Foodie Adventure III- Ben's General Food Store @ Publika, Solaris Dutamas

glass bottle of drinking water

Went Eudil Adha outing with PSA and by lunch time we were practically starving. PSA suggested we go to Ben's @ Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur for lunch. I agreed to PSA's suggestion since I have never been to Ben's before though I have friends talking about it. The place was full to the brim when we arrived and had to wait for about 15 minutes. The setting is very plain and simple with minimal decor. The table were off white wooden planks with very Acepaizah unfriendly's chairs. PSA cpmmented to me that it was not meant for patrons to sit idling. We spontaneously ordered some drinking water and to my surprise Ben's place served water in clear bottles which reminds me of my younger days when drinking water were kept in "F&N" orange cordial bottle and chilled in the refrigerator. The glass bottles also brought sweet memories of my recent holidays in New Zealand where the NZ restaurateur served us drinking water in them and tapped directly from the kitchen sinks!

grilled veggies served in enamel plate

The green grilled veggies - veggies never taste better. PSA ordered extra veggies beside her Seafood Pie. The seafood pie is served with roast potato and string beans. She insisted me sharing her seafood pie which I shamelessly agreed and there after practically forcing me to share her grilled veggies! The seafood pie was so creamy and it complements well with the succulent tangy prawns. The seafood pie portion was respectfully small compared to some that I had elsewhere. I did finish my share of grilled veggies much to PSA delight.

B.I.G. Lasagna

see the layer over layer of beefy, cheesy top with perfecto sauce!

I ordered the The B.I.G Lasagna with roast potato and string beans.The beef lasagna is simply heaven on earth. PSA excused herself from sharing my big portion B.I.G. Lasagna on the pretext of not eating beef. Yummy, I have the lasagna all to myself. The roast potato were well roasted with the distinctive taste of lemon, but I think that was the dijon vinegar dressing. As I mentioned earlier, the lasagna is simply heaven on earth, with the generous tomato based sauce, pieces and chunks of well baked minced meat and layer upon layer of rich cheese pieces that simply "melts" in your mouth. It was one of the best lasagna I've ever tasted after my recent mis-adventure at a certain food joint.

Honey Lemon Hot Tea

Finally a mug of Honey Lemon Hot Tea to balance all the different taste of lemon-ny dijon vinegar dressing, olive oil, the creaminess of the seafood pie and sour-ish sauce of B.I.G. lasagna, and the list goes on. What a scrumptious lunch. Today I let my stomach rule my mind. Such a mind boggling foodie adventure with PSA.

My verdict as follows, the chair I am sitting on very Acepaizah unfriendly and a 7 for the setting, atmosphere, service and the grilled veggies. The seafood pie and roast potato earned a respectable 8 on Acepaizah scale, and the B.I.G. Lasagna which teases my taste bud and satiates my lasagna craving sitting comfortably at 9.9 on Acepaizah. As can be seen from the overwhelming Acepaizah scale result, I will definitely come back for more lasagna and the rest.Thereafter PSA insisted we visit a few chocolate outlets, but that is a story for another day.

Lets do the lasagna twist
~Acepaizah~

Eidul Adha @ KH's residence

My sis KH's awesome Briyani rice

Eidul Adha is celebrated in a low key celebration in Kuala Lumpur, compared to other states in Malaysia, such as in the state of Terengganu and Kelantan it is celebrated in a larger scale. In any event my sis KH never fail to serve her awesome out of the world Briyani Rice. Her Briyani Rice could be eaten all by itself without the various side dishes. Just look at the amount of cashew nuts and green beans KH generously add to the finish product.

Briyani Rice accompanying side dishes

 The delicious dhal gravy with carrots and potatoes, mixed veggies and a very healthy cold cucumber salad to balance the spicy prawn sambal and chicken rendang and peanut gravy.

mouth watering prawn sambal

proprotionately cubed Ketupat
(rice based)

This beautiful white well cooked ketupat is the perfect partner to the peanut gravy and the chicken rendang. I had a bowl of ketupat with thick peanut gravy. All home cooked Eidul Adha dishes. No street food for me today. SELAMAT EIDUL ADHA FOLKS.

eidul adha salaams and greetings
~Acepaizah~

Bukit Gambang Resort City-an adventure

Arabian Bay Resort Grandiose Entrance

I was at Bukit Gambang Resort City last week end attending BNI Joint Chapters Team Building between the various Chapters in BNI. The Objective of the Team Building inter alia are for Personal Discovery, Bonding and Appreciation among Chapter members.

Bukit Gambang Resort City. BGRC  is a huge resort  which expand acres and acres of hills and jungle.The refreshing fully oxygenated environment is complemented by it vast airy Carribean Bay Coffee House. Anyway as the saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words...

green as far as the eyes can see

Delicious Lunch

spacious Carribean Bay
Coffee House

Imagine the logistic of handling thousands of eggs daily!
[these eggs were perfectly half boiled...imagine their 'skill'!]

While having breakfast the following morning, Av made a mind boggling observation to me. She said, I quote “Imagine the logistic of handling 5000 eggs every day or on week ends." BGRC may accommodate 3000 guest at any one time, if each guest were to have two half boil eggs for breakfast, that will be 6000 eggs! And Carribean Coffee House do serves eggs tau fu (or something sounds like that ) which was like some kind of pudding, so how many eggs did their chef use. And how many chefs do BGRC employ? How big BGRC kitchen are. And imagine the logistic of receiving and storing its perishable, Such a mind boggling observation. Imagine the logistic of handling crates and bundles of veggies, containers of sea produce, lorries of local fruits and bags upon bags of rice! Imagine folks, this is a resort and this resort is 'the' city!

breakfast congee's condiments

local fruits delights

The Bukit Gambang Water Park
[children & child @ heart paradise]

The Largest Ballroom in Asia

The LAS' Chapters 

Last but not least, the overall experience, facilities and buffet spread that seduced my gastronomical appetite deserve an 8 on Acepaizah scale, while RG's hospitality is a perfect 10 on Acepaizah's scale.

