As the title suggests, I was one of the lucky ones who got invited by OpenRice Malaysia for an exclusive free food tasting session, namely MakanVenture, on the 20th of March at Chang Rai Thai Food Restaurant, Cheras. We, including the other OpenRicers (members of OpenRice), were given a great opportunity to savor some of their signature dishes, and try some new Thai dishes that are yet to be included in the menu.

Anyway, brace yourself, delicious Thai delicacies are coming!

P/S: The comments given below are wholly based on originality, and they are of my personal opinions, and Don's.Thai Papaya Salad was the first dish served approximately 10 minutes before the clock struck eight. It's probably the first ever Thai salad that I thought was deliciously yummy, with peanuts that I didn't quite prefer, despite almost being killed by its spiciness. The papayas used were indeed crispy, yet my tongue was burning right after a mouthful of it. Eventually, I gave up and let Don finish it for me instead.Thai Style Fish Maw in Claypot was the second dish of the night. I never had fish maws for my dislike for them since forever, even though it's one of the most important dishes served every Chinese New Year, but I'm sure I enjoyed the other seafood available in the clay pot. Everything was cooked to perfection, fresh, huge, and juicy!You can't call it a Thai cuisine without green curry and tom yam. We had Thai Style Green Curry Chicken in Claypot and Thai Seafood Tom Yam Soup, served in two huge clay pots, and they pretty much occupied our table before more delicacies were brought from the kitchen. They may seem to be very spicy, but photos can be deceiving.

Thai Style Green Curry Chicken was one of my favorite dishes of the night. Every part of the chicken that came together with the green curry was so soft and tender. By the look of it, I knew it was good in such a way before I ate it. Most importantly, it came with eggplants! Chicken, eggplants, and curry always make the most perfect combination. Yum!

On the other hand, Don and I merely had a teeny-weeny bit of Thai Seafood Tom Yam Soup that came with generous amount of abalone mushrooms, prawns, and some other seafood. I couldn't quite remember anything about this particular dish, but Don, the picky guy, immediately nodded his head when I asked if it's recommendable.Among the 20 OpenRicers who joined the event, Don was the only one who had two bowls of rice because of their Thai Style Prawn with Cream. The prawns were huge enough to satisfy a prawn lover like me. I'm glad that peeling off the shells was not difficult for me, as well as Don who is always too lazy to take that job.This was probably the one and the only dish Don and I couldn't really comment on. I could barely tell that the fried ring was made of minced fishes and prawns, when it's more than what I had tasted. Don had the Otak-otak or some sort of pancake, but he could no longer recall anything about it.Apparently, Chang Rai Thai Food Restaurant is known for its Steamed Fish with Lemon. Don didn't quite like the fact that it's cooked together with bird's eye chilies. He thought it could have been perfect without them. Personally, however, I thought it's worth the popularity due to its special spicy and sour taste. According to the boss, you may always opt for the other fish types depending on your preference.

P/S: Unfortunately, only 8 photos are allowed to be uploaded per review. Therefore, some of the remaining dishes will be explained in purely words.

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Most Malaysian Chinese can't have a meal without vegetables, I suppose, or are they the healthier Malaysian Chinese? Fried Kangkung appeared to be ordinary, with some bird's eye chilies to make it more flavorful. I don't usually prefer to have Fried Kai Lan. Surprisingly, the one served at Chang Rai Thai Food Restaurant tempted me that night with crispy stems.

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No, it's not the end yet. Honestly, Thai Style Chicken Feet Salad and BBQ Pork Neck were rather fresh to me. Prior to joining this MakanVenture, I didn't know that chicken feet could be served cold, and how pork neck would look like. Don even thought that pork neck was some kind of pork internal.

Seemingly, you have to be a professional foodie in order to enjoy and judge a plate of Thai Style Chicken Feet Salad. It's said by one of the experienced OpenRicers that the preparation of a dish like this is never easy and requires skills, although the result may not be expensive. As for BBQ Pork Neck, the name literally tells you everything about the dish. Still, you need to, and you must give it a try to fully understand how being in the heaven is like. Mind you, it's heavenly, wonderfully, and finger-licking good!

