The Glutton Queen

Just like any Nasi Kandar outlets in Malaysia, be it Pelita, Kayu, Yasmeen, Ahmediah (just to name few famous ones), the popular northern Malaysian dish is also available in the campus of Universiti Utara Malaysia. It is called Nasi Kandar Subaidah (M) Sdn. Bhd. They even have their own website.

Usually, they have a wide variety of curries to choose from - fish, chicken, squid, stingray, beef, clams, etc.

Couple that with a selection of vegetables available - lady’s finger, cabbage, long beans - fried chicken, fried or hard-boiled eggs, salted eggs, etc.

The rule of having nasi kandar is easy. The Indian guy in uniform will fill the rice onto the plate before attending to you. Then you point to the curry or vegetable dish that you want and he will fill them onto your plate with rice. End that with a request for kari campur (mixed curry) and be amazed by the way the Indian guy mix all the curry on display onto your rice.

This is what I normally ordered: kari campur banyak banyak + fried chicken + cabbage + beef gravy. I like my rice to submerge in curry! Cost: RM 3.20

If you do not like your rice to have too much curry, you can opt for the only gravy that you favour or just kari campur. Don’t worry, the Indian guys are usually friendly, they will not eat you up for requesting.

I love nasi kandar! I like Indian food, especially the curry! They are full of spices and thus the dish are all aromatic. The best thing about nasi kandar outlets is that anyone can eat here because food here is halal and people of all races and skin colour (ang moh included) just love the food here.

PS: Almost all the Indian workers at Subaidah in UUM knows me, except for newcomers, because I ate there regularly. Sometimes I don’t have to do the pointing, they know what I want! Once in a blue moon, I got an extra piece of fried chicken for free!

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The Sarawak Club was established in 1876 and is reputedly one of the oldest private membership clubs in the whole of Malaysia. It was set up to cater for the entertainment and recreational needs of the officers of the white Rajahs that ruled the state from 1841 to 1941. [The Sarawak Club, http://www.thesarawakclub.com ]

With the tagline “PRESTIGE AND EXCELLENCE“, the Sarawak Club is one of the most prestigeous clubs in the whole of Sarawak. Entry to The Sarawak Club membership is by invitation and introduction of existing members only. How cool is that!? Even if you (the public aka non-member) want to step into the vicinity and use the facilities, you have to be accompanied by an existing member.

I had the opportunity to dine at The Sarawak Club Hornbill Restaurant, the Club’s Chinese restaurant, which serves some of the best dish you can imagine.

The Fish Lips Soup

A very common dish for any Chinese course meal. I love this soup dish. Give it to me anytime of the day, I will never fail to consume a second or third servings. It does taste great but still I have tasted better ones.

Roasted Chicken. (or was it fried? I don’t know. It’s still chicken! )

Also a common dish for any chinese course meal. Usually taken with pepper salt that accompanies the dish. Best taken while it is still hot and the skin crunchy. But the most important thing about preparing chicken dish is preserving the juiciness and tenderness of the meat.

Of course a meal is not complete without the greens. Named Kangkong, this vegetable is cheap but delicious if nicely cooked. Unlike my experience of eating Kangkong in Hatyai, this dish contained mainly the leaves. There are a few ways to cook this vegetable. My personal favourites are 3 different ways -
1: the usual stir fried with garlic,
2: stir fried with belacan; and
3: boil it and ‘puak‘ like kampua with dark or light soy sauce, oil, sugar and some fried onions.

Beef with Pepper Sauce

The beef is so tender and juicy that it virtually melt in your mouth. Stir fried with onion rings, green peas and black pepper sauce (always use Sarawak’s Black Pepper!) this is by far top three in my list of the best beef I have eaten.

Last but not least, The Buttered Prawn

The chef’s renowned signature dish, Buttered Prawn is a MUST! Of all the Buttered Prawn that I have eaten, this is the best of them all. The prawns are slightly crunchy, fresh and tasty. The best part is that you do not have to get your fingers dirty by removing the shell because they have already been removed. It was so delicious that I could virtually taste it in my mouth when typing this! *quickly go and check Air Asia schedule for the next flight to Kuching*

Daily Operating Hours:
Lunch 11.45am - 2.00pm
Dinner 6.45pm - 10.45pm

Hornbill Restaurant
The Sarawak Club
Jalan Taman Budaya
93000 Kuching
Sarawak
Tel: +6082 - 242299
Fax: +6082 - 245654
E-mail: swakclub@tm.net.my

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As I have mentioned in my personal blog, I went to Hatyai, Thailand for a day trip on Tuesday with my ex-roommate and a couple of her friends. We went there without having breakfast. Fortunately, Uncle was kind enough to bring us to feast on the best pig’s internal organs dish and roasted pork (sio bak) in town (Hatyai). Uncle ordered our breakfast.

