Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

YummY! - Nyonya Fusion @ Little Yum Yum Restaurant

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YummY! Jotaro's Food Review
NYONYA FUSION @ LITTLE YUM YUM (HALAL)

Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

I went to yum yum at Little Yum Yum and found it YummY!

Yum Yum, originating from Ipoh, Malaysia, serves a fusion of Nyonya, Thai and Vietnamese Food. Little Yum Yum is their branch in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, but it is not so little - on the menu is a very wide spread of dishes to choose from.

Yum Yum Pandan Chicken

A good start off dish. The chicken was tender for easy bites. Nicely seasoned without being to spicy, the pandan infused taste exudes out onto our palate to work up our appetite.

Yum Yum Special Fried Tofu with Thai Plum Sauce

Deep fried first, the tofu had a nice crispy skin with a soft inside. Always one of my favorites for its simple pureness. The Thai sauce, without being too strong added that little tinge of flavor to the tofu.

Lady's Finger with Dried Prawn Chilli

Another simple dish, but the dried prawn chilli made all the difference to the lightly fried lady's fingers. I would have preferred it even simpler, just boiled and eaten with sambal belacan.

Stir Fried Paku

The humble paku (fiddle-head fern), once a rural dish eaten in the kampungs is now making its way to up-market establishments. Here, its crunchiness was spiced up by the onions, chilli and dried prawns.

Steamed Tilapia

Another once lowly dish from the padi fields, the tilapia is fast gaining a foothold too. Nicely steamed here with a sauce of chillied sour-sweet pounded dried prawns. Marvelous!

Nyonya Gulai Tumis Pomfret

Firstly, my apologies for the eaten look, its the new trend in food blogging. No? Ok, seriously sometimes amateurs food bloggers like me have difficulty taking good photos, people just can't wait to eat. Perhaps the food is too good, just like this one!

Creamy Basil Butter Chicken

This was my favorite among the lot. A real fusion with creaminess greasing my pallate while biting the crunchiness of the chicken which had been pre-deep fried with a thin layer of batter. The slices of large onions and bottle beans too! Hoo Wee!

Cincau Bandung

Okay, not everything can be perfect. This dessert/drink was too diluted without adequate milk - and they did not use evaporated milk so that little saltiness was not there! The cincau (grass jelly) was cut into to big cubes making it hard to bite. I would have preferred cincau strips; slurpy and soft.

Little Yum Yum, a truely fusion place for a good experience of South-eat Asian food. Delectable and delightful. And it has so much more - go to their FB page and see for yourself!

Calling Card of Terri Chew of Little Yum Yum showing their address, contact numbers and most importantly their GPS location.

Business Hours: 11:30am - 3:00pm and 5:30-10:00pm
Closed on Mondays.

Little Yum Yum Restaurant Location Map (Google Map Link)

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Peranakan Bike-Packers - Day 1 :13th November 2012

First Day of a 3-day bike-packing adventure from KL to Malacca

Day 1 : Train Ride KL>Sg Gadut & Bike Ride Sg Gadut>Malacca

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / FootSteps / YummY! / Chinese Food / Nyonya Fusion @ Yum Yum Restaurant
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Friday, September 28, 2012

YummY! - Seafood @ Kia Hiong Yuen

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YummY! Jotaro's Food Review
SEA FOOD @ RESTORAN KIA HIONG YUEN

Pulau Ketam, Selangor, Malaysia

On a recent bike-packing tour to celebrate World Car-free Day , we rode our bicycles to Klang took the KTM Commuter Train to Port Klang and then boarded a ferry to Pulau Ketam (see World Car-free Day Ride #2).

After a quick cycle ride around the island we had lunch at Restoran Kia Hiong Huen. Did I say lunch? No it was not lunch - it was a mini feast of the following dishes!

Fried Lala Clams Omelet

For starters we had starchy-fried lala clams omelet with bean sprouts and garnished with spring onions. It was a simple dish, not overly tasty to kick off the meal.

Frying was done by two ladies at the front of the restaurant, right next to where we were sitting. See the big basin of white colored watery starch, this is added in at the tail end of the frying.

Seen above is the lala omelet before the starch is added. The frying though would probably need more oil so at to make the starchy part more crispy like in Penang Oh Chien. If done this way, the oil will be drained off before serving.

Fish Ball Soup

The Fish ball soup with choy sum - the fish ball had enough fish in them to be have that fishy smell and taste, and more importantly just the right amount of bounce in them for a good bite. The soup was just lightly flavored so as not to overshadow the taste of the fish ball. Many restaurants make that mistake, soup flavored to strong and the taste of the fish ball is lost.

