Pork Noodles in Kota Damansara

One of my favourite eating places is Restaurant DU Cafe, situated in the Sunway Damansara Business Centre. This area has lots of restaurants from mamak food to the higher end kind of food and this particular restaurant has lots of choices featuring food from Penang, Ipoh and Klang Valley.

The Pork Noodles (Chee Yoke Fun) is my favourite and I've heard from the locals that this place serves one of the best pork noodles in the valley and guess what? It only costs RM3.80 per bowl with lots of minced pork, liver, pork balls and vegetables and not forgetting the deep fried lard (chee yow char). The guy who mans the stall whips up the noodles in a jiffy and before you can warm your chair, the noodles are served to you. That's real fast. The Pork Noodles stall is open from morning till night and he does roaring business.

Fancy a good Roti Canai?

Roti Canai is one of my favourite breakfast choices and I have tried it at various places hoping to find the best or one of the best for me. Well, if you walk in to any mamak restaurant, you will definitely find it there but many just taste mediocre or not to your taste. It made me decide that 'Not all roti canai taste the same'.

Very nice roti with dhal

A look at the rich dhal c/w vege

Front view of the restaurant

Fresh vadai and samosas

I am up early every morning and after dropping my wife at work, I will be off for breakfast and for me, breakfast means something 'Roti' based and not noodles as I prefer to have noodles in the later part of the day or night. I happened to drop by at the Original Kayu Nasi Kandar restaurant in Aman Suria (facing the NKVE) to try the roti canai. I chose to sit outside the restaurant to enjoy the cool morning air and read my newspaper. My teh tarik and roti canai came in an instant and I was pleased that the teh tarik tasted the way I like with the right amount of sweetness but not overpowering. The roti canai came in a yellow melamine plate with a small dish containing the dhall. Some people prefer to have fish curry or some other curry but I love having the dhall. They make the roti fresh upon order and the texture was just perfect for me instead of some places where they make it rather chewy. The dhall was warm and pleasant to the taste rather than being pasty as some places do. I also tried their Vadai and Samosa which were very fresh. The vadai had lots of onions and the samosas had really nice filling. This is definitely a place I will come regularly to enjoy my early morning breakfast.

They have many branches of the (Original) Kayu Nasi Kandar but I prefer this one because of the taste and location.

Ipoh's Famous Beef Ball Noodles

It has been a while since my last posting as I have been rather tied up. I should get myself back to posting on my blog again.

This time, I decided to head to Restoran Seri Maju which is a coffeeshop in Ipoh facing the old Yau Tet Shin market (now an open-air carpark as the building had been torn down many years ago.) This restaurant serves delicious beef ball noodles aka ngow yoke yuen and beef tripe soup or as we call it ngow lam soup. It opens for business from 6.00pm and thats when the crowd starts packing in. I was lucky to find us an empty table that night and I must say the service was really fast as they immediately took our order and a few minutes later, everything was served to us.

Dry noodles

Beef tripe (Ngow Lam) and liew

Famous sar kot liew

Beef tripe again

I like this place because it has a variety of 'Liew' and my favourite is the Sar Kot Liew besides the Yong Liew such as yong tow foo. My order of noodles was the dry version (Kon Low) which had a topping of deep fried lard (chee yow char) and a bowl of mixed liew. The garlic chili sauce is a must when eating here. It is capped in bottles and placed on every table so its a help yourself kind of thing.
The next time you're headed to Ipoh, put this place on your 'must try' list and you won't regret it.

Beef Noodles

Fancy some beef noodles or Ngow Lum (translated in Cantonese) for lunch? I came across a shop in Falim the other day upon recomendation from friends and found it to be very good. Its easy to get there too. At the traffic lights at Falim, take a turn towards the Lumut highway until you come to the second set of traffic lights. Turn right and head towards a row of shops on your left. This is Taman Desa Rishah. The shop is named Restoran Makanan Desa Rishah and it opens from 11.00 am. The lunch crowd usually comes in around noon and it can be tough getting a table to sit at that time.

This shop is a breakaway from their original place in Buntong village and is famous for its beef balls and ngow lam. Their chili sauce with garlic goes very well with the noodles. Another thing I like here is their fried turnip dumpling or Sar Kot liew. Everything is fresh as you will be able to see them frying it just outside their stall. You also have a choice of other things like taufoo, fish balls and an assortment of goodies. For beef lovers, I would highly recommend this place.

Miners Arms

Miners Arms is one of the icons of Ipoh. It is managed by Stanley, an old friend of mine. We go back a long way. I still remember it as it was when I was performing there with Andrew, my guitarist.
My wife and I decided to have lunch at Miners Arms today and to say hello to Stanley whom I have not met for quite a while. We walked in and to our pleasant surprise, everything was just as it was; very English pub setting but this time it included a pool table. We ordered set lunch which was only RM9.90 which is a steal compared to other places and in these days of rising prices. The portions were just right, with a starter soup, the main course and finished off with ice cream and coffee. I was told by Stanley that the original Hainanese cook is still there and the food was superb. Looking through the menu which was still the original big menu book, very well bound, I found that it still had Oxtail Soup which I loved back then. Yummy, I think I will be coming back more often. They have a band playing on Saturday nights so probably I will drop by for a drink or two to enjoy the music. I certainly will recommend this place for its cozy ambiance, food and service.

Good Morning Vietnam

A couple of years back, I flew to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon as it was formerly known. I wanted to see what it was like in a country we have heard so much about. Upon arrival at the airport, I was transfered to my hotel in District I which is a tourist area. My first impression of the city? Wow, they've got more motorcycles than cars there and trying to cross the road was quite an ordeal. However, I got quite used it and took it in our stride as these motorcycles will avoid you as you cross the street. Just don't hesitate.
My stay there was the usual three days, two nights thing so I moved about the city in search of interesting things to see and eat. I visited the Cu Ci Tunnels which were used by the Vietcong during the war and it was quite an experience. Foodwise, I tried their famous Pho Bor (beef noodle soup) which is something like our Ngau Lam soup, their French bagguets which were superb, and also Vietnamese coffee. I could drink it all day. Another plus point is that you can get around using English which makes it much easier for me. I was told that the best time to visit would be around December/January as the weather is cooler. I had a wonderful three days there and am thinking of making another trip there soon for another cuppa.