Two huge bowl of pig’s internal organs soup with salted vegetable (kiam chai) and a plate of roasted pork (sio bak) to be taken with a small bowl of rice.

You could find a mixture of pig’s intestines, stomach, tongue, kidney, ear, blood, pork and some sio bak swimming in the tasty soup.

Digging further to the bottom of the bowl, you could find a generous amount of kiam chai to be taken with the rice.

Sprinled with a bit of spring onions, coriander leaves and a little bit of fried onions, the soup is ready.

The best part of the breakfast was the sio bak

Sliced into thin pieces, the look of it could bring saliva drooling down my chin. I could virtually smell the aroma of the sio bak from the LCD and taste the siobak in my mouth when typing this.

Just look at the crunchy skin. It is not too salty and yet very aromatic.

I am particularly picky when it comes to sio bak because I have tasted sio bak with limpy and damp skin, rubbery skin which was not chewable, too salty skin, skin with no taste, hard rock skin and whatnots. But THIS, is by far THE BEST sio bak I have eaten in my entire life of 22 years and counting!!!

Where?

I cannot read Thai but this is the signboard of the kopitiam. It is located somewhere in the middle of Niphat Uthit 1 Road, Hatyai (as shown in map).

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I have never cooked Carbonara before. This is my first time cooking the sauce. Without using any recipe for reference, I used whatever ingredient that my common sense told me is suitable for the sauce. Ingredients might not be the exact ones used by restaurants because I hantam (used) all the leftover in my refrigerator.

Ingredients:

Butter
Garlic, Onions (chopped)
Olive oil
Abalone mushroom (cubed)
Oyster mushroom (cubed)
Chicken (cubed)
Parsley and Basil
Egg yolk
Nestle cream
Fresh milk (full cream)
Pepper and Salt to taste

Method:

The same as Bolognese sauce. Melt some butter over medium heat and fry some garlic and onions until slightly brownish and aromatic.

The fry some seasoned cubed chicken together with the garlic and onions. Add in pepper and salt, parsley and basil to taste. Let the chicken cook for a while before hantam (adding) in the cubed abalone mushroom and oyster mushroom. Cook until naik bau (aromatic)

Pour in a packet of 250ml Full Cream Fresh Milk and let it simmer. Then add in Cheddar (Parmesan) cheese and Nestle cream and let it boil for a while.

After it boils for a few minutes, turn off the fire and pour egg yolks (I used 2 yolks here) into the sauce while stirring the sauce all the time. The heat from the sauce will cook the egg and make your sauce sticky. Do not turn on the fire. Keep stirring for a while before taking the pot off the stove.

Pour the sauce over cooked spaghetti and sprinkle some grated cheese before eating as much as you want!

My first time cooking Carbonara sauce was not that bad at all. It actually taste fantastic!

Well, in the actual recipe, I think they use bacon instead of chicken. And Parmesan instead of Cheddar as well as Fettuccine instead of spaghetti. I will try with bacon and Parmesan with Fettuccine next time. All I was using this time were leftovers and I was lazy to go out to do grocery shopping anyway.

I think there are a lot to be improved as well. My comment box is open for suggestions!

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On Christmas day every year, I would cook spaghetti bolognese for either lunch or dinner. And this year’s Christmas is no different. I was trying to cook something else because I was kind of bored cooking bolognese already (even you blindfold me also I can cook it) Haha!

Anyway, this year, I was not prepared to cook anything huge. So, I dig everything that are usable for my cooking from both the refrigerator and the kitchen cupboard (read: leftovers)

Ingredient:

Butter
Garlic, Onions (chopped)
Olive oil (optional)
Minced Beef (seasoned)
Button mushrooms (sliced)
Fresh tomato (chopped)
1 can of tomato puree
Cheese (grated)
Parsley & Basil
Pepper and Salt to taste
Method:

Melt some butter into pan over medium fire. Fry some garlic and onions until slightly brownish and aromatic. You can add in olive oil if you like/have.

Add in seasoned minced beef and fry it with the onions. Add in pepper, salt and the herbs to taste. (I use guestimate -guess + estimate - wan, no proper measurement) Then in went the sliced button mushrooms. Cook it until naik bau (aromatic).

Then hantam (add in) chopped fresh tomatoes into the beef-mushroom-onion mixture and let it simmer for a while.

Taruh (pour in) 1 can of tomato puree after your guts feeling tells you to and adjust the heat to low fire. So that when the bolognese starts to boil, the puree will not splatter all over the kitchen, then you’d have a hard time cleaning your kitchen. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes to make sure everything is cooked.

Last but not least sprinkle a few handful of grated cheese over the bolognese and let it melt a bit. I used Cheddar cheese because that was what I found in the refrigerator. I think it would taste nicer with Parmesan. Remove the pan from the stove after it is done.

