Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Bluefin Tuna Cutting Performance by Master Chef Nakagawa Takahiro

2:21 AM B.I.G , Bluefin tuna 0 Comments


We love to go for Japanese food fair.  We are regulars at Isetan KLCC Japanese food fair. There are always something new to see or taste. But when we went to B.I.G in Publika, Dutamas, we were disappointed with the their Japanese food fair there. There were nothing much to see except for some prepack items like biscuits, canned food and instant noodles.

We gave up and went to Ben's Cafe for its Napoletana pizza (RM21.00), which tasted pretty good. Much better than Mikey's Pizza in Bangsar in my opinion.


While we're enjoying our pizza, we heard an announcement saying there will be a bluefin tuna cutting demonstration. We were delighted because we always wanted to see how a master chef  cuts a big huge tuna. I have seen it done on Youtube, but never live. So, this is one great opportunity to watch an experience chef demonstrating the tuna cutting.

Please watch the YouTube video. 



The master chef is Chef Nakagawa Takahiro from Kuriya Japanese Restaurant, BSC, Bangsar. Kuriya Japanese Restaurant is an upper class Japanese Restaurant Serving Air Flown item at an affordable price.

(Kuriya means ‘aristocratic kitchen’ in Japanese. Found only in homes of the noble class, it is the place where dishes are prepared for important guests.

Kuriya now spoils you for choice with a range of authentic Japanese restaurants, each offering unique atmosphere and menus featuring seasonal ingredients airflown fresh from Japan.

Welcome to Kuriya at Bangsar, a place where you can enjoy haute Japanese cuisine and intimate service in cozy yet luxurious settings. At Kuriya, we understand Japanese fine dining should be memorable experience. *from FB)

Here are some if the pictures I took during the performance. 

It was a great experience to see how a master chef handled and cut the bluefin tuna. And the experience got better when we were given a chance to taste fresh bluefin tuna sashimi and sushi, especially the tuna belly sashimi. It's so smooth. A master chef, indeed!
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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

10 Things To Do In Kuantan, Pahang

11:15 PM Curry Noodles , Kuantan 0 Comments
1. Visit Beaches
There are a few nice and beautiful beaches in Kuantan. 

Teluk Cempedak or just TC, as the locals will call it, is a must to visit. The beach is only less than 10 minutes drive away from the town (5km).  The white sandy beach attracts visitors from all over the world. 

Cherating beach is another very popular beach among tourists and locals. It's located 45km north of Kuantan. The famous Club Med resort is on this beach. 

Another beach that you may want to go to is Pantai Batu Hitam (literally means Black Stone Beach). This beach is not as popular as Teluk Cempedak or Cherating, but it's worth a visit for its unique grey to bluish black stones of various shapes and sizes. 

2 Shop for Dried Seafood
Salted fish, dried oysters, anchovies, scallops, and many other dried seafood is a must-buy when you visit Kuantan. 

There are few shops selling dried seafood here. Avoid those located in the town area. They are more expensive than the one located slightly further from town. 

My favourite is Sin Kee Hung. It's the biggest, freshest and cheapest place to shop. 

3 Curry Noodle for Breakfast

The must eat food when you are in Kuantan is curry noodle. Restaurant Hoi Yin located at Teluk Cempedak is famous with the tourists. But you will see more locals having their breakfast at Teng Haw Kedai Kopi located at Jalan Teluk Sisek. Both places is always full of customers. Be prepared to wait for your ready. 

4 Visit Sg Lembing Tin Mines

Sg Lembing tin mines is known to be the longest and deepest underground mine in the world. It operated for about 100 years starting from 1886. The mine is located under tropical rainforest, giving visitors unique cool climate in the tunnels. 

5 Visit Bukit Gambang WaterPark
The only water park in east coast of Malaysia, Gambang water park offers non stop excitement and fun. There are wave pool (largest in Malaysia), river raft rides and slides for both adults and kids. 

Check out another 5 must visit when you are in Kuantan in my next post. 
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Monday, May 5, 2014

Pork Chop bun, Tai Lei Loi Kei @ Gardens Mall

10:01 AM Gardens , Pork 0 Comments

We were walking back to our car which was parked at the The Gardens parking B area, when we stumbled upon a big bunting promoting a newly opened shop. The shop has just started its business about 2 weeks earlier. And is located next to Cold Storage. 

