Eat: Sakura Kristal, Subang Jaya.

I’m never been a fan of “shopping mall’s food”, which basically means any food/restaurant found in shopping malls. With a few exception, of course. Somehow, I always prefer to eat out at restaurants; those located in row of shops and etc.. well, you get the idea. Why don’t I eat in the malls? For a start, the food are not the best ones around. They can sometimes be overpriced as well. For the same type of food, I could get it elsewhere and tastier too.

So, before I attended the food tasting session in Sakura Kristal, located inside of Giant Hypermarket in Subang Jaya, I was tad skeptical about the food. Something I know I shouldn’t do, because I should be objective.. bla bla and all that. But I just can’t help it. I’ve grown a distaste for shopping mall’s food since so-long-I-don’t-even-remember.

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P1010132 Peranakan Seafood Curry, RM20 | Curry with prawns, crabmeat stick, fish fillets, clams, squid, brinjals, okra, long beans.

This is was the first dish served and I don’t know if I was too hungry but I felt that this is the best dish from all that was served. It’s really good. The gravy was thick, flavourful and filled with spices. They don’t stinge on their ingredients to make the gravy and neither do they stinge on the portion of the food. The whole claypot could very well serve two pax. I have tasted claypot curry before, but none have gotten me this smitten that I have already made a mental note to return and order this next time.

P1010140 Pan Seared Dory with Vinaigrette Sauce, RM17 | Picture is descriptive enough that I don’t need to describe the ingredient. :p

This was something I would order after looking at the menu. Then again, the pictures on the menu are always for illustrative purpose. It certainly looked the same like in the menu, but the taste fall flat in comparison. It was marinated in salt, grilled and then topped with their homemade sauce. Personally, I have never tried or heard of the sauce, (still exploring these Western food) so, I can’t compare the taste. But what I do know, is that it tasted bland. The meat was bland, but the crispy grilled part tasted like caramel popcorn. It could be the sauce. I would say that this dish is just okay, edible but not fantastic.

P1010143 Black Pepper Beef Fried Rice, RM12 | Fried rice with beef, dark sauce, carrots, capsicum and garlic.

This was something rather unique. Yes, I have seen so many different types of fried rice but never one with beef and in this colour too. I love beef, so I thought I would like this. I did love the beef in the rice but the rice itself tasted just like rice mixed with sauce, which is not quite the fried rice taste.

P1010147 The Indonesian Treasure, RM12 | Fried rice with papadom and fried chicken.

You know the saying the goes something like this, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” ? Well, this looks like the most ordinary fried rice, something you can get anywhere. It looks so simply done, almost effortless, but after my first bite, my senses were literally like fireworks exploding (If you watched Ratatouille, you would I made reference to a scene in the movie). Why so? Because it was the most delish fried rice I have eaten in the longest time. It was one that I could gobble down one plate, and another and another. Yes, it is that good.

P1010145 Thai Fried Soh Hoon, RM10 | Fried glass noodles with prawns, squids and veggies.

This is somewhat similar to Singapore Fried Glass Noodles (Xing Chow Mai) with the ingredients similar to it. I liked how it was really well fried; well cooked would be a better way to say it. The glass noodle was still tad springy, and not too soft.

P1010150 Tofu Jongkong Emas, RM14 | Tofu, flour and fish.

I don’t like this. It’s too soft, and I don’t taste any fish or even tofu. It’s a dish which tried to be something (with a fancy name) but end up being lost.

P1010152Mango Crispy Chicken, RM18 | Fried chicken cutlets, with mangoes and sweet sauce. 

I’ve never been a food of fruit main dishes and this wasn’t an exception. There was more flour on the chicken than needed and the mangoes didn’t quite work with the chicken. Maybe the lemon one would have tasted better.

P1010157Crispy Brinjal, RM12 | Fried brinjal with chilies and dried shrimps.

This falls flat, the picture I have to admit is bit deceiving. It looks better than it taste. Almost tasteless, and not so crispy. I also felt that the toppings didn’t make much difference to the dish. It was probably stir fried together to give it taste, but the brinjal tasted just like fried brinjals.

And finally, all meals would never be complete without desserts! It’s like a gaping hole that can only be filled with desserts. :) While the desserts look pretty and so photogenic, there wasn’t anything fantastic to shout about them. When it comes to describing desserts, I am handicapped only because I am extremely picky with the desserts I eat. I generally don’t fancy sweet stuff. So, yes.

P1010168 Bread & Butter Pudding, RM9 | Topped with fruits and served with Vanilla ice cream.

P1010166 Chocolate Volcano, RM9 | Chocolate brownie served with Vanilla ice cream.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAStrwaberry Tower, RM9 | Chocolate sauce, strawberry ice cream, cornflakes, whipped cream, strawberry sauce

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While I really enjoyed some of the food, there were others that were just okay. Even so, I would drop by again to eat the Peranakan Seafood Curry and The Indonesian Treasure. Although, I could eat the curry with the fried rice instead of white rice. Best of both worlds, ftw!

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&. Thanks to Foodirector and Sakura Kristal for having me. +

march 2013 | project 52

Just like that, March is gone. It wasn’t an easy month, but it has come and gone. During this project (so far) there are times, where I struggle. Struggle to find an inspiration, struggle to reproduce the images I have in my head, struggle to get the settings right, struggle to get in the mood. But here is the March pictures anyway.

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20130301-IMG_7917-2e[#9] Mugshot

20130310-IMG_8056 [#10] Feel

IMG_8194edit-2[#11] Try

IMG_8355[#12] Fly

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For January 2013 pictures (#1 to #4), click here.