Sweet & Sour Stir Fried Mantis Prawns

The Mantis Prawns are first dipped into a flour batter and deep fried. Only then are they stir fired with tomato sauce together with slices of large onions. The sauce only seeped into the flour coating leaving the taste of the prawns unhindered, a good combination - tasty and crispy on the outside and juicy and fresh on the inside.
Mantis prawns were once a poor man's dish but with the escalating cost of prawns, it has become a delicacy. The rice came with this and we started digging in.

Deep Fried Cuttle Fish

Similarly cuttlefish is dipped into a flour batter before deep frying. Just a hint of salt was added to the batter to bring out the taste of the cuttlefish.
I used to enjoy this dish, but now my poor old teeth find their rubberiness a challenge. Haha! Good to go with beer though.

Stir Fried Lala Clams

Stir-fried lala clams; this one is one of my favorites as I like the soupy sauce to go with rice. The ones here were super fresh, one can literally smell and taste the sea in them.
In frying this care must be take so as not to over-cook the clams, over-cooked the clam meat will shrink to a small rubbery morsel. Once the shell of the clams start opening during frying, that means the clams are just nicely done, and the meat will be soft and juicy.

Har Lok (Stir Fried Prawns in Soy Sauce)

"Har Lok" done here is the dry type, which is in a way good as the sauce becomes thicker and tastier. But this makes the prawn meat shrink more and become tougher. Still nice though.

Stir Fried Yeow Mak

The stir fried Yeow Mak (Romaine Lettuce) was surprisingly good, seeing that this island is small and one cannot see any soily area in the mangrove area for planting.
Although they have to import their vegetables in from the mainland, this was crunchy fresh. The stir frying must have been done pretty fast with just the right amount of oil to coat each leaf. No drippy, watery gravy to dilute the flavor, so this dish turned out very well.

Steamed Yellow-fin Pomfret

Like the other seafood, the steamed Yellow-fin Pomfret was also super fresh and nicely steamed in light soy sauce with spring onions and deep-fried shallots for garnishing. The chef here is pretty good with his cooking - with just the right amount of sauce, just the right amount of oil so that the gravy was lightly flavored just enough to complement the fresh meat.

Steamed Crabs

The steamed crabs were garnished with slices of red chilli, ginger and spring onion. The meat was perfectly compact and firm, and it comes with the aroma and fresh flavor of the sea. Too bad it was the wrong time of the month, and the crabs were without roe, otherwise it would have been 110% perfect.

Salted Deep Fried Prawns

Salted Deep Fried Prawn. This was one dish that I found unsatisfactory. The white-shell prawns used were fresh, but they were not crispy crunchy. Probably they did used to little oil ,or the oil was not hot enough. It also lacks the good burnt smell that one associate with well done prawns in their shell.

Stir Fried Bamboo Shell Fish

This was the pièce de résistance to finish of the meal - fresh, tasty and succulent. The picture tells it all, I don't have to say more

All in all, it was a wonderful meal we had for 11 pax. And we had 12 big bottles of beer to go with it. Cycling does work up a hearty appetite *grins*.

And the pricing was very, very reasonable, at RM470-00 including the beers. Take away the beer and it will come to about RM350-00 averaging about RM30-00 per dish. That's more than reasonable it's cheap! Ssshhhh.... please don't tell them.

Restoran Kia Hiong Yuen Location Map (Google Map Link)

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Monday, September 24, 2012

China - Dynamic Yunnan Day 4

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels
China - Dynamic Yunnan 24th to 31st August 2011

Day 4 : 27th August 2011

Colorful tribal costume with head-gear.

Today promises to be an active day. We will be going fishing in a lake, yes fishing! Why waste time fishing on holiday tour? Read on and find out.
Later we will travel another 184km to Lijiang and stay in an old town which has been preserved in its pristine ancient condition devoid of modern traffic. That will be interesting!

From Dali to Lijiang about 184 km. (5hrs bus ride including stops) (see Google Interactive Map)

NOTE : There is a nice song that I heard in Lijiang called "Dida", play this song as you read along, it will give you the mood of the place. (click here to PLAY SONG)

After breakfast & checking out, we were taken to this Tea House just on the outskirts of new Dali city. It is a family house a few hundred years old, owned and resided by the same family for generations.

At one end of the inner courtyard, was a "Moon Wall" strategically located to give "feng shui" protection to the family. It mus be working well as the family has been and is still staying here for ages.

On one of the corridor floor, I notice nice tiles engraved with Chinese Zodiac animals. More protection for the family?
When in China, one have to keep a keen eye for details like this, one the floor, in a nook, at the ceiling, etc. and one can see history kept alive.

Surprisingly, we were ushered into a small hall with a small stage. There is a hall in this house? How did they fit it in?
Bai tribal dancers came on stage to give us a dance and song presentation, I was intrigue by their costumes. They were different from the ones we saw in Kunming - a testament to the fact that there are many minority tribes in Yunnan.

