Braised Pork Trotter With Carlsberg Beer & Mushroom. Simple cooking. Home made recipe.

Uncle Hong Kitchen - Home Cooking Recipe: Braised Pork Trotter With Carlsberg Beer & Mushroom. Simple cooking. Homemade step by step recipe.

Good Hakka Restaurant @ Bandar Bukit Raja Meru Klang - A delectable home style Hakka dishes

Setting up a Hakka restaurant in Klang does not seem like a good proposition as Klang is predominantly a Hokkien enclave. Choosing not to follow the crowd, the owner of the restaurant would like to offer a variety of food option by introducing some of her grandmother recipe of the popular Hakka dishes for the Klang folks.

+BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to taste these Hakka dishes at Good Hakka Restaurant located at 20 Jalan Rodat 4, 11 Avenue, Bandar Bukit Raja, Meru, Klang.  Although opened for business for more than 7 months, the spanking clean environment and brightly lit shop does has a plus point. With a simple and no frill set up in a new business area along the way to the Meru town, it is not that difficult to discover this place.

According to the owner, the dishes that are served here is a little tone down compared to the authentic version which tends to be more flavourful and has a strong taste for the Hakka folks and foodie like us. This is because of the feedback from customer which frequent this restaurant which they enjoy the tone down version.

For this review, we will list down by the favourite dishes instead of chronologically basis as what we normally does. My personal best has to be the Fried Tau Foo Pok with Salted Eggs; although this dish is not really a Hakka dish. We loves the crusty and crunchy feel as the Tau Foo Pok is cooked with salted eggs, it was heavenly and we had to order a second dish to fully satisfy our craving.

Next on is the Sizzling Sambal Petai Sotong (RM20.00). The sambal paste are in-house made to the right spicy flavour. Paired with the bouncy white squid it was a delight to be eaten with white rice. Cooked with Petai and onion this dish was very tasty.

Moving on the next dish is the Assam Prawns (RM25.00). This dish is cooked with Assam paste that has a slight sourish taste. The prawns which are sourced from Rompin; has a nice texture and the sauce was fully embedded to the prawn.

This is then followed by the Rendang Pork (RM24.00). The paste that used to cooked the ribs was very aromatic and the meat was cook to the right texture without being too soft or too hard. We have to order another white rie to slurp up the rendang.

Next is the Red Wine Chicken (RM30.00). The Red Wine is in-house made and usually takes about 40 days to brew to this level. I like the wine chicken as the aroma of the wine was very strong. Cooked with the black fungus, black bean (to give it a sweeter taste) and plenty of julienne ginger, we really like this dish as all the ingredient combined to extracted out a superbly strong wine and gingerly flavour.

Followed by the Pork Vinegar Trotter (RM30.00) - compared to the Cantonese version, the Hakka version is usually more on a sweeter note and lack the stronger vinaigrette taste that I like for this dish. If you are used to the Hakka version, you should be right for you.

One of the main dishes as far as Hakka cuisine is the Hakka Braised Pork (RM24.00); it is a must for most Hakka family. I personally would have like the pork pieces to be a bigger piece and should braised to a softer texture with a more pungent taste from the fermented bean curd. According to the chef, the taste was tone down a little to cater to the taste of the locals.

Another one of the favourite Hakka dish is the Yam Abacus (RM22.00). The yam abacus is in-house made and have a dough have a bigger portion of yam as to the flour, this makes the abacus chewy and have a strong yam flavours as compared to some which have the flour taste. It is then stir fried with minced pork, chilli padi, black fungus, dry shrimp and topped with spring onions.

For the fish dishes, we had the Braised Fish Hakka Style (RM30.00-40.00 depends on type of fish). You can order your choice of fish to cook with this style. In fact, they are quite flexible in terms of flavours that you can also choose to cook your choice of fish. This style is very village type as the fish is first fried and it is then braised with slice ginger and Chinese cabbage.

