried various types of durian, and found one which I particularly like (I think it is called “101”, much better than the famous D24). The flesh is so rich in taste and meaty, slightly golden, and va va voom… simply brilliant. I went over to the durian party with the intention of just saying “hello” and maybe conservatively makan one or two pips (as I had a following engagement – see the seafood encounter – right after the durian fest). But greed prevailed, and I stuffed myself silly with durians (sigh). Was a bit “shy” to take close up pics of the durians as there were quite a few people around, but can go imagine’lah!












A Seafood Encounter
Right after the durian party, a bunch of us went to Pandamaran for seafood! Given the “slightly” enlarged size of my tummy (even more pronounced than normal), I selectively chose what to eat. There was seafood galore, and the group went heavy on crabs – tried the salt baked one and then the steamed one. Personally, I like my food more savoury, but can’t complain, cos’ I wasn’t really hungry anyway. The prawns was divine though, with a house special mixed paste. Had some “man tous”, and devoured the prawn paste with the man tous accordingly!







Dinner conversation touched on softshell crabs (we didn’t have it that night), and one story somehow shocked me a bit, but don’t know true or not. I have always thought that the softshell crabs were “born” softshell, i.e. naturally softshelled, but was told that it is not true. To get the shells soft, the shells, legs, etc, are peeled off the LIVE crabs, so that they would grow back. In the process of growing back, the meat is thus tender and soft. Hence, at that stage, it is cooked as softshell crabs! EWWWW!!! So cruel! But then again, I need to do some research on it to verify the process. Otherwise, am not sure if I can look at another softshell crab dish in the same way again. Anyone know for sure and can help verify? And yes, when I was in KK four days prior to the seafood encounter, I walloped a mega big helping of softshell crabs. Now where did I put my bottle of Lecithin….