Cafe 9, Section 17, Petaling Jaya

Yes, I know. I knoooow. I'm suppose to be back from hiatus but I went missing again. My bad. Was caught up with some pertinent and urgent matters. Also, really tough to get back into action after a looooong break. Sorry for the tardiness and THANK YOU for missing me :)

While I wait to recall from my failing memory bank on my 4 trips , see return from hiatus let's start with what I had yesterday which is still fresh on my mind. Honestly, I still have the lingering taste of this dish.

This, by far was my best dish yesterday. 7 condiments consisting of (from top left) bird's eye chili, shallots with ginger, some crunchy stuff I forgot to taste further or check what it was, diced lime, roasted desiccated coconut & roasted groundnuts. Mixed all the condiments together with the sweetened fish sauce and betel leave or daun kaduk in our local language (Bahasa Malaysia) as shared by my friend who really dabbles in cooking. 

The taste? An explosion of flavours from spicy to bitter to sweet to sour to salty and even umami or the 5th taste. I loved it!

Pssstttt...noticed how 'obedient' my buddies were? Waiting patiently for me to snap a picture before they can eat. Aaahhh...these two pals are priceless. That goes for all my other friends who knows I blog about food. 

Listen. I am no food critic nor food journalist, just a pillion rider who has a knack for good food and enjoys writing about my food trails. So, please do not take my word for it. Go check the food out for yourselves. I know that some bloggers have been taken to court for causing their eateries to loose business following the bloggers' comments. Personally, I always take everything with a pinch of salt. So, please Cafe 9, do not take me to court for penning my personal opinion which cannot influence any of my readers as they have a mind of their own.

My second favourite dish was the stirred fried glass noodle.

Comes with huge serving of vegetables & meat. Tomato, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, bombay onions, red chili, spring onions, minced meat, sliced meat, celery and prawns! The dish was flavourful and tasty. Recommended by the waiter. Good recommendation. Thanks!

The tomyum seafood came third on my list :

Ohhhh, don't be fooled by the clear soup. It is really sour & spicy. It gives you the "Muay Thai" 'kick'. Cafe 9 was lavish in their seafood. See for yourself...more below the surface. Strangely, when the soup is cooler, it tastes salty instead of the sour & spicy 'kick'. Hmmmm.....

Next on the menu was the minced meat with basil leaf.

This tastes good but too sweet for my palates. Am pleased with the huge servings of minced meat but disappointed with the lack of basil leaf. We had more of the french beans instead. A little lesser of the gravy would be ideal as the dish was swimming in gravy.

Followed by the fish cake:

The cake was springy and tasty but a little bit more of fish meat would make it more delectable. The chili complemented the fish cake but was again too sweet for my taste.

The four-angled bean was cooked just right. Crunchy and tasty. However, it was doused with an over zealous amount of gravy.

The papaya salad was a minor disappointment. Serving was huge with generous servings of peanuts and sauce. However, the sauce lack the tantalising sensation. A little too tame, very unlike the original Thai salads.

I just had to have Tub tim krob or red ruby for my desert. Definition by wikipedia ~~

1. Tub tim krob is one of the most famous Thai desserts, which is made of cubes of water chestnuts in syrup coated with red food coloring. This dessert is also known as “rubies” because of its appearance. Wikipedia

   
   

   

   
   

   I've had many bowls of red rubies in as many restaurants that I've frequented. This is by far the first I have eaten that has no jackfruit. The red ruby would have tasted better had the cafe put in larger pieces of water chestnuts instead of the red jelly-like thingy. I was disappointed with the dessert and did not finish the dish.

   
   

   Lastly, the cake. Incidentally, the cafe only had 3 different slices of cakes. My buddy chose this :

   

   
   

   Let's just say it wasn't worth the RM11 per piece.

   
   

   Please do not ask me how much because it was a treat. The meal was about RM43 after deducting her Groupon vouchers. So, your guess is as good as mine.

   
   

   By the way, we had two servings of the same good tea. Came recommended as well. The cafe leaves a pot of flask for you to refill.

   
   

   In all fairness, the food was flavourful but just too strong in each. I wouldn't mind going back for my favourite dish and the great cup of tea. 

   
   

   Cafe 9 opened just 9 months ago. Do go and patronise it and taste it for yourself. Nothing ventured nothing gain, as the saying goes.

