กรุงเทพฯตอนเย็นดี……Too much Thai restaurant claiming authenticity on their menu. Good evening Bangkok is nonetheless one of the many. When visiting the restaurant, I decided to invite a Thai friend along. According to her, dishes here was not great, raather palatable.We really look forward to the tom yum soup for she has been claiming that Malaysia lack lots of chili and spices in their soup. True indeed, the soup we ordered burns my throat as it travels down my oesophagus. Malaysian style tom yum lack a little of that sensation. Nothing from when it’s in the mouth, but as it travels down your stomach, you feel the burning sensation.There is a fair ingredient inside the soup. Prawns, fish, squids and mushrooms. To my disappointment, lack freshness. The squids and fish may not be too obvious to consumers but prawns are obviously soft . But I have to say, the soup was really rich in milk. Creamyly spicy. Lots of serai giving lovely fragrant. They were finely chopped, I suppose to increase surface area to mass ratio. Hence, it’s quite annoying to some point when drinking the soup with finely chopped substances in it.When ordering, almost 70% of dishes on the menu were hot and spicy. So we figured that we should order at least one dish that is not spicy. Therefore, we ordered sweet and sour chicken in yam basket. I supposed the chicken were not freshly made upon ordering, but prior to that. It was coated with flour, thick coating of flour and that really gives a hard texture to the chicken. The sweet and sour sauce was delightfully rich with lots of chopped garlic. There is capsicum, carrots, baby corn, green pea,cashew nut and grapes. Yes, grapes in sweet and sour chicken. Rather peculiar combination, but the tangy combination with the sweet and sour gravy is amazing. It was a pity that their chicken was coated with thick flour. Gives a bad texture to the chicken.Next is the fish. We ordered a chef recommended dish, the pla gao sam rod. That is a deep fried garoupa with Thai three flavours sauce in English. The sauce is indeed savoury. Fish is very fresh. However, to my disappointment the deep fried took a little longer than required. Resulting in, a very dry texture of the fish. After a about a quarter serving, I got a little tired having to chew so hard on the fish. I guess they tried a bit too hard making the fish crispy. Or maybe they coat it a little too much with flour.Finally, the best part of every meal- dessert. All time Thai favourite, the water chestnut in coconut. Chestnut coated with colouring flour, with nangka strips in coconut and ice. Chestnut was chilled before serving. Chilled and scrumptious with mild natural sweetness from chestnut alongside nangka makes this dessert delightfully appetizing.Lastly, not forgetting the beverages. They serve a wide range of beverage, nothing out of the extraordinary. But as always, jasmine green tea…my favourite.

Whenever I’m sick or feeling like I am losing my appetite, I always have craving for porridge. I guess porridge became a staple food for those without any appetite to eat. Decent ones are difficult to locate, but recently I found one I thought was pretty decent and palatable. It was served as individual claypots and the porridge texture was thick and not too diluted, just the way that I like it.I ordered the Teng Chai porridge, and I requested to add on salted egg, and you tiao. They have got other stuff like the red bean bun, glutinous rice bun, and the ma jiao. But I didn’t order those because I didn’t felt like I could finish my food.The ingredients in the porridge were really generously served. Lots of century egg as well as crab stick. I thought it was genius to have raw crab stick slightly stirred into the porridge instead of cooking it in the porridge. That’s why the texture of crabstick somehow remained chewy. I love the salted egg in the porridge. Most places won’t have such generous amount of salted egg.If porridge alone is too bland, do try the fried fu chuk. Amazingly appetizing due to the crispy outer layer. Fish paste wrapped in it was a little brine when eaten alone, but it complimented the porridge well.Lastly, I finish the meal with a cup of Cham ( a mixture of tea and coffee). Smooth milk tea with a slight touch of coffee makes a perfect Cham. Since I am not so much of a coffee person, I like it a lot because this is a slightly softer and smoother version of coffee.The Teng Chai porridge cost Rm 6.50, with Rm 1 extra for additional salted egg. You tiao is Rm 1.40, and fried fu chuk cost me Rm 5.50. So the total price I paid for the meal was almost Rm 18 including service tax. I thought it was okay, and I definitely will come back to them the next time I feel like eating porridge.