For February 2013 pictures (#5 to #8) click here.

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For every pictures, there is a quote or lyrics that best reflect how I felt at that moment. You can read them here.

Eat: Kelantan Delights, Sooka Sentral

I love eating local Malaysian cuisine, I mean it's only natural for myself being a Malaysian (almost, true blue one) to love all these amazing local food. We have the Nasi Lemak, Mee Rebus and and I would never be able finish this post if I went ahead to list down all the food I could think of. So, last weekend, I was at the first ever Tastebuddies by Nuffnang gathering and we were invited to Kelantan Delights.

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I must confess that I know nuts of what Kelantanese food are, so I had no expectation of any sort and I was pretty much excited to know how different Kelantanese food were. So, anyway we started off with appetizers first.

IMG_8443 Sirih Daun Kaduk | Fried popiah skin and daun sirih, filled with dried shrimps, roasted peanuts and chili padi in special sauce.

My first thought when I saw this was, do I eat the leaf too? It’s a pretty much abuden, but I have never tried eating leaves before. Somehow I have this impression that they taste mighty awful, only to be proven wrong after I had my first taste of this. It didn’t smell too leafy, probably masked by the special ingredients. The sauce, the peanuts and the shrimps blended well with the daun sirih and I really liked it.

IMG_8445Tomyam Kelapa Muda | Tomyam soup with prawns and coconut flesh.

My favorite soup! What is there not to love about Tom Yam soup? ‘nuff said. (Except that in Kelantan Delights, there is an added twist because coconut flesh is served along with the soup). The soup has a tangy sourish spicy taste. It was served in shot glass which makes me want to gulp it down in one shot. :p

After the appetizers, there was an option to choose either Nasi Kerabu Ayam Percik or Nasi Dagang Gulai Ikan. Seeing that I just had Nasi Kerabu the day before that, I decided to choose the Nasi Dagang instead.

IMG_8454 Nasi Kerabu Ayam Percik | Ayam percik, with ulam, salted egg and keropok ikan

IMG_8449 Nasi Dagang Gulai Ikan | Nasi dagang with gulai ikan tongkol, acar timun and egg

Compared to the Nasi Kerabu, I have to admit that this looks rather plain. The rice was rather hard, (I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t be like that) and the gulai ikan was just okay. There wasn’t enough gravy for me, because I like to eat my rice with more gravy. When I asked for more gravy, I was given chicken gravy. Which I then said my dish was gulai ikan and the waitress simply said, it works for both. erm, okay. =.= Needless to say, I didn’t like the Nasi Dagang one bit.

I managed to try the Nasi Kerabu, and my, that was like a gazilion times better than the Nasi Dagang. The portion of the ayam percik is rather huge, so it’s best to share the dish. Taste wise, it was good but not the best I have ever tried.

IMG_8457 Nasi Tumpang | :) I love how unique the Nasi Tumpang dish is and there is a story behind it.

In Kelantan Delights, a fried chicken is served along with the Nasi Tumpang. I'd welcome this with my whole heart (or appetite would be a better word to say it). You can never go wrong with a well marinated fried chicken, crispy on the outside and still juicy inside. Because of how tedious the process of making this dish (approx. 3 hours.), only 18 pieces are made.

IMG_8462Nasi Tumpang | This is how it looks unwrapped.

Back in those days, farmers would be hard at work in the paddy fields for the whole day. The wife would pack food for them in these banana leaf coned shaped package. The cone shape allows it to have different layers, and it was to be eaten from the top much like the Wall's Cornetto ice cream cone. The top layer is filled with shredded egg with rice. This is breakfast. Then, there's Gulai Ikan and Sambal Prawn in the second layer. Again, this whole Nasi Tumpang is filled with rice all over. Lastly, there would be Serunding and that's for tea! What a novel idea it was to have 3 meals packed into a humble cone. The banana leaf would allow the food to be kept for hours long.

By the time Nasi Tumpang was served, I was practically stuffed to the brim. I just ate bits of it but I do love the novelty of the dish and I would definitely come back just to try this again, with an appetite of course.

IMG_8464 Laksam | Noodles in fish gravy with chicken floss.

Another dish I love from the menu is the Laksam, where flat noodles (almost similar to the Chinese Chee Cheong Fun) is served with blended fish and herbs gravy. It was a rather plain looking dish, lacking interesting colour to add attitude to the dish. One bite into this, I can immediately imagine how this is comfort food for me. And for all I care, my comfort food can be rainbow in colour I would still eat it because it makes me feel good.

IMG_8467 Laksam | Closer look on the noodles.

And finally, desserts! Dessert was Ketupat Sotong and Lompat Tikam, when we first read that on the menu, we all went what is Lompat and Tikam? Jump and stab? Such a weird name for a dessert. I really couldn’t wait to see what it looks like, and ta-da…

IMG_8469Ketupat Sotong and Lompat Tikam | :)

So, the brown stuff with tentacles is the Ketupat Sotong and the contrasting green kuih and pink rice ball is the Lompat Tikam. When I asked about the history of the name, apparently that was how the Kelantanese call it. But I’m pretty sure there’s a history to it. If you do know, please tell me cause I’m curious how a name like this came about. Honestly I didn’t like either the dessert. The squid was weird to eat with ketupat and it was also sweet. The Lompat Tikam was pretty much kuih and glutinous rice. Not exactly my type of dessert.

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Here is the address for the restaurant if you’re planning to visit;

1-5, Level 1, Sooka Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur [03 2785 1945]

Note: It’s closed on Saturday and Sunday. You can visit the Subang Jaya branch on weekends.