Pour the bolognese sauce over cooked spaghetti and sprinkle some more grated cheese on top. Then eat as much as you like!

This is how I normally cook my Spaghetti Bolognese. Any improvement can I make? The comment box is open for suggestions!

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Seriously. I mean, there is this eatery called Mee Jawa that serves Mee Jawa as their main dish. Duh! The name of the shop itself has brought the message loud and clear. This “Mee Jawa” shop is located at Casa Tropicana. Yes, you heard me right, inside Casa Tropicana.

Our boss brought us there for dinner one night after work. None of us has been there before. Entering the shop, the decoration on the ceiling greeted us.

I’ve seen the thing hanging on the ceiling served as a cage for fighting cocks before in Sarawak.

We chose a table and sit on a classic-looking rattan chair like these:

The waiter then brought us the menu.

Unique

Our boss, Alvin and me ordered Mee Jawa while Alvin’s brother ordered their Curry Laksa. I forgot what we ordered for drinks already but this is the place they make drinks for the customers:

The Curry Laksa Came first

As you can see from the picture, it tasted just as nice. I stole a spoonful of the curry from Alvin’s brother. The brownish paste next to the long beans was sambal belacan which was quite spicy was for mixing together with the soup.

Not long after that, our Mee Jawa came

It was huge. Bean sprouts, cabbage, dried bean curd, fried onions and a slice of lemon covered the noodle. Also not forgetting the main ingredient of the Mee Jawa, the gravy. It was sweet. There was about a tablespoon of sambal belacan paste next to the noodle to be mixed together with the noodle as well. But I did not like it to be too spicy, so I put the sambal belacan aside. Squeeze the lemon and mix everything in the plate evenly before eating.

It tasted so-so, not that great to the point of orgasmic as well as not too bad to the point of inedible. But there will definitely no second time for me to have Mee Jawa from Mee Jawa. Well, it was just not my type of food. I still prefer Mee Jawa in Sarawak.

The decoration in the toilet somehow did impress me

The sink inside the toilet

The rack above the drinks counter

The bird cage turned lamp

The antique on display

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Even though Kampua Mee has improvised and tastes more and more like Kolo Mee, Kolo Mee has managed to maintain its unique taste. You have no idea how much I like both Kampua and Kolo Mee.

However, I was lucky for being able to taste a kolo mee that is like no other. It is called the Kolo Mee Special.

This special dish can only be found at 10th Mile, Kuching.

Look at the surface of the dish. Prawns, fish balls, prawn balls, cha sio bak (roasted pork) and kiaw (popularly known as bian sit/bian nik in Sibu) covered the cha sio yiu coated kolo mee underneath. A bowl of such dish costs RM6! Expensive eh? So tempted to order a second bowl (Alvin was looking at me in horror!)

Down them all with 3 layer teh see peng, your tummy will be grateful!

Taukeh, Kolo Mee Special kok jit pua!

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Kuching is famous for its legendary Kolo Mee. Kolo Mee looks similar to Kampua Mee. When I say similar, it means similar but they do not taste the same. Those who eat for the sake of eating and do not know how to appreciate food will say that both taste the same.

The best kolo mee can be found in Kuching and Kuching alone. Period! The noodle used for Kampua and Kolo Mee is a bit different with Kolo Mee being a little bit curlier and skinnier.

When I was in Kuching, I was fed Kolo Mee for breakfast and supper EVERY DAY but I am not complaining. Why? Well, you won’t get this from anywhere else in the world. I have tried Kolo Mee from Sekama, Big Potato, 668, Siang Siang, Expert, Tabuan Market, 10th Mile, …where else ar?

The one in the pictures was taken from a kopitiam in Sekama. I love kolo mee with char sio yiu (oil from roasted pork) and that’s what makes the noodle reddish. I love the chili served with kolo mee - cili potong soaked in vinegar. My style of eating would be eating a mouthful of kolo mee with a slice of chili. The explosion of taste - sourness of the vinegar + tingling hotness of the chili + saltiness of the noodle + sweetness of the char sio yiu - was heavenly!

*pinching my fat tummy* This spare tayar was what I got from eating kolo mee every night for midnight supper when I was in Kuching last month. I have been Kuching-ized!

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Salted fish fried rice with a fried egg was what I had for lunch one day. One of my favourite fried rice I’ve eaten. Cooked by a friendly auntie at one of the kopitiams in Damansara Perdana, one plate of this delicious fried rice costs, if I am not mistaken, RM4.00. Expensive, it is, as compared to what you get in Sarawak but it was worth every cent you pay for. With generous number of prawns, the rice is fried with chopped long beans, sausage, and of course, salted fish.

Typically a Chinese dish, a moderate amount of salted fish actually brings out the aromatic taste of the rice and the other ingredients. They blend so well together that I would not hesitate to order a second plate if I am too hungry.

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