PORKIE AFFAIR | Oinkz Burger Section 17, PJ

Non-halal night out.

So one of our friends stumble upon Oinkz through Foursquare and suggested we try it out for dinner since we didn't have anything specific in mind at that moment. So a bunch of us headed there.

Oinkz is located at the outdoor area of a kopitiam (coffee shop) in Sec 17, PJ. Day time I presume the kopitiam operated with hawker stalls and all and night time when it's closed, this bunch of young guys use it to run their pork burger business :) So it's pretty interesting. It's a very laid back and simple makan environment (sorry forgot to take pics of the place :p) and you a variety of people coming here - families, elderly couple, youngsters, kids and all.

So to the food. After reading reviews, majority of us decided to order the Hanbo. We also added the Roti Babi as a side, just to try.

Hanbo - RM12

(Pork patty with bacon, egg, cheese, caramelized onions and fried mushrooms)

Add RM4 for a can of soft drink and fries to make it a set. 

Verdict: Reasonable burgers if you don't feel like splurging on those gourmet ones. Of course, you won't get gourmet quality here but you are not getting Ramly-street-style quality either so it's sort of the in-between version. Generally there's nothing wrong with the burgers and they taste like what they should but I was a little disappointed with the can drink came in 250ml size, not the full 325ml size. Oh and they also provide plastic gloves for you as they don't have a washing area so with the gloves you won't get your hands dirty (thumbs up for that!) =)

If you're looking for a reasonable burger joint to hangout with some friends in a no frills environment, head here!

Tips: They ran out of some stuff the night I was there i.e selection of drinks, mushrooms and some others so we couldn't order the Braised Spicy Pork Belly as they wanted to save their ingredients for other customers. So I suggest to avoid disappointment, try to head there early especially on weekends. 

Oinkz

6.00pm - 10.30pm daily (Wed - Sun only)

Jalan 17/38, 46400 Petaling Jaya

Oinkz Facebook

** This is not a paid promo/review

Kuching | Day 2

Food, food, food and more food.

Brace yourself for a long post consisting of 95% food. Haha. So here's how day 2 went:

Visit to Sarawak Museum

Free of charge but only the Muzium Etnologi (pic above) has stuff to see and it's actually not too bad. A lot of things to see and learn about Sarawak :)

Of course, the obligatory photo taking with the cat statue :p

Song Kheng Hai Hawker Centre

Cococane drink (Coconut + Sugar Cane) 

RM2.30 each for big 

Famous Sarawak Kompia (Stall name is Rihga - the end one in the above pic)

Can't really recall the price but I think it's RM1 per piece

Crispy fried bread with char siew stuffing. Best eaten when still hot & fresh

Pork Satay (Carpenter Street)

RM0.70 per stick

(Juicy, tender and yummylicious satay! Must try!)

Kolo Mee - RM5.00

(In the same food court as the pork satay, there's also other food and we ordered kolo mee on top of the satay. It was actually quite nice. They were very generous with the ingredients although the price here is higher than most kolo mee out there.)

Sunny Hill Ice Cream (Jln Bukit Cahaya)

RM2.95 each

(The flavours vary depending on the days. I went on a Tuesday so it was Strawberry. I reading somewhere that says Wednesday it's either Pandan / Corn, Thursday & Friday is Chocolate. Weekends not too sure. 

Very smooth and creamy texture. Not too sweet as well which is great! It melts pretty fast so I'm assuming it's because they didn't add preservatives =) Definitely great place to cool off a hot sunny day!)

Dinner at Topspot (Jln Green Hill)

It's an open air located on the 6th floor of the UTC building. Super near the Waterfront.

There are a couple of big restaurant there that dominate the place besides some smaller vendors. There were 2 that had a lot customers - Ling Loong Seafood and Bukit Mata Seafood. We didn't know which is better so we just randomly picked Ling Loong. Hehe

Their ingredients for dishes are displayed outside and once you've placed your order, the staff will pick the ingredients for your dishes and bring them to the cook behind.

For 4 pax, we ordered Assam Fish, Deep Fried Squid, Wet Butter Prawns & Mixed Vege

Fish price was RM33

Squid - RM18

Mixed vege - RM13

Butter Prawns - RM21

Total = RM94.30 (including 4 rice & GST)

(Food generally was so so but my brother said it's more about the experience of dining here. The fish was tasted very fishy, they used Red Snapper apparently. Butter prawns was actually nice.) 

Then we did a short stop at Dataran Merdeka for some pics. The huge decorated trees here are apparently one of the oldest in Kuching. 

Supper (Open Air Market @ Jln Khoo Hun Yeang)

Pork Porridge - RM3.50 (w/out egg), RM4.00 (with egg)

(We were being very crazy and decided to head for pork porridge after our heavy dinner. Haha. Apparently this pork porridge is quite popular. First of all, it's so cheap! And they gave a lot of pork! The porridge is the grainy type and it's tasty. Perfect for a rainy night when you feel like having something comforting. )

#eatdieme
WHAT DIET?

Kuching | Day 1

Spontaneous trip.

Made a short trip across the South China Sea to Kuching last week. Stayed for four days and tried almost every food a tourist can possibly try in Kuching. To put everything into one post would be too long so I'm just gonna break it down to the number of days I was there. Here's the food summary of my 1st day.

Chong Choon Cafe (Jalan Abell)

First stop for breakfast upon arrival.