Another very popular Hakka dish is the Yong Tau Foo (RM 9.00 for 6 pcs and RM18.00 for 12pcs). The chef uses the mackerel fish paste with minced pork flavoured with salted fish and onions. Here you can choose from a choice of different vegetable like Bitter Gourd, Tau Foo, Ladies Finger, Chillies and so forth. This dry version comes with a bean paste sauce.

You can also order the soup version for your Yong Tau Foo.

To conclude we would say that the spicy food served here are really good and match to our taste buds. Being a foodie at heart we will always be on the look out to taste the authentic version of Chinese cuisine, although the taste at Good Hakka Restaurant has been tailored specially to customer from this area.

Delicious Home Cooked Meal at Frenz Café Plaza Damas Sri Hartamas by Best Restaurant To Eat

These days, there are a lot of claims by restaurant of home cooked dishes. But what exactly does home cooked meals implies i.e. it is really home cooked like cook at home and so forth. To me, home cooked meals are prepared using the same method as you will have cooked it at home. Most important is the use of choice fresh and quality condiments to whip up this dish using passed down recipes.

I had the opportunity to have a dining experience of home cooked meal at the Frenz café located at G-0-1, Plaza Damas, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1. The promise of authentic home cooked food salivate my appetite.

Frenz café is a no frill café serving some of the simple one course meals like Ginger Fried Rice, Pan Mee and etc. But, for tonight we will be savouring their special dishes.

We started off ordering some of their special drinks/juices. For me, I like to try something challenging drink i.e. Celery with Bitter Gourd – what a combination. It turns out to be very refreshing and soothing to my throat. The bitterness taste lingers on, which is good for my throat especially when there was some early sign of a sore throat coming around.

The main dish was the Curry Fish Head. The fish head chosen to be cooked in this Malaysian Favourite Curry dish is the Garoupa Fish Head. I fancied this fish head as it has a very firm, smooth and slippery skin which is ideal for curry style cooking.

The curry fish head was cooked without using any santan, which of course is much healthier to be eaten especially for those who have to watch their diet and still carving for this special dish. You will have no worries of the extra calories and so forth. But, for me this have made the dish a little bland as it is not that creamy and does not have that after taste which makes it very fulfilling. Nevertheless for me, it was compensated with the freshness of the fish head.

The chef had also added in generous amount of fresh vegetables like cabbages, ladies fingers, brinjal and etc. This makes it a complete dish in all.

Next, on our main course is the Nyonya Chicken. When the dish arrived, it looks like a very simple dish but upon tasting it, you are instantly jolted by the strong taste of the perfect balance use of the condiments to cook this dish.

It was also very fragrant smell of the serai and bunga kantan. You can’t help, calling a second helping of the white rice to go with it.

For our douse of vegetable, we had the Stir Fried Hong Kong Kai Lan with Beef. I really love Kai Lan cooked in this style as it retains the flavourful and crunchiness of the Kai Lan. With the add-on beef slices, which the chef uses, it was just the right balance, as the meats was well marinated and retain the tenderness of the meat.

Beef slices are a very delicate meat to be served in Chinese meals. The skill of the chef to prepare and cook beefs depends on his experience to ensure whether you will be served a tough meat or a nice tender and juicy meat. Well done dish by the Chef.

The next dish is Chicken with Salted Egg Yolk. The chicken was first fried in a batter and then cooked in the salted egg yolk sauce, which was very well coated into the chicken.

Finally, we had a not in the menu dish – a chef creation and indeed a very simple dish. It is the Steamed Brinjal with Dried Shrimp.

When it was served to us, it looks very tantalizing and simple. Upon tasting the brinjal, the smooth texture and sweetness of the brinjal blended very well with the light soya sauce and the dried shrimp still retain the crunch and flavours. This is another comfort dish for a second helping of white rice.

