Hainanese Kopi-O A place to share, keep events and thoughts.

The start of May marked some eventful makan (means eat in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia) time though this is my most “bankrupt” month for makan escapades. A wedding dinner buffet at Avanti Sunway Hotel has one of the best roast beef, stew lamb, salmon, pasta, grilled vegetables and lovely salad service. Some guests, non western food diners had great time refilling their carnivorous appetite while lovely ladies had endless visits to the grilled vegetable, salad, seafood and never forgets the dessert bar. My dad never had true Italian food in his life, almost wanted the entire plate of huge vanilla pudding for our table. Congratulations to Julie and her Italian beau (whoops.. I forgot the groom’s name as food piled up into my head). Julie has a beautiful wedding cake made by her good friend.

To find Avanti Italian Restaurant, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa in Petaling Jaya, go to Google Map,
copy and paste the following sentence Malaysia Petaling Jaya Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa
to figure out the exact location.

Breakfast at TTDI KL (forgot name of the Malay restaurant) but will never forget a unique combination of local humble ingredients for a meal. I promise to post the name and Google map later. Steamed or boiled ubi kayu (cassava roots) is the main meal accompanied by sambal (the same as nasi lemaks’), freshly grated coconut flesh and half of a fried ikan masin (kembung?).  100% local food. 🙂

Some lazy office lunches: Soft boiled egg salad, Village Park nasi dagang.

No so happy McD Sundae takeaway for my kids. Less than half filled. I did not complain on spot, too angry at that time. I felt belittled by the staffs. One of staffs filled a cupful of sundae for his dinner and darted out of the service area while I have waited for a while. Other staffs were busy laughing and talking. 🙁

Went to husband’s favourite chicken noodle stall only to find they stopped selling chicken as other stalls are selling the same. I should credit the former chicken noodle by detailing its serving and quality. A single serving of poached chicken presented in Chinese fine banquet style cut, served on an old fashion oval plate. As for noodles, our usual order were normally hor fun(mine) or Hakka noodle(husbands’) tossed with minced beef sauce. The minced beef sauce is cooked whenever an order comes in. The husband and wife Hakka noodle team is such humble and innovative.  The good news is they are now beef noodle specialist – different cuts, parts and also cook a hearty peppery pig stomach soup noodle. Heavenly…

Condiments in Hong Kong Chinese restaurants are not free flow but charge separately, per condiment plate. There is a humble Chinese restaurant in Sungai Buloh which has 2 excellent condiments that makes the start of a meal, an enjoyable experience for the palate before savouring the actual dishes. Pickled green chillies – sweet, sour, spicy with fresh crunchy bite goes well with medium weight flavour dishes. Good on its own to whet ones’ appetite in a hot day. The poached chicken comes with a unique condiment – minced garlic, ginger shallots poached in a combination of peanut oil and chicken fat. I could have bowls of steaming rice mixed with this unique dipping sauce all day.

During weekday lunch, we visited Vincent’s new food stall Bijan at Ali Bawal Building in Petaling Jaya Old Town, to join the Ali Bawal Food Court opening celebration. Nestled in the old industrial area, brand new Ali Bawal Food Court environment is closer to a relaxing resort, luxurious treat for factory workers in this area. Vincent’s new food concept never cease to amaze me. Fried calamari, fried crab, banquet style dishes and super silky steamed egg will render you speechless upon setting on your tongue. 🙂 A bit exaggerating? We are talking about different grade of local Chinese economy/mix rice. Tell Vincent you got to know Bijan from my blog. You may get a surprise.

To find Wisma Ali Bawal, go to Google Map,
copy and paste the following sentence Malaysia Petaling Jaya Ali Bawal
to figure out the exact location

One of my husband’s favourite family dish-fish fried in shallot oil, topped with Chinese pickled onion bulbs, plum sauce and cucumber, made an appearance. A dish cooked by his demised maternal grandmother, who was an excellent cook, recreated by my talented FIL. The other two dishes pictured below are my FILs’ favourite.