Tapas

So many dishes. Special mentions go to: ‘Lamb Chop’, ‘Mushroom Pizza’, ‘the chilli oil the King Prawns were in’ and ‘tomato stewed eggplant’

Cost: 100RM including Sangria and Asahi

Review: I’ve never really been a fan of the whole tapas thing. I don’t know whether that’s me being the archetypal Yorkshireman and wanting to get my moneysworth from a meal. However, after this meal I would take a lot less persuasion to indulge in Spanish food again in the future. As mentioned above special mention has to go to the mushroom pizza, which although ordering Italian in a Spanish restaurant, was described by myself at the time as being ‘one of the best pizzas I’ve tasted’. This is no major achievement when it is being compared to pizzas from takeaways in Hoyland or on Ecclesall Road. The whole sharing thing plays into the hands of people like myself who like to try a bit of everything. This led to me mopping up the chilli oil that was like with the bread from the refillable bowl. I like that. One disappointment would have to be the one lamb chop we received. However nice it was, there was only one of them… 8/10

Korean BBQ

Barbecued Pork, Various Korean style vegetables, Kimchi stew.

Cost: 41RM

Review: Very nice. Kimchi does have an interesting kick to it, a bit like spicy pickled cabbage. The whole set-up was rather disorganised though, accessibility to certain vegetable side dishes limited the experience. I think next time I won’t sit in the way of the chef cooking the meat. Having never really had Korean food before, I didn’t know what to expect when going to a Korean BBQ, I would experience this again though. Quite delicious. Wow, I’ve actually impressed myself there. A full review about Korean food without any puns about it being the dog’s bollocks. Damn. Oh! ‘megju do ju sea yo’. Makgeoli please! 9/10

Mooncakes

Chinese mooncakes.

Cost: Free

Review: An interesting cake really. Quite unique. The Chinese celebration of Mid-autumn was a cultural and culinary experience. However interesting it may be, some flavours were just vile. If I were to see a durian fruit once again it would be one too many. They say God created everything on Earth, he had an absolute nightmare with that thing. Anyway, the red bean and almond one was nice and would be worthy of a second purchase. The egg yolk centred traditional mooncake does require an acquired taste. Worth a taste once but maybe not through to the next round. A wide-ranging mixture. 0/10-7/10

Full English

Fried egg, sausage, turkey salami, beans, chips and toast. – Old Town Cafe, Ampang.

Cost: 8.50RM

Review: There really is no finer cure for a hangover than a full English. Although a muslim interpretation i.e. chicken sausages and fake salami, it was still satisfying and did the job. Having eaten many fry-ups in my time, I think just having a Western taste of home gave this meal an advantage because it wasn’t the greatest fry-up I’ve ever had. I mean, you can’t beat proper bacon, tomato sausages and a blob of HP on your fried egg. This was a reminder of home, yet it wasn’t the real deal. 6/10

Triple chicken burger

Triple chicken burger.

Cost: 14RM

Review: Heart attack in a bun. One of the best and biggest burgers I’ve ever had. Only ordered the double chicken burger but ended up with an extra chicken piece. Bonus. Highly recommended street food, and worthy of a once in a lifetime Man v Food challenge at the XXL 5-patty burger at some stage. If this is the triple, then god be with anyone attempting any more. Highly satisfying fast food. 8.5/10

Chinese Balls for Breakfast

Rice balls, steamed chicken, BBQ pork, fish ball soup and boiled eggs in soya sauce.

Cost: 10.50RM

Review: I would say I’m used to having chinese for breakfast, but not usually in this situation. The chinese do a lot of things differently, and that includes restaurant etiquette. Having to queue outside and order food before entering a restaurant did seem a little weird, especially given the relative emptiness of the restaurants inside. Let’s get onto the food, I can see why the chinese have rice balls rather than rice grains as they are easier to eat with chopsticks. I prefer the grains to be honest, eaten with normal cutlery. It was so nice to have pork again, although having to share meant I overdid the fish and forgot about the pork. The fish balls were good though, but not real fish, a sort of crabstick consistency but still tasty. The chicken may have been better roasted rather than steamed but no complaints, lovely. A special mention to the machine that was the chef preparing the chickens; a specialist spatchcocker if ever I’ve seen one. 8/10

Nyonya

Asam ikan, sambal udang, chicken curry and sambal kangkong.

Cost: 25RM each.

Weekend updates await. First things first, mmm nyonya food is good. A small family run resataurant just off Jonkker Street played host to this exciting Malaysia Day battle of the tastebuds. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything as unique as these dishes. Asam ikan or spicy sour fish soup was so delicious I had to drink the dish as a soup after eating. The sambal was spicy but not as spicy as our tour guide Almon implied. It turned out, he’d asked for it to be not so spicy. Us westerners can’t handle the spice yet! Curry chicken went down well and, although on the bone, was juicy and tender. I think if every meal were cooked to this level of competence then I would die a happy man. Saying that, it’s a good job the health inspectors don’t visit this place, I don’t think I’ve ever been to the toilet after walking past the woman chopping vegetables and washing cutlery. Didn’t give me the runs, so no problems there… 9/10

Seksien 2

Self-service – Boiled rice with some spicy pork, crispy wantons, deep fried crabstick rolls and pak choi with onions.

Cost: 8RM

Review: Standard street food. Plenty of choice, in fact I could have eaten everything that was on there. Went for the safe options though today and wasn’t disappointed. Hadn’t had pork in a while but nothing’s changed, it still takes like the pork from anywhere else. I’ve always found it strange that religion determines what people eats, would people rather starve than eat beef or pork if there was nothing else to eat. Maybe that’s me just been shortsighted though. I’d thoroughly recommend visiting this part of KL again, mainly due to its convenience and location next to the LRT. The amount of stalls available to eat from makes me hungry just thinking about all the future eatings. 7/10

Indonesian and Icecream

Deep fried chilli king prawns with boiled rice.

Cost: 8RM

Review: I’ve always found that peeling food should be the chef’s job. Any food that still needs preparing before eating isn’t ready for serving. This is why I resorted to just eating the whole prawn after a couple. The dollop of chilli sauce completely overpowered the prawns. It was up there alongside the heat of the chilli sauce from the kebab shop opposite the bus station in Barnsley. Decent food, but I wouldn’t rush back. 5/10

 

Caramel Crunch. Caramel Icecream, Vanilla Cream, Brownie, Oreos, Malteasers, Caramel Sauce.

Cost: 13.90RM

Review: Sex in a tub, or cone. Apparently. More likely to give you diabetes than sex though. I just thought it was nice. I would give it a 10/10, but they had Adele on in the shop. 9/10

The Non-Mexican Mexican

Grilled Chicken, Chips, Sweetcorn salsa with a side salad – Mexican Grill 11.9.12

Cost: 12.90RM.

Review: Having watched many episodes of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares it would have been interesting to see his reaction to the service in this joint. Any restaurant that claims to be a Mexican restaurant should surely do a chimichanga or an enchilada, basically anything other than something that resembles a veggie wrap or a bit of meat with chips. Although there were 9 of us, you still expect there to be some degree of efficiency in serving food together. After finishing my meal at 7.50pm, others in the group were yet to know whether the cow had actually been killed yet. I have always followed the idea of choosing restaurants that seem popular with locals, be it with street food or fancy restaurants. This place was empty for a reason. 1/10