Tai Lei Loi Kei is Macau's no 1 pork chop bun since 1968. They already have a few branches in Klang Valley and planning to open up to 35 branches by end of this year 2014. 

100 FREE PORK CHOP BUNS was written on the bunting, but of course there is a small print. We got to Like and check-in at their Facebook page and purchase their famous Macau Milk Tea or Macau coffee at RM5,00 each to be entitled to a free pork chop bun worth RM12.90. 

So, we liked Tai Lei Loi Kei @thegardensmall page and checked in and got ourselves 2 sets, one black coffee with signature pork chop bun and one tea with polo pork chop bun. 
Polo bun on the left and signature bun on the right. 

The taste? It's ok for a fast food chain. Not great, but not bad. The pork chop is big and tender but lack seasoning and a bit too greasy. Polo bun is ok but the signature bun is too dry and hard. If you like French  baguette you may want to order signature bun. 

Will eat pork chop bun again, but not here, maybe in Macau? 😜


Tai Lei Loi Kei 
Lot LG-201B,
The Gardens Mall,
Mid Valley City. 
10am to 10pm
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Sunday, May 4, 2014

Freshwater Prawns at Rest Thong Lok, Tg Tualang, Ipoh

10:37 PM Fish , Fresh water 0 Comments
Was in Ipoh again after more than 15 years. Everything looks almost the same except for the traffic jam.  According to a friend, the jam is caused by tourists visiting Ipoh for weekend trip. Most of them come to Ipoh for food, ( what else? haha)

This friend of mine suggested that instead of cramping and fighting for food, chairs and tables with the "outsiders", we should take a short drive south to Tanjung Tualang for their famous fresh water prawns. Of course I said a big YES. It's always good if someone offer to drive you to some small town to try something famous that you yourself won't do it in on your own.

It was a short 50 minutes drive from Ipoh, passing a few historical towns and places like Papan, Batu Gajah, Pusing and tin mining dredge.  He suggested we try this restaurant which is less touristy. Restaurant Thong Lok is located in the middle of  a single story shoplots and is hidden under a big tree.  It's pretty easy to find it as Tanjung Tualang is a very small town with only few rows of shops.
The signage is quite obvious if you are driving on the correct street.  Can you see the big tree? I bet it's more than a hundred year old.  The kitchen must be small to make their workers prep in front of the shop.





There are few aquariums placed outside the shop storing fresh water prawns of multiple sizes, small, big and bigger.  There is one special aquarium to keep soon hock. The precious over priced fish!

We ordered 5 dishes: 1 kg of fresh water prawns, prepared 2 ways. (Steamed and butter prawns), taufu, steamed sambal fish and a plate of veggie.



The above pic is a bird view of dishes we ordered.

 
Stir-fried ferns with sambal belacan.  A must-order veggie here. The ferns taste nice with crunchy texture. RM8.00


Fresh water prawns cooked butter style. It is always my favourite cooking style. It's perfect with creamy and buttery taste. The prawns are indeed very fresh. 


The next dish is fresh water prawns steamed plain "Cheng" style. We didn't want it steamed with White York. We prefer plain as to be able to taste the real freshness flavour from the the prawns. We paid RM85.00 per kg for Fresh water prawns. We took a kg and they divided them to two dishes. 


The next dish is steamed fresh water fish with sambal and soft taufu. I didn't get the name of the fish as they were telling my friend in mandarin. Doesn't matter what's the name, it tasted fresh, meat was sweet, tender and soft. Not over cooked. RM25.00

The last dish that we had, was deep fried taufu sprinkled with generous amount of fried anchovies and fresh parsley. I love this style of cooking taufu. A little bit crunchy and fried texture on the outside and soft on the inside. We only paid RM 8.00 for this big plate of tafu. Very cheap. 

We enjoyed our lunch very much. It was worth the travelling time and effort.  The food was delicious, fresh and cheap. The workers were friendly and helpful. Can't ask for better service from bunch of waitresses who got to serve a fully packed restaurant. 

Will return one day to this small town Tanjung Tualang, but hopefully not in 15 years time 😜
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