Sunday 29 December 2013

Tong's Kitchen @ USJ 19 City Mall, Subang Jaya

Tong's Kitchen at USJ 19 City Mall is a simple establishment serving yummy homemade dishes. It is great for a quick dinner without emptying your pawkets =P

Wonder what is their mascot supposed to be...


Menu
There is a huge variety of dishes to choose from which is always a good thing.

Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leaves (RM 12) 
A simple dish stir fried with garlic, the sweet potato leaves were very young and fresh.


Pumpkin Beancurd (RM 8)
JS's family love the Pumpkin Beancurd here which is essentially deep fried beancurd braised in a savoury and creamy pumpkin gravy.

Chicken with Salted Eggs (RM 18)
The fried chicken was moist and juicy and the chef was very generous with the amount of salted egg yolk which totally enhanced the taste of the chicken.

Sweet and Sour Fish (RM 23)
The portion is huge with lots of deep fried fish slices coated in a sweet and sour sauce. Very yummy indeed.

No pork is served but I am not sure if the restaurant has a halal cert. Overall, Tong's Kitchen is a great place for inexpensive home cooked fare.


PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Onion


Tong's Kitchen
G02, Ground Floor
USJ 19 City Mall
Tel: 03 8023 6153
Daily: 10am - 10pm

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Fiori Corner @ Leicester Square, London

This is a super dated post considering I went to London in 2012 =P But no worries, this shop which is opposite Leicester Square tube station has been there for ages (it was there when I was in London in 2005) and it looks like it will be there for quite some time. Fiori is a great place for big breakfasts and being located at a popular spot, its meal sets are really quite affordable.

Shop Front


English Breakfast
I had the English Breakfast set which comes with two sunny side-ups, a juicy and meaty sausage, grilled bacon, half a grilled tomato and a heap of sauteed button mushrooms. Definitely one of the most satisfying breakfasts ever created in the world! 

Buttered toasts
Each set comes with a plate of buttered toasts but honestly one triangular slice is more than enough.

As expected since it was such a long time ago, I can't really remember the price but it is definitely less than GBP 10 which makes the meal very worth it. When I do visit London again, I'm pretty sure I'll return to Fiori Corner for breakfast.


PawPoints: 4 Paws


Fiori Corner
T: Leicester Square
42-43 Cranbourn Street
London
Tel: +44 020 7437 2694
Daily: 7am - 2am

Sunday 15 December 2013

Italiano's @ SS2, PJ

Italiano's is somewhat like Pizza Uno, a family Italian restaurant with quality food and affordable pricing. Lots of families dine here at night and while there are some hits and misses in the menu (definitely more hits than misses), I highly recommend you to come and try it out.

Minestrone Soup (RM 6)
The hearty Minestrone Soup comes boiling hot and is chockful of ingredients typical of minestrone. The tomato base is warm and well-seasoned. The slice of baguette accompanying the soup is warmed but not toasted. It is extremely affordable and very yummy on cold rainy days.

We also tried the Mushroom Soup which is creamy and overloaded with chunky mushroom bits. A must order!

Mufaletta Delight Pizza (RM 19)
As can be seen in the above picture, the pizza is laden with lots of ingredients. The crust is thick yet crispy and  fully supports the meaty toppings.

King's Special Pizza (RM 25)
This pizza tasted a bit odd, probably due to the extremely gamey lamb sausages and red chillies. Not really recommended in my opinion.

Italiano's Special Pasta (RM 18)
This pasta is coated in a thick tomato based gravy (I wouldn't call that sauce as I feel the tomato paste was thickened with cornflour rather than loading on the paste). I am not a fan of the lamb sausages as they were quite gamey (and since I do like lamb, this means that it really is gamey!). Think the other pastas would be more recommended as the portions are big and absolutely worth the price.