The performance turned out to be a reenactment of a Bai wedding ceremony. The ladies here waving goodbye to their friend and wishing her a happy marriage.
During the performance, we were served tea, Dali tea ceremony style, called San Dao Cha. First was a bitter tea to prepare our palate for the second tea, which is a sweet tea served with Yak milk. Finally a spicy tea to wash down the strong taste of the second tea.

Here's the couple prior to the wedding rites. The master-of-ceremony briefed us that the tail of a Bai lady's hat gives a indication of her status. A long tail reaching up to the waist means she is single and eligible. A tail reaching out to the mid-back means she is engaged, whilst a short tail up to the shoulder means she is married. Okay, now when I meet a Bai lady, I will look out for the tail before talking to her - lest I say something wrong and be given a slap on the cheek!

After the rites, the bride is given a mirror to wear, to ward off evil. I am not too sure what the dark John Lennon style shades mean though - perhaps to "limit" her sight to her husband only and avoid wandering eyes!

With the nice tea warming our us in the chilly morning, we went over to the lake side. A small group of Bai girls greeted us together with a lion dance. Hmmm, now that I have been briefed earlier I noticed that the girl on the left is single and the one on the right engaged. So no nonsense on the right then.

We boarded the boats and were rowed to the middle of Erhai Lake, our orange life vest a stark contrast to the dark waters of the lake.
Funny though, were were not given any fishing rods or anything akin to fishing gear. How are we suppose to fish?

At the middle of the lake a boat was waiting for us, with birds perched on its edges. Oh... now I get it, it is the birds which will be doing the fishing, not us. No wonder no fishing gear!

With a command from the fisherman, a couple of bird went to perch on a long bamboo pole. From this higher position they can spy better for fishes in the lake.

On another command, the birds swooped down, diving into the water looking for fishes.

Most of them were successful, it must be in their nature. This one cormorant sitting gloriously high with a fish in its mouth, a sight to behold. Majestic bird but the poor fish...

The cormorant are well trained, they do not fly off with the fish. Instead they fly to the fisherman for him to collect his harvest. Many says that the birds have rings tied to their necks to prevent them from swallowing the fishes. But I doubt it as I did not see any constriction on their necks - they are just well trained.

Cormorants having a well deserved rest after the boat berthed at the jetty. They are magnificent birds with good plumage to protect them from the cold water.

With the birds having gone home, we had a boat race between ourselves - helping the local rower race back to the jetty.

That race left us ravenous with hunger and we were most happy that lunch was at a nearby court-yard restaurant. "Waiter! More rice please..."

We left Dali and the birds, starting our long journey to Lijiang. The distance may not be that long, but as we will be driving through the hills, it will be a slower ride taking us five hours. I reminded myself to enjoy the the scenery and took nice shots of the misty hills which seems to come straight out from some Chinese painting. Beautiful!

Here the bright green paddies contrast well with the darker green hills. Yunnan is on a high altitude, even here we are already more than 2,000 meters above sea level, and we are going up even higher.

Entrance to Lijiang Old Town

We reached Lijiang Old Town close to five hours later. As the whole town is of limits to automobiles, the bus had to stop a distance away- - at a car-park about 1 km. from the town entrance. Other than horses and bicycles, only the motor-bikes of residents are allowed into town.

From the entrance to our hotel was another 1 km. walk, but it was okay. The rustic atmosphere of the town grows onto one, and the walk on the granite pavement was brisk in the cool climate.
We passed by some horses, these ones were for tourists. The only thing I did not like is that the horses do their bowel business anywhere, and it makes the place stink.

We will be staying at the Jinfeng Yinjua Holiday Inn for the night.

It's a nice hotel, with our rooms facing a landscaped inner courtyard that has a natural spring running through it.

After checking in, we walked through the streets to the restaurant where we will be having our dinner. It was a great walk admiring, the live-style of the residents and their quaint houses.

Walking pass a little art shop, I made a note to come back here after dinner and see what unique local artwork it holds.

Dinner at this restaurant was steamboat style, with slices of beef, lamb, meat balls, vegetables, mushrooms in a hot spicy soup. Good for the cool weather here.

After dinner, to work off our hearty meal, we walked the streets again. What can we say, we enjoy it. This time we followed one of the many water channels that courses through the town. As we walked, we kept on hearing this haunting tune Dida by Kankan being played on and on. It wasn't monotonous hearing it over & over again. In fact it blended well with the atmosphere of the place, the haunting soulfulness of the song adding to the sereneness of the evening.

That water channel led to this pool, the trees and hills reflecting off it. There were many pubs around this area. The stoney streets of Lijiang beckoned us and walked around more visiting many shops selling local artifacts and souvenirs. When the shops closed we came back here and drank to the wee hours of the morning, soaking in the ambiance of the place.

Good Night! Burp!

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