From its beginnings as a Work In Progress to a now popular hangout spot in KL, WIP is now Whipped Into Place. Located in the upmarket Bangsar Shopping Centre, the outlet offers an elegantly casual ambience with the design feel of an urban-tropic garden. Walking in, you’ll feel temporarily out of the hustle and bustle of a big city, while the friendly staff are happy to guide you through the whole experience.

The direction of WIP’s menu is cosmopolitan, with inspiration from different continents. You can either choose to be safe and order the local favourites, or be bold and try out more unfamiliar dishes. Good news, by the way, as WIP has just launched a few more new dishes to add into the eclectic mix.Tomato Bruschetta is Italian in origin and here buttered garlicly sliced baguettes are toasted first, then topped with chopped cherry tomatoes mixed with basil. It’s simple, but when all the flavours are right, it can be so comforting and appetizing. Here, they’ve executed this start particularly well.The Popcorn chicken was next on the list of starter, and this proved to be great bar snack. The crunchy exterior, juicy flesh, completed with a piguancy tartar-esque sauce will have you reaching for more, while also encouraging you to reach for your beer/cocktail/wine. Delicious.Are school prawns more intelligent because they went to school? Well, I don’t know that but what I do know is that this species of prawn has a distinctive sweeter taste, and can be consumed in whole, which is great news for people like me who are too lazy to be peeling prawns. Plus it adds to the whole crunchy factor that is so alluring to many. The sauce looks like a thousand island to me, but actually tasted a little spicy which is a bonus. I’ll happily devour this again.For the mains, I had the Garlic Pan Seared Salmon, which comes with Pilaf Rice, Mango salsa and Sautéed Vegetables. Very fusion sounding and would definitely be a go-to dish if executed well. But here the Salmon is slightly overcooked for my liking and I’d prefer if there was more condiment (and sauce) to go around. The pilaf rice is surprisingly aromatic despite its pale appearance.The other half went for the Alaskan Crab Burger, which came with fries and a side of cherry tomatoes not unlike the toppings on the Tomato bruschetta. The crab patty is impressively thick, packed with crab meat and it tastes like the ocean with its umaminess. The exterior is also nice and crispy, pairing nicely with the soft burger bun. Bonus point for the crisp lettuce too.
There are many more new dishes that we didn’t get to try but we definitely will keep that in mind when we visit WIP next.

Moku is a Japanese grill (Yakitori) and Barbeque restaurant with a little fusion twist. Located in Oasis Square, it’s faily easy to spot as it is facing the main road. Parking here is pretty easy, and the restaurant itself looks positively inviting. Here, the ambiance is casual and relaxed, with friendly staff occasionally singing to the pop tunes they are playing (mostly 90s, which is actually quite awesome). You can see the kitchen clearly, which is another plus too if you like watching your food being cooked right in front of you.

The menu here is straightforward, with one page dedicated entirely to Yakitori (grilled things) and another page of ala carte dishes such as sashimi, salads, and Western dishes like Pork Burger and Pasta with Japanese twist. Of course, we were there for the Yakitori and those are the only things we ordered. The choices here a-plenty though, so be prepared to stuff yourself silly. One thing of note is that beers here are pretty reasonably priced, which is a bonus.The grilled Pork Neck was the first to arrive and we have high expectation for this. It didn’t disappoint, the meat was juicy, sufficiently tender with a slight chew which is so satisfying. A squeeze of lemon refreshes the taste and not much else needed to add (although a bit of chili padi won’t go astray). A+ for this.The Tsukune (Japanese Chicken Meatball) here is stuffed with Cheese, and served with a teriyaki sauce. It looks absolutely tantalizing and one cut into the meatball, the cheese oozes out like nobody’s business. The meat is sufficiently bouncy, and well-seasoned, pairing extremely well with cheese. This would probably be my favourite.We like eating strange parts and ordered the Chicken Gizzards and Bishop Nose (google if you don’t know what it is). The Gizzards, nicely crunchy and smoky, and bishop nose smooth with all that fat which melts in your mouth. Fabulous! There are few types of vegetables available and I went for the Okra (Ladies finger), which were grilled to perfection. The Shisamo (Pregnant Willow Leaf Fish) was bursting with roes, and eats perfectly with a squeeze of lemon.

All these were washed down with some Asahi and we walked out of the restaurant happy. Will return for sure.

East Corner in Puchong is a family style restaurant serving a variety of hawker food, and the main selling point would be the large variety of Sarawakian dishes they offer. This “kopitiam” is fairly easy to locate with its huge yellow signboard, and it’s usually not too difficult to get a table (if you can find parking in the first place, Bandar Puteri Puchong can be rather busy). The restaurant is spacious and looks relatively clean, and like many others they do hire foreign workers but fortunately all are pretty friendly and politely.Of course, being Sarawakian, we are compelled to try out our hometown dishes, so those were our only orders. The first stall on the left sells Kuching Kolok Mee (along with some other noodles dishes like Hakka Mee and Wantans) and that’s what I went for. The noodles look authentic with their signature curliness and the toppings include char siew, minced pork, choy sum, spring onion and fish cakes. There’s a distinct aroma from the pork lard and shallots, which warrants a thumbs up for authenticity. I’ve asked for some wantans to be added into the soup (usually comes without) and these were lovely soft with satisfying pork filling. One of the better kolok mee around Klang Valley.The Tomato Kueh Tiaw is something I’ve been eating growing up and it’s not an easy dish to get right. We want the gravy to be nice and thick with a balance of savoury note, sweetness and piquancy from the tomato, and East Corner has managed to achieve that, which is great. The toppings were some tender pieces of sliced pork, fish cake and choy sum. The kueh tiaw itself were smooth with plenty of wok hei, but just a tad overcooked so some parts were a little congealed. Overall a decent version which I wouldn’t mind having again.Fried Cooked Noodles (Chao Zhu Mian) is a foochow dish and the noodles are first fry, and then braised in a thick gravy. It’s a humble dish, but so comforting due to its umami flavour infused with that hint of smokiness. The toppings are almost the same as the Tomato kueh tiaw, and I truly enjoy the broth here, and am glad that we can now get decent Chao Zhu Mian nearby.They also have a Big Prawn version of the Fried Cooked Noodles which is extra decadent. You can see the nice red hue of the prawn stock and it’s sweet and heady. The prawns are however not much to shout about as they are a little difficult to peel. But if you like Prawn noodles, you’ll definitely enjoy this broth better.

