Signature Xiao Long Bao and Taiwanese Cuisines @ Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐); e-Curve

Din Tai Fung [1st Visit] was a pleasant visit and I had recommended to my family few days ago. It was rare that I came to visit the same restaurant within a short period. This time I patronized Din Tai Fung again with my family as I was craving for its signature specialties especially the hand-pulled noodles and xiao long bao.

The menu display outside Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung's mascot

The surrounding

My superheroes 

Deep-fried Specially Marinated Pork Chop

We had pleasantly savored this deep-fried marinated pork chop in which the meat was juicy and tender, making for a wholesome gastronomic experience at Din Tai Fung. 8 slices of pork chop were definitely not sufficient for 6 of us and we ordered another plate again.

Xiao Long Bao

Din Tai Fung's xiao long bao is steamed bun with different fillings like pork, crab roe, truffle, chicken and etcetera. Look at the xiao long bao whereby each is wrapped constantly with the same folds which ended with the tiny knots on top. 

The delicately fragrant xiao long bao was served hot. Din Tai Fung's xiao long bao did not burst when I picked it up with my chopsticks. Before popping one into the mouth, a dash of vinegar and ginger slices are the best condiments for xiao long bao. The broth oozed out after a small nibble of the xiao long bao. Nevertheless, we loved the pungent fillings of meat with the flavorful broth. 

Fragrant Spring Onion La Mian 蔥油肉絲拉麵

The handmade noodles were soft but remained with a pleasantly springy consistency tossed with shredded meats and spring onions. The portion of this fragrant spring onion noodles was well suited for a lady's appetite. 

Hot and Sour La Mian

Again, I had ordered this for my family to try. The hot and sour soup filled with shredded porks, black fungus, beancurds and bamboo shoot had been greatly matched the plain noodles.Nevertheless, it was still very tasty and I didn’t regret getting it at all.

Being the fans of fried rice, the simple yet delicious fried rice of Din Tain Fung did not disappoint me. However, the portion was quite small and it was considered expensive for its price. However, I got to admit that not everyone could master this simple eggy fried rice. 

Taiwanese spring rolls where the fillings were wrapped in a crispy spring roll skin.

Crunchy and not oily.

Golden Pumpkin with Salted Egg

The deep fried pumpkins with salted egg was a mixture of crunchy, smooth and salty wonderment.

The 2nd time capturing photo of Din Tai Fung's mascot with my mom.

The open kitchen concept which showed the cleanliness of the interior, kitchen and of course showcasing the process of making the signature xiao long bao.

Mom was impressed with the delicately handmade xiao long bao with precision.

The process of making steamed pork dumplings or xiao long baos were showcased where each of us could observe the process through glass panels. 

The price of the dishes of Din Tai Fung was on par with Dragon-i and both restaurants were offering the similar dishes. My dad preferred the bouncy egg noodles offered by Dragon-i while I loved both! Likewise, good quality of food were inexpensive, yet it's normal to have noodles/ rice which costed over RM10 at shopping malls. Apart from that, the ambiance, quality of the food and attentive waiters/waitresses were really impressive. 

Restaurant address:

Din Tai Fung e@Curve 

G17-G20, Ground Floor 

e@Curve. 

Din Tai Fung e@Curve, Mutiara Damansara | Ikea Malaysia

Din Tai Fung, being one of the world's top ten restaurants ranked by the New York Times and awarded one Michelin star had increased my desire to visit. This was the 1st time I stepped into this restaurant located at e@Curve when my friends came to KL. Being a medium group of 6 girls, we had been served promptly and it was lucky that Din Tai Fung wasn't crowded during that time. 

The menu with its signature Xiao Long Bao

Our orders were served after 30 minutes of waiting time. While Olay was helping to mix the Fragrant Spring Onion La Mian, the rest were snapping the photos of the foods.

Fragrant Spring Onion La Mian

Definitely it looked as a bowl of soy-sauce based instant noodles at the first sight of it. Unexpectedly, it was a good mix with the soy sauce and springy noodles. The addition of spring onions introduced a light fragrance to this hand-pulled noodles.

