Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant @Starhill Gallery Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur - Award Winning Chef New Teochew Menu

Pak Loh Chiu Chow Cuisine is a household name in Hong Kong which started in 1967 but little did we know that it has setup the first oversea restaurant in Malaysia which is located at Feast Village Starhill Gallery Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur for the past ten years.

+BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to savour the specially created dishes by its award winning chef Alex Au to celebrate this occasion that blends the traditional Teochew dishes that not only taste delicious and tasty but retains the authenticity of the original flavours.

In conjunction to this 10 years anniversary celebration of Pak Loh Chiu Chow in Malaysia, we were served 10 of the over 40 new dishes that will be introduced to customers starting 5th December 2015 for lunch and dinner.

Chef Alex Au have painstakingly taken more than 9 months to craft out these dishes using the much touted condiments, common ingredients to prepare the dishes using the fine art of preparing these famous and popular Teochew (Chiu Chow) cuisine;  which uses very little flavouring as compared with most other Chinese cuisines.

In traditional Teochew (Chiu Chow) custom; we were served the "Kung Foo" tea. It is a welcome drink that are customary served to guests before a meal; one of the reason for this tea is to whet your appetite. This tea is a very strong blend and a mixture of a few types of tea leaf; of which the main tea leaves used was the "Oolong or Ti Kuan Yin".

We then proceed to our culinary journey of Teochew cuisine; which leads us to the first dish which is the Baked Bombay Duck Fish with Plum Sauce (RM25.00). The thinly sliced fish fillet are battered with a special flour mix and deep fried to a golden brown; which is then cooked with plum sauce that caramelizes the fish. We loves the crunchy feel of the fish and its taste; if not for the name of the dish, we could have easily thought it was a piece of pork meat as it resembles the "Pai Kuat Wong" when the dish was laid on the table.

Next, the chef have decided to do a live cooking of this dish which is the Threadfish Fish Soup with Coriander and Leek (RM98.00). Using leek, pre cooked radish, coriander and a soup broth of threadfish bone boiled over a number of hours to extract out the rich full flavours of the fish.

According to chef Alex, the Threadfish Head which has a strong taste and texture is used for this dish. One of the selection criteria of this fish; is to use a deep water fish which must weigh at least 5kg and above. Cut to a bite sizes, the Fish Head is pan fried before adding the flavorful broth and then followed by all the other ingredients.

 From the look; it resembles the First Head Noodles that we are accustomed to; but there is no milk that was added into it. The rich milky look of the broth (collagen) is from the painstaking process of boiling of the fish bones for hours before hand.

The next dish is the Authentic Top Shell with Preserved Vegetables (RM108.00). Due to the proximity to the sea of the Chiu Chow province, seafood are normally used to cook most of the dishes in Teochew cuisine. High quality Top Shell are associated to the likes of Abalone, which are premium seafood dishes. With that, the Chef butterflied these Top Shell to a very thin slice and cooked with his special preserved mustard. Loves the glistening texture of the Top Shell which has a springy and bouncy sweet natural taste.

After which, we had the Traditional Steamed Tiger-Toothed Croaker with Pork, Ham and Garlic Wrapped with Aromatic Chinese Cabbage (RM98.00). The fish is first wrapped with a big piece of Chinese Cabbage while the pork meat and ham flavours are intertwined to make the special taste to the gravy. It was a little challenge for us to eat this fish as the small size of the fish poses a challenge of the separating the bones. But nevertheless, the taste of the fish white meat was a delight to be eaten.

This is then followed by the Classic Chiu Chow Wok Fried Assorted Seasonal Vegetables (RM32.00). For Teochew (Chiu Chow) people, this dish is usually served on the 7th Day of the Chinese New Year as it represent family harmony; there are 7 different types of vegetable used for this dish with the careful selection of each of the vegetable which rhyme with a prosperous or lucky sound.

Moving on is the Braised Spring Chicken Stuffed with Glutinous Rice, Garlic, Ginger and Straw Mushroom (RM45.00 per chicken). The Glutinous Rice is first fried and then stuffed into the Spring Chicken with the mushroom and the other condiments. It is then slow braised to extract the full flavour of the chicken together with the stuffing. The end result is that the Glutinous rice has a soft texture and was nicely matched with the braised stew with the soft peeling meat of the spring chicken.

After which is the Authentic Smoked Bacon Cooked with Yellow Chives (RM45.00). The salted bacon are made inhouse by the chef; It is smoked with a special tea to gives it a special aroma and taste. Combine it with the imported Yellow Chives which has a crunchy feel together with the bacon was a perfect match to the white rice that we ordered to go with it.

This is then followed by the Braised Pumpkin Bean Curd with Wild Mushrooms and Dried Scallop (42.00). The bean curd are made with a blend of soyabean and pumpkin paste. Getting this right texture is a painstaking process that enable the proper setting of the bean curd. After that; it was fried to a golden brown before being braised with wild mushroom and dried scallop sauce.