~fun, laughter, hilarious and soul searching experience~

~Acepaizah~

L- LEVERAGE CHAPTER - orange
A- ALLIANCE CHAPTER - black
S- SUPREME CHAPTER- purple

     Trainers - yellow

Seafood Dinner @ Paradise Deluxe @ Kuala Terengganu

the set menu

Once in a while, it is good to have a proper sit down dinner whether fine or casual dinning. After a hectic work and varsity schedules it is time to sit down to a proper dinner with close family. On this occasion, we pre plan our dinner at Paradise Deluxe Restaurant along Jalan Bukit Besar, Kuala Terengganu.  Paradise serves Chinese Muslim food in a Chinese restaurant setting, with its round table which seats 10 patrons.

At certain time of the year, like during Chinese New Year where the Kuala Terengganu city is flooded with visitors from all over Malaysia especially the city folks of Kuala Lumpur taking a short respite from the city rat race, one has to make reservation in advance, lest being stranded for hours waiting for table.

We had the mandatory sweet sour mango siakap fish; my favorite buttered prawn, fried kailan with salted fish, seafood tom yam and also fried squid. Fish chosen for our sweet sour fish is the fleshy siakap (the barramundi), fried lightly with some lemon grass, lemon and garlic and garnish generously with finely slices mangoes. The siakap is fried to perfection with the lemon grass blends nicely.

The buttered prawn is cook to perfection, where the butter practically melts upon first bite. The prawn simply fresh from the fisherman’s boat! Kuala Terengganu is a coastal town with its abundance fresh produce from the sea. Paradise’s seafood Tom Yam is full to the brim with fresh seafood, though it is a bit spicy to my sensitive taste bud, but I ‘fish’ out the contents minus the tom yam’s soup.  

The fried kailan with salted fish is crunchy but a bit oily. The dishes were serve with piping hot white rice and Paradise complimentary Chinese tea which is served piping hot with the rest of dishes.

The buttered prawn is 10 on Acepaizah scale, while the siakap fish deserved a 8. The rest of the dishes were just ordinary and I am giving a respectable 7. The atmosphere and its hospitality may earn a 7, since they are not overly friendly but just simply serving. Maybe it was the crowd but an occasional warm smile would garner a good point on my Acepaizah scale.

siakap fish

seafood galore
~Acepaizah~

Mee Goreng @ Original Kayu ~ Foodie Fast Food Fix

Mee Goreng Mamak

In my almost nonstop rat race for the last two weeks due to my semester’s end examination, fast food is my daily diet. Breakfast with McDonald’s, lunch with Subway’s 6” sandwich, tea with Mamak’s Roti Canai and packed dinner bought at some street’s stall. Their taste at the very best is 5 on Acepaizah’s scale but that is a normal standard for ready to go food or slave myself in the hot kitchen.

What better way to eases my mind than sitting with friends over a reasonable plate of Mee Goreng Mamak (yellow noodles) and a glass of frothing Teh Tarik in a Mamak restaurant; a family oriented restaurant which operates 24 hours and served Indian dishes. I wanted to use the word “cuisine” but it is a misnomer since Mamak restaurant is more like a fast food joint than fine dining. Besides the standard array of ready to eat rice and its accompanying dishes, the staple of Mamak restaurant is its “Roti Canai” in many variations and its fast frying dishes from the wok cook upon order.

On one such day, I drop by a Mamak restaurant called “Original Kayu” (Kayu=literally means wood) in Ampang, just few meters away from the Kuala Lumpur border. This restaurant is one of the “Kayu” branch which originated from Penang (northern island of the West Malaysia) also known as Pearl of the Orient. I ordered the Mee Goreng (fried yellow noodle) with my mandatory Teh Tarik. As I frequent this particular restaurant quite often, one of the waiters who always serve us (my companion NH & RA) knew what we wanted to order, specially our drinks and knew I will always ask for dhal (dill) gravy to be eaten with my fried noodle! My reason of having the gravy is to balance the noodle spiciness.

The fried Mee Goreng consists of some veggies such as slices of cabbage,  few stalks of bean sprouts and cut tomatoes, some prawns, squids and smashed egg, a few pieces of fried bean curd, tofu puff and cucur kelapa (deep fried coconut fritters).  It is garnished with fried shallots, diced green onion, slices of green and red chilies and sprinkle sparingly with grounded peanuts! The Mee Goreng texture is not as ‘dry’ as it should be but it is acceptable to me. I am not a fan of the yellow noodle but I make an exception with Mee Goreng Mamak. With the piping hot plate straight from the wok, I squeezed a dash of lime juice, giving it sour-ish taste and devoured it like a hungry wolf much to my companions’ amusement.

The Mee Goreng is a respectable 6 on Acepaizah scale, friendliness an 8, value for money 6, table ware and cutlery 7, the ambience and atmosphere 5. It was very warm notwithstanding the supposedly air conditioned were on, and with glass wall all round and Malaysia being in the Equator, it was like we were being roasted in a slow cooker! Well that reminds me of an ever green song, ‘Killing me softly with his song’, but that is a story for another day.

Roti Telur, dhal gravy & mandatory Teh Tarik

~fast food weekies~
~Acepaizah~

note: Roti Telur (Roti=literally means bread, here is dough & Telur=Egg) is a variation of Roti Canai.