Being a half Peranakan, I was never fascinated with most of the commercialized Nyoya cuisine around me. Like the rest, Penang Nyonya in Subang Parade is not an exceptional. Even though, I really do like a few of their dishes in the menu.
The Nasi Bojari in particular became my favourite. Perhaps because my mother has rarely made that at home, so what you don’t have is always in your wish list. Thus it instantly became my favourite.See how colourful is the rice. Simple yet pretty looking, I thought it was brilliant. The sambal and chili is amazing, fiery hot and spicy, but palatable and divine to me.So because I have such a spicy tongue, I couldn’t resist getting all the spicy food that was luring from the menu like there is a spell casting from within the menu. Hence, Asam fish curry that came with some ladies fingers in it. It is good and at RM 20.50, I guess they have to give you a plump slice.Next dish is the Asam laksa, which I regretted not ordering it with vermicelli. Well, to be fair to them, it’s somewhat subjective because I happen to favour vermicelli to the usual noodle which supposedly to go with asam laksa. Now, note to Ms Kim Lee whom have been requesting for a good asam laksa on Facebook page, this is a good commercialized asam laksa just to satisfy your crave.So the soup had thick stock of actual fish with lots of finishing garnish of onions, chilis, mint leaves (my favourite) and lemon grass. I’ve always thought that the use of lemon grass into asam laksa is a fantastic choice. Adding both the lemon grass and fresh peppermint leaves to the asam laksa really help mask the astringent taste of the other ingredients.What is nyonya food without Nasi lemak ….yum. Hot steamed pandan and santan rice was okay. Not fabulous compared to what I’ve been having all these while from home. But I really like the fresh served nasi lemak. Freshly cut cucumber has always been something I am rather particular with when I eat sliced cucumber. So when ordering this, always expect hot steaming rice with hot curry chicken served with fried groundnuts and crunchy fried anchovies. Don’t forget the cooling freshly cut cucumber and half a boiled egg.

I had my eye on their desserts and this tea time review begins with the Profiteroles.Because it is refrigerated prior to serving, expect them to be a little dry on the outside, or the top or outer layer. The Profiteroles has got those awesome puffs on top and the good thing for the rich filling inside those creampuffs, pop in the entire puff and chew it to balance the dry surface of the puff.Beneath this one is superbly delicious. Not too sweet and great texture from a mix of cake and mousse with very delicious bitter sweet chocolate flavour so it doesn’t get relentless dulcified by the time you hit the bottom.Inside, there is some chocolate chunks so within the smooth mousse texture; there is the cake and some hard chunk of crunchiness from the chocolate pieces.The Tiramisu is not something to brag about since it’s not fresh when served. I reckoned the freshness heavily depends on the popularity of that particular item as well.Le sultana here is really pretty and the presentation definitely is overwhelming. I didn’t fancy the cream layers but the good chocolates in the ingredient is an admirable factor.Speaking of chocolate, the Hokkaido Choco Soufflé( RM 4) is something lighter to satisfy the chocolate crave.Try the Pavlova for those who cannot resist sweet desserts. And did you know? The Pavlova is actually named after a Russian ballet dancer. This one here definitely is graceful looking. I recommend washing of some of that sweetness with some coffee or tea. My pick is of course the Jasmine Green tea.

Chicken rice is one awesome Hainanese food which has obviously evolved to suit the liking of many other race and Chinese ethnic. In pace of the very busy city, chicken rice comes in so handy to easily prevail as a very delicious and convenient meal. And for some reason, the combination of chicken rice with steam or roasted chicken with some cucumber slices as well as the awesome chicken rice chili sauce hits as the perfect combo for the amazing satisfaction. That’ll be the basic but to top that, most stalls or restaurants serve bean sprout, chicken liver and gizzards and some even come with optional roasted and barbeque pork.

One that is pretty awesome is located in the Subang Jaya SS 15, at this restaurant called the Restaurant Yee Fatt. By night time, there is rice and dishes but during day time, this stall sells decent chicken rice with great aroma and fragrant.The chicken is done just nice right to meet those who is in favourable with softer texture and or those whom does not like them that way. Both the Steamed and Roasted chicken are tenderly juicy and most importantly not having their natural flavour being empowered by the soya sauce.The gizzards were really good too. Served with slight soya sauce to bring a little flavour from the dish, the gizzards have got great texture that is slightly crunchy. Subjected to different individuals, some would love this. I would be fonder of liver than the gizzards.And like I said, this is one of those stalls which would sell Roasted and barbeque pork on top of the delicious chicken rice. The roasted pork is decently served to my liking so I am going to have to go with the verdict that this one is not bad.With all the meats, a meal must be balanced and hence the beans sprout. I didn’t like this one having so much fried shallot, fried garlic, and sprinkled spring onions. Not to mention the very generous amount of pepper. Well, you learn something every day. The next time I go back (which I would) I would make sure they go easy with the peppers.