Rounding up the food review, we then had the Flat Rice Noodle Soup with Threadfin Fish and Preserved Vegetables (RM35.00). On the first slurp, we can really taste the slippery and thin layer of the flat rice noodles. We love the texture of the flat rice noodle and also the Threadfin fish meat which was accompanied by the broth which has a slight sourish taste extracted out from the sour plum that was used to give it a very distinct flavours.

For dessert, we were served the special Authentic Crispy Bananas with Golden Cream (RM24.00). There is a story behind this dessert;  Legend has it that during a cooking competition the two finalist has ran out of ingredient to cook after a gruelling competition and one of the contestant saw some bananas hanging from a nearby house and decided to use it as the main ingredient, which then became the winning dish. When interviewed, the Chef could not think of a proper name and just utter the dish name as "not in time".

As Chef Alex relates; the batter used to coat the bananas are from a mixture of five different flour and this gives the crust a super light crispy texture which literally melt in your mouth. Combine with the sweet flavours of the bananas, it was the perfect end to our delightful journey to explore the Teochew cuisine at Pak Loh Chiu Chow @Starhill Gallery Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur.

Utara Coffee House Restaurant @Armada Hotel Petaling Jaya - A Christmas 2015 And New Year Celebration Buffet

Experience the magic of Christmas at Utara Coffee House @ Hotel Armada Petaling Jaya with your friends, family and colleagues this 2015 Christmas and New Year celebration.

Utara Coffee House is offering a special festive European, French dishes that will whet your appetite and satisfy your festive cravings. You and your families can get together to feast on the Christmas delights during the Christmas and New Year lavish traditional buffet and some special innovative dishes.

With an extensive range of delicious salads, fresh seafood, traditional Christmas meats and desserts to choose from; you will definitely lost for choices with the limited stomach to fill it.

+BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to savour some of the special highlight of the Christmas New Year menu; the first of which is the Salmon Coulibiac - which is a poached salmon marinated in olive oil and wrapped up with a Danish pastry skin - which gives you a puffy feel when you bite into it.

Next on is the Tiger Prawn Ceviche With Avocado - served on a bed of ceviche onion and avocado ; with a succulent and bouncy Tiger Prawn of which was lightly poached and added a tinge of lemon juice. Finally it was topped with bursting ebiko.

This is then followed by Dubarry Soup With Cheese Batonette - Sounds like a very glamorous name for this soup which is actually a cauliflower soup with essence of broccoli, potato, leek and parmesan cheese. A simple soup that taste very delicious.

This is then followed by the main dishes which is the Baked Capon With Bread Almond Roulade. For 2 years in a row, Turkey has been a premium item not to be found in many hotel Christmas menu apparently it is difficult to get halal Turkey into Malaysia these days, so in replacement is the Capon Chicken; which is the best alternative to Turkey as its meat texture is slightly tougher than the normal Chicken.

The stuffing for the chicken is carrot, celery, leek and onions (mirepoix ingredient) which are then taken out to be used to cook the flavourful giblet sauce which I personally like it very much but it was a rather challenge for those that does not like to eat the taste of chicken innards.

Next dish for us to savour is the Roast Duck Ripeni With Calavados. The duck meat are firstly deboned and then coarsely chopped and roll it together with cut apple and apple cider. The accompanied sweet sauce for this dish is the diced cut apples cooked with herbs.

For another European offering, we then had the Swedish Crab Pudding; this dish resemble the mac in cheese dish although there is no pasta in this; which is replaced by crab meats with a tinge of celery in a bechamel sauce, with the parmesan and mozzarella cheese to add to the top layer to form the pudding crust. A perfect dish for those that loves cheese and crab meat.

For beef fans, you can try out the Roast Beef Tapenade with Champignon. Cooked with black olive oil and mushroom and sent to the griller. A little toughness on the meat as it was roast well done, so for people that loves their beef well done; this would have been perfect. My preference for beef is usually medium done.

Rounding up the Christmas special is the Whole Lamb Leg with Garlic Sauce. The roast lamb did not leave any gamey flavour probably through the combination with the Garlic herb sauce which was very tasty. To complement this lamb meat were mash potatoes, mash carrot, mash pumpkin and mash sweet potatoes.

For desserts, we had the Lemon Meringue Pie, Yule Log Cake, Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Icing Christmas Pudding and Glass Dessert Tiramisu.

Make a date with Utara Coffee House  @Armada Hotel Special Christmas and New Year Buffet on 24th December & 31st December 2015. Prices are from 

RM 80.00 + per adult, 

RM 60.00 + senior citizen

RM 40.00 + per child. 

For reservation, please call +603 79546888 ext 4557 - Utara Coffee House.

On behalf of +BestRestaurant ToEat we would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Gossip Time Restaurant @ Paramount Garden Petaling Jaya - Malaysian Street Food and Steamboat Review

If you have been to Cameron Highlands, you would probably come across Gossip Corner which serves its' popular wantan noodles and Big Burger Challenge. After more than 3 years operating in Cameron Highlands, they decided to spread its wings to Petaling Jaya and with that, they started Gossip Time 3 months ago which is located at 5, Jalan 20/14 Paramount Garden 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

For those that are not familiar with what Gossip Corner serves, then this blog post will highlight some of these special offering to the PJ folks. The only difference is that at the Cameron outlet; no pork are served there whereas here at Gossip Time - pork are served.

