Frontera Sol of Mexico @ Jaya One, PJ

My first introduction to Mexican food was the all-in-one taco kit commonly found in supermarkets. I thought they were a unique way to eat the common minced beef in tomato sauce. I also used to love KFC's Twister which was so yummy. I think there are not too many Mexican establishments in town but Frontera is a good place to start.

     

Sizzling Fajita Platter - Chicken and Beef Combo (RM 33.95)

     
The chicken and beef strips were brought to our table in a sizzling hot pan which smelled amazing (however, don't order this if you don't want to stink). Crisp onion slices, green and red peppers formed a bed to absorb the grilled meat juices.
     

Top: Jalapeno Coleslaw (RM 5.95), Bottom: Shredded cheese, Pico de Gallo, sour cream

      
The fajitas came with a bowl of shredded cheese, Pico de Gallo which is a type of salsa, and sour cream.
    
We also ordered Jalapeno Coleslaw to try which as the name suggests, is a little spicy. The portion felt kind of small since we were sharing but I think it's okay for one person =P

     

Flour Tortillas

     
The flour tortillas were served in a traditional clay tortilla container. There were four in total which weren't enough for us greedy people. The grilled filling were too much for the four tortillas and we forgot to ask if it is refillable.
    
The juicy grilled chicken and beef tasted awesome with the condiments and I really like how we get to assemble our own wrap =) I especially loaded on the Pico de Gallo which wasn't spicy at all as it's just made up of raw onions, tomatoes and cilantro and asked for refills quite a number of times =P

    

Baja-Style Fish Tacos (RM 6.95)

       
Since we were still feeling hungry, we ordered an additional taco with fish filling to balance out the meat. The Baja-style fish tacos is filled with marinated cabbage shreds, cheese, cilantro, tomatoes, a squeeze of lime and a big piece of deep-fried Dory. We opted for flour tortillas again as our throats were feeling kind of hoarse and scratchy...there is another option for crispy tortillas. Chipotle ranch dressing which tasted like Thousand Island sauce was provided as a dipping sauce. This was very yummy again as it tastes like a much, much better version of Fillet o' Fish =P You can order this in two servings which will be a little cheaper than a single serving.
      

Beef Fajita Ranchera Burrito (RM 23.98)

       
On a separate visit, my friends and I had the burrito which came with Refried Beans, Pico de Gallo and Mexican rice. The burrito is filled with beef pieces, onions, red and green peppers and spicy ranchera sauce and topped with sour cream, salsa and finely sliced spring onions. All the flavours blended in perfectly and even though we were not hungry, we finished everything =D

     

Chicken Enchiladas (RM 23.95)

      
The Chicken Enchiladas were served with the same sides (hmm I don't recall the waiter asking us what sides we would like to have otherwise I'm sure we would have ordered different sides to try >.>). For the enchiladas, two rolls of flour tortilla wraps were served instead of one for the burritos. This time, the rolls were covered in sour cream and cheese. The description on the menu says that it is baked in chilli sauce but I don't think I detected any chilli sauce. Anyway they were yummy as usual and Pariahcetamol and I both preferred the enchiladas. Maggot-chan however finished the burritos as she said there was a strong bean smell in the enchiladas that she could not stand. Perhaps it's best to avoid Mexican food if you are averse to beans.
       

Strawberry Cream Cake

   
Not sure of the name and price of the cake as it was chosen by my friends. It was unexpectedly nice though with lots of strawberry slices in between cream-filled layers of butter cake and topped with lots of almonds and a couple of chocolate-dipped dried apricots.
    

PawPoints: 4 Paws

Pawket: Tomato

    
Frontera Sol of Mexico

Lights at Palm Square
Jaya One
Tel: 03 7958 8515
Sun - Thur: 11am - 1am
Fri - Sat: 11am - 2am

Kelantan Delights @ Wisma Consplant, Subang Jaya

We celebrated CNY at Kelantan Delights, a supposedly famous Malay restaurant serving quality and authentic Kelantanese fare. When my friend mentioned this place, none of us heard of it before even though we've been staying in Subang Jaya for ages O.o If it makes it easier to get your bearings, the restaurant is located on the ground floor of Wisma Consplant.
     

Kelantan Delights

      

Interior

      
The interior is of modern Malay furnishing with lots of dark wood.

     

Sweets to curb spiciness

      

Kelantanese Specials

       

Keropok Lekor (RM 8.50)

      
This is quite good - crunchy fish crackers which are not oily. We had both the spicy and non-spicy versions but I couldn't really tell the difference between the two. The chilli sauce provided complemented the fish crackers well.