The final dish to be tasted for tonight is one of the Frenz signature one dish meal i.e. the Fried Ginger Rice. This dish used to be a must dish for ladies in confinement – i.e. as ginger has the properties to relieve wind in the bodies. I was a little surprise that Frenz serves this dish as there aren’t many places is able to serve this dish.

This dish is the special creation of one of the partner mother and was cooked exactly that way. The ginger was perfectly infused into the fried rice. Don’t get me wrong that the taste of ginger will be very strong here, in fact, it just had a tinge of ginger for each spoonful and not too overwhelming. If you love ginger, this might be a good choice for you.

Original Homemade Japanese Udon at Manmaru Restaurant Mid Valley By Best Restaurant To Eat.

What is a good UDON? How do you know whether the UDON is freshly made? With all this question in mind, we venture into Manmaru Japanese Udon Restaurant located at S-045A, Second Floor, Mid Valley City Megamall, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The entrance was brightly lit with Japanese lanterns.

The concept is simple. It is a Japanese Fast Food Udon Restaurant much like in Japan. You decide the type of noodles (10 types) and choose your add on tempura (ranging from shrimp tempura to mix vegetables tempura or side dishes and move to pay at the payment station followed by cutleries and tempura sauce. This self service concept is similar in Japan but in Japan there are no sitting space, you virtually slurp your Udon standing.

So, what makes a good Udon? The ingredient to make the Udon is very important, secondly timing is everything. According to Richard, the manager, brief us that Udon, once cooked have to be consume within 15 minutes, after which it loses the firm bouncy texture.

At Manmaru, this becomes a very critical stage as it takes another 10 minutes just to cook the Udon. So, in order not to have too much slack time, it is very critical to ensure that there are Udon ready to serve but still able to maintain the texture. At Manmaru, if they are not able to serve and consume by the customers within the 15 minutes, the cooked Udon will be disposed off. Kind of waste but this is how Udon are to be served for the freshest and the best of quality when eaten.

There are 2 main types of Udon i.e. Cold and Hot, depending on your preference, probably depends on the time you eat it. On a hot day, you might want to take the Cold Udon, while on a cool night you might want to slurp up a hot Udon.

 For the night, we started off with the Kimchi Udon follow by Curry Udon, Kamaage Udon, Niku Udon, Bukake Udon, Kake Udon, Kamo Seiro Udon, Ume Udon, Zaru Udon and Cream Corn Udon. All in all, we had the privileged to try all 10 of it.

My personal favourite are Niku Udon, I love the beef slice and the springy Udon and it complimented well with the broth. One thing about Beef Slice, you have to consume it quickly as the beef slice will be a little overcook if not eaten quickly.

 

My next favourite is the Cream Corn Udon, a cream based which looks quite similar to carbonara sauce, but here the cream is of a light cream which is very nice. This dish is a very simple looking and delicious Udon.

For Tempura, we were served the Enoki Tempura (golden needle mushroom), Ebi Tempura (Prawn), Yasai Kakiage Tempura (Crispy Mix Vegetable), White Fish Tempura, Kabocha tempura (Pumpkin), Satsuma-Imo Tempura (Sweet Potato), Renkon Tempura (Lotus Root), Nasu Tempura (Brinjal) and Green Pepper Tempura.

My personal favourite was the Enoki and Yasai Kakiage, as it was not too oily and as usual, you have to consume it as quickly as possible failing which it tends to loose it crispiness and become soggy.

And for the Karaage, they have the Ika Karaage (Squid) and Tori Karaage (Chicken). I personally find the Karaage to be a little too salty, but if you are eating with plain Udon, I suppose should be able to neutralized the saltiness.

Finally, is the side order dish of the Hanjuku Tamago (Soft boiled eggs marinated with soya sauce). This side order to me is a comfort food as I love to eat stewed eggs of all types, but personally, it lacks the kick compared to the Taiwanese version that I had previously.

The parting experience from this Udon expedition, the keyword is FAST, i.e. is you really have to eat fast to enjoy a real Udon meal in Manmaru. No time for chit chat during meal.