 3 layer tea *

(Quite nice, not too sweet)

Sarawak Laksa - RM3 *

(This coffee shop is known for this and it was pretty good tbh. Shrimps were fresh and crunchy & soup was good! Only wished it had more soup, proportionate to the amount of noodles at least. Hehe)

Mee Goreng - RM3 & Popiah - RM2

(Apparently this mee goreng is popular here but I don't see the reason why. Nothing great and the stall is dirty. As for the popiah, it tastes a lil different from the ones we have here in KL but I can't quite distinguish what is it. Sorry for the vague description :p)

Song Kheng Hai Hawker Centre (Lorong 15, off Jln Padungan)

Meehoon Belacan - RM4.50 (big)

(Very pungent belacan taste. The meehoon is not fried but just soaked and belacan gravy which is grey-ish in colour is poured over it and topped with brown squid, bean sprouts, sweet sauce & sambal. The taste might not interest everyone but it's something different, not what we're normally used to.)

Tomato Noodle - RM4.50

(Deep fried yee mee with tomato gravy topped with shredded chicken & bbq pork slices. Can't compare it to anything I know because this is only found in Kuching. Gravy is lukewarm which was quite disappointing cos the noodles could not soak and soften so it tastes like you're eating Mamee Monster with gravy. Lol. No, I'm serious.)

Honey Lime - RM2

Aroma Cafe (Jln Tabuan)

Fish Umai - RM10 (small) *

(I would describe this as our local ceviche. It's basically raw fish, red snapper is often used, marinated with shallots, chilies & lime juice. Not a fan of raw meat? Fret not, when you actually eat this dish, the fish is already cooked! Apparently, the marinating process cooks the fish. Ta-da!)

Ayam Pansuh - RM16 (medium)

(Bamboo chicken - traditionally the chicken meat will be stuffed in a bamboo together with onions, ginger, lemon grass & cassava leaves to cook)

Midin Belacan - RM15 (medium) *

(A type of fern fried with shrimp paste a.k.a belacan. This dish can only be found in East Malaysia so try it when you're here!)

Cangkuk Manis with Egg - RM10 (medium) *

(Here in West Malaysia, we'd call this daun pucuk manis, simple stir fry with eggs)

Verdict: My personal favs are the ones I've marked with *
Chong Choon was rather disappointing as a whole mainly because of it's cleanliness. The only thing I'd go back to eat is the S'wak Laksa. As for the hawker centre, nothing much to comment except that you need to try those two noodles when in Kuching as you can never find it here in WM.
Dinner at Aroma Cafe was pretty interesting with all these dishes that I've not tried before. Although every dish was saltier than normal dishes would, I'd say their food is pretty good & pricing is very reasonable too.

 Stay tuned for food summary of Day 2! Peace out!

Pau Kee Restaurant | Ipoh Hor Fun

Lunch downtown.

Very rarely do I travel to downtown KL considering the distance from where I live so if I do go that way, most of the time, I'd make sure that I try something new (new to me that is :p). So this time while otw home from Jln Tun Razak, I decided to head to Pau Kee (Jln Imbi) for their Ipoh Hor Fun with mum. A friend once told me that their hor fun is popular and that his family and him loved it till this day. So I thought I'd give it a try :)

Got there around 11am-ish just in time for brunch. The place wasn't crowded so it was perfect, just before the lunch crowd swarms in :)

Signature Ipoh Sar Hor Fun 

Fresh Prawn Q Wanton

Sar Hor Fun with Dry Sauce (noodles changed to yellow wantan mee)

Verdict: I'm usually not a fan of Ipoh Hor Fun but I must say this broth is pretty tasty and their prawns in the wanton was really fresh. Like really fresh and crunchy! Pricing is not stated in their menu which is pasted all over the shop. There is only board outside that states "Small - RM6.00, Medium - RM7.00 and Large - RM8.00. Our total came to RM23.90 including drinks (Teh Ice & Cold Chrysanthemum). So we're assuming that our noodles are RM6.00 each and the prawn wanton is RM8.00 (10pcs). Our assumption should be about right, plus minus a dollar or two.

Tips: Parking in KL area can be pricey ranging from RM5 - RM12 (depending on location) per entry. So try to find those public road side parking that only charges RM0.80 and hour with the meter. Make sure you DO NOT park in a spot that has no proper parking box marking, you'd be fined by the DBKL (KL City Council). Witnessed one when I was eating there.

Restoran Pau Kee

7.30am - 7.30pm daily (closed on Tuesdays)

10, Jalan Utara, Off Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur (not far from Honda showroom)

Pau Kee Facebook

** This is not a paid promo/review

Olive Garden Midvalley, KL

Friends catch-up sesh.

Tried Olive Garden for the first time in Midvalley. Excellent service I'd say. Our server was very attentive, friendly and constantly refilling our water even without us asking. Bravo to that! Good service is hard to come by these days.

So lets head to the food. We didn't order much. For the four of us, we decided to share two pastas which comes with a free flow of breadsticks and salad / soup. We were rather impressed with the fresh and yummy sides! So for every main you order, you'd get unlimited breadsticks and a choice of either salad or soup. So we got a salad and soup.

Our unlimited sides - Chicken & Gnocchi Soup, Fresh garden salad and breadsticks

Chicken Parmigiana Spaghetti (RM32.90) 

Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine (RM28.90)

*Source: Olive Garden Malaysia Facebook Page

Verdict: The pastas not too fantastic, they were decent both in terms of taste and portion BUT complimented with the sides, they're a great combo. I don't know about my friends but I absolutely love the sides / appetizer! Gimme more!! Hehe. Nice and comfortable ambience, friendly server, good meal and great company so overall it was a nice experience. 

Olive Garden Malaysia

F-051, First Floor, Midvalley Megamall

03-22010221