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As usual, Thai Mango Salad came with sour, young sliced mangoes. I can never stand sourness! I couldn't help myself but to wrinkle up my face, and I refused to take in any mouthful of it ever since. Nevertheless, if you are entirely fine with sour dishes, this may be yet another recommendable plate of Thai Mango Salad. For your information, Don preferred Thai Mango Salad to Thai Papaya Salad.Last but not least, it was the Glass Noodle Crab in Claypot! The crab was huge and juicy, with most of its remaining sauce being absorbed by the glass noodles. It could have been really perfect if the coriander leaves, known as the smelly vegetables by me and Don, weren't mixed together with everything in the clay pot.

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Before the closing ceremony was held, we had their very own dessert made of coconuts and sweet corns. I thought it's a must to be ordered as and when you drop by Chang Rai Thai Food Restaurant. Its taste was special, with a mixture of saltiness and sweetness, notwithstanding its unappetizing look from the photo taken.

As the event came to an end, the boss, or the mastermind behind Chang Rai Thai Food Restaurant, was finally invited for a brief introduction about the restaurant. Don and I agreed that her smile captured in the photo was indeed beautiful. Noticeably, the dishes mentioned above aren't the only ones available at Chang Rai Thai Food Restaurant. You may always ask for extra recommendations from the boss should you drop by at the restaurant, because they have more than what we were offered that night.

My Blog: http://jcheerios.blogspot.com/2013/03/dinner-with-openricers-at-chang-rai.html

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Don and I went to I Love Yoo at The Gardens approximately four hours after our brunch, for a lighter meal. We love food, and we greedily love food. We preferred I Love Yoo to the other restaurants or food stalls because we have heard positive comments about this particular outlet from my aunt. Since we were right at the place, we thought, why not?I dropped their set meals and ordered a bowl of Tou Foo Far, or Tau Fu Fah if that's what you prefer, at RM3.30. It was finely done, to the extent that I literally cleaned the remaining syrup, which I don't usually do. I had my favorite You Tiao at RM1.60. Its crispiness was the boom!

The prices may be twice as expensive as those sold at the roadside stalls or morning markets, I just couldn't resist the deliciousness.Don ordered Set B that came with Soya Bean and You Tiao at RM4.30. So much for having a light meal! He even added a Butterfly Bun at RM1.60 just because he thought it was too little, which he then swept aside such misgiving and regretted later on. By the way, Butterfly Bun is just a sweet version of You Tiao.

Do I need to elaborate more on the taste? Trust me when I say that you need to personally give it a try. Their smoothness and crispiness just simply make me drool!Without comparison between I Love Yoo and any random roadside stalls, a light meal at Mid Valley Megamall or The Gardens at RM10.80 was considered affordable. I acknowledge that there are quite a few outlets that serve bad food, but I will be sure to return to this outlet again should I drop by the mall someday. My aunt was right, this place is highly recommendable indeed!

My Blog: http://jcheerios.blogspot.com/2013/03/tea-break-at-i-love-yoo-mid-valley.html

The day was filled with foods, foods, and foods that I had during a tiny little family gathering at Lemon Garden Cafe, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. This hotel is known to be luxurious yet truth to be told, everything seemed normal as compared to the private hotels I had been to. The parking basement of the hotel itself was already something pretty disappointing and it was even worse than the shopping malls like 1U, Mid Valley Megamall, Sunway Pyramid, and etc. Anyway, I shall start off with some food-related photos that might make you drool.

P/S: The photos were taken only after my stomach was close to being bloated, but I’ll try my best to explain more about the food available in the cafe.These were prawns wrapped in egg noodles or mee hoon and deep fried. Even though the shells were not peeled off before they were served, they tasted good, and they were very crispy. Apart from prawns, the Chinese section has the common Chinese foods like steamed fishes that tasted heavenly good and fresh at the beginning but worsen when more people came, Chinese-style fried rice, roasted ducks, some common dim sum and others.They also served Japanese food, western food, Malaysian food which was the must, and etc including different types of salads. I never have any sashimi served and I never will, but I still ate their cold, cooked prawns because for your information, prawns are always in my top favorite list.I have to say that they have the best satay I have ever eaten in my life so far. The chicken meat was so tender and I couldn't even taste any oily fats at all, like seriously. Even my mum who didn't really prefer to have satay, thought the same as I did. Yum! Otak-otak was served as well but I personally thought there wasn't anything special about it.Say hi to chocolate fondue! There was a strawberry fondue that seemed to be prepared especially for kids. I hated it.