     

Nasi Dagang with Kerutuk Daging (RM 20)

      
The Nasi Dagang which is made from glutinous rice was moist and flavourful. It is served with a side salad and a choice of Gulai Ikan, Ayam or Kerutuk Daging. We chose the Kerutuk Daging which was very yummy and tender. A bowl of thick curry sauce was provided as an accompaniment to the rice.

    

Accompanying curry

       

Nasi Kerabu with Ayam Percik (RM 19)

         
The blue-tinged Nasi Kerabu is served with ulam (mixture of fresh herbs), prawn crackers and a sliver of salted egg. A rendang-ish gravy with dessicated coconut is served with the rice, making it much tastier compared to the Nasi Dagang in my opinion. I was looking forward to eating ulam as I have not tried it before but I was kind of disappointed as the raw vegetables were...raw and dry. Perhaps ulam is supposed to taste like this <shrugs> The prawn crackers were crunchy and flavourful.
       
Again there is a choice of Ayam Percik, Ikan Percik or Daging Bakar. We opted for the Ayam Percik which came with gravy. I found this rather odd as I'm used to the dry version so the gravy did not taste like Percik gravy to me. The chicken was rather dry too >.<

       

Nasi Tumpang (RM 15)

      
Oops the artistic-looking Nasi Tumpang got a bit destroyed in the unwrapping process -_-" I didn't try this so no comment. Looks good though. Will probably order this if ever I return.

     

Tom Yum Campur (RM 16.50)

     
The Tom Yum Campur was average, not very spicy and super oily. It contains lots of ingredients though like mushrooms, cauliflower, prawns and parsley.

     

Kelantanese Dessert

       
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get the name of this dessert =.=

     

Lompat Tikam (RM 6)

      
Did not try the desserts so can't comment too much on it.
      
Kelantan Delights apparently gets lots of rave reviews from floggers for being an exceptional Malay restaurant. I guess the food is quite nice for Malay cuisine since the Malay food most of us usually eat are from makeshift stalls.
    

PawPoints: 3 Paws

Pawket: Tomato

     
Kelantan Delights
Ground Floor, East Wing
Wisma Consplant 1
2 Jalan SS 16/4
Subang Jaya
Tel: 03 5611 7845
Daily: 11am - 11pm

Wantan Mee with Lard @ Restoran Chan Meng Kee, SS2

This was an accidental find as I was actually heading to Ho Weng Kee for some wantan mee fix after many years of not patronising the famous shop. When I reached, Ho Weng Kee was missing but in its place was this place called Chan Meng Kee O.O It looked exactly the same as Ho Weng Kee used to albeit with newer furniture and since it sold wantan mee, we went in anyway.

   

Shop Front

   

Simple Menu

     
There is a simple menu on the wall with English and Chinese text. Good for bananas like me!

     

Dry Char Siu Wantan Mee (RM 5.50)

       
Do not look down on this plate of normal-looking wantan mee! Once you start mixing the noodles, you will uncover lots of crispy deep-fried lard which adds something extra to common char siu mee. The char siu are barbecued to a nice dark colour with glistening caramelised skin. The char siu here are generally more fatty and the springy noodles are a tad oily so health-activists should stay far, far away from this place...they'll probably get a heart attack just by looking at the cholesterol-laden plate =P The wantans are bite-sized with springy meat. The soup has sufficient flavour instead of being a plain vegetable and pepper stock.

     

Comparison between large and small noodles

     
The only difference between small and large servings is the quantity of noodles. Doesn't look like there are extra slices of char siu =.=

     

Sui Kow (RM 6)

     
The sui kow are springy and "crunchy" and quite plump. Good snack.
   
I know SS2 is notorious for its lack of parking space but do reward yourself after a jog on weekends with a yummy plate of char siu wantan mee infused with pork oil and crunchy lard =)
   

PawPoints: 5 Paws

Pawket: Dough

   
Restoran Chan Meng Kee
32 Jalan SS 2/66
Petaling Jaya

Tel: 012 688 1972
Tue - Sun: 8.30am - 3pm

Go-Gung Korean Restaurant @ The Gardens, KL

This is a very posh-looking (from the outside) Korean restaurant at The Gardens. As they had set lunches, I decided to go there with my brother.

We had the Kimchi Chigye set and the Bulgogi set. Each set comes with 4 side dishes, steamed rice and chive pancake. Below are the various side dishes we had.

Stif-fried spinach

Stir-fried bean sprouts

Cabbage kimchi

Anchovies and pickled green chilli

I was at a loss as to what the above dish was...it had the texture and taste of the thicker kind of seaweed but it smelled of chilli so after checking out other blogs, I can confirm that this is pickled green chilli =P It wasn't spicy at all and was quite addictive.