It’s nice to see a lot of Vietnamese restaurants popping up in Klang Valley as it’s one of my favourite cuisines. Kafe Vietnam Express is located in Berjaya Times Square, right next to the very popular Boat Noodles. Its original outlet is in Puchong and has a pretty strong following. It really should have more business as the food here is pretty authentic. The café looks very new, with tables inside and also outside which are more inviting due to brighter lights. The ambiance here is casual and relaxed and the waitress who served us was pretty friendly, though we were the only patrons when we dined so of course she was very efficient.The menu here is sizable with many Vietnamese classics. It was difficult to make a decision but we went for our favourite dishes to gauge the place. First, we had the Rice paper roll for starters. Stuffed with fresh prawns, lettuce, spring onion, rice vermicelli and nicely folded, these are as satisfying as they look, with the lovely textural contrast when you bite into it. The accompanying sauce is quite interesting too, I detect some hoisin, fish sauce, shallots, some powerful chili and also peanuts; pairing really well with the rolls.The other half went for the Rice vermicelli bowl with fried spring rolls. Topped with some cucumber, lettuce, bean sprouts, pickled carrot and daikon, and basil; you’ll need to pour in the Nuoc Cham (which is a mix of lime, fish sauce, sugar, chili) and mix everything together and then enjoy. The noodles absorb the delicious umami sauce and works really well with all that crunchy toppings. It’s light, refreshing and strongly appetizing.I of course went for my favourite: Com Tam, which means Broken Rice with Grilled Pork Chop and a variety of sides. Broken Rice means broken up rice grains and is a cheaper alternative to normal rice, though I suspect these are not really Com Tam, some grains do appear broken. Either way, let’s concentrate on the sides. The grilled pork chop is absolutely perfect, nicely seasoned and went so well with the rice. There’s also a piece of steamed meatloaf, which has a mixture of pork, wood ear fungus, thin rice vermicelli thread and egg; and this also deserves an A+ for authenticity. The pickles (carrot and daikon) are essential for the crunch and piquancy, and the fried sunny side up just complete the experience. We are glad to have found this restaurant and I’ll be coming back for sure for the Com Tam.

Sang Nyuk Mee, or 生肉面 in Chinese), is an iconic food of Sabah. In literal translation, Sang Nyuk Mee means Raw Pork Noodles. Now before you get squeamish, it actually refers to the tender, fresh, smooth meat slices served in soup. Originated from Tawau in 1970s, it's now popular enough you can find it everywhere in Sabah. And if that's not enough, we can even find it in Klang Valley now too, to cater the Sabahans who miss hometown food, and folks like us who basically love a good bowl of pork noodles.

If you are near Subang, and feel like having something different (or familiar, depends where you are from), there's Sang Nyuk Noodle 東風生肉麵. Operated by a husband/wife team (Wife is from Kota Kinabalu), you see hungry patrons happily slurping the noodles, along with many Sabahan dishes they serve on a daily basis.

Now the main attraction itself: you can have Sang Nyuk Noodles in 2 styles, either in soup or dry (kon lou). Generally people would opt for the dry style, where the noodles are tossed in dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and pork oil, and served with the tasty pork broth filled with meat slices, meatballs and offals.I ordered the handmade noodles and added fried egg on top (you know I'm a sucker for Egg yolk). The noodles are tasty with the distinct aroma of pork lard. Adding the fried egg really enhance the experience too, nothing better than strands of noodles coated with egg yolk I must say. 
There are a few other choices of noodles, and the Dong Guang Mee Hoon which are thicker than usual rice vermicelli is usually the default choice for Sang Nyuk Noodles. Both have different textures; I liked the chewiness of the handmade noodles, but also enjoy the smooth mee hoon. One thing of note is that they brought in their soy sauce, oyster sauce and chili sauce from Sabah, to ensure authenticity. The chili sauce here is made with vinegar for that sour edge, and has a nice good kick.The broth is boiled with pork bones, which means you see that signature milkiness in the soup, with natural sweetness of pork. I was impressed with how tender the meat was. As I'm a lover of offals, the liver and intestines ticked the right boxes for me.Another of their signature would be the Mushroom Chicken Feet. The Chicken feet has been cooked in Chinese Yellow Wine and various Herbs, so it has a very strong herbal taste (the most prominent aroma being the dong guai). The chicken feet was not deep fried before braising, which gives it a super soft texture, while the meat falls off the bone easily. My kind of dish!

Service here is efficient enough and staff are well trained. We’ve already been here 3 times, and be sure to return again!