Din Tai Fung’s Xiao Long Bao i.e. delicious soup-filled dumplings with at least 18 delicate folds.

We had opted for crab meat and pork xiao long bao.

The thin skin wrapping succulent and juicy meat in a dollop of delicious broth,and it tasted best accompanied with shredded gingers and vinegar. 

Taiwanese Spring Roll as appetizer

Shredded Pork Fried Rice

A simple yet delicious dish where the ingredients were pared down to rice, shredded pork, eggs and spring onions, creating a taste of familiar comfort. A hearty meal for me!

Shrimp Fried Rice

As its name of the dish, the shrimp fried rice came with fluffy egg, 4 big shrimps and spring onions.

Hot and Sour Soup La Mian

The hot and sour soup filled with shredded porks, black fungus, beancurds and bamboo shoot had been greatly matched the plain noodles. I simply loved this sour broth with the hand-pulled noodles.

Golden Pumpkin with Salted Egg

The deep fried pumpkins with salted egg was a mixture of crunchy, smooth and salty wonderment. A great taste for eating together with a mouthful of fried rice.

Last but not least, a photo was taken with Din Tai Fung's mascot.

Don't we looked like ambassadors of Din Tai Fung?

As we waddled out satisfactorily from Din Tai Fung, I felt very pleased for the first try of scrumptious foods here. I shall revisit Din Tai Fung again with my family during upcoming Chinese New Year.

Restaurant address:

Din Tai Fung e@Curve 

G17-G20, Ground Floor 

e@Curve, 

No. 2A, Jln PJU 7/3, 

Mutiara Damansara, 

47810 Petaling Jaya Selangor, 

Malaysia. Tel No.: +603 – 7728 3218 

Website: www.dintaifungmalaysia.com 

IKEA Malaysia's ice-cream as desserts

Using tokens to purchase Ikea's ice-cream from the vending machine

Gathering @ 梅林海鲜楼 ; Parit Raja

I guess that I will search my entire blog in order to find where I have had foods with my university friends in this small town at Parit Raja; Johor one day. Perhaps this blog post will help in connecting me with old friends back in future. Honestly speaking, there aren't many choices of restaurants for us to choose when we want to organize gathering.

• Chicken Delight
• MK Restaurant
• Mui Lim Restaurant
• Mc Donald Restaurant

Before having the final battle of studies and going back to each hometown for internship, we have decided to have a gathering in  梅林海鲜楼 . We have heard that the owner had planned to close the restaurant. In future, the juniors might be puzzled where to have nice Chinese foods afterwards. 

Some simple dishes that we have ordered：

Deep fried sotong with salted egg

 Pork ribs

Lemon chicken

Hmm.. by seeing the amount of foods I have eaten,  is this the reason how I gain more weight than at home? Haha..

Eat & Treats in Skudai: AnMour Cafe Concept Cafe, Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant & Restoran Old Places

During this semester break, I have followed my pretty buddy to her home for assignment completion, hair-cuts and  yea, for lots several reasons which include food tour at Skudai area. "AnMour Café – A homegrown modest American restaurant concept at Taman Sutera Utama which is famous of their signature GlamBurgers, pasta and steaks. The gigantic patties and large portion is really suitable for people who have humongous appetite like me.

AnMour Cafe is obviously the choice that Johor people love to dine at. By the time we reached there, it was crowded and we had to queue to be seated. After selecting our choices of foods, we were waited to be served patiently. Surprisingly, the waiter came and served a basket of buns with sauce which we did not order. Hui En said that this was the starter and it's FREE OF CHARGE. The buns were served warm in a basket and there were very soft and fluffy. The buns came with black pepper sauce which seemed to mixed with mushroom. Dipping the bun to the sauce as starter while waiting for the foods to be served accompanied with chit-chats were great.

We had ordered mushroom soup which came with buttered garlic breads.

