Small White Rabbit

Recently we were surprised to see that the Grand Shanghai Banquet restaurant at Sri Petaling which I have been to only once has been replaced with another restaurant.

What do you think of the name of this new restaurant?

Almond this time

When I bought the Nori Pork Roll, I also bought this Almond Pork Paper at the same price of NTD150 (New Taiwan Dollar) which is MYR20.58 nett at the exchange rate of NTD100 to MYR13.72 and there are about 6 pieces in one pack.  

There are almond bits and sesame embedded in paper thin pork slices.

Tasty thin snacks. There is a desiccant packet inside the pack to keep the snack dry and crispy.

Sunway Velocity

Sunway Velocity mall has opened its door a few months ago but I was only able to visit it last Saturday and was surprised to see that they have not removed their CNY decorations.

Walked around the big new mall and saw this long queue.

Oh, it is for this egg sponge cake. The huge cake is being flipped over. I recognise this cake immediately because I have eaten it in 2013 when I visited Tamsui, Taiwan so I did not queue for it here. Best eaten immediately for its light texture.

Cutting the huge cake into smaller blocks for sale at about MYR18 for the original flavour and about MYR25 for the cheese flavour.

Original Cake is from Taiwan. There are still long queues at their stores in Taiwan.

Dispose or not

I like going to Ikea because they provide recycling bins for us to "dispose" of our unwanted items.

Items such as paper, batteries, light bulbs, light tubes ...

... plastic bottles, plastic bags and aluminium cans. Where do you throw your used batteries and light bulbs?

Rice Cake

Pork chop rice - MYR16.90+ (MYR18.60 nett)

Vietnamese rice cup cake at MYR7.90+ (MYR8.70 nett) for two rice cakes topped with deep fried lard, spring onions, crushed peanuts and some other items.

Vietnamese Prawns Salad - MYR15.80+ (MYR17.40 nett) - very appetising because it is sweet and a bit sourish. Vietnamese Iced Coffee - MYR7.90+ (MYR8.70 nett).

At Pho Vietz, Sri Petaling a few months ago (MYR53.35 nett for 2pax).

Thick skin

Early morning at 10 am, we wanted to eat at the newly renovated Sushi Zanmai at the Gardens Mall but there were only two chefs working and no waiting staff to be seen so we did not go enter the restaurant because the ambiance was not friendly at all. We ended up having dim sum at The Han Room which is located near to Sushi Zanmai.

Dim sum is served in The Han Room on Sunday and public holidays only. The waiting staff will push a cart with hot dim sum steaming away in bamboo baskets to your table for you to take your pick. There is also a menu for food items not served by the cart and you can order from that menu too.

From top clockwise: 1. Prawn dumplings - green for edamame, orange for carrot and yellow for sweetcorn. 2. Prawn dumplings with sakura prawn on top. 3. Century egg siew mai.
1 of the above costs MYR9.80 ++ (10% service charge and 6% GST) and the other two at MYR10.80++ each.

The prawn dumpling with sweetcorns in it has such a thick skin. The other two prawn dumplings do not have such thick skin so I wonder what went wrong with this one.

From top clockwise: 1. yam (taro) deep fried dumplings 2. deep fried prawn dumplings 3. siew mai (there are 3 siew mai and we have eaten one before the photo was taken.

1 of the above costs MYR11.80 ++ (10% service charge and 6% GST) and the other two at MYR9.80++ each.

This is one of the better wu kok (yam dumpling) that I have eaten because I can detect the taste of yam unlike some where the taste of 5 spice powder overpowered the yam taste. I am not sure whether it is chicken meat or pork meat for the meat fillings because there was no chicken meat and no pork meat taste and I did not ask the serving staff.

The items served from the push carts are priced at MYR7.80++, MYR8.80++, MYR9.80++, MYR10.80++, MYR11.80++, MYR14.80++ and MYR18++ per serving.