   
   

   Details : (pork free)

   Cafe 9 "a taste of Thai"

   27 Jalan 17/45

   Seksyen 17

   Petaling Jaya

   
   

   Tel : 03 - 7932 2899

   Closed on Tuesday. Opens 10am-10pm.

   
   

   Hopefully, this will spur me on to pen the other long outstanding blogs.

   
   

   Until we meet again...stay happy and eat well.

   
   

   
   

Return from hiatus

After 13 months of hiatus, I am penning my first blog since 17 Dec 2013. Yes, it's been awhile. A long time in fact. If I were pregnant then, I would have delivered my child and it would be teething by now. Hahahaha.

Judging from the 50% increase in readership during my absence, I guess it's quite encouraging for me to start blogging again. Plus, I really have too much time on hand at the present moment.

So, what happened in the past 13/14 months? Well, I rode more of the Harley and lesser of ZacBoy. How come? That's because I have always been a Hell's Angel (in heart, that is). But mind you, am no angel. More of a devil. *straight face* Guessed it's the influence of watching too many American movies. Rocker57 (in case you are a new reader, he is my hubby) and I have been doing lots of travelling in late 2013 and entire 2014.

We visited Borobudur, Jogjakarta; Indonesia in Dec 2013 : Click Borobudur to know more.

Being my playful self, as usual.

Boracay in the Philippines on 20-23 June, 2014

Along Boracay beach. Awesome beach

 Perth - 29 Nov - 2 Dec

The devil herself outside of H-D Perth.

And then on 20-22 Dec, we went to Bangkok :

Entrance of H-D, Bangkok.

Of course, in between that...we have been vrooming around Malaysia, duh! And into Southern Thailand as well....hmmm...I think. Need to check my passport. Wakakakaka...age is really catching up on me... Age can really be a rascal when it comes to the memory bank. Because of the huge memory bank and lack of regular 'defragmenting', searching for a particular 'file' can be tedious and tiresome. Even just thinking about the 'search' is tiring me out. Hehehehe...

Look out for these blogs....coming out soon. They are currently being 'baked'. Till I get my bearings right i.e my writing momentum, this IS a good start, I guess.

Until the next time....ride safe and ride on. Full throttle ahead, bikers!!!

Ooi Noodle house, SS15 Subang Jaya

As the name depicts, Noodle house. But they do serve chicken rice, economy rice, Chee Cheong Fun and what I am gonna write about...touted the best pork noodle in Subang Jaya is this place - Ooi Noodle house. 

A few years ago, they were at a corner shop in SS15/1a where Subang Park hotel is situated now. Since then, they have moved to :

78 Jalan SS15/4B
Operating hours 8am - 4pm

It is situated behind Taylor's Business School and across Subang Square.

Beware! Waiting period can be exhausting if you are in a rush. My friends and I have once waited 55 minutes just to savour a bowl of pork noodles!! Silly, go to another venue to eat-lah. AHA....it would be SILLY to go some place else when the best is here, right? No? Well, to each its own.

The main man behind the awesome delicious mouth watering noodle is this guy :

I have stopped taking sugar in my beverages some 20 years ago and Rocker57 followed-suit about a decade ago. So, we will order our usual sugarless coffee. The coffee served here is thick, full bodied and leaves a little bit of bitter after taste in the mouth. Just the way we like it.

For the benefit of my foreign readers, in Malaysia, if you want to order sugarless black coffee - ask for Kopi (pronounced as Co - Pee meaning coffee) 'O' ( pronounced as 'oh' meaning 'neat') Kosong ( pronounced as Core-Song) meaning empty literally. So, kopi-O-kosong means black sugarless coffee. If you want coffee with sugar it is just "kopi O". If u want coffee with condensed milk, it is 'Kopi". And if you want a your black coffee with sugar to be thick, just say "kopi O kaw" (kaw meaning thick in Cantonese which sounds like cow with a 'k' tone to it). If you want iced coffee...well ice is widely recognized here or "ais" in our national language but enunciated as ice as well.

Well, back to the main topic....best pork noodles in this neighbourhood.