I shall say that this would be the another best mushroom soup I had apart from the one I had in Bel Pasto Italian Restaurant. The portion of  flavorsome Cream of Mushroom Soup with two crispy buttered garlic breads at AnMour Cafe with the price RM5.90 causing me overwhelmed with happiness.

Mussels in garlic butter sauce (RM 8.90)

Luscious mussels in delicious garlic butter sauce! Well, it tasted so cheesy!

Seafood pasta with tomato sauce, big shrimps, mussels, squids and oysters.

The affordable price, large portion of foods with good quality had made me thinking of revisiting AnMour Cafe. This is also one of the reasons I included in my travelogue and foods discovery list.I saw the next table had ordered "Mini Burger Party" which has 4 small burgers with different flavor of meats. Perhaps I shall revisit AnMour Cafe again to try their steak, Mini Burger Party and the cakes.

Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant was our next destination where I got to know her buddies. I seriously did not know why many people praising Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant dish and I had done some survey after eating it. Dak galbi is a popular South Korean dish where marinated chickenare stir-fried with cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions and etcetera on a hot plate.The complimentary condiments such as cabbages, kim chi and pickled onions are served as free. Oh yea, each of us were given red apron after we were seated.

So below is the picture of the spicy version of Dak galbi with additional noodles that I had at Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant. Well, I guessed the group of us having the same thought  i.e. why we ordered expensive mamak noodles with more ingredients. The dak galbi was not impressive as much as what I thought of. Furthermore, the condition of the restaurant was too stuffy with no exhaust fan was seen installed. We left the restaurant like smokey pigs. LOL. Overpriced spicy maggi goreng was the only thing in my mind.

After Korean cuisines and Italian cuisines, we shall have some real Chinese cuisines for the dinner. We randomly chose to dine at a restaurant named Restoran Old Places at Nusa Bestari.Restoran Old Places, origins should be from Perak because they have branches in Ipoh, Bercham and Taman Ramai. The scrumptious claypot chicken rice had been ordered since it's the main signature dish.

Claypot chicken rice was served piping hot and the aroma was totally different compared to the previous one (Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant). The portion of the claypot chicken rice was also quite big, with marinated chicken thigh, chinese sausage and salter fish. Overall, claypot chicken rice at Restoran Old Places is the kind of food to have you licking your lips in anticipation. 

The charm of claypot chicken rice!!

Last but not least, profusely thank you my dearest buddy who bought me to epicurean tour at Skudai.

If you ask me for the definition of buddy or good friend, I shall say that she's the one who shares good foods with you and gets fat together. LOL

Kota Tinggi - Bak Kut Teh @ Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh

The 2nd day of Johor Bahru food-hunting trip

The 2nd day of Johor Bahru food-hunting trip was continued with the journey heading to Kota Tinggi. During the early morning, we had headed to Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh; which located at the main road from Kota Tinggi town to Mersing to have our breakfast. We arrived there at 8.30am and the restaurant was already crowded with customers which patronize with locals and Singaporeans! Peir Gen's business friends had already arrived and had booked two tables for us. According to them, Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh still uses charcoal stoves.

The waft of herbal aroma could be smelled once the bak kut teh was served. The steaming hot bubbles popped out furiously on the herbal soup’s surface. We had eaten the bak kut teh before managing to capture it.The dark gravy of the braised pork trotter was with strong , flavorful herbal. The pork meats were very tender, soft and not too fat.

clay pot of braised pork trotter

Nah. being a non-pork' spare parts lover hence I just tried bak kut teh and braised pork trotter mostly. Oh yea, the 'you tiao' was the most necessary appetizer accompanying bak kut teh. By the way, the ' you tiao' was not as crispy as I expected. According to the others,the pepper pork nerve was very tasty as the pork intestines, nerves were chewy and soft.

Pepper Pork Nerve

 Pork Kidney

Overall, the breakfast was very satisfying! If want to point out the difference of bak kut teh of klang and Kota Tinggi, I would say that it will be the soup. 

The venue: Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh 强记肉骨茶

Address: Batu 8½, Jalan Mawai, Kota Tinggi, 81900 Johor

The next destination: Kota Tinggi Waterfall