Braised Lamb Shank (RM 30)
We also had the Braised Lamb Shank as it was so affordable and it came in a really big portion. See the huge lamb shoulder? Admittedly, the meat is somewhat lacking, but what meat there is is very tender and has absorbed the tomato gravy fully. The mashed potatoes, side salad and steamed vegetables were a very good accompaniment to the lamb. Definitely not for small eaters =P


PawPoints: 3 Paws
Pawket: Onion


Italiano's
61G, Jalan SS2/75
Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03 7873 9695
Daily: 11.30am - 3pm, 6pm - 10.30pm

Saturday 7 December 2013

Black Forest @ Changkat Bukit Bintang, KL

Sorry for the unexpected hiatus...things were really busy for us both and I unexpectedly fell sick and we didn't have any ready posts although we have tons of material so here's a review of a great restaurant to kick start December, my favourite month of the year! =D


Black Forest is one of the many restaurants lining Changkat Bukit Bintang and food must certainly be good to ensure a steady stream of customers.

Menu
I really like the different categories in their menu =)


Who got the better deal?

Complimentary bread basket
As usual, there is a complimentary bread basket and here at Black Forest, some wholesome raisin bread is served with spicy chilli tuna paste. The bread was warmed through but I prefer mine to be toasted so no brownie points from me there. I also prefer the usual oil-vinegar dip or even the common butter to spicy chilli tuna that tasted like it came from a can.


Kartoffelpuffer Mit Lachs (RM 26)
This dish of potato pancakes served with marinated salmon and dill mustard is my favourite of the lot. I love the crispy potato pancakes and the very savoury salmon goes extremely well with it. I also love the simple dill mustard which packs in so much flavour.


Black Forest's 1/2 Metre Wurst (RM 36)
We had the black pepper sausage and I must say that this is quite a disappointment =( There was nothing special about the sausage at all and it didn't taste very homemade. I have definitely eaten better sausages from supermarkets. I really like the pickles though =P


Schweinekotlett "Natur" (RM 45)
This juicy pork loin which has been slow roasted to perfection is very well complemented by sauteed pork belly and pepper as well as the special zigeuner sauce. The juicy meat comes with a side salad as well as fluffy and crispy french fries which I love dipping into the appetising zigeuner sauce.


Schnitzel Hawaii Mit Ananas Und Kase Uberbacken (RM 45)
The boneless pork loin cutlets are baked with air dried ham, pineapple and cheese and served with a side salad as well as mashed potatoes. The cutlets were really juicy even after being pan fried and baked and retained its crispiness even when topped with ham and pineapple. I really enjoyed this dish as I love schnizels d^_^b


Bayerische Schweinehaxe (RM 45)
The crispy pork knuckle comes with beer sauce, potato gratin and red cabbage. The knuckle was extremely crispy and tender and juicy, just like siu yuk, but some of our friends found it a tad too fatty. I, of course, found it just nice but it was a shame that this dish arrived last as I was already stuffed from all the food before to truly enjoy this. The beer sauce did not have a strong beer taste but it complemented the knuckle very well anyway.

The potato gratin tasted like creamy potato sandwiched between lasagna sheets which was a nice change from the usual mashed potatoes and fries. The red cabbage was sour and tangy in a good way as I am not a fan of sauerkraut (probably I have not tasted good sauerkraut yet).


Churros 
The Churros was really good and there were lots of thick chocolate sauce to dip the crunchy sticks in.


An Australian Dream (RM 22.80)
The Australian Dream has a nice tart taste from the cherries and lots of cream and chocolate chips to make this concoction truly yummy.

Service was good although the waiters are super busy and may not be able to notice you. There is also some tradition of throwing plates on the ground before starting some pork knuckle dish which can be a tad distracting but the waiters give you ample warning before the patrons attempt such a feat.

All in all, a really good meal and all who went for the meal were really satisfied. Prices are on the high side but would definitely return for the awesome potato pancakes, schnitzel and knuckle =D


PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Cheese


Black Forest
47 Changkat Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2110 3678
Sun - Thu: 4pm - 1am
Fri - Sat: 4pm - 3am