Nyonya Dessert Fail

We had an interview with a doctor last week and decided to hold it out of his clinic so that we'd not be interrupted. The closest place to chat was a restaurant I'd actually been wanting to try, despite my dad telling me it was not worth it. Still, one man's meat is another man's poison, right?

The traffic has not come to a standstill for this restaurant.

While it may not be fair to judge a restaurant solely by its desserts, I believe that if you're going to put something on a menu, it should be memorable. Or at least, good. Unfortunately I think the desserts were a by-the-way afterthought.

Cendol red beans.

Both were of a decent size. I'd have raved at the generosity of the helping if the offering was better, truth be told. However, the cendol came with so much cendol that it seemed it was clearance time in the kitchen. It was compounded by the fact that it was obviously mass-manufactured cendol, and no pains had been taken to make it seem more home-made. The ratio of 'worms' to ice and santan was obviously wrong, so we had a bowl of gunky cendol left after the coconut milk and brown sugar had been eaten. The red beans were also very clearly from a can and were hard and more savoury than sweet. Not a good way to spend RM4.80.

ABC Special (like real!)

The ABC Special was pretty much a repeat of the cendol. Same overkill of cendol noodles, and the same beans. By the way, red beans or adzuki beans are used in sweet desserts for a reason! Their consistency and biological make-up means they split and mush slightly when boiled in sugar syrup, making them great for stuffing and pastes. The beans we got in the desserts were kidney beans - more suited to chili con carne. You CAN cheat and mush them in sugar syrup, but I guess that was too much work for a kitchen which had only one other customer at 3pm.

The service staff, dressed sloppily in flip flops and caps also failed to instill much confidence. In this particular restaurant's case, I think I'll give a second chance a miss.

Nyonya Roots
25 Lorong Ara Kiri 1
Lucky Garden
Bangsar 59100 Kuala Lumpur

Let Them Eat Bread!

One of the sweetest things a dinner guest to Chez ChinTan can do is bring dessert from somewhere special. This box of pastries were from our vegetarian friends, Michelle and Jack Hyersky when they came over for dinner.

A selection of sweets from Le Bread Days.

Le Bread Days is a bakery in SS2, located near the macrobiotic food outlet, Woods. Apparently all the breads and pastries are made with no improver or preservatives, meaning that they should be consumed on the day of purchase, or by very latest, the next day. This box didn't even make it to 10pm. Jack scarfed down the chocolate croissont, leaving the selection with nuts to the adults.

One thing which characterizes the breads is the density. None of the selection was fluffy in the way a multilayered pastry like a croissant should be, which is a bit of a let down. I'm all for cooking preservative-free, but if it changes the essence of a what a food item should essentially be, then, there's a flaw in the preparation method. Still, the other components of sweetness, quality of chocolate and freshness of the silvered almonds demonstrate an eye for the things that matter.

Le Bread Days
68 Jalan SS2/72
47000 Petaling Jaya

More On El Toro

My review on El Toro is live on HungryGoWhere Malaysia. Read it here for in-depth reviews of the offerings. http://www.hungrygowhere.my/food-guide/review/beef-el-toro-butchery-grill-subang/

A Better Plan B

Great ID is always one of The Big Group's strong points.

After three bad food experiences in a row at Plan B, Paradigm Mall, and a so-so experience at Hit & Mrs, I was a bit loathe to add to the coffers of The Big Group. All credit to foodie founder Benjamin Yong, but I'd rather buy my own produce and cook at home if the soft shelled crab in my Thai salad comes out feeling as if it went through an Ayurvedic oil bath, or the quinoa is fried so hard that it puts me at risk of losing a veneer.

Deli counters... delish!

Wood and galvanised iron: nice.

Still, Ben's General Food Store was the choice of my editor at HungryGoWhere Malaysia. So I acquiesced, but ordered only a Gorgeous Geisha tea (RM8) and left the ordering to the Ed. She took my recommendation for the Mexicana eggs (RM22)  over the Americana and also ordered the Banana Chocolate Mascapone french toast to share.

A cup of tea and thou... Gorgeous Geisha served with honey.

The tea was good, I liked the mix of botanicals, though I would have preferred it served in a pot. I did not use the honey, but it was a decent one, and there was quite a lot of it for just one cup of liquid.

Mexicana eggs: very South of the Border.

The eggs were surprisingly good. I'm a sucker for jalapeno and guacamole, so the pairing was a good one for me. The richness of the avocado complemented the runny yellow yolks, while the bite of the jalapenos and crunch of the red peppers (capsicum) gave the rich mouthful some balancing notes of heaty sour and sweetness. The accompanying bread was a tad too light to be golden, but the slices were thick and crisped just right, making it a good marriage of textures.

Carb decadence! Banana chocolate French toast.