Chive pancake

I thought, being part of a set meal, the chive pancake must be rather cold and oily and soggy since they would have cooked this in batches for the set lunches but I'm happy to report that the pancakes were light and crispy and yummy even after they have cooled down, especially with the savoury sauce (I'm no expert on Korean food so don't know the equivalent Korean terms -_-").

Steamed rice

Kimchi Chigye (RM 20)

The slightly spicy soup came boiling hot with the usual ingredients of glass noodles, firm tofu cubes and cabbage. Very appetizing and went extremely well with rice.

Bulgogi (RM 25)

The Bulgogi consisted of a huge (and I mean HUGE) amount of tender beef strips, enoki mushrooms and glass noodles in its own sweetish marinade juices. We nearly couldn't finish this due to the generous portion of beef. Worth ordering, I'd say =)

Condiments for bulgogi

Fresh lettuce, spicy paste and raw garlic were provided for us to make lettuce wraps with the bulgogi. The tender beef tasted really good in the lettuce wraps. We tried eating it the Korean way where they stuff the entire lettuce wrap into their mouth but I had trouble chewing after that. I wonder how Koreans do it =.=

Anyway food was really good here with huge portions well worth the high price tag usually seen in Korean restaurants. The set lunches are quite a good deal as the ala-carte items are on the higher side of the price range but I must say that the drinks are quite expensive (RM 8 for refillable tea!!!).

PawPoints: 3 Paws

Pawket: Tomato

GoGung Korean Restaurant

Lot T-212, 3rd Floor

The Gardens
Tel: 03 2287 2981
Daily: 10am - 10pm

TEMPTationS @ Renaissance Hotel, KL

At Renaissance Hotel, TEMPTationS is the Asian brother of Vogue Cafe =P It largely serves local fare with lots of curries, salad station, a small dim sum station, congee, Indian vegetarian dishes, local desserts, ice-cream and Western cakes. If you ever see a lunch deal for buffet at this hotel, make sure you go for the one at Vogue Cafe. That's not to say that the food here isn't nice, just that it is not too...worth it =P However I recently found out that the dinner menu for TEMPTationS looks quite different than the lunch one so have a look at the menu and decide for yourself =P

      

Reception

     
Buffet breakfast goes for RM 45, buffet lunch RM 79 and buffet dinner RM 109.

I was there for a training course and since lunch was only for 45 minutes, I did not take pictures of all the dishes...just the general ones and ones that I like.

       

Cold Cuts

      

Salad Bar

      

My 1st round =P

       
As you can see (in a clockwise direction), there's Biryani rice, chicken and beef satay, grilled prawns, salmon cooked in cream sauce, deep-fried calamari and assam fish. The salmon tasted a little odd with a very rich cream sauce - not my favourite. The assam fish was good but not spectacular. The Biryani rice was fluffy and aromatic. You can probably see my favourites in the next picture...

    

My 2nd round O.O

       
I spied Yong Chow fried rice!! And as you can probably tell by now, I'm a sucker for carbs =D So here are all my favourites - chicken and beef satay, grilled prawns and deep-fried calamari. I also took a cold seafood salad which was not too nice in my opinion.

The fried rice was really good with lots of wok hei, fluffy egg, french beans and mini shrimps. Do take the chicken and beef satay if you're there as they were so succulent and flavourful with the rich peanut sauce. Each piece detaches easily when you pull on it and the meat is never tough. The grilled prawns were average but fresh and big so I took seconds =D The deep-fried calamari with curry leaves were crispy and fresh and not chewy...very addictive.

      

There were a lot of other curries such as chicken, beef, mutton, and lentil as well as a variety of chutneys. I did not take those as I already had my fill, lunching at a mamak shack adjacent to my office EVERY SINGLE DAY =.= But I'm sure the curries at TEMPTationS taste nice =)

     

Mini cakes and pastries

      
I did not take too many pictures of the cakes as I was late in getting to the dessert section and most of the cakes were already smashed or overturned and did not look appetising at all =.=
      

Cake slices and buns

     

Cendol and Ais Kacang Station

                

So anyway, do give it a try if you plan to let a foreigner sample local delicacies at a hotel buffet and if you absolutely love local food =)
 

PawPoints: 3 Paws

Pawket: Salami

    
TEMPTationS @ Renaissance Hotel

Corner of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Ampang
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03 2162 2233
Daily: 6am - 11am, 12pm - 2.30pm, 6.30pm - 10.30pm

Senya Dining @ Isetan Foodmarket, KLCC

You may have already wondered what's up with the string of Japanese food posts lately? Well in conjunction with pawprints' birthday month <drum roll>, the posts should be related to pawprints' favourite food =D And what better way to showcase it than a string of posts related to all of Isetan Foodmarket's Japanese-manned stalls? =D

   
The last post of all is Senya Dining which is a dining counter. You can either takeaway the ready-packed donburis or have a quick lunch at the counter seats. The donburis are available either ala-carte or as part of a set with miso soup. Apart from donburis, there are also croquettes, sushi rolls, katsu and salads.
   

