Vietnamese cuisine - DuViet Restaurant & Cafe, Damansara Utama

grilled lemongrass fish

It was Leverage Chapter's Appreciation Dinner do, hosted by our Madam Prez G at her Vietnamese Du Viet Restaurant & Cafe. The theme color were red and black and four of us were dul penalised with songs and dance, yours truly included. Having endured our punishment, much to the law abiding Leverages' enjoyment, we were rewarded with the teasing 'happy-tiser' @ appetiser of halves of spring roll and fresh chicken rolls with sald together with peanut-like sauce and clear sweet chili sauce, with its very distinctive flavour of spices and herbs which is synonym to Vietnamese cuisine. 

halves spring rolls

Our main course consists of a choice of Noodles and Rice. My Chapter member, MY on my right and I ordered the rice set, Grilled Lemongrass Fish on Banana Leaf. The fish of course were laden with pieces of lemongrass with some traces taste of a varieties of spices and herbs(?) and to be flavoured with clear and sweet chili sauce. However, I noted that the fish could and should be eaten by itself without any additional flavouring since it is well seasoned (I think) prior to its grilling process. My only qualm is that, two piece is not enough.

bbq lemongrass chicken

My Chapter member, YN on my left and SL in front of me ordered the BBQ Lemongrass Chicken with Egg. While, DrM enjoyed her Vietnamese Traditional Beef Noodles with imported tenderloin beef fillet, stews beef brisket and tripe in clear beef soup. Interestingly, I noted that the beef noodles is accompanied by a plateful of fresh mix of shoots and leaves, much to DrM delight. Rumours has it that the Vietnamese food is considered one of the healthiest cuisine world wide with minimal use of oil and reliance on herbs and vegetables instead. 

beef noodles

Dessert is the form of Durian pancake. Usually I don not take @ like durian in any other form but in its original fruit form. But here, the seeded durian were wrapped up with some ice cream and the real flesh of durian were still intake with all its fibery texture, taste and of course! I savour it bite by bite by tiny small bite.

durian pancake
silky soft texture

inner view

Three colors Delite of green grass jelly, cendol and red beans with gula Melaka and low fat cream toppings capped the delightful dinner spread.

3 colors delite

 This is a fine dining restaurant, its value for money and the ambiance were very inviting. I am awarding a 9 on Acepaizah scale's for the Grilled Lemongrass Fish and 9.5 for the durian pancake. And I believe the rest of the menu commanding the same scale by the look on the faces of my member Chapter and also since our Madam Prez also act as the QC for the food. Really, she did QC on the spot one of the BBQ Chicken! 

Merry merry appreciative night

~Acepaizah~

Local Breakfast in Kuala Lumpur - Lontong @ Kampung Baru

BFF's standard lontong 

Hunting for breakfast in Kuala Lumpur is a breeze. On this occasion, BFF suggested to go to Kampung Baru for the real authentic Lontong (rice cooked in banana leaf serve with coconut milk gravy and its assortment side kicks.) This is her turf where she stayed for more than 8 years, about decade ago. Parking is a real problem and we had to walk quite a distant. The stall is simply numbered GSA 14. Formerly, this area is famously known as Pasar Minggu Kampung Baru (Kampung Baru Night Market). All 4 of us ordered the Lontong and yours truly lontong sans chili paste atop the serving but with a piece of begedil (potato cutlets).

with begedil- pieces of rice
cut from a long banana wrap 

The lontong is simply basic. Just rice pieces in coconut milk gravy laden with a veggies such as tofu, tempeh, pieces of carrot and handful of long beans. We had some add ons such as fried tempeh and I had the begedil. The banana leaf's aroma permeates our senses and blend nicely with the milky sweetish (for me, sans the chili's paste)gravy. The lontong (rice cake) is well cooked and no 'grainy' rice feel at all, i.e., if one do not know how rice look like, they will never know by eating this lontong alone.

lopes

Since my BFF have sweet tooth, ZM order lopes (made from glutinous rice) kind of a rice dumpling which is eaten with sweet sauce and shredded coconut. Again, the lopes texture is very fine and well cooked @ steamed to perfection. ZM praising the lontong texture's non stop in between her lopes bite! It is a well spent morning and worth the hassle of finding a place to park our cars.(Note to self: come early before the breakfast come in droves.) It is value for money, for four servings of lontong and 2 pieces of lopes cost us RM17.00! Of course, we were all sitting by a shaky table on the five foot way! On Acepaizah's scale, I award the lontong a 9. Really, you can hardly get more authentic than this. Long live lontong!

patrons waiting to be serve!
Lontong wrapped in banana awaits hungry patrons

BFF's son, enjoying breakfast 

 creamy milky lontong
~Acepaizah~ 

potful of lontong gravy!!!

lopes on the string!

the ambiance!

Appreciating Life @ De Palma Hotel, Ampang

Rumbia Fried Rice
sambal on the side-stay on the side!

My life is full of celebrations. Correction, I appreciate what the universe bestow upon me and my everlasting gratitude towards the Almighty that I always find reason to celebrate life. One this special occasion is celebrating my belated birthday with HH at Rumbia Coffee House, De Palma Hotel, Ampang.

On this special occasion, I ordered the house specialty, the Rumbia Fried Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice). The fried rice was wrapped in a layer of fried egg, 2 pieces of chicken wings, some crackers, anchovies and garnished with few pieces of salad and long beans. The fried rice was mildly spicy with tons of seafood.

Seafood Tom Yam
wt swimming prawnssss

HH ordered seafood Tom Yam which was loaded with giant prawns! They were simply swimming in the bowl of Tom Yam and playfully teasing us! However, the Tom Yam was way too spicy for me but I managed to fish a piece to satiate my prawny cravings. To top it all, we also ordered cheesy spaghetti and innocent looking omelet.

cheesy prawn spaghetti

The Fried Rice was a plateful carbo laden dish with lots of protein. I enjoyed every morsel of them while HH helped me with all the raw green garnishing. The cheesy spaghetti was full of tomato richness and some garlic-ness aroma. The innocent looking omelet was not that innocent at all. It was laden with rich creamy fillings accompanied by highly caloric fries with some coleslaw on the side.

Overall, I give a respectful 8 on Acepaizah’s scale for food presentation and service. Ambiance was a bit too dark with warm lighting.

P/S :oops, being reminded by HH, in verbatim :" tear a piece of hot soft bun and dunk it into the tom yam soup....... to die for. ......."

Yes, we did asked for some buns, which were soft and warm. So we tore them and dunk in the Tom Yam... creative eating, don't you think so?

sinful delight

ricy teasing prawn

~Acepaizah~