There was nothing traditionally French Toasty about the banana chocolate and mascapone french toast. There was very little evidence of the humble bread slices dipped in egg wash, and thank goodness for that. This version is the grown-up's kind of toastie; a thick slice of brioche crisped to airy lightness at the crust, but still deep and moist on the inside. Sliced bananas are heaped on a dollop of creamy cheese and drizzled with a lovely chocolate syrup. It's a gut buster for sure, but so, so sweet and comforting. The tea made it perfect, with the fattiness of the chocolate bringing out the sharp red berries of the tea.

Comparing breakfast to breakfast, Ben's General serves up better fare to Plan B. Even if the items vary, the standard of preparation is better here, and I have a feeling so is the consistency.

With one latte and one coffee milkshake, the bill came up to RM71 before tax.

Ben's General Food Store
G17-G18 Ground Floor
Bangsar Village 1
1 Jalan Telawi Satu
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur

Just Desserts

The haze that has descended on the Valley has ignited in me a sudden desire for all things sweet, smooth and creamy. Since we happened to be at Lorong Seratus Tahun on another mission, I decided to make it a two-fer and sample some items from their dessert menu.

Foodie friends have often listed this chain as one of the best to go to for close to authentic Penang food. As such, scarred by my experience of Sarsi syrup in the ice kacang from the Teochew Chendul place in Paradigm Mall, I decided to opt for the Ice Kacang Special instead of the Penang Ice Kacang. I figured that the RM3 price difference would be my buffer against ever having sasparilla and red beans in the same bowl.

Lighting is awful at the restaurant! The Ice Kacang Special loses appeal in it!

For RM9.90, the Ice Kacang Special is a pricey dessert. About the most expensive on the dessert menu. To justify the cost, the serving comes in a bowl as large as that which holds their ala carte noodle dishes. To again prove that the money forked out was not in vain, the restaurant dollops on the ice kacang ingredients on top of the shaved ice, as opposed to at the bottom of the bowl. The dish included generous servings of good quality creamed sweet corn, sweet red beans, attap chee seeds, cincau cubes, canned lychees and pineapple cubes, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream dressed with a squirt of raspberry sauce and sprinkled with slices of dried, sugared nutmeg. The last ingredient always screams 'Penang' to me.

It was a good medley of flavours and textures, and although the ice was not the finest, the overall taste and feel was pleasant. It was a big helping and can easily be enjoyed by two. However, the economics of it still bugs me. Prawn mee, RM7.90, ice kacang, RM9.90....

Penang Cendol: could have been better if the 'worms' were all the same temperature.

The Penang Cendol did not raise as much guilt as the ice kacang. At RM6.90 it is about the amount one can expect to pay for a dessert at a cafe. It helped also that it was relatively good cendol. The green 'noodles' were thick and fragrant, with a good consistency. However, the experience was marred by some of the 'worms' being frozen. I dislike finding a hard piece in the midst of the slithering, silky mass in the mouth, and that really took marks off the dessert.

The coconut milk was passable, though I am almost sure they use the pasturized, boxed santan as opposed to a freshly pressed one. Still, the gula melaka was good enough to buoy the flavour profile, and the red beans were large, and well stewed, with just the right amount of sweetness.

Lorong 100 Tahun
56 Jalan SS2/66
77300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor.

Hakka Mama

A chat with the franchise owner of Palsaik, the new eight colour pork Korean barbecue sensation, revealed that he was Hakka from Sarawak, and that his mother was a whiz at making the quintessential vegetarian dish of lui cha. Mr K swore that his mum's lui cha was so good that he doesn't eat any other variant. He said that he would see when his mother would make it, and invite us over. I thought it was just chatty courtesy, but two days later, he confirmed lunch at his apartment!

Madam K nee Phang is an 84-year-old dynamo. She lived in Singapore for a few years in her girlhood, then returned to Malaya during the second World War. The war effectively kept her from school (but there is not saying she would have been sent even if there had been no war - such were the standards at the time, when girls were not seen worthy enough to have money spent on their education). She speaks no English, just Hakka and a more Penang-phrased Hokkien. Her food, however, transcends languages.

She put on a lovely (and loving) spread for her son's guests. Food included the much-spoken of lui cha, as well as fried chicken wings and Hakka tofu.

Some of the items which go into lui cha (except for the tofu).

Nearly any long stemmed green Asian vegetable can be used in lui cha.

Beans add texture and crunch.

Pickled daikon (chye poh) adds salt and a bit of chewiness.

If you're lucky, sayur manis (literally meaning 'sweet vegetable) is also part of the mix.

Fried ikan bilis lend the brittle mouthfeel and crunch factor.

The soup is what makes this dish. Traditionally it is a mix of seven to eight herbs.