Variety of choices were available to be chosen from the rack to go with chocolate fondue, including fruits like honeydews, strawberries and rose apples, prepared with plenty of sticks, enabling you to shower the fruits with the flowing chocolate.One of my aunts was very much into chocolates, and still is, took this bowl of chocolate balls. Personally, I didn't like them because there was too much chocolate until I felt like puking while swallowing the one and the only one I had. However, it's still highly recommended if you happen to be a chocolate lover like my aunt, because these chocolate balls contained melting chocolate at the inside that you might feel as if you're in the heaven.Macaroons had been something I craved for after trying the ones my cousin sister bought from Singapore. Those served at Lemon Garden Cafe, however, tasted so disgustingly different, as if I was eating some kind of colored, tasteless, and powdery sugar. I ended up throwing one of them into a cup of tea and stirred until it melted in the cup.

A few months later, we returned to the same place again, and our comments were mostly positive. It's a great fine-dining place for family gatherings indeed!


My Blog: http://jcheerios.blogspot.com/2011/04/buffet-lunch-at-shangri-la-hotel.html

Prior to finally making up our mind to drop by this place before we departed back to where we belong, it was still part of our undecided plan after reading through Kenwooi's review about his experience. Then we thought to ourselves, how often do we come to Ipoh? If we don't treasure the moment we have, when else would it happen again? Hence, here we were, arriving at Sin Eng Heong with the help of Waze.Unfortunately, it was just a grab-and-go sort of visit. We didn't have the ample time to peak into the kitchen and observe the process of producing these delicious puffs like what Kenwooi did, unless we returned home late. Nevertheless, we had the opportunity to meet the old uncle, who is known as the mastermind behind Sin Eng Heong. He was taking his short break, I supposed, by walking in front of the store while looking around the street. Seeing that we left with two bags full of what he made, he gave us a glorious smile.Although some of you may think that the skin is a little too thick for your preferences, it tasted perfectly fine. Honestly, we almost gave up looking for it, until Waze told us that Sin Eng Heong was located near to where we were at, then. RM18.50 for a box of 5 Kaya Puffs, another box of 10 Kaya Puffs, and a packet of Heong Peng, we thought it was considered okay.


My Blog: http://jcheerios.blogspot.com/2013/03/famous-kaya-puff-from-sin-eng-heong-ipoh.html

Located in the heart of Ipoh old town, Kong Heng Restaurant, or fondly called Kong Heng Char Set by the locals, is one of the best restaurants that sells excellent food in town. This restaurant has been around for centuries and it is a favourite spot for breakfast for Ipohan. The shop is usually busy and crowded on weekends as Ipohan outside Ipoh will be back to patronize this shop. One word of advice from us: Come early or you'll have trouble looking for tables.

A step into the shop is like travelling back in the past. The interior setting has changed little. The furniture within the shops can be dated back to the 50s and 60s era. While OLDTOWN Kopitiam is set with the designer's version of nostalgic and charming antique round marble table and chair, Kong Heng Restaurant has the authentic and historic sets of tables and chairs which are inherited generation after generation. – Copied and edited from Ipohtown (http://ipohtown.blogspot.com/)My boyfriend ordered 10 sticks of Chicken Satay and 10 sticks of Pork Satay that cost us a total of RM14 only. Chicken Satay is usually softer than Pork Satay, my experience with those at Kedai Kopi Kong Heng was nevertheless different. Surprisingly, the tenderness was almost similar, that at one moment we could hardly differentiate them until we had a few other sticks to finally decide on which was which.

From the photos above, I couldn't differentiate them either. Some may prefer to eat satay with cucumbers and spicy peanut sauce, while I always prefer to have satay without any of them. I support originality! Still, I gave the sauce a try so that my experience with these satays would not go to waste. I would prefer to have the satays alone, but the sauce was quite okay after all. Worth a try!


My Blog: http://jcheerios.blogspot.com/2013/02/delicious-satay-at-kedai-kopi-kong-heng.html