They serve refillable chinese tea from a metal jug carried around by a serving staff at MYR3++ per person. So for the two of us, having the chinese tea and 6 dim sum items from the push carts, the bill is MYR80.20 nett. With this price, I prefer to eat dim sum at Tim Ho Wan with items that are smaller with similar prices but the taste of the dim sum is better in my opinion unless you are planning to order from the menu and not from the dim sum push carts.

MRT station near eCurve

Back in Dec 2016, Phase 1 of the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT) Sungai Buloh to Kajang (SBK) started operations and it was announced that commuters are allowed to ride on the trains and feeder buses for free for a month so we also join the crowd for this freebie. We parked our car in Ikea's car park as we wanted to shop in Ikea after our ride.

From Ikea, we walked to eCurve and saw the sign below in eCurve showing us the way to the MRT station.

You won't miss this sign.

This is how the MRT station look like from eCurve. The MRT stations are very spacious and look nicer than the current LRT stations.

May you prosper

Every year during CNY, McD will have prosperity burgers on their menu with a choice of beef or chicken patty. This year they added another item on the menu by putting a piece of hash brown (I think it is hash brown) on top of the double patties and named it golden prosperity burger. 

I bought the normal prosperity beef burger to share because it is good to share your luck.

An unflattering photo of the prosperity burger with double beef patties showing the bottom of  the bun because it was upside down. It tastes quite ok but has a bit too much sauce and is a bit too peppery for me but I will continue to buy it every year to share with my friends just for the fun of it.

Here's wishing all of you who are celebrating CNY day 15 tomorrow a very Happy Chap Goh Mei! and a Happy Weekend to all!

Start Work Meal

After the CNY holidays, it is customary to have a "start work meal" (hoi gong chau in Cantonese) with some co-workers so 9 of us went for a vegetarian lunch.

Vegetarian Yee Sang

Green Curry with Potatoes and Soy Bean "meat". Very creamy, not very spicy.

Lo Hon Chai

Deep Fried Brinjal with minced "meat" made from soybeans. Just let the waiting staff know how many portion of rice is required and they will serve the corresponding amount of brown rice in a big bowl. I like it this way so that I can take only a little and big eaters can take more rice.

Clear Tom Yum soup - sourish and not very spicy. I am surprised to see pieces of starfruits in it.

Deep Fried water spinach (kangkong) which is not oily and a sourish dip which is very appetising.

This is the Thai Vegetarian Restaurant (Kon Rak Pak) located in Section 17, PJ which serves very flavourful vegetarian dishes. If anyone says vegetarian food is not tasty, just need to treat them to a meal in this restaurant. Inclusive of plain water as the drinks, the total bill is MYR246.50 nett (about MYR27.40 per pax).

Be a VegeThairian it says. They serve Non Egg, Non Dairy, Non Garlic, Non Onion, Non Chives, Non Leek, Non Asafoetida and Non Meat so it is suitable for many types of vegetarian. I have to look up what Asafoetida means and found that "Asafoetida is the dried latex from the rhizome of several species of Ferula, a perennial herb" and because it has a strong sulfurous odour (pungent smell), it is used to replace onions and garlics in vegetarian dishes but some types of vegetarian do not eat this so I guess that is the reason that it is not used in this eatery.

CNY day 1

This is a vegetarian dish that we eat every year during CNY day 1. The main ingredients are chinese cabbage (wong nga pak in cantonese), mushroom, and bean curd sheets. Do you eat a similar vegetarian dish during CNY?

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Updated later (24102018 Wed from draft)

My friend knows that I enjoy looking at different designs of ang pow so she showed me these very colourful ang pow packets. I believe the drawings correspond to the chinese words of wishes and greetings on the ang pows. I should have taken close-up photographs showing the words.

Starhill Mall

A golden hen in front of Starhill Mall. Have a good weekend!

More decor

Entrance to the Pavilion Mall

Internal Floral Archway with lanterns

A huat chick?