Senya Dining

      

Menu

Steamed Rice (RM 9)

     
The Steamed Rice is a typical Japanese dish - rice steamed in shiitake mushroom stew. The result is rice somewhat like glutinous rice, having absorbed all the mushroom flavours, and packed with lots of sliced mushrooms, strips of beancurd skin, diced chicken and something that looked and tasted like a Chinese herb commonly found in ginseng soup called Solomon's Seal aka Yuk Chuk. 

     

I must admit although the rice is very moist and soft, it lacked a savoury flavour which can be quickly remedied by adding a few drops of soy sauce. The red ginger pickles are also there for a reason, to add a tangy flavour to the steamed rice. The dish also comes with half a hard-boiled egg which require some soy sauce to alleviate its taste (they apparently now have more appetizing half-hard boiled eggs with a soft golden yolk). As I did not opt to reheat my donburi, the shiitake mushrooms were a little hard - perhaps it'll be softer if you reheat the rice.

       

Chicken Nanbanzuke Don (RM 10.80)

      
This is essentially fried chicken with an appetizing sauce of pickled mayo and onions. I usually don't ask for this to be reheated as the sauce tastes much better cold. The room-temperature fried chicken still tastes good cold as bento items should. The serving of fried chicken pieces which sits on a bed of shredded cabbage is generous. It can be a bit bland on its own so do make sure to coat each piece with the yummy sauce which also makes the rice more palatable. Highly recommended just because of the sauce alone! =)
    

Chicken Karaage Don (RM 9.80)

      
This is just plain fried chicken on a bed of lettuce and rice. The chicken pieces are still juicy and yummy even after it has been reheated. Nothing too special about this but JS liked it a lot.
      

Chicken Teriyaki Don (RM 9.80)

    
 You can't really tell from the picture but the chicken teriyaki actually glistens! The meat is so tender and juicy even though the chicken has been grilled till the skin is crisp. This is also highly recommended if you like teriyaki chicken =)
    

Salmon Fried Rice (RM 6.80)

       
This is just Chinese-style fried rice with cooked salmon pieces and ginger pickles. I quite like it as the pickles add more flavour to the rice and the eggs are still fluffy even though I reheated this. Or maybe I'm just a big fan of fried rice =D but I really enjoyed this donburi =) They were quite generous with the amount of salmon too (although you can't see it from the pic).
      

Miso Chicken Katsu Rice (RM 9.80)

      
I originally wanted to eat the Chicken Nanbanzuke Don again but I thought I should showcase more of Senya's donburis so I opted for this Miso Chicken Katsu Rice. Please don't be intimidated by the picture...it's actually not as scary looking =P In real life colour, the row of chicken katsu sitting atop fresh lettuce is slathered with a coating of dark brown miso paste and sprinkled with finely sliced spring onions.
     
It may take some getting used to for some people as the akamiso (red miso) paste tasted somewhat like Chinese yellow bean paste but nicer. It is quite salty for akamiso is known for its savoury taste and robustness so you may want to scrape it off on the sides of the container and add more to taste but it certainly makes the chicken katsu taste better =) The chicken katsu is not dry at all and it manages to retain some of its crispiness which is good. I'd recommend you to try if only just once as I have not seen this dish anywhere else.
    

Miso Ebi Furai to Chicken Nanban Don (RM 12.90)

I've not seen this donburi before and the day I was there, this one happened to be the last one. A very good deal for a surf and turf don. Again I did not reheat this as bentos are actually supposed to be eaten cold. The Ebi Furai was still crispy with a big juicy prawn within (there were 4 of them). Luckily this time, the miso wasn't very salty.
   
Actually I don't know the name of this donburi =.= but it looked like Chicken Nanbanzuke to me. When I had a taste though, I wasn't sure if it was nanbanzuke sauce or egg mayo -_-" It had an eggy taste but it looked like nanbanzuke sauce but it was too watery to be nanbanzuke =.= Anyway, the sauce went well with the pan-fried chicken pieces. A satisfying donburi indeed!
     

          
If you're looking for something filling yet affordable (comparatively to other food stalls at KLCC) and made with lots of care (but probably no love...I spied Japanese natives working in the kitchen and you know how much effort they put in everything they do), do hop on over to Senya Dining. I'm sure you'll find something you like there =)
        

PawPoints: 3 Paws 

Pawket: Onion
     
Senya Dining

Food Hall

Isetan Foodmarket

Concourse

Suria KLCC

Tel: 2382 7777

Daily: 10am - 10pm