 

The man painstakingly cooks each bowl separately, hence the long wait. The minced meat is well marinated and cooked just right. While the sliced pork is succulent and doesn't reek of the 'porky' smell. The touch of greens adds colour and taste to the otherwise plain looking bowl of pork noodle. 

The special touch to each bowl of pork noodle is the few tiny pieces of lard!!! The whole dish is aromatic and the noodles soak in the flavours, hence making each bite oh so delectable. The soup is tasty, savoury and rich. You get a rich taste of the well marinated minced pork that has simmered in the soup, a slight taste of the greens and the mouthful of tasty noodles that has soaked in all the goodness while it was cooking. Verdict : Numero Uno. 

Don't believe me? Drop by the place one of these days. Stop and ask one of the endless streams of 'patient' patrons why they eat there...then, order a bowl and tell me if I am wrong. But then, you have got to tell me where in Subang is better, and I will gladly treat you on proviso that outlet is better :)

While writing this, I am stopping myself from drooling. Serious! 

Eons ago, Rocker57 and I have refrained ourselves from eating innards. So, I 'borrowed' some pictures with eggs and innards from another blogger whom I can't remember the name (apology!) who had also written about this... my best pork noodle thus far. Here you go...go on...drool if you please.

  
WOW...it's time for lunch...what a coincidence...well, as you head out for lunch, remember to check in on Ooi noodle house someday, ya.

I live to eat, how about you?

Harley Group Ride & Restaurant Kuan Hwa, K.Selangor, 5 Nov 2013

Have you seen clams or in our local lingo 'la la' this huge? I haven't. If you have, then you could be a glutton like me too...hehehehe. But first, I need to introduce some choppers & Harley Davidson (H-D) bikes to you.

Recently, we met up a group of H-D bikers through one of Rocker57's biker friend. We congregated at Beautiful Machine ( this is where H-D & chopper bikes get their steel machine oiled, squeeked, "chopped" and recharged the Vroom-vroom power).

One by one the steel machines roared in. Check them out :

If I remember correctly, Kawasaki Vulcan 600 custom or something like that

Sportster 1200

Titan 1200cc

  Harley Davidson Road King, folks.

Altogether there were 12 bikers and 5 lady pillion riders. A solo biker joined us during lunch at Kuala Selangor. If only you could hear the 'thunder' when the bikers revved their engines simultaneously...it was like a dozen of T-Rexes running home!!! OK, OK, I could have exaggerated a teeny bit but the sound was seriously thunderous! Sent goose pimples throughout my entire body. I love the 'ROAR' of H-D...simply awesome!

But once on the road, the H-D purrs...cruising, mah! Hehehehe. 

First stop, breakfast opposite the Old Town market in PJ. Apparently the coffee shop sells the best half boiled or soft boiled egg (whichever you want to call it) in town. This, I gotta try. Sorry no pictures but the shop is just directly opposite the market and one of the shop proprietor rides a Kawasaki Z1000 (if I recall correctly). I couldn't get hold of the name of the shop too despite earnestly looking for the signboard.

 Here it is...the 'taufu fah' or soya bean egg! It really is smooth and boiled to perfection. Apparently, the eggs are boiled in hot water to a certain timing, then blanched in cold water and re-emersed into hot water again for a short time and viola!!! Soya bean egg. Hence the silkyness of the egg. A delightful eat, if you must ask. However, parking is a major problem :(

 The coffe was thick, aromatic and full bodied. Traditionally brewed goodness.

 I liked that the toast had generous heaps of butter and "kaya" aka coconut egg jam. This is a local spread made from sugar, eggs, coconut milk or 'santan" infused in the fragrant aroma of pandan leaf or screwpine. Most eateries are stingy with the spread, but this had the butter and kaya oozing out. Or perhaps, it was because the proprietor and the bikers are friends. Either way, it was a good toast. Period.

 Well done bikers! This is only part of the group. You should have seen all the drinks, bowls and plates of noodles on top of a few tables. Hehehe...Anyway, let's get back to the highlight of this post...LUNCH!

Before that, if you are having the burning desire to know if bikers do have tattoos....the answer is yes! As Rocker57 and I are new to the group and I was 'warned' not to say I'm a blogger, I had to go incognito. 