Gossip Time @ Petaling Jaya is a very simple no frill cafe style setup; its' key mission is to deliver quality food at very reasonable prices as attested by our food review session.

We started off, with the Special Curry Chicken Set (RM8.90) which is served with a bowl of rice, papadum, fried eggs and soup of the day; touted by some of its customers as the No 1 curry in Petaling Jaya; we definitely have to give this a try. According to the chef, the curries serves at Gossip Time does not contain any santan (coconut milk); so for those who are particular about cholesterol and the bad effect of santan, you will now be able to enjoy a nice curry. The curry is cooked with a spices, lemongrass and fresh milk which is very fragrant and was a perfect match to the white rice which is served with the curry. Loves the potatoes which was cooked to a soft texture.

Next on is another house specialty, which is the Gossip Prawn Wantan Mee - Dry  (RM8.90 Small, RM9.90 Big). We find the texture of the noodles to be firm and have a bouncy texture. A check with the Chef reveals that the wantan noodles is specially made by its master (more than 40 years noodles making experience) and does not contain any boric acid. The wantan noodles are mixed with soya sauce and topped with minced meat.

For those that prefer the soupy version you can order the Gossip Prawn Wantan Mee - Soup  (RM8.90 Small, RM9.90 Big). We like the soup based as the chef uses pork bones which is boiled for a few hours. The creamy based look of the soup attest to this claims and it was very delicious. We love the big size wantan which has a prawn in it and was perfectly matched with the meat filling. For RM8.90 a bowl, it is very reasonable price considering the 3 chunky wantan that comes with the mee.

For those that love a little spicy taste on their wantan mee, you can try out the Curry Chicken Wantan Mee  (RM8.90 Small, RM9.90 Big). Unlike the earlier curry chicken, the soup based has a lighter broth and less spicy. Gossip Time also serves a Dry Curry version too.

Another specialty noodles that are served here is the Spicy Noodle King - Dry (RM9.90 Small, RM10.90 Big). This is not for the faint hearted but really for those seeking a real thrill of spiciness in their noodles. It has a very strong after taste of spiciness that lingers around your mouth and throat long after you finish your meal. According to the chef, he uses 7 special ingredients with chillies of different type to concoct this special spicy sauce.

Next on is the Special Satay Sauce Chicken Chop Rice (RM14.50). The chicken chop is fried to a crisp and then topped with an in-house made special peanut satay sauce. If you are a real fan of satay, this dish is just for you.

For the less adventurous, you can have the Mushroom Chicken Rice (RM8.90). This dish is similar to Braised Chicken with potatoes but here the chicken meat is braised with an add on of mushroom and fried potatoes.

The next specialty is the Gossip Pork/Chicken Burger King (RM24.90). This burger has many layers; Sandwiched in between the big bun are slices of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, pineapple, omelette and a piece of chicken chop with mayo dressing.

Started from Gossip Corner in Cameron Highland, Gossip Time continued; a new legend to find the quickest Gossip Time Burger King Champion. Herewith are some of the past challengers.

The current Champion in Gossip Time is 5 minutes and 21 seconds. If you are ready to take this challenge, then you can head over to Gossip Time. Tell the manager that you want to take up the Burger King Challenge. The record breaker will be given to order anything on the menu for that day absolutely free of charge.

For some light snack, you can also order the Chicken Wings (RM8.90/serving of 4 pieces)

The chicken wings are pre marinated with special ingredients and fried to a crispy golden brown while the meat was still juicy on the inside.

For dinner, Gossip Time also offers a special steamboat offering of 2 soup base which is the Pork Bone and Special Spicy Broth.

The price for a per pax steamboat set is RM24.90 - minimum order is 2 pax. The Pork Bone soup is of a clear type and was flavourful to slurp at it is. Once, the delicacies are simmered into the broth, you can start to taste the flavourful broth.

The set cor 2 pax comes with prawns, slices of chicken, slices of pork meat, fish, meatball, enoki mushroom and etc. For the steamboat set, you can order unlimited vegetables of the day. So, for those that loves vegetables in their steamboat, you can eat your heart out with the accompany broth.

The other broth is the Special Spicy Broth - this is quite spicy for me but is a welcome change from many steamboat restaurant that offers Tom Yum broth. Nevertheless for those that loves the spicy level can opt for this broth which goes well with the beehoon; as it will absorb the spicy flavour into the beehoon.

Gossip Time also offers a special set lunch from Monday to Friday during this period. Each set comes with Free Soup, Drinks and Fruits; a real value deal; from as low at RM9.90 onwards. Now, you don't need to cramp at coffee shop at Paramount Garden during lunch as Gossip Time is fully air conditioned to offers you a comfortable dining environment without burning a hole in your pocket.