The Hakkas (also known as Kheks), are Malaysia's sixth largest ethnic Chinese group. They came to Malaya in the 18th and 19th centuries as tin miners and farmers. As labourers, they were paid little and worked long hours. Their meals had to be sustaining as well as cheap. As such, plain white steamed rice makes up the basis of lui cha. Any vegetable that they could grown in their little home plots were used to add bulk. And the herbs which make up the soup were probably chosen for their medicinal and strengthening properties. Generally bitter, the salted, preserved vegetables and fish made the soup more palatable when mixed together. Lui cha (also known as lei cha) is eaten as one dish, with the rice mixed with all the vegetables and soup poured on top. Traditionalists do not drown the mix in soup, but this is more a preference thing, rather than a rule of eating.

A big, green mess, is what a bowl of lui cha looks like.

Madam K says the real lui cha soup is made by first frying all the herbs in a small amount of oil to bring out their properties. Once fried, the mixture is left to air dry and cool before it is poured into the blender with some peanuts, to be whizzed into a thick mash. No sugar or salt is added. This mixture can be frozen for up to six months and reconstituted with warm water to make the soup.

These are the herbs which make up the soup mix:

A mint variant, possibly? It had the same fragrance.

Thai basil was the only easily identified herb.

 The rest I can only guess at! I'm working on it, though.

Saw toothed coriander.

I thought this might be a kind of perilla or shiso leaf?

Just in case we needed some meat in our diets, Madam K pressed us to try her authentic Hakka yong tofu (beancurd stuffed with pork).

Traditional home cooked food is never photogenic, but it is tasty!

Chicken wings with a twist.

I don't know where she got her chicken wings, but they were large and meaty. Sizzling hot from the wok, they were sinfully crunchy and moist. However, it was the pronounced citrus flavour that made me curious. I was told that Madam K added Eno, the re-hydration salts used for indigestion into her fry mixture as she believes it cuts down the chance of sore throat from the frying!

Double Degree Teppanpau

Tan Ee Khai, master teppan pau-rista.

He's got degrees in Environmental Sciences and Chemical Sciences from Victoria University in Melbourne. As a researcher with the Victoria government, he was stationed on Philip Island, Queensland, collecting data on the smallest penguin in the world, the Little Blue (also known as Fairy penguins or Little penguins). Working through all weather, and waking at different, unstructured times of the day and night was bearable, but it was the solitude that drove Tan Ee Khai batty. "And the penguins bite!" he laughs.

So he returned to Malaysia and joined a company selling water treatment equipment and services as a sales engineer and chemist. Two years later, because his father needed help in his raw materials factory which supplied the furniture factory, he jumped in for a stint lasting close to ten years. Meanwhile, his mother hawked oil fritters (eu char kuey or yoo tiau) near their home in Menjalara on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Not because the family needed the extra income, but because mama Tan had an irrepressible culinary spirit. Each time she added items to her stall's offerings, they sold out. She then began developing a flat bread stuffed with both sweet and savoury Chinese traditional fillings, and grilled on a hot plate. She called it teppan pau. The first time she offered it at her stall, it sold out in minutes.

When the senior Tan male retired from his factory, Eek Khai had no desire to continue the business, deciding instead to focus on the food business. "A business which does not manufacture a product relies too much on credit. Food is cash," says the young entrepreneur.

Working with his mother, they upped their production capacity of teppan pau and began offering their wares full time at a relative's coffee shop in Cheras. While there, customers suggested they hawk at the night market, and so they began at the Cheras Pertama pasar malam on Tuesdays, then Kepong's Taman Ehsan on Thursdays and Paramount on Sundays. The business has since expanded to cover SS2, Choy Yang and SS4 in Petaling Jaya.

Volume depends on location, with near a thousand pieces of teppan pau sold at SS2 night market, followed by 400 at Chow Yang. Between 200-300 is the average.

Teppan paus on the grill pan.

The simple paus are made from flour, yeast and sugar. Tan says the dough is closer to that for bread making as opposed to pau, since the teppan paus are not steamed. "Everything is home made, by hand. There are no preservatives in the dough or ingredients. Our coconut filling is made from freshly grated coconut, unpressed for the milk. It is flavoured with gula Melaka from Melaka. When we began it used to be just peanut and red bean, but we increased the filling variety to include coconut because it was popular. We have three sweet fillings (red bean, coconut and peanut) and two savoury ones, dried shrimp and barbecue pork. We also used to have curry potato chicken and turnip, but they were messy to grill, as the gravy in the filling would seep out. Also, turnips don't keep well, and we did not want to chance someone buying a spoilt product. The barbecue pork variant came about when my mum did a YouTube video on how to make char siew pau (barbecued pork buns). Our pork is all lean meat, sliced by hand, and mixed to mum's special recipe," shares Tan.

Grilled and ready to go.

One family member can make 300 paus in an hour-and-a-half. It takes three persons 45 minutes for the same volume. The sweet varieties are priced at 90 sen. The barbecued pork at RM1.10 and the dried shrimp at RM1.50.

Madam Fong's Teppan Pau
SS2 night market, Monday; SS4 night market, Wednesday; Chow Yang night market, Thursdays, Paramount night market Sundays.