I slyly and quickly asked permission to have the tattoo picture taken for my blog. This nice chap willingly posed for me his new tattoo which was in the midst of peeling off...Ewww. I touched it and it sent chills down my spine. It took 2.5 hours to have it etched permanently onto his right arm. He said the first 2 hours was a breeze but the balance half hour was a torture! The design is special that only he can relate too. Ok...OK...gluttons, getting to the food soon.

We used the PLUS highway to get into Kuala Selangor. Easy peasy, just follow the signage. Once there, I am kinda lost to describe to you but I am able to get there given a few missed turns. Anyway, here is the address :

Restaurant Kuan Hwa
1A Jalan Bagan Sg Yu
Pasir Penambang, Kuala Selangor
Tel : +603 - 3289 6719

 Live crayfish!

swimming crabs!

 Please be seated...spoilt for choice...this is only 1 small section of the huge restaurant standing on stilts just next to the river.

Helmets! Helmets! Pick one, please. 
We chose to sit next to the river. As I have no permission from this new group to post in my blog, their silhouettes should suffice for now.

 And here is the surroundings.

And now the highlight...FOOD!!!. First, the osyter omelet or what Malaysians call "Or Chien". Sadly, the oyster was over cooked. It would have been better to have it scrambled. The oysters would retain its freshness and one can get to taste the oyster. This way, my opinion that is... a sheer waste of good seafood but it was tasty nonetheless.

 

Next, we had the '4 heavenly king' named after the 4 famed Hong Kong cantopop singers back in the early 1990's. Consists of 4 vegetables - brinjal or eggplant, lady's finger or okra, long beans and four angled beans cooked in sambal belacan sauce with prawns. It was 'heavenly'. Despite different texture, the dish was superb, both texture and taste.

Followed by dual flavoured prawns. The ones on the right, deep fried (I can't comment on the prawns because I didn't eat any..."standing guard" on cholesterol level, unfortunately) but the egg, butter, curry leaf and bird's eye chili combination on the left was really good.

Subsequently, we had the steamed baby shark fish doused in garlicky bean paste sauce. It was really delectable. The fish was tender and fresh and the savoury sauce added the much needed 'kick' to the otherwise bland fish. I enjoyed it very much and had double helping.

And then, we had honey glazed deep fried baby calamari. A dismal, really. The calamari was too chewy, a sure case of over done and an overdosed of honey. I stopped after my initial bite.

The following dish sent everyone into a frenzy! The hugeness of the clam or la-la was shocking. Almost the size of our spoon! Most of us saw it for the first time. The premium rice wine sauce with a tinge of spicyness from the bird's eye chili made the dish tantalizing and splendid.
Are we done yet? Nope! We then had mantis prawn cooked in salted egg style. The green leaves you see are actually curry leaves. It adds aroma to the dish. I tasted more flour than mantis prawn for this dish. Having said that, the flavour was intoxicating. Good if only we could eat some prawns here, eh?

As if this was not enough, we had cockles cooked in 'kam heong' style. It was what I would say 'cockle shell licking good'. Surprisingly, the cockles were not over-cooked and it was tasty as it has soaked in the sauce during the quick cooking so as to retain its freshness. Perfecto!

The cockles were huge too!! Check out the spoon and the cockle. By the time the grand old lady made its entrance, all of us were literally 'tired' of eating! Serious. This is about the first time in my life I witnessed so much left over for crab!! Can you believe it? No? I do.

The crab was cooked in dried Kam Heong style. It was good but unfortunately masked by her other 'competitors' that was dished out first. Most of the crab was packed. Such a waste. A sheer case of over ordering or perhaps eating too close after breakfast?

The guys and some of the ladies had beer, malt and toddy or palm wine. In Malaysia, mainly coconut palm, I think. Anyways, the drinkers had a jolly good time while foodie like me, eat, digest and eat some more. The drinkers were considerate enough to pick up part of the alcohol tab from the non drinkers. Incidentally, we had two of each dish pictured here. 18 of us how to eat so little, right or not? Final countdown??? We each paid RM50 - oh, what a steal, really.

All in all, I would say an awesome ride, commendable food and a soothing view to complement the food.

I need to vroom vroom to more eateries like this.....hhheeeeyyy, did I just see your drool on your shirt? No? I thought I did. LOL.

Until the next food trail...eat well and stay healthy always.

Catch me soon but please don't eat me!